Councilmember Maritza Rivera announces budget priorities

Focus on 911 non-emergency response times, a North End safety hub for at-risk youth and support for a sobering center

Today City Councilmember Maritza Rivera (District 4) announced her priorities for the 2025-26 budget, most of which focus on public safety needs, and include restoring funding for apprenticeships and a neighborhood grants program.

"I have been focusing on the following priorities for some time," said Councilmember Rivera. "Firstly, I want to ensure that the 911 non-emergency line is answered in a reliable and timely way; secondly I want to address the needs of at-risk kids by creating a community safety hub in the North End; I want to make certain that a proposed King County sobering center meets the needs of Seattle, and I want funding for apprenticeships to be maintained as a path for young people."

• Improving 911 Reponses. Councilmember Rivera has worked with the Mayor's Office to propose adding call taker positions to the Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) Department's budget, which will enable CARE to have staff solely dedicated to answering the non-emergency line. Residents have reported wait times much longer than the stated average and are hanging up in frustration. This is especially concerning given that data from CARE shows that one third of calls to the non-emergency line turn out to be real emergencies.
• Community Safety Hub. Councilmember Rivera is requesting a community safety hub for the North End, to bring together local organizations, safety programs, and intervention services for at-risk youth. Seattle Police Department (SPD) data shows that the North precinct has the highest number of juvenile-involved incidents across the city. "We need to address this disturbing trend," noted Councilmember Rivera.

  A Community hub is not necessarily a physical location, but a service model where the "hub" directs services through other "spoke" organizations which collaborate using the proven community violence intervention approach. The Councilmember is proposing to add a new full-time position at the Human Services Department (HSD) to stand up the North End-focused safety hub. There are currently hubs in West Seattle, Central Seattle and South Seattle.

• King County Sobering Center. The Councilmember will also request a report from HSD on how the proposed King County Sobering Center can meet the city's diversion needs. That study would determine how the center could be a secure location where those arrested under the drug possession law can sober up and be able to accept treatment services.

  "We know that those who are arrested while under the influence are not able to consent to treatment. Currently, individuals are not being booked or enrolled into diversion programs. They are then back on the streets without receiving the treatment they need," said Councilmember Rivera.

In addition to her public safety priorities, the Councilmember wants to restore funding to the following programs.

• Priority Hires, which enables outreach and training to support apprenticeships in the construction trades, including training for clean energy jobs.
• Neighborhood Matching Fund, which awards grants to neighborhood-specific projects, such as traffic calming efforts or block parties.

Next Steps

The Council is currently reviewing the Mayor's proposed budget. Amendments to the proposed budget will be included in the Chair's Balancing Package, which is expected to be released on Oct. 30. Additional information on the budget process, including the full committee calendar, can be found on the council website.

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