Tag: Burien

City Council, homelessness, King County, labor, Mayor Harrell, Morning Fizz

Harrell Discusses Gig Worker Minimum Wage Repeal, Burien Restrictions Could Prohibit Tiny House Village

1. Organized labor groups like the MLK Labor Council and Working Washington have vociferously opposed a proposal from Council President Sara Nelson to slash delivery drivers’ wages and roll back their legal rights, showing in council chambers and writing letters urging the council to vote against Nelson’s bill (which, notably, does not eliminate the $5 fees the companies added to orders when higher wages went into effect last year.)

In recent weeks, those same groups have been throwing their weight behind Mayor Bruce Harrell, reminding him none too subtly of his past commitments to labor priorities. In the last two weeks alone, the Labor Council nominated Harrell for a “Best Elected Official” award, and Working Washington all but fêted him during a City Hall celebration for the 10-year anniversary of Seattle’s $15 minimum wage.

Nelson’s bill seems likely to pass, but it could be amended; or, if the vote is 5-4, the mayor could veto it. On Friday, Harrell told PubliCola it’s still “too early to say whether I would [veto] or not,” but he still has a lot of unanswered questions about the legislation, including “why people are not using the service, why small businesses have not been getting orders, [and] what is the cause” of the slowdown in deliveries since higher wages for workers went into effect and the delivery companies imposed a $5-per-order fee.

“Are they sharing and being transparent with the information for us, as policymakers, to make good decisions? We have to have that information. And if we’re not accomplishing that, we will never achieve the [other] goals, which are driver equity and pay and small business revenue growth.”

The debate over the legislation, Harrell continued, “seems to be really fraught with conflict, and it doesn’t seem to be coming together [to a point] where all of the stakeholders can agree on their goal.”

The council’s governance, accountability, and economic development committee, which Nelson chairs, has its next meeting on Thursday, May 9, where they’re expected to discuss the proposal.

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2. The Burien City Council will vote Monday on a proposed zoning change to allow transitional housing, including tiny house villages, on certatin residentially zoned property in the city. The legislation came out of a lengthy debate last year over whether the city should accept $1 million King County offered the city to build a tiny house village; and, if so, where the village should go. The city council eventually settled on a piece of property owned by Seattle City Light.

However, the proposal as written may not be viable. Because of an amendment inserted in the zoning proposal by Councilmember Stephanie Mora, a consistent opponent of the project, transitional housing can only be located on properties that are between 1 and 2 acres in size—and the City Light property is 4.6 acres, according to King County property records.

A spokesperson for the King County Regional Homelessness Authority said KCRHA staff have asked for clarification about Burien’s plans, including whether the city plans to subdivide the site so that the parcel where the village is located does not exceed two acres.

A spokesperson for the city of Burien said the proposal, which is currently on the council’s consent agenda, still isn’t final. “Until the City Council votes on Monday, there is still potential for the proposed ordinance to be amended.”

The legislation limits the total number of people—not buildings—at any transitional housing project to 30, which would result in a smaller tiny house village than most of those operating in Seattle.

The City Light property won’t be available forever. According to a City Light spokesperson, “The site is being held for a proposed future substation to meet projected demands through our comprehensive electrification planning efforts. Incidental use of the property is permitted on an interim basis only and in coordination with all partners involved.”

Also on Monday, King County Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall and Burien Police Chief Ted Boe will be part of a “public safety roundtable” to discuss public safety and mental health and addiction responses in Burien. The sheriff’s office provides police services through an agreement with Burien, and is currently suing the city over a total ban on “camping” that the county’s lawyers have called unconstitutional.

Because Boe, as a representative of the sheriff’s office, has said he won’t enforce the ban, the city has countersued the sheriff’s office for breach of contract; directed city staffers to stop paying the police department’s invoices; and called for Boe’s ouster, prompting outrage from veteran police officers loyal to the popular chief.

According to the B-Town Blog, Bailon responded to the announcement of Monday’s forum by demanding the removal of all references to Burien and the Burien Police Department from the materials for the event, claiming that “Burien’s name and logo to add credibility to King County’s proposed roundtable”—arguably a dubious claim, given the ongoing chaos caused by the city’s actions.

Courts, homelessness, King County

Burien Moves Forward on Tiny House Village as Mayor Vilifies Police Chief for Not Enforcing Camping Ban

 

Burien Mayor Kevin Schilling

By Erica C. Barnett

The Burien City Council advanced a zoning change during its meeting last night that would allow a tiny house village on a piece of property owned by Seattle City Light. The zoning rule, as amended by the council, will allow future transitional housing only on properties between one and two acres, and will cap the size of such housing at 30 residents—a change that cuts the potential size of the long-planned tiny house village by half.

Before voting for the zoning change, Burien Mayor Kevin Schilling complained at length about the “previous council” and King County, which has offered $1 million to fund the project, saying that the proposal “was thrown at us” by the county with no room for dissent.

“What we have the ability to do here is amend that ridiculous process that happened last year from the county,” Schilling said. “We are making decisions about the future of land use in the city of Burien, not just for this one singular project, which was not organically decided by our planning commission or our city council. It was something that was shoved to us by the county without any flexibility. So we have an opportunity here to reverse the process.”

The council voted 6-1 (with Stephanie Mora dissenting) to place the rezone on next week’s consent agenda, after a public comment period in which two veteran Burien police officers denounced City Manager Adolfo Bailon and the council for demanding the removal of longtime Burien Police Chief Ted Boe. Boe works for the King County Sheriff’s Office, which provides police services to the city under a contract; Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall recently sued the city after the council banned sleeping or “living” outdoors 24 hours a day.

Boe provided a statement supporting the lawsuit, which claims the ban violates the 8th and 14th Amendments, and has not been enforcing the law.

Both officers who spoke said they were speaking on their own accord and did not tell Boe they planned to testify on his behalf.

“I cannot sit back and let one man be insulted, demeaned and vilified for issues that are clearly failures by the city government for the last several years,” Officer Mark Hayden told the council. A second officer, Henry McLauchlan, said that if the city ousts Boe, it will result in an officer exodus to “more supportive organizations within the county. … Nobody, except the least senior deputies and sergeants, will be forced to work a place that does not support constitutional policing.” 

Schilling has claimed repeatedly (including a meeting of the council majority that apparently violated the state Open Public Meetings Act last week) that Boe could simply choose to “enforce the parts of the ordinance” that ban unsheltered people from occupying public space during the day. (In city manager-council governments like Burien’s, the council picks one of their members to serve as mayor every two years, and the city manager serves as the executive.)

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In fact, the total ban the council passed last year “repeal[s] and replace[s]” the older law. Boe has no legal authority to enforce a law that doesn’t exist, even if the council later regrets repealing it.

Schilling also claimed, during an interview on KIRO Radio, that the city never stopped paying the King County Sheriff’s Office for its services (as Bailon, in fact, directed city staff to do in response to the lawsuit earlier this year). “The only part that we’re not paying them for is the part that they’re not enforcing,” Schilling said, referring to the homeless ban. “So we’re not paying for that element of it because they’re not doing their job.” 

A spokesman for the sheriff’s office, Captain Cory Stanton, said the office has not billed Burien yet for the first half of 2024, so there is no way to know yet whether they plan to pay their bills for police service, and how much. “The fact is, we’re going still provide [police] services to the city of Burien, and if they don’t pay, that’s a conversation the command staff will have to have,” Stanton said.

It’s unclear how long the tiny house village will be able to stay at the City Light property, assuming the council approves it next week. The city has delayed approval of the project, which includes a $1 million no-strings contribution from King County, for most of the last year. PubliCola has reached out to City Light for more information about how long the property will be available and will update this post when we hear back.

homelessness, King County, Police

At Press Conference, Majority of Burien Council Demands Sheriff Enforce Camping Ban They Overturned
Burien mayor Kevin Schilling (KING 5 screenshot)

By Erica C. Barnett

Burien Mayor Kevin Schilling, who has repeatedly butted heads with the King County Sheriff’s Office over the city’s 24-hour ban on “living” outdoors, held a press conference with three other city council members Thursday morning to criticize the King County Sheriff’s Office for refusing to enforce an anti-camping ordinance the sheriff’s office calls unconstitutional. (In Burien, the council selects a mayor from among its members every two years).

The sheriff’s office, which provides police service to Burien under an interlocal agreement, sued the city last month, arguing that the ordinance violates the constitutional rights of people living unsheltered in Burien. The city responded by withholding payments to King County for police service; countersuing; and demanding the removal of Burien police chief Ted Boe, who works for the sheriff’s office. The city also terminated its contract with its homeless outreach provider, REACH.

“There has been no [judicial] order calling our ordinance unconstitutional. It has just been the sheriff’s office and the county executive saying it is, without any kind of legal support for that statement,” Schilling said.

KING 5 attended the press conference and posted a full video on Thursday.

The expansive new ban repealed and replaced an earlier law, Ordinance 827, that banned “camping” during daytime hours and placed restrictions sleeping in public at night. The newer, more restrictive law includes exceptions for people to sleep outside at night if no shelter is available, but the city has interpreted that to include shelter in Seattle, 12 miles away—another matter of dispute.

Schilling held the event in a meeting room at the King County Library, which shares a building with City Hall. He did not inform city staff about the event, which some staffers didn’t realize was happening until they walked by the press conference on their way to their offices.

Schilling appeared alongside three other members of the seven-member city council—Alex Andrade, Linda Akey, and deputy mayor Stephanie Mora. Under the state Open Public Meetings Act, it is illegal for a majority of any elected body to hold a scheduled or special meeting without providing at least 24 hours’ notice, such as by posting the meeting agenda on the city’s website. Not only did Schilling not post any public notice of the meeting, he did not inform city staff it was happening.

A spokesperson for the city declined to comment on the potential open meetings violation. “[S]taff were not involved with nor made aware of the event in advance, so we don’t have that level of detail to share at this time,” the spokesperson said.

During the press conference, Schilling repeatedly claimed the sheriff’s office could simply start enforcing the previous version of the sleeping ban. “The ordinance is already in place,” Schilling said. “It is the King County Sheriff’s office’s stated goal to not enforce any part of the ordinance and they’re choosing to do that.”

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“We have requested again and again and again for them to just go back and enforce the parts of the ordinance that are already in place,” Schilling said.

In a joint statement, King County Executive Dow Constantine and Sheriff Cole-Tindall said the sheriff’s office had no problem enforcing the earlier law, but the city would need to reinstate it. “In the media event today, Mayor Schilling claimed that there is no need to reinstate the prior ordinance because it already exists,” Cole-Tindall and Constantine said. “But it was replaced and amended with the adoption of the new one. This leaves KCSO with nothing to enforce except the new ordinance which, again, appears unconstitutional on its face. ”

The US Supreme Court will likely rule early this summer on a case called Grants Pass v. Johnson that could overturn a 9th Circuit ruling that prohibits cities from sweeping unsheltered people if no shelter is available. If the court upholds Grants Pass’ camping ban, it could affect the portion of the lawsuit that is based on the 8th Amendment, which bans cruel and unusual punishment, but it won’t impact the sheriff’s 14th Amendment claims.

That amendment, which guarantees due process, prohibits laws that are too vague for an ordinary person to understand. Burien’s camping ban  bars people from “exercis[ing] nontransitory exclusive control over any portion of nonresidential public property” without explaining what “nontransitory exclusive control” is; it also includes a map of areas where no one can “live” at any time, even if no shelter is available, and gives the city manager unfettered authority to expand the prohibited areas without notice.

Cole-Tindall and Constantine also disputed Schilling’s claim that the sheriff has an obligation to enforce the law until a court determines whether it’s constitutional. “Both Burien Mayor Schilling and Deputy Mayor Mora have admitted in writing that the constitutionality of the new camping ordinance is for a judge to determine, which is why we have placed it before the federal court,” they said. “The city has yet to present a defense of its new law, which we believe cannot be done. Rather, the approach has been to avoid and delay resolution.”

Courts, homelessness, King County, Police

Burien City Manager Demands Removal of Police Chief Who Won’t Arrest People for Being Homeless

By Erica C. Barnett

Burien City Manager Adolfo Bailon sent a letter to King County Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall this week demanding a replacement for Burien Police Chief Ted Boe, whose “actions,” Bailon wrote, “no longer represent the City of Burien best interests, vision, and goals, in a manner that supports trust between the City and King County Sheriff’s Office.”

The sheriff’s office provides officers, including Chief Boe, who serve as the city’s police force through a contract with the county.

Last month, Cole-Tindall sued Burien over its total ban on “camping” in the city, calling the ban unconstitutional. Burien responded by countersuing the sheriff’s office, alleging breach of contract—an ironic claim, given that Bailon responded to the county’s lawsuit by directing city employees to stop paying the sheriff’s office for the services it provides under the same contract.

In his letter, Bailon accused Boe of violating a portion of an agreement between the city and county that says the police chief will act “in a manner that supports and maintains trust” with the city, and another that says “Police Chiefs are expected to represent the City’s point of view, consider City needs in carrying out their duties and advocate on behalf of their City similar to other City departmental directors.” Effectively, Bailon is saying Boe has an obligation to enforce a law he and his actual employer, the Sheriff’s Office, believe is illegal.

In his declaration, Boe laid out some of his concerns with Bailon’s, who he said repeatedly demanded that Boe “redeploy resources away from other public safety matters such as 911 calls and to address several non-criminal aspects of camping. … He also made repeated calls to 911 to redirect patrol resources away” from actual emergencies—at least 45 last year, as PubliCola recently reported.

In her response dismissing Bailon’s request, Cole-Tindall noted that just “two hours prior to Bailon’s letter, Burien was given detailed statistics on the first three months of 2024 that demonstrate the high level of police service in Burien,” including an uptick in arrests for drug-related crimes and an overall reduction in both violent and property crime since last year. In February, Cole-Tindall continued, city council members lauded Boe for his “excellent” performance.

By demanding Boe’s removal, Cole-Tindall continued, Bailon appeared to be retaliating against Boe for statements he made as part of the sheriff’s lawsuit against the city. In his declaration, Boe laid out some of his concerns with Bailon’s, who he said repeatedly demanded that Boe “redeploy resources away from other public safety matters such as 911 calls and to address several non-criminal aspects of camping. … He also made repeated calls to 911 to redirect patrol resources away” from actual emergencies—at least 45 last year, as PubliCola recently reported.

“State law prohibits any local government from retaliating against a person for raising concerns with the constitutionality of government action,” Cole-Tindall wrote. “King County cannot be party to retaliatory action against the chief.”

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Boe’s statement notes that until the city council hired Bailon, “I had limited challenges in addressing the unhoused persons living in Burien. I worked collaboratively with the City Manager who was not focused on addressing homelessness as a crime.” But once Bailon arrived, Boe said, “the approach to unhoused persons began to shift,” as Bailon began asking the department to arrest unsheltered people rather than working with service providers like REACH to find shelter and services.

Bailon unilaterally canceled the city’s contract with REACH, which is funded with federal ARPA dollars, earlier this year. He is reportedly working toward a new contract that would replace REACH with The More We Love, a controversial group that until recently advertised “sweeps” at a rate of $515 for each homeless person they remove from a site. (The city’s contract was with Discover Burien, a downtown business group that led its own encampment sweep last year, because The More We Love was unable to get the required insurance.) It’s unclear whether The More We Love meets federal requirements for ARPA funds. Continue reading “Burien City Manager Demands Removal of Police Chief Who Won’t Arrest People for Being Homeless” →

homelessness, King County, Police

As Burien Countersues Over Homelessness Ban, Another Unsheltered Person Dies Downtown
Burien’s map showing where unsheltered people are banned at all times is misleading in one key respect—most of the light-gray areas (which are not restricted) do not include public spaces large enough for people to set up tents or sleep without violating other city rules, so the actual restricted area is much larger than the map suggests.

By Erica C. Barnett

On Thursday, the city of Burien sued King County and the King County Sheriff’s Office for breach of contract, seeking to force the sheriff’s office to drop their own federal lawsuit against the city. In its complaint, the city claims the sheriff’s office breached an agreement to provide police services to the city by refusing to enforce a recently passed camping ban.

That law prohibits people from sleeping or possessing “indicia of camping,” such as sleeping bags, in public spaces at all hours of the day or night unless there are no shelter beds available. It also bars homeless people from “living” within a 500-foot radius of all parks, libraries, schools, day cares, and other public facilities under any circumstances—effectively banishing them from most of the city.

Two weeks ago, King County Sheriff Cole-Tindall filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming the ban on “camping” violates the constitutional rights affirmed in a landmark case called Martin v. Boise, which prevents cities from banishing homeless people from public spaces unless adequate shelter is available. Burien has claimed shelter is “available”—just not in Burien. A group of unsheltered Burien residents also recently sued the city, charging that new “camping” ban violates the state constitution.

On Friday, another unsheltered man died in downtown, reportedly of an overdose, PubliCola has learned—the second death in the encampment in less than two weeks, and the first since the city announced it was terminating its contract with REACH, which provided outreach and case management to people living unsheltered in Burien. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office did not immediately have more information about the death.

In a statement announcing the lawsuit, the city said the county had had “placed its judgment over that of Burien’s duly elected officials; denied the City of Burien its authority to assist and protect Burien residents, businesses, and property; prevented Burien’s City Manager from providing direction to the contract police as stated in the Interlocal Agreement [between Burien and the county]; and interfered with Burien’s effort to provide guidance for the unhoused within the city’s boundaries.”

A spokesman for the sheriff’s office said, “The constitutionality of Burien’s anti-camping ordinance is squarely before the federal court.  Burien’s attempt to avoid a binding judgment by filing a lawsuit in Snohomish County is just a misguided distraction as we await decision from the federal court.”

A spokesperson for the city of Burien responded to PubliCola’s questions by sending a link to a web page the city has set up about the lawsuit.

The lawsuit asks the Snohomish County court to require King County to drop its lawsuit against the city, participate in a resolution process that could force the sheriff’s office to enforce the law, and pay the city damages and attorney’s fees.

Those fees could be substantial, because Burien has hired a large downtown Seattle law firm, Williams, Kastner & Gibbs PLLC, to represent them. It’s unclear how much Burien has budgeted for the case, including attorneys’ fees and other costs the city could incur if it loses; as the city’s chief executive, City Manager Adolfo Bailon can issue contracts of up to $50,000 without a public process or council approval. The city faces a $2 million budget cliff next year.

Burien City Manager Called 911 Dozens of Times 

Over the last year, Burien’s approach to homelessness has seemed to focus primarily on making the city an inhospitable place to live. For the last year, the city has swept a group of unsheltered people from location to location while delaying action on a shelter that would provide them with a place to go.

City officials have also tolerated  individual actions designed to drive homeless people out—or participated themselves.

Public records shared with PubliCola reveal that City Manager Bailon called 911 at least 45 times last year. PubliCola has reviewed summaries for 10 of these calls, which all concern people located just outside Burien’s downtown library and City Hall. In one call, Bailon reported seeing a person with their head “under a towel” and three tents set up in violation of the city’s encampment ban; in another, he told the 911 operator he had been watching a man wandering around and yelling for a while but had finally called in because his “butt [was] exposed.” Another call involved a man “adjusting his pants a lot but pulling them lower and lower” while kids played nearby; in another, Bailon reported seeing people in the park with “bongs, foil, etc.”

Last month, City Councilmember Linda Akey was caught on video berating a group of unsheltered people outside her downtown condo, yelling, “I live here and you do not belong here and threatening to call the police.

And, more recently, Taproot Church—whose mission is “to glorify God and enjoy him forever by making disciples of Jesus Christ”—set up a large spotlight in its parking lot and aimed it at the group of tents; the light, which is powered by a noisy generator, reportedly floods the encampment all night.

City Council, homelessness, King County, Morning Fizz

Morning Fizz: COVID at City Hall, Why “Consolidation” Won’t Fix the City Budget, and More on Burien’s Efforts to Kill a Church Encampment

1. Seattle City Councilmember Bob Kettle recently contracted COVID after coming in to his City Hall office while a family member was home sick with the highly infectious disease. During the period when he was not yet testing positive, he and his staff continued to work at City Hall without wearing masks, according to sources on the floor.

Although Kettle told PubliCola that he personally stayed home for a week after his first positive COVID test (including five days after his symptoms receded), his presence on the second floor during the time when his family member was sick unnerved at least one council member, Tammy Morales, who wrote in an email to the city clerk and council HR, “I just learned that a couple folks on the floor are home with Covid. Can I ask you to send around our policies to remind folks WHEN TO STAY HOME.”

According to a staffer for his office, Kettle “took multiple tests and the moment he received a positive result, he immediately began to work from home, and followed the five-day protocol once he received a negative test(s).” The city asks employees to isolate for five days after a positive test and stay home if they still have symptoms; however, even asymptomatic people can be contagious. Kettle and a staffer confirmed that no one else in his office contracted COVID from him.

Council president Sara Nelson and other council members have frequently touted the benefits of in-person work to council members and their staff as well as the recovery of downtown businesses. The council now holds all its meetings in person; previously, some council members attended remotely, including one council member with a young child and one who is immunocompromised.

Saka and Strauss are correct that the city has arborists in multiple departments. It has a total of two: One in the Parks Department, and one in SDOT. It’s unclear how moving both positions into one department or the other would save the city money.

2. Facing the largest budget shortfall in recent history, many city council members have latched on to the idea that city departments are inefficient and full of costly redundancies—a problem council budget committee chair Dan Strauss has recently taken to illustrating with the example of city arborists. “We have multiple different departments that have arborists,” Strauss said at a committee meeting last month, and “I think it makes more sense to have them all in one department.”

Earlier this week, Councilmember Rob Saka took up the mantle, calling the city’s many arborists the “canonical example” of the need for “consolidation” at the city on an episode of the Seattle Channel’s “City Inside/Out,” which features panel discussions with city council members.

“Do we need 17 different departments with arborists, or can they sit under one [department]—parks, for example, or whatever it is. But we need to better consolidate our functions, services, our lines of business, avoid duplication of efforts, [and] I think we’ll achieve some some great savings through that,” Saka said.

Curious, we looked to see how many arborists the city has and in how many different departments. As it turns out, Saka and Strauss are correct that the city has arborists in multiple departments. It has a total of two: One in the Parks Department, and one in SDOT. It’s unclear how moving both positions into one department or the other would save the city money.

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3. As PubliCola reported late last year, Burien City Manager Adolfo Bailon failed to inform the city council about a letter from Deputy King County Executive Shannon Braddock telling him the city needed to come up with a plan to spend $1 million the county was offering to build a shelter or lose the money.

Bailon sat on the letter for a week before telling the full council about it, claiming he was too busy responding to to emails opposing a temporary encampment at a local church that was run by a nonprofit started by then-council member Cydney Moore.

Although Bailon later changed his story, documents obtained through a records request show that he did spend a great deal of time responding to opponents of the encampment and raising questions about its legality. Those emails included:

• A note to the Burien fire chief asking him if the city could ensure that all the tents at the encampment would be “flame retardant”;

• An email to Burien Police Chief Ted Boe asking him to send an officer to a meeting to refute “potentially false claims” by the encampment’s sponsor that sex offenders would be barred from the encampment (which they were);

• An email warning the superintendent of the Highline Public School District about the church encampment’s “proximity to Highline High School” and claiming that the encampment violated city law;

• At least seven emails to people who wrote him to oppose the encampment, saying he was “very sorry to hear” about the problems the encampment would cause them and encouraging them to attend an upcoming meeting where they could express their opposition.

The encampment closed in February.