By Erica C. Barnett

In a late-afternoon announcement Friday, Seattle City Councilmember Maritza Rivera announced she is pulling a proposed budget proviso that threatened the future of dozens of projects funded by the city’s Equitable Development Initiative, the city’s largest anti-displacement program. Rivera’s new amendment “requests that the Office of Planning and Community Development submit a status report for the Equitable Development Initiative (EDI) grant program in the 2024 Adopted Budget.”

On Tuesday, advocates for EDI-funded programs filled council chambers to capacity as they waited to testify against Rivera’s proposal. EDI funds help community groups that have not previously developed projects with funding for site acquisition, capacity building, and other costs; since 2016, when the program started, EDI has funded mixed-use housing developments, supported arts organizations, and helped small businesses expand and stay in their communities.

Although Rivera claimed her proviso—a freeze on funding until a later council vote—wouldn’t defund any current EDI projects, that would almost certainly be its impact. In addition to requiring a report from OPCD, Rivera’s original amendment would have required OPCD to spend all the money allocated to the program in previous years, a total of $53.5 million, by September 24—a virtually impossible task, given that capital projects take years, not weeks or months. If any of the funds remained unspent, this year’s funding, more than $25 million, would be absorbed back into the city’s budget.

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Specifically, Rivera’s original amendment “impose[d] a proviso1 on $25.3 million allocated for the Equitable Development Initiative (EDI) program in the 2024 Adopted Budget. … Council would consider lifting the proviso via ordinance after the Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD) accomplishes the following: (1) expends the proposed 2023 carryforward amount of $53.5 million; and (2) provides a status update report to the City Council on the existing list of projects.” The “transmittal of legislation to lift the proviso,” the original proposal continues, “should occur no later than September 24, when the Council anticipates transmittal of the Executive’s proposed 2024 Year-End Supplemental Budget Ordinance.”

If the conditions aren’t met in time, Rivera’s original proposal says, “the $25.3 million appropriation will lapse at year-end and become part of the 2025 beginning fund balance.”

Rivera, who has never acknowledged that her proposal amounted to anything more than a request for information, has said the people who opposed her original amendment were victims of “disinformation” from unspecified sources. In her statement today, she continued to insist that her proposal would not have put EDI programs at any risk. “As I said earlier this week, the ongoing projects were never at risk, but I understand that stakeholders needed a strong message of support for the EDI program. I look forward to continued engagement with community,” Rivera said.