Speak up for Vision Zero and the Solidarity Budget!
- clara
- Oct. 26, 2021
Yesterday, someone died while travelling on our streets. Same with last week. This is unacceptable. Everyone has a right to get to where they need to go safely.
Seattle has committed to Vision Zero, the goal to eliminate road-traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030. But we are failing to reach that goal. One big reason why is that the Vision Zero program has been chronically underfunded. Decades of neglect have created a huge backlog of high-speed streets that see crash after crash, and often lack basic safe places to walk, roll, or bike.
Right now, with your help we can triple the Vision Zero budget, and invest in safety projects like sidewalks, safety redesigns, crosswalks, and traffic calming where they are needed most.
Two easy ways to ask the City Council to invest in Vision Zero and the Solidarity Budget in the 2022 Seattle City Budget:
- Phone in to give public comment: Thursday morning, Oct 28, when Seattle City Council discusses the transportation budget! Public comment starts at 9:30 am, sign-up opens at 7:30 am. You’ll get a second opportunity during the public hearing on Nov 10 at 5:30 pm. How-to guide here.
- Click here to send an email of support to the entire City Council
So far in 2021, 26 people have been killed by traffic violence on our streets, including two people killed in two separate incidents just in the last week -- and we still have two months of the darkest, wettest time of year. And traffic violence, like so much else in our city, is disproportionately killing and harming people of color, disabled people, elders, low-income people, and unhoused people. Each number is a person, and each death has rippling effects on their family, friends, and community. We must do better.
We also recognize that safety on our streets doesn’t just mean safety from speeding vehicles, and that people are being killed on our streets by systemic racist policing, by gun violence, and because they are currently experiencing homelessness. That’s why we’ve endorsed the Solidarity Budget, asking Council to defund the Seattle Police Department and reinvest in communities, including in Vision Zero. The Solidarity Budget is a collective call towards a city budget that centers the needs of the most marginalized and vulnerable Seattle residents and aligns our budget with our shared values and priorities.
Earlier this year, the City Council doubled the Vision Zero budget for 2021. Now, they are voting to make that change permanent. Councilmember Lewis has also proposed an additional increase that would triple the Vision Zero budget going forward. This funding would make a huge difference in the number and quality of safety improvements our city is able to install each year, and the number of lives we’d be able to save.
We’re also supporting amendments proposed by Councilmember Morales increasing safe places to walk in both new sidewalk construction and Home Zones.
Other important proposed amendments to make the budget better reflect our city’s values and priorities:
- Lake Washington Boulevard: Conduct equitable engagement to design and implement permanent improvements for Lake Washington Boulevard.
- Martin Luther King Jr Blvd Safety: Ask SDOT to come up with a plan to make this high crash corridor safer for people walking, biking, and accessing transit.
- Remove Data Collection from the Police: Ask SDOT to analyze what it would take to collect street safety and crash data in order to move this work away from the Seattle Police Department.
- Smart Planning: Demand accountability for the "Citywide Integrated Transportation Plan," which may undercut our efforts to make safer streets.
Act now to ask the City Council to invest in Vision Zero and the Solidarity Budget in the 2022 Seattle City Budget:
- Phone in to give public comment Thursday morning, Oct 28, when Seattle City Council discusses the transportation budget! Public comment starts at 9:30 am, sign-up opens at 7:30 am. You’ll get a second opportunity during the public hearing on Nov 10 at 5:30 pm. How-to guide here.
- Click here to send an email of support to the entire City Council
Clara Cantor
she/her
Community Organizer
Seattle Neighborhood Greenways
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