After a brief rezone matter, moving onto WSDOT's presentation on I-405 & SR167 improvements.
"We're working off a master plan vision that is approximately 20 years old."
Yeah, that's kinda the problem. Well, one of them, at least.
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Reduced toll collection from COVID traffic reductions created a budget shortfall of anywhere between $175M & $450M.
Imagine the trails, bike infrastructure, and transit we could fund with that money instead.
Of course we need widespread zoning reform as well, but still.
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SB I-405 will also get an additional general purpose lane in some portions (bad).
Project also includes direct access ramps explicitly meant for Bus Rapid Transit (good).
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Since work on I-405 interrupted the Lake Washington Loop, WSDOT covered funds for and built a southern portion of Eastrail to replace it. This portion was opened up a couple of months ago.
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Looks like after the 5 month Main Street bridge closure, there will also be a 2 month period where it's only open as a single lane in each direction. So not back to normal until after October this year.
Very curious what the *actual* traffic impacts end up being.
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If 116th is going to experience increased traffic, wonder if there's the will from staff & Council to place a bus lane in the NB direction on 116th Ave? Would be a good way to assess if dedicated bus infrastructure improves reliability & ridership on the 271 (spoiler: it will).
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WSDOT notes that, by fully closing the bridge for 5 months, work will be able to be completed faster. Alternative was to keep one lane of traffic in each direction the full project length, but then it would've taken 20 months to complete the work.
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Seems demolition will be occurring over 2 days, during the first weekend of March. This would occur during one of the weekend closures of I-405.
*Very* curious to see what the traffic impacts are there (if any).
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WSDOT has conducted outreach through various channels and has the goal of reducing trips on the affected weekends by 20%, which is what they've seen happen in the past for similar closures. Also considering a demolition viewing opportunity for Councilmembers
(jealous).
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CM Barksdale asks about bike/ped detours, given that people will be confused. WSDOT reaching out to Cascade Bicycle Club for bike outreach, ped outreach has relied on other outreach options (like websites and newsletters). Barksdale suggests signal priority or other modifications
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CM Robertson praises the "longstanding, great partnership" the city has had with WSDOT. Asks if in addition to full I-405 closures, there will be any lane closures. WSDOT says yes, would let city know appropriately beforehand. Say the closures should mostly be at night though.
DM Nieuwenhuis appreciates the shorter schedule. Asks what the throughput on Main Street is. Advocates for earlier outreach so people & employers can plan accordingly.
Staff doesn't have traffic analysis right now and say outreach will be starting tomorrow.
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CM Lee confirms that I-405 itself will need to be closed, WSDOT reiterates the one weekend closure and then occasional overnight closures. Wants more communication & notice for when closures happen.
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CM Stokes notes he lives close to the affected area, wants to make sure outreach extends beyond the immediate area since impacts will be widespread.
CM Zahn asks if there's communication w/ Google Maps to note closures. Asks if ongoing concrete workers strike impacts timeline.
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WSDOT notes that big components that would be affected by the strike usually have a long lead time that would've initiated before it, but there might be impacts if the strike isn't resolved in the next 8-9 weeks. Also, Google Maps uses data from WSDOT site to update closures.
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Mayor Robinson asking about the Eastrail ped-bike connection over I-405. Work has been started on that but has been impacted by the strike. Hoping for a three month timeframe pending the strike. Bridge will be 160' long by 24' wide.
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Mayor notes that detour signs often are placed in bike lanes or on the sidewalk, impeding users. Echoes comments from CM Barksdale in making sure pathways for those modes are clear and available.
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Seems the next two study session items might be discussed jointly, which makes sense since they're both related to Police Use of Force & body camera policies. Starting off with the quarterly update. Previous one can be found here:
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Moving on to an update on the implementation of modifications to BPD's use of force policies. Tonight's presentation is the 2nd quarterly update and the first update to be presented by Bellevue's new Chief of Police, Wendell Shirley.
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During Q4 2021, BPD responded to an additional 12 of the OIR Group's 47 recommendations. That brings the total # of policies responded to up to 32.
On the list of "this should have already been policy," #25 comes in pretty high on the list.
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Also noteworthy that rec #23, "BPD should revise policy to restrict taser applications to 5 second activations" was implemented as "restrict taser applications to 5 second activations except in exigent circumstances."
That's not quite the same, guys.
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Rec #34, to publish on its website any munitions authorized for use by its Civil Disturbance Unit or SWAT Team, will *not* be implemented. "After consultation w/ subject matter experts, I've concluded this would not be in the best interest of public safety."
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BPD has been looking into body-worn cameras (BWC) for "a couple of years now", currently has a steering committee made up of stakeholders to further review the issue. Shirley notes the "unanimous support" in the community for BWC.
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Feels kinda scummy to be presenting the % of recommendations that have been "responded to", not the ones that have actually been implemented.
Also, hilarious to talk about commitment to transparency, right after you talk about not implementing a rec that would increase it.
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BPD PIO Meeghan Black highlighting the police's data dashboard, a site which mainly includes static spreadsheets of summary statistics - not anonymized, incident-level data.
Mentions updates coming that will "provide greater detail", so maybe that changes.
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Highlights the outreach to the City's Police Advisory Groups. These groups, composed of residents from marginalized communities, are not publicly accessible, nor are minutes, agenda items, and feedback received from these groups publicly accessible. bellevuewa.gov/city-governmen
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Transitioning into more specific action around developing a BWC policy. Council action tonight would enable police to use BWC in the future, and set guidelines for establishing further community outreach.
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DM Nieuwenhuis starts by thanking the officers that helped the family in the Somerset landslide yesterday. Praises the progress & transparency the city is showing. Liked the public outreach meeting on Jan 12 as a way "to educate the community on procedures & training."
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*Doesn't* seem great that your first go-to when acknowledging the public outreach that transpired is to praise it as an opportunity for police to educate community, and not the other way around like it rightfully should be.
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CM Barksdale notes that the particular implemented recommendations are "the ones that can really impact someone's life." Is interested in community conversations around release of camera data, the balance of transparency & privacy.
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Highlights the death of Daunte Wright, where an officer pulled out a gun instead of her taser, and asks if there's been an examination of ways to mitigate that risk. Officers highlight training and how those are worn on different sides of the belt.
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I.e. not really anything different from the situation and circumstances that were in place when that incident occurred, therefore no real way to ensure it doesn't happen again.
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CM Lee: likes the progress PD has made, supports the BWC resolution. Very onbrand, he wants more details on the fiscal impacts of BWC, and the timeline of when the equipment would actually be purchased. Police notes that further steps would be needed before actual implementation.
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CM Zahn: Supports the department doing due diligence if there's a recommendation, like #34, that PD ends up not supporting. Would not have expected her to be the one to say this. Asks for a summary of the remaining 15 recommendations and a general timeline of implementation.
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Chief Shirley still has a goal of implementing remaining policies by June. Remaining 15 policies include civil disturbances, officer-involved shootings, and protest policies. Notes that the policies will all be subject to Collective Bargaining.
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CM Zahn also hopes that relative costs will be known in time for Council's biennial budget discussions this year. Chief Shirley can't give an exact time, but says the steering committee is working on it.
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CM Robertson says she thought that Council had already appropriated some money for a BWC program. City Manager Miyake notes some money *was* appropriated as a placeholder. Deputy City Manager notes that was for research and starting work on policies.
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CM Robertson seems to be advocating for an increased number of officers to be funded in this years' biennial budget to keep up with the city's growth. "It's not just equipment, it's people too."
Yes, it is. But how about staffing people who *don't* have guns?
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Or better yet, use existing funding to... I don't know... staff different people? Like mental health and city services people?
I feel like there was a word for that whole policy idea...
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"So we can make sure that we have a police budget that reflects the values of the community..."
The people who want more police in our communities don't share my values. Kinda cringe to be in a city where "more police" is a value.
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"The value's public safety, don't misrepresent her"
Okay, yeah, but the whole discussion around policing in this country is that maybe we need different tools, people, and services, and we need to rethink what our public safety apparatus actually should look like? /soapbox
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CM Stokes thinks these changes and BWC will bring the PD from a good department to a great department.
Mayor Robinson: "It seems sometimes that it takes us some time to get important things like this done, but when we do them, boy I feel like we do an excellent job."
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