Title
A MOTION requesting that the King County executive transmit a report to the King County council that includes plans for assessing and addressing safety concerns relating to City Hall park and the King County Courthouse, providing shelter and services to any current and potential future occupants of City Hall park and assessing and recommending options for the county to acquire City Hall park.
Body
WHEREAS, City Hall park is located directly adjacent to the King County courthouse in downtown Seattle, and
WHEREAS, the King County Courthouse is the seat of government for all of King County and is where all 2,300,000 residents are able to access justice as well as other county services, and should be able to be assured they can do so safely, and WHEREAS, City Hall park is owned and operated by the city of Seattle, and WHEREAS, the area surrounding the King County Courthouse and City Hall park has been the scene of a number of violent incidents that have been recognized as a significant problem for safety of the public, the county, local residents, businesses and their employees, courthouse employees and other county employees working at the civic campus, and
WHEREAS, county employees and members of the public have been and are at risk of being assaulted while trying to enter or depart their places of work or use public facilities, such as the courthouse, and
WHEREAS, King County has appropriated approximately $2.7 million to enhance security in and around the courthouse since 2019, and
WHEREAS, people experiencing homelessness had been living in the park in a tent encampment, and
WHEREAS, King County has appropriated $50 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act moneys to support emergency homelessness response and related behavioral health services to provide safe and healthy settings for at least 500 people living outside or in vehicles in downtown Seattle and the urban unincorporated areas of the county, and
WHEREAS, from that appropriation, King ...

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