I think it's funny when they blame the unions for costs. After all, it takes two to enter into an agreement - labor and management. And it's not like the city hasn't played hardball with the unions before. During the City Light strikes in the 70's, the city basically locked the workers out and depended on the supervisors to do the basic maintenance work for several months.

One thing that was lurking in the city's announcement about the hiring freeze was a line that basically said "we want to be careful in hiring this years to minimize curtailments next year". That could mean anything from layoffs to unpaid furlough days, as we saw during the real estate crash.

First, cut all HSD contracts immediately. They are making the problem they pretend they are trying to solve worse. Spending nothing in that area would improve over what we are and have been doing for the last decade.

There. No additional revenue needed.

We need to audit the audit! Then audit that! If we audit enough something is due to materialize that will fix our budget woes without making any changes. It’s the only sensible thing to do. Well, that and give SPD another $96M in exchange for doing less.

Comments like this are simply false “Last month Seattle Public Libraries announced 1,500 hours of service cuts between April 12 and June 2 because of staffing shortages exacerbated by the Mayor’s hiring freeze”

The SPL is not impacted by the mayor’s hiring freeze - they are simply using it as an excuse to create a crisis (similar to the cops not doing their jobs leading to crimes going unsolved / unpunished). And to be clear, SPL is spending more on ebooks (because publishers can extract additional revenues from that format) and SPL staff are too often de facto social workers which requires elevated staffing levels to keep everyone safe.

@5: “Comments like this are simply false…”

Thank you, I came here just to say that.

Spending more on ebooks means less money for the far-less-expensive paper kind, less money for Library employees, and fewer hours for everyone to use the Library. Why the Stranger isn’t hollering about these equity issues, I really can’t say.

Here's what I don't get about the library situation: While they may not be subject to the hiring freeze, they are still bound by the constraints of their budget. If they go over budget, they have to go to the council for supplemental funding, don't they?

Hannah, in what world are ANY of the current members of the Seattle City Council "conservative"? With two exceptions, they are all bog-standard, moderate to center-left Democrats. Your constant characterization of them as "conservative" shows your bias, and explains why you will never be a true journalist.

The libraries are hit because the Stranger Lefties have turned them into de-facto junkie flops and clinics. The bathroom at the Ballard Library is basically a junkie/tweaker wash basin and rest facility. As a result, the staff has to be more than needed to do the library function. That's it in a nutshell. So roust the junkies and let the library go back to it's core function.

To be fair, aramis dear, libraries have always been a locus for problem people, including homeless people and people with substance problems. That's pretty much baked into the cake. While I agree that Covid and the homeless crisis has been a disaster for the libraries, I also think that the library system is saddled with a fleet of buildings that require much more maintenance than they should, which is very Seattle.

It's like our schools: All the money that we have put into the school buildings over the last two decades, and now the board is considering closing 20% of the elementary schools because of budget issues and declining enrollment.

This article is a great example of why so many people are frustrated with the city's elected officials and political culture. Essential services are being left to wither on the vine while all kinds of dumb shit is being funded.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-fire-truck-fleet-deteriorating-faster-than-repairs-can-keep-up/

Maybe the city should get basic services like maintaining fire apparatus squared away before they start trying to generate more revenue to do a bunch of new stuff?