On September 26, the D5 Community Network is hosting a forum on the 2019-20 City of Seattle budget with District 5 Councilmember Debora Juarez, City Budget Director Ben Noble, and City Council Staff Director Kirstan Arestad. See the flyer below. The meeting will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Bitter Lake Community Center, 13035 Linden Ave. N.
This meeting will be a kind of training session for community advocates. You will hear highlights of what is in the Mayor’s proposed budget for key issues of interest to District 5, how citizens can most effectively advocate for the issues of most interest to them, and Councilmember Juarez’s priorities for this two-year budget cycle. There will be a 50-minute question and answer period for budget-related issues. By agreement with Councilmember Juarez, approximately half of this time will be set aside for written questions submitted that night, with additional questions submitted by community organizations in the district.
Oh yes! I will definitely be attending this meeting. Both the Mayor’s and city council’s endless tax schemes have gone well beyond the point of nonsensical idiocy. While Washington’s new Amazon Law was not only proper, I believe the increased revenue was essential to the health of our economy. On the flip side, The incessant property and “behavioral modification” taxes are both punitive (to the lowest income earners) and absurd. I for one, have simply stopped making any purchases (aside from those mandated by the city- I understand- how else could you charge such ridiculously over inflated rates for substandard services and overpaid employees?)in the Seattle city limits. In retaliation, 100% of my nontaxable purchases are now made out of state. I encourage others to do the same until our elected representatives start listening to those from whom the are blatantly stealing.