BurienSaysEnough!
Burien – Residents, Businesses, Building Owners, and Friends of our Community
We must regularly pack the council chambers with our requests for accountability and leadership with integrity. Here is the link for council meeting dates and times:
https://burienwa.civicweb.net/Portal/MeetingTypeList.aspx
Ways to Participate:
https://www.burienwa.gov/city_hall/city_council/city_council_meeting_access
SIGN UP TO SPEAK IN PERSON:
https://citydocs.burienwa.gov/Forms/PublicComments
Email: You can provide public comment in advance by sending an email to cityclerk@burienwa.gov
We need to overwhelm the City of Burien with public comments- please sign up now via this link:
https://citydocs.burienwa.gov/Forms/PublicComments
By signing up ahead of time, we carry the room, and our voices cannot be ignored. Sign up even if you do not plan on speaking; you can pass.
NEXT STEPS:
EMAIL THE COUNCIL AND CITY:
economicdevelopment@burienwa.gov
If you would like to cut and paste this statement to email:
NO Tent Encampments in Burien. Promoting illegal drug use, vandalism, and squatting is NOT in Burien’s best interests. NO Shelters in Burien. NO new taxes. NO tax increases, which further degrade the city and do not solve the current problems at hand: crime, drugs, public safety, clean and friendly public spaces, and an understaffed police force.
In case you missed the Monday, April 17, 2023, Council Meeting:
Councilmember Cydney Moore wants a homeless shelter in Burien (in addition to the DESC). If Burien builds a spendy new homeless shelter, the city cannot force someone to accept housing. If Burien could get people off the streets and into a shelter, what would prevent others from turning up and colonizing the current encampment or a new one?
According to Burien city manager Adolfo Bailon, city police cannot ask any vagrant to move along until Burien has demonstrated that it has found housing for every vagrant in Burien, as per the Martin v. Boise 9th Circuit Court case of a few years ago. Bailon does not know how many vagrants there are in Burien right now, nor does he even know how to determine what makes someone a legit Burien “homeless” person. ( No one knows.) The Martin v. Boise court case Bailon refers to does answer that all-important question. At April 17, 2023, City Council meeting, Bailon reported on the tent campers’ current city land: “The lot is not leased.” The camp has generated a great deal of interest. “The city has yet to receive any actual proposal.” They have a two-week timeline once offers come in, ensuring the city gets the “biggest bang for their buck.” Bailon indicated they do not want to make a knee-jerk reaction due to the present situation. The city manager also suggested that the city council would make the final decision.
Word on the street is the city has received a request for a lease from a local advocate who proposes a dog park. Curiously, the city manager says no proposals have been received by the city when several have heard a lease proposal is in the city’s hands.
In addition to the “can kicking down the road” at Monday night’s meeting, the council also voted to find ways to raise taxes to overcome the city’s significant budget shortfall. Matt Hobson from FCS Group, an entity
hired by the city as a consultant, presented a grim picture of the city’s finances. Burien has been running around a $2,000,000 deficit yearly for the last few years. Reserves are being depleted and will be gone by 2025. The current level of expenditures will have an annual budget deficit of $2,800,000 by 2032.
The council then began to talk about voter-approved levied lid lift. Without increased revenue, there will need to be staff cuts.
There was no serious discussion about cuts being an option. A motion directing staff to develop proposals for voter-approved tax increases was passed.
Voting Results: Yeas: Hugo Garcia, Cydney Moore, Sara Moore, and Kevin Schilling
Nays: Stephanie Mora
Abstention: Mayor Aragon and Jimmy Matta
EMAIL THE Business and Economic Development Partnership:
If you would like to cut and paste a statement and email it:
No new taxes! We request the BEDP representing economic development and businesses in Burien to hold the council, City Manager, and city leadership accountable for the following:
1) Remove all graffiti from public buildings and public spaces. 2) Regular upkeep of ALL our city parks, sidewalks, walkways, street benches, and right-of-way planters. 3) Trespass and prosecute any found defacing our public spaces and places. 4) Restore public safety, and support our local police force by empowering them to arrest and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law. 5) Enforce the NO panhandling, No aggressive panhandling ordinance 9.80.400 #BurienSaysEnough!
SHOW UP!
https://burienwa.civicweb.net/Portal/MeetingTypeList.aspx
Mobilize –Please consider finding someone in your business, neighborhood, or sphere who is willing to be your group mobilizer.
The mobilizer’s roles and responsibilities will include spreading the word and ensuring that a representative from your neighborhood, business, sphere, or community group represents you at the council meeting.
This is an 8-month commitment for all of us; look what has been accomplished thus far!
(News coverage, trending stories putting the plight of Burien on the map on a broader scale, interviews of our community with local news channels, Twitter, and social media stats off the charts.)
When we met on March 27, 2023, we asked for a 34-week commitment. We are down to 29 weeks to affect change in Burien. Do you want to run for council and be our next council person? Do you know someone who loves Burien and would like to take back our city to make it even better than before? The filing deadline is May 2023. November 2023 is the next Burien City Council election, and one of our goals is leadership with integrity!
Let’s work together to keep up the momentum!
#BurienSaysEnough!
