Students crossing the street in South Seattle. Summary:
- Historically, the City of Seattle’s transportation levies have supported nearly every aspect of SDOT’s delivery of transportation services and projects.
- Mayor Bruce Harrell’s 2024 Transportation Levy Proposal has the potential to further advance the City of Seattle’s race and social justice goals.
- A Racial Equity Toolkit (RET) is a key part of the Mayor’s Transportation Levy Proposal.
- The Levy Proposal RET will guide us in directing levy investment to remedy transportation inequities affecting Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, seniors, people with disabilities, and others who have been traditionally underserved by government investment.
- The Levy Proposal RET is informed by the Seattle Transportation Plan (STP) and the Transportation Equity Framework (TEF), and outlines ways that levy investments can be directed equitably.
- Some examples of this include programs like People Streets & Public Spaces and the Neighborhood-Initiated Safety Partnership Program, which are designed to benefit historically underinvested communities.
- Moving forward, the RET will be an evolving guide for ensuring that SDOT’s levy-funded projects and programs continue to promote racial equity and benefit those most in need.
Historically, the City of Seattle’s transportation levies have supported nearly every aspect of SDOT’s delivery of transportation services and projects. Mayor Bruce Harrell’s 2024 Transportation Levy Proposal has the potential to further advance the City of Seattle’s race and social justice goals.
Since 2004, the Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI) has been the City of Seattle’s guiding framework for racial equity. In 2023, it was codified into law, reinforcing the City’s commitment to eliminating racial disparities and achieving racial equity in Seattle.
BIPOC and low-income communities, as well as seniors and people with disabilities, continue to face significant transportation-related challenges. Addressing transportation inequities helps reduce disproportionate rates of illness, death, social isolation, and poverty; long-term impacts of pollution; and limited access to opportunities and wealth. Transportation is essential to access key services like jobs, education, healthcare, community, and entertainment. Our levy investments can provide access to opportunity and benefit people within and beyond districts.
We at SDOT are committed to reconciling our history of systemic racism and exclusionary planning in our transportation system, and the recently released Transportation Levy Proposal reflects that dedication in alignment with the City’s Race and Social Justice Initiative.
The Racial Equity Toolkit (RET) is a key part of Mayor Bruce Harrell’s 2024 Transportation Levy Proposal.
The RET strategic framework is designed to guide the development and assessment of policies, programs, and initiatives with a focus on promoting racial equity. The RET offers a structured approach to identifying potential disparities and addressing systemic inequalities.
We completed a RET for the levy proposal to ensure that the proposal aligns with our overarching goals of eliminating racial disparities and advancing social justice. By embedding equity considerations into every stage of our processes, the RET helps ensure that underserved communities benefit from City policies and plans.
The Levy Proposal RET will guide us in directing levy investment to remedy transportation inequities in underinvested communities.
The RET for the transportation levy proposal is grounded in three key elements: outreach and planning carried out in developing the Seattle Transportation Plan (STP), Seattle’s Transportation Equity Framework (TEF), and equitable implementation practices.
Seattle Transportation Plan (STP) Input
Through the STP public engagement process, we developed an equity goal and key tactics to achieve that goal. These tactics were informed by an intentional community engagement process that then guided the levy proposal development.
Some of the ways we can achieve this equity goal include centering the voices of communities of color and underrepresented groups, prioritizing investments for impacted communities, removing cost barriers to transportation, and supporting non-punitive transportation enforcement approaches to enhance public safety.
Applying learnings from the intensive STP engagement process has helped to ensure the levy proposal is firmly rooted in community priorities.
Transportation Equity Framework (TEF)
We also worked with our Transportation Equity Workgroup (TEW) to develop and inform pieces of the levy proposal.
The TEW, a diverse group of community members, helped us establish the City’s Transportation Equity Framework (TEF). The TEF is a community-guided vision that serves as the Seattle Department of Transportation’s (SDOT’s) guiding document when considering equity priorities on policies, programs and projects that most impact Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, and communities that have historically and currently been underinvested in by government.
With the support of the TEW, we implemented 16 TEF tactics as we developed the levy proposal. Some of these tactics include:
- Generate funding and savings opportunities to help address the need to manage assets and our maintenance backlog. Work with SDOT staff to develop opportunities to drive budget savings for maximum benefit for BIPOC community and increase revenue that doesn’t further burden BIPOC Community.
- Focus maintenance resources in communities and neighborhoods currently underserved by government that have significant maintenance needs; use findings from the racial equity assessment.
- Engage TEW in the development of the next transportation funding package, particularly in crafting language related to composition and make-up of the next oversight committee.
- Identify and allocate funds to new or existing programs to address pedestrian safety concerns that are reflected from community data collection.
The levy proposal would equip SDOT with resources to respond to and prioritize the needs of historically underinvested communities and foster an inclusive equity practice.
In the levy proposal, we have prioritized investments with an equity lens. This work builds on key learnings from STP community engagement, contributes to the STP equity goal, incorporates guidance from the Transportation Equity Workgroup, and is rooted in the current Levy to Move Seattle’s equity work plan.
Some of the ways we incorporated equity into the proposal include:
- Project identification, where we prioritize investments in:
- Areas where there is a demonstrated need to serve the most people and modes of travel
- Neighborhoods where the City has historically invested fewer resources
- Places where there are opportunities to co-create with community
- Equitable engagement practices, where we communicate clearly and transparently with the public about projects and programs in their neighborhoods
- The development of programs like People Streets & Public Spaces and the Neighborhood-Initiated Safety Partnership Program (see more on this in the text box below)
Spotlight: Participatory Budgeting
Participatory budgeting, where residents can decide how to spend a portion of a public budget, is one practice that can contribute to racial and social equity.
The Transportation Levy Proposal includes a component with participatory budgeting principles, the Neighborhood-Initiated Safety Partnership Program, which is based on learnings from SDOT participatory budgeting programs like Your Voice, Your Choice and Neighborhood Street Fund.
This approach helps ensure that the needs of BIPOC and vulnerable communities are met by co-creating projects with the community, focusing on relationship building, and incorporating communities into decision-making processes.
Moving forward, the RET will be an evolving guide for ensuring that SDOT’s levy-funded projects and programs promote racial equity and benefit those most in need.
Monitoring, evaluating, and adapting the implementation strategies will be crucial to maintaining alignment with the City’s equity goals. We will design and implement future projects with a focus on promoting racial equity, ensuring that levy dollars reach those who need it most. By doing so, we can take meaningful strides toward building a more equitable transportation system for people who live, work, and play in Seattle.