From the Central District to Highland Park: the neighborhood-specific money in the Council's first budget asks

Most of the budget debate is about citywide programs. Some of the changes councilmembers filed for Tuesday's Select Budget Committee would send money to specific neighborhoods. Here they are by area, from Central Staff's summary list and the department packets. None is approved yet: the chair's balancing package on Nov. 4 decides what survives. Monday, Councilmember Dionne Foster announced her City Attorney backlog proposal, the first of this week's items to get its own announcement.

Central District and Southeast Seattle (Districts 2 and 3)

DON-001: a reinvestment program. $2.5 million a year in 2027 and 2028 and two staff positions to create a Central District and Southeast Seattle Reinvestment Program in the Department of Neighborhoods. It would give ongoing support to groups working to preserve and revitalize those communities, through an application process the department would design with the Council President's office. Sponsors: Joy Hollingsworth, Rob Saka and Dionne Foster. Source: the neighborhoods packet.

FG-001: a community center. $200,000 in one-time money for a community center that needs building repairs and operating support. Central Staff names the MLK FAME Community Center as an example. Sponsors: Dan Strauss, Eddie Lin and Foster. Source: the Finance General packet.

SODO and Georgetown (District 2)

DON-004: a safety coordinator. $115,000 a year to contract with a group such as the SODO Business Improvement Association for a community safety coordinator. The coordinator would improve communication with businesses, connect service and public safety partners, and track places where safety problems keep happening. Sponsors: Saka, Hollingsworth and Robert Kettle.

OSE-002: the Georgetown Farmers Market. $50,000 in 2027 to keep it running. Central Staff notes Georgetown has no full-service grocery and that almost a quarter of households in the 98108 ZIP code receive SNAP benefits. The market got $40,000 this year, and the mayor's budget did not continue that support. Sponsors: Foster, Saka and Lin. Source: the sustainability packet.

Highland Park (District 1)

OPCD-005: a public market. $3 million in one-time money for a public market in Highland Park, such as the African Community and Housing Development International Public Market. Central Staff notes that the $1 million the Council added last year has not been contracted yet. The organization is still spending money from earlier city contracts worth $4.54 million. Sponsors: Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Saka and Foster. Source: the planning packet.

North Seattle (District 5)

OPCD-001: North Aurora planning. $250,000 a year plus a two-year planner position. Sponsors: Debora Juarez, Lin and Strauss. Of this year's $500,000, the planning office had spent under $20,000 so far, Central Staff says. Two shootings near Aurora last week put the corridor back in the news, as we report in Two North Seattle shootings.

OPCD-004S: an I-5 lid study at Pinehurst station. A request for the planning office to scope a feasibility study. Sponsors: Strauss, Juarez and Rinck.

Ballard (District 6)

OPCD-003: Ballard planning. $200,000 for Ballard Regional Center planning. SCL-001: a garden. $40,000 a year to lease the former Market Street Substation site to a community group for a garden. Both are Strauss's. We cover them with Sound Transit's Ballard timeline in Ballard rail could open by 2042.

Northeast Seattle (District 4)

SPU-001S: the Yesler Creek property. This asks Seattle Public Utilities to report on planning for the former Talaris site at 4000 NE 41st St. The Council authorized buying the nearly 18-acre site in December 2025. Sponsors: Rinck, Lin and Foster. Source: the utilities packet.

Citywide, but for neighborhood groups

• DON-002: $100,000 a year for neighborhood councils that coordinate across the city (Hollingsworth, Juarez, Kettle).
• DON-003: sets aside $50,000 for "local government 101" grants (Maritza Rivera, Hollingsworth, Saka). As of Oct. 9, the program had funded six such projects totaling about $26,000, per the neighborhoods packet.

What's next

These come up at the Select Budget Committee on Tuesday, Oct. 27 (Neighborhoods item, Planning item). Other members can sign on as co-sponsors in open session. The chair's balancing package follows Nov. 4, and the public hearing is Nov. 5, according to the Central Staff schedule. Our overview of all 36 proposals has the full list and totals.