FEDERAL WAY — In his first State of the County address since taking office seven months ago, King County Executive Girmay Zahilay hyped his achievements during his brief tenure while offering a bold, collaborative vision for the county. The county's first millennial, immigrant, and refugee executive (who grew up in Rainier Valley) was brought out with a mid-2010s hip-hop-beat walk-out song to thunderous applause at the Federal Way Performing Arts Center. His roughly 48-minute speech was divided into five sections: the county's response to last year's flooding and the "4 B's" — better government, breaking the cycle, building for affordability, and being in community.
These themes were also present in the speakers who introduced Zahilay. From the mayors of Federal Way and Kent, highlighting collaboration with the county, to the Franklin High School student who spoke about solving systemic issues, to the cinema-style video showing every part of King County.
Throughout his speech, Zahilay had a giant screen that highlighted themes and displayed news clips and photos highlighting his various accomplishments.
Zahilay's speech was meant not only to showcase his administration's efforts but also to thank all the various county employees who worked to overcome the historic natural disaster. Someone from nearly every county department got a shout-out, including department heads, managers, and coordinators, even wastewater operator Tyler Stiltner, who was stranded at the Carnation Treatment Plant.
The county employees looked happy with the shout-outs from the executive. "It is so important to acknowledge what you all protected in the face of a crisis like this," Zahilay said.
Zahilay focused on the various financial mismangement scandals facing King County recently and how he has navigated them. He highlighted one of his first acts in office, creating an internal audit director to resolve audit findings and "identify risks before they become failures."
He also talked about his work addressing the $34 billion funding gap at Sound Transit and reforming the Department of Community and Human Services after its recent audit. He discussed the King County Regional Homelessness Authority and his focus on "strengthening financial oversight, maintaining services, [and] protecting taxpayers" within the organization.
Zahilay talked about the interconnected problems of homelessness, mental health, incarceration, and gun violence. He noted his recent achievements in expanding the network of supportive housing sites and increasing the capacity of crisis care centers, as well as plans to expand Harborview Medical Center and programs to assist formerly incarcerated individuals in accessing services.
On addressing gun violence, the executive announced a proposal of $5 million to "sustain and strengthen the regional Office of Gun Violence Prevention."
Zahliay's successes and plans regarding the affordability crisis touched on some of the major problems King County residents are facing: housing, childcare, and transportation.
On housing, the executive said he's committed to his previous goal of 500 supportive or affordable housing units in 500 days and exploring a county-wide housing levy. He also announced plans for an 80-unit tiny-house village in an undisclosed part of Seattle.
On childcare, Zahilay proposed a plan for the "largest investment (more than $500 million) in child care in King County's history," aiming to double investments in childcare for children ages 0–3 if the "Best Start for Kids" levy is renewed next year.
Finally, on transportation, he talked about his work on the Sound Transit Board, like getting funding for the Graham Street station and the West Seattle line. He also spoke about improvements to King County Metro, including nine new bus routes, four new RapidRide routes, greater reliability, tap-to-pay, and an increased presence of security and behavioral health personnel.
The "Being in Community" section was a sort of catch-all for successes and plans that didn't neatly fit under the other themes. This included launching a Volunteer Corps to enlist community members to help solve problems and plans to construct Skyway's first community center.
But Zahilay also talked about protecting community members from the Trump administration, protecting abortion access, and opposing anti-trans legislation. To do this, Zahaliay said, "We need to usher in a new era of deeper collaboration and stronger connections" with state and federal partners.
The executive ended his speech by acknowledging that "we are living through a period of tremendous change." But provided a hopeful message that his office, county employees, cities, and residents can weather the storm and create a "more affordable, more connected, and more just" future.
Zahilay then left the stage to thunderous applause to the same hip-hop beat he walked out to.
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