NEWS GLEAMS | Seattle City Council Votes to Allow Police Use of Crowd-Control Weapons; Seattle Voters Approve Funding for Social Housing

In a vote of 6-3 on Tuesday afternoon, the Seattle City Council approved Seattle Police Department (SPD)'s ability to once again use a limited number of "less-lethal" weapons towards managing crowd control. The weapons would include tear gas, pepper spray, and blast balls — though SPD can only use the weapons following a mayoral declaration of a civil emergency and authorization from the police chief. SPD now must take 60 days to finalize its new crowd management policy, which will then be reviewed by a federal monitor and the Department of Justice.

Blast balls are weapons that emit a loud noise and bright light, along with chemical irritants and occasional rubber fragments. Following the new measure, the balls must be thrown underhand and away from people; an adopted amendment allowed for blast balls to be thrown overhead or near people in the event of an immediate threat to safety.

After the death of George Floyd in 2020 and subsequent racial justice protests in support of Black lives, the City Council had passed a number of restrictions on the weapons, though the federal government had blocked the council's restrictions. A different federal judge later declared that SPD had undertaken "clear violations," especially in regards to pepper spray and blast balls, citing one case where the officer concerned "demonstrate[d] a clear lack of care for whether the blast ball landed."

The City of Seattle settled a lawsuit in January 2024 and agreed to give $10 million dollars to 50 protestors who cited police use of excessive force during the 2020 protests, though they did not admit culpability.

In support of the ordinance, District 7 Councilmember and Public Safety Chair Robert Kettle stated, "At the end of the day this is about protecting the rights of people to gather and to protect their free speech."

District 5 Councilmember Cathy Moore introduced 10 amendments that aimed to bring specific limitations to the use of blast balls or introduce oversight to crowd management practices exercised by SPD. As one of the councilmembers who voted against the measure, Moore noted that protestors should be given freedom to protest in the current political climate. She stated, "We haven't really come that far from 2020. We're about to embark on another experiment on our residents at an incredibly volatile time for our nation … given all that we've experienced in this city going back to [the World Trade Organization protests], it's clear that blast balls are very dangerous methods of last resort."

The councilmembers who voted against the use of such crowd control weapons included Citywide Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck and District 3 Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth.

SPD has not used blast balls since the 2020 protests — more due to a lack of need than limitations from council ordinances or City municipal codes. Leading up to Tuesday's passage of the new council ordinance, SPD has been operating on an interim policy it created.

Following the early results of Tuesday's special election, Seattle residents have overwhelmingly shown their support for funding for social housing, in a vote of 68% in favor and 32% against. Voters were then asked to choose between Propositions 1A and 1B in order to define how social housing would be funded. 1A is presently leading 1B by 57.5% to 42.5%.

Prop 1A was a citizen-created proposition that would create a 5% "excess compensation" tax, which would charge employers 5% on any dollar that they paid out to Seattle employees above $1 million. It would generate about $50 million annually that would pay the Seattle Social Housing Developer towards administration, construction, and land acquisition. It would also operate in addition to JumpStart, which is Seattle's payroll expense tax that was approved by the Seattle City Council in 2021. JumpStart will last through 2040 and taxes employers with budgets over $7 million.

Prop 1B is an alternative that was proposed by the Seattle City Council and Mayor Bruce Harrell in September 2024. It was also supported financially by large corporations, including Amazon, Microsoft, Alaska Airlines, Puget Sound Energy, Weyerhaeuser, T-Mobile, and the group that owns the Seattle Kraken. If passed, Prop 1B would allocate $10 million from the existing JumpStart payroll tax revenue to fund the Seattle Social Housing Developer — and the funds must be used within three years to avoid being redirected to other affordable housing projects.

Results from this special election build upon a February 2023 citizen initiative which was approved by voters to create the Seattle Social Housing Developer, which would help create mixed-income, publicly owned affordable housing that is designed for low-to-upper-middle-income residents.

King County Elections will post results from the Special Election every day at 4 p.m.

Anyone who is interested in city laws around transportation and transit can now apply to join the 2024 Seattle Transportation Levy Oversight Committee. The volunteer committee will comprise residents throughout any part of Seattle. Members will work with the mayor's office, City Council, and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) staff to monitor budgets, track progress on transportation projects, and ensure that City funds are used in accountable ways.

Spread across eight years, the 2024 transportation levy replaced the previous current "Move Seattle" levy, which passed in 2015 and was valued at $930 million. It will collect $1.55 billion to fund transportation projects and programs, which include sidewalk creation, street paving, bridge repair, bike lane creation, and a number of other projects to update the city's infrastructure.

Interested parties can also join a Virtual Open House to ask questions on any of the following dates:

• Friday, Feb. 7, 12–1 p.m.

• Monday, Feb. 10, 10–11 a.m.

• Friday, Feb. 21, 4–5 p.m.

• Tuesday, Feb. 25, 5–6 p.m.

• Friday, Feb. 28, 12–1 p.m.

You may join by computer or phone by visiting bit.ly/loc-open-house or dialing in by phone at 206-686-8357 and entering conference ID: 46970326#.

Applications to join the 2024 Transporation Levy Oversight Committee are open until Feb. 28.

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