Bellevue Council Recap (3/4/25): Safe Parking Success, New Park Naming, & County Update

Hi Bellevue! Here are some highlights from Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

Top Highlights:

• Safe Parking Program Update: The Safe Parking Program at Lincoln Center (located at 515 116th Ave NE) is showing amazing results! In the last 10 months, it has helped over 30 families (including over 60 children) transition into stable housing. The average stay is only 58 days. The Council voted to extend the program through the end of 2026! There were zero complaints or emergency service calls related to the program. (1:55:00 in the video)
• New Park Naming: The city is initiating the naming process for the new park at Main Street and 112th Ave SE (built over the light rail tunnel). The Parks Board will be gathering community input, so get ready to suggest names! There’s also discussion about incorporating elements to honor Bellevue’s Japanese-American history.(1:34:00)
• King County Councilmember Update: (PowerPoint) Reagan Dunn (District 9) gave a detailed presentation on county-wide issues. (26:30) Some concerning points:
  • King County is seeing a huge increase in homelessness, the worst in the nation.
  • There are significant proposed cuts to the King County Sheriff’s Office and Prosecutor’s Office in the upcoming budget.
  • Juvenile crime is “off the charts” increasing.
  • There are a lot of potential tax increases coming from the county (parks levy, EMS levy, transportation benefit district).
  • Good news is overdose deaths were down in 2024.
• On a positive note, Dunn highlighted the successful preservation of the Coal Creek Natural Area, thanks to collaboration between the city and county. He also listed a ton of grants Bellevue has received from the county for various community projects (see near the end of the PowerPoint for those).

Watch the full video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdQ012Jgric
Meeting Details: https://bellevue.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1253515&GUID=0A75C650-BEC6-4A80-B448-2230DC77ED72&Options=info%7C&Search=

Here are some slides from the king county councilmember presentation which I thought were interesting.

Top issues from our King County District: reducing crime, property taxes, solving homelessness

Positive news that fentanyl deaths are going down

Some not-so-great stats about homelessness in our state

Juvenile rime on the rise, unfortunately

Wish I had some more positive slides to share as well…here’s one about the great performance of the safe parking program at the Lincoln Center on 116th. Most participants were housed, no complaints issues, 98 people housed thanks to the program.

Some happy stats about the safe parking program in Bellevue