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Meeting metadata file x176345.json.
Transcript file 2025-06-23_general_mayor-announces-new-investments-in-china_x176345.srt.
♪♪ ♪♪ -Good morning, everybody. I'm really excited here to share some great news that we're trying to do here. I have a superstar of speakers in back of me, so I'm actually going to be brief. I'm just going to sort of give the parameters of what we're announcing. And I have a lot of thank yous, but I'll thank these speakers after they speak. I've already forewarned Gary Locke that he is the closer, like we close -- like the Mariners closed last night. He's the closer. So you've got to -- you've got to win the game for us, Gary. The most important concept of what we're trying to do in making sure this community here, the Chinatown International District, elders and family and friends around here at any block here, any restaurant, any business and feel safe and be safe. And this exciting investment, a million dollar investment from the city, the Asian-American Foundation known as TAAF, Amazon is designed to do that, to help our businesses, these blocks that we walk and treasure for decades and decades and the lives here be safe in Chinatown, Japantown, and Little Saigon. Now, we know for too long that we've had conditions that are intolerable. People are struggling with health issues, addictions. There's been public safety issues. And we're trying and trying and trying, and we keep pushing that boulder up a hill. And we think we're making considerable progress when you look at the data. Their program, it has a simple but very important mission, to provide regular, visible, and reliable support to the neighborhood; to activate it through these fine people that believe in protecting and saving lives and helping people. And sometimes it could be as easy as giving some fine human beings that are capable of doing this work. And I want to thank you for coming this morning. Let's give them a hand right now. This program is modeled after other successful Ambassador Programs that we partner with like we're doing with the downtown Seattle Association, the MID ambassadors, the Ballard Alliance. These on-the-ground teams will serve as safety partners and neighborhood stewards. Again, they'll help connect people to services. You want to come and get a close-up shot. This is -- this is the better side over here, by the way. I'm just messing with you. They'll support tourists and local residents navigating the district. They'll build relationships and provide assistance to business owners. They'll emphasize enough that a strong partnership with the county that runs the health system is needed in this kind of work. A lot of these people are sick. They need to be treated. They need services. And so I wanted to impress upon you that our partnership with the county that runs that system, the only thing we're doing, of course, this is one piece of the puzzle; and it builds on a lot of work we're continuing to do through the district. You know that our investments are helping improve the built environment through graffiti removal, art and better lighting here -- and here, for example, in Hing Hay Park and King Street, we're expanding affordable housing and strengthening small business support and supporting more neighborhood activation. You've heard me use that term a lot since I've been mayor, activation, because, at the end of the day, we want areas to be vibrant and active with the right kinds of activity. We're supporting community driven efforts like the CID visioning group and the full depth initiative led by Friends of Little Saigon. They're doing amazing work. We've doubled down on addressing the public safety and economic challenges facing Little Saigon. You see it. You see the work we're doing since November 20 -- since November 1, 2024, our downtown activation team has completed three scheduled restoration actions, three completed scheduled restoration actions every day in the Little Saigon neighborhood. We're putting our resources where we believe our values are, which is to keep this community safe. But, once again, change and progress doesn't come alone in City Hall. My style of leadership is one that is collaborative; and I look for great partners, great teams. The public sector, the private sector, our BIA, the businesses, advocates, you, community members and leaders working together toward a shared vision. And that is a great segue into listening to our next speaker. I'd like to introduce Georgette Bhathena, the chief programs officer at the Asian-American Foundation. And we're so excited to partner with T-A-A-F, TAFF -- am I saying it right? Okay -- TAFF on this exciting work. And Georgette will be sharing a very special announcement about how TAAF, along with their partners, are investing right here in Seattle to advance safety and economic prosperity for the AAPI community. We are very blessed and fortunate to have Georgette's leadership and her organization. And, Georgette, I'm going to leave all this stuff up here because I'm sort of the MC. I hope it doesn't mess you up a little bit. Let's give Georgette a [preview truncated]