Speakers at the Jan. 2 Bremerton City Council meeting urged the city to provide sustained support for the Kitsap Juneteenth Freedom Festival, and raised concerns about transportation code language and pedestrian infrastructure.

Akoye Karen Vargas, speaking on behalf of the Kitsap Juneteenth Freedom Festival Committee, requested three specific commitments from the mayor and council: (1) law enforcement support for the festival, (2) annual funding of $10,000, and (3) sponsorship of event insurance. Vargas said the festival is one of the state’s oldest, has operated for more than 23 years, and currently relies principally on organizer resources and in-kind donations. She asked the council to consider sustained city support to reduce financial strain on organizers and to affirm the city’s commitment to celebrating cultural diversity.

In a separate public comment, Travis Merrigan of Bremerton urged the council to revise Bremerton Municipal Code section 11.12.070 (traffic impact mitigation). Merrigan said the current code directs the city engineer to impose conditions to maintain or exceed a motor-vehicle “level of service” for projects but does not require the city to address street safety or multimodal level-of-service. He referenced Washington state House Bill 1181 (2023), saying that the state law directs priority for improvements that provide the greatest multimodal benefit and that Bremerton lacks an adopted “level of traffic stress” or multimodal standard. He asked council for clarity and for a council-adopted policy and standards to guide engineering decisions, citing Naval Avenue as an example where guidance is needed to evaluate turn pockets versus protected bike lanes.

Another resident speaker asked the council to look at pedestrian signal timing downtown, saying walking across multiple signalized intersections can take 15–20 minutes during heavy traffic and that better signal timing would improve walkability. That speaker also reiterated a previously earmarked request for public restrooms in 2025.

Councilmembers thanked speakers and said the comments would inform future work; several councilmembers referenced transportation projects and events such as Quincy Square and Bremerton Food Line activities when responding. The transcript does not record a formal directive or vote on the Juneteenth funding request or on changes to municipal code; those items were presented as public comment and requests for council consideration.