The Select Budget Committee on Oct. 29 considered multiple Office of Economic Development amendments aimed at stabilizing neighborhood business districts and supporting small businesses, with a concentration of requests focused on Lake City.

Council member Juarez sponsored OED 1, a proviso of $100,000 to fund cleaning services and street-activation crews in Lake City; she said local business operators and community-leaders such as Build Lake City Together and the refugee artisans initiative have asked for city support to sustain cobbled-together volunteer cleanup and ambassador work. Juarez followed with OED 2, a one-time $50,000 request to seed a business incubator in Lake City (for example, in a recently vacated Aurora Rents storefront), and she described past incubator successes including refugee artisans who later purchased property in Lake City.

Other OED items considered included expansion or review of ambassador programs, targeted cleaning in Ballard and Capitol Hill, outreach workers stationed in Ballard and the University District to assist businesses and people experiencing homelessness, funding for neighborhoods that do not plan to form BIAs, and a proviso directing outreach to businesses facing displacement stemming from Sound Transit projects (a $250,000 pilot for North Delridge). Central staff and sponsors stressed the role of local partners and the need for targeted, place-based investments.

Council members recorded cosponsorships for several of the OED amendments but did not record final votes on the items during the session. Sponsors said the actions are intended either as immediate one-time support or as seed funding to help neighborhood groups organize business-improvement-area efforts and to plan targeted outreach for businesses that Sound Transit projects will affect.