A drone view of the affordable Acer House development at 23rd and Cherry (Image: @benmaritz)
Hollingsworth isn’t on the ballot this week — but her brother in-law Girmay Zahilay is as he waits for the first counts in the race for the King County Executive race (Image: Joy Hollingsworth via Facebook)
As Seattle voters consider new leaders this week, the current Seattle City Council is busy finalizing next year’s City Hall spending plan including proposals from District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth.
The council’s proposed tweaks, and additions reflect changing economic forecasts and neighborhood by neighborhood adjustments to Mayor Bruce Harrell’s 2026 budget proposal that hinges on continued strong public safety spending while preserving affordable housing, homelessness, and addiction programs through new revenue sources including the COVID-era JumpStart tax and hopes on this week’s General Election vote on overhauling the city’s B&O tax system.
The council’s cut on the proposed amendments will come Wednesday when budget chair Dan Strauss releases his balancing package followed by a day of public comment Thursday in front of the council’s Select Budget Committee.
Now in her second budget session since her 2023 election victory, D3’s Hollingsworth brought 20 proposed changes for the 2026 budget to the table.
Some of her 2026 proposals would address festering issues in D3.
Seven Hills Park has been fenced-off for weeks (Image: CHS)
One would earmark $50,000 in Seattle Parks spending to the overhaul of Seven Hills Park, the city public space just off 15th Ave E that has stood fenced over concerns of “negative park activity” since September. Not everyone has appreciated the city’s efforts.
The D3 rep has also asked for $50,000 for the Office of Economic Development to support efforts to create a new Business Improvement Area on Capitol Hill.
CHS reported early this year on early efforts from the GSBA chamber of commerce group to shape a plan for a new Pike/Pine BIA to take on litter, and graffiti in Capitol Hill’s core nightlife neighborhood. The BIA The city has continued to push for the zones where assessments on local properties go directly to funding neighborhood cleanliness and anti-graffiti programs.
The assessments are typically modest. The 15th Ave E BIA formed in 2021 is one of the city’s smallest covering only around 40 properties. Each pays somewhere around $3,000 per year depending on their size.
Hollingsworth’s most significant proposal in terms of dollars would be felt across the city and would be the center of a host of proposals she has brought forward addressing economic inequity and the city’s Black communities.
In her largest proposal, Hollingsworth asked the council to back the move of $5 million in JumpStart payroll tax funding and two planners from the city’s Office of Housing to the Department of Neighborhoods to power community reinvestment programs that shape efforts to grow economic and financial strength in neighborhoods — especially in middle to low income areas of the city.
The first-term council member, Black community leader, and Central District resident has also sought backing for proposals that would help strengthen communities in the area.
A $1.25 million proposal would be focused squarely on Hollingsworth’s home neighborhood with a spending package that would “support programs and projects that help preserve the physical character, cultural heritage, and social fabric of the community formed last century in Seattle’s Central District by the direct descendants of slaves.”
Hollingsworth is also backing a budget proposal that would direct the Department of Neighborhoods to form a Black Advisory Council separate from the city’s “demographic advisory council” system attached to the Seattle Police Department.
Another Hollingsworth proposal would direct DON to “inventory Black and African American historic buildings and cultural places” while another would move $50,000 to the Office of Civil Rights to fund an expanded report on a reparations program in the city and $200,000 in JumpStart funding to expand the “scope” of a reparations program.
The chair of the council’s Parks Committee has also proposed $250,000 in General Fund spending to support parks and recreation spending on BIPOC youth sports programs and $150,000 to further power the $9.5 million Garfield Super Block project that broke ground this summer with plans to create a Legacy and Promise Promenade with a .34-mile loop path and new community spaces including a new play area and parkour park, new sports courts, and a central plaza.
Smaller proposed line items include $10,000 to the Seattle Department of Transportation to fund maintenance at Hidden Beach just north of Denny Blaine.
Hollingsworth’s second largest proposed budget line item also involves parkland. As chair of the parks committee, she is proposing $4.8 million for turf installation on the playfield at Eastlake’s Rogers Park and a design for turf conversion at West Magnolia Playfield outside her district.
Hollingsworth has also requested a Seattle Parks report on the status of turf conversion at Judkins Park.
Other proposals from Hollingsworth’s office include a request for a Seattle Police Department report on its implementation of a new customer service system, $250,000 for senior meal programs, $20,000 to SDOT for a pedestrian safety project in Madison Park, and a request to the Human Services Department to collaborate with the city’s “Innovation and Performance Team” to inventory all “human services and affordable housing in the city.”
Hollingsworth has not forgotten her district’s most heavily populated area in her 2026 budget proposals. $250,000 would go to support “services and programs for black trans and gender diverse individuals” through groups like Capitol Hill’s Lavender Rights Project.
(Image: Broadway BIA)
Hollingsworth also hopes to earmark $100,000 for Office of Arts & Culture support of creative spaces and low-income artists on Capitol Hill.
It is possible the Hollingsworth proposals also might save Hilloween. After two years without the annual holiday kids carnival previously supported by the Broadway Business Improvement Area, the D3 rep has proposed $5,000 to the Department of Neighborhoods matching fund program to support “annual Halloween events for children.” Trick or treat!
Hollingsworth’s items are part of $85 million in proposals from the council this session, the Seattle Times reports. The most significant include $6 million for a community clinic in Rainier Beach and a proposed $10 million for rental assistance to city-funded affordable housing projects, the Times reports. The Urbanist reviewed SDOT and transit-related proposals here.
Which Hollingsworth items will make the cut? You can view all the 2026 proposals from each member of the council here. The council budget committee chair’s balancing package will be released Wednesday with a public hearing slated for a day of virtual and in-person sessions Thursday at 1 PM and 5 PM. Learn more here (PDF).
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