11/15/2025
The Seattle LGBTQ Commission and the Seattle Women's Commission sent a joint letter to City Council urging them to reject the proposed budget allocations that would expand live surveillance in neighborhoods like Capitol Hill and increase staffing at the Real Time Crime Center.
For q***r, trans, BIPOC, immigrant, and unhoused community members, increased surveillance doesn’t make us safer; it makes us more vulnerable. Our letter outlines how these tools are disproportionately used against the very communities Seattle claims to protect. Instead of investing in systems that watch and punish, we’re calling on Council to reinvest these dollars into what actually increases safety: stable housing, non-congregate shelter, affirming healthcare, behavioral health supports, community-based crisis response, and nonprofits serving our most marginalized neighbors.
Seattle has named itself a Welcoming City. That promise must extend to our budget. We’re asking Council to center compassion over control.
Read our full letter to Council:
