District 1 Seattle City Councilmember Rob Saka shared a report on his first 100 days in office with his constituents via his weekly newsletter on April 19.

I have the privilege of representing over 105,000 individual residents in D1. I also represent hundreds of small businesses, larger companies, nonprofit organizations, philanthropic organizations, and neighborhood groups.   

My team and I are aware of the scores of concerns/issues raised by constituents in the district, as summarized below.     

We know that durable solutions to many issues require resources and this year, in particular, will be challenging as we face a massive City budget deficit. In a challenging budget environment, I am committed to prioritizing critical investments to address public safety as well as basic services that make a difference in people’s everyday lives.   

At the same time, I am prepared to meet these challenges with bold and creative approaches!  With the bright minds of my City colleagues and the voices of constituents, I am confident that together we will find good solutions.  

While this list of constituent contacts may not be exhaustive and is an illustration of the active constituent engagement in our diverse D1, my team had at least 1,000+ constituent communications (emails, calls, in-person, social media). 

In many instances, we were able to make constituent referrals to appropriate City resources such as the storefront window repair fund and tenant and housing resources. 

Small questions or large concerns, they’re all important.   

We also addressed 51 more complex constituent concerns on issues ranging from wide-scale pothole challenges to property crime as shown below.

Homelessness - 11
Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) - 10 
Seattle Public Utilities (SPU)  - 6
Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections (SDCI) - 4
Public Safety -4
Seattle Department of Parks & Recreation  (PARKS) - 2
Office of Housing (OH) - 2
Seattle City Light (SCL)- 2
Miscellaneous - 9

While accomplishments are never the efforts of one, here are a few in which my office played significant roles: 

• In the aftermath of the tragic killing of 15-year-old Mobarak Adam, the first homicide of 2024 and in my district, I, along with my staff, have been in ongoing contact with the family. I stand firm that justice must be served for the family. This is an ongoing work-in-progress.  

• We successfully advocated with the Seattle Parks & Recreation Department (PARKS) for the re-installation of security cameras at the Southwest Teen Life Center, the location of the shooting of Mobarak.  The cameras are now currently up and running.  

• Small business constituents contacted our office to request the Mayor’s office to include 'Economic Vitality' as a policy goal in the draft Seattle Transportation Plan and through our advocacy, this goal was added in. (The draft Plan is being reviewed by full Council at this time.)   

• Responding to constituents, my office actively supported and helped resolve some long-standing RV and tent encampments in SODO, West Seattle, and South Park. Through the work of the dedicated Unified Care Team (UCT), many were referred and successfully connected to shelter and services.  At the 1st Avenue and South Cloverdale encampment, for example, all 13 residents were offered and accepted permanent supportive housing working with our community outreach partner, REACH.

• Advocated with SDOT to expedite the repaving of a street along 21st Ave SW from SW Dawson St to 22nd Ave SW, and along 22nd Ave SW and 23rd Ave SW between 21st Ave SW & SW Oregon St.
   
• Advocated with SPU to successfully address sewage overflow into Puget Sound from a repeat offender site.
   
• Helped resolve a fuel spill in a resident’s property in a District 1 neighborhood.
   
• Secured commitment from SDOT to construct a NEW SIDEWALK by 2025 next to the Disabled American Veterans facility at 4857 Delridge Way SW (between 25th Ave SW & Delridge) as part of SDOT's existing New Sidewalk Program. (Note: we landed this new project commitment just outside of our first 100 days.