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).
UPDATE: The proposed balancing package (PDF) has been released. Here are the items where Hollingsworth appears as the lead sponsor:
| CBA/SLI # | Title | Fund Type | Proposed Change |
| ARTS-001-A-2 | Increase ARTS by $100,000 GF for creative spaces and low-income artist support in Capitol Hill | GF | Increase $100,000 |
| ARTS-010-A-1 | Increase ARTS by $50,000 GF for procurement and archival of Black artifacts | GF | Increase $50,000 |
| ARTS-011-A-1 | Increase ARTS by $100,000 GF for arts installations at storefronts in the vicinity of the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute | GF | Increase $100,000 |
| DON-002S-A-2 | Request that DON study and report on establishing a Black Advisory Council | N/A (SLI) | N/A |
| DON-003-A-2 | Increase DON by $5,000 GF in the Neighborhood Matching Fund to support annual Halloween events for children | GF | Increase $5,000 |
| DON-004S-A-2 | Request that DON inventory Black and African American Historic Buildings and Cultural Places | N/A (SLI) | N/A |
| FG-007-A-1 | Increase FG by $1.35 million GF to support future Council directed community investments | GF | Increase $1,350,000 |
| HSD-048-B-1 | Increase HSD by $250,000 GF to support services and programs for black and LGBTQ+ communities | GF | Increase $250,000 |
| HSD-080-A-1 | Increase HSD by $375,000 GF (one-time) for food and homelessness support programs and identify specific organizations for such funding | GF | Increase $375,000 |
| HSD-081-A-1 | Increase HSD by $225,000 GF (one-time) for programs serving families, youth, and seniors and identify specific organizations for such funding | GF | Increase $225,000 |
| OCR-010-A-2 | Proviso $50,000 GF in OCR for an expanded reparations report | GF | Proviso $50,000 |
| OED-008-A-2 | Increase OED by $50,000 for Business Improvement Area Support in Capitol Hill | GF | Increase $50,000 |
| SPR-002-B-1 | Increase SPR by $50,000 Park and Recreation Fund for improvements at Seven Hills Park and impose a proviso | Park and Recreation Fund | Increase $50,000 |
| SPR-003-A-2 | Increase SPR by $250,000 GF for BIPOC youth sports programs | GF | Increase $250,000 |
| SPR-005-A-2 | Increase SPR by $150,000 GF for completion of Garfield Super Block Project | GF | Increase $150,000 |
| SPR-013-B-1 | Increase SPR by $500,000 GF for planning/design of a turf conversion at Rogers Playground | GF | Increase $500,000 |
| SPR-014S-B-1 | Request that SPR report on turf conversions at Judkins Park, Riverview Park, Bar-S Playground, and Maple Leaf Reservoir Park | N/A (SLI) | N/A |
| SDOT-021-A-1 | Increase SDOT by $20,000 Transportation Fund (one-time) for pedestrian safety in Madison Park | Transportation Fund | Increase $20,000 |
A large item that apparently didn’t make the cut? The West Magnolia Playfield work. Small pieces that snuck in? Money for Hillloween.
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So $1.25 million to block growth in your neighborhood, Joy? Got it.
Apparently the black community, which gets more resources directed towards them then every other minority combined, is being underserved. At least that’s what speakers on the October 28th public comment claimed.
It isn’t a claim – it’s a fact.
If you call it “blocking growth,” you probably weren’t the one being pushed out.
I looked at the bills being proposed in the 10/28/25 session and I noticed four of them, all by Hollingsworth, were specifically directed towards black people. Now there were many others which of course would disproportionately benefit black people, but those were ones where the fact that it was earmarked specifically for people of African descent was explicitly stated. As far as other proposed bills there was one for Natives, one for deaf people, one for senior citizens and one for mobily impaired people.
I am not seeing why such extreme favoritism towards one racial minority is justified when it appears that the black community has been given a huge disproportionate amount of the funds directed towards them for at least a decade if not longer.
It feels like other minorities are not getting their fair share. This does not feel like racial equity. It feels like greed.
The Horseshoe Theory is real
Funny how investing in Black communities is called “greed,” but centuries of extraction was just “policy.”
Maybe if everyone else had been redlined, displaced, and disinvested for generations, they’d get a line item too.
$50,000 for Seven Hills Park buys next to nothing. Also, the park was supposed to be closed for 60 days, but we’re now a week past 60 days. Nothing has been done inside the fence.
I got the mailer for the community input meeting for 3 Capitol Hill parks at… Garfield Community Center, in the Central District. For the parks being discussed, It’s a 47 minute walk from Tashkent Park, 41 minute walk from Broadway Hill, and a 25 minute walk from Seven Hills, with no direct transit routes either. Seattle Parks couldn’t find space at Miller Park Community Center, Cal Anderson shelter house, Capitol Hill Library, Cathy Hillenbrand Community Room, the Summit on Pike, or ANY place actually IN the neighborhood? Who is this meeting supposed to be for?
$50k won’t stop the next tent encampment
The city only care because there’s about 40million worth of town homes on the market next to the park
The city really doesn’t consider the property taxes paid by any building that share a property line with a park or are next to new low barrier housing.
..: but hey, if you wanting to rent for less, look for rentals that view low barrier, it’s a constant circus, and you’ll save a few bucks.
Take the hint: they don’t actually want your input.
Garfield community city is a 10 min walk from Fat’s Chicken and Waffles. Take the 8 and walk west from there.
$50k would buy a fence to turn it into a dog park. That’s my hope.
Hollingsworth only pretends to care, in reality she doesn’t care about gang violence on Capitol Hill at all
She cares but if SPD were to actually do their job on the Hill then there would be less of it.
Isn’t the hill the location that didn’t want police? I find it ironic that Capitol hill is getting what it wanted so many years ago.
In any rate, I agree that SPD should do their job and have a greater presence — especially around the hotspots on Broadway.
$50,000 basically gets the fenty and human and rat waste residues pressure washed from the concrete areas at Seven Hills….that’s about it. So don’t let that number fool you into thinking they will be doing anything to permanently fix the same old underlying issues. Also note that, as expected, they have kept the park closed way longer than they said and have done nothing up to now other than continue to pay a fencing contractor, probably one of Bruce’s buddies. Closed all the way up until the election, as a matter of fact. Funny how that works! Someone decided (probably Hollingsworth) that having a local park continually reoccupied by fentanyl junkies and dealers before voters decide just wouldn’t have good look for Bruce and Sara!