Selling the YMCA building on Mamaroneck Avenue will deprive us all of a vital resource for community health and well-being. The proposed non-facility model is an utterly inadequate substitute for the YMCA as it stands. We need the YMCA to live up to its posted slogan, "Always here for our community." This sale should be stopped.

Michigan Amtrak trains are frequently sold out especially on weekends. Infrastructure improvements would allow increasing the service frequency to handle the unmet demand. It would also improve on time performance by removing bottlenecks that currently exist due to limited passing sidings.

Recently SDOT has suggested replacing the Garfield Street Bridge with something much inferior to what is there today. This gateway is key in and out of our part of the city as many learned during the 2001 rebuild from the Nisqually Earthquake. In November 2015, Seattle voters approved a 9-year, $930 million transportation Levy to Move Seattle, providing funding to improve safety for all travelers, maintain our streets and bridges, and invest in reliable, affordable travel options for a growing city. The levy provides roughly 30% of the City's transportation budget and replaces the 9-year, $365 Bridging the Gap levy approved by voters in 2006. The residents of Magnolia believed that we were part of this levy and supported it by a large margin. Since this levy we’ve learned that bike lanes in the city are costing more than $13MM per mile. Due to this overspend, we’ve heard the following "We do not have enough funding right now to do everything that was promised, we just don't," said the city's interim Department of Transportation (SDOT) chief, Goran Sparrman, at an oversight meeting last week. Sparrman added that "some of those dollar amounts estimated for what projects would cost were clearly insufficient, even at the time." This isn’t an acceptable answer The residents of Magnolia ask you to work with us to determine the best solution for the bridge. This city is home to more than 25 Fortune 500 companies, and a wide array of smart people. Engage us to help determine how we can do more for less, and ensure that Seattle is a place our grandchildren are proud to call home.

The recent bus accident involving Paramus, NJ middle school students has once again brought the seat belt debate to the forefront. Seat belts are required by law in most passenger vehicles, but yet they are not required for our school buses. Our babies deserve to be safe when being transported to and from school. Belt Our Babies! http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2018/05/nj_school_bus_accident_fatalities_confirmed_in_route_80_crash.html

We pay a lot for the services we don’t receive and that’s just not fair.

Changing the PUD to allow sheds.

Artificial hyperinflation of homes in California is awe inspiring. Inspiring in the way that breeds hate and discontent with the out of touch and pompous governments that oversee all fifty states and the Federal Government. There is levels of income inequality that haven’t been seen since the early Twentieth Century. In Los Angeles alone 600,000 people spend more than half their income on rent and are considered “severely rent burdened”. More than 8000 people in Los Angeles became homeless as well for the first time last year. For every raising of rentals rates by 5%, another 2000 people can become homeless. If slumlords and developers can continue to steal from the hard working Californians without redress, we will in turn steal back from them before poverty takes another family under. The demand is simple, any new home that is left vacant, without a buyer for 12 months is subject to purchase by the state of California for the purpose of turning into a home for the homeless. They owner that is selling will receive an independent assessment of the homes value and fair compensation for the home. We cannot sustain the current trend of poverty that is decimating the Middle Class. We either lift everyone up or we level all.

With the area growing, distance and response times to our closest Fire Station present serious risks to our community and its members. Currently, the response time to Del Valle and the east Travis County area is 13 minutes, which is unacceptable. The Austin Fire Department average response time is 8 minutes, the extra 5 minutes that it takes for a first responder to reach Del Valle could have dire consequences. The Berdoll Farm/Meadows, Los Cielos, and Lexington areas are part of the City of Austin. The City Council must ensure the safety of its citizens, even if we are only on the outskirts of the city.

I have always had a good life, and never knew what it would be like to live on the streets. I can only imagine that it is a tough way of life and want to do as much as possible to help those in need.

Atlas Township is a community of "Farms and Family," and this pending outdoor recreation area is not in alignment with this type of setting for our community. In addition, a country-like subdivision of 30 homes is directly across from the identified property along with several surrounding homes whose property will be adjacent to or in close proximity to this proposed park. This will create traffic congestion in an area that is already becoming a danger, noise pollution, and additional wear and tear on the roads. An outdoor recreation park of this nature will detract from the serene, country-living for area residents.

The State Route 57 and Chestnut Ridge intersection has been a problem ever since Walmart was built. The traffic congestion is always bad and it gets really severe during peak shopping times. With more business planned east and south of the intersection, it is only going to get worse. ODOT needs to take the lead on fixing this horrible situation.

Columbia is home to so many dogs who do not get the opportunity to run free in an off leash dog park. This is because of the parks in Columbia, none of them are very nice and the only public dog park is said to be infected with poison ivy.