Residents urge more transparency on homeless service outcomes, jail treatment and local flooding during public comment

Burien, Wash. — During public comment at the Feb. 24 Burien City Council meeting, three speakers urged the council to seek more information about local homelessness outreach, conditions at the SCORE jail and neighborhood flooding.

Rocco Davido, a resident who identified himself during public comment, thanked the council for work with The More We Love outreach organization but asked for more outcome reporting from that provider. "To our people getting, what are the outcomes, what happens, after interventions, what is the follow-up by this organization," he asked, saying the public should have that information before council considers large cuts to human services.

Janelle M. Lee said limits on public comment could prevent residents from raising issues that are not on the formal agenda and cited Boulevard Park flood problems as an example of a matter that might not have been heard if the city limited comments to agenda items.

Charles Schafer opposed the proposed rule changes that would restrict public comment, recounting recent high‑profile incidents elsewhere where speakers were removed from meetings and warning against making it harder for residents to speak.

Why it matters: residents used the public-comment period to request transparency and to raise matters they said require council attention—homeless-services outcomes, jail treatment, and neighborhood flooding. Council later debated but declined to restrict public comment to agenda items.

Requests and next steps

- Outcome reporting on outreach: Rocco Davido asked the council to publish follow‑up and outcome data for outreach services provided by The More We Love before the council makes large funding decisions.

- SCORE jail conditions: Davido also asked the council to inquire about reported treatment and death‑rate concerns at the SCORE jail; the council did not take formal action at the meeting on that request.

- Boulevard Park flooding: Janelle M. Lee said limiting comments to agenda items would have blocked public awareness of the flood issue; she asked the council to preserve the ability for residents to raise non-agenda concerns.

Ending: Council members later debated public-comment rules during the meeting and ultimately rejected a motion to limit comments to agenda items; council members did not direct staff at the meeting to produce additional reports on The More We Love or SCORE jail matters, though several councilmembers said they welcome follow-up information from staff or from community members.