The city council's budget committee, meeting all day to discuss Mayor Mike McGinn's proposed budget, appeared poised this afternoon to restore funding in McGinn's budget for a historic preservation officer , matching-grant funding for neighborhood projects, five neighborhood district coordinators, and a neighborhood service center in West Seattle. The council also expressed support for moving control of the city's youth commission to the mayor's office, and for consolidating the city's tree grant and education programs in a single department.

Council member Tim Burgess said he supported keeping the neighborhood district coordinators, who serve as the Department of Neighborhoods' ambassadors in the neighborhoods and staff the city's neighborhood councils, "because it allows us to make a rational policy choice as opposed to just sweeping them away." Council member Tom Rasmussen expressed concern that McGinn hadn't really considered the implication of slashing the number of neighborhood coordinators in half: "The [neighborhoods] department and the executive should take time to draft this out carefully before making such a drastic change."

Rasmussen also expressed strong support for restoring the historic preservation staffer, who reviews landmark nominations and identifies potential landmarks around the city. "Time is not on our side with regard to historic preservation," Rasmussen said. "Things deteriorate if we don't devote adequate resources to ensuring that important parts of history are preserved."