(Added: Click “play” to watch live Seattle Channel feed while meeting’s in session – in recess as of 11:07 am, resuming 2 pm)

9:07 AM: The next phase of the City Council‘s work on the next city budget starts today, with meetings at 9:30 am and 2 pm to consider specific changes that made the first cut for review. The agenda now has the documents attached for the potential changes they’re considering.

It starts with SDOT and a proposal to cut an item on which we’ve reported – $3 million for a pilot project to remotely operated one of the city’s five drawbridges. Councilmembers were told that if all five bridges were operated remotely, that could eventually save $1 million – but at $3 million for one bridge, the initial investment would be steep. Other SDOT-related proposed changes include $150,000 for the Summer Parkways program (which included the annual Alki “car-free day,” which didn’t happen last summer) and $500,000 for pedestrian improvements proposed by the South Park Safety Task Force. SDOT is one of 19 departments that’ll be addressed today.

Other proposals of interest include reclassifying three vacant Office of Planning and Community Development positions to assign them to “community planning,” and expanding the Ready to Work jobs program for adult English Language Learners to southwest Seattle (which generally means West Seattle/South Park). Also from the budget documents, you can learn what’s being proposed for changes in Seattle Parks facilities fees next year – not a lot of changes in our quick review.

You can follow along with all this via Seattle Channel, streaming and televising (cable 21) the meetings live at 9:30 am and 2 pm. Comments? council@seattle.gov

11:09 AM: The morning session ended a few minutes ago and the council will be back in session at 2 pm. We’ve embedded the live Seattle Channel feed above – click “play” button to watch.