Council Briefing 8/11/25

Okay.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Today is August 11th, 2025, and the council briefing meeting will come to order.

The time is 2.01 p.m.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Strauss?

Present.

Councilmember Hollingsworth?

Here.

Councilmember Juarez?

Here.

Councilmember Kettle?

Here.

Councilmember Rink?

Present.

Councilmember Saka?

Here.

Councilmember Solomon?

Here.

Council President Nelson?

Present.

Thank you very much, and Councilmember Rivera is excused from today's meeting.

All right, if there's no objection, the minutes of July 28th, 2025 will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the minutes are adopted.

We have an executive session today, and on tomorrow's City Council meeting agenda, there are 31 items on the introduction and referral calendar.

There are 22 appointments and reappointments, and then I'll just briefly read the rest.

Council Bill 121054, an ordinance appropriating money to pay certain claims for the week of July 28th, 2025 through August 1st, 2025. Resolution 32180, a resolution declaring the intention of the City Council to hold a public hearing relating to modifying the exemptions to the levy of special assessment of the West Seattle Junction BIA.

Let's see.

Council Bill 121060, an ordinance relating to the West Seattle Junction parking and business improvement area.

Council Bill 121055, an ordinance relating to the multifamily housing property tax exemption program.

Council Bill 121056, an ordinance authorizing the Superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation To enter into a concession agreement with Magnuson Brewing, LLC.

Council Bill 121057, an ordinance relating to Seattle Parks and Recreation authorizing the Superintendent of Parks and Recreation to accept for and on behalf of the City certain donated improvements from the Seattle Parks Foundation for Westlake Park.

And let's see, Council Bill 121058, an ordinance relating to the Seattle Department of Transportation, amending Ordinance 127156, which adopted the 2025 budget.

And then finally, Resolution 32179, a resolution regarding the operation of a Council District Fund, District Project Fund as provided in the 2025 adopted budget.

All right, so that is our, that's the IRC.

The consent calendar includes the weekly bill payment ordinance and three items.

From the Finance Native Communities and Tribal Governments, there is appointment 03267 and 03268, reappointments of Esther Lucero and Donny Stevenson as members of the Indigenous Advisory Council for a term to July 31st, 2027, And appointment 03269, appointment of Tia Yazzie as member Indigenous Advisory Council for a term to July 31st, 2027. And then there are 12 pieces of legislation from committees, two from the Select Budget Committee and 10 from the Land Use Committee.

So that's tomorrow's agenda.

There are no proclamations for signature today, so we'll just move right into our blue sky of council actions and council and regional committees.

And the roll call begins with Councilmember Strauss, and then when you finish, you can pass it over to Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Thank you, Council President.

I'll try to be brief.

In the Finance, Native Communities, and Tribal Governments Committee, our next meeting is September 3rd.

We are going to- I'm giving you the briefing now because of recess.

We will be focused on the update to the Tribal Summit, which we had two years ago, standing on the shoulders of Councilmember Deborah Juarez.

We're going to have it again on September 16th.

Everyone is invited.

It is a full day of- Meetings, conversations, government to government consultation.

And so it will be broken out into different sections.

If you want to attend for the section that is most relevant for you, attend for that.

It will be going all day, so I will not be in full council on that Tuesday.

Council President- Council Member Juarez will also not be there.

Everyone is welcome.

So for the September 3rd Committee, we're going to have Francesca Murnon come and give us an update on where are things at from the last Tribal Nations Summit.

As well, I had planned to attend the Muckleshoot Tribal Council tomorrow.

They unfortunately had an emergency come up that they're canceling their full council meeting tomorrow, so I will not be attending tomorrow morning.

On the September 3rd meeting, we will also have a vote on the small works roster technical changes that we heard in committee this week.

And we have, through my meetings with the Suquamish Tribal Council, the Suquamish Tribal Council will either come join us on September 3rd or the following council committee meeting in September.

We may have other legislation where, you know, as the typical course, executive departments realize that we're about to go into into budget for three months, and so folks are sending down a fair amount of legislation.

So as updates occur, I'll try to keep people abreast because September 3rd is two days after recess.

For full council tomorrow, Native Communities and Tribal Governments has our appointments and reappointments to the Indigenous Advisory Council, Estre Lucero, and Council Member Donny Stevenson.

Our reappointments and Tia Yazzie had a better resume than I have.

And I'm very excited to appoint her.

The Select Budget Committee also has two pieces of legislation coming to a full vote tomorrow, which is the 2024 carry forward legislation, which carries forward the funding, as well as the payroll expense tax transfer ordinance, which resolves the Unbalanced status of the jumpstart after applying the carry-for.

Essentially, we need to transfer some general fund into the jumpstart categories because that's what happens when the general fund is doing well and jumpstart needs help as part of my statements from last year's committee work.

In Sound Transit, this week we have a number of properties that are coming forward for either modification or purchase, mostly around the operations and maintenance facilities.

There is one parcel that is just north of the city by two parcels on 145th for the Stride BRT project.

You may or may not know that Sound Transit will be operating Rapid Ride along 145th.

Up 522 to connect in with the link light rail system.

In District 6, I had an odd week last week where I did not have office hours, and it is because I had a town hall.

It was a great time to meet with folks.

We talked about everything from homelessness to comprehensive plan to policing to the rebuilding of the Green Lake Community Center as well as the Lake City Community Center.

I was also honored to get to meet a number of neighbors on National Night Out.

Where I popped between different, I think we made it to about six different national night out events.

And so there was a lot of contact with District 6 residents last week, but we did not have office hours.

We will have office hours this week, and I will not be hosting office hours during council recess.

The last bit about the comprehensive plan, our District 6 comprehensive plan is The survey is live already, and we will be sending out a newsletter later today with additional information.

So Council Member Juarez was asking me, Dan, are you really bringing 27 amendments to committee in September?

The answer is no.

For each neighborhood center, I have put forward three options, A, B, and C.

There's also OPCD's original amendment.

For each of those neighborhood centers, there are four choices.

When I'm going to receive feedback from residents about which is the best, A, B, C, or O, P, C, D, I guess that kind of rhymes, to say which one of these is best, and then I will move that one forward.

Magnolia is a little bit different.

Magnolia has nine amendments.

And that is three for each neighborhood center and one for a neighborhood center that connects both.

And so, again, if the neighborhood chooses the Magnolia Valley neighborhood center, which connects the two, there will only be one for Magnolia.

But if the neighborhood chooses a revision or OPCD's version of North Magnolia or the Village, there will only be two.

And so to answer Councilmember Juarez's question, no, I'm not going to bring 27 amendments because that would be too much.

And our survey is going to close before the public hearing because we have to make a decision About which of these amendments to move forward with central staff, which is a different timeline than the public hearing.

For my District 6 residents, I know all 100,000-plus of them are watching right now, and so I want them all to know that that is the reason that there's a timeline difference.

I've proposed these three options for each neighborhood center based on unique characteristics.

Really, it's the right-of-way attributes.

The grid connectivity as well as the grade.

Half of a mile from 8th and 65th to Finney Ridge feels like two miles, even though it's only half a mile.

A half mile from 8th and 65th to 15th is actually half a mile, and it feels like half a mile because Finney Ridge is very steep and Ballard is very flat.

With that point, I did propose a new neighborhood center, which is East Ballard.

It is at the corner of 8th and 65th, and I proposed this neighborhood center because OPCD did not choose to put it in because the 28 Express does not run frequently enough for it to meet their metrics.

That is something that can be changed.

We can add more bus service.

What we cannot change are grids and grades.

We're not going to have a Denny regrade again.

We're not going to eminent domain everyone's property to reshift the grid.

We can change the bus frequency, and so that's why I put forward that amendment.

It would have been a much larger geographic area, but With 30 days or less to do all of the community engagement that I need to do, I felt that these three options were broad enough, but also not too broad without having a longer time for discussion.

The folks who take the survey will be able to weigh in on these three options, as well as the original proposal from the Office of Planning Community Development.

And the option about whether or not we should have this new neighborhood called East Ballard.

This will give folks the opportunity to send it around to their friends to fill it out themselves.

And again, the survey is now open and I will be sending it out in my newsletter this afternoon.

The survey will close on September 2nd.

And that, again, is before the public hearing that has been posted.

And the reason that the deadline is sooner than that public hearing is so that we can work with central staff to continue moving the correct amendment forward.

With that, colleagues, that is my report.

Are there questions?

Council Member Waters?

Thank you.

I was going to save my comments for when I actually, but I figured I might as well do this now while I remember.

First of all, I thank Council Member Strauss.

You picked up the indigenous communities after I left, and you do not know how it makes me proud to hear other people rattle off tribes, leadership, government-to-government sovereignty, because I've always been the only Indian in the room to explain all that stuff.

So recognizing that Tulalip, Mulkashoot, Puyallup, Snoqualmie, Suquamish all invest not only in their cities, but everyone's cities.

And as you know, and I didn't have to read this in the Puget Sound Business Journal to know this, and I see it's now back in the clips of tribal news that the Suquamish tribe is going to be building a shopping center in Silverdale.

And so for me, like when Kenmore Air, like when Puyallup bought Kenmore Air, So for me, to see tribes, what they've always been saying about the tribal economy and developing beyond treaty land and unceded territory, that is way better than a land acknowledgement.

So I'm just going to say it again.

Unless you're going to give it back, quit saying it.

So with that being said, it is so...

I mean, I've been doing this for 40 years, and for once I'm hearing other people rather than Native people talk about...

Why it's important that not only we work with tribes as governments, government to government, but the investment piece and the way that they have divested their economy and their gaming.

Everyone thinks that tribes have casinos and they're just casinos.

They are basically government gaming.

The money goes back, because we don't have a tax base, it goes back into hospitals, public safety, housing, healthcare, addiction center, you name it.

So my point is, it's really wonderful to be with a council that is now recognizing that.

I would really encourage you to come to the summit.

If you can't be there the whole day, check in at different parts.

And I'm guessing with Francesca there now in the mayor's office, you'll be getting out like an agenda if that's not already out.

And when we had it two years ago, it was phenomenal.

The mayor had all the city departments there, Mayor Harrell.

And we work closely with SPD and the King County Prosecutor's Office on missing, murdered, indigenous women and girls and other issues.

And so we're finally recognizing what we've been saying, that Indian country, tribal politics, government to government has to be woven into the regular fabric of this city because that's why we have that seal up there, which again, by the way, is a Plains Indian, not a coastal.

I'm just going to point that out.

So thank you, Council Member Strauss.

Thank you, Council Member Wart.

Thank you, Council President.

Any other comments?

Okay.

Go ahead, Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss, for passing it off.

And thank you, Councilmember Juarez, about the land acknowledgement and being real about it.

Let's give it back.

Okay, so Parks Utilities Technology meeting will be Wednesday, August the 13th at 2 p.m.

Colleagues, we have a very packed agenda.

We have 14 items on the agenda, five of which are appointments.

We also have a bill coming up, Golden Gardens concession.

It has three amendments.

We also have a Magnuson Cafe agreement with Seattle Parks Department as well.

So we have a ton of stuff and we will move through it as best as possible, but we just have some stuff that needs to get passed before recess.

So looking forward to an agenda and your engagement on that.

And thank you all so much for engaging with some of the amendments on some of the bills and so forth.

Next Friday, September 12th will be our public hearing for the comprehensive plan.

We're going to continue to run it like we have been, which will split it into two.

I know oftentimes we hear feedback from people that, hey, we can't get down there at a certain time or, you know, just trying to make it as accessible as possible.

All the ways in which we've tried Every single different avenue, this one was the most accessible.

So we're having online at 930, and then we'll do the in-person starting in the afternoon, where we'll keep the window open, especially for people that are working, so that sign-up time will continue.

We'll do it like we did last time, colleagues, and make sure that we are hearing everyone.

I just want to thank you all for your engagement with the Comprehensive Plan in your districts.

talking to people.

I know a lot of you have either walked the neighborhood centers, you have talked with people, you have connected with folks, you have posted your meetings, you've done surveys, all the different things.

I think couldn't be more thankful for everyone's engagement.

And in this important process, and we will keep the train moving into September and looking forward to the work that we have.

And just a reminder, this is only phase one.

We have different phases that are going to be happening during this process and amendments and navigating different things.

So this is only phase one.

This is only the beginning, but I feel I'm confident about the work that has been done so far and everyone listening to people.

Next, I don't have anything else besides that.

If everyone wants to keep up with what I do in our community and highlights, I always throw it on the gram.

But I will say this and highlight about just stuff last weekend.

Last week, the night out, just engaging with neighbors.

I thought it was beautiful to see across the city all of the events, whether it was block parties, whether it was a neighborhood gathering, just all the events across the city and building community and a lot of people just really talked about that connection piece.

And that was something that was really, really phenomenal and just looking forward to continuing to have that connection.

And if there's nothing else and no questions, I will pass it off to Councilmember Juarez.

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Council Member Hollingsworth.

You forgot to mention about our event Saturday, so I'll do it for us.

I wasn't going to because I thought you would, but I'll go ahead and say it.

First of all, thank you.

It's lovely to be back, and I'm glad that we're at the table, and I've only been on the job 11 days, so...

Six days for our Chief of Staff, Kelly Brown.

We've been still staffing our office, and we should have it completely done by August 25th.

Thank you for your patience.

We hope to go completely live.

First week in September, we'll have everybody in place.

Very briefly, we've met with a lot of city departments and, well, A lot has changed and a lot hasn't changed.

But anyway, I did meet with the Office of Housing, Parks and Rec, for a briefing on the progress of the redevelopment of the Lake City Community Center.

I'm going to take a moment of pride here and a moment of just being very exciting.

This is a decade in the making.

It's the first time the city has ever undertaken a project like this.

Hopefully it will be a template and it can be replicated citywide where we took a community center and the bottom two floors will be the community center.

There'll be 113 new homes with two and three bedroom, possibly four bedroom.

Childcare will be provided.

Mercy Housing has been selected as the provider, the developer?

Yeah, developer provider.

Family Works will provide programming for childcare.

Construction is scheduled for 2027, but I am pushing really hard to have it shovel-ready much sooner since we've been working on this for a decade.

We're doing the rezoning now.

It's being considered in land use.

Instead of doing a contract, we're going to go through the legislative process.

And just so a little historical background, this fits so nicely in what we were talking about in 2014 and 15 into the Lake City neighborhood with the Tony Lee House, Rewa, one block away where we have housing and pre-K.

Then Rewa also has in D5, we did the Nook, which also has housing and pre-K.

And across the street, we worked with the developer there when they're putting up 185 units in the huge parking lot at the QFC, which is from, it'll be between the Nook and between our new community center.

And of course, it's all being built around what we've talked about, transit-oriented housing, transit-oriented development.

We threw in transit-oriented childcare.

By the end of 2020, we were all throwing everything in front of transit-oriented.

You name it, we were talking about transit-oriented drinking.

You name it, we were all doing that.

Been working really closely.

But the thing that I'm most proud of, and I want to thank Mayor Harrell for this and Mayor Durkan, Because we have six city departments that have worked in conjunction together for a decade to get this done.

Big shout out to Seattle Parks and Rec, Office of Housing, OPCD, Seattle Public Library, Department of Neighborhoods, and FAS, and two neighbors, two mayors, I'm sorry, and we finally got it together, and I think this is one of the reasons why We are public servants.

Why we want to run for office and why we do what we do is because when you get brick and mortar and you're actually turning soil and getting things shovel ready, and before you can look at something and say, I thought about this a decade ago and now it's happening, and it's happening for the right reasons.

Housing, childcare, all those things in a rich transit center, rich transit spine, also next to our elementary schools, our middle schools, and our high schools.

So this is so exciting, and this is what happens when you get old.

You just got to keep at it, so.

And let's see if there's anything else I want to say.

Oh, I need to talk about what happened Saturday.

Councilmember Hollingsworth, she has a big smile on her face.

We got to join Rise Above celebrating 10 years of empowering Native youth, and they did a basketball workshop at Garfield in which the mayor was there, and Councilmember Hollifield was there.

I say Hollifield.

It's going to judge Hollifield.

Hollingsworth.

We were also at the event with a video message from Senator Murray, who has always been good to Indian Country.

We were honoring Coach Wilkins, which was amazing.

And I had an opportunity to actually hang out with Common, the rapper, entertainer, humanitarian.

He was at the basketball clinic, and he was also at the big gala.

And it was amazing.

Tribal leadership showed up.

And like I said, we did an honoring for Coach Wilkins, and they made an incredible Six-star blanket in which you get wrapped, which is a very big deal.

I gave the council president a blanket before I left to honor her and her leadership.

That was my gift, my traditional gift as I was walking out the door.

And the other thing was, you know, it was so nice to be in a room with not just Native people, tribal leadership.

I sat with, I don't know if you know who Ruthie is and Carla.

They played on the United States...

Olympic basketball team with Dawn Staley in the day.

I don't know if you guys are basketball, but I am.

So it was wonderful hanging out with those two, and it was wonderful having people from Senator Murray's office there, and some people from the mayor's office were there.

But just being in an event where everybody's in a good mood about a good thing that we've been working with Rise Above for since the summer of 2015. So this was their 10-year anniversary.

And to have a program that uses sports as a modality for Native American children, any child that, you know, that's why we're at Garfield, we're everywhere, and in Indian country, as a modality to stay away and to have good, healthy lives and to have adults that say, I care about you, and to have Common come out and be a part of that all day and all night was amazing.

And like I said, Council Member Hollingsworth was with me, and I saw her singing the Whitney Houston song, Along With Me.

I believe the children of the future.

She held up her phone and she was doing this because my niece sang the song, so it was really cool.

In any event, it's wonderful to be back and work with a new group of people and old friends as well.

So thank you for that.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you.

Questions?

Yes, go ahead.

Two.

Okay.

A, can you speak to the basketball ability and can you speak to the singing ability?

For which one?

For me?

Any and all above.

OK, so everyone's making fun of me about basketball, and they're trying to get me on the court, and I'm not going to do it, because last time I did, they took a picture and made fun of me because I called it sports ball.

And as you know, we're big Storm fans.

Yes, we are.

But Council Member Hollingsworth knows her way around a basketball court.

She played for University of Arizona.

And so she knows all the basketball people.

And Seattle Prep.

And Seattle Prep.

But no, she's like, she knows everybody that I didn't realize she knew, which was amazing.

And no, but I'm supposed to say go Mariners.

So hopefully they won't break your heart this year.

Okay.

Thank you.

By the way, you're not the only person in my orbit who says sports ball.

I also say outfits instead of uniforms.

I got in trouble for that too.

Now it's me?

Okay.

Transition to myself with my question.

For Public Safety Committee, next committee meeting is tomorrow.

It's going to be focused on our CCTV and real-time crime center, the RTCC legislation.

And so look forward, as always, pass some material out.

You're always welcome to attend if you're not on the committee.

And I will note as well in going into September, we're going to have a criminal justice kind of focus for our September meetings.

I've had meetings and calls with the city attorney and her office and the presiding judge at Seattle Municipal Court and talking about the issues in the criminal justice world.

And we have a few things coming up and that will be present for our meetings in September.

So just a little teaser, just a little heads up.

For this week, this morning, the Monday, today, or was that?

Historic ships at Northwest Seaport, Lake Union Park.

Really interesting.

Really appreciate the tours I was getting.

Get my sea legs back a bit, a little maritime flavor.

And later today, I'm looking to discuss or hear about, really, about gun violence with former Representative Gabby Gifford and Senator Mark Kelly, because that's really something that we've been working in the last 20 months in terms of bills like after-hours establishments or chronic nuisance property.

Yeah, the street race, all these different bills that have a play, the SPD staffing and the like, that have a play in terms of us trying to reduce gun violence.

So I'm looking forward to that event.

I will have office hours.

I don't have quite the setup that my colleague from District 6 has, but we'll do it this week in Uptown Espresso.

In Belltown.

So it's a great place.

And one would argue maybe even better than your office, although I'm still jealous that you have it.

And then that day, at some point, there'll be a turnover, but the KCRHA meeting related to their budget for the King County Regional Homeless Authority.

Thursday, Transportation Policy Board for the PSRC on Thursday.

Also be meeting with SOTA BA.

I could follow up with you on that.

The Mandela Washington Fellows always support anything international, so we'll be doing that on Thursday.

And then Friday, there's an event at the Pike Place Market.

A lot of things going on at Pike Place Market.

I've been down there.

As I told you last week, ringing the bell, looking at the work that's been done.

On the streets, both Pike Place, but also the connectors, whatever street it might be, Pine, Stewart, Virginia, and the like.

Really great work that's going on there.

Separately, I just wanted to say from last week, thank you to everyone who was participating in Night Out.

It's really important from the public safety.

It is technically an SVD program.

A lot of people don't realize it's Night Out for safety.

In our city, and so I had the opportunity to go to Soto where, you know, a great event with a lot of people.

I was starting to worry about quorum issues for the council since Ms. Goodman has the ability to pull in a lot of people to her event, but also went to Belltown and Queen Anne, and it was really good to do those night out events and to really celebrate, you know, these neighborhoods coming together.

And I will add, I wasn't looking to speak to it, but I'll add on the comprehensive plan, you know, working with my D6 colleague, because part of Magnolia belongs in D7.

And we'll note, you know, the Magnolia neighborhood village is alive and well.

It's obviously not part of the formal system right now.

And there will be others in D7, Queen Anne.

One of which was switched and became a neighborhood center for Nickerson.

So we have the Nickerson Neighborhood Center for District 7 and specifically Queen Anne.

And so continue to work those issues and partner, particularly Queen Magnolia, partner with Councilmember Strauss.

And that is it from me.

Normally I think I'd go to...

It's alphabetical.

Wait a minute, I have it here.

Councilmember Rink.

That is correct.

Yes.

Can I give you, can I state your other title today?

Councilmember Rink, AKA, well, I'll just say happy birthday.

You can call me birthday girl, Councilmember Kettle.

I was about and then I hesitated.

I will accept Councilmember birthday girl today.

My advisors on either side of me said I chose the wiser course, so happy birthday.

Thank you for the consideration.

Thank you, Councilmember Kettle, and hi, colleagues.

I'll just start off with some committee matters.

The Select Committee on Federal Administration and Policy changes will be meeting this Friday, August 15th, 9.30 a.m., and this month we will be focused on disaster and emergency management as a topic.

And thank you to Councilmember Kettle's office for helping shape the agenda and the discussion that we'll be having.

And moving to a couple of legislative matters, I just wanted to flag for everyone's attention, we have a couple of amendments to the pieces of legislation related to surveillance that should have been distributed earlier, three of them primarily related to evaluation and reporting.

So I just wanted to name that during our briefing here to make sure that everyone received that and is able to take a look.

Happy to answer any questions, and thank you again to Public Safety Chair Kettle for allowing our participation and sponsoring the amendment so we can allow for discussion in committee tomorrow.

Also flagging for folks' attention that our subdivision bill is headed for a final vote tomorrow in full council, a very straightforward piece of legislation, streamlining our permitting processes.

Again, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out and connect to our office.

And now highlighting a few fun community matters.

My team had the opportunity to tour at Cedar Grove.

On Friday, which was fantastic.

I would encourage anyone who hasn't done the Cedar Grove tour.

Of course, they're one of our key partners with Seattle Public Utilities.

They're not just a national leader, but an international leader in composting technology.

And I think that's something to be tremendously proud of.

A union shop.

And we've been in discussion about, of course, ongoing source separation issues and hoping to remedy that immediately.

But I would encourage folks, if you haven't gone out to the tour, it's very cool.

And as a spoiler alert, it does not smell like what you think it will.

That's a big part of the tour.

To that end, over the weekend, my team was also out in community alongside the Complete Communities Coalition, visiting each of the eight additional proposed neighborhood centers as included in the amendment I put forward on the comprehensive plan.

So I, along with members of the coalition, actually rode our bikes out to Broadview, South Wedgwood, Roanoke, Nickerson, Gasworks, Loyal Heights, Dawson, and Alki, and had pulled together groups of small businesses Liza Rankin.

Tanya Woo.

Liza Rankin.

How many times they had to move in the city before they found roots or what are some of the dynamics with small businesses.

We even got some ideas on what kind of small businesses people would like to see in their communities.

Another hint, it's grocery stores.

That is one uniting theme across all eight neighborhood centers.

Folks wanna be able to walk to a grocery store And I think that's important to uplift in this.

But altogether, we biked 62 miles, got to test out a whole lot of our bike infrastructure.

So thank you to our predecessors for making those investments and excited to expand on that network.

But I'll be sure to circle up with each of the offices and share notes from those conversations.

It was a really great weekend.

And we did that over the course of two days.

So I wanna assure everyone we did not do 62 miles in one day.

And I'll also note, I got to capstone my weekend by seeing Councilmember Hollingsworth.

You were busy this weekend, Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Seeing Councilmember Hollingsworth at the vegan festival at Cal Anderson.

If anyone needs vegan cheese, I have enough for everyone.

No, don't worry.

It's very good.

Very good.

Well, we have plenty to share.

It was very fun, great to see a lot of people out, actually.

So the vegan community really comes together.

And I'll conclude my remarks also just drawing us into some of the recent headlines and wanting to acknowledge some of the news also coming out of the weekend.

Namely in national and international affairs.

The first just acknowledging the targeted assassination of several Al Jazeera and freelance journalists covering the genocide in Gaza.

The airstrike that killed these journalists and two others landed outside the Shifa hospital destroying The emergency building.

The Israeli government has claimed responsibility for this attack, which according to NPR marks the first time during the nearly two-year war that they have owned an airstrike claim that has claimed the life of a journalist.

And according to the Associated Press, this is one of the deadliest conflicts for journalists in modern times, with over 250 journalists dying since the conflict began in 2023. The United Nations Foreign Press Association and the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Press Institute, and Amnesty International have all condemned this egregious attack as retribution on the free press and credible public information.

And the second thing I want to note and close on is just, of course, this developing story in our own nation's capital.

And just this morning, the Trump regime announced plans to seize control of D.C.' 's police force and deploy 800 members of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., with the stated goal of establishing law and order and public safety within the city, as the city of D.C.

has actually marked a 30-year low for violent crime in 2024. And in a memo to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, President Trump stated that the Guard will remain mobilized, quote, until I determine the conditions of law and order have been restored, end quote, and noted at a press conference today that, quote, other cities are hopefully watching this.

Well, we are certainly watching in Seattle.

And I know here we stand for press freedom, and I must urge that we must stand against and condemn this fascist power grab.

And with that, colleagues, I will end on that very somber note.

And thank you for affording me the time.

Thank you, Council President.

Council President, can I just add not so much a question, more of a statement.

I will speak to this in the Public Safety Committee meeting tomorrow as part of my chair comment.

But clearly, this is wrong with respect to what's happening in D.C.

with the National Guard.

And, you know, as I said two meetings ago and chair comment, you know, we need federal law enforcement to be professional.

I went through what SPD does in terms of, you know, making arrests, you know, we don't wear masks, all these different pieces that highlight And I know different people have their concerns related to policing, but I went through each of those points and I talked about how important it is to be professional and to do your job and do it right.

And I noted in that comment that, you know, we are playing at this level.

This is varsity.

And what's happening with respect to federal law enforcement with ICE and others, Is that, to be blunt, and I know a lot of law enforcement and everyone looks to be professional and seeks to be professional, but it's junior varsity.

It's JV.

And that is the legacy of what's happening right now with federal law enforcement.

And we need a professional Federal law enforcement, just like Chief Barnes has been talking about being professional in his department's engagement with the public, and that's what they're doing.

And that's what we're doing in terms of our oversight and the work that we're doing with all the bills that we've done on public safety in the last 20 months.

And we will continue to do, and that is the template.

What is happening right now in D.C., a place where I was stationed three times, I know Washington, D.C.

very, very well, This is not right, and it's not proper, and yes, we should call that out.

And again, I was gonna speak to this in Public Safety Committee tomorrow morning, but I just wanted to also add today, so thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So next up is Councilmember Saka.

Go ahead.

All right.

Thank you, Madam Council President and colleagues.

Good afternoon.

And I guess happy birthday, Councilmember person.

What was it?

What was it?

I can't say it.

Nope.

I can say it.

Birthday girl.

Okay.

Happy birthday, birthday girl.

Birthday colleague.

Birthday colleague.

Birthday colleague.

Wishing you many more.

Thank you.

On the Transportation Committee front, our next Transportation Committee will be the very first day after our recess, so Tuesday, September 2nd, 9.30 a.m.

I know the members of the committee are really excited to join after a long recess to To join us to discuss, dive deep into transportation policy.

The exact agenda is still being finalized as we speak, but among other topics will be the district project fund resolution and related proviso lift and some executive driven SDOT legislation as well.

So stay tuned.

Tomorrow evening on the transportation committee front, tomorrow evening, The Levy Oversight Committee will be meeting for the third time.

Excited to join that meeting tomorrow evening and be a part of the conversations to provide effective oversight of the new transportation levy.

I should note that I had a very productive meeting recently with Congressman Adam Smith.

Among other things, we discussed opportunities to better support our veterans community here locally in Seattle, specifically our local veterans who are experiencing homelessness.

We should probably talk, a few of us individually offline, but all of us really, because this is a shared collective responsibility to better support our veterans, especially the most vulnerable.

In the community, I am going to be participating in, so as we know, the mayor's office is hosting the three chiefs.

The three public safety chiefs are hosting various public safety conversations in district.

The one in district one is going to occur on Thursday at the Del Bridge Community Center.

Really excited to be able to join that one personally.

Looking forward to that.

And then I heard National Night Out shout outs from a few of you colleagues.

I was honored to be able to participate in National Night Out as well.

There was an astonishing, my understanding is 235 District 1 specific National Night Out events and big geography to cover, big territory.

I was able to personally attend about six of them.

My staff covered another 10, 15 plus at least.

But just engaging and connecting with neighbors, residents of District 1, small business owners in District 1, including through Soto, BIA, was a really empowering opportunity and love those, love those.

I should note that on Thursday, I will be joining Park Superintendent Diaz.

We are going to be doing a site visit of Camp Long, specifically the historic lodge that suffered significant damage as a result of likely arson in November of 2024. So I've been in close conversations with the mayor's office, the executive, about this and how we can better support the rebuilding of that effort.

That lodge was a, and needs to remain, a gem for the West Seattle community and beyond.

We all benefit when that lodge is rebuilt back better.

So in any event, looking forward to doing a site visit on that on Thursday.

On Saturday, Elkai Beach Pride is coming up.

So shout out to founder Stacey Bass Walden and her wife Jolie.

For their work to kick off this exciting annual event.

So really looking forward to joining that.

Of course, it's going to be an Elkai.

And speaking of better supporting our LGBTQ plus community, we just heard that the State Office of Minority and Women Business Enterprise is now certifying LGBTQ plus small businesses at the state level.

Which is a great win for our diverse small businesses to enable them to ultimately get more visibility and ultimately, hopefully, results in more contracting opportunities for them as well.

So great, great win there.

On Saturday, I'll also be attending a fun event, this time in South Park.

The Sopa Supa community event, legendary event.

I know it might not be in some of your council districts, but especially to my citywide colleagues, I encourage you to try to find an opportunity to come out there, visit with community, Really, really great.

One of the great community events in South Park.

Let's see here.

I heard some conversation around sports.

Sports.

And so, yes, I love sports.

All of the above.

Sharing some sports-related updates and news from my perspective.

So the Seattle Mariners were on a roll this past weekend and next weekend.

Honoring the number 51. We know that Ichiro's jersey retirement ceremony happened this past weekend, so it was great to be able to honor global icon and hometown hero right here in the Pacific Northwest, the city of Seattle, Ichiro Suzuki.

And it was great to see all the Mariner greats on the field and Ichiro's My understanding is it was his second only speech in English in two weeks.

Second speech in English in two weeks.

And his first one was his Hall of Fame acceptance speech.

I encourage you all, whether you're a sports fan or not, to go take a listen to that on your leisure time, all your spare leisure time.

But really, really exciting and uplifting words from a legendary person like Ichiro.

And so...

As we honor Ichiro, we also honor sports and the legacy of sports in the city of Seattle.

Shifting gears right now, I want to just take a moment to talk about something that's going on.

Going on or continued in action, depending on how one's perspective.

And that is the, I want to express my concern, continued concern about the gaping city block size hole that sits directly across the street from City Hall, across Fourth Avenue there.

And that isn't technically in my own council district, although my district borders it on multiple sides, but It is an eyesore, and I think it is all of our responsibility to make sure, at least from a city perspective, we do more to ultimately spur development of that pristine space.

What could be pristine space across the street.

We know that Seattle Times columnist Jim Brunner has dubbed it the infamous City Hall and Competence Plaza.

And as we dedicate significant resources to revitalizing and reinvigorating not only downtown, but the entire city, and really that's our economic engine.

And as we prepare for FIFA World Cup next year, It is past time for the city to become better stewards of that public asset across the street in particular.

And I totally understand that at this current time, economic conditions preclude a larger scale private investment to fully develop and utilize the site as originally planned.

But we must Do something.

So it's with this understanding, with this recognition, I'm interested in our city pursuing an interim strategy that will allow us to convert the site to some level of public use, ideally, for at least a few years until the broader macroeconomic conditions improve that the property owner could fully bring to life what was originally envisioned.

But fortunately, my understanding is that there was a development agreement signed by the city in late 2017 that did include potential penalties to be imposed on the developer if they do not move forward within a specified timeline.

And COVID happened and a number of force majeure provisions kicked in.

But those penalties, my understanding, would kick in soon, providing an incentive to spur development.

But even before You know, initiating punitive penalties like that.

I think having appropriate conversations with the executive and the property owner are a good first step.

So that's why I've been in conversations and engage with the executive on a preliminary basis to see, to explore what more we can do as a city too.

And it's not just that one.

That's probably the most glaring Property, you know, citywide.

The most known example, I'll say.

But we need to do better, and I'm committed to doing exactly that, leading by action, and continuing to invest in downtown.

So that is all I have, colleagues.

I welcome any questions, comments from you all.

And if not, I will pass it on to...

Go ahead.

Well, I guess Council President recognizes.

Go ahead.

Recognizes whoever.

Go ahead.

Yes.

Well, yeah, sorry.

Plus, I am an elder.

I'm older than you, so I can go first.

Just real fast, I forgot to say that we are also having our public safety meeting, ND5, at the Meadowbrook Community Center on August 28th at 6 o'clock, which we've done before.

And second, since we're still talking sports, we're going to the unveiling of the Sue Bird statute Sunday, August 17th.

And after that, they'll play the mercury and go storm.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council President.

Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Council President.

Yes, I will be there on the 17th.

Separately, too, I just wanted to follow up, Council Member Saka, what I affectionately call the pit.

Is in D7, and I and my team have been heavily engaged with the executive and the ownership group and their attorneys on this, and really looking to what Councilmember Saka was saying, you know, make a press.

And part of this was related to FIFA World Cup.

But also our 250th.

And there's definitely a sports-related piece to this in terms of, you know, possibilities.

And we are definitely engaged in, you know, there's...

As everything else, it can be complicated, but we're definitely close, and I know the pit has been there for a long time, but we are, I believe, very close to getting a way ahead, which is more of a temporary way ahead, and I really do think that we should be looking, and I'm not beholden to the original plan, but something that really brings that square, that block, Into the city, into the sequencing as we go from to our east to here and then to the west and make it inviting.

And as I always say too, bring a piece of the native community to it And evergreen trees.

That's what I always look to add.

But rest assured, there is a lot of engagement going on in that topic.

I just wanted to add from the District 7 perspective, so thank you.

I like the pit.

It's tradition.

I do like the border fencing now, which that is a step forward, yes.

Yes, the border fencing is way better than the previous sort of recent iterations, but still presents a unique opportunity.

And yes, I'm concerned, but I also have great hope for what is possible when we come together, work together.

Want to thank the executive for our initial conversations and you as well, Councilmember Kettle.

We've been in touch about this in close touch.

So more to come, but just note that it is an area of shared concern and bringing to life better opportunity for all.

It's like Magnolia between us two.

We have the pit, we have Magnolia.

Yes, bingo, bingo.

It's an area of shared concern by our respective council districts.

And yes, to Sue Bird, I wanted it to be briefer, but I will 100% looking forward to attending that statute unveiling, followed by the game later in the afternoon, so I will see you both there.

Councilmember Sokka.

It's not a question, but more of a statement, a follow on to the conversation about the border fencing around this pit, which has been, you know, it's been murals at times.

It's just been graffiti at times.

The current iteration of it, which I believe it's legally art, it writes out the name of all of the federally recognized tribes in this area.

It has been the longest standing piece of work that has not been graffitied.

Don't jinx it.

So, you know, I just call that out because I believe that that is in part due to a level of respect, but it's also the power of the tribes.

Thank you.

Councilmember Salomon.

Thank you very much, Council President.

Y'all are making me feel old because I remember what was at the pit before it became the pit.

It was the old public safety building, the police department's West Precinct, its headquarters, its motor pool, its motorcycle unit, the jail, courthouse, everything.

Yeah, I feel old.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate that.

So in Committee news.

Coming up this Wednesday at 10 a.m.

is the Housing and Human Services meeting.

There are two items on the agenda, and thank you, Chair Juarez, for allowing me to run the thing.

We'll be looking at the predatory home buying legislation for briefing discussion and a vote, and also MFTE for briefing discussion.

Those are only two items that I have on the agenda at this time.

The next Land Use Committee will be on September 3rd, and that agenda is extensive.

Six items at this point.

Roost-to-roofs, briefing, discussion, and vote.

The Bill Wright-Golf Complex netting project for a briefing, discussion, and vote.

Permitting reform legislation will be discussed at that meeting.

Substantial alterations legislation, otherwise known as sub-alts.

The 325 Roy contract rezone, as well as design review, which will include a sub-TED component.

So that's on tap for the third.

Our hope is to take action on these items before we get into full council.

Budget stuff.

So again, a lot of things that we intend to get checked off before we go into budget season.

So that may be a longer meeting, and I just want y'all to be prepared for that, that it may be a little bit longer.

In terms of activity over the last couple of weeks, since we last had our council briefing, one of the things that stood out for me is the series of arsons that have occurred in District 2, including at the Mount Baker Bath House, North Beacon Hill, which actually resulted in some Comcast outages because of damage to their infrastructure.

The mortuary at Rainer in Alaska, yeah, Columbia Mortuary, 100-year-old plus institution, and the owners were concerned about the decedents in their care at the time of the fire as opposed to the structure itself.

The decedents were fine.

Structure.

Yeah, it's going to take some time to build that back.

But it is apparent that all of these are arson.

We can't say if they were all by the same suspect.

But it is something that I definitely want to acknowledge and call out in terms of things that have definitely impacted District 2, at least 4, that we were tracking.

Additionally, one of the other things I'm tracking is the other public safety issues.

Shots fired at our after-hours late-night establishments.

That's why I will be doing a meeting Later on this week with the mayor's office to find out where are we at with the enforcement of the legislation we pushed through a couple of months ago.

It's been, you know, some time for FAS to do the notifications, for the JET team to act, for SPD to act, and we continue to have these late night shootings that have a nexus to these locations and looking at What are our next steps?

Again, legislation's been passed.

Is enforcement happening?

Are the fines happening?

And if not, why not?

And some of these locations that have had multiple shots fired incidents, we have precedence of them being shut down.

I can think of the one in Rainier Beach.

There's a couple that may need to be looking at that same course of action.

In CID and in SOTO.

So just saying.

Along the lines of public safety, I did have a chance to meet with Dr. Lee Hunt of SPD to discuss the Safe Growth Initiative.

It's a way of looking at how you do neighborhood design that includes a crime prevention through environmental design element, as well as community resilience, community training, So, figuring out just how is that gonna, you know, how does he envision that's gonna play out in Seattle?

Additionally, I met with SPD chief of staff Ricketts.

He had to discuss some of the Public safety concerns, the arsons, the shootings, the late-night establishments, just what kind of support the department needs from council.

Speaking of a night out, this is the first time I attended a night out, not as a SPD staff guy, so it was kind of different.

But I did attend some events.

It was at the sort of event.

We actually also attended an event at Sephardi Bukur Halem.

In the Seward Park neighborhood, which I have to give a shout out to my direct communications, Chris Hendrickson, who worked with SBH to get SPD presence.

You know, actually had a canine Nala, you know, at the event, which was a big hit for the kids.

Also attended another event in the Seward Park neighborhood at 56th and Willow.

Let's see.

Also had meetings with the International Community Health Services regarding their project on North Beacon Hill, the Ron Chu Healy Aging and Wellness Center, which is part of the Beacon Pacific Village.

It's right on the north side of PACMED on North Beacon Hill.

Yesterday, I had a chance to attend the Othello International Festival and was able to present a proclamation on behalf of Mayor Harrell to community member Daphne Schneider Who has been a long-time community advocate for development, safety, transitory development, community building in the Othello neighborhood.

Coming up this week, we have meetings with KCRHA, the Seattle Youth Employment Program interns working with Human Services.

Talked about the mayor's office meeting regarding the after hours clubs.

We'll also be attending the SIEU Green Janitors graduation event on Friday.

The Little Saigon, Celebrate Little Saigon event on Saturday.

And yes, the Sue Bird statue unveiling on Sunday.

We will be there.

I'm sorry I missed the Wilkins statue unveiling.

I was at a different event, but not gonna miss this one.

So with that, I will close, and happy birthday, colleague.

Okay.

Any comments or questions for me?

Commander Kettle.

Councilmember Kettle.

I just wanted to say thank you.

I've had many conversations with the executive, different layers, different individuals, about the need to button place, to operationalize, to bring about On the ground, from our legislation, the Real Time Crime Center being an example, and that has stepped up.

So thank you for your engagement.

Obviously, bills like after-hour establishments, the chronic nuisance property, and so forth, they need to be put into place.

And it takes time and effort, and I recognize that, particularly when they're related to budget, and the budget doesn't start until January 1st, the next year.

But at the same time, we do need to keep the press on.

We do need to keep the pressure on.

Because we're in this bridging moment.

We've done, as I said before, 20 bills, a few confirmations, and a couple resolutions.

There's a lot there.

And we're moved from where we were, but we're not where we need to be, and we're in this bridging function.

And to get across this bridge is to bring these bills online, to operationalize them, To put them into effect.

And so with that said, so thank you for engaging particularly on the after-hour establishments bill.

Because it's important not just for SOTU and the CID and the like and parts of District 1, too.

But other parts of the city, too.

And by the way, give credit where credit due, like chronic nuisance property, that was used in District 5 on Aurora.

And I appreciate that, bringing these bills online and put them into effect.

As my father once said, many hands make light work.

So thank you for stepping in and pushing on that bill.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

And I just want to make another acknowledgement.

One of the things I had been pushing for for a long time before I even got to this body was a fund that businesses could tap into to make repairs or security improvements before they suffered a crime like A break-in, vandalism, graffiti or whatever.

And Office of Economic Development did announce their back-to-business program, which does just that.

Provides a pool of funds for small businesses to tap into to make improvements before they suffer a crime.

Very happy about that.

Something I've been advocating.

They also included crime prevention through environmental design as justification for providing this funding.

So, again, great acknowledgement of CETTED on that.

We'll definitely be pushing out information about how businesses can take advantage of this program because, again, If you're a small mom and pop operating, you got small margins anyway, and someone busts your window, it's gonna take thousands to repair that window.

But if you can do security film upfront to prevent that breakage from happening in the first place, security film versus bars, which I hate bars, just gonna say it.

Again, over the long run, It's going to save the city money.

It's going to save those businesses' insurance costs.

So thank you OED for making that happen.

Along those lines on SEPTAD, I just want to say it because you've mentioned it many times and for actually the same logic.

And I appreciate your help thus far and moving forward regarding bringing in SEPTAD and principles and ideas into the public safety element amendment for the comprehensive plan.

Because bigger picture, longer term, same concept, same possibility.

So thank you.

Thank you.

I would like to say thank you to my colleagues in Council because we are the ones that put the money into the budget to keep the storefront repair fund going, $800,000, this year and next year, and that is the money that is being used.

And that, for people that don't know, that provides $2,000 checks to businesses and nonprofits, any brick and mortar that has That has had to pay for the cost of repairs following a break-in.

So because that money is there and makes this revision or expansion of the program possible.

So that is great.

And at some point, what I hear about a lot on that front is Bollards or planters in the street in front of businesses.

Bars or film on windows will not stop a stolen Kia from plowing through the front of a business, but some simple pretty barriers could end also.

And then the other security measures that will be allowed for in that program are great.

Cameras, etc.

So, yes.

All right, I guess I'm up.

I wanted to also say, I just can't tell you how excited I am to start the deliberations on the MFTE program seven.

And because as you know, this is, I've made comments that I really, the multifamily tax exemption program.

Yes.

Great to have it finally in your committee and Your committee, because this allows, this program allows us to meet many policy goals.

Not only does it, it doesn't necessarily, it's not necessarily the deciding thing that makes a project pencil out for a developer, a private developer, but it helps and we need more housing.

We've got a housing crisis and, but it does also, it's mixed.

Income housing because there is a percentage of the units of the building that are designated that are required to be affordable at certain levels of area median income and, you know, you know, essentially the developers are doing on-site performance, you know, and that but we always want that instead of, well, not we always, but there is Let's just say some people would prefer that developers who are engaging with our affordable housing program do that instead of paying the fee in lieu.

The point is this is a program that assures that there will be mixed income housing and also perhaps incentivizing a little bit more housing because it makes a little bit more financial sense.

All to say I'm looking forward to our discussion on Wednesday, so thank you.

Okay, it's up to me now.

Our next meeting, the next meeting of the Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee is this Thursday, August 14th at 2 o'clock, and we're still finalizing all the presenters, but first there will be a present, well, it'll be a drill down into the status of the implementation of recommendations of three different audits.

One is the organized retail crime audit.

The second is the concentration of the overlap of fatal overdoses and crime.

I believe you, council member, were the one that requested that.

And then the final one is the audit on how we can, or what the city, extra steps that the city can take to help reduce gun violence.

And so we'll hear from the auditors on that, and I believe the heads of the relevant departments there.

And then we will have a briefing and discussion on the West Seattle Junction BIA amendment and we'll be joined by OED and West Seattle Junction BIA Director Chris McKay.

And then so that will then, and so that is our last meeting before the break, of course, and then we'll have a public hearing and a possible vote on that in the September 11th committee.

Just heads up.

All right, just moving on because we've got an executive session which will be probably long.

On Thursday, I'll be attending the University District Partnership Summer Social, and this is a really special summer gathering to celebrate the neighborhood and the people who make it so unique and vibrant.

Next Monday, I'll be attending the University Village Safeway Apartment Groundbreaking.

It'll be held on the former Safeway site adjacent to University Village at 3020 Northeast 45th Street in Seattle, zip code 98105. Now I get into detail on this because this will be the largest multifamily groundbreaking in Seattle since the COVID period.

And this project will be just shy of 800 units of new housing within walking distance of UW and the light rail.

So yeah, pretty exciting.

All right, that's all I've got.

Does anybody have any questions or comments?

Not inspiring.

Any questions or comments?

Okay.

If there's no further business, we will now move into executive session.

Hearing none, we'll, as presiding officer, I'm announcing that the Seattle City Council will now convene into executive session, the purpose of which is to discuss pending potential or actual litigation.

And the executive session is an opportunity for council to discuss confidential legal matters with city attorneys as authorized by law.

And a legal monitor, of course, is always present to ensure that the council reserves questions of policy for open session.

Now, and the clerk always helps me do the math when it says here, I expect the time of the executive session to end by 313 plus 75 minutes is. 4.30.

All right.

And if it goes longer than that, I will come on TV and say we're going to be extending the executive session.

Otherwise, this meeting will end automatically when we're done.

All right.

With that, I'll see you all online.

Yep.