Council Briefing 9/15/25

Good afternoon.

Today is September 15th, 2025. Seattle City Council, Seattle briefing meeting will come to order and the time is 2.02.

Will the clerk please call the roll.

Council Member Rink.

Council Member Rivera.

Here.

Council Member Saka.

Here.

Council Member Solomon.

Council Member Strauss.

Here.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Here.

Council Member Juarez.

Present.

Council Member Kettle.

Here.

Council President Nelson.

Present.

Seven present.

Thank you.

If there's no objection, the minutes of September 8th, 2025 will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the minutes are adopted.

All right, we've got one presentation today from Central Staff Director Ben Noble on the budget process and one proclamation from Councilmember Rivera for signatures.

On tomorrow's City Council meeting agenda, the consent calendar includes the weekly bill payment ordinance, two appointments from the Library's Education and Neighborhoods Committee to the Landmarks Preservation Board, and nine appointments from the Parks, Public Utilities and Technology Committee.

Which includes six for the Seattle Center Advisory Commission and three for the Board of Parks and Recreation Commission.

And then finally, there are six pieces of legislation from committees.

One that went straight to full council is a resolution expressing our intention to hold a public hearing regarding changes to the Soto BIA at the next Governance Accountability and Economic Development Committee.

One from Housing and Human Services, which aims to protect homeowners from predatory home buying practices.

One from the Library's Education and Neighborhoods Committee, naming the Toliver Temple Church of God in Christ as a historic landmark.

Three from Parks, Public Utilities, and the Technology Committee.

The first updates side sewer regulations to conform to current standards, clarifies existing requirements, and allows side Sewer fees to be created by the Director's Rule.

The second allows for the renewal of agreements between Seattle Public Utilities and other municipalities regarding water supply and its revenues.

And the third updates the ongoing SPU customer review panel to provide additional opportunities for young adult engagement and implement the six-year strategic business plan.

And then there are four items from the Sustainability, City Light, Arts, and Culture Committee.

The first authorizes a 16-year agreement renewal with the Bonneville Power Administration.

The second authorizes continued energy efficiency incentive programs.

The third adopts the biennial energy conservation target and 10-year conservation potential.

And the fourth bill approves the 2026 to 2029 City Light Clean Energy Implementation Plan.

Finally, there are two items from the Land Use Committee, both of which relate to permitting reform.

One amends city policy, which defines how long project permit reviews should take, and the other amends the definitions of substantial alteration to add clarity and exempt a wide swath of small business projects.

All right, that's all up tomorrow.

You can tell that there's a lot of legislation that's being finished before budget.

Okay, next we'll have a presentation from Central Staff Director Ben Noble with an overview of the 2025 budget calendar.

I know a number of emails have gone back and forth internally regarding various milestone dates for the budget process, and this is a good place to start talking publicly about it, and it's a good primer for the public.

Director Noble, please go ahead and proceed.

Thank you, Council President.

Yes.

And as you described, we've had the opportunity to talk, I think, with each of you individually about this calendar, but you haven't heard it collectively and nor is the public.

So I'll take an opportunity a week ahead of time to just give you an overall sense of the process.

I'm going to use the calendar as the tool for that, but as you'll see, we'll talk through the various steps of the process itself and some changes, minor changes, but changes from last year.

So again, you have a A hard copy of the calendar at the dais.

I passed those out because I thought it might be easier than having to refer back here.

But essentially, we're describing this as having six steps, and the PowerPoint, I'm going to walk through each of those steps with a little bit of commentary.

And then at the end, depending on time, I'll give you a quick look at what the format is for the presentations from the departments that will be the first step in this.

But I'm going to hold that to the end so we can kind of do the process all together, if you will.

So we'll get things kicked off next Tuesday when the mayor will deliver his budget speech and deliver the budget.

So that includes hard copies in binders for each office and for myself, as well as all the electronic materials online.

I would add that we get a set of technical materials, so all the budget issue papers, all the backup that went into the executive decisions, as well as the budget in its electronic form in terms of the transactional detail.

And Edin and Tom and other folks on my team will be processing that over the first 24 to 48 hours and then feeding back to you and your staff all of that information.

And your staff have been offered a couple of training opportunities, and we will continue those.

So the budget delivered on that first day, and then a couple days as we process various bits of the technical information.

We then start with the department presentations.

So those will be from the executive staff, the department directors, and typically their finance managers will be here.

And they'll go through each of their departments, again, at a high level, giving you an opportunity to ask an initial set of questions.

And I would say, for me anyway, that's the way to think about this, is that there's sort of layers of this.

And that first layer is an initial set of questions.

All of us will have only seen the budget for a short period by that time, but we can begin the question and answering.

And I'll talk more about Q&A as we go as well.

The next step in the process is the discussion of policy considerations from staff, but that is going to be, and then ultimately the revenue forecast update, and I'll talk about both of those.

But I do want to highlight, and that's not in one of my steps, but There's the first public hearing happens after Step 1 and before Step 2, and I just wanted to highlight that the format of those public hearings has taken on the model that was used just recently for the comp plan, so there'll be remote input taken in the afternoon and then an in-person hearing in the evening starting at 5. That'll be the structure for both of the public hearings, but the first one being on October 7th.

Then the week following, central staff will begin its policy consideration presentations.

So central staff will largely be working from home for the first two weeks, really diving in, available online to both you and your staff, but really digging in and identifying for you their assessment.

And again, we'll go essentially department by department of what they see as some key policy considerations and issues that you may want to be aware of.

And that you might not have found reading through 600-odd pages yourself, if you will.

We tend to organize, again, those by department.

And let me add, for both the department presentations in round one and in round two for these policy considerations, there will be a memo and or presentation for each and every department.

You'll only, in public, we'll only be able to go through the ones that we have time on the agendas for, but there will be materials, so all the departments on the executive side will be preparing presentations, even though they will not all be invited to here to present them.

And similarly, central staff will develop memos for each of the departments, although we will only publicly present some of them, again, only because of time constraints.

I would note that towards the end of that policy considerations window, which is October 15th through Monday the 20th, the very last day, there will be the revenue forecast update.

So the Revenue Forecast Council is scheduled to meet on the morning of October 20th to receive and approve the August update to the revenue forecast.

That will happen in the morning and then immediately in the afternoon.

We'll have the director of that office, myself, the budget director, here to provide you a summary of that revenue forecast.

And it could have, obviously, important impacts on the budget, if you will, to the positive or the negative.

Can't foresee that, per se, in advance.

But that will be a key step.

So as we wrap up the policy considerations and identify the issues that are in the budget, you will also get that revenue forecast.

Shortly after that, we will then move into a phase, the third phase, which is a presentation of council member budget proposals.

That is actually a renewal of this phase that had been used in previous years, but which we didn't actually have last year.

So this will be an opportunity for you all to hear what each of your other colleagues is thinking about in terms of potential amendments and for the public as well.

So it's a real opportunity for transparency about the things that you have under consideration.

Let me talk a little bit, though, about how those amendments are going to get drafted.

The deadline for the amendments or the ideas for amendments is the 21st, so the day after that revenue forecast.

Again, these don't have to be fully fleshed out ideas, but we need to put a date in so that we can get started working on the details.

So that deadline to begin is on the 21st, and we'll have an electronic form, and we'll be very clear about these deadlines, just so you know.

I do want to emphasize that that is the last time to start talking about an amendment, but as central staff finish up their policy papers in the period of In the days before the 15th and that period, they will be available to work with you and available before that to at least chat with you and your staff.

So no reason to wait until the 21st is really all I'm saying because there's a whole lot of work to be done here.

In order to ultimately end up on an agenda as part of a public presentation, budget proposals will need two co-sponsors, so ultimately three sponsors for the proposals.

Obviously, at the initial stages of framing, we don't necessarily need those co-sponsors because you won't know exactly what you're proposing until we've actually got the amendment drafted up.

But that will be in order to focus attention on those that have the largest prospects as moving forward.

Again, three sponsors total, two in addition to the primary author.

And then during the public – this always becomes an issue, just so I'll say it – during the public session, there are opportunities for other council members to become co-sponsors as well.

With raising of hands, we will be able to keep track of that, and we will add sponsors and acknowledge that sponsorship accordingly.

Just overall, those proposals will look and feel a lot like a regular legislative amendment, so it'll be a council budget action, but we will draft them up essentially like an effect statement.

So the summary of the description of the proposal will be central staff's product.

As we bring them forward, we'll expect that you'll take that opportunity to offer up the rationale for the proposal and make your case, if you will.

So that takes us through the third step.

And again, just emphasizing that that's going to be a level of interaction and transparency that we didn't have last time.

The idea is that as the budget chair then moves to assemble a package, you will all have a sense of all the elements essentially that could be in that package, all the things that you will have discussed.

And that takes us towards the next phase, which will be the consideration of the actual amendments.

But just so you see the calendar, it'll be the weekend of Halloween, so essentially the 31st and the First and the second, that central staff expects to be working closely with Chair Strauss to assemble a package that meets council's needs, that recognizes whatever changes have come with the revenue update, and then it can be brought forward for your consideration.

That will happen.

So that is, again, we expect to be drafting that the weekend of Halloween.

You'll note that Election Day is Tuesday that follows on the 4th.

A couple of obviously important Financial elements on that ballot, but assuming—and we expect that the budget will assume passage of both the levy, the Families and Ed levy, and also the B&O tax proposal.

So assuming that those happen, we will then have a chair's package that will be ready to roll.

The second public hearing is scheduled for Thursday the 6th.

And then there will be another deadline for amendments.

So these would be amendments to the chair's package, and that deadline will be on the 7th.

Sorry, yeah.

Keep moving these.

Yeah, sorry.

So here's step four.

Again, description of the presentation of the chair's balancing package.

Again, effort to reflect as many council ideas as possible.

As I noted, two key elements on the ballot.

And then again, the deadline for amendments to that balancing package will be the 7th.

And again, we don't have to have them fully fleshed out, but we do need to get started on stuff because it is the following Friday on the 14th that you'll begin voting on amendments to the balancing package and amendments overall to the budget.

So again, we'll organize that voting first to focus on changes to the balancing package.

The chair may have actually some proposed changes of his own based upon the feedback and the input that we received.

You all may have some as well.

And then separately, there'll be opportunity to vote on amendments that would affect that balancing package and it would be outside that balancing package.

By definition, those will have to be self-balanced.

That is to say that you'll have to find the resources in order to pay for whatever additional expenditure, again, assuming they are of that form, as opposed to a sly or some other thing.

So again, those votes are scheduled to happen on the 14th, which is a Friday, and on the 17th, which is a Monday.

I would note also that it's in that window that there'll also be some committee votes on budget legislation, some of the more routine budget legislation.

The budget itself will come as a stack of 20-plus ordinances, and those will all need votes as well.

But it is those two dates, the 14th and the 17th, that are really when the policy issues we intend to get resolved.

There is final committee votes scheduled for the 20th and full council on the 21st, but really for us, the time between the 17th and the 20th is not about more political and policy machinations.

It's much more about us checking our math and making sure we've got this all balanced.

We talk a lot about the general fund, but we're actually balancing all the funds that the city operates at the same time, and there is some real technical work there.

And then we are purposely set for final council action on the 21st, so the Friday before the week of Thanksgiving.

That is also the Friday before the general election is certified, and a new colleague will be joining you.

So our goal is to wrap up the budget with the body that will have been debating it, and that requires a vote on the 21st.

So, at a high level, that is the budget process in front of us.

I'm happy to show you the format for the presentations from the departments, but perhaps take some questions if there are any on the process before then.

Chair, thanks Director Noble for being here and reviewing this important timeline and pieces for the budget.

I have a couple quick questions, and one is on page six.

Thanks for putting page numbers.

This two co-sponsorship piece, how was this done in the past?

We didn't do it like this last year, but in the past, was there always two Two council members that had to co-sponsor a piece of legislation.

I mean, a change rather.

I can't speak for all the years that I was away from this role, but in my time there always has been a sponsorship requirement, typically two council members.

Again, so it's two co-sponsors and the author, if you will.

So a total of three council members sponsoring.

And again, the goal is to, just given the potential breadth of things, to try to focus energy on those that have the most prospect for success.

Understood.

I'm just wondering if in the past it was three or two.

I recall it being two, but I could be wrong.

Chair?

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Yes, my recollection has always been two co-sponsors plus the individual who has written it for a total of three.

So my understanding is that what we have in place is consistent with what we've done in the past.

I had no endeavor to make it harder.

I thought that the process worked well before, so kept the previous process.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss.

I didn't know, so that's why I'm calling the question, just for my own clarification.

And then on page seven, Chair, if I may, one more question.

Go ahead.

I think it looked like Ben had a continuation.

Oh, sorry.

I was just going to point out to Councilmembers that to be aware, both as an author and as a sponsor, that There's potential for proposed budget amendments to change versions as central staff provides input and the executive provides input.

So we're both as a sponsor and as an author to check back with folks and let them know about where things have stood before we reach the final versions.

Thank you, Ben.

And then one final question on page 7. So the chair's balancing package gets released on the 5th.

November 5th, and then by midday, two days on the 7th, a day and a half later, then that's when we would have to proffer our self-balanced amendments.

That's not a lot of time, so can you talk a little bit about how this is gonna work?

Yeah, what I would say is that the fifth is when the presentation is going to be made.

I know that the chair anticipates meeting individually with council members in advance of that to share the details of the balancing package.

I meant to look this up before I came out here.

I don't remember exactly when it's going to get published, but it will be published at least a day in advance of the fifth.

Chair?

Go ahead.

Thank you, Chair.

Good question, Councilmember Rivera.

I will endeavor to also have the package published 48 hours ahead of the public hearing, which is typical practice in the past has been 24 hours.

As well, I already have time set with all Councilmembers on our calendars for Monday, November 3rd.

So that you will have an understanding of what I was and was not able to do based on your requests.

So the goal here, again, no surprises.

The goal here is increased transparency.

The goal here is to set you all up for success, even if it is not my, like, even if we have policy differences, I'm not here to sideline you with the process.

Can you repeat what you said about what you're doing on the third?

I didn't hear what you said.

We have meetings already on everyone's calendars.

I think, council president, you might be the only one we're waiting to hear back from.

So we've proactively, even before budget has started, have set up time to meet with council members individually to go over what requests from that council member were included or not included within the chair's package, like we did last year.

Thank you for that extra bit of information.

It's really helpful to have up front.

And I emphasize that deadline is to give us your idea for your amendment.

It doesn't have to be fully fleshed out.

I will again point out that timelines are tight for all of us, so the more you know.

But again, I also remind you, by that time, You'll have seen the budget for a good month.

My guess is you'll be pretty aware of what you're looking for and if something's not there, what the potential pivot might be.

Again, I'm less concerned about that one in some ways, but it's always hard to know.

Yes, and since you have to self-balance, you're going to have to take something out to put something in, and then it becomes you don't have a lot of time to do that, and you're Liza Rankin.

Tanya Woo.

Liza Rankin.

Tanya Woo.

Liza Rankin.

Tanya Woo.

Liza Rankin.

Tanya Woo.

Liza Rankin.

Tanya Woo.

Liza Rankin.

Tanya Woo.

Liza Rankin.

One might not know whether or not one wants to try to get an amendment that was not included in the chair's amendment until one sees everything that's in the chair's package.

So what are you going to try to take money from to Be able to afford whatever you're trying to add if that is, in fact, what you're trying to do.

So I did raise that concern.

But a question is, when it says that amendments are due on the 7th, which is two days after you find out what's going on in the chair's package, does that mean they have to be written or is that one of those ideas that then central staff is going to spend the rest of the week trying to craft?

It is one of those ideas, but again, I just would point out that we have only then the week that follows.

So as much as your thinking kind of solidified, that will obviously be helpful as well.

But I do also recognize the tradeoff, and you've made this point, so I'll take the opportunity to make it again.

At this stage, when you're thinking about self-balancing amendments, it is not unusual for more than one council member to be looking at the same source to fund different things, and they become mutually exclusive essentially by definition.

So there are some If not horse trading, there is some back and forth there.

And again, I expect that to be a relatively intense period of time as we get closer to wrapping things up.

Okay.

Are there any other questions?

If there aren't any other questions, I was going to quickly just give you a preview of what the presentations look like for each of the departments.

They have, and we've given this general prescription, and the idea is that you would ask questions with this kind of base information provided.

They'll give you a summary.

It just shows at a high level what the total budget is and the total position count is for this current year, what it was in the endorsed budget.

That was the one that you Literally endorsed last fall and then the proposed.

We will throughout the process be talking about the changes between the endorsed and the proposed because that's really the key difference there.

There will then be a set of slides or not depending on the situation where the department will highlight the significant reductions.

And we've left them to determine what's a significant reduction because it's very hard to prescribe.

And one can appreciate in dollar terms something significant for a very small department like international government relations would be inconsequential at something like City Light.

That's where the budget is defined in billions as much as anything.

So that'll vary department by department.

But we're asking them to describe the impact of that and then also describe whether there are any scaling options.

Could this be made?

If it's a cut, it could be made a little bit smaller in some way.

Would half the money meaningfully deliver half the service, less than half the service, something along those lines?

And you may have to query the department some to get some more of that information.

Also significant additions, so they have as many slides as they need to highlight significant additions essentially in the same format where they're given opportunity to provide some rationale and highlighting the potential to scale that addition as well one way or another.

So those are the key elements that are in their presentation template.

Again, it's structured, but I think you will hear different things from different departments in terms of their approach.

And then the last piece I had here was just to mention the budget Q&A site.

Again, we are, in order to get Responses from the executive in an efficient and effective way.

We operate this budget Q&A site where central staff are posting questions to CBO and to the executive.

All of your staff can see all of the questions and can see all of the answers.

Strongly encourage you to use it as well.

Again, it provides the most effective and efficient way to provide information to all of you.

I would add that department staff have been told very explicitly not to answer questions directly from your staff, but rather to ask the folks to submit it through this way, so it just creates a certain amount of friction.

I realize that can be annoying, a test of your own prerogative at times, but it really is, in my experience, The best way to do this.

There are literally going to be hundreds of questions directed at some of the larger departments, and being able to sort through those responses and giving them the best chance to answer them, we have really found this the best way to do that.

So encouraging to use this tool as well.

And that is all I had.

Councilmember Strauss.

Thank you, Council President.

If you want to take back one slide, Ben.

This is the way that we will see presentations made from the departments.

Last year, as part of my budget reform efforts, I requested central staff to create, I think at that time, a five-year look back so that we could understand how the city's budget Was before the pandemic, changed during the pandemic, and got to the current status.

I asked central staff to do so again, and even with fewer staff on central staff, we were able to accomplish it.

Granted, I had requested in June.

I'm happy that it has arrived today.

So messages of appreciation and gratitude, nothing else.

We will have the document attached to this week's Finance, Native Communities, and Tribal Governments Committee.

And we are not going to dig into it in committee this week.

We are posting it on the committee website so that you have access to it now.

And it is something that I will be using as a reference document throughout budget.

We have posted it so that you also can use it as a reference document throughout budget.

I just wanted to note it when we were looking at this slide because it is similar and different than the information that we are receiving from the CBO because this is counsel generated.

I know that Tracy has spent a lot of time on this.

I know that we could not have done this without Patty Wergren.

And so I just want to express immense gratitude to both of them and Ben for all of your work to get this done.

Because the six-year look back will be helpful for us to be able to identify trends rather than the incremental year-over-year change.

Thank you.

And thank you, Budget Chair Strauss.

Just to emphasize again, as we look through the budget, we get very focused on the increment from this year compared to next year or the past year to the current.

In this document, it's now a six-year look back rather than a five-year look back.

Provides just more of a historical view of kind of how the department get where it got, if you will.

And Fortisworth, and you didn't ask, we'd thought about making it a five-year rolling sort of look back.

The challenge there is that 2020, which would have been the base year that we would shift to, was such an unusual year because of the pandemic.

I think the six-year look back where 2019 is the anchor year really does make more sense.

And will for a few more years till we get to a point where we could jump past the pandemic because it really created a number of anomalies, both from a financial but also a policy perspective that make kind of historical patterns hard to detect.

But in any case, I'm happy to have completed that in time for it to be a reference for you all.

Okay, I'm not seeing any other questions.

Thank you very much for that overview.

Appreciate that.

All right, our next item.

Let's see.

Councilmember Rivera, you have a proclamation for signature today proclaiming September 15th through October 15th, 2025 as Hispanic Heritage Month.

Please leave the discussion and then I'll open the floor for comments before requesting signatures to be affixed to it.

Thank you, Council President.

Good afternoon, colleagues.

Today is the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month, which was first designated by the federal government in 1988 to acknowledge and honor the contributions of people from Hispanic and Latino, Latina backgrounds.

We celebrate this month every year, and this year it seems ever more important as we're seeing the attacks on our Latino, Latina, and other immigrant communities across the country.

I will now read the proclamation and ask for your support on designating September 15th through October 15th as Hispanic Heritage Month in Seattle.

Whereas our country has officially recognized and celebrated the traditions and contributions of the Hispanic community during Hispanic Heritage Month, From September 15th through October 15th each year since 1988. And whereas National Hispanic Heritage Month uplifts the culture of residents of Mexican, Spanish, Central, and South American and Caribbean descent.

And whereas this month is an opportunity to build greater awareness, understanding, and appreciation for Latina, Latino, Latina and Hispanic traditions and accomplishments within the city of Seattle.

And whereas the Hispanic community has contributed to Seattle and the Puget Sound region for centuries since the first settlers of Spanish And Mexican descent arrived as early as 1774. And we see the legacy of Spanish exploration and place names such as the San Juan Islands, Port Angeles, Fidalgo Island, Camino Island, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

And whereas our country relies on and succeeds with the Succeeds with the valuable contributions of Hispanic immigrants, and in this time of open hostility and cruelty from the federal administration, they deserve our respect and support.

And whereas 9% of Seattle's residents identify as Hispanic or Latino, and whereas in 1968, after Chicano students at the University of Washington called for a boycott, The University of Washington was the first campus in the United States to stop selling California grapes in solidarity with the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee led by civil rights leader Cesar Chavez.

And whereas we recognized celebrated local artists such as Emilio Aguayo, a Chicano muralist who attended UW, excuse me, University of Washington in the late 60s and was active in both the Chicano and Farm Workers movements and whose murals Including several at the university remain key symbols of the Chicano movement.

And whereas we recognize leaders in Seattle's Hispanic community, such as Eduardo Peñalver, a Rhodes Scholar and the current president of Seattle University.

The late Phyllis Gutierrez Kenny, one of the first Latinas to serve in the Washington State Legislature.

Jorge Enriquez González Pacheco, the founder of the Seattle Latino Film Festival.

Otoki Reyes, a traditional bamba dancer, and many others.

And whereas Seattle Hispanic small businesses add to the vibrancy and culture of Seattle and are uplifted and amplified by the Seattle Latino Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and whereas organizations and groups such as Lake City Collective and the D5 The Cultivate South Park, El Mercadito Community, Somos Mujeres Latinas, and Organización Centroamericano that continue to support and foster the Hispanic community in Seattle.

And whereas the City of Seattle commemorates the Latino athletes representing Seattle, including Seattle Mariners Julio Rodriguez, Randy Arosarena, and Luis Castillo, Seattle reigns Sofia Huerta and Sam Mesa, and Seattle Seahawks Alejo Arroyo, among others.

And whereas the Latino community celebrates many cultural festivals and events in Seattle, including Hispanic Seafair, Seattle Latino Film Festival, Maxam Northwest Festival, Cinco de Mayo, Fiestas Patrias, Dia de los Muertos, and others.

And whereas the City of Seattle celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month and commends the myriad cultural, economic, and historical contributions of the Latino community, Helping us advance the values of our one Seattle vision to build an innovative, thriving, and welcoming city for all.

Now, therefore, the Mayor of Seattle and the Seattle City Council proclaim September 15 through October 15, 2025 to be Hispanic Heritage Month in Seattle and encourage all residents to join us in observing and acknowledging the immeasurable contributions Latinos, Latinas, Latinas have made to our city.

All right.

Colleagues, I want to acknowledge my staff in drafting this proclamation and the Department of Neighborhoods who are working on an event to honor this month where we will be presenting this proclamation.

You will all receive an invitation to join in the celebration once it is finalized.

Last year, we had storytelling, children singing, and a dance performance in celebration of our culture.

I hope to see you there.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you very much for presenting this.

I'm looking to see if there are any questions or comments.

All right, not seeing any.

I'll just say that it's probably no coincidence that the South Park Fiestas Patrias The annual parade was this past weekend.

It's put on by Seymour, and this year's theme is Our Voice, Our Strength, and it celebrates the diversity of languages and culture and customs of various Latin American countries, but also recognizes the importance of unity.

Recommend the parade to anybody who wants to go.

It's a lot of fun and you can learn a whole bunch too.

So thank you very much for bringing this forward.

All right.

Not seeing any other, not seeing any hands up, will the clerk please call the roll to determine which council members would like their signatures affixed to the proclamation recognizing Hispanic Heritage Month.

Council member Rankin.

Yes.

Councilmember Rivera.

Aye.

Councilmember Saka.

Aye.

Councilmember Strauss.

Aye.

Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Aye.

Councilmember Juarez.

Aye.

Councilmember Kettle.

Aye.

Council President Nelson.

Aye.

Eight signatures will be affixed.

Thank you very much.

All right.

And this will be presented to be determined.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

All right, we've come to that part of our agenda where we just talk about what happened last week, what's coming forward this week, and what is on your mind.

So this week's roll call starts with Council Member Rink.

Please go ahead.

Thank you, Council President.

Our next meeting of the Sustainability City Lane Arts and Culture Committee actually isn't until October, so we have a little bit of a break.

And similarly, we are not reconvening the Select Committee on Federal Administration and Policy changes until December.

But I wanted to take some time to highlight something that happened in a regional committee last week, the Regional Policy Committee.

Last Wednesday, the Regional Policy Committee took up the renewal of the King County Mental Illness and Drug Dependency or Mid-Sales Tax.

This sales tax is councilmanic, but Regional Policy Committee takes it up as it is a regional matter.

It does not have a mandatory dual referral, but it was subject to discussion.

And typically renewals for this sales tax are for nine years.

And at last week's RPC meeting, local leaders from the Sound Cities Association raised the idea of a one-time shortening of the renewal to just two years to align a full-term implementation with both the King County biennial budget cycle and the conclusion of the next implementation and evaluation plan.

This would be unusual and subject providers to increased uncertainty in an already uncertain funding climate, given our federal defunding of critical health programs.

But RPC representatives from King County Council offered to implement some of the planning and design asks from SCA into an amendment to the nine-year renewal at the next King County Council meeting.

So mid-renewal passed out of PC with that recommendation going to King County Council.

And so looking forward, we'll be watching to see how that discussion goes forward at King County Council, making sure that we have an uninterrupted continuation of this important source of funding that goes towards behavioral health services.

On a fun note, the G Line celebrated its first birthday yesterday.

For those who aren't familiar, King County Metro's Rapid Rind G Line runs inbound from Madison Valley to downtown Seattle on Madison Street and outbound trips travel in the reverse direction.

The G Line launched September 2024, and it uses the first and still only center-running bus lanes in King County.

Some may know the route had a bumpy start with six-minute frequencies, which led to some severe bus bunching.

But over the past 10 months, these issues have been resolved, and ridership has steadily increased each month.

I can attest to it anecdotally as a rider myself, but we also have the data that supports that.

They found in May of this year, the G Line had an average of 6,113 average Weekday boardings, which is really impressive.

And I would say it seems like there are more and more folks on the bus every day.

So exciting to see that we can deliver that kind of frequent transit.

And when we make those investments, people come and definitely use it.

And I'll close with a note on just the federal situation we find ourselves in as this was some breaking news as we were beginning this meeting.

As we've been meeting here this afternoon, the president just signed a presidential memorandum establishing the Memphis Safe Task Force in Memphis, Tennessee, replicating the federal occupation of Washington, D.C.

in the name of law and order.

And to pull a quote from the memo highlighting the task force objective, it is, I quote, Objective shall be to end street and violent crime in Memphis to the greatest possible extent through the promotion and facilitation of hypervigilant policing, aggressive prosecution, complex investigations, financial enforcement, and large-scale saturation of besieged neighborhoods with law enforcement personnel, and which shall coordinate closely with state officials in Tennessee and local officials in Memphis to share information, develop joint priorities, and maximize resources to make Memphis safe And the memo also calls on the Secretary of War to call on the Governor of Tennessee to deploy their National Guard in service of this effort and to assist in mobilization and training more guardsmen for this purpose.

In remarks to the press, the President has also clearly stated that New Orleans and St. Louis and other cities will be next.

As Seattle Police Officer Guild President Mike Solon said on a podcast recently, this is the blueprint.

So my office will be keeping a close eye on how the people of Memphis weather this unconstitutional federal occupation and the extent to which their downtown command center, which is the equivalent to our real-time crime center, is used by law enforcement in furtherance of Trump's agenda.

And I encourage my colleagues here to pay attention to that too.

And on that somber note, I will yield my time for today.

Thank you.

Questions?

Comments?

Okay.

Council Member Veyat.

Thank you, Council President.

All right.

In addition to the comprehensive plan work that we're all engaged in, last week I met with presiding judge Anita Crawford-Willis to hear about the work at the Seattle Municipal Court.

I also chaired the Library's Education and Neighborhoods Committee, where we voted to move forward the two appointments to the Landmarks Preservation Board that we will be voting on at full council tomorrow, and also designating the Tolliver Temple Church of God in Christ as a historic landmark, which we will also be voting on tomorrow.

It was really special to have the pastor from the church here, and I'm looking forward to having the opportunity to vote at full council on this designation.

Um, we also started the conversation about the reappointment of Director Duane Chappelle as Director of the Department of Education and Early Learning.

Um, and then, uh, this week continuing as you all know to do, as I said earlier, the comprehensive plan work, um, that is before us.

Um, also this week, depending on some Some of the work that we're doing on the comprehensive plan, I sit on the board of the Association of Washington Cities.

As you all know, we have a board meeting and retreat this week.

I am going to try to make some of that on Friday, but it will really depend on how much we get to this, the beginning part of the week on our votes, but wanted to let you know that I was tracking the AWC, and if you have any questions about that, happy to talk to you offline.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you.

Questions?

All right, go ahead.

Councilmember Saka.

All right.

Thank you, Madam Council President.

Colleagues, our next meeting of the Transportation Committee will be tomorrow, September 16th at 9.30 a.m.

This will be our final committee meeting before budget.

Several important agenda items are teed up, including likely votes on the district project fund and resolution, an innovative new e-cargo bike program, which is, in my view, a super cool, Permitting program to promote the use of environmentally friendly e-cargo bikes to better support last mile delivery and help strengthen this pilot program.

We will also have a presentation from the Seattle Department of Transportation on our Seattle Transportation Plan three-year implementation plan, which is made pursuant to the broader Seattle Transportation Plan strategy we passed last year.

Finally, we will hear legislation from SDOT regarding a very technical correction to previously passed council ordinance from 2023. And that will all be tomorrow.

Look forward to it.

Should be exciting.

Next, I want to note that there's been some vandalism and streetlight outages on the West Seattle Bridge.

There was a troubling article that appeared that I saw after nine hours of public testimony and hearing that long meeting we all had on Friday, colleagues.

One of the first media reports that I happened to see was some reporting in the Seattle Times that noted severe outages of streetlights on the West Seattle Bridge, in large part attributed to vandalism.

I saw a follow-up reporting from West Side Seattle, and I think even the West Seattle blog might have picked this up as well.

In any event, this vandalism linked to Well, these outages linked to vandalism undermine key critical infrastructure assets and electricity assets across the city.

In this case, it's a vital portion of a bridge that Tens of thousands of people rely on daily to traverse across the city.

And I happened to go home later that day, that evening, and witness some of the outages firsthand.

To the extent that they are attributed to vandalism, these kind of illegal acts are extremely dangerous.

In this case, risking driver safety on the road in addition to costing our city in a challenging budget environment, no less.

So, unfortunately, I've personally had to also witness people stripping copper wire while riding transit.

And, you know, so we see a symptom of this and more symptoms of it manifest itself by the latest troubling case on the West Seattle Bridge.

My office, I personally reached out to Seattle City Light CEO Dawn Lindell to inquire about and addressing the light situation, asking for prompt action and attention.

We are awaiting her response, but looking forward to coordinating with City Light and SDOT on making repairs and Doing other things to mitigate and prevent the likelihood of future vandalism having such a sustained, durable impact as in this case.

So stay tuned.

Next, want to note some important Road safety upgrades that are taking place and efforts that are taking place in South Park.

My office has been working closely with the South Park community, including the Duwamish River Community Coalition, Cultivate South Park, local small businesses, families, parents, to secure long needed traffic calming improvements along 14th Avenue South in South Park.

And we've done a number of, my office has done a number of walking tours with community and SDOT leading up to this.

But this is a very dangerous freight arterial that has seen two tragic pedestrian fatalities in the past year alone.

After sustained advocacy that my office began after taking office and unfortunately with Two more fatalities over the past year, like I mentioned.

We're seeing some raised crosswalk markings now in place in addition to some speed cushions.

Speed cushions.

And I think this is a huge win.

And additional upgrades and investments are needed and are being planned right now by the department.

But I do want to take this moment to thank the mayor's office, the Seattle Department of Transportation, Director Emory, and most importantly, Community Further responsiveness and partnership in delivering these critical safety upgrades is it took much complex coordination with other departments, other groups, including the fire department and other regional partners to deliver.

So these measures are an important step toward slowing traffic and creating safer crossings for the community.

And like I mentioned, more improvements are on the way.

I should note that last summer, my office, we started hearing increased demands for more road safety investments along Elk High and Harbor Avenue to address some specific problem activity.

In that case, pertained to excessive speeding and road racing.

And so because of community's advocacy and a push from my office, we were able to deliver some speed cushions.

The department studied this closely and was able to deliver some speed cushions, which made a difference, significant difference in addressing some of the problem activity in terms of speeding, There's remaining concerns around excessive noise, but in terms of the underlying issue of speeding and road safety, those have made significant difference.

And I know there was a lot of media attention on those last year.

Is this thing on?

South Park, the department delivered the exact same treatment.

For South Park, among other potential upgrades, communities including DRCC is still asking for more, including, rightfully so, which I strongly support, including a red light traffic camera at the key intersection there.

And the department has more on the way.

They're doing the analysis, the data analysis for that camera right now and more upgrades on the way.

But we delivered, our city was able to deliver substantially similar upgrades.

And my hope is that Anyone who is interested in these nitty-gritty effects, if you will, of local government, pay attention to this, too, because it's important.

And this is a direct result, again, of the advocacy of members of the South Park community.

I want to thank them, because in my view, this is a good example of how Communities are able to work together, work with government to make sure that their government is actually being responsive to community concerns.

Plenty more to do, of course, but I want to thank everyone that I mentioned.

All right, in terms of being in the community, this past Saturday, I was proud to walk in the Fiestas Patrias Parade with my daughter Maeve, a few members of my team, and members of the community in this cool, exciting annual event.

It's one of my personal favorites.

It honors Hispanic Heritage Month, which today, a moment ago, we signed the proclamation brought on behalf of Councilmember Rivera this month, so very timely.

But this event, cool event, hosted by CMAR, we celebrated the rich heritage and contributions of Seattle's Latino community and thanked them for going forth with it.

And this year's theme, as Council President alluded to earlier, is Nuestra voz, nuestra fuerza.

Or in inglés, our voice, our strength.

And it felt particularly profound and meaningful this year at a time when immigration or immigrant communities, immigrant refugee communities are living in fear because of the Trump administration's relentless and aggressive attacks and ICE enforcement.

There is no doubt that that fear contributed to turnout this year.

I'll say that anecdotally, the number of people in terms of participants lined up along the parade route It appeared to be about roughly half of what it has been the past couple years that I've been at this event, just from my perspective.

And so no doubt it had an impact.

Talking with CMAR, the event organizers, they reported that there were still 45 Parade participants, which is identical, the identical number from last year.

But they did have more new parade participants this year, and so they didn't have as many renewals.

And so no doubt we've seen some impact there.

And again, the Trump's aggressive, the Trump administration's aggressive ICE raids and attacks on our local immigrant and refugee communities.

Might have impacted turnout somewhat, but it did not at all, nor can it, diminish the spirit of this celebration and the pride that it engendered in all.

KUOW reported that Hispanic Heritage Month, both Washington and Oregon, are sanctuary states.

Ice activity in this area is rising.

We all know that.

More specific data from the deportation data project show that there were around 1,660 arrests in the first seven months of 2025 out of the Seattle field office, the geographic region that covers the city of Seattle.

That's up from around 1570 in all of 2024 combined.

So we will not sit silently on the sidelines.

The parade was nonetheless a beautiful reminder that our city is enriched every single day by the tremendous contributions of our immigrant refugee populations, particularly and especially those from Latin America.

All right.

On a final note, I'll say that at the Fiestas Patrias Parade, I hope I pronounced that correctly, I ran into a lot of cool community members, including Chief Self High School, their cheerleaders and their football team ran into, I believe, Chief Self Football Head Coach Darren Camacho, who invited me to, invited me to is maybe not the best word, strongly encouraged and demanded that I attend an important rivalry game, an important Inter-West Seattle Peninsula football rivalry game on Friday between West Seattle High School and Chief Self International High School.

So that's coming up on Friday, and I'm proud to say that yes, Coach Camacho, I will be attending the annual Hewling Bowl.

That's what it's called, Hewling Bowl.

It's a football game, big rivalry football game between cross town, cross peninsula, rivals West Seattle and Chief Self.

At the Nino Cantu Southwest Athletic Complex.

So excited to be able to join that event on this coming Friday.

I will also be presenting the trophy for the Hewling Bowl to this year's winning team.

And again, excited to be able to participate.

I don't have a dog in the fight.

I want a fun, competitive game and a safe game, but excited and honored to be there.

So thank you.

That is all I have in terms of updates.

I welcome any comments, questions from any of you all.

And if not, I will pass it on.

Councilmember Rivera.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Saka, for the updates.

And especially want to note that Traffic calming measures that have been put in place to deal with the speeding.

We have speeding as well on Sandpoint Way and on 95th Street, and I just want to raise that as this is happening across the city.

I've also been requesting from SDOT support on putting a traffic calming Measures in place at that area as well.

So for any constituents who are listening, I don't want them to think that I haven't been requesting that as well.

I have and I will continue to.

So I'm glad that they got put in place.

In your district, and they also need to respond to constituents in the other districts who are also dealing with the impacts of the racing and the danger.

And I will say the speeding piece on Sandpoint Way, we had a fatality in the last few weeks of a beloved librarian in the district.

So we need to do something there as well.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

As chair of our Transportation Committee, I couldn't agree more on the need for our city as led and executed by our Department of Transportation to find ways to add safety important Community requested safety investments across the city.

And I've highlighted a few examples in my own district, but the same underlying issues are across the city.

The good news is tomorrow at our committee, we are considering an important, more funding to allow more More treatment in more areas.

So the District Project Fund, there's a resolution on that.

It's basically a new program and more funding.

There's dozens of different programs in the department, as we know, to address safety.

But we're creating another one and adding another mechanism.

But the broader point and concern is duly noted, and I appreciate you for sharing that.

Because I know you and I have talked multiple times about the importance of safety across the city, particularly in your district and Magnuson Point area.

So, thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

I mean, thank you, Council Member.

Thank you, Council President.

Yep.

Okay, let's see, doing my alphabet.

Council Member Strauss.

Because Council Member Solomon's not here.

Copy that.

Thank you.

Colleagues, this week we have the Finance Native Communities and Tribal Governments Committee.

Council Member Juarez, we got to shorten that name, but we'll talk about that later.

That's a long name, the tribal, anyways.

Things you get to inherit from people who are smarter than you.

We are meeting this Wednesday at 9.30 a.m.

I'm hoping, colleagues, it's going to be a short meeting because we've got two, three days' worth of comp plan following it directly.

So the agenda this week is only the Sound Transit 3 staffing.

Appropriations bill.

We heard this in committee before.

I'm not going to ask for a full presentation, and if folks have questions, comments, concerns, please air them, and we'll vote on that.

The second item is what I discussed during Director Noble's presentation, which is the six-year look back on Department by Department budgets.

This is a really helpful document because it allows us to look at how budgeting has occurred over time rather than incrementally.

It helps us look at what the funding streams.

Is it just jumpstart?

Is it just general fund?

Is it just levy?

Is it just rate payer?

It really helps us to be able to understand How these departments have been budgeted and what room we have to address their situation, good or bad.

So that's the committee for this coming Wednesday.

We don't have anything for full council today or for tomorrow coming out of the committee.

And tomorrow is the Tribal Nations Summit, the second one ever.

And so I know myself and a number of other council members will be excused from committee meetings.

Thank you, Council Member Saka, for letting me be excused from transportation.

I will also be excused from full council tomorrow.

I will be in the building.

It is down in the Bertha Knight Landis room.

And so if you need to talk to me, just shoot me a text.

I'll come right up.

Debra won't.

Dan will.

And we're really excited for this.

And I know that a number of the colleagues have worked with Office of Intergovernmental Relations on participation.

So from Sound Transit, you might have read the Article from last week regarding West Seattle and Everett.

As I've stated in the last number of meetings, I'm continuing to bring this up so everyone can stay engaged, which is we are going through an enterprise initiative to find cost savings throughout the sound transit.

Three expansion this last week.

So each of the sound transit committees is taking up their own area of expertise.

So the finance committee is taking up finance issues.

Operations is taking up operations, ridership, etc.

As somebody that sits on the expansion committee, I sit in front of the elements that are implementing the sound transit three Goals.

And so we have been presented just this last week on the West Seattle and the Everett numbers.

The Everett number, it's not going to take a whole lot of work to get it back within the original financial plan.

Granted, West Seattle has some more challenges.

There are going to be some difficult decisions to make, and I'll quote myself from The Seattle Times, which is, to build Soto to Delridge is the worst idea I've ever heard in my life.

Councilmember Saka, I represented your opinion on the board as well, but I just wanted to highlight this for you.

If you have any additional questions about the Tacoma Extension, the West Seattle Extension, Ballard Extension, Everett Extension, please just let me know.

I will say that it is incredibly important to me that we also finish the spine.

And so we must finish the spine because it is what connects Everett to Tacoma and gives Seattle the access to everywhere in between Pierce County and Snohomish County as well.

And so feel free to ask me any questions there.

In District 6, in lieu of office hours last week, for the second week in a row, I canceled office hours and repurposed them to meet with residents about the comprehensive plan and go over the maps.

Colleagues, I have reduced my number of amendments from 27 to, I don't know what the final number is, but I see you smiling, Chair Hollinsworth.

We've made some significant reductions.

It was a real pleasure to get to work with neighbors.

And so colleagues, I will have amendments to the maps of the neighborhood centers in my district.

We're not making reductions to these neighborhood centers.

And I'd like to earn your support because I've taken a lot of work with my neighbors, with the District 6 residents, to get these lines to the best of our abilities.

They're not perfect, but to the best of our abilities.

And so I'd ask you to support my amendments as I've worked with these residents since December of last year and as most recently as Wednesday of last week.

Thank you there.

I also had the pleasure of attending Fall Fisherman's Festival this last weekend down there at Port of Seattle Fisherman's Terminal, the closest freshwater port to the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, and the Puget Sound, to get to meet with folks who are in our fishing industry.

Everyone from Carl, who is the sometimes captain of the fishing vessel Wizard and got a nice tour of there, Oh, jeez, who else did we meet?

We met all sorts.

There's folks from the port down there.

There's Maritime Blue down there.

I don't know that we saw any magicians, but we also saw Joe Bundren from the CEO of Trident Seafoods, the largest domestic producer of seafood in the United States.

And I let him know that Councilmember Kettle, you oftentimes are very proud of the number of headquartered companies in District 7, but I just reminded him that you can't eat computers.

I guess we'll agree to disagree on that.

Anyways, sorry for going off on a tangent, colleagues.

It was really great to get to celebrate the fishermen that keep our economy working for everyday people.

Thank you, Council President.

That's my report.

Colleagues, any questions?

If not, I'll pass it over to Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss.

I'll be brief.

Parks Utilities Technology Committee, it won't be meeting until December, so we have some time to do our agenda.

The upcoming legislation tomorrow, which Council President went over, is SPU Side Sewer Code, SPU 45th Avenue Culvert, and then also the CRP expansion.

So we have a lot of technical stuff coming tomorrow.

Looking forward to earning everyone's support on those.

Next, the comprehensive plan.

I want to thank everyone who showed up to the public hearing, especially staff, IT, council members, and most importantly, the public.

Really appreciate your engagement during this process through emails, phone calls, connecting with all the council members.

I know a lot of you have all worked hard to do public meetings and also have You know, making sure that we are presenting information out to folks.

So really, really, really, really appreciate that to make sure we have as much public engagement as possible.

Our next meeting is going to be Wednesday the 17th at 2 p.m.

We just released the agenda today at 2 o'clock or just a little bit ago.

It might not have been 2 o'clock, could have been 2.30, but we released today's or Wednesday's agenda.

We'll also release a public press release.

And also, I know that some council members asked about the voting process and what Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday will look like.

We will be sending out a memo from central staff in a little bit to make sure that we have that written down and more than happy to meet With council members as well, with central staff to talk about what that process will look like for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as we are navigating a ton of legislation, all of 27 amendments from Councilmember Strauss.

I'm just playing.

I don't know how many it is now, but just a ton of information, and I know it's going to be really wonky, and we're going to have to navigate a lot of things, but very confident with the way that we have broken it up, the way that central staff has laid it out, and also how we're going to walk through this process.

I'm very confident in you all, colleagues, and for us to be able to get through this and making meaningful change.

So, Wednesday the 17th at 2 p.m.

is our first meeting.

We're also scheduled to have a meeting on Thursday the 18th at 9.30.

And if we need it, we will have a meeting on Friday on the 19th at 9.30.

This part is really important and we're going to publish it as well in the And I believe it's already published in the agenda, that public comment will only be on Wednesday the 17th, and that will be for one hour, and we're allowing people to have one minute of public comment, and we're gonna fit as many people as possible within that hour.

That's because we really have to get through the legislation at hand.

We've had an immense time of public comment and public hearing during this process, and so we are encouraging people to send in your written public comments, However way you communicate with your council members, please do as well because there will only be public comment for one hour on Wednesday and that has gone out in the agenda at 2 p.m.

and everyone will get one minute.

So we're going to fit as many people as possible in that process.

So thank you all.

And last but not least, I believe that's it.

I will pause here to see if anyone has any questions about the process for the comprehensive plan.

I'm not seeing any.

It's the best ever when no one has questions, and I will now pass it off to Council Member Cattle.

Oh, I can't spell.

My bad.

Council Member Juarez.

I hear you on that one.

Council Member Juarez.

Yeah.

Thank you, Star Six.

So with that, so I'm going to talk about last week, what's up and coming, and I'm going to try to be brief.

So we continue to work with our state representatives to address the impact of the closure of the Fred Meyer in Lake City.

And we are grateful for the Mayor's leadership in proposing $12 million in budget investment to significantly increase food access, in part as a response to the loss of the grocery store in the neighborhood.

I want to thank Council Member Rink for joining me and D5 with the Mayor to announce these investments up on Lake City Way.

Council Member Hollingsworth and our office are working together to increase food and pharmacy access in communities impacted by the Fred Meyer closure.

We are currently exploring options with Safeway for food delivery and pharmacy incentive programs, delivery programs.

I want to thank all of those, as you know, that provided public comment citywide and D5 on the comprehensive plan Friday.

And upcoming, and I'm going to give a little bit more background if Council Member Strauss will allow me, I'm excited to attend the Tribal Nations Summit at City Hall tomorrow.

This will be the second one, as you know.

The first one was in 2023, and Mayor Harrell was present at that one too.

Convening of leaders of tribal nations, urban Indian organizations, and the City of Seattle to discuss issues.

This year's issues are housing and homelessness, natural and cultural resources, and community safety.

I want to give a little background for those of you who can't attend to last year in 2023. They did put out a report.

It is online if you want to take a chance or take an opportunity to look at it.

Just a quick overview.

In 2023, With Tim Raynan, who was in the mayor's office at the time, and Mayor Harrell, we had 11 tribal nations that attended.

We had six urban, indigenous-led Indian organizations that attended, 16 city departments, and we had representatives from the legislative and judicial branch, including the King County Prosecutor and the City Attorney Ann Davidson and Scott Lindsey, and the Chief of Police, which we are happy to see.

The themes last year were intergovernmental communication, consultation and collaboration, cultural vitality and visibility, education and awareness, trust building, Equitable resource allocation and partnerships and innovation.

This year, 2025, this is exciting.

We are up from 11 to 20 elected tribal leaders and tribal leadership staff from the regions around Puget Sound or the Salish Sea.

And east of the mountain, we will have again Councilmember Jeremy Talaka from the Yakima Nation.

And this year, we have 10 Indigenous-led Indigenous organizations, such as Seattle Indian Health Board, United Indians, Seattle Indian Service League, and Chief of Seattle.

We have 70 city leaders, departments, directors, and staff, three Seattle public school staff, and three folks from the Washington State Governor's Office of Indian Affairs, That will probably be Tim Rainin, because after Tim left the city, he went to go work for Governor Ferguson.

And I should add that in 2023, Governor Inslee had sent representatives as well.

We also had three folks from our congressional delegation, and we also had, of course, the people from the Indigenous Advisory Council.

When we first created the Indigenous Advisory Council, it has nine seats.

At that time, of the nine seats, four were held by tribally elected leaders around the Salar Sea and in Yakima.

Now we have eight people on the Indigenous Advisory Council, and we have an open seat, and we have been advertising that everywhere to fill that last seat.

And of the eight, three are duly elected tribal leaders.

And this is incredibly powerful.

It says a lot about the city's commitment to Indian country, government to government, and a recognition of tribal sovereignty.

And I'm very proud of the city.

And also, we are the first city to do this.

The topics covered this year will be community safety and public safety.

And we had our meeting, our two-hour meeting with Chief Barnes regarding interlocal agreements, MOUs, and cross-jurisdictional and criminal and civil matters.

That's one issue that we covered in 2023 with missing murdered indigenous women and girls.

We'll also be covering housing and homelessness and cultural and natural resources.

So with that, I think I, did I get it all, Council Member?

You did better than others.

Okay.

Council Member Strauss was with us and with the team in 2023. And so myself and Council Member Strauss, I think Council Member Strauss will be opening, do the opening remarks.

I will follow him.

And after that, I believe I will introduce the mayor and then we'll sit down and go through the issues.

And this is really exciting.

What's upcoming for me?

Not a whole lot yet.

Let's see.

Here we go.

I will be joining United Indians of All Tribes for their annual gala.

It's returned to the waterfront, and we will celebrate their work uplifting the Native community.

And as you know, United Indians of All Tribes have been around since the 70s, since we took it over when it was Fort Lawton, and I was 12. Well, actually, I was a child.

I was a baby.

So now it's Daybreak Star.

And I think that's it, Council President.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Questions, comments?

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Thank you, Council President, and thank you, Council Member Juarez, for that.

I also wanted to just add, because I know that some people Whoever's watching the Seattle Channel will make the announcement, but I know that the Safeway on 15th is in the process of being developed, or not starting the process, but figuring out next steps as to development of that property.

And I know that there's going to be a store closure.

I don't know when, as some stuff got pushed back because of construction, but we would love, we know that our building is going, their building's going to look like the nice building that is on Capitol Hill, so that surface parking lot.

Is going to become a Safeway on the bottom, and then apartments and housing up top.

But a part of that is that grocery store closure, how it's going to impact the community on 15th, and operations are going to be moved a lot to Madison.

And working with Councilmember Juarez's office with the closure that is in District 5 of a grocery store, that there is a Safeway about 1.5 miles from that store and on a bus line.

Looking forward to working with Council Member Juarez's office in mitigating some of the impacts of store closures because we know how important those are for food accessibility and people getting their groceries and their pharmacies and all these different things.

That is like the number one thing to me And making sure that people have the resources needed.

So we're trying to be incredibly creative outside of just legislation to be able to partner with different community members, to partner with different food access points, different nonprofits, and also our private sector so we can make sure that we are still getting the same outcomes to our community and so they have the food and the They're prescriptions that are needed.

And I'm looking forward to announcing with Council Member Juarez some of those plans that are going to be in place in partnership.

So thank you, Council Member Juarez.

Go D5.

Thank you.

Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Council President.

And yes, that's a very important topic.

And, you know, the contrast, like in D7, I know recognizing greater downtown because it wasn't designed for residents initially has its challenges.

You know, there's a stark contrast to, for example, my experience in D7, my personal experience in terms of the many options that we have for grocery stores and pharmacies.

In fact, CVS has just taken over the Upper Queen Anne Bartels, and from the looks of it, it's gonna be pressing forward very nicely.

But that's not the case throughout the city, so thank you, everyone who's been highlighting that issue.

And for Council Member Strauss, D7 also has great restaurants across the board.

I will give brewery tours to you, though.

You got that.

Although the top of D7 at Nickerson and so forth has a bit.

But overall, D6, I'll give that over.

On a serious note, Public Safety Committee is next week, the 23rd of September.

We have a briefing on community safety, which is really important, kind of on that grassroots, like another level of alternative response that's really important.

As we look to understand our broader public safety environment.

So that will be on tap, along with the vote on the Seattle Municipal Court Pro Tem Judges legislation.

And then we'll have the City Attorney Office in for technical code updates on That side, again, technical code updates.

And finally, we'll have CPC appointments, and one of them will be from the City Council, and that person is who Council Member Juarez and I have spoke to two weeks ago now, I believe, Mr. Rick Williams, brother of John T. Williams.

And as I've said in different ways, The lifting of the consent decree was a milestone, but also a stepping stone.

And bringing on Mr. Rick Williams to the CPC is a stepping stone, and it shows our commitment to move forward as a community, as a council, on those points that we've been working so hard over the course of the consent decree.

And I thank him and the others for looking to serve on the Community Police Commission.

I also wanted to speak within the public safety realm to Council Member Rink's points related to Memphis.

I saw the news.

I've been following the news, obviously, and Mayor Young in Memphis noted that, you know, they're looking for ways to invest in addressing crime in the city.

Colleagues, I've been speaking to this issue, federal law enforcement, National Guard, in committee during my chair comments, Was then packaged up to a statement which was released and then released in my newsletter.

And one of the things I note is that we do not need the National Guard.

What we need is ATF, DEA, and FBI working the flow of guns and drugs up the I-5 corridor across state lines.

You know, what we need is help and assistance related to, you know, onboarding sworn officers, kind of like Governor Ferguson's plan.

But how about a federal version of that?

Related to the fire department, I've noted that, you know, what we really need is, you know, equipment.

Fire engines, ladder trucks, which have become extremely expensive for those that do not know.

And the assistance, and this is a big issue for across the country.

And that's how they can make a difference.

And by the way, that equipment and our firefighters are the ones who then deploy across state lines to L.A.

during the L.A.

fires to assist.

If you want to improve public safety, that is how you do it.

You don't send in the National Guard.

And I should note, That example highlights that what we really need is a strong FEMA that has learned the lessons of Katrina, that has moved forward, and it is there for our cities, our counties, our states.

That is what we need.

We do not need the National Guard.

Governor Lee from Tennessee noted that he's looking to develop a plan to fight crime in the city.

Governor, mind you.

I will highlight Seattle already has a plan.

You know, we have our strategic framework plan, and the executive has its restoration framework plan, which are complementary, and we do a lot of coordination with the executive, also the judicial, with the city attorney, Davison, as well.

So this idea that we need to develop a plan is a false narrative.

And the idea, as I stated in other places, that we need a planner from the National Guard Bureau and the Pentagon Is simply wrong.

We do not need it.

And I would highlight here again, you know, the Navy sent me to the Army's Command and General Staff College.

So the idea that we need some planners in the Pentagon to assist is just simply wrong.

We've got it covered, and we're looking to move forward.

And I just wanted to highlight, and again, we have a third of this council are military veterans.

The National Guard, you know, military is there to defend the nation.

If, as noted by Tennessee state rep that, you know, in terms of the pending deployment to Memphis, a militarized occupation of our city is not a resolution to the problems that we have.

In fact, it will create problems.

In the military, we talk about second and third order effects.

If we, the military is there to defend the nation, if it goes into cities and is seen as being partisan, as being political, being performative, as we're seeing in D.C.

right now, the military is looked as not being there for them.

The military has to be for all Americans.

This is not discussed anywhere, by the way.

It's not discussed by the president.

It's not discussed by these various governors and so forth.

But it's something that we need to speak to because the military is there for the entire nation.

It's there for, as former president, red America, blue America, but for the red, white, and blue America.

And that needs to be the focus.

And that needs to be part of the discussion.

Because I don't see it.

I read articles all the time.

Nobody's talking about it.

And I think that needs to be part of the discussion.

Because if you're talking about short-term pieces, like what's happening now in LA or DC, almost in Chicago, now soon to be in Memphis, that's short-term.

We have to be considering the long-term impacts.

Again, those, as we say, second and third order effects.

And sadly, there's no strategic thinking as we look to do this.

It's something that I noted in my statement.

So colleagues, let's continue to do our work, set the example, and show that we can do it because we are doing it.

So thank you on that.

Shifting now, this week in terms of community and external committees, I have the Uptown Alliance.

Well, I should note today, I've already met with Lehigh, Ms. Lee and Mr. Grant.

Great meeting with them related to the challenges that they're facing in Little Saigon.

It was a fantastic meeting, talking through the different issues.

Tomorrow, Uptown Alliance.

And Wednesday, so do BIA.

There's a lot of work going on with the BIAs, and I support that work, and I appreciate the committee work that's been working the BIA issues thus far.

King County Board of Health on Thursday.

Obviously, we have a comprehensive plan.

I did meet with King County Councilmember Theresa Musqueda today, who chairs the King County Board of Health on the issues related to In that area.

Next week, I just wanted to note, as you know, I have an interest in all things international.

We have the Korea City Council coming to our city next Monday.

I look forward to meeting with them.

And the PSRC Executive Board, the Puget Sound Regional Council.

The Puget Sound Regional Council, by the way, is really important.

It's also important As we related to the comprehensive plan, because as you know, and Council Member Strauss talked about ST3, land use and transportation need to be in sync.

And that goes to what's happening in terms of, you know, the PSRC, the Puget Sound Regional Council in terms of transportation funding.

But it's also very important in terms of ST3 and what's happening there or not happening there, which is a big concern.

And this will come together for us in our comprehensive plan work too.

And so as we work through that this week.

And then Friday is the Domestic Violence Prevention Council.

So I just wanted to highlight some of those community and external committee work that we do.

In my case, my schedule.

And to end on a lighter note, I'd just like to invite everyone to go visit Woodland Park.

I had a great opportunity to see behind the scenes at the park, see the challenges that they're doing, and seeing what they're doing to move forward.

And I think it was great.

And I just wanted to note there's one penguin named Bubba.

Who is very outgoing, and I told the group, I go, of all the penguins there, this one could be a council member.

And he actually followed us out of the area and back into the back enclosure.

So you guys may have a challenger in the future, Bubba from Woodland Park.

I guess that would be for D6 or maybe one of the at-large seats.

So on that more lighter note, I just wanted to finish.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you.

Anybody have any questions about penguins?

Go ahead, Councilmember Strauss.

Thank you, Council President.

Not so much specific on the animal.

Just to, Councilmember Kettle, I appreciate our jolly back and forth that shows collegiality in a really one Seattle fashion.

And to expand, to say that the Woodland Park Zoo is not just a city, it's not just a D6 asset, it's not just a city asset.

It is a regional asset for all of King County and beyond.

I think that the next closest zoo is the Point Defiance Zoo.

And that's Tacoma.

Yeah.

That's all I'm saying.

Thank you, Council Member Kelley.

All right.

It appears I'm last.

Okay.

So last week we had the final Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee meeting before budget, and it was a packed agenda, and we passed three items out of committee that will be on tomorrow, no, at full Council next week.

I'll talk about that first.

The first bill is an update to the section of the Seattle Municipal Code which governs the office of the City Auditor, aligning the code to include best practices of peer audit offices around the country and also establishing a minimum qualification for the position of City Auditor here in Seattle.

And then the second and third pieces of legislation are amendments to the West Seattle and the U District business improvement areas.

And both of those BIAs asked for these changes to streamline operations and improve their financial security.

Stability.

I would go into the details, but we're two weeks out from the vote, or a week out from the vote, and so why not just address it as we get closer?

You can go ahead and read that legislation online.

So, the meeting started, however, with a fairly long and detailed presentation from the Budget Office and the Office of Housing in response to a statement of legislative intent CBO-003S-A.

That council adopted as part of the 2025 budget.

Specifically, it directs the city budget office to provide a report on the historical budget underspends from 2018 through 2023 organized by fund and department.

It states that the report should, well, should analyze and identify the specific reasons for the underspend and where appropriate identify reforms, And process improvements to expend appropriations more expeditiously.

And there is a note in there saying particularly in the Office of Housing when it comes to affordable housing.

So as I said, it was a long discussion, but the report itself shows an annual general fund underspend ranging from 5.9 in 2018 to 11.5 in 2023, averaging around 9% or so over the course of those years.

And the Jumpstart Fund carries an underspend of over 40% every year.

And then in a separate fund in talking about housing and affordability, In the midst of an affordability crisis, there's a significant administrative carry forward year over year for the low income housing fund of $211 million in 2023, $212 million in 2022, and $230 million in So things are getting better.

Basically, you can watch the committee discussion on the Seattle channel.

Spoiler alert, neither the SLI response nor the presenters identified, as the SLI called for it, identified reforms or process improvements to expend appropriations more expeditiously, even despite some prodding from council members at the table.

I take away that the executive thinks that, well, believes that things are going fine and that is a little bit disappointing to me because there's always room for improvement in how we spend our funds and especially when we're really facing an affordability crisis in Seattle and I believe that there's perhaps more we can do to help Our affordable housing providers get the additional financing in time to be able to build that housing or across other funds if there's anything that the government can do to help get the money out the door faster so that it actually ends up helping our constituents the better.

This is something just to keep in mind going forward.

I timed the deadline so that we would have this information before going into budget.

Just to inform some of our thinking, the response also contains a, let's see, it has a list of outstanding city contracts and grants exclusive of EDI awards as of December 31st, 2024. From the three departments with the largest portfolio of grants to nonprofit providers.

And there's a pretty long file spreadsheet there and all of the documents are linked to the agenda so you can take a look at that.

Colleagues, we are the oversight body of the city.

And so it's just always important to remember that not only do we, you know, Allocate funding for certain things.

We control the power of the purse, but we also are responsible for oversight duties.

And so it's always just a good idea to ask some questions every now and then about how things are going on that front.

Let's see.

That's my committee report.

On Tuesday, I'll join Lehigh Executive Director Sharon Lee and former council members David Della and Tanya Woo and other community leaders to announce a new proposed package of, well, it's actually a plan, a 15-point plan for Little Saigon and the CID.

And I will be attending the Magnolia Community Council on Tuesday evening to provide updates on the work the council's been doing this year.

Are there any questions or comments?

All right.

I'm not hearing any directed at me, so I will now ask if there's any further business before we adjourn.

Okay.

Hearing no further business, this meeting is adjourned.

Thank you, everyone.

It is 3.37.