City Council 7/14/2026

Hey, good afternoon.

The July 14th meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It is 2.04 p.m.

I'm Joy Hollingsworth, council president.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council member Rink.

Present.

Council member Rivera.

Council member Saka.

Council member Strauss.

Council member Foster.

Here.

Council member Juarez.

Here.

Council member Kettle.

Here.

Council member Len.

Here.

Council President Hollingsworth.

Here.

Eight.

Present.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Councilmember Rivera is excused.

Colleagues, at this time, we will now open the hybrid public comment period.

Public comment is limited to items on today's agenda.

The introduction and referral calendar in the council's work program.

The council cannot accept comments on quasi-judicial items or campaign-related matters.

Clerk, how many speakers do we have signed up today?

We have 16 in person and four remote.

Awesome.

That's a total of 20. So everyone's going to get two minutes.

Will the clerk please read the instructions for the public comment?

Speakers will be called in the order in which they are registered.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of their time.

Speakers' mics will be muted if they do not enter comments within the allotted time to allow us to call on the next speaker.

Awesome, we'll start in groups of three.

We have Mari Schuler, followed by Miss Carolyn Malone and Mary Rao.

Hi, council president, council members.

Thank you very much.

My name is Maury Moore Shuler.

I'm usually here about small houseboats, but that's not why I'm here today.

I'm here about appointments.

There is an important board for Seattle called the Convention Center Board.

The mayor has appointments to make, not you all, but you have a chance right now to influence who she appoints.

I'm sure it's not on her radar.

I've talked to the governor and I've talked to the county executive, both of whom also have appointments.

There are five positions up for appointment on the board right now.

I think it's in your district, Bob, but everybody ought to have a say about this, because the convention center is right now doing its master plan, which will lock all of us in forever to whatever they decide to do.

So I beg you to please put your best foot forward and find people who you think would be great board members for the convention center who do not have a financial vested interest, i.e. a hotel owner, for example.

We have had only two executives for the convention board in 50 years.

Jim Ellis was the founder and was there for 20 odd years.

Frank Finnegan has been there for 20 odd years.

I believe his position is also up for appointment.

but it's just super important.

The Seattle Times said their funding was fragile, so who in the end is going to pay for this?

They have a balloon payment coming up of millions of dollars, and as far as I can tell, no plan.

But what I've submitted in my written comments is a website.

One reporter has been very dogged in his reporting about this, and he actually has a piece on his website about who would make a good board member for the convention center.

So I beg you to read his work.

At least ask a staff member to read it and see if you can come up with some great names, as long as it's not mine.

Thank you, Mari.

Next we have Ms. Carolyn.

Welcome.

And for the record, Council Member Rivera is with us in person.

Present.

I'm Carolyn Malone, still having the housing issues that I have.

Currently, renovation, extensive renovation is going on in my senior housing at 910 Marion Street.

The Seattle Department of Construction and Inspection should be overseeing and make sure there's no structural damage, which I think there is, and there is absolutely no communication from the directors and the managers.

Even when I ask, nothing written.

All I hear are jackhammers, power drills, buzz saws, and hammers.

And I have to leave each day.

These are things going on outside, and I do believe There are laws against the vibration I'm concerned about in the building.

It's 13 stories, 84 units, and it's just no communication to seniors about the status.

It's nothing about the rent being increased.

I've asked because usually when renovations occur, Rent is increased.

Are you going to sell the building?

Are you going to transform it?

Nothing like that.

And the other issue I'm concerned about, where are the Seattle Office of Civil Rights members?

The director's no longer there.

My complaint is stagnant.

I don't hear from anyone.

So are they still in business or defunct now?

So I think.

Someone should contact me, visit my residence at 910 Marion, not hard to find, First Hill directly across the street from St. James Cathedral Northside.

I invite all of you to come.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Malone.

And we have next Mayor Dr. Rao from Mount Baker.

Did I get that correct?

Did I say your last name right?

Awesome.

Welcome, doctor.

Thank you, Chair Hollingsworth and council members.

My name is Mayuri Rao and I live in Mount Baker.

I'm a member of 4 Seattle.

I'm here to ask for your support for the Utilities Discount Program Bill and thank you to the Governance and Utilities Committee for moving it forward and I want to share some comments again.

I'm a primary care physician and many of my patients are living on fixed incomes and I see every day how rising utility costs affect their health.

Last winter, one of my patients, a disabled veteran, told me that he'd been rationing his medications so he and his wife could keep the heat on for his newborn.

We connected him to help he was eligible for, but not before he'd been making this impossible choice for months.

People don't know what they don't know and I hear again and again from my patients that the stress of navigating complicated benefit programs is a double or triple burden on top of financial hardship and health challenges.

People give up and they suffer.

a responsibly executed public program has to make sure the people it's meant for know about it and can easily enroll.

So I especially appreciate that this bill will work to make signing up for the utilities discount program simpler.

I appreciate the amendment around accountability for enrollment and the city has already set aside funding so let's make sure it actually gets to families in need.

I hope you'll move this forward and thank you.

Awesome, thank you, Dr. Rao.

Next we have Howard Gale followed by Michael and then Marta.

Welcome, Mr. Gale.

Good afternoon.

I'm just on a break from the King County inquest into the 2019 murder by SPD of Ryan Smith.

He was killed in 2019 in crisis holding a 2.4 inch knife and he was shot 10 times point blank with high caliber Now, what I'm listening to in the testimony from your police that you pay and you oversee, what I'm listening to is the reason they had to shoot him is because he shifted his body weight.

His eyes were large and unblinking.

He had the 1,000-yard stare.

I have seen people with three or four gunshots still be a threat, which is why he had to be shot 10 times.

His face was extremely alarming.

He had glassy eyes.

He had the pre-fight indicators.

He had a fighting stance.

Suicidal people are the most dangerous, not the most in need of care, but the most dangerous.

This is what your police officers are testifying to in front of a jury.

Now, I know the jury will not buy this, and I know it will be a resounding verdict by the end of the week.

The question is, what are you guys doing?

As someone who's Jewish, brought up in a very Jewish household post-Holocaust, I get it.

Turning a blind eye is a way of being able to deal with that kind of conflict.

But your police have systematically, as they did last year, killed people in crisis, as they did Urban Sehe in West Seattle just last year, holding only a knife when they're in crisis.

It doesn't happen in Japan.

It doesn't happen in the United Kingdom.

It doesn't happen in a lot of other free countries.

And yet what we're told here, what I'm listening to, day after day, is nothing else we could do.

They had the 1,000-yard stare.

They had to be put down.

So the question is, what are you going to do?

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Gill.

Next, we have Michael, followed by Marta.

Then we have Bob, Kendra, Ivana, and Miss Yvette.

Welcome.

Hello.

I'll keep my public comment extremely short.

I'm Michael.

I'm a Finney Ridge resident.

I'm here to support making the utility discount program more effective and pushing for high enrollment among those who need it the most.

I believe that the amendment to create a reporting requirement will be effective.

I also support slightly taller microphones for the public comment.

Thank you.

Thank you, Michael.

Next, we have Marta, followed by Bob, Kendra, Ivana, and Yvette.

Hello, council members.

My name's Marta and I'm here with For Seattle.

I came here last week to support the Utility Discount Program expansion and I'm here again.

Wanna give a quick thank you to council member Strauss, Chair Hollingsworth and the members of the Governance and Utilities Committee for passing this legislation out of committee last week.

Additionally, thank you for including the amendment to create an annual enrollment report requirement.

Next year, we are expecting large utility increases, and I think now is a great time to ensure that we are making decisions to, excuse me, make sure this preexisting program gets effectively delivered.

Expanding who qualifies is a great chance to reach more individuals and actually deliver the dollars, but I also do believe it's just a start.

I've spent many, many hours talking to families, workers, and seniors across the city, and I think one theme is very common, which is it's becoming increasingly difficult to live and age in this city.

This program is a much-needed step to bring relief to these individuals, and I'm excited to say that 4Seattle really would love to be a part in making sure that this is a success.

Thank you very much, and have a good day.

Thank you, Marta.

Next we have Bob, followed by Kendra, Ivana, and Miss Yvette.

Good afternoon.

Thank you for giving me an opportunity to come and speak my piece regarding the UDP, which I hope that you guys will to consider passing today.

It is something that, you know, it seems like all agree that this is a great program at a time that's more in need than ever.

And now today we have an opportunity to fine tune it to be able to have a chance to have good government show up and I think we all would agree that we need to have more and more examples of good government to support other efforts that we have coming down the pike.

So that is a secondary reason in addition to the primary reason of the good that this bill has already proposed to be done and I urge you to pass it today and thank you for your time and also thank you for your service.

Good day.

Thank you, Bob.

Next we have Kendra, welcome, followed by Ivana and Yvette.

Good afternoon, counsel.

My name is Ken.

I am a candidate member with the American Party of Labor.

Last week, a rally was held outside of this building demanding that the cameras be taken down, not just turned off, but down.

After that rally, I came in here and I asked every present council member if they were willing to commit to taking the cameras down.

I didn't get a yes.

I didn't even get a nod.

Council member Rink, you put out a statement congratulating the protesters outside and fluffing them.

And you bragged about your commitment to the safety of this community.

that you, like every single other council member here, have not presented any actual outline for taking the cameras down, for mitigating the fact that FLOC is in our cities.

People from all over the political spectrum, conservatives, liberals, socialists, communists like myself, are demanding that these cameras come down now.

They are nothing but surveillance tools.

Now, I would like to address the general public here.

I would like to remind them that it is super, super illegal to get a very high-powered laser and point them at the camera lenses.

Super illegal.

Don't do that.

Also shooting the paintballs, shading paintballs at cameras to take the lenses out.

Don't do that.

Super duper illegal.

And finally, I would not recommend visiting dfloc.org, which has been an open source map of license plate readers and cameras in our community.

And further, don't cross reference that map with the map of districts, specifically city council districts, so you know which council member to email about the flock cameras in your community.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kendra.

Next we have Ivana, followed by Yvette.

Welcome.

Thank you, Council Members.

My name is Ivana Yovanovich.

I am the Division Secretary of the Pizzatown Division of the American Party of Labor.

Today I am here to ask you again, why has the civil state of emergency for the trans-refugee crisis to Seattle not been passed?

Dead silence as usual.

Is it because trans people have been throwing ourselves behind every resistance movement that this country has seen since Stonewall?

Palestine, pro-Roe, anti-Roe, repeal?

Nothing?

Last week when I was here, I also promised that this community, this trans community in Seattle, where every third person is a refugee to the city, needs to be defended.

If you are going to fail to do that, the American Party of Labor will be the one to do that.

These are ATF Form 4473s of everybody who I have acquired a firearm for to defend this community in the past week.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ivana.

Next, we have Miss Yvette.

Welcome.

and after Miss Yvette, we have Alex Lofton from the CD, David Long, Paul, Clive Bennett, Ed.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Council Member Lynn, I want to apologize for not being able, oh crap, We made the meeting last week.

The link changed at the last minute, and I was unable to attend.

Plus, excuse my phone, stupid people.

Probably a spam call.

And I would have liked to attend.

However, I did a poll- We'll pause your time while your phone.

We'll pause it.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, awesome.

And Miss Yvette, it's sometimes hard to understand you with your mask, if you felt open to taking it off.

I don't want to put you, if that's okay.

Okay.

All right.

Also, I did an informal poll on Nextdoor and Facebook, and in 36 hours, regarding the Lake Washington Boulevard closure, in 36 hours, I got over 3,000 responses opposed to the week-end loan closure, so I thought I'd let you know that.

And also, I take the number seven bus to get here, and at the 12th and Jackson, it was a hot mess, but it's been cleaned up.

Thank you so much, whoever made that a possible, and please keep it up.

And I want to thank you all for the plethora of free summer events going on across the city.

I attended a couple last week, and they're free, sometimes they have food, and it's a lot of fun.

I appreciate our tax dollars well spent.

And then also, I also am in support of the Utility Discount Program, and I'm also supportive, at least in my neighborhood, of keeping the surveillance cameras going.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms. Yvette.

Next, we have Alex Lofton, followed by David Long, Paul, Clive, Bennett, Ed.

I know we have more people that signed up, and if you're online, we have about seven more speakers.

Hi, Council Members.

Good to see you again.

Alex Lofton from the CD, District 3, with 4 Seattle today.

I'm here to thank Council Member Strauss and Hollingsworth for bringing to forth the UDP legislation, and I'm 100% for it.

and I'm coming up here pretty jazzed right now, just because, I mean, we should be really proud as a city, with FIFA just having passed through our town, having seen a lot of success there, and I'm jazzed because UDP is something that's already on the books, we've already kind of made the decision to do the right thing, we got the funding, and now we just gotta figure out the logistics to move things forward, the operation to move things forward, and that's what this is all about.

I'm expanding it to more people, more of my neighbors that make me proud to live here, so I think this is a moment to be to be proud as a city, and we're doing the right things, steps to move forward.

I like the legislation a lot.

I think I am gonna advocate to continue to push for as much data as we can get in real, as close to real time as possible.

Not to point fingers and blame, but there's a lot of us in the community that just wanna help.

if we know what's going on in between now and next year, maybe there's something that can be done, either community groups to help with outreach, or if there's ideas in the community about how to make the operations work better, let's try to do it incrementally rather than wait a year and then point fingers at each other as to why things aren't working.

So count us in to help out, and thank you very much.

Thank you, Alex.

Next we have David Long, followed by Paul Clive Bennett Ed.

My name is David Long.

I come often, speak very seldomly.

My nonprofit is called Testimony Appraisers from Gatherings.

We help youth that are battling fentanyl and forced homelessness.

As far as the economic development is concerned, one thing that I really want to make sure I point out, I was speaking to some business owners down the Pioneer Square area and other areas, and there is a fear and a worry about how Businesses are getting affected by the help that's being brought to communities.

One of the business owners sent me a very long text.

I'll just read a little bit of it.

Seattle has been lacking in entertainment and family-friendly attraction for a long time.

It often feels like the city has become anti-fund, with many of the places and events that once brought people together disappearing over the years.

Instead of creating an environment where local businesses and major companies want to invest, we've made it harder for them to succeed through higher taxes, complicated regulations, and policies that discourage growth.

I believe we should continue to help people experiencing homelessness, and I support providing resources and services to those who need it, but having them be in areas that are not as business friendly.

Basically, we were discussing how there is a facility being brought next to his business in Pioneer Square that's going to be made to help those that are in need.

However, the city paid close to $7 million for this building, and there's buildings very similar down in the Soto area that would be less expensive, a little bit away from the business areas, and still able to provide some of the similar resources.

So my request is that as we continue to grow, as we continue to look for more ways to help those in need, that we look at areas maybe not so close to the businesses in downtown Seattle and other areas, not necessarily pushing people out, but giving us places that still allow businesses to grow and still help people.

Thank you.

Thank you, David.

Next we have Mr. Paul, who's everywhere around the city.

Clive, Bennett, and Ed.

What's going on, Mr. Paul?

Thank you.

and a pleasure to be here today.

My name's Paul Tomlinson and I want to send a little bit of encouragement to the Council.

Last week I was with Councilman Lynn.

We did a little clean up on Capitol Hill.

Today we were down in the same area doing another program with WeArts Seattle.

As we begin to bring some business people and churches together, we're beginning to see that you're really helping us with what we're doing and your approach to trying to get rid of this problem of having so many people that are homeless or addicted, and we're beginning to see a happening of people volunteering and listening to what the real causes are, and we really appreciate the fact that you are making a real effort.

We understand that there's even some more work coming down the road that you've asked to have more people put into treatment to see the people that are in tents now, that is there something more we can do and we really believe that you have been a force behind that and we want to encourage that.

We're beginning to educate business people and the churches in a little bit of what the problem is because most people don't really understand what's happening and we're hoping that as we work together we can support you and we really believe that you as a council in the next two years will be able to take credit for an awful lot of things that have been done in this city to correct, because we already see it starting to happen.

So we want to thank you for that so much.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Paul.

Next, we have Clive, followed by Bennett, Ed, and then Nathan Wall.

Welcome.

Clive.

Clive Hayward, I have safely performed on the Seattle waterfront for 11 years.

For the last year, I have filed public records requests, documented policy violations by city employees, and for almost two months, I've spoken here every week I have filed multiple complaints and claims, including a May 28, 2025 assault and handcuff threat removal incident, June 12, 2026 Waterfront Park exclusion, claim 2607-63, issued with a criminal trespass warning despite no crowd, no obstruction, and no offer to remove if exclusion was threatened.

So far, I've received no substantive response.

None.

This does not affect me.

I'm aware of at least six performers who have been excluded from the waterfront.

and many others describe being harassed by city employees.

Because there is no meaningful engagement with performers, city employees enforce these rules, are unaware of the real safety and workability issues on the waterfront.

My direct experience is that waterfront rules make things less safe.

for me, I am forced into a designated spot.

I cannot safely relocate away from bad conduct without risking a criminal trespass charge or a loss of income.

Seattle already litigated street performer restrictions in Berger versus City of Seattle.

Council should direct the mayor, Seattle Center, and the city attorney to identify a real review path for ESU enforcement against protected free speech.

Thank you, Clive.

Next we have Bennett, followed by Ed, and then Nathan Wall.

Welcome, Bennett.

Good to see ya.

It's good to see everybody.

We won't start.

We should get you your own sharing platform.

Because you've gotten good at this.

Good afternoon, counsel.

So I have another video from a protest.

I've talked in the past about the fact that 90% of violence at Seattle protests is caused by the same thing.

A man criticizes a woman for saying something wildly over the line.

The woman retaliates it by calling it harassment.

And, yes, I can see you, Sarah.

I can see that screen over there.

And, you know, that creates the permission for other people to commit violence.

I'm going to play a video from one of the protests.

It's recorded from my body cam.

Reminder, of course, October 7th, 2023 was the day that Hamas terrorists killed about 1,000 people in Israel.

Just keep that in mind before I'm playing this.

When I tell you that October 7th, the day of Iraq's flood in 2023,

Jesus Christ, guys, really?

And nobody's gonna say anything?

Come on!

Now, stop saying long-lived October 17th, guys, Jesus Christ.

What's next?

Long live 9-11?

Good luck!

Nobody listens to me.

So that is what I'm talking about.

And I don't think that the average person has any idea how deranged some of the people leading some of these crowds are, saying things like, long live October 7th, and if a man criticizes for them, they retaliate by calling it harassment.

A man criticizing a woman is not harassment.

Thank you.

Thank you, Bennett.

We have Ed followed by Nathan Wall.

Ed?

Ed?

Son?

Hey, welcome.

Hey.

Afternoon, y'all.

First off, I'd like to say I really appreciate what you're doing or trying to do by putting the free toilets by Pioneer Square.

I just happened to be walking by and did relieve some pressure, try to use one.

Problem is, they don't work with Google Lens.

The QR code, I scanned it.

It shows the URL.

I just kind of figure, if you're going to use a QR code-operated toilet, it should work with the QR scanner apps that most people have, be it Apple or Google.

Now, I also noticed that on the machine, it wanted you to download a specific QR scanner I don't know if that company has a relationship with the City of Seattle, but being that people are all worked up about the flat cameras, the facial recognition, that is another information security threat of leaking people's personal data.

If you're making them download an app and you haven't vetted the app's information security practices, you might want to look into that.

Thanks for the toilets and thank you for your time.

Thank you, Ed.

Next we have Nathan Wall, and if you're online, this is the last in-person speaker, and we will go online.

All right, so I was gonna come here today to update you on the two ICE killings that have taken place in the month of July.

Unfortunately, that information is no longer accurate, because in the time that I came here, another person was killed by ICE in Florida.

We don't know the name of the person who was killed.

We don't know the name of the person who killed Lorenzo Araujo.

We don't know the name of the person who killed John Sebastian Guerrero.

What I do know, though, is that just today ice has been spotted in Seattle five times.

One in Lake City, once near Haller Lake, twice in West Seattle, one in Delridge, one on Alki, and then they were also spotted on Highway 99 near the West Seattle Bridge in Soto.

I just wonder at what point are we gonna be able to defend ourselves against this?

At what point or are we just gonna be a dictatorship and that's it?

We have a choice that we have to make.

They're calling people terrorists for saying 86, 47, a reasonable, non-threatening and perfectly legal thing to say.

threatening people with arrest if they're part of Antifa.

What even does it mean to be part of Antifa?

I promise you that everybody on this council, from Alexis Mercedes Rink to Maritza Rivera and everybody in between, they consider you terrorists.

It doesn't matter that you don't agree on everything.

They still consider you communist, Marxist, seditious terrorists.

So what do we do?

What do we do about that?

And what are you gonna do to make sure that they can't come to our city and kill people here?

Because it's unacceptable that it's happening in other parts of the country and it can't happen here.

Fuck ice.

Thank you.

Thank you, Nathan.

Now we're gonna go online.

Please press star six to unmute yourself.

We have Ben Mitchell followed by Andrew Lynn.

So, Ben Starsix, unmute yourself.

Hello.

Hi.

Thank you, Chair Hollingsworth, Council Member Strauss, and Council Members.

My name is Ben Mitchell.

I'm from South Beacon Hill District 2, and I'm with the organization 4Seattle.

I'm testifying today with my friends from 4Seattle in strong support of the utility discount program expansion and to urge your passage of the legislation to expand and strengthen the program.

As others have said, I also urge you to not rest when this bill passes and to keep your eyes on implementation.

I've worked on a similar challenge like what we have with the UDP uptake at the state level around need-based college financial aid.

In that case, the state dramatically expanded financial aid, added themselves on the back, and then watched uptake remain flat or decrease.

I worked on that issue for years, and we've seen solid improvement at the state level.

and I think there's lessons for implementing UDP.

Set a goal for enrollment in UDP, find funding in the next city budget for benefit navigators to help people sign up and use your platforms as council members to promote the program and promote shared messaging.

I hope you move the bill forward, but also remember that it'll only matter if it actually gets implemented well.

Thank you for your work on behalf of all residents of Seattle.

Thank you, Ben.

Next we have Angelin, followed by Rose.

And you're going to press star six to unmute yourself.

All right, I think I got it now.

We can hear you.

Good afternoon, council members.

Yay.

Okay, my name is Angelin.

If you did say it correctly, just FYI, thank you for the effort.

I'm from Pierce County District 2. I'm a human rights activist.

And today my public comment is on an ordinance of CB 121207. It's about the forensic digital evidence classification.

So during the time frame when this classification title came out of 2019 to 2024, I was seeking more ways to report sexual assault along with human trafficking while completing sexual assault examinations that have been sexually exploited throughout the dark web for years, revealing my naked body and how each nurse and doctor conducted the exam, if they did thoroughly, and also the box-up exams with my soiled clothing evidence stolen or the tracking numbers to them.

While these unfortunate events can lead to cases being lost or staying incomplete, I was fortunate to have some finished once I found the right people instead of all leading to hopelessness.

I am grateful for the listed classification title because it shows me that there will be more dedicated individuals able to assess forensic evidence instead of turning away victims due to short staffing, resorting to independent investigations, and more looparounds with insufficient descriptions.

I am hoping that this gap gets filled and more improvements in this field of expertise get put into practice.

I support the passing of Council Bill 121207 in catching up with wages in order to help close more cases with thorough forensic evidence, analysis and kindness to correctly identify all suspects of sex crimes and human trafficking.

Thank you very much.

Thank you so much.

Next we have Rose, and before Rose that you start, there are people that have signed up that are not present.

We have Chris, we have David Haynes, we have Ariel Lung, Young, excuse me, and Jaya Vasanth as well.

Rose star six.

Hello, my name is Rose.

Yes, I am here.

On Sunday, myself and many other people, along with members of the LGBTQ Commission and community organizers, got together to talk more about what an Office of Trans or LGBT Affairs would look like and what the needs were for the community.

Many things were talked about, many things were discussed.

One of the most common threads was that there is immense need right now and there is not much that's being done about it.

Our community is in disarray.

We have individuals that are in desperate situations all across the board and it's also leading to situations where individuals are now getting all sorts of bad behavior to be honest.

We have individuals that are being assaulted in Cal Anderson about every single day of the week now.

We have individuals that because the cops do not show up for queer people We have groups of people that are going and throwing rocks and slurs and threatening to brandish and shoot people in Cal Anderson.

And this is happening with regularity now.

We need to have actual investment in the community and show that queer people are not just people that are going to be left off the map.

Because right now that is what people are saying.

We have individuals that If this is allowed to continue with the assaults that are happening, with the desperation that's happening, people are going to start getting killed.

And this is just the reality.

And every day that we wait, we are going to have individuals that are going to be killed.

This is the reality of our community.

We need to start with a civil emergency.

We need to start investing in our community.

We need to start actually taking real looks about what it was like to make sure our community is safe, because it's not happening right now.

And having gang members show up in mass, I don't want anybody getting hurt, but there are individuals that, whether they are trans or whether they are not, that are going to keep escalating things until things are resolved.

We need you to do better, and we need this now.

Thank you, Rose.

Next, we have David Haynes, star six, unmute yourself.

Hi, thank you, David Aynes.

It's noted that city council has created an easier three and four day weekend guarantee where their workload is going to cancel the council briefings that they never go into too much detail about while virtually signaling about where they went elsewhere.

Yet the whole time our society is still imploding and George Soros is using Seattle as a pilot project to try and destroy the United States from within.

we have a capacity crisis and the misinterpretation of policy where Lisa Dugard who has been financed by the Vera Institute, a George Soros pilot project financier and guarantor that has infiltrated the interpretation of what constitutes police reform and has been assisted by the social worker Amy Barton to shift the paradigm away from improving the war on drug pushers and pimps and create a Otherworld dynamic and reimagine what constitutes a criminal.

And we have all these BIPOC repeat offenders that are connected to the criminal Otherworld that are committing crimes against humanity and conducting an uncivil war.

And they're getting wrongly listed as nonviolent low-level poverty crimes.

and we have all these service providers who are stepping up to intercept all these people in need who keep getting brain damage from all the times they encouragingly fail to break their addiction because they have nothing of the proper interpretation of service provided in between their efforts other than some crappy housing that they ruin and get used to pad the cost so they can gouge Medicaid while intimidating the city council to go along to get along and water down the integrity of the oversight of the service providers who were never kept honest with the King County Regional Homeless Authority.

But now the council wants a politically connected guarantee where we need to still improve the homeless crisis response and not allow human services to undermine public safety by running interference.

Thank you, Mr. Haines.

So I don't believe there's any more registered speakers.

That is the at the end of our public comment period, and just very grateful for all the folks that came out, especially in person, who waited online to come and give your public comment.

We obviously believe in freedom of speech and First Amendment rights, and we will always uphold that here in our chambers.

Really appreciate that.

And then before we get into our meeting really quick, I know we have some, sorry, when the clerk goes like this, if you're ever giving public comment, that means get really close to the mic.

We have some special students today.

I know Council Member Lynn and I joined them today, but I'll pass it off to Council Member Lynn to say a few words.

I'm not trying to put you on the spot, Council Member Lynn.

Thank you, Council President.

And yeah, so joining us today, we have students from across the region, from here in Seattle, down to Tacoma, and many places in between, from the Evergreen Goodwill Youth Maritime Program.

So they spent a lot of time with us and had a lot of...

Good questions.

And a number of them got to come sit up here and are gonna be future city council or future presidents.

So it was fun to engage with you all and thank you for being here.

Stay engaged.

Awesome.

Thank you, Councilmember Lynn.

And I know the students had asked like, hey, how soon can I be a city council member?

And I was like, look, I'll make it happen today.

So whatever, seriously.

So whatever, whatever you need, Dean, I'm just playing.

I'm actually not, but...

But thank you, council member.

It was fun to hear from the students.

I do wanna highlight this though.

We asked, council member, I asked them about transportation and we're going through our Seattle transportation measure and we asked the people like, hey, what are some of the barriers you have when using the bus or transportation around Seattle?

And people said sometimes it's overcrowded, so it's hard to get on the bus or the train.

We heard that people want it more frequent.

They said, hey, if you miss it by one or two minutes, it's hard for us to be able to get on the bus as well.

What else?

There was one more.

There was frequency, there was also reliability.

Too hot.

too hot, that was a, that was, someone was like, it's just hot on the bus.

Okay, I remember that.

So that was good because I was, we were telling them that we were working on our Seattle transit measure and we wanna make sure that our babies, our kids, they are in high school, so we call them our babies, make sure that they have access to transportation.

And so that's one thing that we listened to and so that was excellent, excellent feedback and that was straight from their mouth.

and they do not want England to win the World Cup.

That was one.

Right?

I got you.

Hey.

Okay.

I'm sorry.

Yeah.

Go Argentina.

I'm sorry.

Okay.

Open that.

Okay.

We'll jump into the agenda.

They say anybody but England.

Anya.

Yeah.

Anyone but England.

Just want to say he has an English flag up in his office.

Okay.

So if there's no objection, the introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the introduction referral calendar is adopted.

If there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

We'll now consider the proposed consent calendar.

Items on today's consent calendar are the minutes of July 7th, Council Bill 121-251, payment of the bills.

One appointment from the Governance and Utilities Committee, and we also have four appointments from the Human Services Labor and Economic Development Committee.

items council members would like to remove from today's consent calendar.

Hearing none, I move to adopt the consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, Council Member Rivera.

It's been moved and second to adopt the consent calendar.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the consent calendar?

Council Member Rink?

Yes.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council Member Strauss?

Aye.

Councilmember Foster?

Yes.

Councilmember Juarez?

Aye.

Councilmember Kettle?

Aye.

Councilmember Lin?

Yes.

Council President Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Consent calendar is adopted.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes and legislation on the consent calendar on my behalf?

Will the clerk please read item number one into the record?

The Report of the Governance and Utilities Committee, Gentile 1, Council Bill 121222 relating to the Utilities Discount Program, amending the income threshold for utility discount program for water, wastewater, drainage, solid waste, and electric utility services.

The committee recommendsable pass as amended.

Awesome, thank you.

So as chairs of the committee, I'm gonna defer to the sponsor of the bill, to Council Member Strauss.

Thank you to the co-sponsor, Council President Hollingsworth, of this important bill.

Utility costs are housing costs.

Utility costs impact the affordability of living in our community.

And today is the culmination of nine years worth of work.

to make Seattle more affordable for everyday families.

And so colleagues, as we experienced public comment today, thank you to the folks that come out and testify on behalf of the Utility Discount Program.

You'll notice that we had a lot fewer participants speaking about this than some of the maybe higher profile issues that might have a more marginal impact on people.

I'll kind of keep that at a high level just to say this is incredibly impactful work that people, that is not attention-grabbing and attention-seeking.

It's just the Seattle City Council doing important work to make Seattle more affordable for everyday families.

In Council Briefing, I'll bring, I'll talk about, yeah, well in Council Briefing we had a really important presentation a few weeks ago.

Showing the kids.

Oh, you're off mute.

You're off mute, Council Member Warrers.

Council Member Warrers.

There you go.

In council briefing, we had a really important presentation that showed the K-shaped income bans in Seattle and the history of it, where we went from a port city, the gateway to Alaska, into a tech hub leading the world in software and technological advancements.

Affordability has changed here.

And even the family that I grew up in, would not be able to buy into the neighborhood that I grew up in today.

So even though I know we got a lot of future council members out here in the crowd, the situation that I sit in is the neighborhood that I grew up in here in this city is out of reach for the family that I grew up in.

And that's part of what this legislation takes head on.

because anyone in any of those income bands that we saw in the K-shaped economy can fall on hard times and need the assistance that we're providing through the utility discount program.

By passing this legislation, we will be reducing the amount some families are paying for their housing by more than $1,000 per year depending on their usage.

This is about making life more affordable for working families fast because these utility discount program changes take Seattle's affordability issues head on.

Yes, there are many other tools that we need to implement.

There are many other things that we need to look at and this is one that is directly within our control and something that we are moving quickly.

Right now, the people who make just above minimum wage are paying the same home utility rates as a multi-millionaire hedge fund manager.

We have to be able to provide relief.

And that brings us to why are we here today?

Since 1975 when the program was introduced, we have been using the state median income instead of the area median income.

Not only does this limit eligibility because the housing costs in Pasco are different than the housing costs anywhere here in the city of Seattle.

And so if we are using a state median income, we're not capturing all of the people correctly.

there is a cliff of eligibility.

So if you make a dollar more than the eligibility, you can't benefit at all.

This legislation sets out the schedule over the next year to understand how do we serve those people who are 70 and up to 80% of our area median income, not just 60%.

How do we create that step-down, prorated discount so that you're not left out in the cold if you make a dollar more than the eligibility allows?

and importantly by changing from state median income to area median income, we, this, said another way, most social programs here in the city of Seattle are set at 60% area median income.

Because the utility discount program has been set at 60% state median income, it is not part of the packet of resources that folks can get in one stop to understand everything that they're eligible for in one place.

To public commenters pronouncement that we absolutely need to do better with enrollment, yes we do with the resources that we have and this change will help that.

Human Services Department has already increased enrollment by 4% in just two years.

This has been because we have been working on this for many years.

And enrollment is the easiest and most important thing that we have control over right now.

These changes make sure that our working families, our seniors on fixed incomes, the parents of the kids that I grew up with who are paying more in property tax than their original mortgage are taken care of.

For the people in the families who just need a little bit of help, this provides a needed relief in moments that matter most.

For too long, our thresholds have been too low.

As I said, we haven't prorated the step-down benefits.

And this has left families in the cold, or as we heard a public comment today, rationing medication to keep the heat on.

This, what we're about to do today, did not get a lot of fanfare, but it's gonna make a really big impact on people's daily lives.

This legislation makes real the work that so many city employees have been trying to fix for over nine years.

Nine years on my clock, sorry.

Longer for many other civil servants who've worked for our municipality for longer.

This legislation will put money back into the pockets of working people who are struggling with the affordability of our city, We have changed the effective date so that it is aligned with the next utility rate increase.

We've also made reporting metrics stronger and yes, I would love to get to real-time information.

and it's no secret that this program has struggled with that enrollment in the past and that's why these reporting mechanisms are important so that we're not, because before this legislation it was checking in once every two years at best and so as we continue to improve, as we continue to iterate, that's the direction we're going.

We would like to make sure that we are enrolling everyone that is eligible.

I'll just end with a couple facts here that this legislation would make around 31,000 new households eligible for the utility discount program.

31,000 new households.

It's estimated that about 8,800 of those are senior households, many of whom are on a fixed income and as we continue to walk through the schedule that this legislation outlines so that we can start taking 60 to 70 and 70 to 80% area median income families into account, that number of households will grow so that we are serving more Seattleites than we are today.

I've got one final comment at the very end, but that's my report.

Council President, thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

I was listening to the seagulls celebrate this moment with you.

But the Times today said that because we're at Elliott Bay, they're bagels.

The bagels.

That was a good one.

But really, I'm gonna open it up to comments.

That was a good dad joke.

I'm gonna open it up to comments before I make my remarks to see if any council member wants to offer anything at Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Council President.

I just wanted to thank Council Member Strauss, but also you as Chair of Governance for bringing this through.

Very important.

Seagulls stopped.

But also to highlight, thank you Council Member Strauss for highlighting the points you made about the state and so forth.

One of the things that I've been talking about a lot recently is affordability.

and the lack of coordination between city, county and state and what we do or don't do and how it impacts affordability.

This is just yet another example that the coordination and the getting in sync, being nested with a higher level is so important to ensure that we're doing all that we can because affordability is only going to get worse.

There's reports regarding inflation, which just compounds it.

and given the president's actions in the Middle East and the Strait of Hormuz, it's just going to actually even get worse than that.

And these things combined with what we're seeing across different fronts from government have that really big impact on affordability.

So I just want to say thank you again Councilmember Strauss for your work over the years and also highlighting that intergovernmental need basically.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Kettle.

Councilmember Foster.

Thank you so much, Council President, and just want to express my gratitude to you, Councilmember Strauss, and to you, Council President, for working on this.

I was actually one of the people who worked on this 10 years ago when I worked in SPU, and so it's really exciting to get to see this come across the finish line, Councilmember Strauss, and I just couldn't agree with this policy change anymore and I also think I agree with you and I know that we'll get to continue working on continuing to push this down the road and continue to make this more accessible because utilities are such a significant cost for families and the only thing I'll just add is I don't think it can be understated the impact of this when we talk about actually homelessness as well and so you know I just want to bring into the conversation as I've talked to providers I know that one of the things that they report to us is the high cost of utilities being one of the things that really destabilizes families and can lead to families losing their housing.

So I think this is just a really important piece of legislation for affordability and also to targeting that towards the folks who are going to really benefit from this discount.

And I think that we'll be able to see that in a number of places.

So I want to express my appreciation for your leadership and I'm excited to vote for this today.

Thank you.

Awesome, and before I make my comments, apparently I'm not listed as co-sponsor, so I will officially request if I can be listed as a co-sponsor.

I just noticed that.

Yes, that was intended from jump.

I appreciate that, and I do want to just say a few quick words.

Thank you for your leadership, Councilmember Strauss, on this, especially for the thoughtful implementation of it, the rollout, understanding how the threshold needed to increase, and also a lot of the intentionality behind increasing the program right as rates are increasing with the path.

And I think that's really important.

And as Councilmember Foster said, as we're always talking to families, utilities is always one of the biggest pieces and burden to folks.

And so wanting to make sure that they can be able to participate in this program and its expansion.

And I think it's a big deal.

31,000 households, that is a lot of people.

And so this is something obviously, like Alex Lofton said from the CD, we should be celebrating, because this is a really great day.

So Council Member Strauss, final words.

with this bill today and up to 81,000 families if we are able to get up to 80%, which we will.

And we're just going to take that time to figure out.

and kind of to Council Member Foster's point, I have known so many city employees across my time here that when we look at the utility discount program and we say the eligibility cliff, the state median income, these are things that jump off the page to many of us.

no matter where we are and what roles we are in, it can be challenging to make such a large structural change.

You may remember that even just last year, I had a statement of legislative intent to keep this work moving forward.

And so for all of those municipal employees, I just, from the bottom of my heart, gratitude I'm gonna list them all off in just a second, but I will just say that this bill is for our working families, for our elders who are on fixed incomes, for those who suddenly found themselves on hard times, for those who haven't moved or changed jobs, but for who our city has changed around them.

and today we are taking that affirmative action to make Seattle more affordable for 81,000 families because of the hard work of Saroja Reddy, Arkshay Ignar, Christy Parker, Katie Souder, Dylan King, Jessica Kenyon, Chris Ruffini, Karsten Croft, Michael Hamilton, Katherine Ainsberg, Melissa Bookwalter, Marcus Jackson, and all capitals' and all capitals' Maggie Thompson, Tanya Kim, Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, Councilmember Deborah Juarez, Council President Joy Hollingsworth, Anthony Rodriguez, Jesse Franz, Eric McConaughey, Brian Goodnight, Marco Lowe, and all of our advocates at For Seattle.

Thank you for making Seattle a little bit more affordable for 81,000 families today.

Awesome.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss.

And I know we are ready to vote on this.

So will the clerk, excuse me, are there any other final comments before we call on the roll at the passage of the bill?

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Rink?

Yes.

Councilmember Rivera?

Aye.

Councilmember Saka?

Aye.

Councilmember Strauss?

Aye.

Councilmember Foster?

Yes.

Councilmember Juarez?

Aye.

Councilmember Kettle?

Aye.

Councilmember Lin?

Yes.

Council President Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Congratulations, Councilmember Strauss.

The bill passes.

Chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?

Those are the claps we like.

All right.

Next, we have, will the clerk please read item number two into the record?

The Report of the Human Services Labor and Economic Development Committee, agenda item two, Council Bill 121-207, relating to city employment establishing the forensic digital evidence classification title series and corresponding rates of pay in the Seattle Police Department.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Our students are leaving.

We were just about to vote to give everyone $100 who stayed in chamber through the end of the meeting.

Just playing.

Just playing.

Council member Rank is chair of the committee.

You're recognized.

Thank you, Council President and colleagues.

Under the City Charter, Article 17, Section 1, some SDHR classification and compensation recommendations, including those related to the creation of new classifications with corresponding rates of pay, require Council approval by ordinance.

Council's approval of this legislation before us would authorize a forensic digital evidence classification series to support SPD investigations.

The new classification series is intended to accurately reflect the body of work currently performed by video specialist and photographic services or services positions in the crime scene investigation unit.

The committee voted unanimously to recommend passage of Council Bill 121207 and I strongly encourage a yes vote today.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you, Councilmember Rank.

Colleagues, are there any comments regarding Council Bill 121207?

Okay, awesome.

Well, thank you Council Member Rink for all your work on this and always making sure that people are compensated well for their work.

So thank you.

Okay, we'll jump right into the, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Rink?

Yes.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council Member Strauss?

Aye.

Council Member Foster?

Yes.

Councilmember Juarez?

Aye Councilmember Kettle?

Aye Councilmember Lin?

Yes Council President Hollingsworth?

Yes Nine in favor, none opposed.

Awesome.

Bill passes.

The chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?

And I'll clap for you, Council Member Rink, because everyone...

There he goes.

All right.

There were no items removed from the consent calendar.

There's not a resolution for introduction or adoption today.

Are there any other items that come before the council?

Seeing none and hearing none, we have reached the end of today's agenda.

And the next city council meeting is going to be July 21st at 2 p.m.

So July 21st at 2 p.m.

And hearing no further business, and no, we're not gonna vote on giving everyone $100, but appreciate y'all staying all the way to the end.

This meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.