City Council Meeting January 23, 2024

Hello, everyone.

The January 23rd, 2024 meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It is 2.02 in the afternoon.

I'm Sarah Nelson, president of the council.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Morales.

Council Member Rivera?

Present.

Council Member Saka?

Here.

Council Member Strauss?

Present.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Here.

Council Member Kettle?

Here.

Council Member Moore?

Present.

Council President Nelson?

Present.

Kate?

Present.

Thank you very much.

Just dealing with an echo here, which is my fault, probably.

Just a second, please.

I can help.

All right, moving on to the next item.

I'm not aware of any presentations for today.

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

Hearing no objection, the introduction and referral calendar is adopted.

Before consideration of the agenda, I wanted to note that for today's meeting, we'll have the public comment period after consideration of items one and two on the agenda, so we can get that out of the way.

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

All right.

the agenda is adopted.

Okay, so we'll now hear consideration of the proposed consent calendar.

Items on the consent calendar are only one today, Council Bill 120741, which is payment of the bills.

Would anybody like to remove this from the consent calendar?

Great.

I move to adopt the consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you very much.

The consent, it's been moved and seconded to adopt the consent calendar.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Rivera?

Yes.

Council Member Saka?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Thank you.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

Moving on.

Will the clerk please read items one and two into the record?

Agenda items 1 and 2, clerk file 314400, application of Danielle Goddard, Weinstein, A plus U, to rezone property located at 1620 16th Avenue.

The committee recommends that the City Council grant as conditioned in the clerk file.

Agenda item 2, council bill 120737, relating to land use and zoning, amending chapter 23.32, the Seattle Amnesty Code at pages 111 and 112, the official land use map to rezone property at 1620 16th Avenue from low-rise 3 with the mandatory housing...

Affordability suffix.

All right, the clerk has read items one and two together to allow us to address both related items.

Councilmember Strauss will walk us through last week's ex parte communications and remedies to cure it.

Then we'll hear from the applicants before voting on each of them individually.

So Councilmember Strauss, you're recognized in order to address this item.

Thank you, Council President.

I will first address the ex parte communications in which we received last week during public comment, and then I will speak to the bills, which I've spoken to colleagues many times for the viewing public.

I'll share again.

And I know this is why everyone is here today.

We have a quasi-judicial matter before us, which is a contract rezone.

The process for this is it goes from SDCI with a report to the hearing examiner, which releases a determination, and then comes to us at city council.

We, acting as a quasi-judicial body, only allowed to review the information contained within the hearing examiner's report.

Last week, during public comment, a public commenter signed up under a different bill title and spoke on this quasi-judicial matter.

And so this has created a moment where there are ex parte communications To cure ex parte communications, council members shall either orally or in writing place in procedural record the substance of the ex parte and make a public announcement at each meeting or hearing on the quasi-judicial action of the content of such ex parte communication.

Because this was given to all council members equally during public comment, I, on behalf of all council members, am announcing that we received ex parte communications via public comment at last week's meeting.

A transcript of the ex parte communication is attached to the clerk file.

Therefore, that requirement is met.

And to fully cure this item, we need to give the applicants a minute, the same amount of time that the ex parte communications occurred, a minute to rebut anything that was said.

And so, Council President, I'll pass it back to you.

Thank you very much.

At this point, we'll provide an opportunity for the applicant as party of record to the rezone to rebut the substance of the communication that occurred at the January 16th, 2024 City Council meeting.

We will provide one minute.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Councilmember Nelson and Councilmembers.

My name is Kyra Kazanjin, and I'm the Director of Facilities for Jewish Family Service, the applicant for the rezone that is the subject of Council Bill 120739. I'm here to briefly respond to the ex parte communication that occurred last week based on the record.

The commentator implied that the existing building is historic and proposed for demolition under false pretenses.

This is not the case.

The record shows that the building was considered by the city's landmarks preservation board and the board decided against designation.

Exhibit 54 in the record confirms this.

Historic considerations were fully accounted for in the permitting and rezone process.

The record also reflects significant community opportunity to make public comments during the master use permit.

design review, and hearing examiner processes.

And that the examiner accounted for the public comments received in the recommendation in favor of approving this rezone.

Thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you very much.

Are there any other comments?

Any closing remarks?

Council President, just briefly, information I'm going to address both the clerk file and the council bill simultaneously.

This project is currently split zoned lot with low rise on one portion and neighborhood commercial on the other.

The site's located within the Capitol Hill Urban Center Village, and this proposed rezone would change the zoning on the low rise portion of the site to neighborhood commercial in order to create a consistent zoning condition across the entire project site.

This project will provide 88 new residential units.

Thank you, Council President.

All right.

If there's nothing else, will the clerk please call the roll on granting as conditioned the clerk...

If there's nothing else, will the clerk please call the roll on granting as conditioned the clerk file?

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Council Member Saca?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Aye.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

And Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

All right, the clerk file is granted as conditioned and the chair will sign the findings, conclusions, and decision of the council.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the findings, conclusions, and decision of the council on my behalf?

Moving on.

The clerk has already read item two into the record, so I move to pass Council Bill 120737. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to pass the bill.

Council Member Strauss is sponsor.

You're recognized to address the item if you care to.

Thank you, Council President.

Everything I said applies to both bills.

All right.

Thank you very much.

If there's no other comment, will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Council Member Saca?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Aye.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation?

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

Public comment should relate to items on today's agenda, the introduction and referral calendar, or the council's work program.

Madam Clerk, how many speakers are signed up today?

We have an estimated 26 speakers signed up.

Excellent.

We will give each person one minute to speak.

And today we'll start with in chambers first.

Our first in speaker in chambers is Reverend Harriet Walden.

Good afternoon, counsel.

My name is Reverend Harriet Walden, and I'm here today to speak in favor of Tanya Wu to be appointed in the vacant seat, and she ran the campaign.

It takes a lot of energy, actually, and a lot of courage to run against an incumbent.

And she ran a good campaign, and I believe that she should be appointed to the seat, the vacant seat.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Our next speaker is Lin Tai, and then followed by Admin Mumin and Bailey Medillo.

Councilmember, Tet Nguyen Dang or the Lula New Year celebrations upon us again for many East Asian culture in the next couple of weeks, the year of the dragon.

I want to share an important practice and tradition in Vietnamese culture over 4,000 years has often been overlooked.

One of the evening of the Lula New Year, there are several rituals intentionally cast out the old and welcome the new.

A kind of a growth mindset that embraces possibility, opportunity, and optimism.

In Vietnamese culture, the practice of forgiveness extends to every individual and family member.

To fully embrace a new year, we have to practice all the goodness that come out of it.

One other thing is that we have to forgive and encourage and challenge to forgive his or her enemies, anyone whom he or she had harbored ill will, dislikes, contempt, or even hatred.

That practice of forgiveness is done regardless of whether or not the subject forgives, deserves it or not, or being aware of it or not.

So with that, I hereby ask our council members and everyone here in the chamber to join me.

Thank you.

Hello, council members.

My name is Ahmad Moomin.

I'm the executive director of the Seattle Right Share Drivers Association.

I'm here on behalf of the Right Share Drivers Association.

We have more than 4,000 members and we are a non-profit organization.

We are calling on Whatever that decision that you guys take, you should have concern of the rideshare driver's safety.

Far too many of us have been killed lately.

The city of Seattle has abandoned us.

There is no communication between our organization and the city of Seattle.

We have sent...

numerous proposals to the mayor, and we have not heard back.

So what we are asking for is whoever that you support should be somebody that will address the concern and safety of rideshare drivers.

Thank you.

Following Bailey would be Abdi Shire and Srikalty Amunku, I believe.

Good afternoon, council members.

Thank you for having us.

Today you have an opportunity to expand the leadership of this council.

The decisions made today, the positions made known, and the outcome of this appointment will reverberate throughout Seattle in the consciousness of countless working people who look to you for leadership and guidance.

And I want to make this known.

Working people are watching this appointment process.

We are listening in and we are keeping track, seeing who chooses integrity, openness, and the needs of working people to govern over our one Seattle, over the interests of the wealthy few.

I want to make this known.

You are our council too.

You were elected by working people too, and it is your paramount duty to listen to the voices of working people and not just the largest donors.

You are our council too.

It is time to govern like it.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Council President.

and council members, my name is Abdi Shireh, a member and a leader of the East African community in Seattle.

I would like to address the safety and gun violence in our city, which has become too much and I believe the candidate, Tanya Wu, will tackle this issue.

And I would like to endorse city council position eight for Tanya Wu.

So in other words, as a city of Seattle, so far as earlier executive director Ahmed Mumin has mentioned that already we lost six, six drivers.

And still, the state of Seattle has not done, or even the state, for the safety of the richer industrial drivers.

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, city council members.

I'm Srikanth Mukku, a Navy veteran who has been living in Seattle since March 2015. I'm here to enthusiastically endorse and support my brother in arms, Lin Thai.

a U.S.

Army veteran with distinguished service record who I know for more than six years now.

I met Lynn as a volunteer in the veteran public service volunteering organization called Mission Continues and work shoulder to shoulder on many community development projects around Seattle.

Lynn is a thoughtful and collaborative civic leader.

He brings to table the rare skill of compassionate listening at grassroots micro level and bring it together for strategic planning and development at macro level.

This I believe is an important quality which would prove invaluable as a member of the Seattle City Council for complex community engagements.

He continues to be a charismatic role model for veterans for community service and civic engagement.

I believe he's the right candidate with an impeccable record of civic service.

Thank you.

Our next three callers will be Jim Buchanan, followed by Elmer Dixon and Julius Robinson.

Okay, Jim Buchanan, Elmer Dixon, Julius Robinson.

Okay, Jeremy.

I'm sorry.

Hi.

Can you please state your name before you start so I can make sure that we're calling, people are speaking in the order?

I'm Jeremy.

Okay.

I'm Elmer.

Okay, please.

Can I go first?

Yes, please go ahead.

Good afternoon.

I'm here to support some funding that was supposed to be earmarked for the CD and for, I'm here to support the...

inequity, at least to challenge the inequity and funding.

I'm sorry for being unorganized.

I was asked to come and support this program.

And so I'm just in here in support of those funds going into the CD where they belong.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, members of the council.

My name is Jeremy Unai.

I am the COPE chair for local 587, the bus drivers.

Many nice things have been said about all the candidates that are coming before you today in hope of becoming the new council member.

We would like to put our support behind Vivian Song.

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon.

What was your name, sir?

I'm sorry.

My name is Julius Caesar Robinson.

I wasn't expected to be called up, but I'm here, right?

So let's do this.

I'm here in support of everybody that ran for council.

Also, I am here to speak on what gentlemen speak earlier about.

I'm not here to speak on it.

I'm here in support of.

looking at reallocating the funding that was allocated to us through the previous administration, because we do have work to do out there and we would like to have funding.

For years, every year, people come to people like myself and others, and they always want information about the community.

And you come to us because you know that the people trust us and they know us and they see us.

So fund us.

Right now we have a huge gap between the policy makers in the community out there.

Let us bridge that gap so you can stop coming to us asking for information and you already have the information from us.

Thank you and you guys doing a good job.

Good to see all of you.

We'll now move into the remote public commenters.

Our first public commenter will be Diana Robbins and Diana will be followed by Lois Martin.

Go ahead, Diana.

Hi, my name is Diana Robbins.

I am calling in to support the appointment of Tanya Wu to position eight.

I've been walking with Tanya and her group for about three and a half years every week to address any issues we see in the area and distribute supplies and resources.

I think Tanya's gotten some flack for demonstrating against the King County shelter, but she's not against helping the unhoused.

She does a lot of work to do assistance.

I've even seen her do CPR, first aid, distribute supplies.

She's very, very active.

She spends a lot more time assisting unhoused people than probably anybody listening to this call right now.

Even though Tanya...

And I don't always agree on some things.

I know she's always open to discussion.

And she ran an excellent campaign when she was running against the incumbent for District 2. And I know that Tanya will actively do her best to help all the residents and businesses of Seattle.

And I hope she gets appointed to this open position.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Lois Martin.

And Lois will be followed by Paul DeBarros.

Go ahead, Lois.

Good afternoon.

My name is Lois Martin and I am a proud Seattle native who grew up in Seattle Central District community.

I know firsthand what happens to neighborhoods when we lack real representation on our city council.

I am thankful the third district now has Joy Hollingsworth to stand in the gap and I urge you to vote for Tonya Wu to fill this city's position 8 so all Seattle citizens have a representative who values our voice.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Paul DeBarros, and Paul will be followed by Sandy Shetler.

Go ahead, Paul, and you may need to press star six.

Good.

I'm Paul DeBarros.

I'm reiterating my support for Tanya Wu.

I was struck by the editorial in The Seattle Times this morning pointed out that the new council really was elected to get stuff done, not argue about their points of view on philosophy.

This really is a red herring to talk about this as a conflict between labor and business.

Tanya Wu worked for the unhoused, worked on crime, transportation, budget.

I think that's what we want to see, people just put on their gloves and get stuff done and

she's proved that she could do that so please put her in that seat thanks thank you our next speaker is sandy shuttler and sandy will be followed by angela soto on charge go ahead sandy oh hi yes thank you um this is sandy shuttler and i'm urging you to vote for tanya wu for position eight um seattle is re-envisioning our city with new work patterns equitable housing and trees shading all of us.

Tanya's work, years of work, excuse me, supporting neighborhoods and her focus on livability are exactly what we need.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Lois, excuse me, is Angela Soto-Lancharich, followed by Daniel Gomez-Nava.

Go ahead, Angela.

Good afternoon.

My name is Angela Soto-Lancharich.

and I am a community organizer.

Working closely with communities has exposed me not only to their challenge, but also what the city of Seattle is capable of achieving in favor of the well-being of its citizens.

At the national and international level, Seattle is a pioneer regarding worker rights and climate action respectively.

Taking this into consideration, I urge you to please appoint a council member who can truly represent the values of our community as a whole so we can continue our path towards economic and social justice and not someone who caters to the interests of a small and powerful group.

So all the progress we have achieved as a city throughout these years is lost.

Thank you so much for the consideration.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Daniel Gomez-Nava, and Daniel will be followed by Ana Mason.

Go ahead, Daniel.

Thank you.

I will thank you to the City Council.

My name is Daniel Gomez.

I'm a resident of District 1 and a community organizer of the Latino Community Fund.

The agenda item that I want to address is a seat appointment.

The City of Seattle has been a leader of supporting working-class families, and I urge the Council to listen to the people of Seattle.

and not see small groups who think they have earned their right for disappointment with their money.

I've worked with families, workers, and youth who are part of this history and call this city home.

We need someone who truly understands the diverse needs for our community, someone who has a track record of advocating for social justice, equitable policies, and the well-being of all residents.

Disappointment is an opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to democratic principles and ensure that all voices of ordinary citizens are not drawn out by powerful interests.

We need a representative who will champion affordable housing, accessible healthcare, equitable education, someone who reflects the values that make Seattle a beacon of progressive intent.

I implore the council to uphold the democratic ideals that our city is known for and to prioritize the needs of the many over the influence of the few.

Our community deserves a representative who will amplify the voices of the working class and marginalized communities.

Thank you, Daniel.

Our next speaker is Anna Mason, followed by Kenny Stewart.

Go ahead, Anna.

Hi there.

My name is Anna Mason, and I wanted to voice my support for Tanya Wu.

She has been a true advocate for the community.

My mom was verbally assaulted at a bus stop because of her heritage, yelled out F-bombs, telling her to go back to her country and that she's not wanted here.

So today, she's still afraid to daily walk around the neighborhood for fear of it happening again and no way to defend herself.

My mom was in her 70s, under five feet tall, and she's definitely been mentally affected by this.

The person that urged me to record it and get resources for my mom was Tanya Wu.

My mom received a call by a person from the Asian Resource Center who spoke Cantonese and could understand her fears.

Tanya is more than qualified and listens with compassion and understanding.

I urge the council to vote for Tanya for the open seat.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Kenny Stewart.

Kenny will be followed by Patty Fong.

Go ahead, Kenny.

Hi, my name is Kenny Stewart.

I'm a Seattle firefighter and president of Seattle Firefighters Union Local 27. I'm here today representing over 1,000 Seattle firefighters and paramedics to encourage you to select Tanya Wu for City Council Position 8. Seattle firefighters are deeply engaged in the political process because of the life-saving service we provide.

It's so critical, and City Council makes decisions that either support or undermine our ability to protect the people of Seattle.

In the recent election, we met with more than 50 candidates to learn about who they are, how they make decisions, and what the priorities will be.

Tanya Wu is our clear choice then and is our clear choice now based on her values, her focus on community, her history of service, her experience, and because for her, public safety is a top priority.

Tanya has deep roots in Seattle as a lifelong resident, a small business owner, a community advocate, a voice for marginalized people, and a leader.

Seattle firefighters want leaders who will listen to the people in their community, including firefighters who are on the front lines every day serving the people of Seattle.

Like Donnie Chin, who is a dedicated hero for public safety and community, Tanya is driven by a sense of purpose, pragmatic view, and a passion to serve.

Seattle Firefighters urging to select Tanya Wu for City Council Position 8.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Patty Fong.

Patty will be followed by Ascari Addison.

Go ahead, Patty.

Hi, I'm Patricia Fong, and thank you for this opportunity.

I support Tanya Wu for Position 8. I worked for her campaign, and I saw how well Tanya Wu relates to the underserved CID constituents.

I talked with district two constituents who were very impressed with Tanya Wu as a candidate.

Ultimately though, the council has long needed a council member who really will show up for people in Seattle, listen and serve capably with commitment, sincerity and effectiveness.

It's been my experience that once elected, some council members don't respond to their constituents.

Public safety is also uppermost in my concerns.

Our city has a lot of public safety concerns.

I'm downtown frequently and I live near the CID.

I'm confident Ms. Wu supports stronger public safety measures for our changing city.

For these reasons, as a lifelong Seattle resident, I support Tonya Wu as the most qualified on your list to fill position eight.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Ascari Addison, who will be followed by Christopher Griffin.

Go ahead, Ascari.

You may need to press star six to unmute yourself.

Okay, it looks like Ascari is not unmuting, so we will move on to Christopher Griffin, and then we may come back.

Go ahead, Christopher.

Jodi, just a quick note after Christopher.

Can we go back into Chambers, please?

Sure.

Can you hear me?

This is Christopher Griffin.

Yes.

Okay.

I'm Christopher Griffin.

I'm a Seattle resident in the Queen Anne and Magnolia area.

I'm a black small business owner.

Small business owner.

As I said, a veteran of Black Home, and I would like to support Neha.

She is a very passionate and constructive leader, very hardworking.

I mean, I know she starts her day earlier than me.

She starts her day at 5 o'clock in the morning, is very passionate every day about making the Seattle area a more livable and constructive place for the working class.

And she's very focused on public safety.

So that is where I want to put my support.

So thank you.

Council President, we have about 15 in-person remaining and five remote.

The next in-person speaker, just gonna go back really quick to Mr. Buchanan, Jim Buchanan.

Okay, now I'm gonna go back to where we're at.

So the next speaker is Kim Conban followed by Arlene Wong and I believe it's Luke Wigren.

Good afternoon, Council.

My name is Kim Khanh Van, and thank you for your time.

Thank you for all the candidates for applying for this position.

I'm a former refugee from Vietnam, came at the age of six, settled in Ballard Town all the way to the housing project in South Seattle.

And the connection I have here with Tanya, and I am in support of Tanya, is because the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1875 excluded communities And not that it's that history, it is actually currently happening now.

What's happening in the CID and during the pandemic, I witnessed her leadership, her compassion, her showing up to and for community because she's with community by leading multiracial, multicultural, intergenerational movement to denounce hate of all forms from the UW, organizing with students at UW to all the way to high school students in South Seattle.

So I do hope that you appoint someone who is a people's champion, and that's Tanya Wu.

Thank you.

Is it Arlene?

Is there Arlene Wong?

Okay, after Arlene, then it's, I believe it's Luke, and then I follow Luke will be Betty Lau and Ji Chan.

Thank you for having this opportunity to speak.

I'm Arlene Wong, a 60 plus years Seattle resident.

I'm here to support my long time community volunteer working colleague, Tanya Wu.

She's a very caring, responsible person with honesty and integrity.

She cares for the well-being of our community, especially our seniors.

We need a person like Tanya to represent us for better public safety, affordable housing, and for better quality of life.

For many years, Decade Tanya had volunteered her time and talent for a better Seattle.

She listened, helped, and worked toward solution.

I strongly recommend Tanya Vu for her position.

Thank you.

My name is Luke.

Apologies for going over time yesterday.

First, just want to reiterate my support for Mari Sugiyama.

I can empathize with having parents that are committed to serving the people, yet too, I understand the pain of what it's like to lose that North Star.

That's why I'm here today.

Yesterday, I mentioned there would be a grave mistake to install a corporate landlord or a cop when those views are already well represented on this council, apparently.

Regarding Tonya Wu, I just don't think that landlords that are able to evict people, which is a violent action, should be running the sorts of tenant regulations that protect those people.

Regarding officers Stephen Strand and Mark Solomon, I don't believe it's cantankerous to mention that their department electeds laughed about hitting and killing an immigrant woman of color, Jahnavi Kandula, exactly one year ago today.

You know, you gotta clean your house first, and I wouldn't dare show my face in public right now with that in the past.

I'm sorry to hear that council members Sarah Nelson and Sokka don't appreciate public debate, but when people are getting screwed by a rigged economic system, you now oversee, you have to fix that system, otherwise people are gonna make noise.

You can tell, you can start by telling Tim...

Followed by Betty Lau will be G.

Chan and Dedesia Khan.

I'm Betty Lau.

Tanya Wu provides a voice for senior citizens, especially those who have limited to no English, as proven by 50 of them coming to yesterday's council meeting, and a bunch of us who are fluent in English who came.

She also spends hours teaching cultural dance to secondary school youth, and you don't see them here because they're in school.

And all that work is from her heart.

City Club update.

The poll is now closed.

Almost 1,300 respondents picked Tanya Wu as number one.

Tanya Wu, the people's choice.

Tanya Wu, the candidate for all seasons for all reasons.

Please pick Tanya.

Thank you.

Ready?

Hello, my name is Gee Chan.

I'm a longtime Seattle resident of District 3. I brought this sign in case I get tongue-tied.

I missed yesterday's meeting because my husband and I were at Fred Hutch.

for his cancer treatment that began about two years ago.

And through his cancer treatments, we have volunteered with Tonya.

We both walked the CID streets, picked up needles at that time, and picked up trash.

You know, he helped her campaign during this cancer treatment.

He can't be here today, so I'm speaking for both of us.

So please, Tanya is, oh gosh, eight minutes, eight seconds left.

So please consider Tanya and think about all that everyone has said.

And next, we'll have Tricia Khan, Diana Chin, followed by John Drago.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Tricia Khan, and thank you for the opportunity to comment on behalf of Tanya Wu.

After yesterday watching the process, I feel compelled to comment.

There is no one on this council, as I reflect, who lives and represent our culture and our community Ms. Wu has been living, breathing, working, mingling in our community with a multicultural flair and common sense.

I urge you to select her.

Look at what she has done since a young age.

You've heard everybody talk about the mural she drew.

which is a stopping ground for tourists.

The drill teams help organize for our highlight of summer.

Thank you.

Diana Chin, followed by Jan Drago.

My name is Diana Chin.

I am a resident of Seattle for over 60 years.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak.

I am here for Tanya Wu.

Tanya is a true daughter of Seattle.

Tanya's family has lived in Seattle since the late 1800s, growing up on Beacon Hill, running business in CID and Wallingford.

She now lives in Rainier Beach, blocks away from the Safeway, where several shootings occurred.

She's well aware of everything that is going on in the community.

Having Tanya Wu, feel the seat became due to Muscatus successful campaign.

For her to be a King County council member is important to all underserved community who needs a voice.

She listened to community and work for their betterment.

She provide empathy and willingness to bring people together.

Please select Tanya Wu.

Thank you.

Jan Drago.

Hi, I'm Jan Drago, longtime resident of Pioneer Square.

And I first want to congratulate all of you on your winning campaigns.

There was only one issue on the ballot, and that was public safety.

Remember all those public safety flyers and mailers you sent out?

So that is the issue.

And you're lucky to have somebody, to have a candidate, that can help you achieve your goals in public safety.

That's Captain Steve Strand.

He's uniquely qualified for the job.

He's worked in all four precincts.

He knows the city, not just one district.

He...

Oh, he's a back to basics guy looking forward to learning about Seattle City Light.

He knows that he's familiar with the comp plan and he will love the arts committee.

Thank you.

The last two speakers in the set is Eddie Parks followed by Kay Wykeen Garrett.

Hi, my name is Eddie Parks.

And I am here to speak on the participatory budgeting process that was allocated the 30 million to our community.

Um, originally, you know, we asked for, you know, a billion dollars to be allocated to our community.

Um, the mayor, um, settled for a hundred million.

Um, and this last, uh, 30 million of the a hundred million, um, went through this process and, uh, I'm here to make sure that it's coming to our community.

Both Cesar and Elmer Dixon, what they were talking about was actually that money that was allocated for our community.

So as somebody who is a descendant of Africans who were stolen and brought to this country, it's very important that this money is directly put into our community so that we can do everything we need to do to build institutions, to correct the School to prison, oh, time expired.

Thank you.

And our last speaker in the set is...

You're welcome to send in the rest of your comments.

K.Y.

King-Garrett.

Good afternoon.

Structural anti-black racism and socially engineered economic inequity has been and continues to be your greatest threat to public safety.

We recognize that there are many voices here in support of a voice for Chinatown ID for vacant position eight.

Whoever you select, we hope that if it is a voice of Chinatown that we can work with you and the council, work with them and the council to also develop Africatown Central District, the black community to the same level of having institutions and thriving businesses and being a destination and still having ownership by the community.

The Central District was once reported 90% black with nearly 50% homeownership, now towards 10% black and 26% homeownership in the city.

And at the same time, you've seen a rising increase in violence.

You recently passed a billion-dollar housing levy, and there's an excellent opportunity for safety through equity by...

are also going into black developers, black general contractors, and black workers.

There's an article in yesterday's paper that talks about Africa Town achieving their 50% participation, and we're happy and ready to work with you to ensure equity as a strategy towards public safety in this city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We will now return back to remote public speakers.

Our first remote speaker will be Ascari Addison, and Ascari will be followed by Susan Lee Wu.

And remember, you may need to press star six.

Thank you.

Hello.

Hello.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Go ahead.

Hi.

My name's Ascari Addison.

I'm calling in to support Tanya Wu.

I'm a recent arrival to Seattle.

I'm an African descendant of slaves, as well as a person who's gone through a lot of trials to reach where I am today.

Tanya represents not only Asian Americans, but people of all backgrounds.

She has a kind spirit.

She's a consummate professional.

She puts her money where her mouth is.

I've seen her endanger her life.

to go and serve the homeless community in Chinatown, as well as to reach out to people of all backgrounds, not only Asian Americans.

And I implore you to go and support Tanya Wu for the vacant city council seat.

My name's Iskari Addison.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Susan Lee Wu, and Susan will be followed by David Haynes.

Go ahead, Susan.

And you may need to press star six.

Okay, we'll move on to David Haynes and we'll come back to Susan.

David Haynes.

Hi, David Haynes.

Thank you.

The previous council that defunded the police have created a society implosion.

And they have just nominated government bureaucrats who have already implemented some of their racist, woke, bottom-of-the-barrel bad policies.

We need a fresh voice.

We need Tonya Wu or Steve Strand to contend with all the evil criminals that have made life a living hell in Seattle.

And it hasn't improved with the mayor who's been running interference for low-level drug pushers.

It's public safety and it's an advancement, a moving forward in this community.

And I dare say Tonya Wu is the people's choice.

And I hope that the city council makes a wise decision.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll try Susan Lee Wu.

Following Susan will be Bernard Kaye.

And Susan, if you're on the line, you may need to press star six.

Okay, doesn't look like she's on the line.

Let's move on to Bernard Kaye, and Bernard will be followed by Tiffany McCoy.

Hi, my name is Bernard Kaye.

I'm calling in support of Tanya Wu for the City Council position.

I've known Tanya since the Louisa hotel burned in December, 2013. I did help the family to clean up in the redevelopment of the Louisa hotel.

And she and I had many meetings at midnight in a, in Chinatown discussing the problems and solutions.

I have walked with Tanya on community outreach watches.

I've watched her attempt to save the life with CPR and Narcan.

I've also watched her talk with, uh, talk to the homeless people, attempting to redirect them to other resources.

And Tonya was also with me during the 2015 ride-the-duck accident.

She came with me to visit the injured students and be with me at the funeral of others.

She's been a close friend of mine for many years.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It looks like we did have Susan back.

Susan, are you there?

Please press star six.

okay Tiffany McCoy we'll move on to Tiffany McCoy followed by Chris Coa wait here's Susan Tiffany please wait Susan Lee go ahead please okay just a moment all right to the Seattle City Council members I was born and raised in Seattle Beacon Hill Chinatown I'm Susan Lee Wu the founder of Seattle Chinatown block watch established in 2018 Since 2009, I was involved in three other block watches in the CID.

In 2020 of June, I joined up with the CID community night watch.

This is how I met Tanya Wu.

There were two nightly shifts, 10 p.m.

to 12 a.m., and 12 a.m.

to 2 a.m., covering the entire CID.

For six months straight, we both worked tirelessly on the streets in the late hours, protecting our neighborhood we love so much.

This is our home.

We were protected at any cost.

Tanya Wu is here for our Chinatown community ID community on the street taking action to secure our safety and welfare.

We can trust and rely on Tanya Wu to do the work.

Seems like there is no one like her in the Chinatown ID.

On late night, I was walking home alone to my car.

She escorted me to ensure my safety until I drove off.

Thank you for your consideration and support of Tanya Wu for City Council Provision 8.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Tiffany McCoy.

Tiffany will be followed by our last remote speaker, Chris Koa.

Go ahead, Tiffany.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Tiffany McCoy.

I'm the policy and advocacy director at How's Our Neighbors.

One of the most important policy documents that you will work on this next year is the comprehensive plan.

This is our city's latest document that will help lay the ground for addressing our affordable housing crisis at scale and to meet or exceed our climate goals.

The Seattle Council needs to add a council member who will dive into the comp plan, bring policy experience, and be able to do all of that without focusing on a re-election campaign.

Please pick someone based on their policy chops, their policy experience, not based on their loyalty, and please don't re-litigate the past election.

Thank you.

Our last remote speaker will be Chris Kowa.

And Chris, you may need to press, go ahead.

Good afternoon, council.

MR. Can everybody hear me?

MS.

Yes.

MR. My name is Chris Towa.

I'm an attorney, small business owner, and also adjunct professor at Seattle Law School.

As of last August, I also became a home invasion robbery victim here in South Seattle.

I've had the honor and the privilege of collaborating directly with Tanya Wu in addressing and combating home invasion and hate crimes more generally.

I have seen firsthand Tanya's leadership, her genuine compassion and dedication to the community.

I urge you to please select Tanya Wood.

Thank you.

Now we'll move to in-person speakers.

Amelia, do we have more in-person speakers?

We do have in-person speakers and we are going to do the last three.

It's Elmer Dixon, followed by Alex Zerman and Mark Taylor Canfield.

Okay, Elmer Dixon?

He already spoke.

Excuse me?

He already spoke.

Oh, okay, thank you.

Alex Zimmerman?

Yes, I'm here.

Yeah, my name Alex Zimmerman, yeah.

And I wanna speak about District 8, yeah.

Zee hi, my lovely council.

My question right now, very simple.

Can 700,000 people who have same opinion and live like in concentration camp, choice people who make Seattle look better?

No, it cannot.

For 20 years, it's never happened.

It's never happened now.

Right now, statistics come yesterday.

Seattle, number one rich city in America.

We pay for food more than everybody.

If you did this with support of the 700,000 super smart idiot, you know what is mean, what is bring us to total collapse.

Can you change this?

No.

For another year, we pay more and more and more.

Stand up, America.

This is exactly what I call you, dirty, demon, Nazi, fascist.

Bye-bye, my friends.

Sir, you were doing great until the last bit, and I do have to remind you that those remarks are considered threats, personal attacks, and abusive language.

You've been told this the past several meetings, and you're intentionally disrupting and disturbing the orderly conduct of this meeting.

That will not continue.

Next time, you will be asked to not return to chambers.

Go on.

My name is Mark Taylor Canfield.

I serve as executive director for Democracy Watch News, which is an international nonprofit news agency.

But today I'm here to speak as a musician about a very historic and venerable institution called the Trading Musician.

For over a generation, Seattle musicians have been served extremely well by this fabulous music shop.

But we've just heard that is being sold and will soon close.

So to Eddie Vedder and Brandi Carlile and Dave Matthews, where are you?

We need you to buy this and keep it open.

You gotta save the trading musician.

You gotta save the trading musician.

You gotta save the trading musician.

No matter what your position.

I said you gotta save that musician.

Trading musician, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, he served us all over town.

He served us up and he served us down.

You gotta save the trading musician.

You gotta save the trading musician.

It doesn't matter what your position.

You gotta save that trading musician.

Thank you very much.

Putting a little plug in for the Music Commission.

Thank you very much.

We'll be dealing with those issues this year.

That concludes public comment.

Thank you.

Okay, that's the end of our public comment period.

I now proclaim the public comment period closed for today.

There were no items removed from the consent calendar, and there are no resolutions for introduction and adoption today.

So we move on.

First of all, I'd like to thank and welcome, again, the candidates for coming to chambers, and also, most of all, for stepping up to serve.

Thank you very much.

Now, in case the viewing public or anyone in the audience here is just tuning into what we're doing here, I want to provide a little bit of history and the timeline that got us here today.

So, anticipating the resignation of Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, staff in our legislative department began building a framework in December to prepare for filling the vacancy for position eight.

Much of this process is defined in the Seattle Municipal Code, and the charter requires that we fill the vacancy within 20 days.

So this process has been guided by what's in the law, our ability to be nimble, and the efforts of many within the department.

On December 26, a website was launched describing the process for the vacancy, qualifications for applications, and instructions on how to apply.

On January 2nd, Councilmember Mosqueda officially resigned and the 20-day clock started on January 3rd.

At our first City Council meeting on January 2nd, City Clerk Shireen Dedman provided an overview of the vacancy filling process and we adopted a calendar of required actions by unanimous vote.

On January 3rd, applications opened for interested candidates and, per Seattle Municipal Code, community groups were invited to also submit applications if they wanted to host the public meeting or provide input into the questions that were asked there.

On January 9th, the application period closed at 5 p.m.

and we had 72 eligible applicants.

Their redacted application materials were distributed to council members and posted online on Wednesday afternoon.

A special city council meeting was held on Friday, January 12th.

It began in an executive session during which council members discussed the qualifications they'd like to see in the appointee and the merits of some individual applicants.

When we reconvened an open session following public comment, we selected Seattle City Club to host the public forum and approved a process by which we'd narrow the candidate pool to a manageable number to participate in that forum, and we did both by unanimous vote.

Per that process, council members then each nominated one applicant for a total of eight to move forward as finalists.

On January 18th, City Club hosted and moderated the required public forum downstairs in the Bertha Knight Landis room.

And yesterday, January 22nd, we held a special city council meeting at which candidates gave three-minute presentations and council members had 10 minutes each to make remarks and ask questions of the candidates.

Members of the public have also had the opportunity to make public comment four times over the last 20 days, on January 2nd, 12th, 22nd, and today, January 23rd.

I thank everybody for their engagement and participation and interest in this process.

Let's not let the weaponization of a leaked third-party email distract us from what should be a celebration of making this body whole so we can go about the important work of the city.

I believe that that can serve as an effort to cast doubt on the integrity of this process and the outcome of our decision today.

It's also disrespectful of the hours and hours of work the legislative department staff put into running a clean process.

and it can be insulting to the 20 days of due diligence this council has put into vetting candidates in good faith.

So, as expected, there has been intense constituent group advocacy from the moment finalists were announced, and we've listened to all sides, and it's time to move on with any divisiveness going forward.

So, moving on, with that, I will move to adopt a voting procedure for the appointment of city council position eight to be as follows.

As chair, I will move to nominate all eight finalists as candidates to fill council position eight until a candidate in the November 2024 special election for position eight is elected and qualified.

After the motion is seconded, council members will be given an opportunity to make comments about the eight nominees, the factors or criterion they used in deciding whom to support, and any other information they wish to share before voting begins.

When it is time to vote on appointing one nominee to fill the vacancy, the clerk will call the roll.

Council members will respond by stating the name of the nominee they wish to appoint.

Council members may not change their vote until the next round of elections should there be one.

If one nominee receives five votes or more, that individual is appointed to fill position eight and will assume office immediately after accepting the position.

and taking the oath of office.

If one nominee does not receive five votes, then we will repeat the voting process until one nominee receives five or more votes.

And before each round, council members will be allowed the opportunity to make comments.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Thank you very much.

Are there any comments?

Nope.

Okay.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the voting procedure for the...

Excuse me.

I'm sorry.

Go ahead.

Okay.

I lost track of where you were in your discussion.

This is still procedural.

Yep.

Okay.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the voting procedures for the appointment of City Council Position 8?

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Council Member Kettle.

Aye.

Council Member Moore.

Aye.

Council Member Moore.

Aye, sorry.

And Council President Nelson.

Aye.

Eight in favour, none opposed.

All right, thank you.

The City Council will now vote, and we're not yet at the explaining why you're voting the way you are yet part.

The City Council will now vote to fill the vacant City Council position eight.

I will move to nominate all eight finalists, and then we will proceed to the individual votes.

Okay.

First, I will move to nominate all eight finalists as candidates to fill position eight until a candidate in the November 2024 special election for position eight is elected and qualified.

And I'm doing this, by the way, because we nominated finalists and I have to officially nominate them as the actual candidates to fill the position.

Okay, the nominees are as follows.

Juan Cotto, Neha Nariya, Mark Solomon, Vivian Song, Steve Strand, Mari Sugiyama, Lin Tai, and Tonya Wu.

Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded to nominate all eight finalists as candidates to fill council position eight until a candidate in the November 2024 special election for position eight is elected and qualified.

I will now open the floor to comments and then I'll close the discussion and we'll proceed to a vote.

And I'm not going to do this in any particular order.

Please just raise your hand or try to get my attention and you may speak.

Okay, I will go first.

Thank you.

All right.

First, I want to thank all eight nominees, and more broadly, all 72 who applied for the open position eight.

I encourage all to become civically engaged, if not already.

I believe most are.

And especially encourage participation in our neighborhood community councils.

I also want to thank also the community, individuals, and organizations for expressing support for the applicants and then for the eight nominees.

There's been many letters, of which I have some here with me.

Emails, I personally received well over 500. Admittedly, some sent more than one.

And then also through the candidate forum.

Good governance requires due diligence and also accountability and transparency, and to this point, I reviewed all 72 applicant packages to include their resumes and cover letters.

I created a group of 15, and of this group, all eight of the nominees were included.

I should also add that I've known one candidate, Lin Tai, for the better part of a decade, a second for the past few years, Steve Strand.

And then over the course of 2023, the campaign, the election, and the transition, I also got to meet and know Tanya Wu, Nia Naria, Vivian Song, and Mark Solomon.

I have not met prior to last week two candidates, Juan Cotto and Marie Sugiyama, until last week when I met all eight again in person.

I also like to take a point here, too, in terms of the process that I really appreciate the candidate forum.

I reviewed it, looked at it, and it was really very well done.

So thank you to the City Club.

All eight have impressive backgrounds and stories, and I feel confident that all could serve as Seattle City Council members.

The criteria for my decision for evaluating, first is leadership and good governance.

but importantly, work and professional experience, academic background, and probably most weighted, civic involvement.

Being a civic volunteer community leader is important, particularly gaining that experience working with all various elements of city government and thus gaining from that perspective.

I'm also mindful of the committee assignments that the position will hold, the Chair of Sustainability, City Light, Arts and Culture, the Vice Chair, with Councilmember Rivera, the library's education and neighborhoods, and also being a member of the Transportation, Land Use, and Housing and Human Services committees.

My decision process is basically what I just said.

And all above and solely that.

Last week, I quoted President Kennedy, and I feel like I should do it again, when he said, I have pledged myself to a continuous encouragement of initiative, responsibility, and energy in serving the public interest.

So my hope is that for the position eight and for all of us, that we do that encouragement of initiative, responsibility, and energy in serving the public interest.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you.

Are there any, let me see, I will look at my- I'll go.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Council President.

Colleagues, today we have a very important choice to make.

It's one that the voters of our city took two years ago when they voted to reelect Teresa Mosqueda with 150,000 votes.

With this vote, they voted for someone who has a deep knowledge of land use, of affordable housing, and who would know how to lead the city through a budget crisis.

But Teresa's not here.

So today we must choose to put the needs of our constituents above all else.

If we don't, and if this whole process was a foregone conclusion months in the making, we'll be doing everybody a disservice, including this body and the city, and everyone who relies on us to make informed, crucial decisions about the things that affect their daily lives.

Because of this, I am disappointed in how this process turned out.

This appointment process should have been set up to give all candidates a fair shake.

It should have been about identifying someone who can hit the ground running, someone who can deliver for the entire city, but instead it did become about big business telling donors that they earned the right to tell this council who to choose.

And that is deeply problematic and it is anti-democratic.

Seattle voters have been clear over and over again that they reject the notion that special interests have a right to buy our elections.

And it does all of us a disservice when we muddy the waters of what is supposed to be a clear and transparent process.

As I said at our first council meeting of the year, I will do my best to work with this council to give the people of Seattle the services they need and the services they deserve, and to help create a culture of collegiality.

I think we've all said that.

We all agree that that is important.

And I need to be clear that this council nominated two of my general election opponents to serve as finalists.

So regardless of what happens today, we must find a pathway forward.

I'm turning my attention to all who are watching at this point.

So this is a pivotal moment.

to ask who we are as a city, who we are as Seattleites.

This is just the beginning of this conversation about democracy, especially in this particular year when there is so much cynicism already being stoked at the national level.

I encourage folks to stay engaged, stay connected, and most of all to vote.

We have the lowest voter turnout in the city's history in November.

So to our constituents, to the residents of this city, to those who applied to this position and didn't get a fair shake, and to those who are watching on Seattle Channel or here in chambers, to those who won't concede to power, but rather make demands of power, let this council vote be the catalyst for your entry into public engagement and public action and public service.

We start now, we start today, and I'm ready to stand alongside all of you.

And I appreciate everybody who's here.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

I would like to go.

Go ahead, Council Member Hollinsworth.

Yes.

I didn't know if I was supposed to raise my hand.

Thank you, Council President.

First, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the eight exceptional candidates who have stepped forward to serve our city.

Your willingness...

to contribute to civic engagement is not only commendable, but it's vital for the health of our democracy.

Over the last three weeks, I've been filled with briefings, meetings with department directors, community members that have helped me gain invaluable insight into the attributes that make an effective city council member.

The experience has sharpened my understanding of the multifaceted nature of this role and the diverse needs of our city.

As we make this appointment, I am guided by a clear vision for our city.

The ones that the voters have also said and the ones that our constituents that we serve, public safety is a priority.

Addressing the challenges of homelessness, the future of our youth, our babies, economic growth.

enhancing the affordability of our city for all residents, and building Seattle to be our home.

These issues are not just political talking points.

They are the very fabric of our daily lives and affecting us in very different profound ways.

And I saw some of these qualities in each and every one of you.

From Neha, I saw your experience with the public-private partnerships for common good, for community good.

I saw that firsthand at the Civic Hotel.

Tanya, I saw your immense community support and your commitment to being an affordable housing provider and also a community leader.

Vivian, I saw your passion for our babies, our school, on our youth, also your background in budget and financing.

That was phenomenal.

Juan, your deep Seattle roots from talking to people and your passion for nonprofit work.

I saw that.

Mark, your commitment to keep our community safe and healthy every day from talking to community members about your support for our service from Rainier Beach all the way to the Central District.

Captain Strand, Steve, your service.

I think Councilmember Strauss talked about it, service over self and how you put public safety first to keep our community safe.

Mari, your family legacy, like mine, is rooted in Seattle for the greater good, from your father to your grandparents, that legacy that's rooted here in Seattle that still connects with our fabric today.

And Lynn, your commitment to good governance and your passion to serve.

huge every time we talked that coming out from you.

It is with these priorities in mind that I believe my vote for the council vacancy will be someone who prioritizes these values, but also works in the spirit of collaboration.

Historically, council has appointments have been someone perceived as placeholders.

However, I firmly believe that every day is a service and an opportunity to really make meaningful impact.

And I also wanna say that I believe that there's always power in community, and a lot of times I don't think we see that, and I think we saw that with this election, and we saw that with people just in general.

There's always power in community, so I just wanna throw that out there.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, Councilmember Strauss.

Thank you, Council President.

I'm gonna second to what my friend, Councilmember Hollingsworth, just said.

Also yesterday, I spent about 10 minutes speaking about half the candidates.

So I'm gonna take a little bit of time at the end to speak about the other half that I didn't get to get into with.

Reviewing each of your applications, it was an absolute honor to get to know you individually.

I watched the forum 2.5 times, once in person, once at home and half time in the office.

And I have to say that I'm incredibly impressed with each of you and you as a whole.

I was speaking with former council president and former finance chair Jan Drago last night.

Jan provided public testimony today as a first time, I think trying to get away with first time speaker, but long time listener.

I was speaking to former council president Jan Drago about the applicants, specifically about the fact that you as a cohort exemplify the best parts of our city, public service and civil service.

Her response to me when I was saying these things was profound, even though I think she thought that it was evident to everyone and just common knowledge.

And so I'd like to share with you what she said.

Former Council President Jan Drago said, people who apply for council appointments are interested in public service.

I, former Council President Jan Drago, applied for an appointment when Sue Donaldson left council.

I ran to retain that seat and lost that election.

And then ran again and won.

Everyone who is applying wants to be involved in public service.

This process of appointing a new council member allows us to see the face of our future.

And I share that with you today because only one person's going to be appointed.

And I see the face of our future here.

And I just really want to ground us there.

Because if not today, then when?

With that, that leaves me, us, with hard choices, because if I could, I would appoint all of you, each of you.

That would be a very large legislative body, though.

I don't think Council President would appreciate teasing in all good fun.

The vote I'm taking today is not against anyone.

It's simply for one person at a time.

And while I first noticed it with Captain Strand, it is clear that the connecting fabric between each of you is that you put service before self.

You put bettering our city before other priorities in your life, and that you are a person of action, and that each of you knows that it takes all of us to be the solution we want to see.

I've been humbled in my conversations with you and I feel lucky to get to know each of you more deeply.

Your action-oriented nature and commitment to service in our city, I know I'll get to work with each of you moving forward in different capacities.

Yesterday, during my 10 minutes, I spent the majority of my time recounting the conversations I've had with each of you and essentially ran out of time before speaking about the qualifications of Mark Solomon, Neha Naraya, Juan Cotto, and Vivian Song.

Yes, I spent almost 10 minutes talking about Tanya, Lynn, Mari, Captain Strand, and the cohort as a whole.

And so I will be more brief than yesterday, Council President, but I'd like to share my reflections of Mark, Neha, Juan, and Vivian.

Mark, when asked why did you answer the call, you said, because Seattle is my home.

At the forum, you said our house is in a little need of some home repair.

You live in your generational home.

And you advocate for resources to keep people in their homes, whether it's home repairs, funding assistance, insulation, what have you.

And it took me a minute to put all of these references together, and it speaks to how you connect the things that might seem disconnected.

and that this place is so important to you.

And just like how you get things done for our city with your interagency task forces, when one issue touches multiple jurisdictions and departments, you bring everyone together to solve the problem and deliver results.

Thank you.

Neha, born and raised and now raising your kids here, you are building our future.

We've talked many times about how you created Civic Hotel to be the living room, the coming together place of a neighborhood that was redesigned, essentially.

And in the moment of the pandemic, you had to face some really tough decisions and challenge your assumptions and pivot.

And you chose to pivot for our city.

And the way that you have done your public-private partnership in serving all Seattleites is incredible and it's inspirational.

I cannot thank you enough.

You are a person of action, not words.

And that ability to self-reflect is a trait that cannot be taught.

We are lucky to have you.

Juan, you possess such an incredible amount of institutional knowledge from your work at the county building stadiums and bringing people together.

I especially appreciate your dedication to forging and retaining strong relationships, focusing on the fact that we all want the same thing.

And I'm even more impressed that you're still able to be friends with former campaign opponents.

I will also take this moment to turn that 30-second, which became a 60-second, into a 90-second commercial for Bloodworks Northwest because, look, everyone in this room is civically oriented.

And one way to give back civically is by donating blood.

And Vivian...

You are an elected wide volunteer for Seattle Public Schools.

The Seattle Public School budget is about $1.2 billion, which is similar to our approximately $1.6 billion budget.

You've navigated budget deficits, worked with constituents citywide, served our public schools and guided difficult, especially budget decisions around rooting that decision making in serving our students around pillars of agreed upon goals.

I cannot thank you enough for your service to our city.

Council President, those are the remarks that I have for right now.

Ms.

Thank you very much.

We will all ask for any other hands.

Just a reminder that we will vote for we will vote.

We'll take as many rounds as we need to.

But once we do get to the round that where we have a majority, then we're just going to move on to the other items on this agenda.

Go ahead.

Ms. Thank you, Council President.

Good afternoon, colleagues and members of the public who've joined us in person and also online.

There were a lot of great candidates with a varied skill set for this position.

I want to thank you all again for your willingness to serve.

I know how hard it is to put yourself out there, having done it myself.

And so I am immensely grateful for you saying, yes, I'll do it.

Who will do it?

I will do it.

Thank you also to the community members who either came in person to provide public comment or sent emails in support of your preferred candidate.

Regardless of outcome, I hope you'll continue to engage in your capacity as community leaders.

We are nine individuals here, and it takes us, all of you candidates before us, and everyone in the public to really make this city the best city it can be.

We can't do it alone.

So regardless of outcome, I hope that you will continue to serve.

My door will personally be always open for conversations and idea sharing, and I hope you really do take me up on that offer because we can only pick one person today.

But that doesn't mean that we can't continue to work together moving forward.

And I will say that, in general, voters spoke loudly.

They want a change at City Hall.

They want to see collaboration, accountability, and a pragmatic approach to solving the city's toughest problems.

And as I said earlier, that can only be done with all of us working together.

So I applaud you.

I applaud that you entered, put your applications in.

And thank you very much for your willingness to serve.

Council President, thank you.

Thank you very much.

Council Member Saca.

Thank you, Madam Council President.

The person who was appointed in this position has a monumental job of getting up to speed very quickly and then turning around to help address our very serious budget shortfall.

And if a decision is made by this person to run in November, to do all that at the same time.

What we do at the dais is only a sliver at the core of this job, this is not a nine to five, and we all work hard every day, and I've seen it every last one, I'm looking down the dais here, I've seen every last one, how you show up for your, you work hard to show up for your respective communities, and I see it, and I appreciate it, and that is what I try to do, and that is my full expectation of whoever ends up as our colleague.

With this most recent election and another election looming in November by the city charter and statute that we learned, city ordinances, we are required to select someone to serve until November.

This is democracy as imperfect as it may seem at times.

And yes, it is imperfect.

But voters will have an immediate opportunity come November to approve and reject what goes on here today.

My message to you eight finalists, Juan Cotto, Neha Nuria, Mark Solomon, Vivian Song, Captain Steven Strand, Mari Sugiyama, Lin Tai, Tanya Wu, is, look, you each showed a selfless desire to serve and expose yourself.

in these few short weeks exposed yourself to the public to scrutiny, personal attacks, and critiques on your policy positions.

And each of you handled it with grace and the highest standards of professionalism and excellence that we should all come to expect from whoever sits at this dais.

So I applaud you, I appreciate you, and I thank you.

I cannot speak for my fellow council members, although I do echo the sentiment shared by, frankly, everyone in certain regards, but I learned personally a great deal from each and every one of you over these few short weeks.

It deepened my own understanding of the qualities in leaders through your voice and from the many who wrote in support of your candidacies and who showed up here to testify.

And speaking of many passionate voices for and against various candidates, all voices were heard.

All messages were read.

We received hundreds of emails.

My office received hundreds of emails.

We reviewed all of them.

Listen to all the public comments.

Watch the tape.

Watch the film of the candidate forum that you guys had last week by the Seattle City Club.

Talk to you all.

We also need to move beyond over-politicizing the process.

Yes, it is an imperfect one, one that we are required by law to implement.

Fact is, we live in hyper-political times, but it is simply a tough choice amongst many qualified candidates, not just qualified candidates, exceptional candidates, every last one of you.

But this is a decision that we are elected to make.

Candidates run hard-fought campaigns with so many sacrifices, and those of us who have been elected sitting at the dais here know it because we did it.

Running a campaign and becoming a public official are two very different roles, as I've learned over the last few weeks.

As a citywide council member, this person is entrusted with representing the entire city, not just one particular district or one neighborhood.

In that regard, it is my desire that the person chosen will work collaboratively with all of us and they will work hard to reach out to those closest in need and furthest from the decision makers.

Listen, learn, and deliberate to make the best decisions after hearing from all interests and stakeholders.

Finally, I'll say this is the highest form of endorsement that I could ever hope to give to anyone, my vote here today.

In full transparency, no one's banging down my door seeking endorsements.

I'm just a dad from Delridge.

I'm just the guy who like trying to be the king of potholes, one of the king of potholes in the city.

No one's beating down my door for endorsements.

That said, this is my vote here today is the highest form of endorsement that I could ever make.

I am choosing, helping to choose someone that I want to be my direct colleague, not in a distant far off office in another branch of government, another government, form of government, but to sit right next to me on the second floor of City Hall, it's the highest form of endorsement that I could ever potentially make.

And so all that is to say, this is a very, very tough decision.

And where I'm at today is I'm making the best decision based on all the available information that I had.

And that's where it sits today.

But I don't want that to take away from the fact that you all represented yourselves very well.

You've distinguished yourselves and set a new standard for what I think, I hope, more candidates for offices, not just in Seattle, but...

set a new standard of excellence.

And I can't emphasize enough how grateful for I am for each and every one of you.

Thank you.

Well, thank you all very much.

I want to keep my remarks short and sweet, but I also want to echo all the comments that have been made by my fellow council members in terms of your amazing qualifications.

You have all been true public servants in your various ways to your community and our city.

And I am greatly appreciative of those efforts and the fact that you've dedicated your lives to serving a higher purpose and mission.

Not everybody makes that choice, and I think it's an undervalued choice.

And so, truly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for having done public service.

And I know because of who you are, that you will continue to do such wonderful public service.

And it has been noted this is a very difficult choice to make.

You are all very highly qualified, professional, empathetic, passionate, want to do the right thing.

Your hearts are in the right place.

And I know no matter what any of us say up here, the media of various places will spin it as one way or another, but I want to assure you both as a former officer of the court, as a judge, that my vote has not been bought by anybody.

I have kept an open mind about this process from the beginning, and I have conducted a fair inquiry into all of your applications and into, in fact, all of the applications that we received.

And I went back and reviewed the community forum.

I reviewed the questions that we all asked you yesterday.

And thank you for enduring my grueling Lightning round.

If you do choose to run, welcome to the least favorite part of running.

It's having to answer complex and nuanced questions with a yes or no.

So I appreciate you willing to participate in good faith in that.

But truly...

This has been a difficult process because it has been expedited and there are many people who have felt frustrated because it is an expedited process.

And so I think because of that it's easy to perhaps draw conclusions that are not based in fact.

And unfortunately, we have had actors on both sides who have not served this process well, who have not served you, have not served us, and have not served this institution.

And we are here to do the work of the people, all of the people.

So, that's all I'll say about that, but again, thank you for putting yourselves forward.

As I stated, what I've looked for most importantly are a willingness, both experience and actually addressing the issues that I believe the voters put us here to address, which are public safety, homelessness, providing affordable, truly affordable housing for both those who are in desperate need of service as well as workforce housing.

And also we have a climate crisis that we have to get busy on.

And so I'm looking for somebody that has demonstrated a track record across that spectrum of very difficult issues.

And also for a voice from community that has not been historically represented or well represented on this body.

And I recognize that as we do not represent everyone as we are currently composed, and it is important that we do the best that we can to expand and continue to expand all of the multitude of voices that are in our community and that deserve to be heard.

So thank you.

Thank you.

So I guess we're doing it cliffhanger style here today.

Thank you very much for all of your comments.

I do want to add to what Council Member Moore said.

When you said expedited, yeah, it's naturally expedited.

It's a 20-day process.

And I do want to recognize the fact that this is a pretty tall order for a brand-new council to take on because they haven't built a voting record.

You don't really know.

where they stand on issues.

And no matter what, people are going to be upset at them for not choosing the candidate that they prefer.

And so this is a, you know, it's a difficult position that folks are in, especially our new council members.

And I will say that Because I've been pretty vocal about my, everybody knows my stances on public safety, supporting small business, and our general approach to the budget, so I don't feel like I need to explain what will be guiding me in this process, what issues are guiding me in this process.

But I do want to make a point to say that This is an appointment, not an election.

And in November, people, the community, voters will have the opportunity to weigh in on the permanent position, permanent for a year, until 2025. What we need right now is somebody who knows the issues, is well-versed on the topics and the realms of policy that we have to work on right now, starting today.

tomorrow.

So that is mostly what I'm concerned about, is that we can get going and move forward.

Okay, with that, I will ask if there are any further questions, and if not, we'll proceed with the vote.

Our first.

So.

Can we please have the oh, I'm supposed to say this as a reminder of the voting on the voting process, the clerk will call the roll and council members will respond by stating a nominee's name.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the vote to appoint a nominee to fill council position eight until a candidate in the November 2024 special election for position eight is elected and qualified.

Council member Morales.

Point of clarification.

Yeah.

Did you say we also make our comments about the candidate comments if you would like to?

Yep.

And then but if we don't come to five, if nobody is if we have to go to another round, then we make other comments.

Thank you very much.

I am proud to vote for Mari Sugiyama.

Councilmember Rivera.

Tanya Wu.

Councilmember Saka.

Proud to vote for Tanya Wu.

CHRISTIE WOOD.

COUNCILMEMBER STRAUSS.

VIVIAN SONG.

COUNCILMEMBER HALLINGSWORTH.

LIN THAI.

COUNCILMEMBER KETTLE.

TONYA WU.

COUNCILMEMBER MOORE.

PROUD TO VOTE FOR TONYA WU.

COUNCIL PRESIDENT NELSON.

That's five for Tanya Wu, one for Mari Sugiyama, and one for Vivian Song.

Oh, and one for Lin Tai, excuse me.

But we do have five.

Okay.

For Tanya Wu.

Thank you very much.

Tanya Wu has been elected and appointed to fill Council Position 8 until a candidate in the November 2024 special election for Position 8 is elected and qualified.

All right.

I would like to invite...

Tonya Wu to the podium.

Hold on.

The city council has elected you to council position eight until a candidate in the November 2024 special election for position eight is elected and qualified.

Do you accept the position?

I accept the position, thank you.

Thank you very much.

All right, congratulations.

Ms. Wu, on being appointed to the position eight, I will now ask the city clerk, Shireen Dedman, to administer your oath of office.

And after the oath of office is administered, you are welcome to provide comments.

Please join us at the dais.

Oh, she's remarking.

Sorry.

I thought she was sitting down.

I'm going to ask you to repeat after me.

Let's make sure everything is working here.

Testing, testing.

Test, test.

All right.

Will you please raise your right hand?

Thank you.

And just repeat after me.

I. Go ahead.

I, Tanya Wu.

Swear or affirm.

Swear or affirm.

That I possess all of the qualifications.

That I possess all of the qualifications.

Prescribed in the Seattle city charter.

Prescribed in the Seattle city charter.

And the Seattle municipal code.

And the Seattle municipal code.

For the position of city council member.

For the position of city council member.

That I will support the constitution of the United States.

That I will support the constitution of the United States.

The constitution of the state of Washington.

The constitution of the state of Washington.

And the charter and ordinances of the city of Seattle.

And the charter and ordinances of the city of Seattle.

And that I will faithfully conduct myself.

And I will faithfully conduct myself.

As a city council member.

As a city council member.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

I did not prepare a speech, but I am so grateful and honored and very humbled, and I pledge to serve everyone in the city.

I especially want to thank all of those amazing people who I've been friends with before we were chosen to be in the top eight.

And many of the 72 people who have applied, many friends and people I've worked with and known who really care about the community and so honored to represent you.

Lin Tai, we've been working on public safety issues these last couple of years.

Juan Caro, I met you a year ago, more than a year ago, and admire your passion, your dedication to your community.

Neha, I remember meeting you a year ago, as well, and just loving how much we have in common with rebuilding the family business and dedication to serving our unhoused residents.

Amari, you've been a great friend of the family.

I admire all the work you do with young people in basketball, as well as with the Japanese community court.

And Captain Strand, I...

see you all the time in the Chinatown International District, admire the work that you do and the care that you bring to the community.

And Mark Solomon, you were there for this past year and a half, always willing to help and give advice and seeing you at all the meetings, almost every single meeting.

I thought I saw you like at least once a week this last year and a half, you're so involved.

And Vivian, We were friends a year and a half ago.

You've been so amazing.

You helped give me advice with my campaign this past year.

Amazing human being.

We have so many common friends who absolutely adore you and so excited that we are friends.

And I'm excited to serve amongst you and with you the next couple of years.

And we'll want to focus on serving you, the unions of the backbone of our city.

I want to build more collaboration, and especially on the council, a sense of unity, collaboration, and communication.

And my door is open.

Please come and visit and let me know how I can help.

Thank you.

Yep, now you have to change.

Job starts now.

Right this second.

You can shake people's hands.

Thank you very much.

You don't need to log in or anything because it's all right.

You're fine.

All right.

So we're going to end this meeting here pretty soon.

Just got to go through a couple other steps.

Speaking of, is there any other business before the council today?

Council President.

Yes.

I would ask to be excused February 5th and 6th.

Okay.

With the no objection, Council Member Morales will be excused February 5th and 6th.

Seeing no objection, that's great.

Enjoy.

All right.

Seeing no business, I will now adjourn the City Council meeting.

It is 3.44.

City Council meeting of January 23rd is now adjourned.

Thank you very much, everyone.

And congratulations.