Seattle City Council Special Meeting - Vacancy of Council Position 4

Good afternoon, everybody.

Thank you for being here at City Hall.

The April 17, 2019 special meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It's 5.37 p.m.

I'm Bruce Harrell, President of the Council.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Mosqueda?

Here.

O'Brien?

Here.

Sawant?

Here.

Bagshaw?

Here.

Gonzalez?

Here.

Herbold?

Here.

Juarez?

Here.

President Harrell?

Here.

Ape, present.

Thank you very much.

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

agenda was properly noted and posted and emailed to everyone that cared about it.

So if there's no objection, today's agenda will be adopted.

A few introductory remarks.

First of all, thank all of you for being here, and thank those for listening on Seattle Channel.

As the public is aware, and certainly the applicants are aware, the City Council has a vacancy due to the Councilmember Rob Johnson's resignation, which was effective April 5th.

and the City Charter gives the City Council 20 days to fill a vacant position, such as the one we have now.

The City Clerk received 15 applications by the deadline of April 5th at 5 o'clock p.m., and of those 15, two did not meet the eligibility requirements as determined by the Clerk and the Human Resources Department, and the two additional applicants, two additional applicants have withdrew, have withdrawn, and so we stand at 11 qualified applicants, and thank you very much for being here.

The City Clerk's Office has verified all applicant's eligibility requirements for serving as an appointed elected official.

The application materials can be found online at the City Clerk's website.

Hard copies are also available at the reception areas on the second and third floors here at City Hall.

As many of you know, the Council passed Ordinance 125479 in November of 2017 that established new procedures for filling Council vacancies.

And one of those requirements was a public forum for the community to engage with applicants and ask questions.

And on Monday, April 15th, a public forum was held and the Council had reached out to approximately 35 to 40 organizations.

to develop the forum and 15 community organizations submitted 68 questions and approximately 14 community organizations participated at the Monday's forum.

Overall, we heard some very good feedback on social media saying the forum was productive and I wanted to publicly commend the moderator, Brian Callahan.

Yeah, Callahan.

Sorry about that, Brian.

Callahan, everyone spells his name Callahan, who did a great job.

Sorry about that, Brian.

I know he is watching right now to see what I said about him.

And if you'd like to watch that forum, it still can be viewed on Seattle Channel's website.

And I must commend the applicants again for doing an outstanding job.

An applicant must participate in that public forum and appear before the council at this April 17, 2019 meeting to be eligible for the appointment in that center or code.

So today we're meeting to hear three, a three-minute presentation, up to three minutes, you don't have to use the full three minutes, from the candidates and followed by council questions.

And at the conclusion of the presentation and council questions, we'll hear public comment from the members who would like to give public comment.

There's a sign-up sheet, and if there will put it back out there if we need to to make sure that we hear from you as well On Monday April 22 22nd the City Council will convene in regular session at 2 o'clock p.m.

And council chambers to deliberate and to vote to fill the vacancy and I Again, finally, before we begin the applicant's presentations, I would just like to, again, thank all of you who applied.

We know that community service and serving this city and this region is important to you, and so we thank you for going through this process.

We believe this is a great opportunity to add some bench strengths, and so we look forward to that, to the person that will be eventually selected.

If any of you are nervous, rest assured I am too, because we don't do this a lot.

So we'll try to have fun with it, and we look forward to hearing from you.

So we're going to begin with presentations from the applicants.

And right when I do that, we're going to call them out in alphabetical order.

But I did want to share with the public just some of the desired qualifications that we stated publicly.

An individual qualified to chair the planning land use and zoning committee and a quote-unquote caretaker who agrees not to seek election to the council this year.

And that was a thoughtful policy directive that the council wanted to make sure it's in place.

There are legal prohibitions on what we can and can't ask for, but we certainly can make our expectations very clear in this regard.

An individual who has an understanding of Seattle City Council government operations, budgeting, and legislative processes, demonstrates a knowledge of the public policy issues associated with potential committee assignments, and demonstrates a commitment to social justice and the ability to communicate and collaborate effectively across cultures and with diverse populations.

So that's sort of a general description of what we expect.

And with that, I'm going to relinquish the microphone.

I'll call you up one at a time.

And what I'd ask, after the person speaks, to take your seat there back in the audience section.

Then after all 11 are finished, we'll all bring you to the table.

And I'll sort of give the logistics at that point.

So please, three minutes.

Senator Mike, take your seat.

And I'll just start calling out the speakers.

The names one by one.

Any questions or colleagues or any comments, opening comments from any of my colleagues, or should we just dive in?

I want to make sure I gave everyone an opportunity.

Okay.

So, Brooke Broad, you are first, and you will be followed by Darby Ducombe.

All right, thank you, Council, for the opportunity.

I thought a lot about what to stay tonight and what it takes to be effective in this office, the combination of knowledge, skills, and most importantly, the values that have motivated me to submit my application.

When it comes to policy, I have a long history of advocacy on the key issues that I will face in this appointment.

I bring a depth of knowledge on MHA, MFTE, ADUs, the design review process, bike infrastructure, public transportation, education, and more.

I have a track record of digging into the details and data to bring concrete proposals to council.

I've been through many legislative cycles and know what it takes to turn great policy idea into law.

You have to be ready to collaborate with your colleagues, engage with the community, talk with agency staff, and listen to public.

You have to be flexible and ready to adapt to unforeseen circumstances, and you have to understand that passing a law is only the first step, and that successful implementation requires resources, oversight, and accountability.

And I am prepared to bring those skills to the table.

Having been part of the process of passing local hospital levies, securing $500 million from Olympia to support struggling students, and other budget wins, I also understand how complex the budgeting process is.

I would look to make sure that we are investing in the programs that work, ensuring that money that's intended for things like bike lanes actually goes to bike lanes, and with new revenue coming in from MHA and hopefully from Olympia this year, we will also have a tremendous opportunity to increase our investments in affordable housing, anti-displacement programs like the Equitable Development Initiative, and homelessness diversion programs like rental assistance.

I also recognize the responsibility this person has to constituents.

My years of community engagement experience has prepared me to be a voice for all residents of Day 4, homeowners and renters, and those without homes, seniors and students, small business owners and workers, cyclists, and yes, even drivers.

Finally, I want to share with you the values that led me to seek this appointment.

In my faith tradition, we talk about the idea of tikkun olam, repairing the world.

And we are taught that while it may not be your responsibility to finish the work, you're not free to desist from it either.

And so when I spend time with people experiencing homelessness, and when I hear the stories of my friends who are struggling to pay rent or get by, or when I see the precarious state of our planet, or see how systemic racism is preventing people from realizing their full potential, I feel really called to step up and do my part to secure a better and more just world.

So I want to thank you for this opportunity.

I want to thank all the other applicants for their willingness to step up and to thank everybody in this room who's doing their part to repair the world.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Darby Ducombe.

Hello, my name is Darby Duke-Holman.

I want to thank everybody who made this meeting tonight a success that's going to be, I know.

I've lived in District 4 for 25 years, five years in Eastlake and 20 years in Wedgwood.

I'm a mom.

I've got a dog.

I'm passionate about governance, social equity, and bringing our district and city forward.

I have worked for the city of Seattle for over 17 years and I loved my time in city government.

This work included 10 years in land use and 11 years navigating the city budget process.

I support MHA, affordable housing, transit, excuse me, and maintaining balance in our neighborhoods as the city grows.

I also remain steadfast to my commitment to race and social justice.

I'm a formal public defender.

I was an environmental citizen suit activist.

I taught institutional racism to a number of different audiences.

I participated on the state task force for race in the criminal justice system.

And in 2012, won the race and social justice excellence and management award from my city peers.

And later, your support for the city attorney's pre-filing diversion program.

Monday night, I heard a number of themes coming out of the community meeting about what folks are looking for.

In District 4, residents, businesses, and others are looking for someone who can provide open, transparent, responsive, and meaningful representation on the short-term and the long-term issues facing our district and our city.

They're looking for someone to collaborate with community and the district candidates on the budget priorities.

They're looking to fix Sound Transit's flawed street improvement plan for Brooklyn Avenue Northeast to provide a bus rail connection that is easy and safe and move forward on key land use committee items, all while protecting our most vulnerable residents and businesses in the University District.

I am committed to these activities and all other City Council assignments.

I'm here to work with you collaboratively and support you as much as I can.

I'm here to learn from you, build on our relationships, and get things done.

We have worked on a lot of important things together.

MHA affordable housing up zones, settling the DOJ case for the Seattle Police Department, completing the SR 99 contracts with WSDOT, passing Clean Up Your Act, and funding children's literacy.

I attribute our success to working together as a team and because we don't shy away from hearty debate.

I'm going to bring the work ethic and the collaboration skills needed during this transition period to support you, the district, and the city as a whole.

I also, equally important, have the city hall budget and land use experience needed for this temporary position.

I promise to hit the ground running and keep running until November 26 and beyond.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Catherine Gardeau.

Hi, thanks so much to everybody who's here and also thank you to the council members for being here tonight.

My name is Catherine Gardo.

I have lived in the district for more than 30 years.

I shop and recreate in the district.

I come to my Pioneer Square where I work and then I obviously visit plenty of the other parts of the city too, but District 4 is my home.

I am a registered professional civil engineer.

And I have a master's degree from the University of Washington.

And I think what sets me apart is that I'm a very curious person.

I love to ask questions.

I love to figure things out.

And I love to find final solutions.

I like to consider myself a problem solver.

I'm a data-driven decision maker.

So I'm a deliberate decision maker, not just a decision maker that just makes decisions on the fly.

I have more than 30 years of land use experience, zoning and engineering experience in various cities and counties, several counties in the Puget Sound region.

One of my previous positions was working for a law firm here in downtown Seattle.

I worked there for five years earlier in my career and I was involved in very significant land use policy decisions on projects that we worked on, land use projects in East King County and the city of Snoqualmie.

I recently worked on a development project in South Seattle to support various housing affordability concerns and levels and to create an East African Women's Cooperative.

And just because of the financing of it, it didn't come together, but I learned a lot through that process and also perhaps how to make some improvements to that to help those types of projects go forward.

In my neighborhood, I serve on the Burke-Gilman Public Development Authority Board.

I've served on the PCC Community Markets Board and ran PCC Farmland Trust and been part of the Washington State Public Works Board, all involved in budgets.

I've been schooled by the People's Institute on undoing institutionalized racism.

I've lobbied in D.C.

to maintain the federal estate tax and support the current work being done in the legislature on capital gains tax.

So I have many of the progressive values that are important in this city.

And I think what's most important, I live in a mixed-race family.

I have two children, both adopted from South Korea.

They're amazing young people.

And let me tell you, when you have kids, they keep you honest, and especially around issues thinking about race and all that stuff.

They are on me on that.

So I hope that you'll make the best choice for being on the council.

I'm looking forward to working with all you, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the evening.

Thanks so much.

Thank you.

David Goldberg.

Good evening.

Thank you for this opportunity, and thanks for your hard work on behalf of Seattle.

I grew up in Macon, Georgia, a poor kid attending majority black schools.

My brother and I were supported by our single mom.

I vividly remember one awful day when I was called to the front of the class to collect my free lunch ticket.

As I approached the desk, the rubber band that kept my shoe together broke.

I tripped and the whole class burst into laughter.

I did my best to turn that humiliation into motivation to do well enough to get out of that town.

Senior year, I scraped together $50 to apply early decision to Dartmouth College, a place I'd heard about from a friend's father.

To my shock, I got in, and I got out of town.

But this is not a self-made man story.

Though I worked hard, I know that I started with an advantage that some of my friends did not have.

I had the privilege that comes with being a white male, and I had a lot of help.

I survived and was able to pay for school because my fellow Americans invested in me.

Through multiple government programs, food stamps, free and reduced lunch, my deceased father's veterans' benefits kept us from being homeless.

federal college grants, subsidized loans, and more.

I'm attracted to this opportunity because I believe good government policies can help ensure that people survive and have the chance to thrive.

They can make cities more livable, just, and equitable as they grow.

As a national advocate in the early 2000s, I coined the term complete streets, and I advocated for it as a measure of justice for people who've been forced to live around busy, dangerous roads.

I was driven by, and I helped to get national attention for, stories like Raquel Nelson's.

Raquel was a single African American mom who one day was returning home by bus with her kids from a shopping trip.

The bus put them off at a stop across five busy lanes from their apartment.

When some adults raced across the road during a break in traffic, her four-year-old followed.

A driver hit and killed him.

Raquel was later convicted of manslaughter for failing to prevent the tragedy.

Only national outrage got the conviction overturned, but the guilty parties who created that lethal situation were never brought to justice.

I believe Vision Zero is part of delivering that justice, and I'm proud Seattle has signed on.

I share these stories because I think my motivations are at least as important as my qualifications.

I do have the technical qualifications, the expertise and long, long experience in planning, land use, and transportation to make myself useful on Rob Johnson's former committees.

I've served on two planning commissions and a zoning board, a zoning review board.

In an earlier life as a journalist covering urban issues, I learned to read a budget, a city budget, and track local politics.

As an editorial writer, I had to be a quick study and go deep on city government issues.

As a national advocate for equitable growth in transportation, I advise cities on innovative policies.

These days, I focus on local transportation, having served on the Pedestrian Advisory Board and now as board chair for Seattle Neighborhood Greenways.

My strongest skills are people skills and the capacity to work collaboratively.

As the state's first ombudsman for a transportation megaproject, I use those strengths as I work with people of disparate views to find a way forward together.

On the planning commission, I put many hours into helping to write Neighborhoods for All.

I hope it helps start a discussion about how to give more people more housing options in more of the city while keeping the characteristics of these neighborhoods that we enjoy.

Seattle can get better as we grow.

It would be a great honor to serve, and I promise to represent everyone as fairly as I possibly can in District 4. Thank you.

Thank you.

Jordan Goldwarg.

Hi.

My name is Jordan Goldwarg, and I would like to begin by thanking all of you for your service to the city, especially during this time when our civic discourse is turning angry and raw, and also for your commitment to a transparent process for filling this seat.

You have all had a chance to review my application materials and learn about my background and qualifications, so I'd like to use my time today to outline some of the priorities that I would have if I were to join you as a colleague for the next seven months.

As we look ahead to this short appointment that will culminate with budget season, we must see our budget as the moral document that it is.

And it's important to ask, what kind of city do we want to be in the years ahead?

During this time of widening inequality, do we want to be a city that privileges some residents?

Or do we want to be a city that works for all residents?

I believe there is only one moral answer to this question.

While I strongly support transit, education, climate justice, and a variety of other issues, I want to focus here on the issue that is truly creating a moral crisis for our city, housing affordability and homelessness.

In addressing affordability, I look forward to helping push the ADU-DADU legislation across the finish line.

working to adopt anti-displacement legislation that centers racial equity, and also exploring options to fund methods of increasing affordable housing, like community land trusts.

For the related crisis of homelessness, we are now at a point where we have reliable data about what is working in our response, and we know that we need additional investment in things like program coordination, enhanced shelters, permanent supportive housing, and engaging people experiencing homelessness in helping to find additional solutions.

Given the intersections between homelessness, addiction, and mental health, it's also critical that we expand the hugely successful LEAD program and work to open a safe injection site despite the many obstacles that that will entail.

As an immigrant and as a gay man, I have seen firsthand how communities suffer when we don't stand up for each other, and I have learned how various struggles for justice are all interconnected.

I see it as a moral imperative to work as an ally and co-conspirator to support all vulnerable communities.

In my work, I have aimed to amplify the power and center the voices of youth, immigrants, American Muslims, Palestinians, and other communities.

I would bring the same approach to council and work to support those in our city struggling to secure the basic right of housing.

I have seen how powerful we can be when we come together to listen, learn, and act in our common interests.

I am proud of the work that City Council has done to make our city a model for progressive legislation, and I would be honored to join you in continuing that work.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Sheree Lascelles.

I apologize if I didn't pronounce it correctly.

Sheree Lascelles, but that works too.

In true millennial fashion, I'll be reading off my phone.

Also, I ran out of printer ink.

So this is absolutely daunting and terrifying to be here.

So I want to talk about why I'm here.

Why I'm here is because the members of my community asked me to be.

People that want to be at the table, that don't feel like they have the right to be there, that their voices have not been heard before and that they might not be heard going forward are the reason that I have come up here.

Because of SAW, strippers are workers and the dozens of erotic service providers that were brave enough to organize and advocate for themselves under threat of losing their income and facing potential ramifications for being open about their experience and further stigmatized from it.

HB 1756 just passed the Senate.

I'm very proud of them and I'm proud of the work I did with them.

And it will soon be law and proof that highlighting the voices of stakeholders while crafting legislation to govern them is vital.

How am I here?

Very important.

There's only one answer.

Perseverance.

The inaccessibility of this process and all public policy processes needs to be addressed.

While I appreciate the focus on efficiency, the 20-day deadline to fill the vacancy is really daunting and does not allow for the majority of the community to participate in a meaningful way and further limits the most vulnerable stakeholders from applying for the position.

I work multiple jobs to support myself and my advocacy work.

Participating in this process and pursuing this appointment has put my current employment at risk.

I am determined to complete this process as best I can with the limited resources I have, as it is my moral imperative to persevere on behalf of the members of my communities that could not participate for themselves and who have encouraged me and believe in me and believe that I am the individual that will best represent their interests.

There seems to be a consensus among elected officials in this room, as well as the applicants for this appointment, that equity and justice for social minorities is paramount in securing a better future for District 4 and the city of Seattle as a whole.

As a queer, non-binary person of color and almost nine-year renter in District 4, as well as someone who relies on transit because I don't drive, and it's not really accessible for me anyway, I have also experienced homelessness in this state, housing and employment insecurity, fought to overcome the trials and stigma of mental illness, and I have been affected by the struggles and stigma of drug use throughout my community via my friends and family and my friends in People's Harm Reduction Alliance who struggle every single day to fight for those people.

So I feel like I am uniquely qualified as a peer and advocate to facilitate communication between the City Council and the community affected most by these pressing issues in our city and concentrated in District 4. I am a stakeholder.

Referencing your commitment to inclusivity will only garner a finite amount of faith and trust in this governing body.

Act upon it.

Create space and a literal seat at the table for someone who represents the community you have pledged to advocate for.

I will strive to make community involvement accessible, especially in regard to land use planning.

Fight to fund solutions for those experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness.

Focus on solutions that recognize the intersectional nature of mental illness, drug use, homelessness, race and gender equity, and population density in District 4. I have a track record of using my skills, resources, and positions of power, limited power, to directly benefit my community.

I've held space in my home for individuals who seek shelter, detox, and want to just vent their issues, and I would do the same in a position on this council.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jay Lasiewicz.

Lasiewicz.

My name is Jay Lasiewicz.

Though I've not been politically involved, I have tried to make a difference over the last four decades of my life as an adult.

I've been guided by my mother's civic commitments.

First hers as a civil rights activist, her running campaigns for Richard Hatcher, first African American mayor of Gary, Indiana.

I saw up close race issues during that period that have forever guided me in my understanding for race and social justice.

I'm a visual artist and an architect with a strong focus on sustainable building practices.

I have a deep underlying concern for ecological stewardship.

I've been a 35-year resident of the Roosevelt neighborhood.

I've devoted my privilege into civic volunteerism over the past 30 years locally, including time on the Seattle Arts Commission, the Light Rail Review Panel, co-founding an arts nonprofit focusing on artist affordability.

I've privately developed an artist studio building, Ballard Works, taking on the multifaceted responsibilities to make this successful.

For the past 10 years, I've been directly involved with the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association for five years chairing the land use panel.

I've helped develop community engagement workshops, educational opportunities, inviting people from surrounding communities to join us as well.

Our land use academy events center on planning and land use including the recent MHA upzoning.

I also led the neighborhood advocacy for deep affordability development to the Roosevelt Light Rail site, enlarging the number of community-minded people involved in the process.

We are partnering with Sound Transit in producing the well-regarded community principles that have guided the project proposals.

We have a recently published case study, which is a guide to other groups for self-directed efforts.

It's important that we strive to consider the needs of the 30%, that is the zero to 30% of income earners as the city continues to grow.

I see this seat as an opportunity to work with council on important and multifaceted issues.

I see a confluence of affordable housing, commercial displacement, all of which need a balanced attention.

and issues regarding future growth and also tree preservation and opportunities for education and urban forestry, as well as some focus on the missing middle housing and exploring new ownerships for affordability.

I have a deep knowledge of detailed zoning and long-range planning, and most importantly, community engagement.

I welcome the opportunity to engage in the conversation centering on homelessness, understanding the social stakeholder needs and helping to guide the regional oversight.

I have the background to step right into planning, land use, sustainability, transportation, and devote the next seven months to being a collaborative partner on city council.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Abel Pacheco, Jr.

Thank you, Council, for allowing me to speak tonight.

My name is Abel Pacheco, and I am seeking to be the representative for the District 4 on the Seattle City Council.

Nearly a decade ago, I drove into District 4 with the things in my car as I sought to pursue my educational dreams at the UW's Evans School of Public Policy and Governance.

A lot has happened in the time since.

I've been able to serve my community and make an impact through my work at the Seattle Foundation, leading community-based initiatives to improve the lives of low-income families.

at the Seattle Police Foundation, building community partnerships for the very best work of policing that we never often hear about or read about.

And currently at the University of Washington's Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity, leading the legislative strategies for the MESA program, the state's largest STEM pathway program for students of color and young girls.

I am proud of the work and the collaborative spirit by which I've led.

It is my family's journey that has shaped me and grounded my values.

My mother would always tell me, your father isn't the man that made you, it's the man that raised you.

And my dad is a Black man from Compton, and my mom's a Mexican woman from Mexico City.

Like so many working parents, both sacrificed so much to give me and my siblings the best that they could.

And oftentimes, it was not enough.

I still remember waiting in food lines with my mom, helping my mom vacuum in hotels, hallways, so that she could finish her shift early, and a family of six living in a one-bedroom apartment.

I still rent, balance student loans, and chip in to help my parents.

I know what it's like to work so hard, yet feel like you have so far to go.

These experiences have shaped my desire to give back.

I was taught that the fulfillment in life comes from service to others and that we have a responsibility to look out for each other.

So I volunteer my time with causes and organizations that can engage and activate others in the community.

I was on the founding Young Professionals Group for Plymouth Housing Group and United Way of King County's Emerging Leaders Group.

I've been able to serve District 4 in community land use issues with my service on the HALA Focus Group and the Wallingford Community Council.

With my background in public policy, a commitment to affordable housing, and land use experience rooted in District 4, I can chair the Land Use Planning and Zoning Committee.

I can step in as chair of the Sustainability and Transportation Committee with a unique perspective as a multimodal Seattleite, not owning a car, and a member of the last generation that can do something about climate change.

I mentor students of color through the UW's Husky Leadership Initiative and the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship.

that work for educational programs that I benefited from and try to be a voice of encouragement for young people in my district.

Additionally, as it has been documented, I have been the victim of a wrongful arrest and can be the bridge for our most difficult and nuanced issues in criminal justice to drive meaningful change and impact on the Gender, Equity, and Safe Communities New Americans in Education Committee.

I am seeking the opportunity to represent the values of District 4, as I am the proud son of District 4. From the neighborhoods that shaped me, Wedgwood, Wallingford, and Ravenna, to the educational institution that provided me with the tools and pathway to success.

District 4, the people and the institutions of District 4 have given me so much and provided me the opportunity to rise up.

In the decade since I first drove to Seattle, I realized that home isn't about location, it's about people, and District 4 is my home.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Marjorie Press.

This is a little tall for me.

Good evening, council members, and hello, District 4 residents.

I'm Marge Press, and I'm pleased to have the opportunity to be with you tonight.

At the community forum on Monday, I highlighted defining moments that have brought me here.

Most of those moments were shaped by my choice to be a city planner, creating livable and accessible communities for all, and an upbringing focused on tikkun olam, making the world a better place.

The rest, perhaps, is my good fortune.

A few of those defining moments include projects like Link Light Rail and SR 520 coming to life, Pride Foundation's first $1 billion in grants and scholarships, investing in the Seattle small business, and my appointment to the Seattle Planning Commission.

My 20 years working in planning include multiple dozens of projects here in Seattle and across the US.

All these projects involved working with communities, public agencies, and elected officials.

As a planner, my job is always to be open and transparent and provide the best planning solution possible.

As a Seattle Planning Commissioner, I participated in the major update of the comp plan, Seattle 2035, multiple annual comp plan amendment cycles.

served as co-chair of the Commission's Land Use and Transportation Committee and represented the Commission on the Light Rail Review Panel.

My social justice and equity work are a long-term commitment.

Social equity is a defining issue of our time and a long-term investment.

As a board member of the American Planning Association, I'm proud to say we recently adopted a social equity policy guide that will ensure achieving equitable and inclusive communities.

I'm mindful of this commitment every day.

My experience with volunteer boards and as a project manager includes the development of plans and budgets and an understanding of the fiduciary responsibility and stewardship of budget oversight.

Currently, I share oversight of a $21.5 million budget.

My work and volunteer experiences, which often requires working with diverging perspectives and goals, will allow me to work with the Council and District 4 residents to stay the course, yet also recognize that sometimes it's important to change direction due to new information, changing needs, or other factors.

If appointed the District 4 caretaker, I'll bring my experiences, hard work, commitment, and passion to bear.

I believe I possess the skills and experiences the council is seeking, and I share your goal to make Seattle a wonderful place for everyone to live, work, and play.

It would be an absolute honor and a privilege to be the District 4 caretaker.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Maritza Rivera?

Hi, I'm Maritza Rivera.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.

I'm seeking the interim appointment on the City Council because I believe that the decisions we make over the next six months will have a lasting impact in ensuring Seattle remains a city for everyone.

I'm a mother of two girls who attend Seattle Public Schools and a daughter of Puerto Rican parents who moved to the mainland in search of a better life.

I grew up in the inner city in a low-income neighborhood where I saw people working hard every day to raise their families and get a piece of the American dream.

My dad was a hard-working welder.

in a factory and a member of the local carpenter's union.

Were it not for the union, my parents would not have been able to enjoy a retirement later in life.

My parents worked hard so that my brother and I could have opportunities they didn't.

One of the proudest moments for my dad was to get to see me walk across the stage at my law school graduation.

Unfortunately, Not everyone is getting to share in this American dream.

Seattle is currently a tale of two cities.

We see growing wealth and prosperity for many, but too many people are being left behind.

I will be a voice for building more affordable housing, expanding short-term housing and services to those experiencing homelessness, expanding transit and keeping our neighborhoods safe and our parks open and clean for families to enjoy.

As chair of the Planning, Land Use, and Zoning Committee, the priority of the interim representative must be to ensure that Seattle's land use policies help families thrive in robust, ever-growing neighborhoods.

As someone who grew up in an apartment and who currently resides in a single family home, I know from experience that families can do well in all kinds of housing situations.

I strongly support building more affordable housing across Seattle because that's the best way for us to address our affordability crisis.

Those would be the values I would bring to the committee.

I've spent my career listening to diverse communities and building coalitions, from my time working at the White House, where I worked to ensure the president's policies were informed by the needs of the Latino community, to working here in Seattle with Councilmember Tom Rasmussen and at the county to highlight the needs of our most vulnerable populations.

In each of these positions, I use my personal experience and independent voice to help create positive change for people in my community.

Finally, as the Trump rhetoric becomes more reckless and dangerous, I'll be a strong candidate for making everyone feel welcome in Seattle, just as I did working for the ACLU right after September 11th, helping to protect the constitutional rights of Seattle's Muslim American community.

If appointed, I commit to working collaboratively with you to move forward on our shared progressive values.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And our last applicant is Luke Is it Wigrin?

Wigrin?

Close?

In the ballpark, okay.

Thank you.

All right.

Hello, my name is, well thank you first off.

Hello, my name is Lou Wigrin.

I am a musician, a filmmaker, an assistant high school swim coach, and I cater at the Seattle Aquarium.

as well as soon to be substitute teacher in the Renton School District, the city where I grew up.

And in the words, the inimitable words of my favorite hip hop group, we are all alive from occupied Duwamish territory, the Blue Scholars.

I think we should remember that.

For the past weeks since this process began, there's been one burning reason that I've been coming, that I submitted an application that I've been coming to these things, and that's affordable housing.

And to distill what I said on Monday, having studied the The damage that unchecked inequality can have on a society, I know, and I see here, and seeing that inequality here in our access to housing, I know that there is much damage being done.

It's very evident in this city.

And I believe that it is vital that we set about to getting 100,000 units of affordable housing that are city-run, city-managed, and that we build those things so that we have them for the future.

I did not know I would be speaking tonight, so I came back and I asked myself more questions about why I'm here.

And I think the number one reason, obviously, like all the applicants, everyone in this room, I would venture to guess that I care for the city, we care for the city, I care for the people here, I care for the region, and I care to know about the history here.

What I think is important to remember is that there's a fighting spirit in this town, and I believe that it's saved many of the things that we hold dearest.

And it attracts people here, whether it's the labor rights that we fight for, tracing back from the general strike of 1919 to the fight for 15 that some of you had a hand in passing, or the name Seattle and the symbol at the bottom of the screen.

These things probably would not have come about if the Coastal Salish people were not fighting for recognition, as they still are.

Also, Jimi Hendrix and Bruce Lee, an African American, and a Chinese American who were unapologetically themselves, and in a society at that point, and I still believe it is, but at that point viciously segregated, so much so in a city of 90, 95% whiteness, the entire populations of minorities were confined in five square miles, and I'm glad that we've, We need to do more.

I have much more to say.

Unfortunately, I can't say it right now.

There's a lot of greed and self-interest, and I feel that this process, unfortunately, is indicative of that with some of the maneuvers that have been going on in the city in the past.

Thank you.

So that concludes our three-minute presentations, and I want to thank all of you for 11 outstanding presentations.

And again, just to remind you and the public, we are actually complying with our charter, which is not an ordinance, but it's actually rooted in our charter, this process.

So having said that, at this time, I'm going to ask the council applicants to move to the committee table and take any seat you like.

And once you get situated, I'll explain some logistics from there.

Okay, and if the clerk or Staff would be so kind as to bring a chair to the head of the table We will colloquially refer to that as the hot seat and the way this will work is you'll have we're gonna just sort of ad lib this part, and the council will ask you questions.

I'm going to literally ask the clerk to pull the name out of the hat, so we'll just go through a random order, and then what we're asking that you do is take the hot seat, as I refer to it, that way you could, we'll talk to the audits and talk to the council on your responses.

The seven minutes will just be your answers, it will not be our questions, and so a little word of advice, If you want to shorten your answers a little bit you probably get more questions because one question it takes seven minutes And then you just responded to one question, so I learned that the hard way by the way, so So unless there's any other instructive instructions that need to be given out we're gonna Move forward okay, so the clerk will pull it and she will read your name if you hear your name.

Just go to the hot seat Marjorie press

You drew the short straw.

And councilmembers I'll just recognize you as you would like to proceed and as councilmembers prepare their questions and you get situated Marjorie.

Yes.

It's okay to ask questions.

I mean, I try to informalize a little bit.

My goal is just to make sure everyone has an opportunity to explain their questions.

And so I'm not trying to be so strict in how we proceed.

So I really do want to sort of enjoy the process if we can to communicate.

So council members, who would like to ask our first applicant some questions?

And Council Member Gonzalez.

Thank you, Chair, President.

What's your title?

Just kidding.

As long as I don't screw up today, I'll be whatever you call me whenever you want.

All right.

It's a good thing this doesn't count against your time.

My question for this candidate and potentially for others is as follows.

The City of Seattle is currently operating in compliance with the 2012 consent decree.

for the Seattle Police Department.

Since then, we have worked diligently to implement reforms that both lower uses of force on community members, eliminate biased policing, and build bridges between officers and members of the community.

These reforms have resulted in an 84% reduction in uses of force, but a divide still exists between patrol officers and community, and there is still a disproportionate number of people of color experiencing uses of force.

at the hands of Seattle Police Department officers.

What steps would you take to create stronger connections between the residents and businesses of District 4 and the officers serving in the North Precinct?

Thank you for the question.

As a planner, my go-to place is to gather data, to talk to the community, to talk to the police officers, to find out how these arrests are occurring, where they're occurring, why they're occurring.

For me, it's all about communication and understanding the information from the neighborhoods and the folks being affected by the disproportionate amount of arrests, as well as getting the police perspective and trying to find a way to mitigate what's happening.

It's encouraging that there's a 84% decline in this type of activity.

That's not 100%.

But for me, the first thing I would do would gather data, review the data, make sure I understand what's happening, and then ask the right questions, speak with the right people, and come up with a collaborative solution.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Council Member Bakeshaw.

Did you have a follow-up on that?

Okay.

Thank you very much for being an applicant here and for your concern for the city.

So my question is around more housing, affordable housing.

And we know from three studies that have been conducted over the last year, the McKinsey study, the Eco Northwest study, and then the work that Claudia Balducci's committee did.

at the county, that at least 100,000 units is what we are going to need to build.

And Claudia's study suggested that we do that over the next 20 years.

So in your mind, what kind of revenue sources might be available?

What would you do and how would you bring the community together in a tri-county way to see what we can accomplish quickly?

Okay.

These are a bunch of lobs, by the way, so just...

I'm sorry?

These are a bunch of lobs.

Easy, easy ball to hit.

I'm sorry.

Okay, so in terms of housing, I know that there's been a lot underway, MHA and the upcoming implementation.

I would want to see how that would play out as far as a a multi-county or regional approach that would require some fair share discussions and commitments from all involved.

As far as financing, I would have to do some more research on that.

not a finance person.

But, again, this all has to do with gathering data, figuring out how to make the tools that we have work.

I'm excited to see how MHA will work when it's implemented and what other things we can do like add do dad do and Look to other jurisdictions for what they've done.

I understand that Columbus, Ohio, a far smaller city, has done some fantastic things around affordable housing.

So that's what I would do.

Thank you.

Council Member Gonzalez.

I was pointing to Council Member...

She was pointing that way.

Council Member Esqueda, would you like to add a question?

You know, I have a few filibuster questions, if no one's got a question.

Brian, did you have a question?

I do have a follow-up to that one.

Sorry, I don't mean to take up all the air time, but...

No, the clock has stopped.

See, we anticipated that.

Ms. Press, I appreciate that response, but what I'm hearing from you is identifying a set number of policies related to affordable housing, but I'm not hearing a direct response to Council Member Bagshaw's question, which was more about revenue, and I think for me, the fundamental question that I have for you is whether you believe that the city has enough revenue, existing revenue, to address the scale of the affordable housing problem, or whether you believe that there are additional revenue sources that are needed to meet the scale of the affordable housing problem, and if you believe that there is additional revenue required to meet the scale of the affordable housing needs of our community, what revenue sources Do you have in mind that you might support or not support during the upcoming budget?

Building 100,000 units over the next 20 years will require a good bit of money.

I would have to take a look at the budget as it exists to see what we have in place.

and go from there.

As a caretaker for the district, I would do my dead level best to make sure that the budget we adopt covers moving forward in the housing arena.

I don't know enough about revenue financing to identify a particular program.

That said, I would learn it right quick should I be the caretaker.

Thank you.

Council Member Bryan, did you have a question?

Margin, your comments, you talked about a commitment to race and social justice and also about your background as a city planner.

I'm curious, as chair of the Land Use Committee, what type of, are there ways that you can use land use zoning planning tools to address racial disparities in our city?

Yes, I think our history of redlining is a stain on who we are.

But yes, we can look at even the up zones and in urban villages and allowing more people to access housing.

There are lots of tools we can use, zoning, and amending the future land use map, amending the zoning code, and using tools, and allowing add-do-dad-do and other things to increase access for more people.

Very good.

Are there any additional questions for Ms. Marjorie Press?

Are we good?

Well, I'll ask another question.

You know, one of the, whoever fills this vacancy will also be a member of my committee, the Gender Equity, Safe Communities, New Americans in Education Committee, which has oversight of, as is indicated by the title, gender equity, but also issues related to public safety, the Seattle Police Department, Seattle Fire Department, Office of Emergency Management, etc. issues related to immigrants and refugees and of course education policy related issues.

So what aspects of the work on my committee most interests you and what would you want to work on if you were selected and ended up serving on my committee?

I've spent a good many years working on equity and social justice challenges.

So I would have an interest in working on that on your committee, public safety, immigrants and refugees, and providing access to programs and finding ways to level the playing field make things accessible here.

Do you have any specific examples of any of what you just said?

Any specific examples of programs or services that you believe would make our city more equitable and accessible to women, children, immigrants, refugees, et cetera?

I think our housing programs could be more accessible.

I think public safety, and related to your previous question about police intervention, would be an important issue to tackle.

Access for immigrants and refugees to the services we provide.

That's where I'd start.

Councilmember Bagshaw.

Thank you.

So thank you again for the work you've been doing with our Planning Commission.

Can you talk a little bit about our bicycle network and safety for pedestrians as well?

We have a new Third Avenue vision and I'm sure you've been involved in that or engaged and maybe you could talk a little bit about your experience and how we can move forward and encourage SDOT to have that bicycle network connected downtown.

Bicycles are an important alternative mode to transportation.

They give folks an opportunity to get out of their cars.

A connected and seamless network is important to those who commute by bike.

The safety of those routes is important.

in terms of interaction with cars, buses, pedestrians.

Having been on the planning, the Commission's Land Use and Transportation Committee, I've worked with SDOT on similar issues.

So talking with them about how to implement safer bike routes and the bike plan would be my first step in.

implementing safer routes.

Very good.

I think we have exhausted our questions for you and great job.

I'm going to tell you all great job when you finish just so those are my last one thing I'm playing favorites.

Thank you very much.

OK.

So we're going to pull the next name out of the hat and the clerk will read it and that person please take the hot seat again.

It's Catherine Gardeau.

No.

Okay, who would like to start off?

Ask Ms. Gordo a few questions.

Councilman Gonzalez, you're gonna be my go-to person during this.

I can tell that now, so.

Geez, Luis.

Councilman Gonzalez.

Yeah.

Lucky for the candidates, I have a list of questions.

I'm so excited.

Okay.

All right, so I think I wanna continue hearing from these candidates.

these applicants, their positions on the issues related to affordable housing.

I think that's a really important issue for us as a city.

And so I'd like to frame up the same question that I framed up for Ms. Press, which is, do you believe that we have enough revenue currently to address the affordable housing needs for members of our community?

And if not, what are the revenue sources that you believe would be appropriate to address the need of additional affordable housing construction and development within our community.

So perhaps I can pick apart the question a little bit to understand it a little bit better.

I know that there was a proposal in the spring or last fall, I can't remember exactly when, for a head tax, and that was the intent to use that for affordable housing.

And I don't know exactly how that money was going to be used.

Is there a plan that the city has prepared on what they would like to do specifically with affordable housing?

Because I know that we have planning and land use pieces that, you know, the ADU and the DADU legislation that are out there to bring in more affordable or potentially help with the affordable housing problem.

But I'm a little bit, I'd like a little more information on what you're thinking.

I'd like more information on what you're thinking, which is why I asked the question.

Well, I don't know if there's another source of funding that has been part of it.

One of the things that has happened over the last, I guess, about 10 years, we've had a pretty amazing period of growth in our city and a lot of sales tax revenue.

I have not studied the budget, so I'm not totally clear on where the money is going.

We may be coming to a period of time where we will not have as much sales tax revenue just because I know I saw in the newspaper that Amazon is not hiring as quickly as, for example, so they may not be needing as much space.

I am a person who believes in progressive taxation.

I'm not sure a head tax is the way to go.

I'm kind of excited about what the legislature is doing down in Olympia right now.

Thank you very much.

Council Member Sawant.

If I might just follow up on that question and I would agree with Council Member Gonzalez, I would like to hear what you're thinking.

So you just said that you believe in progressive taxation and so you must be aware that Washington State and Seattle within Washington State has the most regressive tax system in the entire nation and also in terms of what revenue sources there should be for affordable housing.

You must also be aware, and if not I wanted to mention it, is the way the politics in the state legislature have gone.

The state legislature has triangulated most of the abilities of municipalities that you would typically think should be available for progressive taxation.

and there really isn't much available and the so-called head tax, which I prefer to call the Amazon tax because I want to clarify that it's a tax on big business and not on workers, regardless that our movement proposed that tax because there isn't much else available in terms of legal avenues for progressive taxation at the city level.

So, knowing all of that and setting aside anything that the city council did or didn't do last year, what is your own view on what the city should do given that there is an unprecedented crisis of homelessness and the lack of affordable housing and that we don't need any more studies?

We already know we need at least 100,000 affordable homes.

We know the for-profit market is not building it because, you know, there's been a construction boom, but affordability has only been reduced.

So, given all of this, would you, as a city council member, in theory, it doesn't matter what actually happens the next several months, would you propose, would you support a tax like the Amazon tax because that is one of the only few progressive revenue options available and because we have an unprecedented crisis?

To build social housing, that is to build publicly owned affordable housing.

I think it's a conversation that the city has to have if we choose to build more affordable housing with public dollars.

I think if that's what the city would like to do, that we need to participate in that.

I do know that we do have other ways to do things, such as the accessory dwelling units.

I have spoken with fellow colleagues about how those Units can be built affordably in existing homes and be available for people to rent, and I think that's an excellent solution to provide more housing.

something such as a head tax or something like that, I think it's really important to have conversations with business and conversations with people in the community.

I know that the issue was quite contentious when it came up, in part because it hit smaller businesses such as Uwajimaya down in the in the international district.

So, whenever there's conversations about taxes, it's very important to have, make sure you have the opportunity to talk with folks about it.

Thank you for that.

Council Member Bagshaw.

Thank you.

And I recognize that you talked about Magnuson Park in your resume to us and said that you were very interested in using the assets of that park.

And one of the things you connected was how we were going to use that to address homelessness.

And I believe you were focused on the community center.

Can you talk a little bit more about what you're thinking there?

Well, as I was listening to Councilmember Gonzales talk about the immigrants and education, I realized that Magnuson Park has a great community there with a variety of levels of housing.

Also, the Public Development Authority that I'm on the board of at Bergillman also has a variety of levels of housing at different affordability levels.

And I know there's also been a lot of problems in Magnus, or not a lot of problems, there have been some problems in Magnuson Park.

I think that being the district council person for that district, it's important to go into that neighborhood and meet with those residents and learn what their needs are.

and ask what is important to them.

I know there's some new housing coming on board pretty soon with Mercy Housing.

I think it's important that the council member talk less and listen more and figure out what is best for that community.

Thank you.

Council Member O'Brien.

Thank you.

Catherine, your background has some experience in food systems, and one of the things that we have, one of the many disparities in our city is access to healthy food.

Some neighborhoods, like the neighborhood I live in in Fremont, I have multiple options to walk to to get all sorts of food.

In other neighborhoods, folks really struggle.

I'm curious, If you get appointed and you're a land use chair, are there any sort of land use policies you could think of that might help improve access to food or any other expertise around the food systems that you could bring to the council?

Wow, we all like good food, that's for sure.

And yes, it is not easily accessible in some neighborhoods.

I believe where the District 4, it's relatively accessible.

But in other parts of the city, it's not as accessible.

And I would need to probably visit those other districts to learn and talk with folks about, I know the SNAP program, for example, provides vouchers to use at farmers markets, which is an excellent program.

I know the King Conservation District has done work with communities on expanding those programs.

And perhaps it's finding new communities where those vouchers could be used that they aren't being used right now.

Council Member Herbold, would you like to go first?

I haven't asked a question yet.

Council Member Herbold.

I appreciate it.

So one of the really important functions of a district council member is constituent services.

And given that this is a caretaker position, selected would not be a person who would be running for reelection or running for election for this seat.

I'd like to hear a little bit about your commitment to constituent services given and responding to the constituents of District 4 given the fact that there may not be the same incentive for you to do so as somebody who has to run for election.

Absolutely.

I think it's really important to to meet the neighbors, meet the fellow people who live in the district.

I would commit to attending the different what is it, neighborhood council district meetings.

And I would also commit to establishing office hours in the district.

I think it's really important to listen and learn what people are concerned about and bring it back to this full body.

It's just so critical.

You can't live in a vacuum and not pay attention.

I actually, people have started giving me a list of things they'd like to see done already.

Thank you very much.

Council Member Schwant, a little follow-up.

Thank you.

I just wanted to follow up from the previous set of questions that had come up for the previous candidate also about revenue sources for building affordable housing and also fully funding homeless services.

I wanted to bring this up because I also, you know, it would be good for other candidates to also weigh in on this.

So you said that the head tax, as you call it, Amazon tax, as I call it, was going to hit small businesses and that it was contentious because business wasn't invited to the table.

I just wanted to make sure we all know what we're talking about.

At that time, there was a whole process set up to have business weigh in.

We had a progressive revenue task force, and there were months, at least a month and a half, if not longer, for business to weigh in.

And also, it's not accurate to say that small businesses were affected.

Actually, a very conscious effort was made not to affect small businesses.

The tax was going to be eligible, I mean, only businesses Only the top 3% of businesses were going to be liable for it.

So mathematically speaking, the bottom 97% of businesses were not going to have to pay for it.

And also taking into account the fact that ordinary working people are paying way too much in terms of sales taxes and even middle class homeowners are paying way too much in terms of property taxes.

So taking all this into account, what is your view All this and also all the other points we had brought up earlier about the limited options that we have for progressive revenues.

Taking all this into account, what is your viewpoint on what the city should do?

Should it or should it not try to move forward on a tax on big business like the Amazon tax to address the absolutely stunning crisis around us?

So I want to make sure to let you know that I do know that the average poor person pays 18% of their income in taxes while the average wealthy person pays 3% and it is definitely an equity issue.

So I do know this issue and I do follow this issue.

I also know that as a taxpayer, and whether you are a taxpayer business or a homeowner, that there needs to be a plan.

And what I would like to see the city do is develop a plan for what they would do with the money if they had the money come in.

So I totally support the needing 100,000 units of affordable housing, but how would that, what would be done to implement that plan?

I think it's very important to know that ahead of time, starting to develop tax plans.

And you do both of them in concert.

Very good.

Thank you very much.

OK, I think we're good.

I'm going to use your last 21 seconds up.

Perfect.

Thank you.

No, I'm going to ask you, what do you know about District 2?

That's your district, right?

No.

And convince me you're gonna be good for District 2. You don't even know where District 2 is.

Well, I think it's your district, right?

Oh, is it mine?

It's Councilmember Herbold's district.

So tell me why you would be a good person for District 2. We all care about our city at large, too.

We operate out of our districts.

I am District 2. I was just joking.

Well, I actually, as I said early in my opening remarks, I did a project.

We tried to put together a project to build a 30-unit apartment building with affordable units and market rate units and put it together with a women's cooperative on the main floor for East African women.

And we couldn't make it pencil.

And it's in part because, and I have to find the name of the what is it the multifamily I can't MFT tax exemption program MFT yeah yeah and because it starts out with this flat fee of $10,000 when you have smaller projects it just doesn't pencil.

Thank you very much for your participation.

Okay.

Maritza Rivera.

It's exciting.

It is.

Okay, once you're situated, who would like to ask the first question?

Council Member Gonzalez.

Council President.

So, Ms. Rivera, one of the things that is notable about you is that you actually currently work at the mayor's office.

And I think it's important for us to acknowledge that the Seattle City Council is an independent branch of government in the city government and that part of our job, an important part of our job, is oversight of the executive branch.

And that includes oftentimes asking bold questions and tough questions to make sure that there is accountability to the priorities that this city council has established via our legislative and budget appropriation authority.

I'd like for you to talk about how this district and the city council can anticipate your governance style in terms of your independence from the executive branch if you are appointed to this position.

Thank you for the question.

I do work for the mayor's office and I'm proud of the work that I've accomplished there.

Every job that I've had I give 110% and I would do the same if I were given the opportunity to join you on the council for these few months to finish out the seat.

I am my own person and I would work collaboratively with you all and I have clarity that my allegiance would be to the constituents in my district.

And just like I worked for President Clinton and I, you know, had my allegiance to him at the time.

When then I went on to work at the U.S.

Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, I had to work with the Bush White House, and I represented my organization fully without any conflict.

So wherever I work, that's who my allegiance is to, and I would do that work 110% like I've always done.

follow-up?

Councilmember Herbold has some follow-up.

Thank you.

I think key to the question about independence really is whether or not if you were selected for this position whether or not you would have a job waiting for you back in the mayor's office after the...

I do not have a job waiting for me.

So if you were selected you would leave your employment in the mayor's office?

Correct.

Thank you.

Very good.

Councilmember Mosqueda.

Well, good evening.

I haven't had a chance to say thank you all for applying yet.

So before I ask my question, I just want to say thank you to the folks who've already spoken and to the people forthcoming.

This is not easy.

Having just run for election not too long ago, I know that that's hard.

This has got to be extremely difficult.

Thank you all for your willingness to do this tonight.

I did want to ask a question specific to District 4. You know, we talked a lot already about mandatory housing affordability.

I had the chance to see the entire, what was it, four hours of your participation on Monday night and really impressed by the questions that the community members and organizations asked.

I heard your comments around mandatory housing affordability already, and we all know that this was a unanimous issue that the City Council took up in six separate packages of legislation over the course of two years, including up zones for over 30 urban centers and villages across Seattle and Yet, we also know that this is the tip of the iceberg.

We call it citywide, and that was only 6% of the actual land that still needs to be, in my opinion, rezoned for residential use.

So one of the key issues that's in your district that we have the chance to potentially follow up on is implementation of mandatory housing affordability in the university AB district.

We are set to consider a separate piece of legislation this summer.

So my question for you is, would you support the rezone for MHA implementation on the AB as a district four council member?

Well first I'd have to say that I'd have to do some outreach in my community and be very clear about what the community and the residents of the Ave and the rest of District 4 feels about upzoning in the U District.

I think generally speaking we are in a housing crisis and we need to explore all options for addressing this housing crisis.

And so, upzoning in the app is an option that we need to seriously look at.

But again, we also need to work with our neighborhoods to see what their feelings are and, you know, how we can move forward.

Colleagues?

Council Member O'Brien?

No, I'll follow you Council President.

I was going to ask the same question about your experience over District 2. Are you familiar with it and why would you be?

And the reason I'm asking this question is just because we just shifted to a district set up a few years ago as you all well know.

But I think a good council member continues to think about the entire city.

And you're making decisions that affect the entire city.

So that's why I'm asking just about your familiarity with another part of town.

In fact, it's the part of town that has the lowest median income, some of the lowest graduation rates, but it's drastically improving now.

Great opportunity, but some of the historical challenges based on historical practices of the city.

So can you tell me a little bit about your familiarity with District 2?

Do you know any organizations involved with any volunteer groups?

All of the above.

I have not been involved with volunteer groups in District 2, but I am all too familiar with a lack of access issues and race and equity issues.

And I agree that while this would be a position for District 4, We have a responsibility to the city to work together on the issues that are faced by the entire city and not just our district.

So I would work collaboratively with you on the issues that are important to your constituency and on disparity issues and affordability issues in your district.

to see how we can make improvements to your district and to the city in general, because we should all thrive together as a city.

Thank you.

Council Member Bechel.

Thank you.

A number of years ago, you were working at King County in the Health and Human Services Department.

Would you talk a little bit more about your experience there?

And you were focused on funding gaps at King County.

Can you just talk a little bit about that experience and how you could carry that over here?

Yeah, happily.

I worked on a special project that then King County Executive Ron Sims was looking at doing a ballot measure to fund human services.

And so he put together a task force.

It consisted of elected officials and stakeholders in the community.

And we, I project managed that task force.

And so we took a year to look at possible how we would, if we were gonna bring a levy forward, how, what we, what human services we would fund, There was a challenge actually because veteran services also needed funding and that was not seen as part of that particular levy package.

The interesting part is subsequently now we have a veteran and human services levy so they've merged.

But at the time there was this question.

And so I worked with those stakeholders and with those elected officials to put together the plan.

Unfortunately, the King County Council at the time decided to bring forward a veterans levy, and so we were not able to bring forward the human services levy that we had intended to bring.

But I have extensive background in outreach, and I used my outreach skills in that capacity as well to work with the elected officials and with the community stakeholders to come together and come to some agreement on the plan that we were going to put forward if we indeed had been able to put a levy together.

And those same community building and collaborative skills I would bring to this position.

Very good.

Council Member O'Brien.

Thank you.

A couple weeks ago, the mayor's office and Seattle Department of Transportation released a draft bicycle master plan implementation plan that was met with general disappointment amongst the transportation advocacy community, especially coming on the heels of a decision by the mayor to back away from a protected bike lane on 35th Avenue Northeast.

If you're familiar with that implementation, that plan is currently out for public comment for the rest of this month.

and then there's an opportunity to revise that.

I'm curious if you're familiar with that plan, just your thoughts on it, and if you're not familiar with the implementation plan, maybe you can just speak more broadly to your thoughts about the role of bicycles as a transportation mode in the city.

So I'm not familiar with the specifics of the plan.

I know about the plan.

In general, I support transportation options.

including bicycles and more buses and the expansion of light rail in the city.

And I think we need to work toward looking for more options to get people out of cars and taking public transportation in the city, including bicycles.

So I think we need to be really thoughtful about our transportation master plans and making sure that we really are looking at all the options and supporting the transportation options that our residents want to move forward with, including bicycling.

We need to be supportive of those things.

Thank you.

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you.

You have experience working on civil liberties issues as a former employee of the ACLU and you work specifically on strategies to protect the civil liberties of at-risk immigrant communities post 9-11.

As the chair of the council committee with oversight of civil rights issues, I'd be really interested to hear from you what other important emerging issues you think that the city of Seattle should be focusing on related to civil rights that perhaps we aren't tending to.

I would say not that you're not tending to it, but just to highlight the importance of in the housing realm, the issues related to racial inequity.

It really, I think of all the issues when I think of race and social justice, it's the one that really, to me, it's the one that we really need to tackle I hate to say first and foremost, because they're all important issues, but everyone has the right to a home.

And our communities of color are desperately impacted when it comes to housing affordability.

And so I think that that is one issue that we really need to address.

I know you have been, but to continue to address and see what we can do to improve.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We're just about exhausted our seven minutes of time.

I don't think you can get an answer out in eight seconds, so thank you very much.

We're going to move to our next applicant.

Sharae Lascelles.

Very good.

Oh.

OK.

Get nice and situated there.

Which one of my colleagues would like to ask the first question, Ms. Lascelles?

I'm the one that's the most shy on the city council, so.

Me too.

Okay, great.

So I'll start off by asking you the same question that I asked of some of the earlier candidates, which is, Do you believe that the city has enough revenue at its disposal to address the scale of the needs for additional affordable housing in our community and in District 4 included?

And if not, what are some additional revenue sources that the city should be evaluating or other strategies that the city should be evaluating in order to increase the development and construction of affordable housing.

All righty, for 100,000 units, no, I don't think we currently have it, but for a start, so we can stop with the sweeps, stop with what money is being put into that, and redirect it immediately into solutions for housing.

And I say, let's try again for the Amazon tax.

I was there the day that it had I sensibly passed, got to go to the Vermillion for the after party and was excited that something was going to be done about big business pushing people out of the city and not being accountable for the changes they've made.

I look forward to it actually going through the next time we try and I hope to be part of that.

Council Member Bekshaw.

Thank you.

In the first couple of sentences of your letter to us, you talk about being an accomplished business developer.

Yes.

I want to say congratulations, thank you for being part of this, and tell us a little bit about your accomplishments as a business developer.

Great.

So I started my first business when I was 18. I actually applied for my first Washington State business license the day I could.

And I started with an online store.

And then I moved into creating video content with individuals from my community that needed help doing so.

After that, when I moved to Seattle, I started a business consulting firm for fringe workers and for people who wanted to be creators in this community and didn't know how to navigate the system of owning your own business, doing your own taxes, and kind of marketing themselves.

And then I moved on to working as a marketing coordinator for 3R Technology.

And the year after I worked with them, they won Seattle Green Business of the Year.

After that, I moved on to working as a manager at Full Till Ice Cream in the U District.

And I rose from store manager to general manager to COO, building out the Capitol Hill store to make it as an inclusive space as possible, as well as implementing practices on hiring cutie pock, trans individuals, people with mental illnesses, and people that were facing or actively experiencing homelessness.

After that, I guess I just went back to consulting.

I did a operations management position doing the operations management for the British American Projects Conference here, which is a transatlantic organization of leaders, and have just kind of gone back and forth between every chance I can get to advocate for people with the resources I have, and then taking another contract to pave my way forward on more advocacy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Very good.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you Mr. Chair.

So first let me say thank you for your advocacy on Olympia this year and for your work with Working Washington.

We're very excited about the rights being extended to dancers and more workers across the state.

So thank you for lifting that up on Monday and then today.

Appreciate your work there.

On Monday and also today, you talked about how you're really interested in doing this process to continue to lift the voices of those who have historically and often continue to be marginalized and silenced.

And you've talked about lifting up the voices of women and people of color and the LGBTQ community.

So thank you for continuing to recognize that.

I think it's something that, or to bring that up so that we recognize that, I think it's something that as the chair of the housing committee, one of the issues that we know is that without additional housing, the folks who are more likely to experience housing instability and face housing discrimination are women and people of color and people from the LGBTQ community.

So as you can see, we're majority people of color, majority women, and we now have the opportunity in the next few, I would say months, but also years, to really talk about where our housing investments are gonna go.

As you've heard from this council, that we have, I think, a strong belief that we need to find additional revenue.

There is not the revenue currently that we need and happy to engage in that conversation going forward about the lack of revenue, but there is a little bit of dollars coming in, especially with the new mandatory housing affordability funds.

And MAJ, as you know, is designed with the goal of having 50% of new development projects opting for the performance on-site option, meaning housing being developed on-site.

and 50% of the projects opting to pay in lieu of that on-site development and going to the Office of Housing for much needed revenue to build affordable housing.

And one of the things I'm interested in is how are we going to divide up those dollars and make sure that we're meeting those goals.

So what are your ideas for how MHA funds could be invested and what types of housing investments, housing projects should we, the council, be pursuing with those new dollars, recognizing there are not enough yet?

Yeah, there's not enough yet, but the goal is to start work immediately as well as find more revenue.

I think first and foremost, going for the demographics that are most currently affected, so QTPOC people or people in those demographics, first and foremost, because they're the ones who are currently at risk of losing their current housing.

putting some more money into prevention of homelessness.

So people that are on the border of eviction and then preventing the problem from getting bigger before it goes any further.

And then I know the ADUs are a great idea, but not everyone that has property.

is willing to help, and I know that from experience.

Incentivizing those people to do that and making it easy for them to do the right thing for their communities and stay in their communities would be what I'd want to put money towards first.

I know also that these micro units are great, but they're also still way overpriced.

So figuring out a way to incentivize the new developers in the area to make them affordable as well as a space that is comfortable to live in that's not going to cause you to go a little bit more crazy when you're stuck in a room would be really great.

More community spaces in those housings.

So I think that there's a great way to compromise with developers to make community spaces so that if they have small units, you don't feel like you live in a box.

And I think that'll go a long way for the mental health of people who are in those situations as well.

More community involvement in what they would like to see for their living conditions.

I know that people want to speak up if you give them the chance.

And I know people have experiences in taking the housing that have available to them and kind of hearing their bad experiences.

So we know not to do would be a really good step in that direction.

I would like to work on that.

Very good.

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you.

So you refer to your experiences with SWAP and SWA as experiences and of course SWAP is the Sex Workers Outreach Project of Seattle.

Correct.

SWA is Strippers Are Workers.

It's S-A-W-S-A, Strippers Are Workers.

Yes.

And you refer to your experiences with those organizations and this opportunity to serve on the city council as also an opportunity to raise the voices of those workers.

I'd be really interested to know, you've done work in Olympia, lobbied on federal legislation.

I've had the pleasure of meeting with you and other members and I'd be really interested to know what sort of city issues we might expect to hear you advocate as it relates to the issues that those workers face.

Before any of my colleagues up here were council members, we, once upon a time, did have an issue that filled the council's chambers with dancers advocating on behalf of their interests.

And I'm wondering if there is another really important pressing issue that is a municipal issue that we should be thinking about.

In a way, yes.

It comes back to zoning.

The people that are currently in the industry that want to advocate for themselves are also realizing that they don't have any other options, which the reason they don't have any other options is because there's not really any space right now for more clubs to open up.

And the collective of dancers in the city would immediately put their money on the line in order to have a stripper run organization to work for that they could run themselves.

But that's not really an option right now.

There's not really spaces that aren't already occupied by clubs.

for them to open a new club, and that's a big concern because they have a virtual monopoly right now in the city and statewide.

That means that they have no bargaining power against the companies they're working for, and that's a serious labor issue.

It's gotten worse in Sestafasta, as you know, and it's just going to get worse going forward unless the city acts in a way that allows people in that industry to advocate for themselves and actually go into business for themselves.

other issues that are going on, because there's a huge intersectional quality about being a sex worker in general.

It affects mostly queer and trans people, and it also affects mostly females.

So I feel like there's a huge equity gap that we can fill by knowing that there's a type of worker that is stigmatized and ignored that fits a lot of the boxes that we're trying to check.

And we should probably work on recognizing that.

Thank you.

Very good.

Council Member Swan, did you have a follow-up question?

First of all, thank you for the sex workers outreach project being part of the Amazon tax struggle and I remember having you all at the Vermillion and I really appreciate that.

And you said that you You know, you support ending the sweeps of homeless people, because as you said, that's not working.

And, you know, roughly $10 million.

I mean, it's actually not even fully accounted for, but it's many millions of dollars.

And also that it would be absolutely correct for the city to go for the Amazon tax again, because what else would you do?

That's the most rational approach.

But you saw, as you said, we were gearing up to fight big business, and that's what we were doing at Vermilion.

We were launching the summer and autumn fight back, and unfortunately this council, even though it is majority women, majority people of color, did end up buckling to the pressure of big business and did repeal the tax.

which was a historic setback.

And yet, three cities in California afterwards won similar taxes, taxes on big business.

That same year, won taxes on big business to fund affordable housing and homeless services.

For example, Mountain View, which is Google's headquarters, as you know, won the Google tax.

It was inspired by the movement here.

Despite the setback here, we were able to win victories there.

So to me also, it makes sense that we should be pushing for that.

But as our experience shows, as a council member, you will come under tremendous pressure to not do the right thing.

And you will hear a lot about being divisive and that sort of thing.

And then, so you will be confronted with the question of, do you stand with ordinary people and what they need and do the right thing?

Or would you bend to the pressures of the moment?

So I just wanted to hear what your thoughts are on that.

I think it's pretty obvious by me being here and not looking like anyone else in this room that I do not bend.

I always will stand up for the people in my community directly or indirectly affected by the same issues as me.

It's absolutely terrifying to be in this room.

I didn't know if I could do it, but the people who were more afraid to come into this room than me asked me to.

There's no way I wouldn't be here without actually listening to the people that need me here.

And that would be the same every single day forever, because I don't know how to be anyone else other than a champion of the people that I care about, period.

Thank you, I appreciate it.

I just wanted to, I really appreciate that answer and how clear that response is.

I just wanted to, because your answer was so impressive, I wanted to ask one more aspect of it.

When you are, you know, being accountable to the people that you talked about, the people who want you to represent their interests, you will also come under pressure from colleagues on the council, and that will probably be the hardest pressure you will have to overcome.

So I want to hear, you know, just maybe a few sentences about that.

Well, if I were one of your colleagues, that would also make me one of your peers.

Still a millennial.

Still have to deal with peer pressure every single day.

Still have to make the right decisions for myself and my family and my extended circles.

Don't get me wrong.

I want to be liked.

But I want to be liked for the right reasons.

And I have to like myself first.

It's hard every single day because I have to struggle to support myself and my people.

I do things that I don't necessarily want to do by taking $15 an hour jobs here and there, picking up every shift, catering for Microsoft and Amazon.

I can.

So that when I get called to come to something like this or go to Olympia at the drop of a hat, I can.

Nothing's going to change.

It's still going to be me.

Thanks.

Thank you for that testimony.

Are there any more questions of this applicant?

No?

We had nine seconds left.

Thank you very much for that very moving testimony.

Oh, thank you.

OK, our next applicant.

All right, Jay Lazerwitz.

Thank you.

Council Member Gonzalez.

Thank You council president So I would ask the same question of you and that is related to affordable housing and again, I want to couch this on this occasion in the context of what one of the important roles of whoever fills the seat will be to Get on the steep learning curve and ride that curve of understanding the budget and one of the most significant issues that we have to struggle with as a city council is identifying what priorities to fund during the budget process and so given the scale of the need of affordable housing issues within our city, the question for me still remains as to whether you, as an applicant in this position, believe that there are enough resources to meet the scale of the need of the affordable housing issues in district 4 and beyond, and if not, what revenue sources you believe are necessary or appropriate to pursue in order to meet the scale of the affordable housing needs for our community.

I think the need for affordable housing is great.

We do not have the money to support 100,000 new units or even 50,000 new units.

We have to look at all possible sources.

We fortunately have some potential in the Roosevelt neighborhood.

hooking up with Sound Transit and using some of their monies that were in balance.

Once we decided that we, well, they decided we pushed for 100% affordability, they were able to sell, mostly give the property away for below market.

So I think investigating what other opportunities we have throughout the city related to Sound Transit sites is one place we need to do.

Obviously making some changes in the long term at the state level.

In terms of revising the charter so that the city could require units, the great European model where if you're going to build a building, you're going to build a certain number of affordable units.

We can't do that.

So I think looking at progressive taxation is really the only solution for that.

Whether or not it's the head tax or income tax for people who work in the city, we desperately need more monies.

I'm a strong supporter of long term Nonprofit developed affordable housing.

I think the mission of those organizations Holds those properties for much longer than any current requirements like the MFTE which has a to me a very short Sunset of 12 years.

I think looking at Extending that term is important as well.

But that's only a that's a big band-aid.

I think we need more monies within housing So that's a priority Very good customer back show.

Thank you And nice to meet you, Jay, and thanks to you for being here with us tonight.

I want to combine two thoughts here.

One is, in 1992, you were on the Allied Arts Board, and about 10 years later, I joined that board, and the Waterfront for All was created from that.

One of the issues that's been very important to me is all ages and abilities work, and that means universal design, in the case of the waterfront, of how can we make the design on the waterfront something that's welcoming for everyone.

I wonder if you could just talk from your experience what you might like to see on the waterfront.

A little bit of everything.

I'd like to see a very robust pedestrian character for one.

I'm a strong believer in robust landscaping as well throughout the city.

I think every block should be pedestrian friendly.

Having areas that are family focused is really critical.

Having some other potentially social service type uses along the waterfront as well to welcome people.

who don't have monies to go to the aquarium and to do different things, something inside.

I think having a lot of engagement between our avenues and the waterfront, both for views, I think, for better or worse, the viaduct was built at a time, it restrained development, and now that it's come down, I think we have much better ideas to how to treat public spaces.

And I think a combination of minimizing transportation along there, making it more transit friendly, and also a multi-modal kind of a green street for pedestrians, especially and also for bicyclists.

So one issue that's going on right now provides us with a connection and also a conflict between civil rights and what some of the businesses consider to be harassing behavior on the waterfront.

And an example recently are CD sellers, that they will approach individuals on the waterfront, surround them, offer them the CDs.

Some people believe that it's a good way for musicians and artists to demonstrate what they've done.

Others believe it's hostile in character, and we're trying to find that sweet spot.

How would you approach this?

Good question.

I think the idea of having some spaces that are devoted to some enterprises like that.

I'm a strong believer in having business incubators throughout the city, especially in areas of high risk and high displacement, where there's a lot of businesses, business owners of color.

And I think having this place at the waterfront in all public areas, we have I think we need to make sure that we have some areas around the market where obviously there are people that are busking and not all sanctioned.

I think trying to change the conversation that these are people who have been in this area and need a home on the street that is safe.

Thank you.

So a lot of the issues that we've been talking about are citywide issues.

They might have neighborhood or District 4 impacts, but I'm wondering if you could, because we don't have the advantage of having Council Member, former Council Member Rod Johnson here, who really knows the District 4 issues better than any of us up here.

I'm wondering if you could just identify what you see as some of the most important District 4 challenges.

Thank you.

I think what I'm hearing from the communities, the concern for homelessness and hygiene and safety are issues that I've seen and heard.

So there's a lot of social concerns that way.

And I think a lot of it, a lot of the role of the district for a council person would be in terms of education.

going out and talking to the constituents and educating them about this issue, what the city is doing and has future plans for.

I think another big issue in regard to the AV zoning is commercial displacement, and there's some very big concerns.

Overall, I'm a supporter of the MHA zoning there because I've seen so much development go be vested in advance of the MHA.

I personally wish we had MHA 10 years ago.

coming out of the recession, but we're getting to that now.

But I think commercial displacement where we have a lot of small businesses on the Ave that are owned by people of color as well.

So to me, there's, it's not a vocal issue within the constituents, but it's an underlying issue.

Council Member Muscat, a little follow up.

Thank you for bringing up economic displacement and also small business displacement.

As we look to implement MHA, especially along the ave, what are some ideas that you have specifically to address that concern that you just brought up?

to tie in the MHA some additional bonuses potentially for commercial incentives to get reduced rents, as well working with the Office of Economic Development to relocate some of those businesses, kind of leapfrog some businesses.

We got very lucky in the Roosevelt neighborhood.

partially by my talking to a developer and concerned about a vacant storefront that was offered for use to the association.

I said, no, we need an active storefront.

He was able to talk to the owners of the Sunlight Cafe who had been there for 35 years and relocated them in that building.

So I think it's going out with the OED and also the, you know, OPD and trying to understand both the character of the Ave, kind of an aesthetic point of view, as well as providing smaller scale retail businesses that are appropriate for that use.

And unfortunately, they're going to be expensive spaces.

But having to create some incentives to make it happen, it's critical to support these businesses that have been there, in many cases, for some decades, some even shorter.

But if we're going to help incubate those in a neighborhood and then change the neighborhood, I think we're providing a disservice.

Very good.

Very good.

Follow-up, Councilor Mosqueda?

So one of the things I get to work on as well is health.

Health is in my committee.

You know, you have, unfortunately, in District 4, some of the highest rates of both overdose and death in the University District.

Obviously, we are dealing with it across the city and in the downtown corridor as well.

As we continue to try to strive for evidence-based solutions and recognize that overdose prevention sites are an evidence-based solution to a public health crisis of addiction and the opioid crisis that was pushed on us by Big Pharma.

One of the big issues that we potentially have to talk about this year is how we as a community will come together to advance overdose prevention sites not have to wait the 30 years that it took us to get needle exchanges to be recognized as a strong public health harm reduction strategy.

Your district has a needle exchange which is currently needing a new home along the avenue.

What are some ideas that you might have to both address the opioid crisis, addiction crisis, and specifically, you know, would you be willing to work with us to implement the creation of an overdose prevention site within council?

It doesn't have to be specifically in District 4, but as we look at trying to test a site, what are your thoughts on that?

I think with the need in the district, and especially in the U District, I think it's appropriate.

to develop a new site, a safe consumption site, somehow working through the laws of what we can do.

critically at this point and what we can do down the road as well.

And what, you know, I'm not sure if it could be consecutive with an existing social service or low-income housing facility, or it needs to be a wholly separate site.

You know, combining services might make it more effective, get more people in, and reduce some of the stigma as well.

Thank you very much.

Okay.

We're going to move to our next applicant.

Great job.

David Goldberg.

Okay, who would like to ask this applicant the first line of questions?

Council Member Gonzalez.

All right, here we go.

I'll ask you the same question I've been asking everybody for consistency purposes.

So, again, with regard to affordable housing and the needs of affordable housing in District 4 and in other parts of the city, throughout the city, what are your views in terms of the sufficiency of revenue available to the city to continue to support the development and increase the development of affordable housing throughout our city.

And if you don't believe that there is enough revenue, what are some viable revenue options or strategies that the city council should pursue that you might be interested in working on if appointed to the seat?

I do not believe the city has enough revenue to provide the level of affordable housing that's required.

I'm not sure that the city alone is ever going to have those resources.

I'm afraid we are going to have to find partners with the state and with the counties.

That said, I would not shrink from discussion of a head tax or the Amazon tax as some like to call it.

I though would not be eager to to repeat the same situation as last summer.

I would think that we would want to very carefully structure a plan that we can communicate well and have a good outreach plan and build political support before we do it.

One other thing that had occurred to me was if our business friends don't like the idea of the head tax, perhaps they can help us with lobbying for some change in Olympia to allow us to implement a more progressive tax regime here.

So, I mean, those are bigger picture and longer term than we can accomplish in six months.

But I would love to have a strategic discussion about how we move forward and what we can leverage that we've not been able to do before with things we've tried before.

Getting away from revenue for a second, I think we've done some things to speed permitting and allow projects that are in sort of in the right place with the right complement of features to get through permitting faster.

I think we could do even more to that would make it cheaper and quicker to get the housing out there.

I do think that land banking is really important.

I think the idea of particularly looking ahead at around light rail stations and making sure that we are able to provide affordable housing in those places.

I don't think it's too soon to start thinking about ST3 and what we're going to do with finding sites and making sure that those equitably develop as TOD and not, you know, not high priced units.

I also think that I don't know the answers, but I want us to get more creative about two and three bedroom and how we incentivize that.

Maybe there's a way to look at MFTE and see ways that we could incentivize some larger units.

But I think one of the big problems is there aren't enough affordable spaces for people who have kids.

And I worry that we're going to become not just a monochromatic city, but a city that increasingly has only rich kids.

Very good.

Council Member O'Brien.

David, you and Marge actually both as members of the Planning Commission had a role to play in a report that the Planning Commission published recently.

One of the data points that stood out, I was talking about housing in our city, that stood out to me was that about 75% of the land where residential uses are allowed is zoned single family.

And when you look at the growth that's happened in about the last decade, only 5% of the growth has happened in those single family zones, whereas 95% of the growth has happened and been concentrated in the other 25% of residentially zoned land.

And that's by design.

We have, for decades, had this kind of urban village strategy that said we want to concentrate growth.

I'd love your thoughts on where you think we are today and what future growth should look like.

Specifically, is that the right strategy, or do we shift?

And if we do shift, what that shifting would look like.

Right.

And in some of those single-family zoned areas that you talked about, we actually lost population.

So I don't want to set off alarm bells, you know, across the city with this discussion.

I think that we've talked some about the missing middle and the opportunity to go back to the traditional patterns that we had in a Wallingford where I live where you have just within blocks of me we've got duplexes, triplexes, courtyard apartments, small scale.

And many of these units or homes look just like single family homes.

They just happen to be divided up.

So I do think there's an opportunity without throwing completely out the sort of scale that we're used to in some of our traditional neighborhoods.

I think there are a lot of ways we can open things up for more housing.

I know that...

In my neighborhood anyway, a lot of the initial backlash reaction at MHA in part was, what happened to neighborhood planning?

We did neighborhood planning in the 90s, you know, when we were bringing in the urban village strategy, and people had good memories of having been involved in that planning.

Now we know that the end result today is that it's not getting us where we need to go in terms of access for people.

You know, so many of the single family areas They're where you have access to parks.

They're where a lot of the schools are.

So when we don't allow more people to live there, then we're actually excluding them from a lot of those community assets.

And so we have to find a way to open that up.

But I think that there might be a way to gradually introduce this concept and involve people in talking about it, involve people in planning, saying, look, we're not, We're not preserving what we have in amber.

It's not, we can't tell you nothing's going to change because we know something's going to change.

But let's work together to accommodate this much housing, this many people.

And in exchange, these places that will change will get better transit service.

We'll get some upgrades in streetscapes.

I don't know what the things are that the community might want, but I think there's, I'm not going to do this in six months on the council, but I do think that there is a way to start a conversation about a revisioning of a neighborhood planning that could bring people into the conversation and maybe find a way forward that's not totally acrimonious.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I really appreciate what you're saying about reviewing the neighborhood planning.

We hear that a lot, that people feel like, hey, we did all this work 12 years ago, what happened to it?

Alan Durning wrote something called Unlocking Home about, I don't know, four or five years ago, and he had some pretty good ideas.

Are you familiar with that particular work?

I'm pretty sure I've seen a lot of Alan's stuff.

I'm pretty sure I saw it, but I'm not totally sure.

I'm just wondering if you could build on some of the things that he was suggesting there, including allowing for more roommates, allowing for homes to be divided.

And again, like you said, you don't want to set off alarm bells, but would like to know if you've got any additional thoughts for that kind of housing for the hundreds of thousands of more people that we've seen that have come and that want to come.

I think we need to open ourselves to some experimentation.

I think one thing that has upset a lot of people is we've tried a lot of new things citywide and the urgency certainly suggests that that's what we should do, but why don't we Why don't we do kind of what they did when they initially introduced the idea of bike lanes and taking some street space for a new public space in New York, where they just said, look, let's put it out there and see how people use it.

And let's see if the stuff that people might be afraid of really happens.

So could we incentivize an area of town to be the volunteers, to say, all right, we'll loosen it up for a time, and we'll see what happens.

I think we need to take a cue from some of our tech startup friends here and be adventurous and be willing to fail, but move fast.

And I know it's hard for city government, but I'd love to see us try some of that sort of thing.

Very good.

Council Member Gonzalez.

So one of the things that we haven't spent a lot of time asking questions about quite yet is the issue around people experiencing homelessness.

And so I want to have an opportunity to ask you a question in this space and I think I'll preface it by saying that You know as council members we receive a lot of communications from people across the city and and And when we're out in community, we get approached by a lot of people who have concerns sometimes some offered solutions or recommendations for how the city could do better in the space of addressing the issues that people experiencing homelessness face every day.

And I am, in some cases, very saddened about where we're at as a city as it relates to this issue.

And I say that with a very heavy heart because I believe that we are still a city that values compassion and humanity and that we're all motivated by a desire to end the really painful experience of homelessness that people are experiencing on our streets right now.

Unfortunately, it has become a situation now where some folks are frustrated with the ongoing situation and the ongoing realities in this space and have, as a result, begun to suggest policies such as law enforcement policies to address issues related to homelessness.

And I'd like to get a understanding from you about how you intend to navigate that space if you're appointed to this seat and really ultimately what is your values and your set of values and ideals around viewing investments in the space of homelessness and strategies in the space of homelessness and whether you support harm reduction approaches or punitive law enforcement approaches to addressing the issues related to people experiencing homelessness.

You're right, it's a very hard issue.

I am not in the camp of trying to arrest our way out of the problem.

I just don't see that as the solution.

I think the Ninth Circuit's decision recently suggests that we can't just kick people out of places where they're trying to sleep if we have nowhere for them to go.

So that suggests that the first step for us is to have more places for people to go.

And I think that's probably enhanced 24-hour shelters.

I think if we're going to do something like a head tax, then clearly that needs to be, or whatever new revenue source, clearly that's the sort of thing that we need to invest in.

I think the harm reduction approach is to be desired.

And that's what needs to happen.

But I understand people's frustration with what I hear is the filth, the nastiness that they see.

And I wonder if we, you know, the navigation audit report recently mentioned the woeful, The woeful shortage of, and I'm not going to say it was 100% accurate on everything because I don't know, but it did point up the woeful shortage of toilet facilities and of hygiene facilities.

And I think that would be helpful if we could find a way to deploy more of those things in more parts of the city.

I think if we can clean up without sweeping, We can find a way to deliver sanitation services in some of these places where people are moved out and they come back and they're moved out and they come back.

It's just, if we could figure out a way to, I probably sound really naive, but if we could- Asking the same questions.

But if we could do that, I think that would take some- Please wrap up, sir.

Huh?

Please wrap up.

Oh, sorry.

No, just go ahead and wrap up the time zone.

I think that would take some of the angst off.

I think you're right.

Seattle is a very compassionate city.

It's one of the things that drew me here and keeps me here.

I think we can appeal that compassionate again.

Thank you.

Thank you much.

OK, our next applicant.

Brooke Broad.

Okay, I feel like I need to raise the seat I can't really see Councilmember Bagshaw so short, okay Okay, who would like to ask our next applicant the first question Clock is not started yet Yes, that's me, okay Same questions around affordable housing There is an ongoing need to increase the amount of affordable housing available in the city and would be interested in hearing from you about your read on existing revenue available to meet the scale of the affordable housing issues and what other solutions in the revenue column we could or should be pursuing as a city council as we enter into our budget cycle.

Yeah so as everyone has said right we definitely do not have enough revenue and you know our state is terrible at dealing with the revenue question.

That said I do think we're gonna have a couple of important revenue streams hopefully coming to us.

So number one is the MHA fees.

And, you know, in one year where we just had it in six neighborhoods, we took in $13 million.

And so we should be drastically increasing that money.

So I think number one is looking at that kind of categorical spending and how does that help us free up general fund money to be using on more flexible ways to pilot things like mobile pit stops or hygiene related things.

So I think that's an important part.

I think also, you know, having sat through many hearings, I know there's a lot of concern about did we set the fees correctly.

And so I think we do need to make sure that we're really having a process for monitoring the appropriate level of the fees.

And if we don't feel that we're getting the right performance and pay balance to adjust those, and that would bring in additional revenue.

I'm also particularly hopeful that Olympia will pass the progressive real estate excise tax.

And again, giving that money to the city will help us free up hopefully more flexible funds in the general fund.

And also, hopefully Olympia will also give us the opportunity to hold back some of our sales taxes, the state sales taxes for affordable housing.

So I think those are some really important revenue streams that we should be thinking about and thinking about how we, that kind of categorical spending can free up more flexible spending in the general fund.

Very good.

Council Member Bekshaw.

Thank you.

In your introductory remarks, by the way, thank you for being here this evening, you talked about having budgeting experience.

Will you talk a little bit more about that?

Yeah.

So I would say, you know, not personally being doing budgeting myself, but certainly having been part of a lot of legislative cycles in which you are addressing budget issues.

So I think one of the key things was, you know, being having a front seat for past several years around the McCleary decision in Olympia and figuring out how you find revenue to meet our constitutional obligation to fully fund basic education.

So understanding, I think, A, like how you really, how difficult it is to address revenue questions, where you find budget money, I think that's some stuff, experience that I have.

So, if I can just do a quick follow-up.

Dive into that a little bit deeper.

So, you said that you didn't have hands-on budgeting experience.

On this council, in five months, we will.

So, I'd like to know what role you see yourself playing and how you can bring your experience to bear.

Yeah, so I think, you know, while I may not have that kind of hands-on thing, I think, you know, have done a significant deep dive into the budget and also just, I think, understand some of the ways in which we balance pools of revenue, understand the many revenue streams, whether they're levies, whether it's state funding, whether it's housing trust funding, and also I think really understand how you use the budget proviso process and to adjust the ways you are using, again, like categorical spending versus more flexible general funding spending.

Thank you.

Very good.

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you.

I appreciated your sharing with us your answers to the community submitted questions.

And in particular, I was drawn to your answer regarding the ave and MHA and your recognition that it is the only commercial strip major commercial strip that is not part of the MHA up zones which means now that MHA has passed throughout the city makes the ave especially attractive to developers who might want to avoid the MHA requirements and you know I was a supporter and a person when we were going through the University District MHA discussions who supported the community in hitting pause on those up zones.

And I've also engaged with the community since then to explain this phenomenon of the value of the up zones being a deterrent to development in some places and that the app may actually attract more development and potentially more displacement.

And I'm just, I'm curious to know how you think you can advance those conversations with some really vulnerable business owners on the app.

Yeah, so I think one thing I can bring to that conversation is a great deal of experience and empathy, I think, for those business owners.

So I basically grew up on the Ave.

My mother and stepfather rented a house on 55th and Brooklyn.

I remember when there was a Nordstrom on the Ave and bought records at Tower Records.

So I think being able to approach those business owners with that kind of sense of history and understanding how many changes the Ave has gone through, I think, It will help give me credibility in those conversations.

I think they also just need to hear actual solutions, which is why I'm really interested in exploring whether the mayor's proposal on a community preference policy can be extended to small businesses.

I think that's really important.

And frankly, I also think we need to be asking more of the UW.

They are one of the major landholders there.

Frankly, I'm pretty disappointed with their master plan and everything it doesn't do around housing for students and their workforce.

And, you know, I think the city council particularly, you know, while they don't have legislative purview over, you know, the UW, they do hold some leveraging with the permits.

And I think, you know, encouraging them, using that leverage to have them sign a community benefits agreement that particularly set aside commercial space for small business owners is one also solution that I think would be interesting to start the conversation on in a very short period of time.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Very good.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Just in time.

Thank you very much again for your answer specifically on the MHA up zone.

You know, you clearly have extensive knowledge on the type of funds that are available, but I think one of the things that we're dealing with here in the city is that even the sources that go into creating the city's NOFA funds, the funds that we, the Office of Housing, is able to dole out for affordable housing with non-profit developers.

They're already coming from things like the housing levy funds, MHA, incentive zoning payments, surplus property sale proceeds, and leveraging against state and federal sources.

And even with the, quote, citywide up zone, we're really talking about very small additions, I believe, that are coming to the pool.

And the trend that we've seen since 2017, in 2017, we saw $94 million go into the NOFA funds from the Office of Housing.

Last year, that dropped to $76 million.

This year, at best, at this point, it sounds like we're only going to have around $60 million.

And with the scale of housing, as we've talked about before, in this region, as estimated by the King County Regional Affordable Housing Task Force, we know that Seattle needs around 156,000 affordable new units just to meet today's needs.

So it's a follow-up question from the first question that Council Member Gonzalez asked, I know we are all interested in being good partners at the state level and coming from working at the state level, there's a lot of opportunities there that we want to continue to tap.

But could you talk a little bit more specifically about city level revenue resources that you might be willing to consider that don't require us to wait for yet another legislative session with this trend in decreased funding for the Office of Housing for Affordable Housing?

Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, as everybody has addressed, right, there are limited opportunities to actually raise funds just given how hamstrung we are from Olympia.

And, you know, I think a conversation around an employee hours tax is completely warranted, right?

And I know these conversations are difficult.

You know, I took, you know, well over five years really to get to MHA.

It took a year to get to a HALA agreement.

And, you know, I think, you know, investing our time in doing that, I mean, you know, I think two months was, you know, just knowing how controversial a topic it is.

I think, you know, we're going to probably need to devote even more time to that.

And just because something is difficult or unpopular doesn't mean you shouldn't have a talk, you shouldn't be willing to talk about it and ask people to pay their fair share.

Thank you.

Good.

Okay, Council Member Gonzalez.

I'm sorry, Council Member O'Brien.

Council Member O'Brien, did you have a question?

Okay, Council Member O'Brien.

Rick, the city is committed to Vision Zero, which is our commitment to eliminate all fatalities and serious injuries in the transportation sector by the year 2030. That's not going to be easy to do.

We've seen some challenges in the last few weeks.

I mentioned earlier backing away from a bike safety project on 35th, but also just the general reality that it's expensive to build all the projects in the bike master plan, and we saw a proposal that's cutting back on that.

Love your thoughts on Vision Zero in general, but also pragmatically, how are we going to do this in the next 11 years?

Yeah, so I mean, you know, I have actually been hit by a car on my bike.

I did not fortunately have a serious injury.

So I think, you know, have a lot of empathy around Vision Zero and have friends who have been hospitalized or have serious injuries due to collisions with automobiles.

And, you know, I think too often in our conversation around this, it's sort of like bikes versus cars or bikes versus pedestrians.

And the conversation really shouldn't be that because we know that there's plenty of data that shows that adding bike lanes just calms traffic overall for everybody.

So I think, you know, reframing the conversation is something that can, I think, begin now in this short period.

I mean, I also think, as I mentioned in some of my answers, right, you know, we know also in the limited funds that go to bike lanes, often some of that money gets siphoned off for non-bike lane purposes.

So I think also really protecting bike lane money for actual bike lane.

bike lanes is how we can at least move slightly faster and forward on, I think, what's a challenging problem.

Thank you very much.

I think that will conclude that section.

About a couple seconds left, but I think we're good.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Great job.

And our next applicant.

Jordan Goldwarg.

All right.

That's your last.

Okay, now that you're settled, Council Member Gonzalez.

Thank you.

Let's see.

I'm entertaining the idea of mixing it up a little bit.

All right.

The body has spoken, and they want me to be consistent.

So I'll ask you the same question I've been asking everybody else, which is around available revenue for the scale of the need for affordable housing.

Do we have enough?

If we don't, how do we get there?

in terms of revenue or other strategies available at the city municipal level that could assist in the collective goal of developing additional affordable housing.

Sure.

I mean, we've all seen from previous answers that this is a very challenging issue.

But for me personally, I would definitely be supportive of another attempt at a head tax or an Amazon tax.

There's no question to me that the scale of some of the large businesses in our city and the disruption that they've been creating in terms of housing affordability needs to be addressed in part by them.

And that really seems to be one of the only options that's available to us.

And so I think we really need to think hard about strategy to how to do that in an effective way that will actually have broad public support.

But that seems to be one of the only options that we have.

Beyond that, I mean, thinking still about business in the private sector, I mean, I tend to be reluctant when it comes to proposals that are being led by business, but I am intrigued by the recent announcement by Microsoft and their investment loans, whatever format it's actually going to come out to be.

But it does seem like an intriguing proposal to improve the stock of affordable housing on the east side.

And I definitely would be curious to explore a similar type of arrangement with companies here in Seattle.

Very good.

Customer Bekshaw.

Thank you for that answer.

Nice to see you this evening.

You mentioned in your opening remarks that phrase that we hear frequently, which is the budget is a moral document.

Can you talk a little bit about your experience in that and how, with a finite budget, we have to balance our budget?

Do we address the things you're talking about, whether it's housing and homelessness or parks or better public health or more firefighters?

How do you look at that and how do you make decisions?

Sure, I mean I think for me it always comes down to looking both on the expenditure side and the revenue side.

And so some things that maybe haven't been talked about tonight yet as far as reducing expenditures.

Actually there was one comment earlier about eliminating sweeps and the expense that comes from that with really seemingly very little benefit.

only further trauma to the people who are causing it or the people on who it's inflicted.

Similarly, I think I would want to take a really hard look at our community safety and policing budget and determine the extent to which those funds are being used appropriately and if there's reductions that could be made there to invest more in things like enhanced shelters and permanent supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness.

And so, just a quick follow-up, what happens when the police department tells you that's absolutely impossible?

I'd want to know why it's impossible.

And I think that's where the opportunity for dialogue comes in and the ability to have difficult but honest conversations in good faith about what is actually necessary and trying to find creative alternatives that can help save money.

That's Bremer O'Brien.

Jordan, your resume, you have a lot of experience with youth.

And I have a question about climate change as it relates to young people.

I know that as I get older, I struggle more and more with change.

And I try to resist that in my life.

But it's harder.

And one of the challenges around climate change is it is going to require, if we're going to successfully address this, it's going to require a lot of change.

And I think that my generation has largely failed us on that.

And I think I have a lot more hope in the youth for a variety of reasons.

But I'm curious on your ideas about that and in general, how do we get young people more engaged in these important policy decisions that they're gonna have to kind of inherit our work, especially if we fail it?

Sure.

I mean, I see in my previous work, both as a teacher and at the nonprofit that I worked at, Kids for Peace, everyday kids getting really engaged on all kinds of issues, from climate change to police violence to immigration to anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

From my perspective, there is this inherent energy that youth have.

And it really is a question of just channeling and harnessing that energy and providing mentorship and support to be able to have them exercise it.

And so I wish, for example, that we had stronger civics education in our schools so that youth actually had more opportunities.

to see how to put their energy into action and to be able to exercise leadership.

So I have a huge amount of hope that youth can help to guide us to a lot of the solutions to these problems.

I think one of the issues is that we often don't provide the platforms to them and we don't listen to them or we discount their opinions.

because we think that they're just kids.

And so in reality, I think the more we provide opportunities for youth to speak out about issues, the more we realize both the incredible amount of intelligence and hard work that they bring to researching these issues and to finding solutions.

And if we can sort of get over our own adult egos and listen to them, there's a lot of solutions that can be found there.

Very good.

My colleagues have any other questions of customer mosquito.

Oh Do you want me to go you want me to go real quick?

Okay, just go for it real quick question This follows up on a question.

I asked previously, you know, we have a few options as it relates to a few new dollars coming in the door related to MHA in lieu payments Recognizing we still have the goal of 50-50, 50% development onsite, 50% pay in lieu, what are your ideas for how MHA funds should be invested and what types of projects should be prioritized?

Sure.

To me, it's really important that any of those investments are done with a racial equity lens, which I think is important to the city.

And so I think, you know, prioritizing the use of those funds in areas that are predominantly neighborhoods where people of color live and that have been historically people of color neighborhoods, that's a really important first step.

I think there's an opportunity to use that money to expand the Tenant Relocation Assistance Program to help people find new housing in cases of economic evictions, which the program currently does not support.

And then I'm also really intrigued by the community land trust model.

And one of the challenges there is just the cost of acquiring land to put into trust.

And so if MHA funding can be used to help with that, that also seems like a productive venue for creating more affordable housing.

Very good.

Council Member Gonzalez.

Thank you.

So one of the things that you'll have an opportunity to do is serve as a member on my committee.

And you might have heard me say earlier, the committee oversees issues related to gender equity.

immigrants and refugees, public safety, and education issues.

And I think at least a few of those hit some bells that you've been talking about and that you've also highlighted in your written materials, including your resume.

Just wanted to get a sense from you about what kind of legislative priorities you would have as a member of my committee or what you're hoping to be able to accomplish.

Sure.

Somebody who is recently a new American, I became a citizen just about two years ago.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

I think that supporting citizenship clinics and opportunities for green card holders to become citizens is really, really critical, especially given the increased roadblocks and the increased processing times that the federal administration has put.

on people applying for citizenship.

Outside of that, I think we really need to continue to make sure that Seattle stays, that it maintains its sanctuary city status, and that continues to support immigrants who are here.

I'd love to see more opportunities for economic development for immigrants.

There was a proposal not too long ago to create an international market at King Street Station that would be a center for immigrant-owned restaurants and food businesses.

That sort of economic development, I think, could also be really powerful in terms of not only making sure that immigrants are welcome here, but also that they can thrive here.

Very good.

If no one else has any questions, I'm happy to ask another one.

I had a simple follow-up.

I wanted to sort of love to hear your feedback on a question.

Looking at your background, you have a history and a track record, I should say, of building strong teams around a shared vision.

Can you talk a little bit about building constituencies or building teams, perhaps when the vision is different?

Sure.

I mean, probably the best example for this is my work with Kids for Peace, which is an international nonprofit that works with Muslim, Jewish, and Christian teenagers, both here in the United States and also in Israel and Palestine.

So interfaith relationships can be fraught under the best of times, but the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in particular really infects interfaith relationships here in the United States, particularly between Muslim and Jewish communities.

And so I think a couple of examples.

Every year for Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, we would host a youth advocacy workshop focused on responding to Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and other forms of discrimination.

And we were able to bring together community groups like the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and the Council on American Islamic Relations groups that typically, you know, do not cooperate with each other and often have divergent interests and yet were able to come together because of the trust and relationships that we had built and because they could see that there was a common purpose that was worth putting aside whatever differences they had.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

We are out of time for this applicant, so please read the next name.

Luke Wigrin.

Okay, get nice and comfortable there.

Thanks for your patience.

Thank you We're gonna lean on councillor Gonzalez for her Go-to question to start us off councillor Gonzalez

Oh my gosh, okay.

Same question, housing, revenue, do we have enough?

I'm assuming you're gonna say no.

Wait a minute, now the first time you asked the question was like three minutes long.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

It has been suggested to me by the presiding officer that I shorten up the question, so I am heeding that advice in large part because I've only had a bag of goldfish today.

Okay, and four crackers.

So, same question, revenue around housing.

What is your view around current availability of revenue to develop additional affordable housing to meet the scale of the need?

And you've heard Council Member Musqueda.

already talk about sort of the ongoing decline in available dollars in our budget through the Office of Housing and what other mechanisms could we utilize to generate additional revenue or incentivize additional development of affordable housing.

I believe we don't have the revenue at the moment, which was why when Councilmember Harris-Talley put this and Mike O'Brien put together the head tax in that very short 51 days two years ago, it was so important.

And I do feel contrary to, I think, some people's beliefs that We really were able to see where we stood as a city, and I think that it was an incredibly valuable debate.

And also just to see who was on our side.

And we need that revenue.

The top 3% of businesses should pay.

We should also make sure that we are going out and looking at discretionary spending, addressing whether it's necessary all throughout the budget.

Hiring, I guess, many more police officers, I'm not sure, is the most important thing to do right now.

Property crime has dropped significantly since the 80s, and we need to address you know, crisis situations, which are what police officers respond to, I feel like, most in different ways with, you know, because they're a symptom of other issues going on.

So definitely, we need to tax big business.

Also, I believe, like David, that we should go to the state and the federal government even.

This is a humanitarian crisis in my perspective.

We need to sort of, I believe, yeah, leverage, I think we need to begin to pass a rent control ordinance here in the city and push the state to also just give us an earmark money, just like they've done for the waterfront tunnel, just like they've done in the past for the bus tunnel and many other public works projects.

I think that we need a large works project.

for housing.

Thank you.

Sorry about that.

And again, thank you for being part of this tonight.

You just mentioned that property crime rates have gone down.

The statistics that we see belie that.

And in District 4 in particular of the last year, that there was an increase in robbery, aggravated assault.

But one of the things we've heard a lot is from the university bookstore and shoplifting.

And they said the worst shoplifting is at 10 o'clock in the morning when they open their doors.

And what we know from a lot of our studies is that people pick something up, walk across the street, sell it for pennies on the dollar, walk up the street to the Jack in the Box where they buy drugs, then move across the street where they shoot up.

So I'd like you to talk about a little bit on the shoplifting, what you know and think, and what do you think about the idea of having our public health places where people are allowed to go in and get alternatives like buprenorphine?

Those are crimes of desperation and and I believe that yeah, there are many other opportunities to sort of circumvent them and Help people get those options.

I know that there is a big discussion in this district about what to do with the area around the the light rail that's coming there at the ave and I believe that if the city proactively begins to, with a land trust, like Teresa Mosqueda has set forth in the mayor, or not the mayor, but if we begin to buy some of these pieces of land, property, with that money, and invest in the future, knowing that we will eventually get money from the state and federal government, that we should protect those areas and be able to figure out how, by keeping the neighborhood character in those areas, that we can develop on them, keeping current businesses, and then also opening up services for the people in those areas.

Like safe injection sites or food banks.

I love the food bank in the U District, by the way.

I think that it's nestled perfectly in a building that has housing above, much housing, and the services below.

Council Member O'Brien, did you have a question?

I do, thanks.

Luke, I appreciate on your resume that you have a a degree in race and ethnicity.

I think of Seattle as a very progressive city, and I'm really proud of the values we uphold in our city.

And yet, having been in this job now for nearly 10 years and seeing the data over and over again, our progressive values belie the reality of racial disparities in our city, and often comparing us to political jurisdictions around the country that we scoff at as not being progressive.

Our outcomes are actually worse.

I'd be curious to hear just a few moments of your thoughts with your background on where we are as a city when it comes to racial disparities and things, you know, a couple things that you think you could address as a council member we should address short term or longer term to make the city more equitable.

There's a lot of things to be done.

We definitely cannot go back to Seattle that was 95% white at one point and severely redlined, but now we see the line stretching to the far reaches of the city and pushing people out altogether.

There's areas that are resistant to, I guess, what we'd call, desegregation like Wallingford, like Fremont, like Laurelhurst.

There's a lot of neighborhoods in this city that have always been white enclaves, I guess, sort of suburbanized.

I think that that has a lot to do with the wealthiest Seattleites and the historical generational wealth.

I think that what I was hearing is that while we are creating this massive push towards affordable housing, we should also supplement that with ways that low-income earners, marginalized people, people that are being displaced can have ways of ownership in the city because that's how white families have created wealth historically and kept that wealth.

And we need to create those means of opportunity.

I love, personally, I read about this over the last several months, but Nicola Cotta, he started a, Councilmember Licata, former councilmember, he started a commune up on Capitol Hill when houses were cheaper and rents were cheaper.

And we need to start, I think, a city department that is facilitating those sorts of things, whether we're taking, I don't want to go too much, I have a lot of ideas on this, but I think that we need to figure out ways that owners can maybe potentially vest their homes while getting paid back from individuals for the wealth that they've, I guess, earned on their home over the years, and allow other people to move in, maybe communally, in a communal structure.

I think there are people in Seattle that would back up their words with that action.

Very good.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you very much.

I'm so sorry, I took so much time.

No, this is what we're here for.

So you have plenty of time for this answer.

I think one of the big questions that I've asked a few folks to comment on was what your position would be as we think about the final piece of MHA implementation on the Ave. of recognizing some of the unique characteristics, both of the ABB and of our friends who we want to make sure don't get displaced, but also recognizing this is one of the areas where we have both students and artists and activists and future teachers and current postdocs who are in desperate need of housing.

And we don't have the density, especially around this transit that's coming in with the light rail to accommodate the housing that we need, and thus people continue to get pushed out of the area.

So it is a balance, I understand, but what is your position and what are your thoughts about the MHA implementation on the avenue as a District 4 council member?

Do you have a position on the ave and upzoning it?

One of my favorite, I believe I could definitively say that my favorite song of all time is the Ave by the Blue Scholars.

And to keep that character, I think, would be very important.

I think that that zone, in one way or another, should be sown similar to the way in the fight that the community put forth.

I don't know if the community support is behind it, but in similar ways to former council member Wing Luke.

you know, propel the discussion of protecting the pipe place market, and now we see an amazing, like, thriving community, in my opinion, that hasn't been touched by rampant speculation and development, but has, you know, still maintained its, like, sense of home and community.

I do support upzoning.

I do think maybe, in this case, the city should get out ahead of it and just, you know, buy that land and somehow maybe use the The money that we are, the very small amount that we're making at this moment to build that land trust in preservation districts, also the international district.

And I don't know, there's other places, too, in every single district.

Very good.

Any other questions of the county?

We just had a few seconds left.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate your thoughts.

OK.

We're going to go to the next applicant.

Darby Ducombe.

to come.

Okay, now that you're settled, Council Member Gonzalez.

Same question.

Revenue, affordable housing, do we have enough?

If not, how do we get more?

We do not have enough revenue to buy our way out of our housing affordability crisis.

No, we do not.

And I don't know that we'll ever single-handedly as a city government be able to achieve that.

I'm always reminded that it was the defunding of affordable housing by the federal government over the past several decades that's really pushed this issue down onto the cities and made it their responsibility.

That being said, I do support income tax reform.

I think that's one of the biggest things in our state, in our locality, is we need not to have such a regressive tax system in our community.

I also think, though, that when it comes to producing housing and affordable housing, we have a large menu of options available to us.

I'd like to see, I love the land banking idea, and when we own the land, we can get into deals with tax investors and tax credit investors and we can build our own affordable housing.

That's how affordable housing is being produced today through tax credit investments in large part.

There are HUD contracts expiring that we could maybe purchase.

We could work with the Seattle Housing Authority to ask ourselves how do we as a city keep buying and buying and buying sectioning of vouchers that might be expiring with other folks so that we own the public housing?

And then I think also we need to find a way to stimulate the private development of affordable housing.

Affordable housing is row houses.

Affordable housing is low rise housing.

It's wood construction that's less than five stories tall, five stories tall.

And when we put together that middle housing strategy, I think we'll see a lot of benefit to that.

Because right now, the apartments, the micro apartments, you know, they're not serving families.

And if we're not going to be able to incentivize family size housing in apartments, we've got to find a way to produce family size housing through row houses, townhouses, and low rise zoning.

In Northeast Seattle, in District 4, we have enormous opportunities to convert single-family lands into low-rise zones in lots of areas.

Our arterials, we're watching developers right now build $1.5 million single-family homes on an arterial, when we could have three families in there or four families in there in a $300,000, $400,000, $500,000 home.

That's making me cry right now in my own neighborhood.

Thank you.

Darby, great to have you back here.

And nice to see you after all the years you worked on with city attorney's office.

So I have two land use questions for you and both involve lids.

I'm not talking about marijuana here.

Local Improvement District and also the lid over I-5.

And I know someone mentioned about a land make, that when we make land, we can put affordable housing on it, more capacity.

So I'd like your thoughts about the lid I-5 work we're doing.

And then also, I understand that even though it might not be you personally, your law firm is suing the city around our Local Improvement District on the waterfront.

So can you address those?

Yeah, so I'll just put it out there.

Yep.

We have a client at my firm who's contesting his LID assessment.

If appointed to this position, I would recuse myself from all things having to do with the waterfront LID, which I think is pretty much to rest right now.

A lot of the work is done.

So that shouldn't be a big issue.

When it comes to lidding I-5, I think that's a great, it's a great opportunity.

We've done that in other communities over I-90.

I think our, Interstate corridors have enormous potential, not just for reforesting our community, but for providing open space, public space, and housing.

So I'm in favor of that.

Council Member O'Brien?

Council Member Esqueda?

He'd give me some body language first.

No, he'd give me some body language first.

Are you sure?

Okay.

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

I'm just teasing you.

Thank you for your answer to the first question.

I think, you know, The answer that you provided around greater density, looking at opportunities, especially in D4, not being shy about how do we create duplexes, triplexes, quads, and recognizing, as one of the earlier members said, that was the fabric of our city in the past, and this should not be something that's scary.

We use the term don't raise alarm bells.

It should be an alarm to us, the lack of affordable housing that's currently happening, the amount of displacement that's happening from the city.

And I've said before, we're losing our neighbors because they're getting pushed out.

We're also losing lives because people are being pushed into the streets.

And often, I think, we in Seattle, it's been a And so, as we think about the long-term goals that you articulated, which I appreciate, I'm also urgently pushing for us to think of what is the short-term solutions that we can be investing in, whether it is creating additional shelters or additional, you know, small housing units, casitas.

I don't know what else to say because there's various types.

We're not just talking about tiny houses.

We're talking about the kind that could be pallet or well put together, stuff that can be thrown up very quickly so people have a roof and a door.

and a lock and a window, and they can be with their family and not be separated.

This is critical.

Right now, in the city of Seattle, in November, we heard that there was only three enhanced shelter beds open per night in the heart of going into winter.

Last month, I heard there was only eight enhanced shelter beds open per night on average.

And yet, the city continues to engage in moving people from corner to corner without adequate shelter space.

So first, can you comment on what we're seeing in terms of the movement of people and the lack of shelter to place them in?

Quite literally, we do not have the shelter that we need.

And if people can have stability in tents and we know where we can go to reach them and get them into case management, that is a better solution than re-traumatizing people by pushing them from corner to corner.

Can you comment on those?

They're otherwise called sweeps and what your position is.

And then other ideas that you have for how we address the lack of shelter as we push for those housing solutions that you talked about that are longer term.

I think short-term looking for shelter space, emergency overnight shelter space, I would give some thought to all the vacant commercial space that we see in a lot of areas.

I imagine you might be able to lease some spaces from commercial owners, I know that that's a frustrating element for the folks on the Ave is that there's so much empty commercial space around them in the new buildings.

I think also the big issue is the throughput housing.

So we do an okay job getting people into shelters and then we might even do a good job in getting them into emergency transitional housing, but then we don't have a good stock of the low-income housing where they can really permanently land.

And I think that's the body of housing that we should really be putting our energy into.

When it comes to our unauthorized encampments and people living outdoors, I believe we need to keep zeroing in on our investments in terms of trauma-informed care.

I think anyone working with the homeless population needs to be using trauma-informed practices and to be very delicate in what they're doing and how they're talking to people and building those relationships.

I also think that we need to invest in the mobile health and hygiene facilities.

The report from the navigation team audit, to me, was just heartbreaking, just absolutely heartbreaking.

I think we need more hygiene facilities for folks.

And I'm a firm believer in outreach, outreach, outreach, and clean the camps.

I mean, it's not a big secret.

I cleaned encampments for Mayor Nichols.

It was very controversial.

It's always controversial.

But we have to keep the camps clean for the campers.

And we have to keep the camps clean for our neighborhoods.

I get on the freeway and it's basically a drive down I-5 where it's, one encampment after another and garbage piles everywhere.

And then I get to work in Soto and it's crazy in Soto what's going on right now.

And my hope for my city is that we can clean it and we can keep it clean.

And when our city is clean, people aren't really too upset about the fact that people are in tents.

And they're not too upset about the fact that people are camping out in places.

But I think we've got to get our city clean.

Yes, follow-up, Council Member Esqueda.

Thank you so much.

I think you just raised an interesting distinction, and maybe I didn't catch it the first time around on Monday.

When you say clean the camps, that could sound like an endorsement of sweeps, but what I heard you say was clean the camps in terms of make sure that people have hygiene services and garbage pickup.

Can you distinguish for me between those two, which one you mean when you say clean?

Well, we have to give people notice that you're coming to do the cleanup, right?

And generally people, depending on the situation in the particular encampment, might have to move across the street or wait on the corner with their personal belongings that they want to protect and then try not to get so freaked out that they move back, right?

When I was training city workers on how to clean an encampment, it was super frustrating for them.

We're the hotel maid.

And I would say to them, that's right, you're the hotel maid.

We have a city full of encampments, and it's our job to keep the encampments clean.

If this was the Motel 6, the maid would come through three times a week.

If this was the Holiday Inn, the maid would come through every day of the week.

So we just have to be okay with cleaning the encampments.

And then there are going to be situations and locations where we should not have encampments.

I am all for a small amount of zero-tolerance policies, whether it's our parks, lands, or someplace.

Our highway infrastructure makes me very nervous, but that's a very complicated issue because it provides shelter from the weather, so.

Very good.

I think we've exhausted the time for this applicant.

Thank you very much.

And let's guess who's our last applicant.

All right, last applicant.

That would be Abel.

Abel Pacheco.

Mr. Pacheco, we were almost going to do it by alphabetical order on a first name basis, and you'd have been number one.

But unfortunately, we went random.

So who would like to ask Mr. Pacheco his first question?

I'll go.

Before you do that, Mr. Zimmerman, it's been it's fairly clear you're trying to be disruptive and you're making several bodily gestures to do that.

You're being warned that your behavior is being disrupted.

OK, I'm just letting you know you've been warned already that your behavior is disruptive.

That will suffice as the warning piece.

Council Member Gonzalez.

Thank you, Council President.

The same question that I've been asking all of the applicants, I would like to ask of you as well.

Issues related to revenue as it relates to continuing our commitment to developing affordable housing throughout the city.

Do we have enough revenue?

And if not, where do we find the revenue and what other strategies should the city council be considering in order to meet the scale of the need as it relates to affordable housing?

Sure, the 5500 so people that are sleeping on the streets would say no, as well as what I've been fortunate to kind of knock on some of the doors within some of the resident within District 4. And to your point, Councilmember Gonzalez, the city is still empathetic, compassionate and wanting to deal with the issue.

But then I kind of dissect this issue and how this issue came to be.

The federal government in the 80s sold one of the greatest lies to us as a people, which was the government isn't the solution, government is the problem.

This issue then led to impacts on state budgets as well as local budgets.

And so while there is, I think, the opportunity for us to see how the final state budget is developed here in Washington, Over the next few weeks.

It would potentially provide new resources for us The local on the more local side of how we address this issue Looking at potentially I think some of the solutions have already been presented by some of the council members here in this body already, which is looking at unearned income tax as a city.

I also think it's an opportunity for us to look into countywide solutions as well.

These issues and pushing our county and our regional partners, our regional counties to do more as well.

The counties, the issue of homelessness, and the issue of housing affordability as we made investments in ST3 is something that as we keep a focus on transient-oriented development, how do we build more housing as the light rail becomes online?

Very good.

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you.

So we've been talking a lot about revenue for affordable housing, so building housing that is affordable to folks in the city.

We've also been talking a lot about MHA, exchanging zoning capacity for requirements of developers to contribute to affordable housing.

One of the things that we haven't talked much about is preservation of existing affordable housing and using the University District as an example.

The Council of Central Staff did a review of pending demolitions and found that in less than a year and a half since passage of MHA in the University District, there are about 96 units slated for demolition.

The city had estimated that over 20 years there would be 40 to 60 units slated for demolition.

So our estimates of what we're tearing down in order to add capacity are off the mark.

And so this is something I feel really strongly that we need to do something about.

And we have a bill that's gone on the information and referral calendars, been referred to the PLUS committee.

I've been working with our law department as well as some outside legal counsel to address that issue, highlighting the fact that displacement has disparate impacts on communities of color, perpetuating segregation in our city, pushing people out of the city.

And so this bill would use our SEPA authority to mitigate those disparate impacts on communities of color.

And if you were to be selected, I just wanna know that this bill would be something that you would be willing to have on the PLEZ agenda as the chair of that committee.

Yes, but I will say this too.

We have policy tools available to us with regards to displacement.

They'd be able to provide more support for immigrant or some of the small businesses, because I hear those concerns too within the U District.

And I think we have cities like San Antonio who have set up mitigation funds.

forward displacement is something that I think for us is We're gonna have to look and explore further in Having said that too, I think we have an opportunity to really think about how we put more development the first The largest expense that any individual or family has is housing.

The second largest is transportation.

And if we're serious about getting more people out of cars, in addition to being able to provide more support for families to think about how they can be able to afford living in Seattle, we have to think about how we can up-zone and think about the new development that happens within our transit-oriented, sorry, within our ST3 system.

Very good.

Council Member Bekshaw.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here.

Appreciate it.

I know it's been a long night for everybody.

Talk to us a little bit about your MESA program and the work you've done there and how you might coordinate what you're doing with the efforts that our public school district is doing.

Sure.

Washington Mesa is the state's largest STEM pathway program for young girls and kids of color.

We have 18 centers across the state.

I've been able to help expand our community college program from the 12 centers that we had to 18. With regards to what we have, we have a Seattle Central College Mesa program in District 3. We have a Seattle Mesa program focused on middle school and high school youth in South Seattle as well as West Seattle.

And in terms of coordination, one of the challenges that we've had as a program is that while we've been in existence through 35 years, we have not received as a program additional state funding since our K-12 program and funding has flatlined when adjusted for inflation since 1992. And I think one of the opportunities as we see an economic boom here in Seattle with regards to the number of STEM jobs, it's an opportunity for us as a city to really think about how we're providing those STEM education opportunities specifically focused on young kids of color and young girls so that we're on the forefront of how we're creating a new face of STEM and leading it with regards to the diversity of our workforce.

So quick follow up on that.

Tacoma has four innovative high schools and I went down and saw one of the STEM schools last May.

Can you talk about that kind of an innovative program and how the city of Seattle can work closely with our school district to promote that?

One of the things that we do is provide professional development for teachers and so being able to leverage our curriculum and professional development for teachers would be something that I think the MESA program through the District 4 can be able to provide leadership on.

With regards to some of the enrichment activities that we do for kids and being able to engage them in field trips to companies like Amazon or Microsoft, and providing those additional support resources after school, in school, is something that I think we can have an opportunity to partner and strengthen with regards to both the STEM, the MESA program itself, but also with regards to what we do from the university to the city.

Great, thank you.

Very good.

Council Member Gonzalez.

Thank you.

So, Abel, I wanted to ask you a quick question about some of the positions you took, or at least one specific position you took, at the community forum on Monday.

And I appreciate you sent me an email.

an email earlier today to clarify one of your answers at the forum or one of the perceived answers at your forum.

So it was reported online that when the question around overdose prevention centers was asked you gave a thumbs down indicating that you were not supportive of that public health harm reduction model to address heroin and opioid and just substance use deaths.

And so I wanna get a clear sense from you today what your position is on overdose prevention centers or safe consumption sites as some folks call them.

To clarify, I had put my thumb like this just because I always think it's a disservice to do complex public policy questions and binary responses.

But as we all know, we wish we could do this probably more often.

Willie, what I was trying to outline is that I am supportive of safe consumption sites.

What I would like to see is that it's a more coordinated approach with regards to, so that when someone is ready for support, that there are nonprofit partners as well as public health partnerships nearby, co-located, so that someone, when they're looking to seek recovery or seek rehabilitation, they're able to find those resources.

Quickly, on a personal level, I have lost friends to drug addiction.

And so being able to provide, I look at this issue as very much more so about being able to provide the access to opportunity for recovery, for housing, for economic assistance where they can find jobs or potential education opportunities so that those pathways to opportunity are provided.

And I appreciate the response to the clarification there and just want to make sure that you're aware that that's exactly the model that the City Council has been supporting and and advancing through multiple budget sessions already.

And it is our vision that this would be a opportunity for us to One, first and foremost, prevent otherwise preventable deaths from drug overdose.

But secondly, also be a place of resources and support and wraparound services for individuals who are ready to enter into a period of sobriety and all of the challenges that come with that.

So that would include mental health services, counseling, drug rehabilitation, all of those wraparound services that you've described.

And, you know, former Council Member Johnson was a major, major advocate and champion for this particular issue in large part because it is an issue that uniquely impacts District 4 in particular, given its very diverse population in terms of age and income, et cetera.

And it's really important, I think, for me to find somebody in this position who is gonna be of the same vision as former Council Member Johnson as it relates to this particular issue.

I agree.

I apologize that, one, these forums have gone, these opportunities go a little bit longer.

So I'm one to admit a mistake that I made.

And so I should have clarified.

And that's why I clarified immediately as soon as I became aware of it.

Unfortunately, it was not tagged on it on Twitter.

So I became aware of it a couple of days later.

And so I've clarified that position.

So I apologize.

Thank you.

Very good.

Council Member O'Brien.

Mabel, I'll ask you a version of a question I asked earlier about how we grow as a city.

I mentioned before the data point that about 75% of our residential land is zoned for single family and about 25% for multifamily.

And about 95% of the growth has happened in those multifamily zones because of our urban village strategy.

As Seattle continues to take a lot of growth, almost certainly in the coming decade or two, Do you think that that's, well, how would you like to see us grow, continuing that policy or shift and maybe some nuance there?

In 42 seconds.

One, and I think this is what everyone has kind of outlined, which is the policy needs to change.

What I think and what I've heard is that there would just be like to be more engagement through the process.

However, as much engagement ultimately as we have, I think the values of being inclusive and being more, providing more sustainability around how we grow as a city is something that we have to be keenly aware of and anytime that we stray away from those values is something that I think this city needs to and especially our leadership needs to be able to push back on as well.

Thank you very much.

And that will conclude this section of the agenda and I'd ask that you just stay seated.

I would like to say a few closing words and then we'll invite public comment.

I personally want to thank all 11 of you for, I would say, giving us gifts, gifts of your wisdom and your passion for the city.

And I don't say that in a token way at all that I've learned from each of you in terms of your commitments.

This is not easy, what you're going through.

I think you only were motivated by really positive intentions.

So for that, I thank you personally as the president of the council.

A lot of what I heard, quite candidly, you just can't fake.

There's nothing artificial about it.

So I think that there was real talk there.

And so we will evaluate and hope to make a good decision.

So thank you for your participation.

And I ask that you stay while we listen to public comment.

We have about 14 people that have signed up.

And we are going to open public comment now in the order with which you signed up.

And we'll start with Mark Foltz, if he's here, and then Josh Cooper.

Each speaker will have two minutes.

Hello, council.

Thank you for running this process and inviting me up tonight.

I'd like to speak a little bit about the qualifications.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I don't know if your mic is on.

Just one sec, sir.

OK.

So again, thank you for being here tonight and hosting this process.

I wanted to speak about some of the qualifications for Brooke.

Among all the other candidates, what really stands out to me is her track record of being effective at generating policy both at the state but particularly the local level.

You might be aware from her materials that She wrote a very detailed proposal about creating more family-sized rental units during the U-District upzone.

She wrote a long five-point proposal on ways we could incentivize more family-sized rental units, which were not being produced by the market at the time.

And a form of that proposal was eventually adopted into the MHA legislation and eventually made its way citywide as well.

Another thing that kind of came up during the questioning tonight is you're looking for someone who's willing to put in the work to really generate very detailed and thoughtful policy proposals.

It seems some of you have had the chance to review her responses to the 70 plus community questions, which I think had a lot of very detailed thoughtful responses that reflect both her values, specific ideas, and her knowledge and background and connections to the District 4 community.

Finally, beyond just her qualifications and skills and intelligence.

She cares about people and that's why she's seeking this role.

As a member of the North Lake Community Advisory Council, she organized a Thanksgiving dinner that brought together the residents, the providers that work at the North Lake Tiny House Village, and neighbors to come together to share a meal, to have a moment that really connected the neighborhood together.

For all these reasons, I think she would be a great choice to serve as the District 4 Council Member and Senator in position, and I encourage you to make that choice.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Josh Cooper is our next speaker.

Following Josh is Erica.

It's S, a letter, L, A, R. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak this evening.

I just wanted to say a few words about Maritza Rivera.

I think she's an excellent choice to represent Seattle's 4th District, where I've lived for over a decade.

I've been lucky enough to know her for the past 20 years.

She's honest, personable, level-headed.

She has great listening skills.

She's an independent thinker.

She's extremely bright, and she knows how to work on a team.

As a longstanding resident of District 4, who also has two children in the Seattle Public Schools, I think she really understands the key issues that face our city and our district in particular.

She truly has the Seattle District 4 community's best interests at heart.

Her law degree, coupled with her track record of diligent work as a public servant, including her past experience, as was mentioned tonight, working in the White House and her current position in the mayor's office, here in Seattle, I think make her really one of the best choices to fill the city council position.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Erica will be followed by Elisa Patrick, then Sean Moore.

Hi, my name is Erica Sklar.

I'm a resident of District 4, also a member of the Transparent Seattle Coalition.

I'm here tonight to support candidates who support community-led solutions for Transparent Seattle.

And for me, those candidates are Jordan Goldwarg and Sheree LaSalle.

Unlike the other candidates, Jordan and Sheree have shown that they have a really deep understanding of what our community demands.

They share critical analysis around ending the sweeps, canceling the jails, and shrinking the public safety budget.

Instead of waffling on spending millions of dollars on projects that harm human lives, Jordan and Sheree have shown that they support what most of the council supports, but many of these applicants showed us that they don't support those things.

Things like making safe injection sites a reality, securing funding through progressive taxation, and ensuring that community ownership models are prioritized over private developers.

Over and over, I think the public hears that the City Council says it wants to invest in community-led solutions, but I think this very process shows us that all applicants don't get equal access.

The urgent timeline and the demands on applicants' time doesn't mean the needs of all community members who might be able to otherwise apply or show up to support.

Community members that do apply make major sacrifices to do so, and I hope that's something that the council will consider as they make their decision.

Furthermore, I just want to urge a vote against applicants who support sweeping our unsheltered neighbors or further bloating our public safety budget, and in particular, I would call out Abel Pacheco and Darby Ducombe.

Thank you.

Following Erica is Alyssa.

Is Alyssa here?

Did Alyssa leave?

Patrick?

Okay, how about Sean Moore?

And following Sean Moore is Kulani Seto.

Hi, my name is Sean Moore.

I'm a student at UW and a resident of District 4, and I would like to speak in favor of Abel Pacheco to fill the vacancy in District 4. I believe he can bring several unique qualities that could help District 4 thrive in its student population.

I believe he understands UW and its student population, which is very much at the heart of District 4. He not only went to U-Dub, he now works at U-Dub to help marginalized community, and I believe he'll understand the needs of students at U-Dub and of District 4. He also has a depth of technical knowledge as a graduate of the Evans School of Public Policy at U-Dub.

I believe that this technical knowledge will be an asset to District 4 as it deals with high rents, homelessness, and development and displacement.

I also believe that he has a fleshed out vision of how to smartly develop District 4 in a way that can accommodate new residents while also preventing the displacement of current residents.

Overall, Abel has a strong understanding, capability, and vision of how to guide District 4 through these times of change and would make a great addition to the council.

Thank you.

Thank you.

My name is Kulani Sito.

I'm a colleague of Abel in the MESA program.

I moved here 10 years ago, about the same time Abel moved to Seattle, too.

In that time, I was only intending to be a transient worker, so I worked here two years and maybe moved back, but I ended up staying longer, having found community in my program, the MESA program.

And I guess Abel had found the same thing, too, being a student at UW.

And I had only come across Abel maybe, say, three years ago.

And having connected with Abel over this time, he's taught me that I am in District 4. He's also got me to vote, registered to vote.

And a number of things about really taking advantage of the privilege that I have being a citizen.

I acquired my citizenship.

I'm not naturally a citizen.

I gained it from my parents.

And I think in talking with Abel over time, I realized that We found community here, even though we're from different places in the world.

I'm from a Pacific island, Abel's from Los Angeles, but I've been to other places in California and on the East Coast, and I don't see the same community that we have here, something that's very precious and very unique to Seattle.

And I think that's worth protecting, and I think we've lived in the community long enough to see that what makes Seattle special, especially when we come from very diverse neighborhoods that in itself are special too.

And I'd like to see that community thrive even more here, even though we have a giant neighbor that seems to be bouncing our littlest neighbor out of the neighborhood.

Thank you.

Our next two speakers are Maddox Starr followed by Joanna DeSaro.

is Maddox, Maddox here, and then Joanna DeSaro, and then Nicole Gates.

Maddox, Joanna, and Nicole Gates.

This is the one?

Yes.

Hello, my name's Maddox.

Shuri has often been referred to as Mama by coworkers and friends alike because she has been known to take people under her wing.

I have seen her genuinely help many people over the almost two years I've known her, including myself.

She helps and inspires people to get back on their feet.

She offers sound advice, but she also holds them accountable for their actions.

She's brutally honest in any given situation, which I find to be quite refreshing.

I've seen her help people from all walks of life in various ways time and time again.

There's no doubt that Sheree touches people's lives and makes friends everywhere she goes.

I believe she was born to be a politician, and she already is in many senses.

She's charismatic, tenacious, strategic in finding solutions, and she cares deeply for this community.

She will and already does prioritize and stand up for the most vulnerable, whose voices often go unheard.

Sheree has been a resident for nearly a decade, I think, and she's extremely knowledgeable about the issues affecting our community.

I know through experience that she is extremely innovative at finding not only solutions, but great solutions.

Thanks to her values, I had the courage to come out as trans at the workplace.

As a manager, she showed me support in countless ways.

There's not enough time for me to extrapolate.

And thanks to her, I'm a member of this community as well.

So thank you, Sheree, for inspiring me to find the courage to tell the world my name and for helping me become a community member of such a wonderful city.

And as a member of the University District, as well as a member of the LGBTI community, I would be proud to have Sheree Lascelles serve as the Interim District 4 Council Member.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Joanna, Nicole, And then Connor Bronson.

So is Joanna here?

Okay, so I'm going to move from Joanna to Nicole Gates.

And Nicole?

Okay, and then Connor will follow you.

I'm complicated, sorry.

I did a little research.

I don't know a whole lot.

I'm mostly here because I believe in whatever she believes in.

If she says yes, I say yes, too.

So I did a little bit of research, and I got some information.

It says the City of Seattle's council doesn't have the best reputation.

It kind of has an intimidating and discouraging factor.

But, I mean, if you see both sides of it, does it mean that the city council has a problem, or do the people have a problem?

Because it just mostly seems like that's fear-based with the people, not necessarily the structure of what you're doing, because what you're doing is important, and it's set that way for a reason.

Because you hold space.

You hold the space, and you're here, and you're giving time to people who are just afraid to give what they have as an opportunity in front of them.

My perception of the collective as an individual is they're just disconnected and lost.

And I think before a council could ever give the city what they need or the city vice versa, then I think we need to acknowledge and recognize that we have a never growing gap of separation that needs a bridge.

Our bridge is here.

And she's right there, and that's Sheree.

We don't need just another advocate who contributes some great value to the bridge being built or set in place.

Not a person with money or academic achievement or a donor of materials or accomplishments of notoriety.

Our bridge is built, so we just need permission to set it in place.

She definitely will span the gap, y'all.

Walk on this bridge because it was made by humility, it's protected by confidence and passion, and it floats on integrity.

Cherie is a gift that only knows contribution to the greater good.

She invests in it.

Thank you.

Thanks for your testimony.

One more thing.

Well, is it going to be brief?

Because I'm trying to keep to two minutes on everybody.

Sorry about that.

I just wanted to say she is the voice to be heard by the ears that need to listen to, and her heart beats with a conviction that amplifies the voice so that it's heard by making waves, not swallowed by them.

Thank you.

Connor is here, and then Ed Bronston.

Same last name, right?

OK, so Connor will be followed by Ed Bronston.

Well, first of all, thank you so much for putting this on and having the opportunity to ask extensive questions of all of the candidates.

I thought that was incredibly excellent to have that opportunity to, like, hear more in-depth from them.

So thank you to the Council for instituting that.

I think it made it clear we have a bevy of intelligent, capable, and accomplished candidates.

But I want to speak particularly to Abel.

I've known Abel for seven years.

In that time, he's demonstrated to me the nuance that I think you need to have as a city council member, both through his lived experience as a young man of color and also, you know, being publicly arrested and wrongfully so.

He's got that experience to build a bridge for what we need in public safety.

And I also think it's really important that we have someone who understands and knows the district.

We have people who have lived there for a long time, but no one else in this room has ran for that seat, has knocked on thousands of doors, both in 2015 and this year in that district, has engaged in community forums before this week, talking to people in the district for.

And I think that's a fantastic asset he's going to bring to the table and be able to go in there, just as all of you did, and know the people of the district really well and have that knowledge of what they need.

I think that'll give him a huge advantage in making the most of the short time on the council.

So thank you so much, and I'll keep it short.

Thank you.

Following Ed will be Shelly Prosice.

I know Abel because of my son, Connor Bronston, but I'm Ed Bronston.

I've lived in Seattle almost all my life, born in Seattle, married in Seattle.

I've worked in District 4 for 15 years.

I live in District 5 for 33 years.

But my comments actually are for the 11 of you, not so much for the council, which is thank you for stepping up.

Because I listened and I thought to myself, we're going to be better off if any one of you steps in, if any one of you is elected in that role.

And I'm here to speak for the person that I know best, and that's Abel.

And one of the reasons that I appreciate Abel personally is because he does look at things and say, you know, I misspoke there.

I want to clarify my remarks and I want to make sure people know where I'm coming from on that.

He responds in a way with intellect.

Councilmember O'Brien spoke and said, well, to an issue paraphrasing here, what would you do to involve youth in some of these issues that we're dealing with?

And one of the ways you could do that would be to elect a council member for the next six months who is younger than you, and yet still has the community experience that we need to be successful in this role.

So to have that intellect, to have a social equity understanding that comes from living it his entire life, and to have the ambition to want to serve, which all 11 of you do, thank you.

But I'm here to speak for Abel, and I hope you will choose him.

And good luck in those deliberations, because it's after 9 o'clock and you folks are stepping in for a tough role here.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Shelly, and following Shelly is Rachel Rourke.

Hi there, I'm Shelly Proceis.

I live in District 4. I've lived there for 15 years, and I've worked there for about seven.

I'm here tonight to support Maritza Rivera for about 100 reasons, but in interest of time, I'm going to share three that I think will be most important to the council and to Seattle.

So Maritza has vast relevant experience representing citizens and fighting for equality.

You've seen her resume, you know what she's done.

She's just really qualified for this role.

And I think that her experience and her diverse experience is really going to be important for District 4 and how diverse it is.

Number two, she deeply cares about health, racial, and economic equity for the entire Seattle.

So she cares a lot about our district, but she also understands how that fits into all of Seattle.

And number three, she follows a lot to a T.

She's honest and independent, which is a fierce mix.

And I think that the council could really use it.

I think Maritza is the team player that you need to fill this hole in the City Council and to fill in where Rob Johnson can't.

So, thank you.

Thank you.

So, I'm sure you are Rachel?

Yeah.

Yes, Rachel.

So, I was given four seconds.

Okay, Rachel and following you will be Alex Zimmerman.

So I'm Rachel Rourke.

I've lived in Seattle all my life.

I run the women's shift at the People's Harm Reduction Alliance in the U District.

And I'm here in favor of Sharae.

I'm sorry.

Can we stop the clock just for a moment?

Yeah.

Mr. Zimmerman, sir, you know the rules.

So please do not stand in back of the speaker.

I'm sorry.

I apologize for interrupting your rhythm.

That's okay.

I'm here in favor of Sheree Lascelles.

She is somebody who has the unique ability to meet people where they're at by networking within the community that she lives in.

And like me, she doesn't drive a car, and so I feel like she'll represent somebody in my demographic.

I also work for an organization that does work with opioid use and houselessness crisis.

I can't mention which one because of HR at my work.

I'm not allowed to, like, say where I work in media kind of circumstances.

But I can say that I know that Sharae will do the work within the communities to bring, like, harm reduction approaches and critical thinking that it takes to solve or work with the homelessness crisis.

Yeah, I think that her work with SAW and her work with SWAP shows their commitment to this kind of work.

Also, as the parent of a trans teenager, their non-binary LGBTQ lens that they will bring to this work would greatly affect the rights of those individuals.

And so I just really think that Sheree Lassell is the most sort of progressive candidate for this position.

All right, thank you very much.

And it's been a really late night.

I really appreciate everybody staying here to hear me out.

Thank you for your testimony.

Appreciate that.

Following Alex Zimmerman is Kristen Huber.

Thank you, sir.

My sweet Fuhrer, yeah.

Dirty garbage rats from animal farm.

My name is Alex Zimmerman.

So, I see this circus with this clone for 30 plus years.

This is what we have named in Seattle.

Excuse me, Council Member, I'm sorry, stop this clock, please.

Council Member Baggio?

I'm going to require five at the dais, unfortunately, for this special meeting.

Thank you very much, Council Member Baggio.

We know you're not a clear room, sir.

So, but unfortunately, I need five.

Please register how offended I am by this man coming and speaking to us day after day with insults.

So I will- It's okay.

Give me my two minutes.

Okay.

You've, and just for the record, you have been on notice one time as required by the rules.

So please proceed.

Resume clock.

Thank you very much.

So, I see this circus with this clone for 30 years includes six my personal election, yes.

It's controlled by progressive Nazi social democratic mafia.

I speak here every day, 2,200 times plus.

So, right now I have two very simple question to city children, 12 city children, yes, like her.

Gonzales violate constitutional law, he opened public meeting act five times.

Excuse me, this is not, Council President Harrell, Mr. Zimmerman is once again speaking about an item that is not on the agenda, which is a violation of city council rules.

So you are speak to the agenda, the special meeting is for, and if you do not, you're going to be removed from the chambers, sir.

So speak specifically to the agenda.

And Council Member Gonzalez is not on the agenda.

No, you're absolutely right.

So you've been warned, and I'm listening to every word you say.

And as soon as you deviate, you're going to be immediately removed.

Please proceed, sir.

Exactly, guys.

I spoke to you, to 12 people.

I give you a very simple question.

Is this question exactly what is I talk about this council?

You know what is mean?

What is forgot about Gonzales?

She not guilty.

About council.

Excuse me.

Council President.

Stop the clock, please.

I don't mention her name.

Stop the clock.

Hold on for one sec, sir.

Yes, ma'am.

Mr. President, as per your instructions, once the individual has deviated from items on the agenda, he does need to be removed.

I'd ask for a point of order and ask this gentleman to be removed.

And that was the stretch.

I'd ask this individual to be removed.

So you've been asked to be removed.

He's been held to deviate and be disruptive.

So you are excused, sir.

Please, security, escort him out.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

OK.

Have a good night, sir.

Our next, I think our last two speakers were I hope we didn't lose any of you 11 applicants for saying I'm signing up for that.

Kristen Huber and then Shelley.

On the job.

Shelley already spoke.

So Kristen Huber will be our last speaker unless someone else wants to speak.

Please proceed.

Thank you for your patience too.

Thank you for your patience.

I'm here tonight because of Sheree Lascelles and I've known her for 10 years and when I first met Sheree, we were working together and I was like, what's going on with her?

But she was also like, immediately like, I can't wait to see this woman 10 years from now and what she's gonna become.

And so it's absolutely awesome to witness her becoming.

And really quick, I want to express my belief in the abilities of Sheree LaSalle to hold the seat for District 4. I've lived in District 4 for the past eight years.

I've worked in District 4 for 10 years.

During this time, I've known Sheree.

Since I've known Sheree, she's always been fighting a cause.

She's given a home to the otherwise homeless.

She currently has a partition in her living room with someone who'd otherwise be homeless living there.

So I think that's...

awesomely that she stands in the solution like that.

That it otherwise be homeless, otherwise be unemployable.

She stood up for those that couldn't find their voice.

She's done this all by struggling with her own burdens.

She is a fierce listener and an incredibly hard worker.

Ms. LaSalle has lived and worked in the neighborhood and has a passion for her community.

She can identify problems.

She has the ability to come up with solutions to problems and execute them.

She is an advocate for those that are underrepresented.

She has a deep empathy for the social minority.

She has used her own resources to help from feeding to housing, employee lending, and listening ear, even in the face of her own adversity.

to help others struggle and lift them up and getting them into a place where they are functional members of society.

I've seen her do this time and time again over the last 10 years.

Please consider Sharae to represent District 4. She's fiercely committed to social justice, her community and the capability to collaborate with others, working as a team to get jobs done.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your testimony.

That will conclude our public testimony.

Section unless I missed anyone and I don't think that I did.

Thank you again applicants for your patience and with that we'll stand adjourned