SPEAKER_99
Thank you.
SPEAKER_07
Greetings, everybody.
The July 2nd, 2024 meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.
It is 2 0 2 p.m..
I'm Sarah Nelson, president of the council.
Will the clerk please call the roll?
SPEAKER_09
Councilmember Wu.
Present.
Councilmember Hollingsworth.
Councilmember Kettle.
SPEAKER_19
Here.
SPEAKER_09
Councilmember Moore.
Present.
Councilmember Morales.
Here.
DIRECTOR HAMPSON- Councilmember Rivera.
DIRECTOR RIVERA- Present.
DIRECTOR HAMPSON- Councilmember Saka.
DIRECTOR RIVERA- Here.
DIRECTOR HAMPSON- Council President Nelson.
DIRECTOR NELSON- Present.
DIRECTOR HAMPSON- Seven present.
SPEAKER_07
DIRECTOR HAMPSON- And Councilmember Hollingsworth just came in.
Thank you.
So colleagues and members of the public, if there's no objection and per request, I am going to request a break of 15 minutes because our transportation committee select transportation committee meeting ended just moments ago.
And this will give folks a chance to get themselves together, have a bite, etc.
So if there's no objection, the council meeting will go on to recess and reconvene at 218. That gives us 15 minutes.
Hearing no objection, this meeting is now recessed until 2.18.
Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_99
Thank you.
Thank you.
Oh, oh, oh.
SPEAKER_08
I believe they're live.
SPEAKER_99
Rock screen.
SPEAKER_07
Hello again, everybody.
The July 2nd, 2024 City Council meeting will come back to order.
Well, let's take the roll again and then we will recommence.
SPEAKER_09
Council Member Wu.
Council Member Hollingsworth.
Councilmember Kettle.
SPEAKER_19
Here.
SPEAKER_09
Councilmember Moore.
Present.
Councilmember Morales.
Here.
Councilmember Rivera.
Councilmember Saka.
Here.
Council President Nelson.
SPEAKER_07
Present.
And we just hold on a second before you do the final count.
SPEAKER_09
Go ahead.
Councilmember Wu.
Present.
Councilmember Hollingsworth.
Present.
Here.
SPEAKER_07
Seven present.
Thank you very much.
Okay.
There is no presentation today, so colleagues, at this time we'll open the hybrid public comment period.
Madam Clerk, how many speakers are signed up today?
SPEAKER_08
We have six in person and two remote.
SPEAKER_07
Okay.
As is our normal practice, I noticed that there is Commissioner, Port Commissioner Fellman, who is signed up to speak.
So we will provide for him to speak first as an elected official, and then we'll proceed with our other online speaker and then do all of the in-persons at once.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_09
A public comment period will be moderated in the following manner.
Public comment period is up to 20 minutes.
Speakers will be called in the order in which they are registered.
Speakers will start with remote speakers and then move to in-person speakers.
Speakers will hear a time when 10 seconds are left of their allotted time.
Speakers' mics will be muted if they do not end their comments within that time to allow us to call in the next speaker.
We'll begin with Commissioner Bellman.
And people will have two minutes to speak.
You may need to press star six in order to speak.
SPEAKER_10
Go ahead, Vanessa.
SPEAKER_17
Thank you for allowing me to .
Can you hear me okay?
Yes.
All right, great.
Thank you.
Council President Nelson and Sustainability Chair Wu, I appreciate the ability to speak at the top of the meeting in support of Council Bill 120802. I'm Port of Seattle Commissioner Fred Telemann and a resident of District 6. The bill authorizes the Port of Seattle and the Seattle City Light to sign an MOA creating a joint shore power operating agreement to electrify Seattle's waterfront from Terminal 46. just south of the Coleman dock to the cruise terminal at Pier 66. By generating over $900 million in economic activity, cruise is a significant driver to Seattle's downtown economic recovery.
And I know many of you as council members and the mayor have been supportive of the industry's impact to Seattle, and we thank you for your support.
However, we're also aware of the environmental impacts these ships can have on the city's air quality.
This is why I championed the port's order to accelerate our climate sustainability goals to reduce greenhouse gas and air emissions by ensuring all cruise ships plug in to Seattle's clean electrical grid by 2027. I'm proud to share that we are one of the first ports in the nation to require all cruise ships to have 100% shore power be capable and to require its use.
The addition of shore power at Pier 66 will complete the electrification of all three cruise ship berths at Seattle Harbor, putting Seattle amongst the first in the world to have such capabilities.
This important work is also a result of successful collaboration with Seattle City Light and represents an early effort in the Port of Seattle's partnership with the city and the Northwest Seaport Alliance, who advanced the city waterfront clean energy strategy.
This joint effort seeks to establish the enabling power infrastructure necessary to transition to clean energy across the port's maritime operations, almost there, on the path to a zero carbon future.
Through this MOA, cruise ships will be able to shut down their main engines and reduce carbon emissions by 4,500 metric tons per year at 66. It also includes the city's investments to ensure that you also have access to power, enabling you to meet your own climate goals.
We appreciate our ongoing partnership with the city and look forward to the ribbon cutting for the Pier 66 shore power project later this fall.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_09
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Alberto Alvarez.
SPEAKER_02
The nationwide trend has been in support of fair living wages and rights for workers across all gig services.
A California federal court passed judgment against Uber, who sued and lobbied against the rights of workers.
In Minnesota this May, they raised the wages of gig drivers, the minimum wage.
Massachusetts just passed a $32 minimum wage plus rights and benefits for drivers.
The foundation of all these trends comes from the passage of laws like pay up in Seattle.
in addition to laws passed in New York and Prop 22 in California.
The strength of the workforce across this many cities and states has earned a fair wage that accounts for expenses.
These protections grant dignity, safety, and a level playing field.
Please vote down CB120775, uphold the Seattle Pay Up Law.
Thank you, Council, and have a great Fourth of July, and I yield my time.
SPEAKER_08
We want to move into the in-person public comment.
I'm going to read the first three names.
If you can please start lining up to the podiums.
The first is Jason Agulink and then Arianna Riley and Alex Zerman.
SPEAKER_00
This past seven-day period was financially more successful than most weeks, even though I averaged less than $13 an hour before work-related expenses.
We all know how expensive Seattle is, and I realize it may be difficult for some people to understand what it's like to work a ridiculous amount of hours and scrap together about $25,000 a year when $200,000 is the common salary in the city.
The volume of orders is very low.
The answer is to revise the current law so restaurants and couriers have more opportunities to earn a dignified wage.
The complete silence from city council for the past five weeks after the vote postponement is just disrespectful.
Are any steps being done to move a solution forward?
Please let us know.
SPEAKER_01
Good afternoon.
My name is Arianna Riley.
I'm a delivery driver and resident in West Seattle.
It's been quite wonderful being able to afford car repairs recently.
And if I can afford car repairs, then that means more business for the mechanic who can use that money to pay his bills.
A rising tide lifts all boats.
Today I'm here to talk about grocery shopping.
We were really surprised to hear the Grocery Association come out against the pay up law because I'm not sure if they understand how much more grocery stores and markets are making due to this law.
DoorDash and Uber have allowed people to order from stores such as Safeway starting in some areas in 2020 and expanding from there.
But before this law, there were almost no drivers that were willing to do grocery orders on DoorDash and Uber because they did not pay well.
and took more time than restaurant pickups.
If no drivers are willing to take orders, then the orders get canceled and no one got paid, not DoorDash, not stores, and customers didn't get their groceries.
Since the pay-up law went into effect, this has changed.
Grocery orders are now worth our time as drivers since we're paid for the time spent on orders.
Many drivers take shopping orders now, and groceries are booming on both DoorDash and Uber.
Safeway in the Alaska Junction told another driver that they can recognize 70 to 80 regular shoppers on a daily basis between DoorDash, Uber, and Instacart.
We are not seeing that this is an either-or change.
Customers that order groceries one night are the same customers that ordered delivery from a restaurant the previous night.
DoorDash and Uber have only been able to expand their grocery business in Seattle because of pay up, and local chains such as PCC and Met Market have been profiting off of the many orders they suddenly receive on a daily basis.
Please keep pay up in place, and also I'd like to wish everybody a happy and safe Fourth of July.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_08
Following Arianna's, Alex Zimmerman, then Bennett Hasselton, and David Haynes.
Arianna.
Oh, sorry, after you.
I was sure you spoke.
Yes.
So it is then it's Alex Zimmerman.
Mr. Zimmerman, you're next.
Follow Mr. Zimmerman, then spend it.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_14
Thank you very much.
I very appreciate you.
Yeah.
See, hi, my lovely council.
Your best people, what do they know?
You're a very good Fuhrer.
This is very important.
Because my analogy to Hitler, you know what it means.
He's a very good Fuhrer, too.
You're probably better than Hitler with Nazis in Germany.
Right now, I want to explain something, but as I think, and you all totally sick, and I talk about this.
Stop.
SPEAKER_07
Please direct your comments to something on the agenda or within the council's purview, and no abusive language.
SPEAKER_14
Okay, agenda, agenda, no problem.
Agenda number two is about low housing.
This makes me absolutely sick, you know what I mean, because I know this business like my finger.
30 years ago, I bring first-class action in state Washington for low-income housing, you know, and I win.
But as I hear here, you know what it's meant.
It's a nightmare.
Consul, what else you know what it's meant?
Have a group of people who work for government, for your city, and they bring plan how make us life with housing better.
It's a pure 100% BS.
I know this.
I'm expert in this situation.
Nothing will be changed.
I give you only one example, what as I told you before.
Seattle Times, year ago, put Information.
25,000 apartments staying empty for years.
SPEAKER_99
25,000.
SPEAKER_14
You did something about this?
Nothing.
I told you, doing something.
They supposed to be paid because they use us money, our land.
Give them something, like penalty, $1 per day.
Very nice penalty.
You know what this mean?
You want to keep this apartment empty for 10 year?
No problema.
Guys, this apartment cost from $25,000 to $5,000.
You need to understand this problem.
You're doing nothing.
Why you doing here, huh?
You freaking zero.
You know what this mean?
You impotent.
100%.
Stand up, America.
Game is over.
We will make America great again.
Thank you very much, my lovely concert.
SPEAKER_08
We have Bennett Hasselton and David Haynes and Kathleen Brose.
SPEAKER_04
So as part of continuing to promote what I think is healthy skepticism of the police, I wanted to play another video of a protester arrest.
This is from a while ago from a protest in Everett where there was a protester who was dangling a donut on the end of a string being held by a stick.
Just for context, you're watching the video.
The man he's, the man in the background with a polo shirt and wearing a cap, that's an off-duty police officer.
It's not obvious.
And also the kid, he's talking to a group that's off in the distance.
He's not addressing the officers that are standing next to him.
They're about like this far away from him.
So let me, oh crap.
Come on.
Okay, here we go.
Oh, I pressed the wrong thing.
Again, sorry for the language being used by the police officer.
All right, so this video like rocketed around the world because everyone thought, oh, how hilarious, you know, police officer attacks protestor to take his donut.
But in a way, it's not really a laughing matter because later I pulled from the file the statements that the other officers made about what happened.
Why don't you listen to what they said?
Lieutenant Morris, to avoid being jabbed with a stick in the face, backed up against the retaining wall and was not able to move any further.
That's not what happened.
And again, this was a statement filed by a police officer.
And the...
victim, said, I had to lean back away from him due to fear that the stick or donut was going to strike me in the face.
Again, the video is online.
Everett protestor arrested for dangling donut on string.
You can go and watch it.
That's not what happened.
Later, Lieutenant Morris told Anson, get that out of my face.
Or the guy said, I said something to the effect of, get that out of my face.
In case he missed it, what he actually said was, get that fucking shit away from my face or I'll whoop your ass, boy.
Get the fuck away from me.
This matters because he was the person responsible for escalating.
Time out.
SPEAKER_18
Hi, my name is David Haines.
I live in Lower Queen Anne.
There's an encampment that's taking over across from the Dix going to the Safeway.
And it's like serious criminals who look like they got swept out of downtown.
And now they're coming out to the Lower Queen area.
I stopped this person from picking up a rock and chucking it at some other people that they were trying to shake down right on the corner across from the KXB Cafe.
But I didn't come down here for that today.
I was asking, is the council, could they consider double shifts for like when you have a public private partnership, whether it's the Seattle levy or the housing levy, when you're trying to get work done expeditingly, fastly, you know, if you could have the companies who were contracted out to have a full shift and maybe two full shifts because, and maybe an investigation on how much money is being paid to the worker compared to the non-working shareholder middleman, because a lot of these shifts are not fully staffed and the workers have to slow down to make ends meet throughout the year.
And there's too much greed within the public-private partnerships that are not being kept honest because the workers, the only one doing the workers, and they're getting the least amount of money, and they're forced to pay the tax base paycheck to paycheck.
And it just seems like we could get some things done if we had a more, like, robust policy labor force.
The thing I'm concerned about is the council seems to keep signing off on the same progressive policies that the previous council is still dumping on this council and trying to get away with the same racist, woke hypocrisies that are exacerbating public safety and the homeless crisis.
And, you know, it'd be great if you guys could purge some of the bad policies of the past and realize that you cannot destroy somebody else's life pushing drugs and be considered nonviolent, low level misdemeanor exempted from jail.
But yet we have a mayor who's still running interference for his criminal underworld friends that he bragged about during the campaign.
And he has sabotaged the integrity of the police efforts of others.
And we need a better leadership to keep the city honest, but shutting down the drug pushers, I would say is very important, but hopefully you guys can get some double shifts on some of the work progress.
SPEAKER_08
Our last, Oh, excuse me.
We have, um, Kathleen bros.
SPEAKER_05
Good afternoon, council.
My name is Kathleen Brose and I live in District six.
This message is for Mayor Harrell.
I've sent him a couple of messages and I've asked for a response, but I haven't received it.
So it is time.
Mayor Harrell, it is time for you to demand that all city of Seattle employees funded by the taxpayers return to work downtown.
City staff will be more productive in the office.
The public sector has returned to work.
Now it is time for government employees to do the same.
And one more thing today.
Last Friday, the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that people living unhoused on our streets can be forced into shelter whether they want to or not.
Now is the chance to clean up our city, specifically our downtown core.
We need...
a FEMA-like center where individuals are assessed and guided into addiction treatment, mental health facilities, and family reunification services.
Some individuals, unfortunately, will need to be involuntarily incarcerated where they can receive these same services.
Downtown Seattle cannot recover until we address the addicted and mentally ill living on our streets.
The Seattle City Council must have the will to move forward and start healing our city before businesses and people feel secure returning downtown.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_08
Our last in-person speaker is Timothy Kitchen.
SPEAKER_15
Hey, can you hear me?
Hi, everyone.
I'm Timothy Kitchen.
I just scootered here and had this for safety because it's safer that way.
Hi, Mr. Rivera.
Thank you for coming to our Monday Fremont Neighborhood Council meeting.
I'm here to speak in support of increased Seattle transportation levy.
I personally would support a $1.9 billion transportation levy.
Last year, there was a lot of public safety was a really high prevalent issue.
And I personally think that especially in the last few weeks, we've had a lot of people dying on the roads and pedestrian and traffic safety, that this is a really direct way to literally save lives.
There is nothing more important than human life.
And this is to me a very direct path towards doing that.
I just wrote a few notes here.
Sorry, I'm a little out of breath.
What hastened me to get here, I canceled the dentist appointment.
Last night, we had a death on Aurora.
I believe it was around the 40th.
And so that was another traffic fatality.
I've looked at recent polling that supports a $1.9 billion death rate.
transportation levy.
I believe it had 54% support.
It was through the Northwest Progressive Institute through change research.
So I think a $1.7 billion would be supported majority.
And when, if you were interested in running for reelection, if anyone asks you, or just in general, the reason to vote for this is to keep people alive.
And then you can point towards specifically how that occurs.
For example, protected bike lanes, protected pedestrian safety lanes.
Let's see.
Okay, I think that's, I think I got it all.
Thank you again for having public comments.
And I really, really highly support a 1.7 billion.
I think that splits the difference.
And I think you will have solid majority support for that.
So thank you for your time.
SPEAKER_08
That was our last speaker.
SPEAKER_07
Thank you very much.
And thank you for coming and giving public comment, sir, instead of going to the dentist.
So, all right, we've reached the end of our public comment period.
So I'm now formally closing public comment and we'll move on to the approval of the introduction and referral calendar.
I'll first note that I wasn't able to preside over council briefings yesterday.
Thank you very much, Councilmember Saka, for filling in as president pro tem.
So I don't know if the items on the IRC were listed, as I usually do on Monday.
So in case anyone wasn't able to review the draft IRC, it includes the weekly bill payment ordinance and ordinance extending interim floodplain regulations.
three appointments to the Equitable Development Initiative Advisory Board, an ordinance authorizing Seattle Public Utilities to execute an agreement regarding floodplain control in South Park, and an updated version of an ordinance relating to street racing.
So if there's no objection, the introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.
Hearing no objection, the introduction and referral calendar is adopted.
And if there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.
Hearing none, the agenda is adopted.
We'll now consider the proposed consent calendar.
The items on the consent calendar are the minutes of June 25th, 2024, Council Bill 120805, payment of the bills, and five appointments from the Housing and Human Services Committee.
Are there any items that council members would like to remove from today's consent calendar?
Seeing none, I move to adopt the consent calendar.
Is there a second?
SPEAKER_03
Second.
SPEAKER_07
Thank you very much.
It's been moved and seconded to adopt the consent calendar.
And will the clerk please call the roll?
SPEAKER_09
Member Wu?
Yes.
Councilmember Hollingsworth?
Yes.
Councilmember Kettle?
SPEAKER_16
Aye.
SPEAKER_09
Councilmember Moore?
SPEAKER_16
Aye.
SPEAKER_09
Councilmember Morales?
Yes.
Councilmember Rivera?
Council Member Saka.
SPEAKER_11
Aye.
SPEAKER_09
Council President Nelson.
Aye.
Eight in favor, none opposed.
SPEAKER_07
It's been the consent calendar items are adopted.
Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes and the legislation on the consent calendar on my behalf.
Thank you very much.
Okay.
Will the clerk please read item one into the record.
SPEAKER_08
The report of the Public Safety Agent died on number one, appointment 2896, reappointment of Lisa Ellison Judge as Inspector General for a term to December 31st, 2030. The committee recommends that the appointment be confirmed.
SPEAKER_07
All right.
Council Member Kettle is chair of this committee.
You're recognized to address this item.
And then when we're finished with the vote, we can have the inspector general come up and say a few words.
Go ahead, please.
SPEAKER_19
All right.
Thank you, Council President.
I really appreciate it.
And I really appreciate this opportunity to speak on the reappointment of Lisa Judge as inspector general for for another term as inspector general.
And one of the first things I wanted to note is that our accountability system is crucial, and it is crucial for so many different reasons.
And we've just seen with the recent passage of the ALPR, the Automatic License Plate Reader Bill, that, you know, having the accountability system there is our, you know, protection, if you will, our safety net.
Whatever kind of term you want to use, it really highlights the value of what the system brings in addition to all the other pieces what came from its creation.
We've been engaged quite a bit from a Public Safety Committee perspective.
We had all the accountability partners, OIG, OPA, and CPC with us in our second committee, showing and highlighting the importance of the accountability partners.
We had...
Inspector General Judge back for a use of force briefing to the committee.
And I should note that the three, including Inspector General Judge, is going to be joining us at our next committee meeting for our mid-year review.
And again, this is really important to have this engagement from a committee perspective, but then also counsel with our accountability partners.
But it's much more than giving a briefing at a committee meeting.
There is a lot of collaboration that's going on, work that It happens within the accountability partners, but also between the committee and the OIG, the OPA, SPD, and others.
This is important work to work the issues that are facing our public safety posture, the things that are facing, you know, the issues related to accountability, to ensure that these pieces are put in place and then moving forward.
I've seen this up close and personal with my meetings with the group, to include Inspector General Judge and my staff as well.
SO THIS IS SOMETHING THAT I'VE BEEN SEEING OVER THE COURSE OF THE SIX MONTHS DIRECTLY AS CHAIR OF THE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE.
I WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT, TOO, AS YOU KNOW, IN TERMS OF THE PACKET, THERE'S TWO LETTERS FROM THE ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNERS AND OPA DIRECTOR, OFFICER OF POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY DIRECTOR GINO BETTS NOTED, FIRST, has required by legislation, by law, that we have to have this input.
That's another piece of the accountability, you know, to ensure that, you know, the contact points, the input is received across the board.
And he noted that since I joined OPA in August 22, IG Judge has proven to be a committed and innovative partner.
Later, he said, moreover, IG Judge is a proven asset in ensuring high quality OPA investigations and decision making.
and going on in terms of the work that OIG does with the OPA, and in terms of the outcomes for OPA, noted that these outstanding outcomes are a direct reflection of IG Judge's work ethic and leadership, and should install confidence in her reappointment.
Further, the CPC, which is the executive director, Collie Ellis, plus the commission chairs, Reverends Hunter and Reverend Walden, and then Co-Chair Joel Merkel, noted that CPC is pleased with the progress, recent progress from OIG in improving its relationship with the Commission, and noting that OIG seeks input to next year's work plan from all accountability partners to include the CPC, and that Inspector General Judge has been to CPC many times, both directly in terms of the meetings, but also directly her and her staff working directly with CPC and their staff, on the issues that are before them.
So this related to the OIG work plan and the status of CPC's contribution to that work plan.
CPC noted that it's grateful that the OIG plans to work on different issues to include highlighted in the letter, the 911 dispatch center.
But bottom line is the OIG is also recently engaged with CPC on the hiring process, which goes to what I was just mentioning, engaging on a direct basis for critical staffing roles, which has been beneficial to the CPC.
And moving forward, the CPC and the Executive Director, Dr. Kali Ellis, is looking forward to engaging with the Inspector General for Public Safety, Lisa Judge.
And we look forward to a more robust relationship with the OIG, where we can jointly support each other's roles in the accountability system.
One thing I wanted to highlight too, just to kind of close, is the fact that we still are under a consent decree.
And this consent decree has been crucial.
It's been crucial in terms of reforms with SPD, the Seattle Police Department, moving the reforms regarding the accountability system.
And it's something that, you know, it's something that we should be proud of as we move forward in terms of, you know, our constitutional policing.
And related to the consent decree is also the federal monitor.
One of the things I wanted to highlight is this work is, you know, central in terms of the constitutional policing, but then also the federal monitor is part of this process and is key, and it's important to note that the federal monitor, as we move to go beyond the consent decree, as we work to complete the consent decree, the functions of the federal monitor will transition to the OIG, and so it's really important to have that stability and, you know, the professionalism and everything else that has been generated during the start of the OIG and for it to move forward and to give that confidence in the system as we deal with issues that will no doubt pop up as we move forward.
So with that, I would ask for your support and the reappointment of Inspector General Lisa Judge for another term.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_07
Thank you very much, Public Safety Chair Kettle.
Are there any questions or comments from my colleagues?
Council Member Saka.
SPEAKER_03
Thank you, Madam Council President.
Thank you, Chair Kettle, for your wise words and comments there and honored to be able to support Inspector General Judge today.
And I appreciate her thoughtful engagement and partnership with me and my office over these first six months and plenty more work ahead.
And I'm looking forward to doing that alongside you and And also appreciate your guidance and wisdom on helping me better understand the challenge with implementation that we have here within Seattle sometimes, and also better unravel a broader system-wide statewide challenge with respect to the youth right to counsel state bill.
And we'll continue to seek your support your advice on that and ways to potentially clean that up.
Because colleagues, as we know, this bill, the state bill really frustrated the ability of law enforcement to investigate, at the time, non-criminal suspects and directly resulted in 15-year-old Mubarak Adam, his family not having the answers that they so desperately need and deserve after he was killed.
And situations like that are occurring across the city and across the state and learned last Wednesday evening during the Elk High Harbor Avenue Community Safety Forum that I convened, heard directly from SPD Interim Chief Rohrer that the same underlying issue has happened at Garfield High School during the shooting that they recently had a few weeks back.
I don't know if that was the purpose and goal or intent of the legislation.
I'm not an author of that, but there is an opportunity to better clarify when law enforcement can engage non-criminal suspects.
And so otherwise that same thing is gonna happen over and over and over and over again.
So that, I mean, personally, that'll be one of my highest priorities at the next legislative session to get that additional clarification added.
And, you know, I see Deputy Mayor Burgess is here as well.
I hope that the mayor joins me in that as a priority.
Cause oddly enough, something that was designed to protect and benefit black and brown people, immigrants and refugees is having the exact opposite effect in practice.
So I raise that as a specific example of the important work that you do though, you and your team do and excited to be able to support you in this nomination and continue to partner together going forward.
The stakes are too high, so thank you.
SPEAKER_07
I'm looking around for other folks that might want to speak.
Well, I will just say thank you very much Inspector Judge for all of your work so far and you and I have had an opportunity to collaborate offline on different things that especially around the surveillance impact reports when that was under my purview and it's good to hear from the from the Public Safety Chair Kettle that there are supportive letters from the other two legs of our accountability stool, three-legged stool.
So thank you very much for bringing that to the public's attention.
I'm sorry that I wasn't in the public safety meeting last week to cast my vote.
So thank you very much.
I'll let you close us out before we head for a vote.
SPEAKER_19
Council President, again, I just want to say thank you.
I want to say thank you for Inspector Judge's, General Judge's service, public service, something that's often said to military, but it's something that should be said to our civilian counterparts and for the work that they do, particularly in such an important area as police accountability.
SPEAKER_07
Thank you.
Will the clerk please call the roll?
SPEAKER_09
Council Member Wu?
Yes.
Council Member Hollingsworth?
SPEAKER_13
Yes.
SPEAKER_09
Council Member Kettle.
SPEAKER_19
Aye.
SPEAKER_09
Council Member Moore.
Aye.
Council Member Morales.
Yes.
Council Member Rivera.
SPEAKER_10
Aye.
SPEAKER_09
Council Member Saka.
SPEAKER_10
Aye.
SPEAKER_09
Council President Nelson.
Aye.
Eight in favor, none opposed.
SPEAKER_07
All right, the the the appointment passes and congratulations.
Inspector General Judge, please come up and I invite you to offer some words.
And just to be sure I will say if there is no objection, the rules will be suspended to allow this but I'm I'm sure we're all looking forward to what you've got to say.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_12
Thank you very much.
Council Member Saka, Council Member Kettle, thank you for those words.
I really appreciate that.
And I have enjoyed our partnership so far.
Council President, Council Members, thank you for vesting your trust and confidence in me and the team I've created at OIG with a second term and an opportunity to continue the important work that we have in progress.
i value the partnership with you as the elected representatives of our community and their interests and i look forward to a fruitful collaboration in ensuring our police department provides professional constitutional and effective policing services to our community the city of seattle is unique in its strong commitment to public safety and especially for me i appreciate the deep commitment to oversight of our public safety systems indeed we have built a system that's a model Other cities are now looking to create oversight with inspectors general, and the city of Seattle is often touted as an effective example of OIG offices in the police oversight realm.
We've built a system that is ready to emerge from consent decree oversight, also an accomplishment that serves as a model for other cities.
I truly value the commitment all of you demonstrate to our accountability system, and I am grateful for your support of OIG and our oversight services.
I want to acknowledge and appreciate my amazing team at OIG.
I'm often struck by how fortunate I am to be surrounded with so many brilliant, hardworking, and truly lovely people.
It's an office I look forward to coming to, and the staff are a true pleasure to work with.
I have absolute confidence in their work, vision, and dedication to our mission of community-centered oversight.
I would not be here before you today without their remarkable work that's built trust and confidence in OIG.
I want to acknowledge the partnership of SPD and their willingness to collaborate and continue on the path of self-critique and improvement.
The proactive work OIG has done with SPD in the areas of traffic safety, crisis, crowd management, and effective interviewing, just to name a few issues, would not have been possible without with a less willing and committed partner.
The Seattle community is highly engaged in policing issues and deserves a system that is responsive to their concerns and welcoming of their input.
I value the contributions community members and stakeholders have made to OIG work and will continue to seek partnerships with community to ensure that their concerns and perspectives inform our efforts.
And finally, with all those acknowledgements of contributions to our success, I wanna also talk about the work that we have ahead.
It's gonna require all of us to really come together and pull in the same direction from issues like selecting a new police chief, transitioning away from federal oversight, working on equity and internal accountability within SPD, as well as internally at OIG, making sure that we have appropriate quality assurance protocols, that we remain transparent, and that we continue to work effectively with our partners, OPA and CPC, as well as our community stakeholders to make sure that our work is responsive.
I'm excited to continue on this path and I'm grateful for the opportunity to continue my work for the community of Seattle.
Thank you very much for your vote and for your confidence in our work.
Have a great holiday.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_07
Okay, thank you very much everybody.
Will the clerk please read item two into the record.
SPEAKER_08
Agenda item two, Council Bill 120804 relating to housing for low income households adopted in 2023 Seattle Housing Levy administrative and financial plan for program years 2024 through 2026. Adopting housing funding policies for the 2023 Seattle Housing Levy and further fence sources.
The committee recommends the bill passes as amended.
SPEAKER_07
Thank you very much.
Council Member Moore, you're chair of this committee, so I'm going to provide you the opportunity to give the committee report.
I did notice as I was looking at the agenda that there is an error in the vote count in favor.
It does list me and I was not present at the last meeting, so that will be corrected in the record going forward.
I had just assumed that everything was fine on the amendments that I suggested were brought forward in the final.
and that you're gonna talk about the whole thing.
So, but that's just for the record that I note that.
Go ahead, please.
SPEAKER_16
Okay, thank you very much, Council President.
So, Council Bill 120804 adopts the 2023 Levees Housing and Administrative, sorry, the Housing Levees Administrative and Financial Plan and the Housing Funding Policy.
So basically guides the expenditure of the 2023 housing levy.
I would note that we had a good discussion and collaborative effort on making a few amendments to the plan.
And the final plan that we passed out leverages the interest earnings from levy funds to increase investments in the homelessness prevention program, which has an additional emphasis on rental assistance.
Thank you, Council President, adds a new objective and priority for the rental production program for housing that supports those who are recovering from substance use disorders.
It also, thank you to Council Member Salka, adds housing priorities for people who were formerly served by the foster care system as well as U.S. veterans.
and it does improve reporting about vacancies in affordable housing buildings.
So it did pass out of committee unanimously, and I would ask for your support of it here today.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_99
Thank you.
SPEAKER_07
Let's see, are there any other comments that people would like to make on this legislation?
Council Member Saka.
SPEAKER_03
Thank you, Madam Council President.
Thank you, Chair Moore.
Just want to say thank you for your leadership on the committee and making this bill, shaping it and making it even better.
I am honored to support it, even if it didn't have my amendment in it.
but it does.
And so again, thank you for your strong leadership and driving a collaborative process here.
This is really impactful, a really impactful piece of legislation as you appropriately noted during committee last week.
So thank you.
And also a minor clarification point as well on my amendment.
It's a minor but subtle distinction, but it is intentional and it does matter.
So I sort of use generic, you know, language to describe what my bill does in terms of like, oh, it covers and it adds.
Not the list, but, you know, one group to consider now is veterans.
Shorthand, that's true, but it does use very precise language saying, you know, former U.S. military personnel or something to that effect.
That is a very intentional policy decision that I made when crafting this bill.
The reason is the term veteran is a very specific, statutorily defined term that is reserved for those by law who have served or honorably discharged from the United States Armed Forces.
And there are certain other conditions, but honorably discharged is one of the key elements of that.
And so, but there are people who have chosen to serve our country.
for one reason or another, they weren't honorably discharged.
And so that is why I made that choice to include that language as opposed to the more very specific, much more narrower statutory definition of veteran.
So in any event, minor thing, but again, kudos again.
Thank you, Chair Moore, for your leadership in making this bill better.
It's great.
SPEAKER_07
Okay, I don't see any other comments.
So if you would like to close this out before the vote, go ahead.
SPEAKER_16
Okay, well, thank you very much, Chair Saka for that clarification.
I was unaware of that distinction.
And so I really appreciate being educated about that.
It makes me even happier that we were able to incorporate your amendments into the bill.
Because as you point out, there are various reasons that people are dishonorably discharged, and some of them are because of PTSD in that process.
And so it is very much important that we provide for them.
So thank you for that and making it a better bill.
Again, thank you everyone for your support.
SPEAKER_07
All right.
Will the clerk please call the roll on item two?
SPEAKER_09
Councilmember Wu.
Yes.
Councilmember Hollingsworth.
Yes.
Councilmember Kettle.
SPEAKER_19
Aye.
SPEAKER_09
Councilmember Moore.
Aye.
Councilmember Morales.
Yes.
Councilmember Rivera.
Aye.
Councilmember Saka.
Aye.
Council President Nelson.
Aye.
Eight in favor, none opposed.
SPEAKER_07
Great.
The motion carries and the chair will sign the legislation.
Thank you very much.
Let's move on to item three.
SPEAKER_08
Council President, if you don't mind just providing us permission on your behalf to add your signature to the legislation.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_07
Okie dokie.
I will say, I'm just trying to find that.
The bill passes and the chair will sign it.
Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?
SPEAKER_08
Thank you.
SPEAKER_07
All right.
Okay.
Will the clerk please read the short title of item three into the record?
SPEAKER_08
The report of the Parks, Public Utilities, and Technology Committee.
Agenda item three, Council Bill 120800 relating to current use taxation, improving the application for current use taxation at property located at 4613 South Lucille Street.
The committee recommends the bill pass.
SPEAKER_07
Thank you very much, Councilmember Hollingsworth.
This is, as chair of the committee, you're recognized to provide the committee report.
SPEAKER_13
Thank you, Council President Nelson.
Colleagues, this passed.
Three in favor, none opposed.
This is, I'm going to read directly from the fiscal note and summary.
This bill would shift the tax burden from the property to all other properties in Seattle.
The effect of any particular property would be minimal, this is reducing the property tax burden for the hillman city p patch that will help maintain the property as a publicly accessible open space for long-term neighborhood that has district 2 hillman city basically this is a property that's been ran by hillman city p patch it grows local food and um I've always said this before in meetings before, anything south of, it's a technical bill, anything south of I-90, there's only one food bank.
One of my favorites, Rainier Valley Food Bank.
And I know that they just got a renovation and they'll hopefully start looking like the Ballard Food Bank, which is absolutely phenomenal.
And so a lot of the food that is grown and a lot of these pea patches, especially at Hillman City are for the local community and also shared with a lot of the food banks in the area.
So would love everyone's support on this We'll be more than happy to take any questions.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_07
Thank you.
Are there any comments from my colleagues?
All right.
Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on Item 3?
SPEAKER_09
Councilmember Wu?
SPEAKER_06
Yes.
SPEAKER_09
Councilmember Hollingsworth?
Yes.
Councilmember Kettle?
SPEAKER_19
Aye.
SPEAKER_09
Councilmember Moore?
Aye.
Councilmember Morales?
Yes.
Councilmember Rivera?
SPEAKER_10
Aye.
SPEAKER_09
Council Member Saka.
SPEAKER_10
Aye.
SPEAKER_09
Council President Nelson.
Aye.
Eight in favor, none opposed.
SPEAKER_07
Okay.
The bill passes and the chair will sign it.
Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.
Thank you.
And then finally, I believe this is our last item.
Item four.
Will the clerk please read the short title of item four into the record.
SPEAKER_08
The report of the Sustainability City Lights Arts and Culture Committee, agenda item four, council 120802, relating to the City Light Department authorizing execution of a two-year agreement with the Port of Seattle for the construction of system improvements associated with Terminal 46 and the Pier 66 shore power projects and negotiations and execution of an operations agreement.
The committee recommends the bill pass.
SPEAKER_07
Thank you.
Council Member Wu is chair of the committee.
You're recognized to provide the committee report.
SPEAKER_06
Thank you, Council President Nelson.
So I want to thank Port Commissioner Fred Feldman for their public comments today.
In addition to Commissioner Feldman's comments, I want to add that, as was stated, this legislation authorizes Seattle State Light to enter into a two-year agreement with the Port of Seattle to construct and provide shore power to Pier 66, which is where our cruise ship berths are.
A berth is where they dock.
This will also authorize the city to execute a 30-year operations agreement between Seattle State Light and the Port of Seattle and allow the cruise ships to plug into local electrical grid while turning off their diesel-powered engines when vessels are moored.
So each connected ship will reduce their diesel emissions by 80% and CO2 emissions by 66%.
And as Commissioner Feldman also mentioned, the joint partnership makes Seattle the first cruise port offering shore power to all three cruise berths on Seattle's waterfront.
It accomplishes many clean air and energy goals to eliminate emissions from Seattle's waterfront as we transition the local maritime industry to clean and reliable energy.
And I thank you in advance for your support.
SPEAKER_07
Thank you for leading on this, Councilmember Wu.
I have to say, I attended the opening day of Alaska cruise season, not this year, but last year, and I remember conversation about this, and this really is a big deal that we are providing for this piece of infrastructure.
and with of course the port's cooperation it does set uh our um our port apart uh amongst others on the west coast thank you very much for leading on this and also thank you city light and the port are there any other comments councilmember carroll uh thank you council president and thank you chair wu i appreciate uh this even though i do not sit on the committee um as
SPEAKER_19
As a former naval officer, but also District 7 representative, I've long felt that it's really needed to have a strong reset of our relationship between the city and the port, and this goes a long way of doing that.
Ultimately, as I've said many times, we were a port city 100 years ago.
We're going to be a port city 100 years from now, and we have to ensure the viability of our port.
We have to ensure that we are available for the city, but also for the region.
because 100 years from now, we're on the bicentennial in 2111. International trade will still be maritime trade, and Seattle is well-positioned, and not just Seattle, the region, to take advantage of that and adjust as industries come and go, as it's happened over the centuries, and will be well-positioned.
And this also goes to the point that, like in the transportation levy, Part of that viability is, you know, is the, you know, the links, you know, the heavy haul network, but also the utilities piece.
And a big piece of this is electrification.
Electrification of the port is going to make it that much more successful economically in addition to all the environmental pluses that we get from this.
So I just wanted to highlight that as the District 7 representative, as something that you know, we've been pushing to ensure the viability of the port.
But when I say that too, I mean the maritime and fishing industries and the light industrial that supports them as well.
So again, thank you, Chair Wu, for this incredible work.
SPEAKER_07
And all the small businesses that are also supported by...
Exactly.
SPEAKER_19
And the labor unions that support this world as well.
SPEAKER_07
There we go.
Okay.
Seeing no other comments, will the Clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?
SPEAKER_09
Council Member Wu.
Yes.
Council Member Hollingsworth.
SPEAKER_07
Aye.
SPEAKER_09
Council Member Kettle.
SPEAKER_16
Aye.
SPEAKER_09
Council Member Moore.
SPEAKER_16
Aye.
SPEAKER_09
Council Member Morales.
Yes.
Council Member Rivera.
SPEAKER_16
Aye.
SPEAKER_09
Council Member Saka.
SPEAKER_06
Aye.
SPEAKER_09
Council President Nelson.
SPEAKER_06
Aye.
SPEAKER_09
In favor, none opposed.
SPEAKER_07
Thank you very much.
The bill passes and the chair will sign it.
Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?
All right.
There were no items removed from the consent calendar.
There's not a resolution for introduction and adoption today.
So colleagues, if there is no further business to come before council, I will go ahead and adjourn this meeting.
It is looking right and left.
Nope.
No other business.
Okay.
It is 310 and the July 2nd, 2024 meeting of the city council is now adjourned.
SPEAKER_99
you