Seattle City Council 312021

Thank you.

The March 1st, 2021 meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It is two o'clock on the dot.

I'm Dan Strauss, President Pro Tem of the Council.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Herbold?

Here.

Council Member Lewis?

Present.

Council Member Morales?

Here.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Present.

Council Member Peterson?

Here.

Councilmember Sawant?

Present.

Council President Pro Tem Strauss?

Present.

Seven, present.

Thank you.

If there's no objection, Councilmembers Gonzalez and Juarez will be excused from today's meeting.

Hearing no objection, Councilmembers Gonzalez and Juarez are excused from today's meeting.

Presentations.

Councilmember Mosqueda will present a proclamation recognizing victims and survivors of COVID-19, and then we will open the floor for comments.

After comments from councilmembers, we will invite our guests to accept the proclamation and provide remarks.

Councilmember Mosqueda, you are recognized to present the proclamation.

Thank you very much, Mr. President Pro Tem.

Thank you colleagues very much for the opportunity to present this.

guests, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver and Alexis, it's wonderful to see you on the line today.

Thank you very much for being our honored guest here today.

Colleagues, I'm both honored and incredibly sad to be bringing this proclamation forward today.

It is in coordination with approximately 150 other cities today that we bring this resolution forward in coordination with the Smart Cities Policy Group to honor all of those who have lost lives and lost family members to the consequences of COVID.

Many individuals have lost lives and many family members have been impacted by COVID, and we will never, never forget this experience over the last year and we want to make sure that we honor individuals and their family members who have been dealing with the consequences of COVID.

Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of the loss of the first life locally here in the Seattle region to COVID-19.

I want to acknowledge all of the individuals who over the last year have lost individuals and their families to COVID and all of the incredibly hard work that many in our community have spent over the last year in helping to make sure that individuals have what they need in this time of loss and to hopefully save as many lives as possible.

But last week, we saw our country's 500,000th death.

number for our country in terms of the number of deaths lost lives across our country.

Well, locally, we have our County Board of Health and our health systems that are working very hard to prevent deaths.

We know that there's incredible challenges in front of us as we seek more equitable responses to care and a more equitable COVID response.

There's incredible disparities that exist within our communities, especially in the black, indigenous, and people of color communities, which are much more likely to contract COVID and die from the consequences of this disease.

The proclamation in front of us today serves as an incredible reminder and acknowledgement of the deep impacts and toll that COVID-19 has taken on our communities, including the loss of lives, the people who have lost loved ones, and the people whose lives are forever changed due to the long-lasting impacts of COVID-19.

For us, we know that these are not just statistics.

These are our friends.

These are our family members.

These are our team members.

These are our neighbors.

And today we have an incredible opportunity to recognize and honor the lives of those that have been lost due to COVID, but through one of our own family members here at the Seattle City Council.

I'm humbled to be presenting this proclamation to a family member of our own, legislative department staff, and friend, ally, and community leader.

Thank you to Alexis Oliver, I'm sorry, Alexis for being here with us and her parents, Linda and Alexander Oliver for being here today to honor the incredible life of your family member, daughter and sister, Marianne Julie Oliver.

I want to turn this over, Mr. President, to any others who would like to offer comments.

And then we have our incredible guests here with us today.

But it is a truly humbling day to be able to recognize March 1st as this incredibly important marker, as we recognize the lives that have been lost to COVID and the important legacy that these lives have as we continue to endeavor to fight back.

and to push for more equitable responses and honor the lives of those who've been impacted by COVID.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

I do see Council Member Morales will be called on next.

And other Council Members, if you would like to speak, please either just raise your hand or raise the hand button on Zoom.

Council Member Morales.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda for bringing this proclamation.

And thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver for being here and Alexis for being here.

When we left City Hall a year ago, we all thought we'd be home for a couple of weeks and then we'd be back at work.

We had no idea that a year later we'd still be working from home, nor could we have anticipated that we would experience a pandemic that was spiraling out of control.

We have all been touched by the devastation that COVID-19 has wrought.

We all know somebody who's been affected.

And too many of us have lost loved ones, sisters, daughters, uncles, grandparents.

We know that communities of color must have a priority in vaccine distribution.

And we also know that this pandemic is not over.

While we all wait to get vaccinated, the best way we can honor those who we've lost is to keep the protocols, to keep our community and ourselves safe.

Wash hands, wear two masks, not one, and don't gather with people that you don't live with.

Finally, I wanna say to Alexis and her family that I wanna offer again my heartfelt condolences.

The loss of a family member as wonderful as Mickey is never easy.

May her memory be a blessing to you all.

Very well said, Council Member Morales, and I share those thoughts.

Other colleagues, do you have thoughts you'd like to share?

Otherwise, we can suspend the rules.

And if there is no objection, the council rules will be suspended to allow Linda and Alexander Oliver to accept the proclamation and provide remarks.

Hearing no objection, the council rules are suspended.

And Linda and Alexander Oliver, welcome to the city council meeting.

I wish it was under better circumstances.

You are recognized in order to provide remarks to the city council and the viewing public.

Welcome.

Well, thank you.

I would like to give thanks to council member Teresa Muscata and to Tammy Morales.

I thank you all very much for this proclamation.

And I would like to thank Tammy for, you have to really forgive me right now, but Tammy, thank you so much for being a support to my daughter and to my family, and also your husband, Harry, because if it wasn't for Harry, my husband wouldn't be sitting here today.

He had complications.

from cancer, and Harry was right there.

He brought him through.

And through the sickness, when my daughter was first diagnosed with COVID, Harry says, call me at any time.

And I did, because I had a lot of questions.

This is a disease you don't even understand.

You don't understand your loved one there.

You can't visit them.

You can't hold their hand.

and to see your child, not just, this is your child, the person you brought into the world, even though she was an adult, she has three children, but she's still, that's still your baby.

And Harry says, okay, and I thank your family and thank you for being a support for Alexis too.

Mickey was my oldest.

That's the one that made us parents in the beginning.

And by her being so much older, she was the type person that she checked on everybody.

She, by her being the first grandchild, the first girl, she checked on everybody.

She, the aunts, the uncles, the grandparents, she made sure that even when she was willing, she made sure that They were looked after, and she said, we got to go see them, and she would call them up.

And as she got older in grade school, we had moved to California.

And her friend, she had made friends with this little girl, but their family didn't have much, so it was school time.

And Mickey goes, I can't go to school.

I said, what do you mean?

She says, my friend, her parents couldn't buy her, you know, didn't have the capability of buying her shoes or clothes to start school.

So in order for her to go to school, My husband and I said, well, I guess we have to buy the little girls some, you know, we bought her some clothes and school.

And then her mother didn't have the resources to wash the clothes.

And we had just bought a washer and dryer.

So we washed the clothes and fed the family.

But this was her way of doing throughout her life, even as an adult.

When she had three children, she did the same.

Everybody everybody knew one thing, Marion, Mickey, you could go there, you would fight, she would feed you, she would take care of you.

She worked for a children's center.

And she would call me a mom.

There's nobody for this child.

So in working for that children's center, we would end up buying things for this one little girl.

And then she would bring them home and we would feed them and everything.

But this was her life.

This was the way she was.

And her friends miss her.

Her children definitely miss her.

And I and her dad, we're devastated.

Because how do you get through this when We were on a Zoom call, and you see your loved one leave, drift away.

And we didn't know it.

We were happy.

We were thinking she's getting better.

And the nurse said, no, she wasn't.

And in this time, all I can say for anyone, please get the vaccine.

Wear your mask.

Wash your hands.

because to see your loved one leave us on a zoo.

I mean, and even when we went to see her at the funeral home, we couldn't even touch her then because she was so sick and this is how this disease did.

So I thank you all and I pray for everyone all the other people in, not only the Seattle, but in the entire world, because it is the most devastating thing I've ever seen.

But thank you.

Yeah, it is one of the most hideous diseases that we had to deal with.

We were truly, truly devastated by this.

We're still trying to rebound, and I don't know if we will ever rebound because in the order of things, it's supposed to be the parents.

My children are supposed to bury us and not us have to, you know, bury our child.

So it's been devastating, but we're going to get through it with the grace of God.

And we're just going to be prayerful.

And we're going to try to go through this whole situation as best we can.

We appreciate everything you folks are doing, this proclamation.

It gives us a lot of encouragement.

It really helps us to go on and deal with this situation that we have to deal with and truly, truly is impacting.

But we are trying to go on and embrace it and go forward in life because she would want us to do that.

Our daughter was that kind of person that she wouldn't want us to be sad.

She wouldn't want us to go on and go forward.

And we're trying to do that as parents, but it's really hard.

And I realize that the death toll is 500,000 plus.

So we're not the only one.

There's other people that are embracing this same type of hardship.

But we just happen to be so thankful that you are doing this proclamation for us.

And we thank everyone that is doing this.

I would like to add on, I'll send it to her girls.

They're all trying to recoup.

They themselves have children.

So Marion, Mickey has grandchildren also, which makes us great grandparents.

So it's a lot of people that will be very thankful for this.

Thank you, Mr. And Mrs. Oliver.

This is truly an example of how many 500,000 people, this is one example of 500,000 experiences.

And my deepest condolences to you.

This is something that we will not get over and we will get through.

The love and compassion and service that your daughter did for our world, I know continues to ripple through all of the lives that she impacted.

And we are also just so lucky to have Alexis here at City Council.

Your gift is still giving.

That's our daughter, we know.

Thank you all so much.

Thank you, and thank you for being available to be public about your experience.

I think this COVID-19 has impacted us in such a way that, as you said, people have had to say goodbye to loved ones over Zoom.

It is hard enough having any interaction over Zoom Right.

Much less one of the hardest moments in life.

So thank you for your daughter's impact on our world.

Thank you for continuing to give us the gift of Alexis.

And I know that we will get through this even if we won't get over it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any other?

Anything else?

I may, Mr. President, just read the last line of the proclamation.

Yes.

Mr. and Mrs. Oliver, thank you very much for being here with us today and for sharing those funny and heartwarming stories.

Alexis, thank you as well for being here with us today, and really appreciate the council president's comment about the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver, continuing to give through our experience with working with you, and I really appreciate the stories.

You have been able to give us just a small glimpse into the incredible life and legacy of your daughter, who is a mother, a sister, a daughter and friend to so many as we honor the life of Mary and Jude Oliver and as you are here representing the over 1,300 individuals in just King County alone.

Thank you for being here and receiving this proclamation.

on the behalf of all of those in King County who have lost lives due to COVID as well.

The last line of this proclamation reads, whereas each life lost due to COVID-19 mattered and leaves a hole in the hearts of loved ones, family members, and the surrounding community.

Now, therefore, the mayor and the Seattle City Council proclaim Monday, March 1st, 2021, to be COVID-19 Victims and Survivors Memorial Day in the city of Seattle and urges all citizens to remember those who have lost their lives and honor those who are forever marked by COVID and continue to suffer the impact of this virus.

This proclamation has been signed by the mayor and all of Seattle City Council members.

Thank you very much, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver, and thank you very much, Alexis, for being here to receive this today.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver.

It is hard to return to standard business after having such a proclamation and an important note from the family.

That said, the next item on our agenda is the approval of the minutes.

The minutes of the city council meeting of February 22nd, 2021 have been reviewed.

If there are no objections, the minutes will be signed.

Hearing no objections, the minutes are being signed.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes.

Continuing on with normal business.

If there is no objection, the introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.

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

Lastly, the agenda.

If there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Colleagues, at this time, we will open the remote public comment period for the items on the city council agenda, introduction referral calendar, and the council's work program.

I thank everyone for their ongoing patience and cooperation as we continue to operate this remote public comment system.

It remains the strong intent of the city council to have remote public comment regularly included on meetings and agendas.

However, if Apologies, I lost my spot.

However, as a reminder, the city council reserves the right to end or eliminate these public comment periods at any point if we deem that the system is being abused or is no longer suitable for allowing our meetings to be conducted efficiently and effectively.

I'll moderate the public comment.

In the following manner, the public comment period for this meeting is 20 minutes and each speaker will be given two minutes to speak.

I will call on each speaker by name and in the order in which they registered on the council's website.

If you have not registered on the council's website but would like to speak, you can sign up before the end of public comment by going to the council's website at Seattle.gov forward slash council.

public comment link is also in today's agenda.

Once I call on the speaker's name, staff will unmute the appropriate microphone and automatic prompt if you've been unmuted will be the speaker's cue, it is their turn to speak.

And then the speaker must press star six to begin speaking, star six.

Please begin speaking by stating your name and the item in which you are addressing.

As a reminder, public comment should be related to an item on today's agenda, the introduction and referral calendar, or the council's work program.

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

Once you hear the chime, we ask you to begin wrapping up your comments.

If you do not end your comments at the end of the allotted time provided, the speaker's microphone will be muted to allow us to call on the next speaker.

Once you've completed your public comment, we ask you please disconnect from the line.

And if you continue, if you plan to continue following this meeting, please do so via Seattle Channel or the listening options listed on the agenda.

Public comment period is now open.

We will begin with the first speaker on the list.

Remember to press star six once you hear the prompt of you have been unmuted.

I have four, Four people signed up currently.

The fifth is not present.

We have Howard Gale, Karen Geelan, Megan Cruz, and Bill Lawton.

Bill Lawton, you are not listed as present, so please do join us if you'd like to speak.

And up first, Mr. Gale, good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Howard Gale, District 7, commenting on continuing police abuse and failed accountability.

This afternoon, you will consider the council's proposed 2021 work program.

The section of the work program on police accountability for 2021 reads like it was written in 2017, before George Floyd, before a seven-year-old child was sprayed in the face with chemical irritant, before over 13 SBD officers stood around and watched a woman they illegally arrested have repeated seizures as they stood around and did nothing.

Before Abriana Inda was hit directly in the chest with a blast ball and, as noted in multiple media reports, died three times.

Before an SBD officer gratuitously and with clear malice threw a blast ball at Seattle Gay News reporter Renee Rackety, concussing her and damaging her hearing.

Before the injuries, beatings, and false arrests suffered by hundreds since last June.

Before the SBD murders of Charlena Liles, Ayose Ofalatogo, Danny Rodriguez, Ryan Smith.

Sean Leifer, Terry Kaver, and just recently Derek Hayden two weeks ago.

None of these people will obtain any measure of justice or accountability under our current police accountability system.

Yet for 2021, the council proposes more of the same with no significant changes.

Have we learned nothing in the last nine months?

Is it all forgotten so easily?

Shame on any council member that allows this retrograde and thoughtless part of the 2021 council work program to pass without objection.

Why does Seattle not observe not deserve the police accountability system that the people of Newark, New Jersey, Nashville, Tennessee, San Diego, Portland, Oregon, and Chicago have chosen.

A system that even our own Washington State Legislature is now considering.

A system providing for full civilian control of investigating and sanctioning police abuse without police investigating police.

Yet the City Council and Community Police Commission have determined that Seattle should be exempt from these best practices.

Why does Seattle remain stuck in self-serving, dysfunctional police accountability that routinely allows officers to get away with abuse and sometimes even murder.

Thank you, Mr. Gale, and thank you for being able to wrap up right at your two minute mark.

Up next, we have Karen Gillen, followed by Megan Cruz and Bill.

I still see you are a listen is not present.

Karen, good afternoon.

Welcome.

Thank you.

My name is Karen Gillen and I am a resident of District seven.

I am commenting on the Council 2021 work program included in the introduction and referral calendar.

I urge you to include some critical missing elements.

Within the Community Economic Development Committee, there is a line item regarding economic recovery for small businesses and workers impacted by the COVID.

Impacts to downtown businesses predate the pandemic with open drug use, sidewalk camping, shoplifting, and personal safety concerns driving visitors away from downtown.

Unless these are addressed, downtown's decline will continue long after the pandemic ends.

The work plan for the Public Safety and Human Services Committee infers that reducing the size and removing funding from the police department is an objective in and of itself.

None of the work items appear to recognize that we are experiencing increases in violent crime and that public safety must be the determiner of police budget and staffing levels.

I did know one promising item called Community Safety Initiative, which seems to address the needs of the public, yet it is limited only to District 1. I would hope that Councilmember Harbaugh would expand her efforts to recognize that everyone in the city can benefit from a program leading to increased feelings of safety.

The Human Services Work Program includes one public health item.

It addresses the city's response to COVID, but fails to recognize the other ongoing public health challenges, including TB and hepatitis.

Our biggest public health challenges, untreated mental health and chronic drug abuse are completely missing from the work program.

Addressing these issues should be at the highest priority for the council since they are the primary underlying causes of inhumane and unhealthy encampments on our streets and in our parks.

I urge you to make comprehensive changes to the 2021 work plan to support safe and healthy communities as your top priority.

Thank you.

Thank you, Karen.

Up next, we have Megan Cruz and Bill.

We still see your list is not present.

So please do call in if you would like to speak Megan.

Always great to hear from you.

Good afternoon.

Hi, I'm Megan Cruz.

I live in downtown district 7 in a small building.

I'm here to speak today on the wide-ranging land-use proposals in Resolution 31994, the Council's Work Program for this year.

These proposals would address design review, SEPA, and land-use codes, all areas that...

Megan, you went on mute.

Clerks, can we restart Megan's time?

Megan, you may have pressed star six.

We've restarted your time, so you've got two minutes to go.

And if, thanks.

Yeah.

Can you hear me?

We can.

I don't know.

Yeah.

Okay.

Hi, I'm Megan.

Small building in district seven.

I'm here to speak on the wide ranging land use proposals in this year's council work program.

The proposals would address design review, SIPA and land use codes.

And these are all areas that would definitely benefit from improvement.

As the council considers these proposals, my firm request is that you please prioritize transparency and public engagement.

Follow the inclusive approach described today by Councilmember Morales, who's convening a group of her neighborhood stakeholders and government departments to discuss development in her district.

Please follow the directive of 2019 CB 119-600 by establishing a committee of public experts to inform FDCI and on environmental review and environmental justice.

And please revive the director's rule to set minimum standards for tower waste storage and vehicle loading.

This important rule was ready for a vote about a year ago but was tabled without explanation.

Today the pandemic has been hard on downtown which along with Seattle's other urban villages have absorbed 80 percent of the city's growth.

If we want our urban core to make a comeback, we need to design for resiliency and listen to the needs of people who have made a commitment to this challenged neighborhood.

Thanks for your time.

Thank you, Megan.

Lastly, signed up to speak, we have Bill Lawton.

Bill, we're seeing you not listed as present.

IT or clerks, can you confirm Bill is not present and there are no other speakers listed?

Confirmed there are no more registrants.

Thank you.

With that, if there is no objection, a public comment is concluded.

hearing no objection, we'll move on to the next item of business, payment of the bills.

Payment of the bills.

Clerks, please read the short title.

Council Bill 12005, appropriate amendment to pay starting claims for the week of February 15th, 2021 through February 19th, 2021, and ordered in payment thereof.

Thank you.

I move to pass Council Bill 12005. Second.

Thank you.

It has been moved and seconded that the bill will pass.

Are there any comments?

Hearing no comments, clerks, could you please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Herbold?

Yes.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

President Pro Tem Strauss.

Yes.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Clerks, please fix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Our next items of business are in the committee report.

First, we have finance and housing committee.

Clerks, could you please read the first item into the record?

I report to the Finance and Housing Committee, agenda item one, appointment 1779, appointment of Stephen Marchese.

As Director, Office of Labor Standards, the committee recommends the appointment be confirmed.

Thank you.

Council Member Mosqueda, as Chair of the committee, you are recognized in order to provide the committee report.

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

Council colleagues, appointment 01779 is Interim Director Stephen Marchese, who we have all had the chance to meet, I think, in various forums.

For folks who haven't yet had a chance to meet Mr. Marchese, there is, I think, invitations circling for us to have a chance to have one-on-one conversations.

Mr. Marchese did come to our committee last meeting and was unanimously recommended for his appointment as permanent director of the Office of Labor Standards.

Steven Marchese will join the city with over 20 years of public service experience, most recently serving as the public service director for the Minnesota State Bar Association.

leading efforts to link pro bono legal services to organizations that serve the public.

Additionally, he served as the director of St. Paul's School Board.

In this role, sustained relationships with communities, employees, leadership, labor representatives, and elected officials, all in service of bringing high quality education and respectful work environments.

His legal background and expertise in working with community partners to secure access to legal services is extensive, and we're all very impressed by his ongoing commitments to RSJI, Race and Social Justice Initiative work, and the work that is currently being led by various members of the change team within Office of Labor Standards and among their leadership team.

I had the chance to meet with Acting Director Marchesi a couple weeks ago, and I know that many of you were probably impressed by the same things that I was.

First, a direct interest in making sure that there was ongoing commitments to labor standards through both a racial equity and social justice lens.

Mr. Marchesi reflected on his childhood and how the things that he experienced are reflected in the values that he brings to work.

We know that Mayor Durkin and the team did extensive outreach to recruit candidates and shepherd in the opportunity to have a competitive process.

And it is through this competitive and inclusive process that Mr. Marchese rose to the top candidate for our consideration today.

I really appreciate that Acting Director Marchese and his family have helped bring the, Mr. Marchese has moved his family to Seattle and has really helping to bring the labor standards issues that we all as a council that have passed in response to COVID, putting those first and foremost in terms of the items on his to-do list and making sure that those who are most impacted by COVID, especially our lowest wage workers, have access to the resources and protections that they need as well as small businesses and making sure that they understand access to information about the newest laws and how to protect their workers.

This is a long way of saying thank you, Mr Casey for your willingness to serve in this role as Office of Labor Standards director, and for all of the folks who participated in your nomination process I want to thank them for their detailed interview that they did with you and for you Mr Casey and filling out.

our lengthy question and answer document, which we have circulated to the city.

I want to thank Sejal Parikh as well, who led on the work within council to help make sure that council members, members of the community, labor and business had a chance to weigh in on those questions.

And we greatly appreciate the lens in which you answer those questions and look forward to working with you in this role.

So unanimous recommendation for final confirmation and as the permanent director of Office of Labor Standards.

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

Thank you very much, Council Member Mosqueda, an excellent committee report.

Colleagues, any questions, comments, concerns?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointment?

Herbold?

Yes.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Sawant.

Yes.

President Pro Tem Strauss.

Yes.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the appointment is confirmed.

Congratulations, Director Marchese.

Stephen Marchese, welcome to the City Council meeting and congratulations on your appointment as the Director of Office of Labor Standards.

You are now recognized in order to provide remarks to the Council and the viewing public.

Please take it away.

Welcome.

Thank you so much, Council President Pro Tem Strauss and Council Member Mosqueda and the other members of the committee that heard my hearing.

and also all of you here today.

I'm excited to be here getting ready to work.

This is the beginning of my second month at the Office of Labor Standards.

I started February 1st.

It's been a steep learning curve, but it's an excellent one.

I'm enjoying meeting the folks in the office, this talented team.

They're doing hard work.

I'm learning a lot about what they're doing and also learning a lot about where they're of seeing the needs and the gaps and what they've been doing.

I'm learning about Seattle.

As you mentioned, Council Member Mosqueda, I'm a new arrival to the city and so excited to get to know more about the community and get to know more about my colleagues, not only in the office, all of you as partners on the council, my colleagues and the directors and the mayor's office in the city.

as well as the community members, labor unions, and members of the business community.

This is important work.

You've been very active in this sphere.

I'm excited to get busy working on and continuing to do the good work that the office is doing, strengthening the ability of the office to communicate with the community and with employers, being smart about our enforcement, and also planning for the future as we think about the ways that we wanna continue to support our workers and support our community as we move towards recovery and knitting that together with the other efforts that the city is doing.

So I thank you all for your support and your vote of confidence.

I'm looking forward to future opportunities to work together, continuing to build the collaboration and getting to know each other through this work.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, Director Marchese.

We're lucky to have you.

Excited to have you here at the city.

Thank you.

Colleagues, if there are no further comments, questions, or concerns, we'll move on to item two.

I'm Director Marchese.

Seeing no further questions, comments, concerns, will the clerk please read item two into the record?

Agenda item two, appointment 1785. Appointment of Rita Howard as member of Seattle Housing Authority Board for term to March 20, the committee recommends the appointment be confirmed.

Thank you.

Council Member Mosqueda, as chair of the committee, you are recognized to provide the committee report.

Thank you very much, Mr. President, and again, congratulations to Mr. Marchese.

On appointment number 201785 of Greta Howard to the member of the Seattle Housing Authority Board.

Rita is a retired nine-year resident of Seattle Housing Authority Senior Housing.

Rita has served as an office of the Rabennis School Apartments Residence Council, and she has also been involved in efforts including voter registration and cross-neighborhood liaison through Seattle Parks.

It was unanimous recommendation from our committee to consider Ms. Howard as a member of the Seattle Housing Authority Board.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

Other colleagues, any questions, comments, concerns?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointment?

Herbold?

Yes.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

President Pro Tem Strauss?

Yes.

7 in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the appointment is confirmed.

For items 3 and 4, will the clerk please read the items 3 and 4 into the record?

Agenda items 3 and 4, appointments 1786 and 1787. Appointment of Jim A. Marsh as Member of the Sweetened Beverage Tax Community Advisory Board for Term 2. the committee recommends these appointments be confirmed.

Thank you very much.

J.M.

Marsh specializes in community organizing, organizational development, assessment, and policy advocacy.

They have applied these skills to building community, shifting power, and driving policy change, particularly for the queer and trans people of color.

Currently, Jemay serves as Executive Director of FEAST, a non-profit organization centering youth as leaders working towards school food system changes.

Jemay also serves on the City of Seattle Environmental Justice Committee, the King County Children and Youth Advisory Board, and the Seattle Art Museum.

Education and Community Engagement Committee.

The committee recommended unanimous recommendation for Jeme's consideration to the Sweetened Beverage Tax Advisory Board.

Also, Munira Mohammed is the Executive Director of East African Community Services.

She comes with more than 17 years of experience in the nonprofit sector with specific expertise in early childhood equity-centered organizational development, and business management.

Munira unapologetically embraces her refugee and immigrant roots.

She is committed to issues of anti-racism, equity, and economic justice for East African immigrant and refugee communities.

Again, the committee recommends unanimous recommendation for her inclusion on the Sweetened Beverage Tax Community Advisory Board.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

Colleagues, any questions, comments?

I don't think that we have any concerns on any of these.

It's just what I say, questions, comments, concerns.

Hearing seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointments 1786 and 1787.

Herbold.

Yes.

Lewis.

Yes.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Yes.

Peterson.

Yes.

Sawant.

Yes.

President Pro Tem Strauss.

Yes.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries.

The appointments are confirmed.

Moving on to item five from the committee report.

Council Member Mosqueda, did you have something else?

No, looking great.

Moving on to select committee on homelessness, homelessness strategies and investments.

Item five, will the clerk please call, read the short title into the record.

Councilmember Lewis, you are recognized in order to provide our committee report.

You know, I think we've discussed this at length over the last couple months.

We've had three committee sessions to mark up this bill, to talk about it, and to thoroughly vet it with the public and stakeholders.

You know, I think it's important as homelessness is the defining issue that we're facing as a city, and in a lot of ways, the defining issue of urban policy nationally, that we be able to go to the public and say that we are doing everything that we can to stretch the value of taxpayer dollars, to make life easier for the builders that are out there making the permanent support of housing, and to structure policy in a way that is bespoke to the unique needs and unique challenges that people in the permanent support of a housing field have faced over the years in an area that we as Seattleites have really been a pioneer in cultivating through Plymouth Housing, Downtown Emergency Service Center, Chief Seattle Club, and others.

And with this bill, we go one step closer.

We can go and tell the people of Seattle You know, we took a hard look at what are the processes, where is the red tape that we can cut, what are the things that could be streamlined, and that experience has told us we can move past by passing new laws and changing regulations.

And with this legislation, we can carve off almost $50,000 per unit in cost to build permanent supportive housing.

We can make sure that those buildings are going up faster and with tighter timelines to make sure that they're coming online to help take pressure off of our shelter system and get more of our neighbors inside.

And today we can take that step and I look forward to voting this through.

I do wanna thank I want to thank Jacob Thorpe and Parker Dawson on my staff for their work in really putting this together with a bunch of stakeholders over the past couple months.

I want to thank those stakeholders over at Plymouth Housing, Sarah Rankin over at the University of Washington.

Really want to thank the Third Door Coalition folks, Matt Galvin, Chad over there at El Gaucho.

It really shows what we can do when we come together and focus on solving a problem, rather than pointing fingers at each other about what isn't getting done.

So here's something we got done by working together.

We can build on that to have more victories in the future.

And I just really look forward to getting this passed, and I'll leave it at that.

Thank you, Council Member Lewis.

Colleagues, any questions, comments, concerns?

We will all sit on the Select Committee of Homelessness Investments and Strategies.

So it does look like we have some hands.

Council Member Herbold and then Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you so much.

We all know that permanent supportive housing is well established as the most effective and the most cost effective solution to chronic homelessness.

People who live outside live stably for long stretches of their lives outside, who struggle with disabilities and are unable to afford rent.

Out of that cohort of folks, 95% of people stay housed.

in permanent supportive housing regardless of their mental health or substance abuse disorder or their disability.

Research conducted at Seattle University School of Law found that permanent supportive housing is associated with better outcomes related to quality of life, emergency services, physical and psychiatric hospitalizations, and substance abuse.

better outcomes for residents, also save money, making permanent supportive housing, again, the most cost-effective long-term solution to chronic homelessness.

Permanent supportive housing is also cheaper for the public than the alternatives.

One year of permanent supportive housing costs the same as only three days in a hospital or three months in jail.

I've consistently called for doubling the city's investment in permanent supportive housing.

And last year, I, among I think every member of the city council, joined the launch of the third door coalition and signed on to support their plan.

to build 6,500 units of permanent supportive housing in King County in the next five years.

I really appreciate the goal of this legislation to make it less expensive and hopefully to build permanent supportive housing more quickly in Seattle.

And thank you to Council Member Lewis for his leadership in working with folks together to solve this problem.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you very much, Mr. President and Pro Tem.

I too want to thank Council Member Lewis for bringing forward this legislation as well as his work to engage both proponents and skeptics to ensure that this policy was both holistic and truly addressed the difficulties that affordable housing providers have had to deal with when creating permanent supportive housing for our most impacted unhoused neighbors.

Council colleagues, this legislation is critical to addressing our ongoing housing crisis and Currently, and as currently, even affordable housing projects started today could take anywhere from four to six years to design.

So creating permanent housing, building that housing, and making sure that it's designed well makes it important for us to do everything that we can to expeditiously create permanent supportive housing across our city.

I'm happy to be in full support of this legislation today, and I believe that it will shorten that timeline, bring much-needed housing online much faster for those who are impacted by the lack of access to affordable housing throughout our community.

We must also be looking at near-term solutions to help shelter those who are in need most, whether through tiny homes or apartment acquisitions or the ongoing efforts that we continue to talk about for the immediate non-congregate shelter options.

We must do everything that we can to ensure that there is a pipeline out of those shelters and building more permanent supportive housing is the exit plan to open up more beds so that folks who are living outside have a place to go in our shelters.

We must have a permanent supportive housing and doing this bill today passes a clear message that we are moving forward, addressing the regulatory barriers to building permanently affordable housing while also identifying funding and all opportunities to expand our shelter capacity as soon as possible.

Thank you very much, Council Members.

And thank you very much, Council Member Lewis, for your leadership on this.

Well said, Council Member Mosqueda.

Council Member Peterson.

Thank you.

I'd like to also thank Councilmember Lewis as chair of our Committee on Homelessness Strategies and Investments for his leadership in crafting this bill 119975 to speed the production of permanent supportive housing.

I very much appreciate we had ample time to review and consider the legislation and offer We are fortunate to have the voter approved Seattle housing levy and our office of housing which funds the construction of approximately 2,400 units of low-income housing each year.

But only 10% to 20% of those units are for the permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless individuals suffering from behavioral health challenges and other issues.

I'm grateful to my colleagues for adopting three of my amendments at the committee last week.

These amendments will encourage broadband internet and low-income housing, require at least one community meeting for new projects, and ensure that vital human services are made available to residents of the new projects that skip these projects that skip their design review process.

I'm fully supportive of this and will vote yes.

Thank you, Councilmember Peterson.

Colleagues, any other questions, comments, concerns?

Seeing none, I'll share my thoughts of, again, gratitude, and thank you, Council Member Lewis, for your leadership on this bill.

It is rare that I let a land use bill out of my jurisdiction, and I did so only because I knew that you would do the job that you did and move this forward in a very thoughtful manner.

So thank you for your leadership on that.

Council Member Lewis, I will pass it back to you for last words, and then I'll call for the vote.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss.

I'm glad that no unforeseen consequences were realized from putting this through the select committee on homelessness, so I appreciate your indulgence in letting it go from the purview of the Land Use Committee.

I appreciate the recognition from many colleagues on what we put together here and Councilmember Peterson, your amendments that improved the bill and Councilmember Herbold's and then particularly Council Member Mosqueda that, you know, we can do all the cutting of red tape that we want to, but without resources to back this up, you know, cheaper permanent supportive housing is still going to be out of reach unless there are resources to actually build and acquire it.

And the investments made through JumpStart are going to be stretched that much further.

due to this bill and these regulations.

So I appreciate your leadership in making sure that there are resources on the other end of the hurdle here to realize a lot of these investments.

So with that, I don't have any additional comments and look forward to voting to pass this.

Thank you, Council Member Lewis.

And clerks, will you please call the roll?

Herbold?

Yes.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Yes.

Sawant.

Yes.

President Pro Tem Strauss.

Yes.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Moving on to item six, adoption of other resolutions.

Will the clerk please call, read the abbreviated title, the short title into the record.

You may be on mute.

Thank you.

Agenda item six, resolution 31994, adopting the Seattle City Council 2021 work program.

I move to adopt resolution 31994. Is there a second?

It has been moved and seconded to adopt the resolution.

Council President Gonzales is the sponsor of this resolution and is Council President and I will address it on her behalf and open the floor to comments.

Resolution 31994 adopts the Council's 2021 work program.

The work program is a public facing description of the policy areas and projects that may be taken up by each committee this year and is used by council president's office as a guide to make future decisions about the orderly distribution of legislation of the council standing and select committees.

If an item is not included on this resolution, it can still be addressed.

This resolution helps the planning purposes and allocation of staff time and committee time moving forward throughout the year.

It is likely that some projects included in the work program may not be ready for action in 2021 because of changing circumstances between now and when they are projected to be delivered.

And conversely, as I stated before, committees may decide to take up other projects that for one reason or another were not included in the work program.

Colleagues, any questions, comments, or concerns?

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you.

Because of some of the comments I heard in public testimony, I want to clarify that the mention of the community safety initiative in my District 1 priorities just recognizes that there is that District 1 is one of several geographic community hubs for that program.

This program is also mentioned under the Human Services section, under the section of the work plan called Safety Investments, recognizing that this is a citywide program in addition to some other citywide programs that are In addition, there was some concern about the efforts of the city and the inclusion in the work plan related to substance abuse disorder.

Most of the work that the city does is through King County Public Health, who is the primary responder for substance abuse disorder.

programs, but we do have the inclusion of those programs in the work plan under human services under health in two different places.

One specific to funding that the council provided that is going to be released from the Human Services Department in a contract with King County Public Health to provide health services for drug users.

And then there's another section related to some funding that the council also provided for harm reduction programs.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Welcome to clarifications.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you very much, Mr President pro tem.

I just wanted to take this as a quick second to talk about a few items in our committee as well.

There's ongoing conversations about the allocation of funding that occurs during the budget process and then the interplay between council and the mayor's office and the executive agencies.

I'm really excited about some of the items that are on this work plan for 2021. We have really important work to do in the next quarter to develop the implementation plan for Jump Start Seattle's payroll expense tax and to make sure that the 2022 resources as council directed through our spend plan are truly developed in accordance with what the initial spend plan parameters envision.

That also includes the economic recovery strategies for 2022. that we will continue to do through the Budget Committee and look forward to engaging with you all as we come up with the spend plans for those strategies.

We also are going to engage in a budget overhaul process.

This is going to involve a conversation about biennial budgets, true supplemental budgets, mirroring more of the strategies and pillars of good governance and oversight and transparency that many of us are accustomed to at the state legislative level, including the that we can reflect those in real-time.

In housing, we're going to be working with our partners in King County on allocation of the new sales use tax for housing for city priorities, including funding for operations, maintenance, and making sure that permanent supportive housing has additional resources in addition to acquisition and development of new housing that are serving those at 30% AMI and below.

And soon we will also be reviewing the ongoing work of the enterprise community partners on the pre development and related analyses of publicly owned lands, making sure that we have appropriate.

We are excited about the work plan for our committee, both for the select budget committee and the finance and housing committee, and we look forward to working with all of you to make sure that the participatory and that we are performing the necessary oversight of our major capital projects as well as our tax and fiscal policy that we have been very proud to pass over the last few years on Council.

Overall, the Finance and Housing Committee and my I look forward to working with you all to carry out these lofty goals in our 2021 work plan.

Seeing no further comments, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of this resolution?

Herbold?

Yes.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

President Pro Tem Strauss?

Yes.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries.

The resolution is adopted, and the chair will sign it.

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

Item seven.

Will the clerk please read item seven into the record?

And item seven, resolution 31995, adopting the statements of legislative intent for the 2021 adopted budget and 2021 through 2026 adopted capital improvement program.

Thank you.

I move to adopt resolution 31995. Is there a second?

Second.

It has been moved and seconded to adopt the resolution.

Council Member Mosqueda, as sponsor of this item, you are recognized in order to address it.

Thank you very much, Mr. President Pro Tem.

Council colleagues, this is the resolution that formally adopts all of the statements of legislative intent passed through the 2021 adopted budget, as well as the 2021 through 2026 Adopted Capital Improvement Program.

I want to thank Ali Panucci from Central Staff for being present with us this morning to walk us through the detail of this SLI acceptance.

and appreciate all of the questions and comments that she has already addressed.

Look forward to getting this passed and continuing to see the detailed reports that our statements of legislative intent request in many cases.

Thank you all for all of your work during the budget process to put those slides forward and we take that with the same level of urgency and importance as any line item funding approval.

Look forward to having more conversations as we receive each of those reports as well throughout the year.

Thank you, Councilmember Mosqueda.

Colleagues, any other questions, comments, concerns?

Councilmember Herbold.

I just want to underscore a piece of information that I think most of us have been notified by Council Central staff as it relates specifically to some of the Seattle Police Department responses to our statements of legislative intent.

The central staff will be providing quarterly updates in the public safety and human services committee regarding the monthly requests, regarding overtime use, staffing, and Seattle Police Department financial reporting, and of course, the quarterly 911 response report request.

I just highlight that because although many of these are monthly reports, we will be addressing them on a quarterly basis in committee.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Colleagues, any further comments, questions, concerns, or support?

Maybe that's the last word to use in that phrase.

Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the resolution?

Herbold?

Yes.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

President Pro Tem Strauss?

Yes.

7 in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries.

The resolution is adopted, and the chair will sign it.

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

Item 8, will the clerk please read the short title of item 8 into the record?

Item 8, resolution 31996, setting the time and place for hearings on the appeals of certain appellants.

Thank you.

I move to adopt resolution 31996. Is there a second?

Second.

It has been moved and seconded to adopt the resolution.

Council Member Juarez is the sponsor of this item, and I understand Council Member Peterson will address it on her behalf.

Council Member Peterson, I know none of us, even if we are all distilled and combined, stand up to the strength of Council Member Juarez, and we know that you will represent her well today.

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

You are recognized in order to address this item.

Thank you, President Pro Tem Strauss.

Council Member Juarez, who's Chair of the Council's Public Assets and Native Communities Committee, asked me to read her remarks on Resolution 31996, because I'm Vice Chair of that committee.

Resolution 31996 is simply the scheduling of the hearings of some additional appeals of the Hearing Examiner's Report regarding the Local Improvement District Number 6751, also known as the Waterfront Lid.

City Council rules for quasi-judicial proceedings require that the Council set the time and place for the hearing of an appeal of an individual's final assessment for a local improvement district within 15 days of the filing of a valid appeal.

Adoption of the proposed Resolution 31996 today, March 1st, would meet the quasi-judicial rules deadline for scheduling valid appeals that had been filed through February 16, 2021. For additional context, we have about 70 appeals filed with the city clerk.

So we're going to hear the first 35 or so appeals tomorrow at the March 2nd committee meeting, and the second batch of appeals at the April 6th Public Assets and Native Communities meeting.

This resolution is scheduling for the April 6th committee meeting.

Council Member Juarez recommends that the council pass this resolution.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

Well done.

Colleagues, any comments, questions, concerns, or support?

Hearing and seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of this resolution?

Herbold?

Yes.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Well, I'll take this moment to thank Council Member Juarez for stewarding such a, and Eric McConaghy for stewarding such an excellent process forward with the waterfront lid.

This has been work of many, many years coming forward to fruition.

Colleagues, seeing as there are no other comments, questions, concerns, or support for any item there, this does conclude the items of today's business on today's agenda.

Our next regularly scheduled city council meeting is on Monday, March 8th, 2021 at 2 p.m., where we will have council president back leading the meeting.

I hope you all have a wonderful afternoon.

We are adjourned.