Well, 2020 council briefing meeting will come to order.
The time is 930 AM.
Will the clerk, oh, I'm sorry, before I say that, colleagues this morning, I did receive a notice from council member Sawant's office that she would be absent from this morning's council briefing.
So council member Sawant does not intend to join us this morning, but she will be attending full council this afternoon.
Wanted to make sure that I stated that for the record before we call the roll here.
Will the clerk please call the roll?
Peterson.
Here.
Strauss.
Present.
Juarez.
Here.
Lewis.
Present.
Morales.
Here.
Mosqueda.
Here.
Council President Gonzalez.
Here.
Seven present.
Thank you, Madam Clerk.
If there's no objection, the minutes of October 5th, 2020 will be adopted.
Hearing no objection, the minutes are adopted.
And I will note for the record that Council Member Herbold is now with us.
Good morning.
Okay, President's Report.
Last Thursday, I sent an email to all council members regarding this year's Get Engaged appointments to various City of Seattle boards and commissions.
These annual nominations are coordinated and supported by the YMCA's Get Engaged program for young people ages 18 to 29. The Get Engaged appointments are for a 1-year term and provide leadership opportunities for these young people to influence the City of Seattle's policymaking in a broad range of subject areas.
This year, there are a total of 21 Get Engaged appointments, which are all published on today's introduction and referral calendar.
You will notice that the Get Engaged appointee is sponsored by the corresponding chair of the relevant committee.
These appointments are being referred directly to the full council, however, not to your respective committees, as would ordinarily be the case.
And all of these get engaged appointments will be considered on next Monday, October 19th.
So consistent with tradition, all of the get engaged appointees have been invited to attend and briefly present their qualifications at the council briefing meeting scheduled for Monday, October 19th.
And then that same afternoon, we will consider these appointments at the city council meeting.
If you have any questions colleagues about the get engaged appointments or the process related to that, please reach out to tell Madsen, who is our boards and commissions manager in the office of the city clerk.
At this afternoon's full council meeting, we have a very, very, very short agenda.
We will consider the payment of the bills and we will approve the introduction and referral calendar.
There is no other bills, resolutions, or other legislation for us to consider this afternoon.
We will have public comment this afternoon, however, and consistent with the published agenda, the public comment period will be no more than 20 minutes this afternoon.
That concludes my president's report.
So we'll now move into a preview of today's city council actions and council and regional committees.
I will call on council members as established by the rotated roll call for city council meetings.
This week's roll call rotation is as follows.
Council member Peterson, Strauss, Herbold, Juarez, Lewis, Morales, Mosqueda, and then I will conclude this agenda discussion.
So we will hear first from Councilmember Peterson.
Good morning.
Hello, colleagues.
Thank you, Council President.
The Transportation and Utilities Committee has no items on today's full City Council agenda.
Our Transportation and Utilities Committee will resume its meetings on Wednesday, December 2nd after the fall budget season.
This past week I hosted a budget town hall for District 4. Over 150 residents signed up to participate.
I want to thank my staff for organizing the town hall as well as Budget Director Ben Noble for presenting the Mayor's budget proposal for 2021 and for answering questions with me.
I'd also like to thank the co-chair of the Community Police Commission, Reverend Aaron Williams, for sharing his experience and perspective on police budgets, reforms, and the need to revamp the current police union contract, which expires at the end of this year.
Of course, these virtual town halls are just one way for constituents to communicate their ideas, concerns, and comments on the budget as we all continue to receive emails and phone calls, as well as public comments during the budget meetings and public hearings.
I'm looking forward to these budget meetings this week when central staff will start to identify key issues of interest to all nine council members.
In addition to our ongoing discussions about revamping public safety and addressing homelessness, as transportation chair, I'll be most interested in finding resources to address the sobering report from our city auditor about the dangerous physical condition of our city's bridges, including the Magnolia Bridge, University Bridge, Second Avenue South Extension, and the Ballard Bridge.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councilmember Peterson, for that report.
Are there any comments or questions on that report?
Okay, hearing none, we'll go ahead and move over to Council Member Strauss, and then after Council Member Strauss is Council Member Herbold.
Council Member Strauss, good morning.
Good morning, Council President.
Good morning, colleagues.
Happy Indigenous Peoples Day.
I want to honor past and present the people of this land, in particular the people in District 6, the people who have inhabited Salmon Bay for millennia.
I would like to note for the record of the city of Seattle that when the ship canal had many different options of places to connect Lake Washington and Lake Union to the Puget Sound, the choice was finally made through what had been a Native American village.
And Hiram Chittenden, the federal agent with the Army Corps of Engineers and one of the first commissioners for the Port of Seattle, was in charge of this.
this project.
He had very troubling views about Native Americans, in particular that they were of a weaker race, and quoting from his history link right now, and bound to disappear, something that he felt, quote, sentimental humanists did not understand.
I'm glad today that that was not the case, and I find it also troubling that we do not have recognition of these facts.
in District 6 and where indigenous people have lived for millennia previous to the current street grids that we are traveling and experiencing today.
So I want to honor past and present the people of this land.
Moving on to the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee.
There is one item from the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee on the introduction and referral calendar today, CB 119907, which is a six-month extension of the moratorium on development of manufactured homes, homes parks.
This legislation will be referred directly to full council for a public hearing on November 16th.
and a vote later in November.
My office is working closely with Council Member Juarez's office to address this issue on a permanent basis so that we don't have to renew the six-month moratorium every six months after this year.
There are no items from the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee on today's full agenda.
Regarding the budget, my office has submitted 14 form A's, and I'm happy to speak to those during issue ID meetings.
Last week, I was able to join Council Member Lewis for the Lunch and Learn on mass timber.
Thank you, Council Member Lewis for hosting that.
And last week in District 6, I spoke to District 6 residents about homelessness, public safety.
I spoke to some business owners about increased security needs as Typically in the past, you know, bartenders who were maintaining, you know, closing out the bars would have eyes on the street until three or four in the morning with Shops closing earlier, that period of time has lengthened from about 11, 11 p.m.
to two, six, seven o'clock in the morning.
And so there's as we are seeing how we do business differently, there are different concerns that we are now experiencing.
So thank you to those business owners who I was able to speak to this year.
I continue this week.
I continue to have district six resident meetings as well as a town hall tomorrow, October 3rd, from five to seven p.m.
And there I look forward to receiving questions from the public, from the residents, and from District 6. So thank you, Council President.
Thank you, colleagues.
That is my report.
Thank you, Councilmember Strauss, for that report.
Are there any comments or questions on that report?
Hearing none, we'll now move down the line to Councilmember Herbold, and then we will hear from Councilmember Juarez.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Thank you so much.
Very short report today.
There are no items from the Public Safety and Human Services Committee today on the full council agenda.
Just a quick little update from the Human Services Department on the Seattle Youth Employment Program summer wrap-up.
You may be aware that the Seattle Youth Employment Program, SYEP, is a city-run program for young people ages 16 to 24. from qualifying income households and communities that experience racial, social, and economic disparities.
It has two components, a school year exploration and learning experience and a summer internship.
They just wrapped up the summer internship and beginning last October, participants attended weekly sessions and career discovery days and participated in team activities, skills workshops, one-on-one coaching, and support services and assessments.
Youth participants earned stipends for completing modules, and those who completed the series were promised a 150-hour internship paying $16 per hour during summertime.
Then COVID came along.
SYEP quickly adapted to a world where academic learning happens online and workers train, interact with each other virtually.
Participants who had completed the training session were given the opportunity to learn job readiness skills like writing a resume or cover letter and how to participate for an interview.
This work resulted in several positive outcomes, including learning about virtual platforms that will be used in future classes and careers, becoming more comfortable communicating with managers and peers, and managing workload and product deliverables in a work-from-home setting.
HSD asked me to share this experience with you and the viewing public as a way to thank the Seattle Youth Employment Program interns and participants for their hard work and engagement in this very unusual year.
Major events coming up this week for me include Tuesday at the West Seattle Junction BIA public safety meeting.
Also Tuesday, speaking at the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce Business Issues Forum.
And then Wednesday, be attending the West Seattle Bridge Community Task Force meeting and looking forward to that in the follow-up discussion.
And that's all I have to report this morning.
Thank you so much, Councilmember Herbold.
Any questions or comments on that report?
All right, hearing none, we will now hear from Councilmember Juarez and then Councilmember Lewis.
Good morning, Councilmember Juarez.
Good morning, everybody, and again, happy Indigenous Peoples Day.
So I have a few comments, a little bit more than I normally do just because of parks.
But anyway, there are no items I would like to make a motion for approval of the public assets and native communities committee on this afternoon's city Council agenda.
There are three items I'm sponsoring listed on the introduction referral calendar.
That is, of course, the two mayoral appointments assigned to our committee.
The third item is the land use bill.
I'm working with councilmember Strauss in his office.
Thank you, councilmember Strauss.
Thank you.
Regarding the metropolitan park district, the budget timeline, reminder, Monday, October 19th at 530 is our metropolitan park district board meeting.
We'll hold a public hearing to consider the 2021 proposed MPD budget.
We will also take up two amendments that would delay the 2021-2026 planning cycle.
In regards to parks, again, this morning, my office will send out the parks weekly COVID-19 programmatic update, and I'll cover just a few highlights here on the policy side.
Beginning this month, park closing hours at several popular parks will return to normal, typically within 11.30 p.m.
closure time.
During the summer, as you know, Seattle Parks and Rec closed the parks earlier than usual to reduce crowding and to help slow the spread of the virus, coronavirus.
The policy of making Green Lake path one way for pedestrians only will continue throughout the fall.
The ballot drop boxes at Seattle Parks and Rec facilities, beginning October 15th, King County will locate ballot drop boxes at six Seattle Park and Rec facilities.
That would be Green Lake, Magnolia Park, Magnuson Park, Garfield Community Center, Rainier Community Center, and Rainier Beach Community Center.
The drop boxes will be available or open 24-7 from October 15th and will close at 8 p.m.
on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3rd.
The Waterfront.
Office of the Waterfront.
Work on Pier 58 removal continues.
Since the partial collapse a month ago, crews have reestablished digital monitors in the survey stations to track the pier's movement.
Crews have cleaned debris and crews have removed more of the timber deck structure to the west.
The structure is continuing to move and we know the piles are significantly deteriorated based on crew inspection.
The Seattle Department of Construction Inspection, SDCI, has reviewed and determined to close Pier 57 as a safety precaution shortly after the partial collapse of Pier 58. The next step in the removal is to strip down the remaining concrete structure on Regards to Seattle Center, OVG.
As you all know, last Tuesday, yay, the Seattle Storm won their fourth NWNBA championship.
Season was dedicated to Breonna Taylor and the Say Her Name campaign.
I look forward to the day when we can celebrate our team in our new Seattle area.
Very happy about that.
In regards to Indigenous Peoples Day, Indigenous Peoples Day at its core aims to celebrate and honor the past, present, and future of Native peoples throughout the United States.
and acknowledges the legacy of colonialism, which has devastated Indigenous communities historically and continues to negatively impact us today.
More importantly, however, Indigenous Peoples Day moves beyond the narrative of oppression and honors the history, cultures, contributions, and resilience of our people and our contemporary Native American Indigenous folks.
I was hoping Council Member Sawant was here this morning.
I wanted to give her a huge shout out.
Back in 2014, Council Members Sawant and Matt Remley and the Native American community ensured that the City of Seattle officially recognized Indigenous Peoples Day.
So thank you, Council Members Sawant and Matt Remley and the Native American community that made that happen back in 2014. And I learned this morning that our friend and brother, Council Member Chris Stern with the City of Auburn, will be officially recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day for the City of Auburn.
Every year we usually have some kind of ceremony downstairs or in the City Hall and obviously we can't do it this year.
We're doing something a little bit different.
I want to thank Nageen for pulling this together and the leadership of the Snoqualmie Tribe.
So we want to honor a recent milestone for the Snoqualmie people.
Believe it or not, I don't know how this works, but in the 60s many tribes were quote-unquote unrecognized.
And 21 years ago, on October 6th, the Snoqualmie Tribe status as a federally recognized tribe was re-recognized and affirmed.
Last week, the Snoqualmie Tribe celebrated October 6th as Snoqualmie Rights Day.
On the 21st anniversary of their federal re-recognition, the tribe celebrates Snoqualmie Rights Day in honor of the tribal leaders who fought and petitioned to reestablish the acknowledgement of the government's federal trust responsibility.
And yours truly here was there back in the day in another life when I represented the unrecognized tribes.
So in closing, while we celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day, I want to share a more personal note, something that we don't often discuss, certainly not outside of Indian country, certainly not within Indian country sometimes, and that's the federal recognition process.
And that's the denial of the federal government to quote, not federally recognize our other brother indigenous brothers and sisters.
I've experienced this.
I've watched it.
I've been involved in communities and tribes and been in court to get tribes recognized and to fight for their recognition.
And I can tell you from a personal, professional perspective, it's been painful to say the least.
The federal tool of non-recognition is still being wielded today.
This colonial act has led to pain and trauma for many tribal people.
In addition, Current day tribal practice of disenrollment has been equally painful and harmful.
In fact, it's been horrific.
The federal government non-recognition process, the tribal government disenrollment process are two sides of the colonial, as we say, ax or blade that is still being wielded today.
And it cuts deep, it divides communities in pain.
Its pain is immeasurable.
And in 2020, this, too, continues.
As I shared, this colonial tool divides tribes, families, and communities.
And I don't know what we'll do.
I don't know how, if we're going to continue, how we're going to heal ourselves from that.
So I hope some of our tribal leaders are listening today that federal nonrecognition and tribal disenrollment are designed to erase our people, to deny them their birthright, to make them invisible and continue the violent history that we've endured since 1492. I guess that's when they arrived.
These policies and practices have no purpose in the 21st century.
So as I shared, I hope our leaders are listening today and reject this tool, this weapon, this colonial ax, and throw it in the historical bin of oppression like we've done other areas to hold down our people.
I don't want to end that on a sad note, because actually I enjoy Indigenous Peoples' Day, from what I hear from different tribal leaders who call me and let me know things that are going on.
But I think that is something that we need to bring out into the light, because as we all know, sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Moving on, week ahead.
Tomorrow, I have a Sound Transit North King County sub-area meeting, where board members from this region will convene to review project updates.
On October 14th, I'll be hosting a town hall via Zoom on Wednesday at four o'clock, where we will be joined by City Budget Director Ben Noble, Commissioner Esther Lozado of the Community Policing Commission, and she's also the, as you know, CEO of the Seattle Indian Health Board, and Director of Human Services, Jason Johnson.
The town hall will address three issues that our city faces, the budget, the 2021 budget, community safety, and homelessness.
On October 17th, I don't know if you've all had a chance, I think I talked about this a couple years ago, Tony Orange will join the Seattle Public Library for an online discussion of the book, the Seattle Read Selection, they're there.
Thank you, Marcellus Turner, our librarian, I told him about this book a couple years ago, and he got Tony Orange up here.
So he'll speak with Christina Roberts, Director of the Indigenous Peoples Institute at Seattle U, Registration to participate in the digital platform is now full.
Sorry.
However, this event will be live-streamed on the Seattle Public Library's Facebook page.
If you haven't had a chance to read They're There, I think you guys would like it.
It's set in present day, current day, Oakland, California.
It's a really, really good book.
Last week, as I shared, I participated in the War Cry podcast with Patsy Whitefoot and Emily Washines and some of my other Yakama sisters.
And we highlighted Seattle's commitment to missing murdered indigenous women and girls, as well as for the LGBTQ community and Two Spirits.
And we covered the legislative journey from Abigail Elkahok's 2018 report to the budget, and the new strategic advisory position within Seattle Police Department.
So we did the last episode for their season, we did the finale.
And again, the names were Patricia Whitefoot, Robin Peaseby, Emily Washington.
The War Cry is a podcast created, hosted, and produced by all indigenous team that explores stories, issues, and historical connection involving missing, murdered indigenous women, LGBTQ, and Two-Spirit community members.
So I don't know if that's out yet.
I think it's supposed to have been posted today.
And Friday, wonderful event at the Hayashi.
We did the D5 community members came out in full for the Hayashi, and the family celebrated an unofficial, or official, I'm sorry, unveiling of the Hayashi Avenue street sign in Lake City.
The event was held in front of the Lake City Library.
Lake City community members, Chris Leverson, Mark Mendez, Hayden Bixby, members of the Hayashi family, King County Councilman Ron Dembowski, And Nathan Hale students all took part in the unveiling of the new street sign.
Now when you come down 125th to your left, you will see a wonderful street that says Hayashi Avenue.
And the family, it was amazing.
And we also had a surprise visit from the Japanese consulate, which was wonderful.
And they had an interpreter, so that was great.
And Friday, I had a chance again to visit, which I've been there a few times, the Refugee I'm the director of the refugee artesian initiative in Lake City and took a tour with the president and founder and board member Brittany male.
They started the refugee artesian initiative in 2016 with the stated mission to transform the lives of refugee and immigrant women by and they've done some phenomenal work with their sewing machines and since COVID they can't come in and use their machines so now they're at home making all kinds of things besides masks and they also have their husbands doing work too.
It's just been great watching the Women's Refugee Alliance.
I cannot tell you just just how sometimes when things get so dark around here it's nice to go somewhere and see people smiling and laughing and trying to just get through this and do the right thing.
So big shout out to Ming Ming and Brittany.
They have just done phenomenal work, not only for Lake City, but across the city.
So thank you, Council President.
That's my report.
Thank you so much, Council Member Juarez, for that report.
Are there any comments or questions on that report?
Hearing none, we'll go ahead and go down the line.
And next up is Council Member Lewis and then Council Member Morales.
Good morning, Council Member Lewis.
Good morning, Madam President.
And I actually do have one question for Council Member Juarez actually on her report before I start.
And that would just be for that Metropolitan Park meeting on the 19th.
Is there going to be public comments at that meeting?
Just if I have some constituents that are interested.
Oh, absolutely.
Okay, great.
Great.
Well, with that, there is nothing on the agenda this afternoon from the Select Committee on Homelessness Strategies and Investments.
This week, there's a whole bunch of stuff going on that I'm looking forward to.
On Wednesday, October 14th, I will be following in the lead of Council Member Mosqueda and going on a ride-along with HealthONE.
I'm very much looking forward to that.
and to really get out there with the folks in our fire department doing that really impactful and now award-recognized work.
And really looking forward to that experience and being able to report back on it as Council Member Mesquita did last week.
On the 15th of October, we have our next meeting of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.
looking forward to attending that with Council President Gonzales to continue that important work in trying to gel a cohesive regional strategy on homelessness that as folks who've been watching the news recently have seen is an ongoing process as relates to getting everyone on the same page, but they've been and I look forward to another one on the 15th to keep going down that path of regional collaboration.
Last week, I had a town hall on Friday evening.
I intend to have a couple of town halls over the course of the budget process.
This was a very sort of top line just kind of introduction to how the process works now that we're at the beginning of it and how people can Remain involved and make their voice heard throughout the process as important deadlines come up.
It was good to be able to.
Relay that information early on, and I look forward to having more town halls as we go throughout the fall.
Just to echo Councilmember Strauss's earlier comments, it was good to join with Councilmember Strauss and his office for a lunch and learn regarding passive housing construction and the use of mass timber products as a environmental and climate change conscious way of molding our built environment to make sure that we are meeting our ambitious climate goals and also just making sure that from a public health standpoint with passive housing, insulating ourselves from potential disasters like the smoke that we encountered over the summer.
So look forward to some potential things coming out of that to influence the work of the Land Use Committee meeting and appreciated that opportunity to collaborate with Councilmember Strauss.
I had my final session of the season at the Queen Anne Farmers Market.
It was sad to have to wrap that in.
It was really rewarding to be able to go out there almost every week with a couple of exceptions.
I canceled one of the sessions for a week that was particularly bad air quality, for example, from the smoke.
but generally going there every week that the Queen Anne Farmers Market was open and in operation was a good opportunity to meet face to face during a period where unfortunately our ability to do that as a society and community and as elected officials has been hampered by the very necessary public health restraints related to getting a hold on COVID-19, it was good to have this opportunity for socially distanced one-on-one conversations with the people of the Queen Anne neighborhood in District 7. And I look forward to continuing that hopefully in better times as we go forward and that interaction becomes easier again in a world with a vaccine and just a better public health environment.
With that, I don't have any other updates and look forward to our sessions late in the week where we start getting into the budget process again.
So thank you so much.
Thank you, Councilmember Lewis for that report.
Any comments or questions for Councilmember Lewis?
Okay, hearing none, we'll go ahead.
And I think Council Member Morales needs a couple more moments.
So if you don't mind, Council Member Mosqueda, if you're prepared to go, that would be, I think, a big help to Council Member Morales, who is, like many of us, dealing with stuff at home while we telecommute.
So Council Member Mosqueda, and then we will circle back to Council Member Morales if she is available.
Good morning.
Thank you very much.
Good morning.
Good morning, Council President.
Good morning, colleagues.
I do want to just say a quick note to Council Member Juarez.
You asked, Council President, if we had comments, and I thought I'd just save them for the beginning of my comments here.
I just want to thank Council Member Juarez both for the historical perspective on Indigenous Peoples Day from the local to the national level.
Appreciate you providing us with that report on the history of the day and also the call to action and the ongoing commitments that we need to continue to make to address.
I appreciate you and your report this morning.
Every single one of you was present on our public hearing last Tuesday.
There was over one hundred and fifty five people signed up to present in the evening and we stayed on for over four hours.
I want to thank all of you for not just being present, but to listening, hearing and following up with the various people who called in.
I want to thank everyone who called and participated in that public hearing was really a robust discussion.
And I know that not everybody is able to join in.
in the late evening time frame.
So we are continuing to receive your emails and your calls.
We are sharing those with all of our council colleagues and appreciate all of your time and commitment to providing us with the input from your neighborhood, from your perspective, from your family's perspective.
Really appreciate all of the public testimony that we heard.
We did have the opportunity to complete a video that will be sent out today summarizing our activities last week.
I want to thank all of you for sending what you have been doing in the last few weeks to engage with the community in getting the word out about the budget process and also to solicit ideas from constituents and neighbors really appreciate your time.
Thanks again to the communications team and Sejal Praik for working on that video.
We will be able to share that with you around early afternoon, just after noon today.
Looking forward to sharing with the public all of the work that you've been doing over the last week to get the word out.
And what we continue, what we will continue to do is to endeavor to get that information out.
Also want to be featuring various public comment moments from last Tuesday's public hearing very compelling public testimony and we're going to be packaging some of that as well as we roll out more information to the general public about ways to get engaged with our budget process for 2021. Also want to thank folks within your offices.
Each of you have been very busy.
What you'll see in the video is engagement from farmers markets to presentations on Seattle Channel from the town hall meetings that you had to talking with various constituents in your neighborhoods and in your districts and for Councilmember Gonzalez and I throughout Seattle.
It's going to be a really important opportunity for us to break down what the budget process really means and for us to solicit input from our community organizations and stakeholders and residents across the city.
This is a great way for us to highlight what we've been doing and what we will continue to do.
I will have more of a report out from the health one ride along that I participated in last Tuesday, and we'll be featuring some of the information in my Teresa Tuesday report that is coming out tomorrow.
And I really appreciate Council Member Lewis noting that he is going on a ride along as well.
I want to send a note from the folks at HealthONE.
They have invited and in fact challenged me to see if we can get every single council member to participate in a ride along.
And I know that there is strong interest from this council, both from the past votes that council members have taken to newer members and the commitments and support that you've shown.
So I thought I'd pass along that challenge and extend the invitation It was it was very, very compelling.
The ride along and the conversation was extremely helpful in terms of getting feedback from them on what they do on a daily basis, the challenges they face and the needs they have.
So thanks again to the health one team.
And we'll have more to report out on that when we get to that item in our issue identification later this week.
This week is week three of the budget process.
I will be sending out a memo every Monday, as I did last week, summarizing what you can expect in the upcoming weeks.
In those memos, you'll see first, what is going to happen in our committee and our select budget committee in the upcoming week.
Second, any internal deadlines that we have as a reminder for ourselves, for our staff and the general public, what the process looks like for this week in terms of creating and crafting that budget.
And the third thing you'll see is any communication, public communication opportunities that our comms team is working on.
And that will be the format for the memos as they go out.
That will come later today.
What you'll see in this week's memo is the summary and highlights for what to expect on Thursday and Friday.
On Thursday and Friday, we pivot to our issue identification.
We'll hear from each of the on key issues in the budget based on where your issue identification forms have been submitted.
Issue identification forms are what we call Form A's for the general public.
You've probably heard us talk about that.
And this year we have 158 Form A's.
This is slightly higher than last year.
It is not totally abnormal in terms of the number of Form A's, but it is a lot.
So we want to first thank our folks from central staff for all of the work that you've done in helping to craft these form A's and really walking us through each of these issue identification papers as we continue with the next few forms.
As a reminder, we are going to be meeting on Thursday, Friday this week, and then we'll continue those conversations Tuesday, Wednesday in the week following.
This level of forms means that we are going to need all of you to engage in reading through those forms in advance.
If you have any questions, technical questions that you'd like to ask of central staff in advance of the hearing, that's great.
Do encourage you to also ask your questions and engage in the discussion in Thursday and Friday's conversation this upcoming week.
Additionally, many of the forms that do have a large dollar amount We are going to need to continue to remind folks that in the next iteration, each of these items need to be self balancing as we do not have enough revenue for existing programs.
One of the challenges that we're going to have in front of us is to continue to identify revenue streams.
Again, very grateful that we all passed the Jump Start Progressive Revenue Package earlier this year.
You know, this means that we're $214 million less in the hole than we would have been.
But we also know there is more need in our community given the crisis that COVID has presented or exacerbated.
We'll encourage you to continue to think through the revenue streams identified with those issue identification forms so that the next iteration, we will be able to have a self-balancing conversation when it comes to Form B. As a reminder, though, for the public, these issue identifications are really more of a narrative explanation of what you're interested in looking at and do not have to have a self-balancing dollar amount associated with it, but that will be coming up very shortly.
Just a quick preview of what to expect during issue identification.
First, central staff will present the issues and the options they have identified through their independent analysis.
Second, following their presentation of those issues, each council member that has proposed the issue identification form will be asked to present a short summary of why they are interested in the issue.
With over 150 proposals though, these summaries will need to be very brief and I'm gonna ask folks to keep to a very short timeline on those and I'll follow up with you on that soon.
Third, the proposal submitted via the form will be grouped together by department or issue area.
If the proposal you submitted is for a department which central staff did not prepare a standalone summary paper, then it will be presented at the end.
This year, I will not be asking for folks to provide a show of hands for support for Form A's.
We will be limiting the conversations to discussions only as information on which to base Form B's.
So for Form B's, you'll be asked to raise your hand and identify if this is something of interest.
For Form A's, there's no need to sort of sign on or co-sponsor anything.
This is just for discussion purposes.
With that, Madam President, just a quick summary of what's to come for me and this week.
I want to highlight one of the events that is happening tonight.
Seattle Town Hall is putting on an event with an incredible author, Richard Rothstein, who is the author of The Color of Law.
If folks haven't seen this book or read this, I encourage you to get a copy and to tune in this evening.
This is a really important conversation that we're having that is not just a historical perspective on the ways in which redlining and racist covenants and exclusionary zoning and lending policies have led to segregation, but it's a relevant conversation for today's analysis of how we need to change zoning and building practices so that we can create a more inclusive, affordable and sustainable city.
We'll have the opportunity to be part of a panel this evening.
I have really incredible privilege to be on a panel with Councilmember Claudia Balducci from King County, and Colleen Echo-Hawk, Chief Seattle Club, and this panel will follow in our presentation from Richard Rothstein.
The presentation starts at 7.30 p.m.
tonight, and you can still get tickets at townhallseattle.org.
Just click right there in the middle.
There's an icon that leads you to the history of housing segregation today.
And Madam President, just very briefly, I want to summarize for folks, if you haven't had the chance to hear about this book or to hear from Rostein before, a summary or maybe a preview of the discussion to come this afternoon.
Rostein writes, today's residential segregation in the North, South, Midwest, and West is not the unintended consequences of individual choices and of otherwise well-meaning law or regulation.
but of unhidden public policy that explicitly segregated every metropolitan area in the United States.
He goes on to write, by failing to recognize that we now live with the severe enduring effects of de jure or segregation by law public policy, we avoid confronting our constitutional obligation to reverse it.
We have an obligation to address this as a constitutional issue, not just a moral obligation.
This is a moral obligation as well as a constitutional obligation that we are required to fulfill.
And in summary, he says, we've created a caste system in this country by way of our segregationist policies as it relates to housing, by racially explicit government policies.
And although in many cases, Most of these policies are no longer on the books.
They have never been redeemed, and their effects endure.
So this is a discussion about the ways in which the legacy of explicit racial covenants in our zoning and housing policies continue today.
He talks about Seattle in his book, and this is as recent as a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that relayed back to Seattle's racist covenant policies and how we as public policymakers still have the opportunity, and as he argues, the constitutional obligation to upend and change these policies.
If you haven't read it, he's going to do a better job than I just did in summarizing it.
The Color of Law.
Hope to see you all tonight.
Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you so much, Council Member Mosqueda.
Any questions or comments on that report?
Okay, hearing none, thank you so much, Council Member Mosqueda, for walking us through what to expect the rest of the week.
I had a couple of questions for you and maybe Ali, who I see is on the line with us this morning.
So in terms First, in terms of the Health One, why am I forgetting what it's called?
The Health One Ride Along.
Can you talk a little bit more about COVID safety precautions that are taken during that ride along, especially since presumably it's done within a contained, enclosed space for a prolonged period of time?
Yes, absolutely.
So first, Everywhere you go, bring your mask.
I showed up with my mask with double filters in.
They also have N95 masks for you upon arrival.
There was a small discussion with a roundtable of firefighters, case managers from HSD.
And I was also joined, I really appreciate the folks from IAFF 27 Liam who joined me from the general firefighters perspective.
We all sat socially distanced, but it was inside and we did all have masks on with with appropriate.
ventilation within the room as well.
So if folks would like to do the ride-along and you prefer to have a roundtable discussion outdoors or perhaps in the garage that they have, which is much bigger, I know that that's an option as well.
In terms of the ride-along, we also had gloves that we wore and the N95 masks as well.
And because of the need to ensure that there is trust built with the firefighters and case managers as they go out as the HealthONE team, I and my staff, we did not go directly to talk to the individuals that they were serving, but basically observed and respectfully distanced from afar.
And so you're not interacting with individuals in the community, but more observing how the team interacts, even from a distance.
I could see that when the individual they were assisting and if you remember didn't have pants on and they talked to him and they checked his feet they were concerned about injuries in his feet.
Once they got him with socks and pants and they got him clothed he actually his demeanor changed and you could see the experience even from afar and how that relationship I felt very safe and I know that if other councilmembers would like to go, they are very accommodating to make sure that you feel safe in that regard as well.
to this pandemic with their own personal lived experiences and pre existing conditions and etc etc related to potential exposure so.
I want to make sure that the firefighters who don't hear from certain council members understand that that may be the motivation for not hearing from certain council members as opposed to a lack of interest or excitement about the HealthONE program, which I've been very supportive of from the get-go.
But I just want to acknowledge that not everyone may be able to participate in in a ride along because of issues related to potential exposure to COVID-19, even under maximum safety precautions.
So just wanted to put that out there really quickly.
And then second, in terms of the budget, Allie, I was hoping that you can talk a little bit about, just thread the needle for us a little bit on the form.
A's from a process perspective, you know, I think some folks might might.
Be a little shell shocked by the number of form A's submitted and what its significance is and what its impact is on the budget.
And I think it's important for us to.
to have an opportunity to explain to the viewing public that just because you submit a Form A doesn't mean it becomes part of the budget.
And, you know, I think that a lot of times, particularly members, various student members in our media begin to crunch the numbers on the total tally of the Form As and sort of run with that as though the council intends to make, you know, some sort of ads of, multi-millions of dollars into the budget, and I just think it's really important to provide clarity around what the precise goal is of the Form A's so that there isn't misinformation floating around about Council's intent as it relates to the Form A process.
Thank you.
Council President, good morning.
Council Members, Chair Mosqueda.
I think of the Council's budget process as sort of a narrowing of ideas as we move through the process.
So the proposals submitted through Form A are at the beginning stages expressing council members' interest in pursuing opportunities to make changes to the mayor's proposed budget.
So these are high-level proposals that reflect a range of ideas in terms of restoring funding that's cut in the proposed budget, increasing funding for certain services, I'm expressing where council member priorities are in the next phase.
And as we move forward, it starts to get narrowed as we look at what resources are available and how priorities align with the mayor's proposed budget and the council.
So in, in many cases, all of this is important work and express priorities.
However, there are many things in the proposed budget that are also council member priorities.
So there'll be hard, hard choices ahead.
So again, these four days are just, indicating interest in pursuing options to modify the mayor's proposed budget, but are not necessarily so dialed in that we know the exact dollar amount to, to fulfill the council members priorities, or is it necessarily saying that that is a higher priority than other items that are in sort of the base budget or that sort of thing?
And we will refine the proposals as we move forward, but this is an opportunity for council members to put a large number of ideas out there for a discussion and doesn't necessarily indicate that it is a proposal that will move forward.
And also, if something is not included in these proposals, it can still be brought up in other rounds of the budget discussions.
Great.
Thank you, Allie.
And thank you, Council Member Mosqueda, for allowing me an opportunity to pivot over to Allie to provide a little bit more context and texture to that forming process in terms of the global work that we're going to be undergoing over the next couple of months.
Thank you, Councilmember.
Thank you, Council President.
I think that is a really important reminder for the public and also for folks who are covering this issue.
And a reminder that where we started in our discussion about the proposed 2021 budget is that we as the legislative branch have to do these conversations in public.
We're the only branch that touches the budget that actually does these deliberations in public.
So what you see is sort of the behind the scenes sausage making that may have been done by the mayor's office as they were contemplating budget items.
This is our chance as the legislative branch to contemplate items.
And some of these items do have large ticket value to them.
And we'll need to have a discussion as we do in public about where our values and priorities lie.
I know we want to do much, much more if we had more resources, but we will be engaged in those conversations about how to narrow down, as Ali said, those priorities.
So it is a very good reminder, council president, and a reminder for the public as well, that this is exactly what we should be doing, thinking through all various options and having those discussions deliberately in public.
And then lastly, I would just say as a note from the HealthONE team, It was a challenge and good gesture just because they were also very appreciative.
I want to pass on their notes of appreciation for past investments as well.
You all, I think, have a tremendous amount of respect from the fact that we all have been trying to invest in this project for many, many years.
And the HealthONE team is up and running with just half a month I want to say thank you to all of the folks who have been working under, half a year under their belt to show incredible progress already.
Serving over 400 people.
We have such an incredible team and they have also expressed appreciation for the support they have received.
If you can't make it in person, I know they understand.
Thank you, Council President, for reminding us all.
provided the tour and for those who are able to go, for sharing what you can with the rest of your colleagues.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda for that and for the notes from the team over at HealthONE.
We always knew that and making investments in creative models that were prepared to respond to low acuity needs out on the streets was a wise investment.
And I think that that is being proven very well by this team.
So I really do appreciate all the work that they continue to do and look forward to more of their creative, innovative and compassionate work playing out in the field.
Okay, folks, if there are no other questions or comments on the report from Council Member Mosqueda, we'll go ahead and move down the line.
Next up is Council Member Morales.
Good morning.
Good morning, Council President.
Thank you, colleagues, for indulging me.
I am also, as you know, serving as teaching assistant these days, as well as tech support and lunch lady.
So there's a lot going on over here right now.
Thanks, Council Member Mosqueda, for going ahead of me.
Today, as we know, on the internet production referral calendar we have several mission appointments from get engaged including five would be going through my committee so.
forward to talking about those folks next week.
I do want to acknowledge Indigenous Peoples Day and thank those who advocated for this resolution in 2014, including the affiliated tribes of Northwest Indians, the Seattle Human Rights Commission and others.
And as Council Member Juarez mentioned, I believe at two o'clock today, Daybreak Star will be live streaming a celebration So I want to thank our Office of Civil Rights and others for supporting and sponsoring this event.
I do also want to congratulate the Seattle Storm on their fourth national championship for the fourth national championship of our professional basketball team.
Congratulations to them.
Last week I had a meeting with the Central Puget Sound Economic Development Board, of which I'm a member through PSRC.
We heard from the Washington State Department of Commerce and others about the need to focus on workforce development in the area, to adjust our skills training for displaced workers, for younger workers.
as we move into what we hope we will be moving into a regional economic recovery.
We also did learn about the latest round of CARES funding for small businesses.
So Homesite Community Development is teaming up with the Department of Commerce to develop the Community Small Business Resiliency Grant Program.
Using $5 million in federal CARES Act funds.
Learn more about how your business can be eligible for, I believe it is up to $10,000 in grants.
You can contact Homesite Community Development.
Colleagues, we know that homelessness continues to be a crisis in our city, and my staff and I have been very busy meeting with folks from across the district to discuss the best way forward in addressing the crisis.
We've heard from several New Holly neighbors.
My staff coordinated with SPU and with REACH to engage with neighbors living in an encampment at John C. Little Park.
and has also offered a neighborhood meeting with several of those neighbors.
We've met with neighbors in Georgetown and we'll be meeting again this week to talk with folks who are experiencing homelessness, as well as with nearby businesses and with service providers.
We've coordinated with REACH and other homeless outreach providers to help neighbors living in an encampment under I-5 at the Jackson and King Street intersections.
to start reconfiguring their encampment because of concerns from nearby businesses so that we can allow folks to stay and still engage with services in the area rather than being completely removed from the area.
Last week, we convened a meeting between folks in the CID as well as with REACH, LEAD, CRS, and other providers where neighbors learned about implementation of the Just Cares program.
to help folks like those living in the I-5 encampment to find supportive shelter in hotels.
We've been coordinating with the Columbia City Business Association to improve homeless engagement in the South End and have been able to connect neighbors experiencing homelessness in our community with groups that are offering mutual aid and will continue to listen to neighbors most affected by homelessness on ways to help those who are living outside, those who are in vehicles or tents, tiny home or other shelter.
We've really tried to make sure that we are connecting them to services as well as helping folks in different parts of the district understand what resources and service providers are already doing so that they are clearer about the fact that With the resources we have, with the resources that we have already committed to increasing access to services, we are hoping to really be able to move people into more stable situations.
My office is working hard on one-on-one engagement with constituents.
We'll be hosting virtual office hours now on Sundays.
We had been doing Fridays, but now that we're moving budget deliberations to Friday, Sundays from three to five, we'll be doing one-on-one meetings.
We're also scheduling safe, socially distant, small-scale neighborhood-by-neighborhood meetings, outdoor forums, and those will start later this month.
Throughout the last week, as we meet with constituents to hear about their budget priorities, I have been asked what principles council will be using to make our budget decisions.
And I think that's a great question.
I don't think as a body, we've really had that conversation.
So I just wanna share with folks the principles that our office will be using as we move through this process.
The principles our office always uses as we're making decisions, policy, or budget include repairing the harm done to black and brown communities, democratizing access to resources and power, and planning for the seventh generation.
So as we start to review the form A's If you see a pattern from our office, it's because those are the principles we're following.
We want to make sure that we're investing in district two, that we're investing in and providing better services for our homeless neighbors and that we are really looking at how we plan for the seventh generation, and by that we mean making sure that our air quality, water quality, access to the infrastructure that allows for better health, especially for black and brown neighborhoods, are part of the conversation and the decision making as we move forward.
That is all I have this morning.
I want to thank Councilmember Mosqueda for the conversation about HealthONE.
Our office would certainly be interested in participating and learning more about how that works.
So thank you for starting the trend.
Appreciate it.
Thank you Councilmember Morales.
Any comments or questions on that report?
Okay, hearing none, I'll go ahead and round out today's reports with my own.
There is no Governance and Education Committee scheduled for the month of October.
On today's Introduction and Referral Calendar, there's only one item related to the Governance and Education Committee, and that is Appointment 1640, which is one of the many Get Engaged appointments on today's Introduction and Referral Calendar.
Talk more about that next week when we consider those appointments.
I have nothing from my committee on today's full council agenda.
This Thursday, October 15th, starting at 10 a.m., there is a meeting of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority Governing Committee, which as Council Member Lewis mentioned, he and I will be in attendance.
No action or policy discussion anticipated to occur at this week's meeting of the governing committee.
The meeting is being held solely for the purpose of receiving a race and social equity training for all of the governing committee members.
So really happy that we're going to have an opportunity to go through that training this Thursday.
On Tuesday, October 12th at 9 o'clock a.m., I'll be joining the Youth Development Executives of King County for their Hot Topics conversation with their members.
YDEC, for those of you who are unfamiliar with them, is a coalition of youth-serving organizations working together to improve outcomes for young people.
Looking forward to joining YDEC tomorrow morning to speak with them about the city's budget and how funds can be used to elevate service for youth in our community.
On Wednesday, October 14th at nine o'clock in the morning, I'll be joining the Asian Pacific Directors Coalition at their monthly meeting.
The APDC convenes, informs, and supports API leaders, emerging leaders, and allies to influence and advocate for policies, systems, and investments for the benefit of the API community and other communities of color.
And I'm looking forward to joining them Wednesday morning also to discuss the city's budget, public safety and other issues of interest.
I do not have anything else to report this morning.
Happy to take any questions or comments.
Okay hearing none I am going to go ahead and remind us all that we do have an executive session.
We are only four minutes behind this morning which is which is pretty good for this group.
And so I'm going to go ahead and call us into executive session.
As presiding officer I am announcing that the Seattle City Council will now convene an executive session.
The purpose of the executive session is to discuss pending potential or actual litigation and labor negotiations.
The council's executive session is an opportunity for the council to discuss confidential legal matters with city attorneys as authorized by law.
A legal monitor from the city attorney's office is always present to ensure the council reserves questions of policy for open sessions.
I expect that today's executive session will end by 12 o'clock p.m.
noon.
If the executive session is extended beyond noon today, I will come back into open session and announce the extension and the expected duration.
Thank you, Council President.