missing title

All right, good afternoon, everyone.

The February 17th, 2026 meeting of Seattle City Council will come to order.

It is 2.05 p.m.

I am Joy Hollingsworth, your council president.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Saka?

Here.

Councilmember Strauss?

Here.

Councilmember Foster?

Here.

Councilmember Juarez?

Here.

Councilmember Lynn?

Here.

Councilmember Rink?

Present.

Councilmember Rivera?

Present.

Council President Hollingsworth?

Here.

Eight.

Present.

Awesome, thank you.

And for the record, Councilmember Kettle is excused.

I'd first like to start the meeting by saying Happy Lunar New Year.

It's the Year of the Fire Horse and we are welcoming the Year of the Fire Horse reminds us to lead with courage and purpose.

May this new year inspire us to move forward with strength and unity.

I'd also like to acknowledge the passing of Reverend Jesse Jackson who passed away early this morning.

He was a protege of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and a two-time presidential candidate.

Reverend Jesse Jackson's passing is a profound loss for people who truly believe in justice, dignity and the power of collective action.

His courage and unwavering commitment to civil rights helped shape generations of leaders and moved this country toward a better future.

As we honor his legacy, may we carry forward his spirit of service.

And may we also remember, this is not in my notes, that I am somebody.

At this time, I would like to invite Mayor Wilson to the podium to officially hand deliver her 2026 State of the City Address and to provide her remarks.

She gave a address today at Langston Hughes in District 3 and so you are hand delivering it by, it's in our charter that you actually have to hand deliver it.

We're thankful for you coming down, usually it's a deputy mayor, so we're grateful that you have come to hand deliver your State of the, I almost said State of the Union, State of the City address and please, your comments, thank you.

Thank you, Council President Hollingsworth.

Yeah, good afternoon, Council Members.

It is my pleasure to formally deliver to you my State of the City Address here at the third regular meeting of the City Council in February in accordance with Seattle City Charter, Article 5, Section 6A.

I'm not actually going to read the whole thing to you unless you have a really short agenda today.

But I have a copy here, and my staff have transmitted electronic copies to each of you.

And members of the public who wish to view the State of the City address can find it on seattlechannel.org.

So I'm going to do this here.

OK.

And I know a few of you were there in person today.

So Council Member Rink, Council Member Saka, Council Member Strauss.

If anyone else was there, sorry I didn't see you.

But I really appreciate that as well.

So when I delivered my first State of the City address earlier today, I spoke about hope as a discipline, a practice built through clear-eyed leadership, partnership, and action.

That's the spirit that I intend to bring to this work and to our collaboration for the people of Seattle.

I know that right now many people in our city are carrying a lot.

Families are struggling to afford the costs of rent, food, and childcare.

Immigrant and refugee communities are afraid.

Young people are asking if they are safe.

Far too many people in Seattle are living unhoused.

Small businesses and workers are feeling the pressure, and yet we also have things to celebrate.

Seahawks World Championship, sound transit light rail expansion, the World Cup coming this summer, and the simple everyday actions of neighbors supporting one another.

Today, I announced my affordability agenda, focused on four priorities, affordable housing, affordable childcare, affordable food, and making Seattle a more affordable place to run a small business.

On housing, we must build more homes of all shapes and sizes, strengthen renter protections, expand pathways to home ownership, and move forward with social housing so we can match the scale of this crisis.

On childcare, we must expand access, reduce costs, and treat early learning and care as essential public infrastructure.

On food access, we will work with labor, grocers, and community partners to protect grocery access and support innovative models that ensure every neighborhood has reliable, affordable options.

And for small businesses, we will reduce barriers, cut red tape, and work to make sure Seattle remains a competitive and welcoming place to invest and grow.

I believe that we all share a commitment to making Seattle safer, more affordable, and more welcoming.

And I'm really looking forward to working in partnership with each of you to turn that vision into reality.

So thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you, Mayor Wilson.

I believe Council Member Juarez shared with us that the last mayor to come down and bring down a state of address was Mayor Murray.

Yeah, yeah, so...

Okay, don't...

Okay, we're holding you to it.

Don't send down Brian Surratt.

We want to see you.

No, I'm just kidding.

Just playing.

All right, awesome.

Thank you, Mayor Wilson, for that, and we have that officially on record, and we know that people can go see their...

Mayor Wilson's State of the Address that was on the Seattle Channel, and it was well-documented today.

Okay, colleagues, at this time, we are gonna open up the hybrid public comment period.

Public comment is limited to items on today's agenda and the introduction referral calendar and the council's work program.

Clerk, how many speakers do we have signed up today?

We have 24 in person and seven remote so far.

24 in person and 7 remote.

Got it.

So we're at 31. Usually it's 30 or under.

It's two minutes, but we're at 31. So we're going to do two minutes per person.

And I believe there's a group that said that they want to do public comment as a group.

Depending on how many people you have, we'll put up a group time for you all.

So when that comes, when I call those folks, I don't know if it's labeled, but when I call them, we'll be able to adjust the time.

So two minutes.

We'll start with our in-person speakers first.

And clerk, will you please read the instructions?

Speakers will be called in the order in which they are registered.

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

Speakers mics will be muted if they do not end their comments within the allotted time to allow us to call on the next speaker.

All right, awesome.

So the first people that we have is Matthew, Dominic, and Matt.

Those three, Matthew, Dominic, and Matt.

Welcome.

Give us one second to put up the two minutes, and once you start, whenever you're ready, we'll go ahead and press start.

Hello, my name is Matthew Malloy.

I'm a working class renter in Seattle City Council District 3 and an organizer with Shama Sawant's Independent Socialist Campaign for U.S.

Congress against warmongering, Palantir-backed Democrat Adam Smith.

I'm here to demand the entire Seattle City Council and Mayor Wilson to roll back the city's massive surveillance network and ban all local agencies from sharing any data with ICE and enforce the law with serious penalties, like firing agency heads.

I also demand that you enact city-wide eviction moratoriums to protect families targeted by ICE.

This is quite literally the least elected representatives can do, let alone use your offices to build a mass movement of working people, like Shamba did for 10 years, on this exact body in order to drive ICE out of our city.

Agreements between ICE and local law enforcement agencies increased by an eye-popping 950% last year.

Washington state is supposedly a sanctuary state, but that is a name only.

Democratic Governor Ferguson and the Democratic Majority State Legislature allowed Trump's federal agencies, such as ICE, to query the state's Department of Licensing database nearly three million times in 2025 alone.

We urgently need strike actions and a general strike to shut down the profit machine of the billionaires and force both the hands of Trump, the Republicans, and also the Democrats.

Both parties represent the capitalists.

Both parties have created and funded ICE, including Shama's opponent Adam Smith.

Labor leaders have shamefully refused to organize any strike actions.

In contrast, Shama and her campaign are hosting a mass meeting this Sunday, February 22nd at 2 p.m.

at Casa Latina to discuss a concrete strategy to organizing a general strike.

We have petitions and resolutions for workers to bring back to their unions.

Join us to build a fighting labor movement to go on the offensive for demands like shutting down ICE, free healthcare for all, and national rent control.

Thank you so much.

Solidarity.

Thank you, Matthew.

Next we have Dominic followed by Matt and then Alex Jones.

Welcome.

Yes, my name is Dominic Wolfgang Wallace and I'm a member of Workers Strike Back and also a renting resident of District 3. I am also here to demand a citywide eviction moratorium to protect families targeted by ICE, to ban all local agencies from sharing any data with ICE and to roll back the city's surveillance network.

In our country, ICE is murdering people like Keith Porter, Renee Good, and Alex Preddy, even just yesterday in Atlanta when they hit K-8 teacher Linda Davis while in a legal pursuit of an immigrant.

Trump's administration is horrendous and we need a mass movement of people to shut it down.

But for us to be successful, we need both parties responsible for building ICE to be targeted by this movement.

Both Democrats and Republicans are responsible for creating ICE, funding it, and building the detention centers.

For example, the representative from Washington's 9th Congressional District, Adam Smith, who represents Seattleites in the Central District, Rainier Valley, Columbia City, and so on, who voted alongside George Bush to literally create ICE and has voted to fund them again and again throughout his career.

This man represents much of our East African community in Seattle, while Trump viciously targets Somalis and other Muslim African immigrants, both with racist attacks in media and with ICE directly.

Right now the Washington Democrats are giving ICE everything they need for a dangerous raid in Seattle, not just funding on the federal level, but our own All-Democratic City Council, including my representative Joy Hollingsworth, voted to massively expand state surveillance despite widespread opposition and scorn from the people of Seattle.

These corporate politicians who claim to represent us while attacking the working class people again and again have got to go, and we should not view this party that puts cameras in our neighborhoods and funds ICE as any kind of ally.

That's why I'm a socialist, an independent socialist, and a member of Workers Strike Back.

We're fighting nationwide to put an end not only to the Democratic Party, but the billionaire class and its rotten system.

And our next step is that mass meeting in Casa Latina, Sunday, February 22nd at 2 p.m.

Anyone interested can reach out to me or Matthew in person.

We have materials, flyers.

We need as many people as possible to build this movement to shut down the profit incentive and get ice out of our country.

Thank you.

Next we have Matt, followed by Alex Jones, followed by Victoria Palmer.

Welcome, Matt.

The federal government is killing and trying to kill members of the public who believe in the Constitution.

And because of that, you don't get some of the tools and the toys that you may want.

Flock, surveillance cameras, automatic license plate readers.

If the government wasn't trying to kill people like us, you could probably have it and I wouldn't have a problem with it.

But that's not the case.

It has been proven time and time again that the federal government can't be trusted with state data.

You can overlay a map of kidnappings by the federal government, overlay those kidnappings, and it corresponds with the flock and the automatic license plate readers.

There is a correlation.

It has to stop.

Please do not share any more data.

Ms. Rink, Councilwoman Rink.

All power to the people.

I'd love your proposal.

Everybody else, please get on board with your plan.

Thank you.

Stop the detentions.

Thank you, Matt.

Next we have Alex Jones, Victoria Palmer, and then Stacy Sprout.

Hello, Alex.

Welcome.

Hi.

I just wanted to beg all of you to do whatever you can to prevent any expansion of ICE in our cities, in our neighborhoods, and to get rid of ICE.

I have so many friends and neighbors who are undocumented and have told me that it is like living through COVID again.

They are afraid to leave their houses, they're afraid to go to work, they're afraid to go to the grocery store.

and this is such an intersectional issue.

It is not only hurting the undocumented folks who are being targeted, this is hurting all of us.

We just saw yesterday Dr. Linda Davis was killed because ICE was doing a pursuit of a vehicle.

Again, being an undocumented human in our city is a civil offense.

It is not a criminal offense and it does not warrant these high speed chases that are killing doctors and teachers and community members in our neighborhood.

As well, we need to stop the flat cameras, stop providing, because all of that data is going to other institutions like ICE.

And again, this is an intersectional, sectional issue that's hurting all of us.

Already there was a woman from Texas who came to Washington State to get reproductive health care that's not available in Texas, and because of the flat cameras that we have here in Seattle, she was persecuted in Texas because Texas was able to use our flat cameras to find out that she was here getting the reproductive health care that she needed.

There is not a single way in which ICE is making our community safer, and there are millions and millions of ways that ICE is hurting all of us and hurting all of us as a community and as a city.

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Alex.

Next we have Victoria Palmer, followed by Stacy, and then Tim Lasley.

I'm sorry if I butchered your name.

Hi Victoria, go ahead.

My bad.

That was cool, thank you.

Good afternoon, counsel.

My name is Victoria Palmer, and I'm an executive board member of the King County Republican Party.

And today, it is my pleasure to speak in support of an issue that most folks here would agree on.

The Republicans I know don't like the increase in surveillance cameras either, and would be happy to shut off existing cameras.

The footage is often useless in capturing perpetrators anyway.

Most of us were watching the Super Bowl and we saw our Seahawks win.

but we were shocked by the commercial showing the ring doorbell cameras used to amplify the surveillance grid, turning every house in our neighborhoods into a facial recognition checkpoint.

While law-abiding citizens would have nothing to hide from mass surveillance, we still believe that it is far outside the constitutional bounds of governmental authority to do so.

Although we support the humane and lawful deportation of illegal immigrants, we do not want to see this used as a pretense to increase the electronic surveillance in our community.

The Republican Party is the party of civil rights and freedom.

We stood strong against the oppressive lockdown and abrogation of personal rights we saw during the COVID pandemic.

Do you recall when Vax ID was required to enter restaurants, theaters, and gyms just in the fall of 2021?

While there are times when requiring ID is perfectly acceptable, such as purchasing alcohol, voting, or entering the country, we must stand together to safeguard our privacy and personal rights while maintaining law and order.

Thank you very much.

I really appreciate you listening.

Thank you, Victoria.

Next we have Stacy, followed by Tim, followed by Jonathan Moore, followed by Gabriel Diaz.

Hi, Council.

Hi, good afternoon.

I am Stacey Sprout.

Hi, good afternoon.

I was born in Seattle.

I have a business located in District 3. I want to talk about the pedestrian master plan started in 2017, 35% of all trips on foot by 2035. I'm curious if this is connected to Agenda 20, Charles Schwab, Larry Fink, BlackRock, and Palantir.

I looked on the seamless Seattle Wayfinder programs, create a robust digital infrastructure for the management of wayfinding data and the production of wayfinding applications readily available for use by third parties, Digital wayfinding systems and services are driven by tech companies in the private sector.

Wi-Fi hotspots like cell towers, for example, in Link New York City, Bluetooth beacons.

Amazon Alexa or Google Voice integrated in Seattle street signs.

City of Seattle partnering with private sector tech companies.

Again, is that Palantir having access to an open wayfinding platform?

All data collected will be usable by these third parties.

This is all from the City of Seattle website.

Council...

So my concerns are this.

Have we looked into privacy protection for all if this data is going to be available to the third-party tech companies funding the project?

Who are the companies funding the project?

I looked and I found a US Department of Transportation, but that link was broken.

Is this connected to agenda 30 that targets with secure and seamless travel?

Exact same language as seamless in Seattle or seamless wayfinding, pathfinding?

Have we looked at radiation carcinogens and cognitive interference from EMF radiation that might be applied to these devices?

Thank you.

Thank you, Stacey.

Next we have Tim followed by Jonathan, followed by Gabriel.

Hi Tim, welcome.

Tim Lassley?

Yeah.

Thank you.

Seems that nobody likes the uniparty surveillance system here.

Members of the Seattle Council, my name is Timothy Lassley and I speak to you today as- Tim, we're going to pause your time in the microphone so we can hear.

We'll restart- Okay, so members of the Seattle City Council, my name is Timothy Lassley.

Tim, let me restart your time so you have full two minutes.

Give us one second.

All right, you're good.

Okay, can you all hear me?

Just talk right in the mic.

Time's up there.

Members of the Seattle City Council, my name is Timothy Lassley and I speak to you today as a citizen who believes in accountability and transparency and moral integrity that must govern our city's partnerships.

I urge you to sever all ties with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation immediately.

All of you.

That has to happen.

Or any of its affiliated entities.

After Jeffrey Epstein's 2008 conviction for exploiting minors, it says exploiting, but that's OK.

We all know what he did.

Mr. Gates continued his relationship with him on flights, dinners, and in Epstein townhouses.

And he was his friend for seven years.

Jeffrey Epstein was an employee at the Gates Foundation.

You can look it up.

OK, so these meetings were admitted by Gates himself.

Documents and emails confirmed that Epstein sought to use those interactions to launder his public image.

Such judgment from powerful figures should disqualify their organization from privileged dealings with the city that claimed justice and human rights.

You guys say that you're champions for human rights and justice.

Well, this is the time you're going to have to prove it, because people behind me on the left, they don't want the Uniparty either.

Nobody here wants the Uniparty.

And the Uniparty serves gates.

It serves that class.

The Epstein administration is in control.

That's the Uniparty.

So I just prefer the...

Put this down.

I just prefer to appeal to you guys.

The optics are horrible.

We now see the emperor has zero clothes.

We all know what's going on now.

The left-right paradigm, it's trash.

Now we're seeing the ruling class for what they are.

And I hope that you are not going to endorse it or go along with it anymore.

Because you actually have a chance in history to stop.

Because if you want the turmoil and the conflict from the left-right paradigm, or do you want a better society?

A better society removes Bill Gates.

Thank you.

Thank you, Tim.

Next, we have Jonathan Moore followed by Gabriel Diaz.

Hi, my name's Jonathan Moore.

I spoke about this topic when I came up before.

I work at the Washington Defender Association Immigration Project, but I'm speaking only for myself, and I submitted the written comments.

And obviously, I think the bill, CB121158 could be stronger, and I made a number of suggestions, but if nothing else, in addition to taking out the 4.18.010 cooperation, you really need to also take out 4.18.015B, which says Seattle police officers, if they have a reasonable suspicion, can go ahead with immigration questioning if they have a reasonable suspicion the person has been deported.

and is again, well of course they have to be again present.

So, but this is, this, like the first section, is in direct contravention of the Keep Washington Working, that's RCW 10.160.93.4, where it says, it doesn't make an exception for, the officer feels like you might have been deported, so if nothing else, so it's an anachronism.

If nothing else, I would hope that you could amend this bill to sort of finish the job and take out this other provision that hanging by itself, you don't want to leave it in.

It goes along with eliminating There are a lot of other things I think that could be done.

Also in 4.1810A, it says they shouldn't ascertain the immigration status.

In the Keep Washington Working Act, it says immigration status or nationality or place of birth.

and there's a reason for all those three things.

I think getting on all fours with Keep Washington Working would be a really good thing to do.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Next, we have Gabriel Diaz, followed by Zella.

I'm going to, number 12, Ksenia, I'm sorry if I spelled it, K-S-E-N-I-A, followed by Howard Gale, and then Peter Manning and Mike Asai.

Hi, Gabriel.

Hey, folks.

My name is Gabriel Diaz, and I'm here to speak today about the Sentinel review that just came out about the Cal Anderson protests.

Now, as someone who was there, I had some really serious concerns about the way some information was presented by OIG during the review.

Firstly, I want to point out how it seems like there is definitely some interest in washing the behavior of officers.

Here is how they handled quotes from Matthew DeDeer about how SPD was there to fuck people up was mentioned in the review.

The interaction was between SPD saying it was time for a stronger police response.

We now know what those words actually were, now that it's been leaked, but what does that mean?

Saying it's time for a stronger police response could just mean we need more officers.

Hey, maybe we bring out this gear, not we are here to fuck people up.

The whitewashing of those words is absolutely shocking.

And I think the biggest, most egregious issue is the focus on the ignorance of queer issues.

While I do agree SPD has some major things to learn about the queer community, and I think it played a big part in what happened, I want to do a bit of an exercise here, actually.

I'm going to ask folks who have not served in armed forces or police to answer this question.

So to our council members and audience members who have served, I genuinely thank you for your service.

But as you've had training on what I'm about to mention, you already know the answer, so I don't want to give you guys an unfair advantage.

For those of you who have not had the training, I want you to give me a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

Is tackling protesters when they have not committed any crimes good idea, bad idea?

Yeah, bad idea, correct.

Is punching restrained protesters on the ground while they had their arms restrained, they were unarmed and posed no threats to officers good idea, bad idea?

So it's really interesting.

So if these people who have not had any police training know this, then why does SPD, who has had years of this training, not know this?

One of the top five highest, I think it's top five, or at the very least, top 10 highest paid police forces, something that is a mystery to them.

It's not a training issue and it's not gonna be solved with cultural sensitivity.

While on the highest level of SPD are setting this idea that they're there to beat people, this goes beyond training and speaks to a rotten SPD that needs to be changed.

We the people who had our lives deeply affected and changed by that day demand Larry Longley and Matthew Deter be fired and that an independent commission investigate this day

Thank you, Gabriel.

Next, we have Zella, followed by...

I'm just gonna spell K-S-E-N-I-A.

K-S-E-N-I-A, number 12, and then followed by Howard Gale, Peter Manning, Mike Asai.

Welcome.

I'm here again to ask what you're doing to address the violation of noise laws by vehicles in Seattle.

I still haven't received a response to my emails, so here's the most recent one read aloud.

On February 15th, a parade of loud cars was driving past my apartment repeatedly.

When I looked out the window to count, there were about 10 of them.

One of them had come to a stop, halting traffic.

I called the police.

I was on hold for 13 minutes and 56 seconds.

In that time, I heard an engine revving 36 times.

They set off car alarms.

By the time I got off the phone, I had heard 45 engine noises.

I set up some cameras to collect data.

I fled to a friend's house.

These cars were audible from my apartment for 74.8% of the next hour.

The longest period of silence was just under two and a half minutes.

I didn't see any hint that the police were responding.

Five hours and 19 minutes after I initially called, the police texted to say, officers responded to your call.

The officers searched the area for your incident but were unable to locate the incident or persons.

I don't know what's more incredible, the fact that the police seemed to expect to find the cars still circling my block five hours later, or the fact that, as I got the text message, another engine roared past my window.

If you were searching an area for a sound that was audible for several blocks 75% of the time, do you think you would be able to locate the incident or persons?

Do you think you would be able to avoid finding it?

This is the current standard of enforcement.

These are the conditions you are condemning the residents of Chinatown to live under.

What are you doing to improve them?

Thank you, Zella.

K-S-E-N-I, how do I say your name?

Xenia.

Xenia.

Thank you.

Welcome.

And then followed by Howard Gill, Peter Manning, Mike Asai.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, council members.

I am an immigrant from Russia.

I'm an American citizen.

I'm your constituent.

Did you guys know that recently Russia announced that there are cutting off global internet from its citizens starting April this year?

That means that Russian citizens will not be able to access global internet.

Did you know that in Russia now people get arrested and sent to jail, to prison, for liking videos?

Why does it matter?

Why am I saying this?

Because Russia didn't get to this place overnight.

It took day after day after day of people being complicit, not taking seriously the power grab that Putin did, and not using their power to stand up and defend the democracy.

I have a sense that I'm reliving again this here because people are not taking seriously, not using their power, their platform that they have to do everything they can to stop this.

We elected you.

We empowered you to protect us, to keep us safe.

I urge you not to be bystanders, to take this seriously.

This is not a drill, this is not a joke.

Russia is becoming like North Korea now.

And we today are looking very much like Russia in terms of our civil rights.

There is a reason why I left Russia.

Because I believe in civil liberties, I believe in democracy.

so please use the platform that you have and Council Member Alexis Rink, I love your bill proposal for the temporary ban of ice expansion facilities because there is no reason for them to build so many prisons if they're not planning to beat people there.

Thank you.

Howard Gill, followed by Peter Manning and Mike Asai.

Good afternoon.

So on Council Bill 121158, which is coming up for vote today, it's still inadequate.

Someone before me, Jonathan Morris, spoke about taking out Section 418-015B, which is absolutely necessary.

There's also a section which talks about disclosing information that will be used in enforcement of civil immigration laws.

That should also be taken out.

There should be no information that's non-public handed over to anyone outside of the city.

There's no reason to have to allow an officer to make that determination.

There's a number of other weaknesses of the bill, but the bottom line is this.

if that legislation that you're considering today, along with all the other legislation in the queue, including Council Member Ringsbill, if all of that had been enacted in Minneapolis, not one less person would have been killed, not one less person would have been harmed, not one less family would have been torn apart, there would have been no less damage.

This legislation does not meet the moment, and I'm gonna remind you again what our Attorney General Nick Brown said on January, that the state and local law enforcement do not have to simply watch or look away if the law is being violated.

They've done this in Evanston, Illinois, Durango, Colorado, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Recently, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara stated if his police witnessed federal agents using excessive force on civilians and failed to intervene, they could be fired.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu just recently said, calling 911 is the appropriate response to warrantless entry and she expects her police department to intervene.

The point here is we are rearranging the chairs, the deck chairs on the Titanic.

This legislation doesn't meet the moment we're in.

We have to have aggressive and affirmative action that police take to protect people's Fourth Amendment rights.

Anything less is going to fail us.

We have the World Cup coming up.

We already know that ICE is going to be here.

Thank you, Mr. Gale.

Thank you, Mr. Gale.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Gale.

Thank you, Mr. Gill.

Thank you, Mr. Gill.

Peter Manning, followed by Mike Asai.

Miss Dynish, followed by...

Mike's working.

Hold on, Mr. Manning, let me read the names real quick.

So we have Peter Manning, followed by Micah Sy, we have Miss Yvette Dynish, followed by Jonathan, then Daniel, Liz, and Cleo.

And the mic is...

test it out just to see it.

Testing, test, test.

You're all good.

Testing, okay.

Anyway, my name is Peter Manning.

I'm a South End resident.

I'm not with ICE.

I'm not with Trump.

I'm not with any of that.

But what I am with is...

My black children in my black communities, whether it be in the Central District or the South End, are dying because of gun violence.

And I'm not here to advocate for mass surveillance, but I am here to advocate that we need some help.

If white people don't want cameras in their neighborhood, fine.

I think we need cameras in our neighborhood to protect our youth.

I don't care what anyone else is saying.

Until their kids are dying, and we're going to their wakes, and we're doing all that, and we're experiencing the gun violence, No one in this state suffers more with gun violence than black and brown people, period.

There's not white people.

I don't see white people rush to the ER.

I don't see white people crying over their loved one dying.

I don't see any extra police at white schools.

This is happening in our neighborhoods, our communities.

Listen, we're not opting out for cameras.

We support that.

I'm not talking about mass surveillance or Fourth Amendment rights.

We're talking about protection of our children until we can get that gun violence under control.

Thank you.

And congratulations, City Council President.

Thank you, Mr. Manning.

Yes, thank you, sister.

Next, we have Mike Asai, Mr. Asai, followed by Yvette Dynish, followed by Jonathan, Daniel, Liz, and Cleo.

Welcome, Mr. Asai.

Thank you, Joy.

My name is Mike Asai.

I am not here representing Emerald City today.

I'm not here representing Black Excess of Cannabis, but I am here representing Chaka's Kids Foundation, named after my father.

Joy, I got nothing but love for you, sister.

We may have buttheads at times.

At the end of the day, sister, I love you and respect you, and congratulations on being president.

I echo everything that Mr. Manning just said.

I'd like to give at least about...

And Joy, thank you for giving everybody two minutes.

That's respect, and everybody should be thankful for that, because the one minute, you just felt rushed.

I would like to give at least about 10 seconds of a moment of silence for the youth that we have lost recently and in the past year.

I'd like to read Shaka's Kids' mission statement.

Shaka's Kids is dedicated to promoting excellence among black and brown youth by empowering them with the tools, knowledge, and guidance needed to become successful adults.

We are committed to strengthening our future generations through programs focused on physical health, financial literacy, proper nutrition, reading proficiency, and preparation for responsible parenthood.

Shaka's Kids also stands firmly in the fight to end gun violence, not just in the city of Seattle, but statewide, working to create safer communities where our youth can grow, thrive, and reach their fullest potential.

We have to do something.

It starts here with the city.

It starts with the state.

But as you guys have seen me before, and Peter, we've been talking about cannabis.

We're just much more in cannabis.

Cannabis is something that we need.

to jumpstart to help our youth.

I would never give up in fighting for this community that I'm from, born and raised in.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Asai.

Next, we have Ms. Yvette Dynash, followed by Jonathan, Daniel, Liz and Cleo.

Welcome, Ms. Yvette.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

I also want to piggyback on what the last two gentlemen saying that we need to protect our black youth, and referring specifically to the two young men who got killed two weeks ago, and also in support of surveillance cameras, because if there were cameras in the neighborhood, we would know who the perpetrator is, even though there were dozens of kids that were witnesses, obviously they're too scared to speak up.

and it's shown, I'm not gonna get into all of it, but if you wanna read the Seattle Times article on Sunday saying Seattle safety cameras have proven their worth and there's data to back that up.

and keep in mind that there are already extensive safeguards put in place regarding the cameras that exist in other public places like buses, trains, transit stations in our airport, city hall, and at stadium and major intersections among thousands of other public spaces.

So it's already there, people.

The cameras are already there and it's public, not private.

So don't be taking offense at that.

And then I'd also like to note that I contacted Vivian Phillips and Tony Benton at Raina Avenue Radio.World because one of my trusted friends suggested one way to keep these kids occupied and off the streets and getting into trouble is through the arts.

Vivian is with Art & Noir and Tony is with Raina Avenue Radio.World.

So I'm waiting to hear back from them to see how we can collaborate to come up with ways to keep these kids occupied and worthwhile pursuits and keep them out of trouble.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms. Yvette.

Next we have Jonathan, followed by Daniel, Liz, and Cleo.

Welcome, Jonathan.

Is it four, folks?

Four, okay.

They get eight minutes.

It's a group.

No?

Okay, we can do six, and then we'll have to do two.

We'll do six and then we'll add two.

Okay.

All right.

Awesome.

This is a group.

This is a group, everyone.

No one's getting extra time.

They're coming as a group, just FYI, before you all start yelling at me.

You'll yell at me regardless, but go ahead, Jonathan.

My name is Jonathan I am the branch chair of the Seattle Alliance Against Racist and Political Oppression and today here we have a resolution that was brought by our organization and we have already sent it to Alexis Mercedes Rink but I'll read it out here So to begin, be it resolved by the City Council of Seattle and the Mayor, Section 1. The Seattle City Council and Office of Mayor Katie Wilson issue a statement that it does not recognize the authority of ICE to operate within the city.

Section 2, Katie Wilson will immediately pass an executive order removing recently expanded CCTV cameras and shut down the real-time crime centers.

Section 3, that the funds used for these surveillance contracts will be redirected into evidence-backed supportive programs for affected communities so that Seattle can continue its commitment of being a welcoming city.

and that very much falls in line with things that these other people have said where we want youth, we want people to have these services In section four, that city council will hereby pass an ordinance to create an elected community-based oversight commission to investigate and see that government offices and SPD are following state law in accordance with, but not limited to, the Keep Washington Working Act with the authority to investigate and terminate officials that are found in violations and even recommend for prosecution.

Section 5, that the City of Seattle clarified that unidentified and armed individuals detaining residents, removing residents from their homes, workplaces, or vehicles, and or ordering residents into private or government vehicles without providing evidence of both one's status as law enforcement and two, the validity of their jurisdiction to detain the individual in question, such as a judicial warrant, is unlawful.

unlawful activity in the city of Seattle will be responded to by law enforcement.

Section six, that any city government official and SPD or employee shall be expeditiously terminated and prosecuted if found sharing citizens' personal identifiable information to ICE and aiding or unlawfully cooperating in ICE arrest or investigations without a judicial warrant.

Section seven, that city council and the mayor immediately take all available measures to prevent the establishment of a new detention center in Seattle.

and thank you Alexis Mercedering for already getting the ball rolling on that.

Section 8, that the City Council give weekly and transparent updates around the progress of these demands, which will remain public for Seattle citizens and Seattle residents.

Thank you, John.

Just for the record, I would like to I know some of you have just heard this resolution.

Which one of the council members agree with these demands?

Do any of you have a show of hands?

That is fine.

We here at Sharper would like to invite the city council and anyone here who would like to attend to a People's Town Hall March 29th at Cherry Street Village at 3 p.m.

We hope that you guys show up.

We hope that Mayor Katie Wilson will also show up.

We know that we will be there.

And this gives the council a large time to negotiate with us to address these demands and to protect Seattle citizens from ICE.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Cleo.

I'm another member of the Seattle Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

So what we've done with this constituents' resolution that we put together is we're attempting to give ourselves a framework to shift the power to keep ICE out of our communities back into the hands of the people.

We know that SPD and SPOG have no plans of actually interfering with ICE activities, and they've said that themselves.

We cannot trust the police to hold ICE accountable when the police themselves are not accountable to the people.

So we have language in there that addresses that.

That's why we in the Seattle Alliance have been fighting for an all elected civilian police accountability board with actual teeth.

since we were founded in 2020. And that's why we've brought forward demands that give the community more power so that we can keep ICE out, especially looking forward to the World Cup.

and I'm sure the council members know that 2 p.m.

on a Tuesday is not an accessible time for many members working families and many members of the public to be here to address the council so that's why we're asking and we're calling on the city councilors, Mayor Wilson and the public at large too please join us for a People's Town Hall so that we can actually have more people present to be able to make demands of our elected representatives.

I'll pass it over.

That's all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we have Mr. Alex Zimmerman, followed by Ruth, followed by Charlotte, and then Esther.

Oh, you signed up over there?

Okay.

Hi.

Hello.

Okay, sorry, you're not in the group.

That's my bad.

You're Daniel.

Okay.

I'm sorry.

So after Alex Zimmerman, then you'll go, Daniel.

I got you.

All right.

Go ahead, Mr. Zimmerman.

Yeah.

My name, Alex Zimmerman, and I want to speak something that is very important.

I talked to my friend, so new chair will be giving me trespass after three days.

Yeah, why?

Because you're nothing different from chair before, and before, and before, and before.

And for 30 years, I see exactly identical.

Chamber, you know what it means.

I have 20 trespasses for five years.

It's not a problem, yeah.

Problem.

So this 700,000 degenerative idiot elect same people who I ask them like stop CL, commie, Nazi, fascism with idiotic face.

30 year you bring city to total collapse and every year there's worse, worse, no better.

Where is will be stopping?

How we can stop it?

I don't know.

Another four year will be same shit.

Okay, right now, number two.

I think Trump are very stupid.

He's a pure freaking idiot.

He possibly have Canada, 51 state.

He want a Grenada.

Yeah, ice, total ice.

Absolutely idiotic situation.

So my proposition to him, very simple, you know what this means.

We need to bring all South America like state number 51. Bring 300 million people together to America and everybody will be happy.

It's not will be problem, what is we have for many years.

300 people, 51 state, South America.

Thank you.

Next we have Daniel.

followed by Ruth, Charlotte, and then Esther.

And then I know we have one more signed up and that will be our, then we'll switch to online.

Hello, Daniel.

Hi, I think Liz was also on the list following Cleo.

Is it just Liz?

There's no Cleo.

Okay, Liz.

Okay.

So Daniel, thank you for that.

Daniel, then Liz.

Okay.

And then Ruth, Charlotte, Esther.

Thank you.

Hi, everyone.

This is Daniel with ILPS, the International League of People's Struggle.

I went to Katie Wilson's address this morning, and I'm coming away from it wanting to see more action from local officials to stand up to the ice attacks on our communities, not to equip them with more tools and technology.

To you, City Council, I ask that we roll back the disastrous decision to fund the CCTVs amidst widespread community opposition and also on a commitment to not further expanding surveillance infrastructure here in Seattle.

We have FIFA coming to town soon.

Every single time a major sports event comes to a city they bring militarization and surveillance with them and we cannot allow that to happen here.

We cannot use that as justification for more surveillance that can seriously harm our communities.

We have to be careful about these tools of crime management at a time when being forced to migrate from your country is increasingly considered a crime.

As other community members here today have noted, the need to prevent gun violence is very real and very urgent, but there are better actually proven ways to prevent gun violence that don't rely on more policing.

So let's tackle the roots of gun violence by actually supporting the needs of our communities.

We appreciate the safeguards against federal government access that people have been attempting to implement, but to be honest, it's not enough.

If the cameras exist, they can serve ICE.

The federal government does not care about privacy.

They are actively buying is released by technology to bypass encryption on our phones.

So we ask that you urge the mayor to turn off the CCTV cameras and commit to not expanding surveillance technology

Thank you, Daniel.

Next we have Liz, followed by Ruth.

Liz, welcome.

And then we have Ruth, followed by Charlotte and Esther.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Liz.

I'm also here with the International League of People's Struggle, and I come to give public comment today in the spirit of collective action and service, and to really urge our city council to listen to your people.

There have been protests, rallies, walkouts, vigils almost every day in Seattle calling for ice out of our city, ice out of our neighborhoods, and ice out of our workplaces.

The people of Seattle have been busy.

They have been busy organizing neighborhood rapid response networks, working with their neighbors to deliver groceries, accompany our migrant neighbors to ICE check-ins, and also fundraising for legal aid.

It is the people of Seattle who are doing their work every single day to keep our community safe.

And it is so clear to me today at Public Comment that the people in this room sitting behind me are doing more to share with you the issues, the concerns, and the fears of our community, whether it be police violence, whether it be ICE raids, the surveillance, asking you to listen, to do something about the issues that we are facing on a day-to-day basis.

and so with that I really want to uplift the call and the demand for you all to participate in a people's town hall, a venue so that you can actually listen to the concerns of the people because it is the people behind me sitting in these chairs who are taking time out of their day from school, from work to come here to share with you but actually we would rather see you more in the streets, more in our communities, in our neighborhoods really listening to the concerns and the issues of the people.

So with that, I say stop the surveillance.

Stop the police violence.

ICE out of Seattle.

Thank you.

Next, we have Ruth.

We have Ruth followed by Charlotte and then Esther.

Ruth, you're next.

Welcome.

Welcome back, as I should say.

And then we have Charlotte and Esther and then Nathan Wall.

And that is our last in-person speaker.

And we're going to go to online.

Welcome, Ruth.

Yeah, three weeks ago at Rabbit Box Joy, you said you want to have open dialogue in city council.

I give you my time to speak to the people.

Please tell us what you're doing personally.

Mercedes Rink has already openly denounced ICE.

What are you doing for your community, people adjacent to your community?

And if you cut my time, I'm going crazy, I promise.

Your silence should be seen as complicity, and it is.

You will not fight for the people that you have chosen to represent you.

You won't fight for us, and it should be clear.

I'm giving you more time.

What will a bird of birds say to you?

Silence, a black queer woman, silent.

It's terrible.

I don't really have too much to say today.

I was directly impacting my community.

Following what Liz said, the people behind us are doing more than what you say you should do, or say are doing more than what you should be doing.

I'm tired.

People behind me are tired.

We want you to do what you say you were going to do.

And you don't.

You have anything to say, Joy?

Exactly.

Your silence is complicity.

That's a terrible thing.

Thank you, Ruth.

Next, we have Charlotte, followed by Esther, followed by Nathan Wall.

Welcome.

Thank you, Madam President, members of the council.

My name is Charlotte Philippe.

I'm a renter in district three, and I'm not coming with prepared remarks today.

I got notes.

I have numbers for you today.

393, 75, 48, 32, 41, 24, 259. It is 393 days since the president took office.

It is 75 days today since the start of the invasion in Minneapolis.

It is 48 days since the murder of Keith Porter, 32 people killed by ICE in 2025, 41 days since the murder of Renee Goode, and 24 days since the murder of Alex Preddy.

Time is out.

we can't afford to waste more waiting.

Today you will consider a bill by Council Member Rivera that chips away very little at what we are supposed to be doing.

It's an action, but also it's like graphite.

We need to be diamond in the hardness scale of the things that we're doing.

We need to be impactful.

The bill needs to be amended before it's passed to be more impactful.

Please consider amendments today.

I know walk on amendments aren't really looked upon in favor on this council, but please do amend it.

Another good thing that you need to do is pass council member Rink's council bill 121.165.

that is something concrete for you to do.

We're proud of you, Alexis.

We're proud of you for the work that you're doing.

And the rest of you, the other number was 259. 259 days until the next general election.

Look to her for your inspiration.

She is gonna be here for the next three years.

Y'all, I've got 259 days.

Get it in gear.

Thank you, Charlotte.

Next, we have Esther, followed by Nathan Wall.

Welcome, Esther.

And then followed by Nathan Wall.

Welcome.

Thank you.

I've never spoken up to a council meeting before.

It's my first time actually, and I didn't plan to speak today, but things just keep coming up in my mind that, you know, draw something out and I wanted to speak my mind to it.

There was a lot of really good speeches today about ICE and the concerns about it, and I just wanted to give my two cents.

I think we can all agree that it's very scary right now.

Sorry, I'm getting emotional.

The things that ICE are doing right now to people is insane.

I can't imagine what people are going through in the detention sensors right now.

I have to distract myself every day with things because I'll just get depressed.

I didn't know I was going to get emotional, sorry.

But I also think that ICE itself is insane because In my opinion, I feel like it's just a way for racist to openly be racist and lash out to people that they don't like.

and it's really obvious because they're not trained properly, they're just going out to random people and just people that they think don't belong here, they don't look a certain way, they don't talk a certain way and people that I care about are scared and it's just not right, so I feel like there should be something like police or somebody that people can call to when they see ICE.

Because right now, like what people are saying, it's people that are coming up to help.

And I just wanted to say that.

Sorry.

Thank you.

ICE out.

Welcome, Nathan.

And then we'll go to our online folks.

Welcome.

Thank you.

I agree with what's been said here.

I think we need to once again reiterate my call that we reconsider the CCTV bill and consider putting that off or not repealing it.

I am glad to see Council Member Rivera's bill before this council, but I do echo the concern that it isn't doing enough.

We need to pass every chance we get, we need to take.

And so I encourage us to beef up this bill and pass it today.

I have a minute and a half left.

I'm gonna read some names of people that were stolen in ICE custody.

Jesus Molina Vea, Johnny Noviello, Isidro Perez, Tian Xuan Fan, Chaofeng Gue, Lorenzo Antonio Batres Vargas, Oscar Rascón Duarte, Santos Banegas Reyes, Ismael Ayala Uribe, Norland Guzman Fuentes, Miguel Ángel García Medina, , , , , , , , , , , , , Thank you.

Thank you, Nathan.

now we'll go to online we have Alberto Alvarez press star six once you are unmuted followed by Hannah Mae Cox Rose is next I believe Tim Leslie who signed up online came and did in person so Alberto Alvarez Hannah Mae Cox star six

Thank you.

It's a bait and switch.

Rivera's bill takes one step forward, but two steps back on discrimination in law enforcement.

How does someone look previously deported?

How foreign does someone appear?

How suspicious are you of someone looking different?

These are dangerous questions that counsel is writing into law.

The Supreme Court unjustly allows racial discrimination with Kavanaugh's thoughts.

Counsel is now looking to do the same.

Citizens, migrants, or residents of any status, people in our communities have accents, indigenous faces, dark skin, or dress in a way that seems foreign to Anglo sensibilities.

Council is now saying that since not all of us look or sound a certain way, we should be in a second class, that we are asked unreasonable questions based solely on suspicion, not probable cause of any felony, just the biased suspicion of law enforcement.

I hope you all vote no on this discriminatory bill and do much better than whatever this is.

Have a good day.

Next, we have Hannah May Cox, followed by Rose, and then Solomon, only one wiser, Prince.

Go ahead and press star six, Hannah.

Hello, City Council members.

My name is Hannah May.

I am a social worker and a lifelong Seattle District 1 resident.

I would like to first voice my support for the resolution that Seattle Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression just presented, and I'm also here today to echo what many have already raised about Council Bill 121158. It is the city's duty to serve and protect the people who live here, and this bill fails to do enough to prevent ICE and CBP attacks against our immigrant neighbors and nonimmigrant neighbors alike.

As everyone has said already, as federal immigration enforcement continues to terrorize our communities, the council must take far more drastic steps to protect the people of Seattle from their information being shared with these brutal agents of white supremacist corporate elite ruling class.

The students and families that I work with as a behavioral health care provider in our Seattle school system, they deserve to feel safe, not afraid that they're going to get kidnapped, separated from their families.

and in addition to getting rid of the flat cameras and ceasing to collect sensitive data which can and has been used to disappear and hunt down undocumented folks, legislation such as Council Bill 121158 must be amended to do more.

It affirms discrimination by SPD and giving SPD the exemptions listed in this bill will not protect us.

SPD themselves will not protect us in our immigrant communities, our black and brown neighbors.

No information should be shared with ICE and CBP, period.

And that information, such as the data being collected from flat cameras, shouldn't be collected in the first place.

The demands that Starper has just presented give very clear, tangible ways for the council to truly use their power to keep ICE out of Seattle.

And I hope that you'll do your duty to protect us.

Thank you, Hannah.

Next we have Rose, followed by Solomon, only one wiser prince, lady scribe, David Haynes, Donita Sinclair.

So next we have Rose.

We see you off mute.

Hello.

My name is Rose.

I apologize if I cough during this.

I'm quite sick today.

But there are important things that need to be discussed.

I would like to thank Councilmember Hollingsworth and Rink for showing up at the Transgender Refugee Rally that we hosted on Sunday.

It was very important to see the Council members show up for our community.

This is unfortunately something that made today hurt a little bit more when we heard the State of the City address and Council, not Councilmember, Mayor Wilson did not reference or even talk about the the major problems that we are facing in the refugee crisis of the transgender community.

The Idaho House just passed a bill today saying that they are going to make it a felony for trans people to use the bathroom, and we are having no leadership from the city of what to do about this.

This is not okay.

It's not something that people are taking well.

People are feeling very upset about this.

The trans community is not feeling at all happy with the city about this.

Furthermore, with the Planned cameras are supposed to go up around Capitol Hill.

People are seeing this as a way to try and get petty individuals to do graffiti and not actually supposed to stop crime.

None of these cameras are going to stop any shootings.

None of them.

Cameras are something that happens after the fact.

They don't prevent actual crime.

What prevents crime is investing in communities, making people feel that they are worthwhile in their communities.

When individuals are left out and feeling that they have no response or no recourse in their cities, Then they do crime.

We are actually enabling crime by investing millions of dollars in cameras instead of our cities.

And especially as we're trying to tackle ICE, people are afraid of being tracked and that's not okay.

You all, as the city council, your job is to stop ICE and people from tracking trans people.

You need to be performing legal sabotage as much as you can instead of coming after us.

We need you to do more, not less for us.

We need you today on this bill today to make it so people aren't being targeted, but rather we are not leaving any loopholes for how people can be hurt.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rose.

Next we have Solomon, only one wiser prince, followed by Lady Scribe, David Haynes and Donita Sinclair.

Welcome, Solomon.

Blessed afternoon joy in all city council.

My name is Solomon, Only One Wiser Prince.

I am the founder of Christ Organization and co-owner of Three Kings Dojo, Christy Boxing Dojo here on Aurora Avenue, North Seattle.

I'm not just calling about funding, I'm calling about prevention.

Every week I look into the eyes of kids who are one decision away from two different futures.

One path leads to discipline, mentorship and confidence.

The other leads to gangs, drugs, violence and incarceration.

The difference between those two paths is access.

Access to structure, access to accountability, access to someone who believes in them.

Our dojo provides that structure.

We teach boxing, yes, but more importantly we teach discipline, respect, emotional control and resilience.

We are positioned directly in the Aurora Corridor where youth need safe, consistent programming.

Funding would allow us to remove financial barriers so no child ages 5 to 15 is turned away because their family cannot afford tuition.

This is upstream public safety.

This proactive community investment.

The cost of prevention is far lower than the cost of reaction.

We are already doing the work.

With City Partnership, we can expand responsibly and serve more youth consistently and measurably.

I'm asking to stand with us in building a safer Seattle, one disciplined young person at a time.

and then the policy's focus and measurable version is a request aligns directly with Seattle's equity, public safety, and youth development priorities.

Okay, so it's extremely important that the city gets behind what we are trying to do.

If funded, we will track total youth serve, income demographics, attending constituency, and scholarship distribution, free program hours provided, and community partnerships.

This funding would remove cost barriers for low-income families and allow us to provide structure, reaction, access in an undeserved corridor.

Research consistently shows structured athletic mentorship reduces behavioral incidences, improves school engagement, and lowers long-term justice systems involvement.

I'm going to end it at that.

Let's keep it Christy at all times.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak.

Thank you, Solomon.

Next, we have Lady Scribe, followed by David Haynes, followed by Miss Donnie Sinclair.

Hi, Lady Scribe.

you'll press star six to unmute yourself once we bump you up to panelists.

We are getting you bumped up.

Our phone might be muted.

Oh, you might be muted.

We see you, but you might be muted.

There we go.

You're muted.

Press star set.

There you go.

Now go ahead and start talking, Lady Scrap.

The phone is muted.

Your phone might be muted now.

You're off mute, so you're fine.

Lord, Lord, Lord.

There we go.

Okay.

You're good.

Thank you, Jesus, because I'm just a little worse than a wreck right now, and I've seen everybody that comes through and want to occupy this time well.

Yeah, I just couldn't pull myself to come in to see her address.

our mayor today at Langston Hughes.

I thought it was a slap in my face directly because of my communications with the mayor's office over the campaign and how we have already been framed as aggressive and all these different things, you know, in relations to black women.

But I have something here and I just wanted to say good counsel, man, all nine of you.

Mayor Katie Wilson, I want to address what many of us witnessed today.

You chose Langston Hughes for your first city address.

During Black History Month on paper, that sounds intentional, but in real time, while you spoke about Black legacy, many in Black Seattle were grieving, organizing, and literally burying our child.

Today, remember Rainier Beach?

Anyway, respectfully, you laughed in the moment that did not land well in community spaces where families are still bearing their own, and the optics mattered, the timing mattered, the tone mattered.

Meanwhile, in Rainier Beach, in this very neighborhood's carrying, and shout out to Mr. Eddie Lynn, I have also asked you, please call me back.

You know, like respond to the email, put me on the calendar.

You know, I really need you, District 2, to respond.

And that's out of this, but anyway, you hear me.

Meanwhile, we're veering in this, and I want to shout out to our President Joy Hollisworth, with President Grounded in Community Council President Hollisworth.

I want to publicly say I see you and I respect you for the position.

you're carrying right now.

It is not easy to be called nigger.

It's not easy to call gay bitch.

It's not easy to call black bitch and everything that you go under and you are really trying to hold it as its own.

But again, those passports of freedom, we are the only ones that don't have it.

And I know we all want ICE out of here like we wanted our mayor at the funeral of the day.

Don't forget about Black Seattle every day.

If we can't be there on Tuesday, every day, we're going to make sure that we call in.

You cannot just put us in this box of, oh, there is NBA All-Star and Seahawks and this and all this stuff and Black History Month and not represent us while you're at Lincoln.

Thank you, Lady Scribe.

Next, we have David Haynes, followed by Miss Donita Sinclair.

Mental health!

We need to address the drug pushing predators that are undermining their fellow man's lives and wrongly being enlisted non-violent low level.

And the Democrats could solve the problem with the antitrust violations of Kroger and Wall Street middlemen who keep artificially inflating the cost of food and abusing the leasing options to monopolize the neighborhood to violate the antitrust or because the Democrats and the progressives are so distracted by button pushing their voting blocks they're always blaming Trump for something.

And you all need the federal government to work with you in proper policies like investing to redevelop the entire Aurora corridor.

And you need the state resources of noble use that the mayor could ask for, that the council could approve, that would stand up authorized encampments within three days.

And you can start processing people to graduate.

But until you start addressing the customs violating repeat offending crimes where people are smoking cigarettes and vaporizing at the bus stop and then they blow it inside the bus thinking they're so cool.

They deserve a $25 ticket and they can like work it off at community service.

But if you're doing drugs around the bus stop or pretty much anywhere, you know, where people are living and working, you should be given a trust passing ticket towards drug treatment.

And since you're already living in an unauthorized encampment, self-destructing, you can live in an authorized encampment and be supervised and then only focus on your drug addiction and start doing community services supervised.

And, you know, when it comes to the farmer's market co-ops, remember the Tequila farmer's market where you get like five pounds of red Ruby grapefruits in the wintertime for like seven bucks.

We need something like that at the Fred Meyer and elsewhere places around the city.

where you can access using a fresh box, but you can also eventually get multicultural cuisine offerings at the upper level.

But because there was such an antitrust abuse in that neighborhood where they put that option in the lease that the owner went along with, they're delaying progress and not allowing for a grocery store because the guy...

Thank you, Mr. Haynes.

I don't see Ms. Donita Sinclair present.

No, we don't see her present, okay.

We'll just wait like five seconds.

Ms. Donita Sinclair, I don't know if you can hear us, if you're watching on TV, but your name is in red, not present, but you did sign up for public comment.

Okay.

All right.

Colleagues, we have reached the end of our list of regular speakers, excuse me, registered speakers.

I wanna thank everyone who came to public comment, period, in person, all the people who send in their public comment via email, the folks that give us their public comment during meetings, and also when we're out in the community, we get public comment through all different types of channels, even through committee meetings.

We take public comment through all of our committee meetings.

I'm always getting public comment and just wanna thank everyone for their comments today.

And so we're gonna transition into the agenda.

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

Hearing no objection, the introduction referral calendar is adopted.

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

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

We're gonna now consider the proposed consent calendar.

Items on the consent calendar include minutes of February 10th, 2026 and Council Bill 121-162, payment of the bills.

Are there any other items council members would like to remove from today's consent calendar?

Hearing none, I'm gonna move to adopt the consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and second to adopt the consent calendar.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the consent calendar?

Councilmember Saka?

Aye.

Councilmember Strauss?

Aye.

Councilmember Foster?

Yes.

Councilmember Juarez?

Aye.

Councilmember Lin?

Yes.

Councilmember Rink?

Yes.

Councilmember Rivera?

Aye.

Council President Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The consent calendar items are adopted.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes and legislation on the consent calendar on my behalf?

Will the clerk please read item number one into the agenda?

Agenda item one, clerk file 314-547, state of the city address, delivered by Mayor Katie B. Wilson on February 17th, 2026.

I said move into the agenda.

I meant into the record.

I said agenda twice.

I'm gonna move to accept the file clerk 314547. Is there a second?

Thank you.

It's been moved and second to accept and file the clerk file.

As a sponsor, I will provide comments and then open to the floor.

We are grateful that Mayor Wilson has presented the State of the City address and came here to hand deliver it herself.

We're looking forward to that being the norm every year and setting the tone.

Are there any other additional comments regarding this agenda item?

Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on accepting the filing, the accepting and filing the clerk file.

Tongue twister there.

Council member Saka?

Aye.

Council member Strauss?

Aye.

Council member Foster?

Yes.

Council member Juarez?

Aye.

Council member Lin?

Yes.

Council member Rink?

Yes.

Council member Rivera?

Aye.

Council President Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Motion carries and the clerk file is accepted and placed on file.

Will the clerk, now Public Safety Committee, will the clerk please read item number two into the record?

The report, the Public Safety Committee, Gen Item 2, Council Bill 121-158 relating to information sharing for enforcement of civil immigration laws prohibiting city provisions of non-publicly available personal information for use in civil immigration enforcement, clarifying the city's position on immigration enforcement being a federal matter.

The committee recommends the bill pass the Council Member's Kettle, Saka, and do you vote in favor?

None opposed with an abstention from Council Member Lynn.

On behalf of Councilmember Kettle, Councilmember Rivera, a sponsor of the bill, will you provide the committee report and opening remarks?

Councilmember Rivera, you are recognized in order to address this bill.

Thank you, Council President Hollingsworth.

Colleagues, this bill came through committee.

It is a bill that, as Council President just said, I sponsored.

As I mentioned, when I brought this bill before the Public Safety Committee, I know that we are all struggling to find ways to protect our immigrant residents, to keep our city safe and to maintain calm as federal officials continue their brutality and cruelty against our immigrant neighbors.

What I and we can do all today is ensure that Seattle's policies around information sharing are clear, that they reflect our values and that they align with state law.

This legislation provides that much-needed clarity and alignment with state law.

My bill updates the Seattle Municipal Code to codify the state's Keep Washington Working law.

That law instructs law enforcement not to share non-publicly available information for the purposes of civil immigration enforcement.

And I also added a section that expands the prohibition to for all city employees, not just law enforcement.

So that means all city departments, all employees at all city departments are being instructed not to share non-publicly available information for the purposes of civil immigration enforcement, absent a warrant or legal obligation to do so.

the legal obligation to do so is also actually codified in the Keep Washington Working Act for law enforcement.

So wanting to address the, there's a paragraph that is in Seattle Municipal Code that I did not change, but that exemption for criminal purposes also exists in the Keep Washington Working Act.

really what I wanted to do to ensure that we were codifying keep Washington working law into the SMC, which had not been done.

Sometimes these things happen.

The SMC doesn't get updated timely as it should when the state takes action.

And so I want to make sure that that's happening in this case.

And then I also felt it was important to ensure that all city employees are not required that they know they're also prohibited from sharing personal information that doesn't appear publicly in order to support and keep our residents in Seattle safe across the board.

I believe colleagues, as I think we all believe ICE officials are acting unconstitutionally and what we're doing in our city, excuse me, what they are doing in our city and in other cities is simply unacceptable.

Whatever actions we can take, we should be taking, such as clarifying and strengthening Seattle's laws.

And that is what I've done with this particular legislation.

This is obviously, colleagues, only one action we can take.

It doesn't preclude further actions.

It is one step in the right direction.

I've heard some of you are considering other legislation as well.

And I know colleagues were in good company because many cities across the country are also in our same situation.

and they're looking at ways to support immigrant populations in their cities in the way that we are in Seattle.

As I said earlier, colleagues, this passed out a committee.

I hope that I have your support in protecting all our residents by passing this bill today.

And I'm happy to ask any questions.

to answer any questions.

No worries.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

Colleagues at this time, are there any comments or questions?

Councilmember Lynn.

Thank you, council president.

Thank you, council member Rivera for bringing this forward.

In committee, I abstained.

I had some questions about, in particular, about section 4.18.015B, which we heard public comment on.

I still believe that section needs to be updated.

I don't believe it's consistent with the Keep Washington Working Act or with our current policies or practices.

of the police department.

And so that's why I abstained.

I will be voting in favor of this today, but I do anticipate bringing forward legislation in the near future to, at a minimum, update that section to make it consistent with the Keep Washington, what I believe to be more consistent with the Keep Washington Working Act.

And so I just wanted to put that on the record.

And again, just thank you to Council Member Rivera for bringing this forward.

Thank you, Councilmember Lin.

Are there any other comments?

Councilmember Juarez.

Thank you.

First, I want to thank Councilmember Rivera for doing this, and I, in particular, Councilmember Rivera is joining a long group of Latino women that have perfected and continue to build on this law for protection of refugee and immigrants, going back to Councilmember Gonzalez who became Council President through the Office of Immigrant Refugee and Affairs and some of us back in the day when we were revamping and re-looking at these laws back in 16, 17, and 18 about not being asked about your immigration status and those of us that practiced in court in which the court system would hold people for immigration.

and we would have to file habeas corpus petitions to let people, and mind you this is in the late 90s, that's how old I am.

We would have to file these habeas corpus petitions to tell King County Superior Court that you do not have the legal authority to hold folks, if they've done their time or were found not guilty, you cannot hold them for immigration to come pick them up.

And so I just want to thank all those that walked before that have watched this tradition, this growth, this evolution, that this I know is right in our face now with ICE.

Those of us being targeted, those of us with Latino last names, I just came back from Bakersfield, my relatives on my Mexican side are concerned and their relatives and their friends.

So for some of us, we are being hunted.

And I hate to say this, but Council President, you and I had to talk about this.

We have survived genocide, enslavement, removal, you name it, and we're still here.

Thank you for the allyship, but I'm gonna have to say this on a personal note.

I would hope people that come here today know that we are working really hard behind the scenes to protect everybody and protect our immigrants and refugees and what we're seeing in Minnesota and everywhere else.

And some of us feel like, I'm gonna say some of us feel, because I like to start with facts.

Everyone is working very hard because we love this city and we love this country and this is our country.

And I just want you to know that.

I wish we could do more, but I think we have to be very clear and this is what I like, what Council Member Rivera has done.

We are more than moving in the right direction.

Also with help from our legal counsel and working with the City Attorney's Office, working with the U.S.

Attorney, working with our AG.

We don't share everything we do until we know exactly what we can do out here on the dais, but you can be assured that we are doing that.

And just on a more personal note, I want to thank our Council President.

I want to apologize for some people coming here attempting to, I don't know, humiliate or intimidate you.

I've never seen that behavior before from Council President.

and I just, I wanna say I'm sorry for that.

Again, it's the people's house and you may not like the person, but I think you should respect the office.

And that's all I ask is that dignity and respect, particularly to you council president and your leadership.

And so with that, I will be supporting this today and I wanna thank council member Rivera.

Thank you, council member Juarez.

Are there any other further comments about the bill that's right in front of us?

I look to the left and right.

Councilmember Rivera, you get the last word.

Oh, apologies, Council President.

I thank you, Councilmember Juarez, for those words.

Like I said, we are all struggling on how to best help our immigrant population here in Seattle.

and the thing I think sometimes it is lost as we are working with law and we do have to work with law and I did work with law when crafting this bill.

This isn't something I sort of sat there and did on my own.

I very much worked with our legal counsel and I thank her for her guidance as well as did my own as council president.

You like to call the Rivera due diligence as I was doing this work because It is important to do that.

Most of you know by now that I don't take things lightly when I do them.

I really do do my due diligence.

I do all my research.

I consult with law.

And, you know, we try to do things as best we can.

Councilmember Juarez, you're absolutely right.

There's a lot that goes behind the scenes, which is why I said this is one.

thing we're doing.

It's not the only thing.

And when we identify something that we can do, we need to do it.

And this is what this is.

So again, I, you know, but I and I appreciate Councilmember Horro as the legal point because I also appreciate, Councilmember Lynn, what you raised.

And I did work with law to make sure that this particular bill was within the legal bounds of what we could do and that it aligns with keep Washington working.

So as I said during, and you all weren't at committee, all of you, so I'll say that here too, is Council Member Lynn, your comments, while I appreciate them, they do merit further legal analysis and conversation.

and I welcome that in the future.

Today, I know legally this is what we can do.

So, and not wanting to do things, it's also colleagues, it's really important to me that we do things we know we can do.

I think you all know I'm not someone who wants to make promises that I cannot keep.

That's not what this is about.

This is within our power.

to require our law enforcement agency, SPD in this case, and all our city departments not to share information absent a judicial warrant is something we absolutely can do and we should do.

And so that is what this does today.

I want to thank you for listening to my words today, colleagues, and I hope that you'll support me in this, and then I look forward to continuing to work with all of you as we all grapple to deal with what I cannot believe we're dealing with at the federal level.

So thank you, Council President, for the support.

and thank you colleagues for sharing your thoughts today.

Those of you that shared thoughts today, but I talked to many of you behind the scenes.

I know I spoke with all of you when I was introducing this bill before it came to committee because I wanted to make sure that you all knew what was on my mind and what I wanted to do and hopefully get your support to ensure that we're protecting our immigrant residents in Seattle.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

I think we are ready to call the roll if there's no other further comments.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera for bringing this forward and all the work that you did behind the scenes as well.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Councilmember Saka?

Aye.

Councilmember Strauss?

Aye.

Councilmember Foster?

Yes.

Councilmember Juarez?

Aye Councilmember Lin?

Yes Councilmember Rink?

Yes Councilmember Rivera?

Aye Council President Hollingsworth?

Yes A10 favor, none opposed

Bill passes, the chair will sign it, and will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?

So the next three items are mine.

Will the clerk please read item number three into the agenda?

Are you able to read all three or no?

Okay, nevermind.

The clerk gave me a look and that was a no.

Will the clerk please read item number three into the agenda?

The report of the Governance and Utilities Committee, Agenda Item 3, Council Bill 121-155 related to Bitter Lake Reservoir Replacement Project, transferring partial jurisdiction of a portion of Seattle Public Utilities, Bitter Lake Reservoir property to the Seattle Department of Transportation.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Awesome, thank you.

It's the look your mom gives you when you're loud at church or your grandmama used to give you.

It was like, no, it was just the look.

As the chair of the committee, I will provide the committee report.

This transfer area will be used for street and sidewalk purposes, not used for any current or future utility projects.

So this expansion of the sidewalk is a necessary step to improve accessibility and build towards long-term pedestrian infrastructure improvements.

And colleagues, I ask for your support.

We had four in favor and none opposed.

Are there any other comments about Council Bill 121155?

Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council Member Strauss?

Aye.

Council Member Foster?

Yes.

Councilmember Juarez.

Aye.

Councilmember Lin.

Aye.

Councilmember Rink.

Yes.

Councilmember Rivera.

Aye.

Council President Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Will the clerk please read item number four into the record?

Agenda 4, Council 1-2-1, 1-60, Authorizing General Manager and CEO of Seattle Public Utilities to enter into an interlocal agreement to participate in the Regional Water Supply Forum to coordinate and collaborate on current and future regional drinking water supply issues in King, Sonohomish, and Pierce Counties.

Committee recommend that the bill pass.

Colleagues, I've had the privilege to work closely with SPU for the last two years and sit on other collaborative bodies with our CEO, Andrew Lee.

And I feel very confident that he will represent our city's drinking water supply needs very collaboratively with our regional partners at the Water Supply Forum.

I believe he's the best in the business.

You all have had opportunities to work with him and I ask for your support on this bill.

Are there any comments about this bill, a passed three in favor, none opposed.

Will clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Councilmember Saka?

Councilmember Strauss?

Councilmember Foster?

Yes.

Councilmember Juarez?

Councilmember Lin?

Yes.

Council Member Rink?

Yes.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Council President Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?

Will the clerk please read item number five into the record?

Agenda 5, Council Bill 121-161 related to the Cedar River Municipal Watershed amending the secondary use policies adopted by Ordinance 114632 to provide for a limited application of the herbicide imazapar to treat invasive knotweed species.

The committee recommends the bill to pass.

colleagues, SPU has successfully treated knotweed, that's spelled with a K, so knot, knotweed, but knotweed, in the Cedar River municipal watershed since 2010, and they use less and less every year.

This year, they're expected to use 1.5 ounces to treat this area.

Just to put in perspective, when they first started, they were using 700 ounces.

to treat this area.

Now it's 1.5 ounces because it's maintenance to this.

So being good stewards of our environment is essential.

This is why this includes oversight and we have to approve an herbicide with an annual report on the treatment and impact.

So colleagues, I ask for your support on this.

It's just really good.

I hate to say what Council Member Kettle says, but good governance on this.

Are there any comments?

All right, awesome.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bell?

Councilmember Saka?

Aye.

Councilmember Strauss?

Aye.

Councilmember Foster?

Yes.

Councilmember Juarez?

Aye.

Councilmember Lin?

Yes.

Councilmember Rink?

Yes.

Councilmember Rivera?

Aye.

Council President Hollingsworth?

Yes.

8 in favor, none opposed.

Bill passes.

Chair will sign it.

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

Colleagues, there were no items removed from the consent calendar and there is not a resolution for introduction or adoption today.

Is there any further business to come before the council?

Seeing none before I call an executive session, just because I know that the families of the victims in Rainier Beach that came up today a couple of times.

And the one thing that the families have said to folks is that they wanna continue for the names to be remembered.

So Tyjohn and Trevay are very missed by their community and we're gonna continue to uplift Rainier Beach and those families in our hearts.

I know that there are a ton of council members, all of us agree with that.

Whenever a baby, a kid, anyone is shot in our city, our heart always breaks for that.

And this is not trying to politicize anything.

This is our community that we are with every single day.

So I just wanted to uplift that and make sure that we're gonna continue that their death is not in vain.

that our praying is not in vain, that our fasting is not in vain, that up the road will be eternal gain for our kids.

We are going to go to the executive session now.

Hearing no further business, colleagues, we will now move into the executive session.

As presiding officer, I'm announcing that the Seattle City Council will now convene into executive session.

The purpose of executive session is to discuss pending potential or actual litigation.

The council's executive session is 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 the time of the executive session to end today by...

4.45, about one hour, 4.45 p.m.

If the executive session is extended beyond that time, I will announce the extension and the expected duration.

At the conclusion of this executive session, the city council meeting will automatically adjourn.

And so our next regular scheduled city council meeting is February 24th at 2 p.m.

The city council is now in executive sessions.

Council members, you will log on to your executive session Zoom meeting with your link that you all have.

Thank you.