Governance, Accountability & Economic Development Committee 5/23/2024

Good afternoon, everyone.

It is May 23rd, 2024, and the Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee will come to order.

It is 2-0-1.

I am Sarah Nelson, chair of the committee.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Kettle?

Here.

Councilmember Hollingsworth?

Councilmember Saka?

Here.

Councilmember Rivera?

Present.

Chair Nelson?

Present.

Four present.

Okay, we've got a fairly light agenda, and it's all about film.

So that's exciting for me.

And first of all, we've got a presentation on the work of the first year of the Film Commission, and then we've got four reappointments of its members.

So we will now move into public comment.

Can you please tell us if there is no objection?

We'll approve the agenda.

Seeing no objection, the agenda is adopted and we'll move into public comment.

Can you please tell us how many people are signed up?

Council President, we have one in-person public commenter and zero virtual public commenters.

Okay, we will give our one public commenter two minutes.

Go ahead and please call the name.

Alex Zimmerman.

And we will remember that for this committee, we are addressing items on the agenda.

Go ahead, please.

Pause.

No.

That is abusive language.

That is disruptive behavior.

That is against council rules.

This is a warning.

At some point I will have to ask you to sit down.

Can you explain to me why your reason doing this?

You are a psychopath.

Why are you doing this?

Like you're more dangerous than Nazi or communist because you are a psychopath.

I did everything legally.

Why are you doing this?

What is problem?

Why is your problem?

I speak about everywhere like this.

Every candidate, when I right now candidate for governor, you know what this mean, I speak same.

Where is the problem?

I come to you one because I want to understand why you are acting like a psychopath.

You know what this mean?

Acting like a psychopath and don't give chance 750,000 slave have a free speech.

Open better room in city hall one day per week for three minute without control.

Why you don't doing this?

Why you control the 750,000 idiot, huh?

Pursuant to council rules, I am excluding you from further participation in this public comment period.

You are allowed to speak to items on the agenda.

Why are you doing this?

Why are you acting like a Nazi pig?

Why?

Why you interrupt me?

Only one man in state Washington who have so many trespasses.

Why?

What is motivation for this?

Are you a psychopath?

A mentally sick?

Where is your problem?

Can you explain to me?

What?

What?

Have a seat, please.

What?

What?

What?

Please sit down and if you cannot speak to an item on the agenda and you continue to...

All right, sir.

I'm not going to call for a recess.

I'm not going to call for broken law.

You are criminal.

Now you did something.

What is a, it's a nightmare.

You know what has been you'd broken law.

What is make decision from nine circle, eight circle, fourth circle.

I can bring you a copy from this.

Why are you doing this?

What is motivation?

Because you're sick.

You mentally sick.

I cannot find another reason for this.

Oh, don't give me this shit.

I come to this place for 20 years every day.

You have now been warned that you are not complying with council rules in two ways.

No, I try to understand why it's going on.

Look, I'm only one man who come and talk.

750,000 people, nobody here.

Why?

Because I not respect you.

People start to understand right now.

So you are a psychopath, a mentally sick people.

You don't understand?

I did everything legal by 100%.

Where is the problem?

I was speaking about open the room, you know what I mean, and give people three minutes like I speak all over around.

You're only one city for ten years, no one council, no one mayor supports this idea of open the room and give people three minutes.

Why?

Have you seen if you are not going to speak to an item on the agenda?

I am doing this for the record.

You can give me another trespass for one.

And that concludes public comment, Council President.

Okay, we are now, public comment is now officially closed.

I am sorry for that.

It's unfortunate that we are beginning our meeting with that, but we will move on.

So, would you please read the title of the first item on the agenda?

Agenda item number one, Seattle Film Commission presentation, briefing, and discussion.

Okay, so before this briefing and presentation, I do want to provide a prequel to today's folks an idea of how the Film Commission came about.

We're going to hear about their first year of work, but I think it's worthy for folks that didn't hear me speak in many, many, many committee meetings in 2022, how this came about.

So first, a brief history, because obviously creating a Film Commission was not my idea.

The Seattle Music Commission was created in 2010, and film industry stakeholders had been working and advocating for the creation of a film commission for many years across several mayoral administrations.

In some recent history, I'll just start in 2019, the music and film communities came together and formed the Seattle Film and Music Coalition to grow music and film production.

And in 2020, they mobilized the Office of Film and Music to create a film task force whose primary goal was the establishment of a film commission.

And they went about their work and produced a report with a number of action items.

And the top of their list was the creation of a film commission.

They saw this as a way to advance equity as well as strengthen the economic potential of the film industry, the existing film industry.

industry and attract more film to work in Seattle because many people were tired of films and TV shows being produced that featured Seattle but were not produced in Seattle and wanted to regain the cutting edge that Seattle had long had as the nation's premier filmmaking city.

So that was the ask.

And during my campaign, I was focused on economic recovery.

And I listened and learned from film industry stakeholders as they made the case for how important the film industry is, not just to our creative economy, but as a major driver of economic activity and growth in the city of Seattle and the region.

And so I listened, and at some point I committed to creating a film commission if I were to be elected, and here we are.

The legislation to create the Seattle Film Commission was passed in September 2022, and the members were seated in April of 2023. So we will have a presentation from Kat, one of the co-chairs, and also with Alicia Thiel from OED.

So would you please come up and take your seats, introduce yourselves.

on your own, and then you can begin the presentation.

And this presentation will also, it's a combined presentation, not just of the work of the Film Commission, but also of the re-employments that are also on our agenda.

Thank you very much for coming.

Great, thank you so much, Council President Nelson.

Great to be here.

Alicia Thiel, Deputy Director of the Office of Economic Development.

And I am Kat Ogden.

I am one of the co-chairs of the Seattle Film Commission, and I represent position number seven, which are film technicians, crews, creatives, the people that you see making the magic happen.

We're like the Muppet Show.

First of all, Council President Nelson, thank you so much for being a champion of film and for the Film Commission.

I think it's really exciting what the Commission's been able to accomplish in the past year, and we have a short video to share to illustrate that.

Taman, I may need your assistance.

Sorry.

Thank you.

Yes.

Yeah.

Bye.

So as you can see, it's been a busy year for film in Seattle.

I think that illustrates the over 400 film productions that have taken place since the film commission was- I don't think that your mic is on.

It's on.

Okay, let me try that one more time.

Yeah, say all that again, please.

Sure, yeah.

So as you can see, it's been a very busy year for film in Seattle.

That video showed some quick snapshots of the over 400 film productions that have taken place in our city since the commission began.

So, let's see.

Okay, I might just, okay, okay, great.

So as Council President Nelson mentioned, the Film Commission commissioners were seated last April, and first there were 10 seats that were selected, five by the council, five by the mayor, and then the commission itself appointed the 11th position, I believe, over the summer.

The commissioners were very busy creating bylaws, and they also took time to establish three priority committees, economic and workforce development, policy and initiatives, and marketing and branding.

So at this point, I'll turn it over to you, Kat, to share a little bit more about the committees and the work of the commission over the past year.

Okay.

Is my mic on?

Can you hear me okay?

We can.

You might want to pull it a little bit closer to you, though.

There you go.

There we go.

The Seattle Film Commission immersed itself in events throughout the year to engage with Seattle's film community and elevate awareness of its role and goals in this inaugural year.

These are some of the official and unofficial Film Commission engagements over the last year.

One of the commission's favorite events was career day where we had the opportunity to meet with up and coming generation of future Seattle filmmakers.

Great.

We'll start to go through our committees.

This is the Economic and Workforce Development Committee.

This committee is chaired by Tom Florino, who's in position for representing commercial producers and or production companies.

and vice-chaired by Anthony Tackett, position 10, representing film organizations belonging to and advocating for communities underrepresented in the film industry.

We are very fortunate to have the depth of expertise on this committee, which has provided us with valuable insight into how to grow our relationships with corporate partners in Seattle.

In addition to promoting Seattle as a film destination, we seek to strengthen and expand our existing relationships in Seattle.

This is our policy committee.

This committee is chaired by Mark Freid, position nine, representing location managers.

This committee has engaged extensively with the community and is consulting with community leaders and innovators almost in every meeting.

These discussions will inform our policy recommendations to support Seattle's continued development as a premier film destination.

You paused there.

I want to say something about Mark.

I met him at UW on the set of the series...

Sex Lives of College Girls.

Right, Sex Lives.

And he was explaining the intricacies of what it takes to do a production.

The fact that you have to have, you know, the...

the space to park the vans and just basically he was saying that there is a lot of talent in Seattle and it was a question of making sure that, this was before the commission began, he was saying that whoever is on the film commission, they need to have a deep understanding of the talent that we have right now.

because we do have the resources and not just on the creative side but on the technical side and on the actual on the ground, get it done on the day side.

And so I learned so much from him on that particular day in that hour or so and I'm so glad to know that he is co-chairing this committee.

He has really led this committee very strongly.

He has, as a location manager, if you aren't familiar with that role, he is the person that manages the footprint of a film set.

And he has community interaction as well as interaction with every single vendor.

And he is the first person on set and the last person to leave.

So he has an incredible eagle eye view of what a production does and how it engages with the community.

And it has been really exciting to see the policy committee just come to life.

Thank you for that additional information.

Go ahead.

Sorry to interrupt.

No.

So here's the Marketing and Branding Committee.

This committee is chaired by Beth Barrett, position eight, representing film festivals or film content distribution companies.

This committee has accomplished an impressive amount in a short amount of time.

They collaborated with Seattle-based creative agency company Millie to develop assets that will brand Seattle.

Other creative industry partners can utilize these assets.

We've only really had 10 meetings of our committees, so I'm very impressed with what we managed to accomplish in this time because this was our bricklaying year.

And our first few meetings were finding our footing and establishing the way that we communicated with each other and having a good culture for that.

And then when we stepped into committee, I was really pleased to see how each committee just moved forward within this short amount of time.

So all three committees offer the opportunity to invite and consult directly with local and national industry stakeholders.

Great.

Thanks so much, Kat.

Yes, a huge thank you to the commissioners for their work and also would like to give a shout-out to my colleagues in our film program, Chris Swenson, our film program manager, and Taylor Duran-Skaggs, who is our film permit specialist, and both of them are doing terrific work on the city side to keep everything going.

Before you go on to the reappointments, can I just...

I was struck by something you said when you opened up, which was 400 films.

Could you say a little bit more about that?

That seems like a lot for a year.

Sure.

Go ahead.

Yeah, let me refer back to my notes here.

So yes, over 400 film productions.

Some of those included a production about the lottery, Bridgestone Tires.

There was a Toyota commercial that filmed here.

That wintertime scene, I believe, was actually filmed in the summertime, but was for a commercial for the winter.

Toyota, Taco Time, and there were many others.

Thank you.

And I do want to shout out to the county.

I mean, having Harbor Island Studios is a huge asset in the region that was, you know, on the list of things that you presented, Kat, there was the opening.

And what I've heard on the street is that that has been a great, it's great to be able, it's enabling.

It is the house of production in this region.

If we want film to be produced here, we have to have that.

And so that in addition to the incentives that were passed by the state legislature a couple years ago.

The stars are aligned to really lift up film here, and the number 400 does drive that home.

So thank you.

Yeah.

Oh, go ahead, please.

Oh, we've also used Harbor Island Studios for educational purposes.

There are several grassroots groups that are seeking to diversify our talent pool and to bring up that next generation of filmmakers.

So Harbor Island is used both as a, well, multiple purposes because it's a studio, it can be anything, but also for education and for community gathering.

So it's...

It's been great to have that as part of what I consider the Seattle Film Community and thank you too.

And I'll note that I just wanna dwell a little bit.

A lot of what these committees are doing is making recommendations to city departments.

Much of the change you're making does not come in the form of legislation.

It comes in the form of feedback to parks, to the Seattle Police Department and their parking.

and perhaps with the permitting people as well.

So what I'm trying to say is that a lot of the change that you've been able to affect has been something that's completely beyond the legislative process, and thank you very much.

Yep, the commission's an invaluable advisory partner to our film program and to the city at large.

And we're also deeply appreciative of our partnership with the county and with Kate Becker in particular.

So yeah, thank you for the shout out to Harbor Island Studios.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

Great.

Yeah.

Thank you, Chair Nelson.

I just had a couple questions.

A, new to the council, but I am supportive of the commission, as our chair has been championing over the past year plus.

And I was curious on a few things.

One is, in standing this up, was there any models that you're looking at in terms of maybe other cities and what they have done?

And then what advantages, along those lines, what advantages do we have in the Northwest?

And I ask this specifically because as one who has ended up watching a lot of Hallmark Christmas movies or watched a lot of HDTV movies and somebody who grew up across the lake from Toronto, there's a lot of Canadian production.

And a lot of it's done out of British Columbia and specifically Vancouver.

And I was just wondering, is there any lessons learned from what they've done, evidently very successfully, given the number of shows that I've seen that, you know, going back to the original question that, you know, things that we can learn from as we press forward with our own film commission and what we're looking to do in Seattle.

Kat, I'd actually like to hand this one over to you since I am relatively new to the city and I was not at OED when the commission was first being stood up.

So I think you might have a little more context for what it was like as you got going and then also your industry perspective on Council Member Kittle's second question.

So I do have some insight on this.

You know, Washington Filmworks, who is our state film commissioner, has worked very hard to raise our incentive level to bring our level of competitiveness with Portland and Vancouver up, and we are now in a good position for that.

What we have looked at for the comps of other cities is just recognizing that safe sets and green sets are a high priority.

People are really looking for...

when they are seeking to put a production how their environmental concerns can be met.

Seattle has always been innovative.

I first began filmmaking in Seattle 15 years ago and that production was a zero waste production.

Everything we used came from the Goodwill, went back to the Goodwill and other charity shops.

Everything was recycled.

Even the office supplies were passed on from production to production until they were completely depleted.

So these are things that we can do to be extremely Forward thinking, especially in terms of film sets, traditionally have been very wasteful.

Safe sets is another area that our policy committee has explored.

I'm sure if you have been in touch with the news regarding, well, it shows up in my feed, may not in yours, but there has been a highlight on safety on film sets in the last year due to some very unfortunate accidents.

Seattle has the balance of being both a community and an industry.

We are very connected.

We feel a lot of support from our local government as well as our county.

And because of that, we can come together to really establish a better working model for safe sets.

Do you have a follow-up?

No, please.

I was just going to say, I'm looking forward to the Seattle, you know, much that I've seen already.

You know, I don't live too far from the Grey's Anatomy house.

You know, so having that done more here locally as opposed to a couple of quick shots and then the rest of it's done somewhere else.

I look forward to that.

It's my unbiased and professional opinion that we're the most beautiful city on the Western seaboard.

And so I've I think that makes us highly competitive.

Clearly.

Thank you, Chair.

You brought up a really important point, and this is something that I kept driving home when we were making, when I was pushing for the commission.

Seattle's got all the assets to be a great film town.

I mean, we've got the talent.

Obviously, we've got the passion, the people, I mean, just look at the numbers that attend the film commission, that attend SIF over the course of 50 years.

Strong, strong labor partners.

I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the fact that they were a major push behind the film task force and also helped me actually write the legislation.

and and also of course the natural beauty but what we didn't have was government skin in the game and so um and that was driven home to me when i went to the seattle film summit in august of 2022 and i met the one of the leaders of the montana film office and um and she said in i presented on what i was trying to do here which was create a film commission And she said, you have to do it.

It's the most important thing because production companies need to show, they need to see that the local government is on board and that they have skin in the game and that they're playing an active role in the growth and in trying to attract film and support the local film industry.

And that really did...

That was really driven home to me because Seattle didn't have a film commission, and so many other cities across the country did, and internationally.

When you look at a film and you see the peach on the end of the movie, you see what the state of Georgia is doing.

We already know that films that are supposedly set in Seattle are filmed in Vancouver or someplace else.

It's because we can't necessarily compete with other cities in terms of the magnitude of economic incentives that are provided.

But what we can do is create—we can cut red tape when it comes to producing films here, make sure that our permitting is easy, and we can show that the government is here.

The local government and the departments, as I've already mentioned, are here to help.

And so that is, I think that is what we've got as an advantage and that is strengthened with having a film commission because it does show on paper and in human form that this is a priority of the city.

Go ahead.

So that brings us to, I think, a little bit more of maybe the business part of our presentation, which is the film commission reappointments.

So when the commission was established, several of the members were appointed to one-year terms.

And so we were setting up the commission in a way that we would have four seats up for reappointment each year.

And so four of those seats are now up.

And so those four positions are Lowell Deo, who is online and was appointed by the mayor, represents on-screen talent or their representatives.

Tom Florino, who is representing commercial producers or production companies.

Kat, of course, representing film production crew.

And Anthony Tackett, representing film organizations belonging to and advocating for communities underrepresented in the film industry.

So all four, oh, yes, please.

Well, before we go into the meat of the business, I'm just noticing that Council Member Saka had his hand up.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for this presentation so far.

And yeah, no, thank you, Madam Council President, for your leadership in helping to bring this to life.

I love film and, you know, as a...

Policy matter we should endeavor as from the city's perspective to bring and attract more filming and production here right here in the city of Seattle and it's sort of shameful that the boys in the boat or whatever that movie that I saw it great great film, but that it was produced and shot principally Principal production as I understand it took place in Europe England maybe and and or Vancouver So yeah, this is a great thing, and I learned a lot from your comments just now.

Kinda ties into a question I had, so I have two questions.

And so the first question, learned a little more, but during your comments, Madam Council President, but also sparked my curiosity as well.

What are some of the biggest barriers, systemic barriers, to production, film production here in Seattle, I know there's obviously things that in factors at the state level and that sort of outside our direct span of control, but what are some of the biggest barriers to production here at the city level that, or yeah, for film production here at the city that the city is uniquely positioned to address?

So I heard amongst other things, like cutting red tape and just the sheer establishment of, This commission, kind of elevating that, is like film production here in Seattle is a policy priority.

Is that it?

Would you add on that, modify it?

And yeah, so what are some of those systemic barriers and how is the city uniquely positioned to address those?

Well, we are very fortunate to have the support for the creative economy here in Seattle, which is unique.

And so I have to say that really what we're doing is getting the ball rolling.

Portland has an established film community because Oregon had a stronger state incentive than Washington State for many years.

And so if you were going to film something that looked like the Pacific Northwest and you were not going to Canada, you would likely go to Portland.

there was an establishment of certain businesses and structures that are a little bit ahead of where we were.

So we were also heavily impacted and I speak personally in support of the strikes that happened in my industry this year and last year.

So we are regenerating in a lot of ways.

In answer to your question regarding the city, I just have to say the city has been nothing but supportive.

When we came as a film commission and we said we are hearing from our filmmakers that we want a deeper relationship with Seattle police, immediately we're offered introductions.

How would you like that support?

So I think it is just a matter of connecting more with the film community, especially now that we are past our inaugural bricklaying year, really moving out into the community, kind of gathering that information and coming back.

But I have not found obstacles in the city itself.

Thank you.

So my second question related to the federal government's role in all this.

There are many partners.

It's a shared responsibility to address this.

The city has its own role, the county, the state.

But what is less clear to me is the federal government's role, if any, in incentivizing production right here in the US and then, leveling the playing field for cities and places across the U.S.

It seems like, again, many blind spots.

I don't know enough about this, but it just seems like there are things that the federal government could do to do those two things.

And with respect to leveling the playing field, maybe...

requiring that if you film, make a film that purports to be from a specific location, you can't use stock images of that place.

And also, because that's misleading, you have to film a certain portion of that within that city.

I don't know.

Any number, I'm just spitballing.

But my point is, what is the federal government's role, if any?

And I totally understand if you don't have a point of view on this.

I'm just curious, because all of us need to work together.

I'm less educated about that, I'll be honest with you.

We have seen a lot of work go to Vancouver in the last 20 years, I would say.

Canada was able to offer different film incentives and that took business there and other countries, you know, endeavor to compete with that.

This is actually something where if you would like more information, I would love for Tom Florino to connect with you and discuss this because he, um, in his other job, when he's not with the film commission, he works in policy for Amazon and has great insight into other film markets and other countries.

And he's absolutely passionate about Seattle and passionate about film.

So he would probably have some more insight into that than I would.

Yeah, yeah, no, thank you.

Really, really appreciate that.

Thank you.

Madam Council President, I'll add on your, you mentioned the many wonderful reasons that we should have film production right here in the city of Seattle, including talent, pool, and the scenery, and amongst other things, I would add, from a storytelling perspective, some of the biggest icons in the country, in the world, cut their teeth somehow and have tied directly right here to the city of Seattle.

So very compelling, very compelling to shoot from a storytelling perspective to shoot here.

So it's just a matter of threading all the needles together.

Thank you.

Okay, I promise I won't interrupt anymore.

That's just fine.

I'm enjoying the conversational nature.

So we have four commissioners, all of whom have expressed their intent to be reappointed to three-year terms.

As Kat explained, we've got three active committees already on this film commission.

And I think for continuity of the work, it would really be wonderful to have these four folks continue and to build on the work that they've done.

over the past year.

And I know we have Lowell online.

I don't know if maybe he'd like to pop in and share a little bit about his commission experience.

Hi, Lowell.

The floor is yours.

Thank you for joining us, and your mic is off.

Rookie mistake.

Hello, everyone, and thank you for the invitation to be here, Council President Nelson and council members.

I represent the actors and the agents on the committee.

And I am excited to continue because as Kat said, this has been a brick laying year.

I think part of the problem or part of what I've noticed is people are pretty much siloed depending on what their jobs are.

So actors, it's easy for us to look and say, why doesn't somebody bring more work here?

I don't know if Kat's field feels the same way in terms of why doesn't somebody else do the job?

But it's only when we get together and we learn from one another that we learn that, no, the work belongs to us.

We need to make it happen.

So that's why I'm excited by the prospect of continuing.

Thank you so much, Lowell.

So that is a pretty simple presentation.

And once again, I would like to thank my colleagues doing such great work every single day to help make Seattle a great place for film.

Thank you very much.

Since we do have one of our reappointments here, I do have a question for you.

Well, I see you everywhere.

It seems as though any event or any festivity that has something to do with film and even doesn't have anything to do with film at all.

But my question is, I really like what you said about working together.

It's great for all the commissioners because you represent every single aspect of the film music community.

But when you go other places, is there a difference in how people respond?

Are you hearing outside of Seattle that there's a recognition of renewed energy here?

Or when you said that we need to get out of our silos, what are you hearing out there in the world that you can enlighten us on as people?

right now within this particular silo of the Seattle City Council chambers?

I am hearing that, especially in the silos involving different cities.

For the longest time, actors in Seattle would look at Portland and think, oh, my gosh, how lucky they are.

They've got leverage, they've got Grimm, they've got librarians, they've got all these movies that are happening.

Um, and if we were lucky, we might get the opportunity to audition down there and the actors there seem to be prospering.

Uh, I ended up doing a shoot down in Portland, I think three or so weeks ago, and now actors and crew people there are looking at Seattle, like Seattle is up and coming, uh, saying that they see a lot of us everywhere, but they don't have as much opportunity.

in Portland or to come to Seattle.

So I think anecdotally by that one story alone, we're doing pretty well.

Thank you for that.

Okay, so moving on to the appointments, were you going to mention anything about the other folks or should we just go ahead and read the appointments into the record?

Sure.

So the other folks, so Kat.

Kat is one of our commissioners who is up for reappointment.

As Kat mentioned, Tom Florino, who is the chair of our policy committee on the Film Commission, is also up for reappointment.

And Anthony Tackett is also up for reappointment, all of whom have made great contributions to the commission over the past year.

Can you put the slide back up of the official...

constituency represented by these folks.

Just one moment.

Let me see if I can figure out the screen share.

And if it speaks to the enthusiasm of the commissioners, you will notice that many of the people that are being reappointed are also very active in committee.

Thank you.

Oh, it did not.

But let's see.

Oh, yeah, it's not in the slides.

Okay.

Okay, so we will take all of these appointments in a bunch, so could you please read each of the titles into the record?

Agenda items two, three, four, and five, reappointment 0282 to 02895 of Lowell Dio, Tom Florino, Kat Ogden, and Anthony Tackett as members to the Seattle Film Commission for a term to April 23, 2024.

Okay, before the vote I will, what, go ahead.

Let's just move just for the sake of moving, I'm not really sure.

So I move those appointments, is there a second?

Second.

Thank you very much.

I just want to say a personal thank you to you all.

I'm looking at you and I just, A year goes fast, right?

And you're just cutting your teeth, but you've been incredibly productive in the first year that you've been in existence.

You've taken on your mission with professionalism and alacrity to a level that I hadn't anticipated or expected.

really expected.

So I just want to say thank you very, very much, all of you, for giving of your time and your expertise.

These are volunteer positions, and it's not lost on me that that is a sacrifice that you are taking on for the benefit of the whole community.

So thank you very much.

I appreciate it.

and we really appreciate the opportunity.

Honestly, it's been amazing for us to reach out and bring our community together and have so much contact with the city.

It's very empowering and we are greatly looking forward to our next year.

Thank you.

Okay, would you please call the roll on the votes?

First, I'd like to make a correction to the record.

The term is to April 23, 2027. My apologies.

And with that, Council Member Kettle.

Aye.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Aye.

Council Member Saka.

Aye.

Council Member Rivera.

Aye.

Chair Nelson.

Aye.

Five in favor.

All right, thank you very much.

That was not a cliffhanger.

I sort of knew how that vote was going to go, but I want to say thank you to my colleagues, and the appointments have been approved, and they will be voted on in full council on...

Can you help me out with the date, clerk?

June 4th.

June 4th.

Okay, thank you so much for coming today.

And I wanted to note, I see your hand up, just a second.

I wanted to remark on the logo and the branding that is presented here.

Can you just say a little bit about that and that is the product of one of the committees I understand?

Sure, I'm happy to.

Let me just page back here.

And here we are.

That was a sneak preview of the new logo for the commission.

Thank you.

Council Member Kettle?

Chair Nelson, thank you.

I just wanted to remark, and for Lowell, in terms of his responsibility related to talent, that here on the Seattle City Council, I do believe we have some talent.

And I don't want to call out my fellow council member, but I think Council Member Saka is ready to be on-screen talent.

I've seen him on the campaign trail.

I've seen him here on the dais.

He is ready.

I don't know about that, but I'm honored to uplift and amplify and support your work in any way that I can.

And this is really important stuff.

And you can find me focused on potholes.

Pothole king right here.

That would help our trucks.

Thank you.

Well, there we go.

We have a film idea.

You know, King of Potholes, the working title, starring Councilmember Rob Saka.

Co-starring Councilmember Hollingsworth.

It's the benefit of a very robust film industry, lots of opportunities for extras and those types of roles.

All right, before we adjourn, just want to say, miss you, Chris.

Looking forward to seeing you again at some future committee meeting, talking about film, and thank you very much for the presentation, Alicia, today.

And this concludes the May 23rd meeting of the Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee.

Our next one is scheduled for Thursday, June 13th at 2 o'clock.

It is now 2.45, and this meeting is adjourned.

Thank you, everybody.

Thank you.