Seattle City Council 11/21/23

Thank you.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Today is November 21st, 2023. This is the meeting of the Seattle City Council, and I'm now calling it to order.

I'm Deborah Juarez.

And with that, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Moschetta.

Present.

Council Member Nelson.

Present.

Council Member Peterson.

Present.

Council Member Sawant.

Present.

Thank you.

Council Member Strauss.

Present.

Council Member Herbold.

Present.

Council Member Lewis.

Present.

Council Member Morales.

Here.

And Council President Juarez.

Here.

9 present.

Thank you.

We have no movement on the agenda.

We have no presentations today, so we're going to go right into public comment.

So we are still doing the hybrid and in person public comment.

And my understanding is we have 85 remote and 53 in person, and that may change.

So let's see where we're at.

Then everyone will have 1 minute.

And we are gonna start with the remote speakers first, but before we begin, I'm gonna hand off to Madam Clerk for the instructions and what we hope to hear from everybody today.

And hopefully we can all agree to disagree and we can be respectful of other people's opinions and basically move forward with some dignity and in a good way.

So with that, Madam Clerk, can you please go ahead with the instructions?

Be respectful.

Yes thank you.

Hello, Seattle.

We are the Emerald City, the city of flowers and the city of goodwill, built on indigenous land, the traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples.

The Seattle City Council welcomes remote public comment and is eager to hear from residents of our city.

If you would like to be a speaker and provide a verbal public comment, you may register two hours prior to the meeting via the Seattle City Council website.

Here's some information about the public comment proceedings.

Speakers are called upon in the order in which they registered on the Council's website.

Each speaker must call in from the phone number provided when they registered online and use the meeting ID and passcode that was emailed upon confirmation.

If you did not receive an email confirmation, please check your spam or junk mail folders.

A reminder, the speaker meeting ID is different from the general listen line meeting ID provided on the agenda.

Once a speaker's name is called, the speaker's microphone will be unmuted and an automatic prompt will say, the host would like you to unmute your microphone.

That is your cue that it's your turn to speak.

At that time, you must press star six.

You will then hear a prompt of, you are unmuted.

Be sure your phone is unmuted on your end so that you will be heard.

As a speaker, you should begin by stating your name and the item that you are addressing.

A chime will sound when 10 seconds are left in your allotted time as a gentle reminder to wrap up your public comments.

At the end of the allotted time, your microphone will be muted.

and the next speaker registered will be called.

Once speakers have completed providing public comment, please disconnect from the public comment line and join us by following the meeting via Seattle Channel Broadcast or through the listening line option listed on the agenda.

the council reserves the right to eliminate public comment if the system is being abused or if the process impedes the council's ability to conduct its business on behalf of residents of the city.

Any offensive language that is disruptive to these proceedings or that is not focused on an appropriate topic as specified in council rules may lead to the speaker being muted by the presiding officer.

Our hope is to provide an opportunity for productive discussions that will assist our orderly consideration of issues before the council.

The public comment period is now open and we will begin with the first speaker on the list.

Please remember to press star six after you hear the prompt of you have been unmuted.

Thank you, Seattle.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

And I understand we're going to start with former council member or Mr. Nick Lakota.

Nick, you got a star six.

Star six here.

I can see you there.

I see Mr. Licata has not unmuted, so it's star six, and then wait a minute.

Shall we move to the next speaker, Council President, and come back?

Let's do that.

Yes, absolutely.

Thank you.

Our first remote speaker is Dennis Sills.

Council members, thank you for the opportunity to comment on this year's proposed budget.

My name is Dennis Sills and I work for Plymouth Housing.

Earlier this week, Plymouth CEO Karen Lee sent a letter expressing thanks for the great work you've done on the Mayor's initial budget proposal and asking you to vote yes on its final passage.

9.5% adjustments added to many human services contracts will help our homeless neighbors and enable providers like Plymouth to provide wraparound services to improve wellness and remain stably housed.

Our workforce is at the front lines of the housing and fentanyl crisis.

This budget helps them move towards wage equity.

Lastly, Plymouth Housing is a member of the Housing Development Consortium that has weighed in on impact fees being considered today.

Plymouth supports HTC's perspectives.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

is Zoe Amer.

All right.

Hello, my name is Zoe Amer.

I'm a member of Socialist Alternative.

I'm here to demand that the city council vote yes to pass the resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and to end military funding for Israel.

The city of Seattle pays to train our police officers with the Israeli Defense Force.

We must also take control of our own budget and end the deadly exchange in our own city.

So I commend activists and council members to one's office on winning a $20 million increase to the Amazon tax for mental health counselors in schools.

With the strength of a movement, we can stop funding wars and instead fund essential services.

It's the Democratic Party funding the genocide of thousands, so it's the Democrats who must step up and end this relationship.

A call for a ceasefire without a call to end military funding is hollow.

Vote yes with no amendments.

Our next speaker is Bradley Nordstrom.

Hi, my name is Brady Nordstrom.

I'm speaking today on behalf of the Seattle for Everyone Coalition, and I'm commenting on Council Bill 120635 related to transportation impact fees.

um we oppose the comprehensive plan amendments um our members hold a variety of views on transportation impact fees and some of our members have even supported these in other contexts but we do agree that now is the wrong time to be considering new fees on housing even if this specific council action doesn't immediately implement the fees Our primary concern is around the chill this would have on housing growth.

As our region continues to struggle with high housing costs, Seattle should be removing barriers to housing creation and not putting more up.

So we believe that passing this bill, even without amendments, would tip the scale towards transportation impact fees without fully understanding the trade-offs or the other options that we could use to fund.

So we just ask that Seattle City Council delay the current consideration and synchronize a broader conversation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jennifer Ives.

Hello, my name is Jennifer.

I'm a D3 resident.

I am here to encourage you to support the ceasefire resolution.

Rayan, Neon, Salam, Zain, Yasmin, Maria, Aisha, Rahima, Muhammad, Tia, Baha, Rakan, Musk, Ahmed, Moaz, Keith, Nabil, Alma, Misk, Bilal, Abdul, Tahani, Muhammad, and Mustafa are the first names of 25 of the victims of the gods of genocide that the United States is currently supporting with funds and military resources.

None of those 25 boys or girls ever reached their first birthdays.

We are actively enabling ethically reprehensible and morally repugnant international war crimes with our silence and our tax dollars.

If your conscience is not enough to move you to support council members to want ceasefire resolution, may the words of your constituents be enough.

Shame on you.

Shame on this council.

Shame on me.

And shame on all of us, as long as we close our eyes and plead ignorance.

Support the fucking ceasefire resolution.

I yield the rest of my time.

My name is Barbara Finney, a retired RN hospital worker.

I'm calling on council Democrats to vote yes on council members who want, excuse me, resolutions.

for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the U.S. military funding for Israel without watering it down.

And Council President Juarez, I request you put this resolution back at the top of the agenda where it was originally.

From Chris Hedges' article, Israel's War on Hospitals, Israel is, quote, Israel is systematically and deliberately destroying Gaza's medical infrastructure.

Israel has shut down 21 of Gaza's 35 hospitals, including Gaza's only cancer hospital.

Soon there will be no health facilities left.

This is by design, end quote.

A ceasefire is essential for a lasting, and for a lasting ceasefire, the root cause of the war must be addressed.

An end to the occupation of Palestinian lands and U.S. military funding that is making this war.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Sujatha Romney.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Hi, my name is Sujata Ramli.

I'm a member of the Coalition of Siaki Indian Americans.

The Council must vote yes on Council Member Sawant's resolution on Israel and Gaza without any watering down, including making this the first item on the agenda.

A ceasefire without ending warmongering US military aid to Israel and without ending the occupation is kicking the can down the road and honestly infantilizing the global anti-war movement.

Do not take us for idiots.

Everyone knows Joe Biden's approval has tanked because of his handling of the situation.

If you do not vote yes, you too will rightfully be relegated to political oblivion come the next election cycle.

Vote yes today.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Jared Maddox.

Hi, my name is Jared Maddox.

I live in Ravenna in Northeast Seattle, commenting on Resolution 32118. And yeah, I'm joining all those who have also commented as a proud Seattleite.

I've been proud and thankful of the ways that Seattle residents and its council have a history of defending all people's right to liberty and life.

And I want to urge the council, especially my council member, Alex Peterson, to call To echo the call, the Atlanta City Council has already supported for a ceasefire, standing up for the rights of the Palestinian people.

I want to say that this is an opportunity for y'all in the council to make it clear to the Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian residents in Seattle that their lives matter, as do all of the lives of the people who share their identities.

This is also

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Joe Kunstler.

Hi.

Thank you, City Council, for once again taking up an issue that's not in your jurisdiction regarding Gaza.

Right now, Prime Minister Netanyahu and his cabinet are debating, wait for it, a ceasefire resolution in return for hostages released.

which is what I believe Casimir Moskveda and other thoughtful moderates want.

I have yet to hear any condemnation of Hamas.

I have yet to hear any condemnation of the tearing down of posters of the kidnaps, and that is anti-Semitic.

In fact, today, Hannah Kitzar made the ultimate sacrifice as a prisoner of war held by Hamas, and yet no one has mentioned her name until now.

I really hope that people realize that the Jews are watching this.

There are talks of boycotts of Seattle, which will hurt low-income workers if you go ahead with this.

So I encourage you not to vote on this resolution.

I'm Israel Chai.

God bless America, and so be Ukraine, because we're not going to take terms by epi.

Our next speaker is Linnaeus May.

Hello, I'm Linnea.

I'm a renter in District 3. So often over the last few months, I've heard the council say, well, we have to do something, and that's better than doing nothing.

So why is it that when council members of Want put forth the ceasefire resolution a few weeks ago, none of you did anything to second her call?

Violence is complicity right now.

You have constituents who are in pain, whose humanity demands them to mourn the more than 10,000 souls lost in little more than a month.

Instead of acknowledging the pain our community is in, this council has focused on giving more and more money to the Seattle Police Department, which is trained with the Israeli Defense Force.

From Seattle to Gaza, more violence is not the solution, not the violent threat of incarceration for people with a substance abuse disorder, and not the violent ethnic cleansing of an indigenous people, which now I think about it applies pretty well in both places.

I'm asking you to vote yes on the ceasefire resolution for the sake of our community, to end the violence, and to affirm your humanity.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Analei Abzali.

My name is Anila Abzali, and I'm a District 1 resident.

I'd love to see a resolution passed that helps end the occupation and military funding of Israel, but I joined those Palestinians supporting the amended resolution by Mosqueda, Herbold, and Juarez as a way to pass something that addresses immediate urgent needs.

Over 20 years ago, I visited Gaza, and in a refugee camp that had been repeatedly bombed, we heard more bombs.

A five-year-old child came to reassure me that the bombs were far away.

How many times has he been bombed that he knew the difference in the sound?

That memory remains with me as I think about all the children now being bombed at an unimaginable scale.

More children have been killed in Gaza in the last six weeks than in all the armed conflicts in the world for the last three years combined.

We desperately need a ceasefire now.

That has to be a priority, and I appreciate the council members working with Palestinian community members and others to come up with an amended resolution that can hopefully pass and help us use it to persuade our members of Congress to do what's morally right and on the right side of history.

Thank you.

We're now moving to the in-person speakers, and the first in-person speaker is Emily McArthur.

Emily will be followed by Natalie Bailey.

Emily McArthur?

Natalie Bailey?

They're coming.

Emily MacArthur.

My name's Emily MacArthur.

I'm a member of District 2. And I'm here to support Councilmember Shama Sawant's resolution demanding not just a ceasefire, but an end to the occupation and an end to US funding for military aid to Israel.

92% of the weapons used by Israel and Palestine come from the US.

This is not a secondary issue.

It is not something that can be swept under the rug.

Furthermore, well, I think that it's an absolutely wrong approach to say that we need to water down our approach.

There are millions of people across the globe who are out on the streets demanding action against what's happening in Gaza.

The anti-war movement is growing.

We are shutting down bridges.

We are shutting down intersections.

Now is not the moment for the movement to retreat so that we can provide cover for Biden and the Democrats.

We demand the strongest possible resolution, and we demand that this resolution be moved to the first item on the agenda because the budget is not a controversial issue today.

The issue everyone is here to talk about is Gaza.

Our next speaker is Natalie Bailey, followed by Razwan Samad.

Hello, my name is Natalie Bailey.

I'm a member of Socialist Alternative.

Thank you, Socialist Councilmember Shama Sawant and community members and working people for bringing this resolution forward.

I demand that all Democrats vote yes on Councilmember Shama Sawant's resolution without any watering down, including moving it to the first item.

As many of you know, when Councilmember Swant brought forward a resolution on November 7, not one of the Democrats was willing to even second the motion for a resolution against the war, let alone vote yes on the resolution.

We have another chance to be on the right side of history.

Don't water down this resolution.

It's crucial for a lasting ceasefire.

that the root cause of war be addressed.

That is why Sawant's resolution calls not only for a ceasefire, but also for the end of occupation of Palestinian lands and the U.S. military funding that is making this war possible.

I have serious problems with Mosqueda, Herbold, and Juarez and any so-called leaders who pursue this backward strategy of admitting defeat when the fight has barely begun.

The war in Gaza will never be ended on a basis of such...

Thank you.

The next speaker is Rizwan Samad, followed by Cliff Hawthorne.

Rizwan Samad.

My name is Rizwan Samad.

Whenever I think about all those dead Palestinians my whole body shivers and tears start floating from my eyes.

Whenever I see my 20-month-old grandson, I hold him tight and think about when our president supports the genocide of Palestinian people, then what will stop him or people like-minded him to kill my families and my children here?

It's not that they haven't done it before.

So for God's sake, we have to stand up together for humanity's sake.

If you don't have humanity, then you must be evil.

We will fight for our children here and in Palestine and all over the world.

I'll recite the few paragraphs I've written by Zain Azzam.

Write my name on my leg, Mama.

Don't add my number like when I was born on the address of our home.

I don't want you all to list me as a number.

I have a name.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Cliff Cawthorn, followed by Joan Wright.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Council President, I can't get him to stop.

All right, well, let's just...

We will, I do not want to have anyone removed for disruptive behavior.

Sir, we need, we have over 100 people that want to speak today.

So let's just wait.

Security, perhaps we could have a talk with the gentleman.

All right.

Hello, council members.

My name is Cliff Cawthon.

I am the Advocacy and Policy Manager for Habitat for Humanity of the Seattle King Kittitas Counties.

As you know, I've testified before in opposition in transportation impact fees, and I'm here today again to testify in opposition to CB 120-635.

We need housing now.

Talia, one of our homebuyers and advocacy volunteers, works as a service provider for a low-income housing organization.

She couldn't afford to buy a home for her family in this housing market until they joined our program.

Now she's on the way to becoming a Habitat homeowner for the first time in her life.

The lack of access to stable housing is choking this housing market, hurting working people like Talia.

Transportation impact fees are only going to make the problem worse.

While we try our best, we can't do it alone.

While this wouldn't affect our permanently affordable housing projects, while they wouldn't be immediately impacted, this is going to impact the entire housing community.

I ask you to oppose CB 12635 and transportation impact fees and choose a housing future where everyone has a safe and decent place to live and affordable place to live.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Joan Wright, followed by Logan Swan.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Joan Wright.

I'm a union tech worker with OPIU and an activist with Workers Strike Back.

I demand that all Democrats vote yes on Councilmember Sawant's resolution without any watering down and make it the first item on the agenda.

The Israeli state's occupation, enabled by billions of US dollars every year, is what needs to end because that is the root of the crisis.

Among the massive protest movements across the globe and here in Seattle, I had the opportunity to join high schoolers at a school walkout at Franklin High School.

They booed so-called progressive politicians like Bernie or AOC, who said she would vote for Iron Dome funding.

They condemned Biden for funding war crimes.

Students and workers alike know that the Democratic Party and so-called progressive politicians are not on the right side of history, just like the Democrats here in City Council, not one of whom would second Council Member Sawant's resolution, Yeah, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Logan Swan, followed by Shirley Henderson.

Logan Swan.

Hi, my name is Logan Swan.

I'm a union iron worker here in Seattle and a renter in District 2. I want to thank Kshama's Socialist Council Office for bringing forward the strongest resolution demanding ceasefire and an end to U.S. funding for Israel's atrocities.

And I demand a yes vote from the Democrats.

Biden's pushing for $14 billion more for Israel's instruments of murder and oppression.

And this is on top of nearly $4 billion the U.S. donates every year for Israel's rockets and guns.

This would amount to over a fifth of federal education spending at its current amount, nearly a fifth of expanding the child tax credit, you know, that slash child poverty, twice more than Biden's proposed increase of spending on housing when we're faced with a housing crisis and more than the annual budget provided for the Department of Labor.

The priorities of your party are clear.

that our government can't keep us housed or our roads and bridges maintained, but it has...

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Shirley Henderson, followed by Jamal Sumel.

is to enforce the crimes of the political establishment of the imperialism of the United States.

So, yes, you do have to take a stand here.

Otherwise, you're complicit.

And how can you say you represent us when you won't even show up to work?

Sorry, Madam Clerk.

Apparently, people can't allow people to speak.

I do not want to have to have security intervene, sir.

Please, we'll take a moment.

Anything you're saying either.

Okay, let's just settle down then.

Okay.

My name is Shirley Henderson, and I'm a renter in District 3. And I, like so many here today, demand that all Democrats vote yes on Sawant's resolution without any watering down.

If Democrats call for a ceasefire but also fail to demand an end to U.S. military aid and an end to the occupation, then you're only paying lip service to the pressure of our movement that's here today to say you are against the war, but on the other hand, you're still propping up the very things that perpetuate the root causes of this war.

namely the U.S. funding of Israel's state's brutal occupation and apartheid policies.

This exposes the real role played by Democrats, providing cover for the Biden administration, which has blood on its hands.

It's also shameful that council Democrats refuse to share their intended amendments with Council Member Sawant's office despite repeated asking.

Also, many of us are here today because we're sickened of the living hell Palestinians are living in in Gaza, and we ask that this item be moved to the top of the agenda where it belongs.

Working people have come out today.

It's not easy for us to be out here, and you haven't even showed up for this important amendment.

We may hold up.

Don't call anyone else.

Let's take a moment here.

First of all, I want to see if Mr. Licata was still on the line.

My understanding is that he, Mr. Licata, do not see his tile.

All right, so we will be on standby for Mr. Licata.

Madam Clerk, how are you doing?

We've got three more in person to hit our 10. If we could please just get through it, that would be great.

Okay, so what I would like to...

Our next speaker is Jamil Suman.

Suman.

Jamil Suman.

Mr. Suman?

As-salamu alaykum.

Yes.

Peace, love, harmony.

MY NAME IS JAMIL SULEMAN.

I'M A LOCAL ARTIST AND ORGANIZER HERE IN SEATTLE.

I'M SURE THE COUNCIL KNOWS ME BY ANOTHER NAME, BUT I CAME SURPRISINGLY AS MYSELF TODAY.

AND I WANT TO SUPPORT THE RESOLUTION BY COUNCIL MEMBER SAWANT.

AND THE REASON I WANT TO, I THINK ALMOST ALL OF US WANT TO CEASE FIRE, BUT I THINK WHAT'S IMPORTANT IS THAT WE HAVE TO EMPHASIZE THAT We need to end the occupation and free the Palestinian people.

This is very important.

And from what I'm hearing, there is a possible amendment to this that will deter us from that mission.

And I want the council to really consider that if that's what we really want to be about, Seattle has a tendency to lead progressively in this country.

And we can make a drastic change by making the right choice today.

About this situation, vote on it.

Yes.

I love you.

Merry Christmas.

Thank you.

Thank you for your kind words.

Madam Clerk, I understand Mr. Licata is back.

Madam Clerk, thank you.

Can you hold up one sec?

We have Mr. Licata back.

So Nick, it's star six.

I can see your tile.

Okay, so, Madam Clerk, how many, when are we switching back?

We have two more in-person speakers to hit our mark of 10. Okay.

Well, I see Mr. Nakata is not unmuted yet, so let's finish up with our two speakers in chambers for one minute, and then we'll go to our remote callers.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

All right, our next speaker is Ice Kander, no last name, followed by Sonia Ponath.

Hello, I just wanted to start off by appealing to help everyone's humanity here.

Sorry about that.

I just want to try to appeal to everyone's humanity here and remind everyone why we are here and what we're voting for.

Every time, every day, every minute, we have children being blown up to bits.

And at what point do we say no and enough's enough?

To vote no on this resolution is to approve of the genocide that's currently going on, to approve that it's okay to kill these children.

At what point do we say no?

The reality right now is to vote no on this amendment, to get the ceasefire going, the blood's on your hands if you say no.

And at what point?

Children should matter in these days, and it's a shame.

Our next speaker is Sonia Ponak.

Sonia?

Sonia, yeah.

Hi, I'm Sonia Ponath.

Two weeks ago, I called in and asked you to vote yes on Sawant's resolution and not water it down, but none of you were even willing to second the motion to discuss it.

Let me tell you, the anti-war movement is nothing but growing.

It's gonna get bigger, and you were too cowardly to show any leadership.

We are here because we are sickened by the devastation Palestinians are suffering due to this bombing campaign by Israel funded by the U.S. government and our tax dollars.

I want people listening to know that it's really clear to me that the Democrats put this Gaza resolution on at the end of the agenda because they know we took time off to be here.

And they would rather we're not here when they vote on this.

I'm also deeply disturbed that there's a new substitute resolution that fails to demand an end to the occupation, and very super importantly, the end of military aid to Israel to the tune of 3.8 billion every year.

All of this is so profoundly undemocratic.

Vote yes on Sawant's more powerful resolution now.

No watering it down.

Thank you.

Thank you.

My name is Sam Maru.

I've been here in this country for over 40 years.

Excuse me, sir, it's not your turn.

We have been occupied.

Sir?

Sir?

Okay, I don't want to have to ask security.

Please wait your turn.

We need to go to the remote folks who are on the line.

We'll call you.

If you're on the list, we will call you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our first remote speaker is Greg Smith.

Mr. Smith?

There you are.

This is Greg Smith, a resident of District 3, and I'll be commenting on the proposed impact fees.

I moved to Seattle six years ago.

The whole time I've been in Seattle, I've been hearing that homelessness is a crisis, homelessness is an emergency, and we have to do something about homelessness.

All I've learned about homelessness is that homelessness is a housing problem.

And the studies show that there's a shortage of housing in all price points, not just the affordable housing that people focus on.

We also know that increasing fees on new housing decreases the amount of housing bill.

After six years of living in Seattle, I realized that the reason Seattle never makes much progress on homelessness is that the Seattle government keeps passing bills like this impact fee.

Vote no on impact fees and begin to make some progress on homelessness.

Thank you.

Our next remote speaker is Lindsay Lozaski.

let's see if she's lindsay go ahead go ahead lindsay can you hear me yep we can okay great sorry about that my name is lindsay lozoski and i live in district 6. i urge the council to support and vote to approve resolution 32118 and call for a ceasefire in gaza condemn the actions of israel and end the occupation for good As a disabled Jewish person, I know how crucial it is to support marginalized and oppressed groups.

The Palestinians deserve such support from the Council.

If we don't act now during an act of genocide, when will the Council ever speak up for oppressed peoples?

We urge you to represent the constituents who you actually serve.

Otherwise, we don't live in a democracy.

How can we sit here and send more money to the state of Israel when the people of this city are actively struggling to live day to day?

I urge you to consider why we can't find a way to use this money to fund crucial health care services and other necessary services.

I'm absolutely disgusted by your continued silence on this issue and urge you to use your voices for real change and not complacency.

Your inaction does not represent Jewish values.

Cease fire now.

Our next remote speaker is Ahmed Mustafa.

Hi, my name is Ahmed Mustafa, and I'm asking the City Council to please vote yes on the resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The United States is funding the indiscriminate bombing in Gaza right now.

The majority of Americans want this ceasefire.

80% of Democrats want this ceasefire.

Why should our taxes be used to fund a war that we are against?

The city council voting for this resolution will send a clear signal to our federal government that we matter.

We are raising our voices.

We are asking the federal government to heed the call of the people in this democracy.

And I also want to remind everybody that our country has its own history of a persecuted people coming to this land and after violent struggles, confining its surviving indigenous peoples to reservations.

You can see the names of these peoples everywhere around Issaquah, Sammamish, Seattle.

Let's not be complicit in repeating the same history all over again.

Thank you very much.

Is it Noah?

Good afternoon, council members.

This is Noah Ahn on behalf of Commute Seattle.

I'm here to express our concern with the comp plan amendment to enable transportation impact fees.

A lot of people have spoken to the housing impact.

I'm going to speak about transportation for a moment.

Our Seattle commute survey data shows that multifamily housing in Seattle advances our transportation and climate goals.

by producing less driving trips than single-family homes or homes that are outside the city.

So as a transportation organization, we recognize that impact fees could be a valuable tool to fund transportation improvements.

However, by discouraging development in the city and pushing new residents further into the suburbs, transportation impact fees could work against the city's transportation and climate goals and have the potential to increase transportation impact.

And finally, this process should be aligned with the Seattle Transportation Plan and future transportation funding discussions and not incorporate soon-to-be outdated modal plans.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Khan Hassan.

Mr. Hassan, it's star six, sir.

There you go.

Sorry.

So this is Khan Hassan.

I'm a member of Indian American Muslim Council, and I'm here to thank Councilmember Shama Salman and community members and working people for bringing this resolution forward.

I demand that all Democrats vote yes on Council Member Shama Salman's resolution without watering down.

Put it on the top of the agenda.

As you all know, genocide is going on.

So stop this genocide.

Don't be a complicit in the genocide.

Stop this and do a ceasefire now.

People are dying.

Gaza has become a graveyard of children, according to United Nations.

There is no medicine.

There is no water to drink.

People are dying of thirst and food and medicine.

All hospitals have been bombed using our tax dollars.

The bombers made by Boeing, the Boeing in our neighborhood that makes bomber has been used to bomb the innocent children and women of Gaza right now.

Our next speaker is Ian Warner.

Hello, Council.

Ian Warner, Public Policy Director, Volcker Real Estate, testifying in opposition to transportation impact fees.

Thank you for taking public comment today.

As the Council is aware, transportation and housing infrastructure are interdependent, and both are critical elements of a livable, equitable, and sustainable Seattle.

The research considering that interdependence tells us that impact fees are often ill-suited to fit the complex needs of urban infill development like seattle and that most transportation impacts from infill can and should be mitigated by increasing reliance on transit to the idea that other cities have impact fees those comparisons between smaller cities and seattle's density are not apples to apples in fact comparatively seattle already charges development more than most cities in the region Impact fees, when combined with MHA fees, would make Seattle one of the most expensive cities in which to produce housing in our state.

We would ask that the council reject adoption of Council Bill 12063.

Thank you.

Our next remote speaker is Abby Brockman.

Abby?

There you go.

Hi, good afternoon, council members.

My name is Abby Brockman.

I'm a Jewish chaplain from D2 asking you to support the amended version of Salon's resolution by council members Juarez, Herbold, and Mosqueda, which calls for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza, release of hostages, and provision of humanitarian aid.

While some powerful mainstream Jewish institutions and leaders are against it and are lobbying abjectly false and dangerously misinformed accusations of it inflaming anti-Semitism, They do not fully represent or speak for the diverse Seattle Jewish community, many of whom were consulted in its crafting and support it.

Our voices in support of it also align with widespread calls in Israel for everything listed in this amended resolution, because Israelis know this level of indiscriminate bombing that Netanyahu himself described as, quote, mighty vengeance, endangers four things, the hostages themselves, innocent Palestinian civilians, long-term and the reputation of Israel as a sovereign nation state bound by international law, which prevent collective punishment as a hostage negotiation strategy.

Thank you.

I'm sorry.

Please be mindful of the chime.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Minnie Cypress.

Cypress?

There you go.

There you go.

My name is Mary Cypress and I serve as the regional director for the Anti-Defamation League in Seattle.

I urge you to vote now on measures considered today regarding the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

As an organization dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism and hate, we have seen how tensions in the Middle East lead to increased anti-Semitism at home.

Since October 7th in Seattle, we have seen a dramatic increase in anti-Semitism.

Jewish institutions receiving hateful voice messages, calling Jews terrorists.

Synagogues have received suspicious letters, one with a powdery white substance.

Vandalism of Jewish community centers and institutions.

Vandalism of businesses.

Swastikas on a Jewish student's door at UW and anti-Semitic bullying in schools.

We ask you to not bring any measures related to the Israel Hamas war or anti-Semitism forward until there has been meaningful consultation with rabbinic and institutional leadership.

We too are devastated by the loss of Israeli and Palestinian life.

Instead of creating foreign policy, we want our elected leaders to engage in thoughtful dialogue, create unity, and to focus on rising hate.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Colin Christopher.

Colin, there you go.

Hi, my name is Colin Christopher.

I'm a District 2 voter, consultant, and interfaith leader.

Later this week, many of us will gather around tables with loved ones to break bread, to rejuvenate, share laughter, shed tears.

Over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza will also gather.

Many intends to shed tears.

Breaking bread is unlikely.

There's nothing funny about 6,000 children's lives being cut short by weapons of war, so laughter will be scarce.

Rejuvenation is a strange thought when one can smell genocide in the air.

I'M FORTUNATE ENOUGH NOT TO KNOW WHAT GENOCIDE SMELLS LIKE.

I'D IMAGINE IT'S HARD TO FORGET.

NO ONE ON THIS COUNCIL FEELS COMFORTABLE WITH THIS.

NO ONE.

I'M ASKING YOU TO TRANSFORM YOUR DISCOMFORT INTO ACTION.

CITY'S ETHICS CODE CITES INTEGRITY.

INTEGRITY.

WHEN ONE'S FEELINGS, WORDS, AND ACTIONS ARE CONGRUENT WITH THEIR VALUES.

INTEGRITY.

VOTE FOR RESOLUTION 32118. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO YOUR HEART.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Sarah James, and this is the end of the remote list, or the 10 speakers.

Sarah James.

Sarah?

Thank you, Shama, for introducing this much-needed resolution.

I demand that the Council Democrats vote yes on this resolution without watering it down.

Ending military funding for Israel is vital, and it will take Democrats pushing against their own party, demanding that instead of spending billions of dollars on war, we fund things that we working people actually need.

We need to put more money into schools, infrastructure, housing.

You know, many people in this meeting have spoken about the need for expansion and affordable housing in Seattle and the crisis of affordable housing in Seattle.

Stand against your party and demand that we spend money where it is need to be spent and not on war.

It's absolutely disgraceful that this meeting starts out with a land acknowledgement, and yet members of this council cannot stand in solidarity with indigenous Palestinians and demand a ceasefire.

Like, how hollow are these words to you?

These words you start every meeting with, how hollow are they?

So, Madam Clerk, are we going to our 10 in-person folks now?

We'll now move to the in-person speakers.

The first in-person speaker is James Brubaugh, followed by Preston Sahabu.

All right, thank you.

James Brubaugh.

Hello, my name is James Brubaugh.

I am speaking on the Gaza Ceasefire Resolution, which I propose we adopt without...

I'm going to start out a little bit differently.

Tom Lear was a musician in the 60s and 70s who was famous for doing political content, music programs on him and his piano.

He was famous for writing Who's Next, which was about Israel getting the bomb.

In He was asked, purportedly asked, why he had stopped writing his music.

He said when Henry Kissinger got the Nobel Peace Prize, all, not comedy, yes, was pointless.

Okay.

Oh dear.

Thank you very much.

Just say it.

No.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Preston Sahabu, followed by Maddie Danks.

Maddie Danks.

In the last two weeks, thousands more Gazans, mostly women and children, have been brutally killed.

In the last two weeks, Gazans continue to want for food, water, and fuel in the face of an inhumane siege.

In the last two weeks, the Israeli military has unapologetically attacked collapsing hospitals full of civilians seeking care and refuge.

And in the last two weeks, thousands upon thousands of U.S.-funded bombs continue to rain down on an open-air prison the size of Seattle.

And two weeks ago, what did the Democrats on this...

City Council choose to do.

Not only nothing, less than nothing.

Not a single one of them would even second Socialist Councilmember Sawant's resolution on Gaza for debate.

Their deafening silence is cover for warmongering President Joe Biden, who continues to call for billions and billions more in aid for the Israeli military, a cynical extension of American imperialism that doesn't even care for the safety of Israeli people.

Now these spineless Democrats are crawling back trying to claim credit for our anti-war movement by calling for a hollow ceasefire that doesn't even address the core causes of U.S. military funding and the Israeli settlements.

Pass this resolution now and pass it in full.

Thank you.

Okay.

Sir, Madam Clerk, before we go any further, Madam Clerk, before we go any further...

I understand people's passions and concern.

I appreciate it.

But we want to get as many people as we can to speak remotely and in chambers.

And those of you who came downtown.

They're chanting.

OK, well, then.

All right.

Well, let's just take a reset.

They've calmed down.

So now we've got Maddie Danks at the at the speaker who's going to be followed by Lana Blinderman.

And I just want to mention that we have two mics.

So the other person can line up over here if you want to go a little quicker.

Thank you.

Okay.

Before we begin, for those of you that are there in the Bertha Knight's room and those of you that have called in, I understand we do, but I would love to have to go beyond three o'clock and get more speakers and hear from you today about public comment.

So the more you hold it up, then we can't get to the other folks that are on the line to speak to the other nine matters.

So with that, Madam Clerk, please call the next two speakers.

Maddie Danks, followed by Lana Blinderman.

Maddie?

My name is Maddie.

I'm here to demand that the Democrats of City Council pass Councilmember Sawant's strong resolution calling for a ceasefire, the end to the occupation of Gaza, the end to U.S. military's multi-billion dollar investment in the slaughter of Palestinians, which should be the first item on today's agenda, not the last.

If this resolution unfortunately has little chance of passing, it is due to the treachery of the Democrats on City Council.

who refused to even second this resolution when it was put forward on November 7th.

It is not because there's a lack of support from the working class.

Your continued betrayal reaffirms that if we ever want to see an end to imperialist wars funded by our tax dollars, we need a new party that actually represents working people.

Thank you, Councilmember Sawant, and thank you to the community members and the working people who have fought for this resolution, unlike the Democrats on this city council.

Vote yes on this resolution today without watering it down.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Lana Blinderman, followed by Raghav Kashyap.

Lana?

Yes.

Go ahead, Lana.

Hi, I'm Lana Linderman.

I'm a resident of District 3. I'm a Jewish, Russian, Israeli-American.

And I called in two weeks ago, and I was really disheartened to see that the Seattle City Council did kind of the top of the Seattle passive-aggressive and didn't even bring the resolution to vote.

I'm glad they found they're conscious now to at least call for ceasefire, but that's not enough.

And I think it is evident that for any peace to result, to come to pass, we need to stop funding the Israeli military and end the occupation.

I call on all the city council members to put the party line aside and just vote for humanitarian reasons.

We cannot continue the way it is.

Ceasefire is the bare minimum.

I propose to accept the Kshama Sawant's resolution as it is without watering it down.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Raghav Kashyik, followed by Tom Bernard.

Sir?

Raghav Kashyik, followed by Tom Bernard.

My father is a World War II veteran.

My brother is Jewish.

I grew up in a Holocaust survivor community in the city of Pittsburgh.

The Israelis are well aware of the historic antecedents of what they are pulling.

When I was a child, a particularly violent Zionist gave me a book to read called That Was Then, This Was Now.

The moral of That Was Then, This Is Now is I just wanted to make sure that I hated you.

The Israelis are well aware that by what they are doing in Gaza, They are humiliating the United States of America.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Tom Bernard, followed by Joe.

My name is Tom Bernard and I'm a 30 year resident of Seattle.

I'm not sure how many children have to die in Gaza before politicians of good conscience speak up, but I'm sure we've passed it.

The pictures and videos showing the results of Israel's assault on the people of Gaza should horrify us all, and it is past time to recognize that this is a series of ongoing war crimes.

In particular, the assaults on Israeli and Gaza hospitals are heinous.

The claims of underground command bunkers underneath the hospitals are being increasingly exposed as threadbare lies.

Yesterday, a former prime minister of Israel admitted that Israel itself had constructed sub-basements in al-Saifa hospital because of the tight footprint of the hospital itself.

Israel is now about to do the southern part of Gaza what it has already done to the north.

Forget the mythology of these so-called pauses.

End the occupation.

End U.S. military aid.

Cease fire!

Cease fire now!

Cease fire now!

Cease fire now!

Cease fire now!

Cease fire now!

Cease fire now!

Cease fire now!

Cease fire now!

We have our next speaker teed up.

Our next speaker is Joe Sugrme.

My name is Joe Segru.

I'm a public school teacher and a member of NSCA, speaking in personal capacity.

Thank you, Socialist City Council Member Shama Sawant, for putting forward this resolution.

Democrats, you have a side to choose today amidst this growing international anti-war movement.

The movement in the United States urgently needs to discuss the strategy to end the war and end U.S. funding for this and other wars in the era of the new Cold War.

We need to discuss building a new working-class, anti-war, anti-imperialist party.

The labor movement needs to organize protests of the rank and file and strike actions to take the movement forward.

A crucial tactic is workers refusing to manufacture or transport weapon shipments to Israel.

For example, the union machinists and aerospace engineers at Boeing could do this, and it would have a massive impact on the war.

The $106 billion Biden wants to spend on wars across the world should be spent on the urgent needs of working and poor people.

All right.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, sir.

All right.

Turn off the mic.

Here we go.

Turn it off.

We are going to not have it.

No more speakers.

Just hold up.

We really want everyone to have an opportunity to speak.

It's not all about you.

Other people want to speak today and give public comment.

We can't hear anything you're saying.

We can't hear anything.

OK, well then.

Well, so Madam Clerk, I'm going to look to you to whether or not we should take a five minute recess.

Well, it's almost 3 o'clock.

I say let's call two more speakers.

Okay, before we call those two speakers.

We can see where we are.

Yeah, let's see where we're at.

I would like to mention I'm not going to be speaking over the people that are yelling, okay?

It's just too hard.

I know, I understand.

Then I will announce the names.

Okay, well, let's do this.

Our next speaker is Anash Cohen.

She can't hear me.

President Juarez, I don't think this is a call for recess because these are ordinary people.

These are the constituents of elected representatives.

They absolutely have the right and the moral and political responsibility to speak up.

I do sympathize with Linda, but I am happy to read the names out.

I have no problem reading names out.

No, we have this, Council Member Sawant, and I'm not trying to shut anyone or take anyone's right to speak.

I'm simply asking for basic dignity to let other people speak so we can get through more people so we can hear from everybody as much as we can, and it's now 3 o'clock.

So that's all I'm saying.

Nobody is taking away anyone's right to speak.

Madam Clerk, please call the next two speakers.

Inej Cohen, followed by Mohamed Ansari.

Tough crowd.

Dear council member, thank you for your time today.

My name is Anosh Cohen.

I'm Jewish and I'm Israeli.

Since October 7th, I'm not the same person.

Any human that was impacted by the event wouldn't be.

Today we're discussing of the voting of the resolution to cease fire in the current war between Israel and Gaza and condemning Israel for war.

Without going into any opinions, I would like to stick to the facts.

And by facts, I don't mean how many people died on each side I want to bring you a little bit closer to where we actually stand, the city of Seattle.

Even though we are 7,000 miles away, on October 7th, Seattle life has changed for us.

Since October 7th, there's a rise in anti-Semitic incidents here in Seattle, whether it's suspicious packages being sent to synagogues causing evacuation, anti-Semitic signs hung around our neighborhoods, not to mention the posters of Israeli kidnap victims being torn down, and protests around the city that are inciting violence.

So what is a better use of the council time here?

Would it be condemning a world that's 7,000 miles away or taking care of your Seattle constituents?

Thank you, sir.

Your time's up.

Our next speaker is Mohammed Ansari.

Just wait.

I don't expect you to speak over them, Madam Clerk.

The next speaker is Mohammed Ansari.

Good afternoon.

I urge you to support Councilmember Sawant's resolution today, add Seattle's voice to the worldwide chorus calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The Lemkin Institute, founded by a Holocaust survivor, has called what is happening in Gaza a genocide.

The International Committee to Protect Journalists has said this is the deadliest month for journalists since they started tracking statistics.

The amount of ordnance dropped on an area smaller than Seattle is two and a half that dropped on Hiroshima.

Innocent children have died.

The fact is that this mass slaughter and genocide is playing out in real time, in front of us, on our phones and on our TVs.

There is no security justification for this.

It is not accomplishing any security goals.

It is simply mass murder committed with impunity.

Let us stand on the right side of history and demand an end to it, an end to genocide unfolding before our eyes using weapons paid for by American tax dollars.

We should not be funding the genocide nor their occupation.

I ask you to vote yes on Council Member Sawant's resolution.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Council President, it's now three o'clock and we have 58 in person and 78 remote remaining.

Okay, well, let's do 10 remote then.

Our first remote speaker is Hannah Andreas.

Hi, this is Hannah.

Hi, this is Hannah Andreas.

Yes.

Hannah, you cut out.

I can't hear you.

So we pause the time.

So I see you're unmuted.

Maybe the call dropped.

we can go to the next speaker and then come back to hannah okay can we do that even though they're going to come back here oh there she is okay oh there she is you back hannah hi can you guys hear me yep yeah yeah you dropped out for a minute okay go ahead apologies hi i'm hannah i'm a constituent who lives in district three and i really urge you to vote yes on the resolution for an immediate ceasefire to end all military funding and to put at the top of the agenda Obviously, I want to make it clear that we don't condemn antisemitism, but we must acknowledge the genocide that is occurring.

Thousands of people have lost their lives.

Thousands of children have died, and that is important, and we cannot line up that.

And I want to make it clear that I will not vote for you in the next election cycle, and I will mobilize other voters to the same if you are going to be complicit in the genocide against civilians, against innocent children in Gaza.

Thank you.

Thank you, Hannah.

Our next remote speaker is Zachary Zimmerman.

Okay, Zachary, star six.

There you go.

Can you hear me?

Yep.

Hi, my name is Zach Zimmerman.

I'm an educator and a renter in zip code 98125. I'm calling to demand that you vote yes on Council Member Sawant's full version of Resolution 32118. There's clearly some internal debate over which of the two versions of this bill best captures the need for bold, full-throated condemnation of Israel's occupation of Palestine and the U.S.' 's role in funding Israel's military, and which seems politically expedient despite not addressing root causes.

There are lots of others in this meeting that have made it abundantly clear which version they support, and I echo them.

My question to you is, how many more deaths, how much more destruction are you willing to tolerate while you deliberate and delay?

People in Palestine and your constituents here in Seattle are directly affected by your decisions.

So I urge you to represent the views of those who have commented here today and your other constituents and vote yes on resolution 32118 immediately.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker, our next remote speaker is Sabrine O'Day.

Oh, there she is.

There you go.

Sabrina?

You can start, Sabrina.

Yep.

Oh, you just muted yourself.

Star six again.

There you go.

Yep.

Okay.

Sorry about that.

It's all right.

I'm speaking as a Palestinian American Muslim woman who has family in Palestine, and I'm hoping that we can all center Palestinian voices in today's public comments.

as we and our families are directly impacted by this vote.

I urge you to vote yes to a ceasefire resolution, and I appreciate the multiple council members who have already called for an immediate ceasefire in the last few weeks.

I want to touch on what the ADL said.

We as Palestinians also don't want to be targeted or killed or harassed, and we know that a ceasefire is crucial to the safety of all of our communities.

For this reason, I would hope that instead of the ADL urging you to vote no, they would urge the council to vote yes.

If they truly are devastated for the killing of Palestinians, They should stand as thousands of Jewish folks are standing with Palestinians to call for a ceasefire to end the indiscriminate bombings of Gaza.

I support both the wants and amended resolution to do that because it's my family, my community, and our people who are the victims of these indiscriminate bombings.

Thank you, Sabreen.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jesse Roth.

Hi there.

My name is Jessie Ross.

I'm a constituent from Capitol Hill.

I'm calling to request to ask the Council to support Resolution 32118. I, in listening to Palestinian community members, support whatever resolution can pass today because a ceasefire must pass immediately.

However, I'm going to call on council members who have not signed on to Councilwoman Schwantz's resolution to say that you have an opportunity to be a leader here.

You have an opportunity to do something uncomfortable and to force Seattle to be a leader in demanding a free Palestine and not just stopping this immediate crisis but stopping the next one.

I hope you will all support that resolution.

And thank you so much.

Thank you.

All right.

Next we have our next speaker is Reza Marisha.

Reza, star six.

There you go.

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, Council Members.

My name is Reza Marashi, and I'm Director of Government Affairs for Kilroy Realty Corporation.

I'm here today to urge you to oppose the adoption of transportation impact fees in Seattle.

Your vote today is a substantial vote, and it should be based on today's reality.

Unfortunately, both the proposal and the project list that underpin what you're voting on are from five to six years ago.

Some of the projects on the list have already been built or funded from other sources.

Passing this outdated list means that the city has to go back again next year and pass another comp plan amendment to update the project list.

And the Growth Management Act says that local code needs to match the local comp plan policies.

So if you change the comp plan to include impact fees, then the code will have to follow suit.

Make no mistake, you are making a policy choice today.

We're currently experiencing ongoing inflation and economic volatility.

Transportation impact fees endanger much needed private capital and market-based development in Seattle.

which in turn will reduce MHA funds that are used for affordable housing projects.

For those reasons, please oppose transportation impact fees.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Audrey Kovner.

Audrey?

Star six.

I see your tile up there, so I know you're there.

There you go.

Okay, thank you.

My name is Audrey Kovner, and I'm chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council, JCRC of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, and I'm here requesting that the council not put forward the council member Sawant's resolution.

Like the proponents of the resolution, the JCRC and the local Jewish community are devastated by the humanitarian impact of the Hamas war, and we all mourn the thousands who have died on both sides.

No lives should be taken this way, and we are also deeply concerned about anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Arab Palestinian hate crimes.

And while we believe council members genuinely maintain a heartfelt opposition to the trauma, there are several reasons we vote against this.

First, it does not represent the views of the key constituents impacted by this war, the Seattle Jewish community.

And second, the language of the resolution is often an inaccurate reflection of the facts.

No one speaking on behalf of the Seattle Jewish community, no rabbi, to our knowledge, no rabbi, no executive or other leader.

I'm sorry.

Thank you.

Please be mindful of the 10-second timer.

That's not helpful.

So, Madam Clerk, I'll let you tell me when we call the next one.

Our next speaker is Murtaza Hakimi.

there for taza star six we see your there you go hi my name is martaza akimi i'm a resident of district three i'm calling to urge voting yes to the ceasefire resolution with no watering down and refuse to send additional weapons or funding to the israeli military international human rights organizations are clear we're witnessing war crimes and acts of genocide at an unprecedented scale that have already resulted in the death of more than 12,000 Palestinians, more than 6,000 of which are children.

This conflict did not start on October 7th.

Palestinians have been subject to occupation and war crimes for over 70 years, and anything short of an end to occupation and freedom for Palestinians is unacceptable.

I want to make it clear that I will not vote for council members that oppose this resolution in the next election, and will mobilize other voters to do the same if they continue to be consistent in the genocide against the ruins in Gaza.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Robert Singleton.

Robert.

Hi there.

My name is Robert Singleton and I'm with Chamber of Progress at Center Left Technology Trade Association.

Today I'm once again asking you to not impose the regressive network company fee on the delivery services in Seattle as it further adds to the cost of getting basic goods and food.

Having food and other items delivered directly to consumers is an essential service, as many people cannot physically travel to every location that provides for basic needs.

People who work in the service industry or have multiple jobs at varying hours cannot always make it to a store or restaurant in person.

Individuals' differing abilities struggle with basic transportation accessibility, and so delivery services can be a valuable lifeline to them.

And working families justifiably don't always want to go out to perform even more errands after a long day.

By taxing these services, even just a small amount, you are directly adding to the cost of living in an already expensive city, And the impact of that new fee is felt most by those already struggling to make ends meet.

And please do not impose additional costs on Seattle residents and seek alternative funding mechanisms for enforcing labor restrictions.

Ideally, when the new council is seated next year.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Star Parker.

Star?

There you go.

Hello, my name is Star Parker.

I'm Jewish.

I have master's degrees in psychology and education and work as a kindergarten teacher.

Of the over 13,000 people that have been killed in Gaza, more than 5,000 are children.

9,000 children have been wounded and all Gazans are now at risk of starvation.

Research concludes that war trauma leads to long-term consequences on the psyche of children.

The more prolonged the conflict, the more severe the symptoms.

While I would love to see a resolution passed that calls for an end to Israeli occupation and to our tax dollars funding Israel's violations of international law, I also support the amended resolution in order to meet the most immediate needs for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid.

This is not complicated.

I assure you that even my kindergarten students could easily determine that what is happening is wrong and must stop now.

Please listen to the voices of thousands of Palestinians, Jews, and their allies in Seattle, as well as the majority of Americans and use the power you've been given as representatives to pass a ceasefire resolution now, not in our name.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Ayman Ayin.

JoAnne Hanrahan, Come on push star six.

JoAnne Hanrahan, I see his tile.

JoAnne Hanrahan, i'm on.

JoAnne Hanrahan, Maybe we can wait another minute.

JoAnne Hanrahan, See.

JoAnne Hanrahan, Would you like to come back to him on.

JoAnne Hanrahan, Oh, there he is good job there you go yep perfect.

All right, thank you.

First off, ceasefire now.

I support this resolution.

It should have been done two weeks ago.

Two weeks ago, if it had been done, and we did an impact since we are Seattle and we like to be progressive, we like to push the nation towards everything humanitarian.

We are a leader in everything humanitarian.

We should be doing this right now.

If we did it two weeks ago, we may have made an impact by making less children die and less organs and limbs all over the place under the rubble i don't know how you can accept seeing all these images and not doing anything about it families have been destroyed full families we are a progressive state and we should be asking for a ceasefire if you use the money for use uh making america better that is a better way of using the money instead of sending it over to kill people over and over

Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll now move to the next 10 in-person speakers.

And the first person is Shubhan Kakubur.

And they will be followed by Jeremy Voss.

Okay.

Are they both up?

It's a podium.

Yes, they are.

Hi, I'm Shubhan.

Great.

Hi, I'm Shubhan Kakubur, and I'm a student at University of Washington and activist with Workers Strike Back.

I demand all Democrats vote yes on Councilmember Kashama Swann's resolution for a ceasefire.

I have a serious problem with Mosqueda, Herbold, Horace, and other so-called leaders who cooked up a watered-down resolution behind the scenes.

The self-appointed leaders who made this deal with Democrats behind the scenes do not speak for the rank and file of the anti-war movement, nor do they speak for the needs of the people of Gaza or the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem who are under attack.

Hundreds of Palestinians, Jews, South Asians, and other working people and community members have supported Councilmember Swann's.

Resolution.

Some of these leaders say they support Council Member Sawant's resolution but worked with the Democrats on the watered-down resolution because Sawant's resolution, quote, unfortunately has little chance of passing.

I completely disagree with this backward strategy of admitting defeat when the fight has barely begun.

The war in Gaza will never be ended on the basis of such consistency to the warmongering Democrat.

Council Member Sawant and our working people have won countless victories on the basis of building fighting movements to win the maximum, not privately conceding to what was convenient for the Democrats.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, my name's Jeremy, he has some pronouns.

I'm descended from German and Iraqi Jews, both of which fled genocide.

I grew up in the Seward Park Jewish community.

Simply by being Jewish, I apparently have the automatic right to immigrate to Israel, get citizenship, and vote.

Yet Palestinian refugees, even those who were born there, cannot return home because they supposedly pose a demographic threat to me.

As the October 7th Hamas attacks show, the system of apartheid and occupation will never keep me or my Israeli family safe, let alone Palestinians.

And neither will murdering 17,000 of them, over 90% of whom are civilians and displacing 1.7 million.

In fact, equating this violence with my Jewish community throws us under the bus of corporate profits.

I remind you that the Jewish Community Relations Council does not represent Jews.

As we've seen, so many of us have stood against this.

As have said, only peace brings security, and only an end to the occupation brings peace.

Vote for the Unchained Revolution.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Bob Barnes, followed by Eva Metz.

I counsel Shama.

I'm going to miss you up there.

Bob Barnes.

I've been here in Seattle on occupied land since 1972. I support the resolution, the full resolution because There's not going to be a ceasefire until we cut off military aid.

Yeah, However, Let's do that.

But whatever happens, we'll be back.

I want to just take us back a few years to the fight for 15 campaign.

A lot of us knew $15 was not enough money, but it was a start.

and we've fought and we've gotten it higher.

If we have to, we'll deal with just a ceasefire.

That's a pretty big deal in this room, not in this room, up there.

If that's all we can take, we'll take it, but we'll frickin' be back.

Ceasefire now.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Ceasefire now!

Ceasefire now!

Ceasefire now!

Ceasefire now!

Our next speaker is Eva Metz, followed by Andrew Mende.

Hi, my name is Eva Metz.

I'm a nursing student and a home care worker, and I'm a member of Socialist Alternative here to demand that City Council Democrats vote yes on Council Member Sawant's resolution without watering it down.

Council Member Juarez has made repeated appeals for us to be dignified.

I don't think the council members have a sense of proportion of what is happening right now, why we are so outraged.

So many people have spoken about the horrors in Gaza, people dying every day.

Just today, Palestinian officials said that they can't even count the dead because of the complete collapse of the healthcare system.

This is horrifying to see as a healthcare worker, as a healthcare student, but just as a human being.

And that's why we're so mad that two weeks ago, council members refused to even second Thomas Swann's resolution.

And council members Juarez, Mosqueda and Herbold have worked to water down this resolution.

We need to end this occupation.

We need to end funding for Israel's war crimes.

No more excuses.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Andrew Mende, followed by Alex Olson.

Hello, I'm Andrew.

What Hamas did on October 7th was horrific and violent, but it was very predictable.

The conditions that Palestinians in Gaza are subjected to are also horrific and violent.

They have no access to electricity, no access to clean water, and are at risk of starvation.

If you subjugate a population of people to horrific conditions, they are eventually pushed back violently.

It is inevitable.

The conditions in Gaza are enforced through the brutal actions of the Israeli apartheid state and the relentless bombing campaign they have engaged in.

The Palestinians in Gaza are dehumanized and are treated like trash.

We must advocate for a ceasefire on Gaza now.

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire several times in the past.

There is no reason to assume a ceasefire is unattainable now.

We must end all military funding to Israel now.

We must pressure the Israeli state to engage in hostage negotiations so that more lives will not be lost.

We must pressure the Israeli state to end the occupation on Gaza and work towards freedom and security for all Israelis and Palestinians.

Vote yes on this resolution without watering it down.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

My sorry, with the clerk's permission, my office has learned that community member named Shabazz Abdul Qadir has signed up to speak but needs to leave soon.

So Shabazz, you could come and speak if you're here.

Do we?

Madam Clerk, is that a possibility to allow?

Oh, yeah.

Sorry, I did that with Linda's permission.

Council President.

Okay, sure.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Can you guys hear me OK?

We can.

OK.

Hi, everyone.

This is my first time in this building.

And on my way here, I saw a sign that says Black Lives Matter.

I'm curious, when you guys say Black Lives Matter, do you intellectually understand what black people went through?

Do you truly comprehend the reality of apartheid, the reality of Jim Crow laws?

If you do, do you know, like the rest of the world knows, that Israel is an apartheid colonial settlement?

And if you do, in fact, know these facts, then don't lie to us.

Say it with your chest.

If you want to join hands with racists, then you are racist.

If you know that AIPAC pays too many politicians, if you know that they've lobbied to make it illegal to boycott Israel in over half of the US, and Washington state is not amongst one of those states, I might say, then we know what Israel is.

We know Israel is a racist and violent settlement.

So we ask of you to divest from racism and reinvest in our communities.

It is not that complicated.

Vote yes to Council Member Sawant's resolution that demands a ceasefire and an end to the occupation and moves it to the top of the agenda.

And hey, maybe after that we will have money for affordable housing and health care for the rest of us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Alex Olson.

Good afternoon.

My name is Alex Olson from District 6, and I am here to demand that the City Council Democrats support Councilmember Swartz's ceasefire resolution.

The content of this resolution is not inflammatory.

The war on Gaza is inflammatory, and to condone it is immoral, divisive, and unconscionable.

The far-right Israeli government that the United States props up with military aid is not in the interests of the Israeli people, and support for the ordinary people of Israel does not translate into support for this brutal war.

The shameful decision of the Democratic council members to not even second this necessary resolution at its first introduction shows again the unwillingness of the party to represent the vast majority of Americans, Democrats, and Seattleites who support an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

You have an opportunity today to show that Seattleites stand with the people of the world who are watching this tragedy unfold, to stand against the Biden administration's choice to spend our money on a state terrorism and a war against a civilian population instead of on improving the lives of working class Americans, of tens of thousands.

You're supposed to represent us, but you won't even show your faces.

There is no excuse for anything other than support for this resolution, and rest assured that we will demand an explanation from each one of the city council Democrats who might choose mass murder over morality today.

We will remember your cowardice.

All right, sir.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Kaivank Dintzer.

And they'll be followed by Shanae Nowicki.

Thank you.

And I don't see anybody coming up to the podium.

So we'll call on the next speaker, who is Nashawn Burns,

Apologies.

So my name is Nishan Burns.

I'm an ethnic Armenian.

Two months ago, the council members may know, the 120,000 Armenian residents of the region of Nagorno-Karabakh were ethnically cleansed and forced under a months-long blockade of their only, you know, road under...

the guise of anti-terrorism.

In light of that, the U.S.

Senate voted last week to temporarily end security aid to Azerbaijan.

I know through my relatives and the suffering that forced relocation and occupation causes, and Palestinians are experiencing that suffering 10, 100-fold.

This may sound unrelated, but my point in saying all of this is that if the U.S.

Senate can resolve against military funding for a comparatively less bloody atrocity, then you have no excuse.

procedural excuses.

Do you oppose the U.S.' 's funding of this slaughter or not?

It is really as simple as that.

So I and many others here demand a yes vote on Councilmember Sawant's resolution as opposed to the watered-down one, and we demand that it be moved first in the agenda.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Raghav Kaushik.

Hi.

I'm a tech worker, and I'm here to support Kshama Sawant's resolution and demand that council members pass it with no dilutions and no delays.

There are hundreds of children dying in Gaza every single day, and this madness needs to stop.

So we need a ceasefire right now.

But history of ceasefires between Israel and Hamas shows that ceasefires are invariably broken by Israel.

The most notable case being when Israel broke a five month long ceasefire on election day 2008 when the world's attention was focused on Barack Obama to initiate a killing spree called Operation Cast Lead.

This history will continue to repeat unless the root causes of this issue are addressed.

And that means an end of Israeli occupation and an end of U.S. military support to Israel.

So please vote for the full version of the resolution.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Madam Clerk, can you hear me?

Council President, we're now at 3.30.

Correct.

I was just going to call to your attention, can you give me an idea how many folks are signed up and how many are left on remote?

We have approximately 48 in person and approximately 68 remote.

Okay.

We will go, everyone, for 15 more minutes, and let's see where we're at then, and let's keep trading off 10 and 10 for one minute.

I can't hear you, Council President.

I'm sorry.

Okay, well, let's just sit a moment till people are quiet so we can move on on the calendar.

We have 10 items.

Whenever you're ready, Madam Clerk.

Okay, so we'll continue for another 15 minutes?

Yes.

Okay.

Our next in-person speaker is Dominic Wolfgang Wallace.

Hello, I'm Dominic Wolfgang Wallace, a resident of Seattle for the past five years.

I'm here in favor of the resolution provided by Councilmember Sawant and her Socialist City Council office.

I demand all of you so-called progressive Democrats vote yes on the resolution.

without any watering down.

I have a serious problem with Mosqueda, Herbold, and Juarez and all of these so-called leaders who cooked up a resolution behind the scenes to water down the demand to end the U.S. funding and occupation of Palestine.

The Israeli state's occupation is enabled by billions of U.S. dollars every year, and it's what needs to end because it is the root cause of the crisis.

No ceasefire will last as long as the occupation exists, and the occupation cannot be ended unless its backbone, U.S. funding, is ended.

I yield the rest of my time.

So we'll move on to the remote speakers now.

The first remote speaker is Deborah Niemans.

Deborah?

Yeah, go ahead, Deborah.

Oh, you just muted yourself, so unmute.

Star six, there you go.

You're good.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Deborah Niemann.

I'm a Jewish constituent of Councilmember Pedersen in District 4 and a Seattle resident of more than 20 years.

I'm calling in today to strongly urge you to pass the resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza now.

There is no justification for the collective punishment of an entire population.

the indiscriminate killing of civilians, the denial of food, water, sanitation, or medical care to millions of people.

You may hear voices today, and I think you have, that accuse you of anti-Semitism in taking this courageous action to condemn the crimes of the Israeli military.

Please know that Jews of conscience everywhere are offended by the conflation of criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The actions of Israel, far from increasing Jewish safety as they claim, make Jews around the world less safe.

Decades of occupation and repression of Palestinians have not resulted in peace in the region, as only a political process can bring that about.

All people there deserve to live in peace, Jews, Palestinians, Jews, everyone.

Please vote for this resolution today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Sinsath Shamir.

Sinsath?

Star six?

We see your time.

There you go.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yep.

Hi, my name is Sinseth.

I'm a member of the Coalition of Seattle Indian Americans.

I'm calling to strongly urge you for a ceasefire resolution in Gaza, ending military funding to Israel and the occupation of Gaza as proposed by Council Member Savin.

We cannot afford to lose any more time and let any more children and civilians get killed in this inhumane, unjust, and lopsided war.

The whole world has been watching the devastation caused by Israel with full support of the United States using our tax money.

At this point, Israel is conducting a genocide on Palestinians, and we cannot be a silent spectator anymore.

We should do whatever we can to stop this catastrophe from continuing, and I strongly urge you and humbly request you as well to support this resolution.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Hamad Hashmi.

I'm not hit star six.

There you go.

Thank you.

Yes, we can.

Good afternoon, Council.

My name is Hamad Hashmi, and my name does not matter.

The names that matter are the ones called those 6,000 children who have died so far in this world.

I want the Council to think about if they could speak, what would they say to you?

They would want you to vote for the ceasefire resolution.

They would want you to vote for the end of this occupation.

Please listen to the voice of thousands of children who died in this war.

Please listen to the voices of all of us who are present here, all of us who are on the phone, who are protesting every day, the Palestinians, the Jews, and all of their allies in Syria, as well as the majority of Americans.

Please, please pass the ceasefire resolution now.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Noah Schwartz.

Hello?

Hello, we can hear you, Noah.

Okay, hold on one second.

All right.

Good afternoon, council.

My name is Noah Schwartz.

My pronouns are he, they.

I am a CRT expert and a PhD candidate from the University of Washington.

Listen, you know, we have to...

We have to condemn what's going on.

It is an actual genocide.

And in order for the genocide to stop, the occupation needs to end.

And what that means is that we no longer need to – we should no longer recognize Israel as being part of a Jewish state.

And all the Jews who are living in Israel, they need to go home if you are actually serious about peace.

You know this.

I know this.

Everyone on this council knows and agrees with me on this.

What's happening right now, it is – an act of pure genocide, okay?

And, you know, my wife, all right?

She's a drag queen.

She's a trans sex worker.

She teaches kindergarten.

She taught kindergarten in the Austin Independent School District out in Texas.

They fired her when they eliminated DEI.

And my wife is being genocided, just like the Palestinians in Gaza.

You know, honestly, I feel safer, me and my wife, being in Gaza.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Anfal Jamida.

Hello?

Hello?

Yep, you're on.

Okay.

Hi.

Hi, I'm inside.

I live in Seattle.

As a Palestinian American, I implore you to vote yes on the resolution calling for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza without watering it down.

Almost 50 days of relentless Israeli colonial aggression on Gaza and escalating violence in the West Bank, and it's become impossible to ignore the stark double standard that shattered the ideal of Western humanity revealing a painful reality where the right to life is arbitrarily determined, something we've always felt but have not confirmed.

We don't even know the correct number of deaths as people are still pulling their families from under rubble in pieces or whole.

This plea goes beyond diplomacy.

It's a cry for the preservation of humanity, signaling the need to address dire conditions faced by Palestinians for years who are Semitic people, making the denial of this resolution anti-Semitic.

Recognize the weight of your decisions as elected officials who have to represent the people and choose the path of justice, starting with a ceasefire for humanity's sake and the chance for Palestinians to live freely.

Consider the legacy you're leaving.

History is recording, so please do the right thing.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Let's see, we have Selena.

Our next speaker is Sahila.

Sahila.

Oh, gosh, I'm gonna spell your last name.

H-A-C-B-E-K-T-A-S-O-G-L-U.

Oh, wait.

salia yes my name is i'm turkish i'm muslim and i'm an american citizen for over 40 years living in the united states i would like to call for ceasefire and i would like to have the full resolution passed by uh woman swan uh i would like to ask you all um how would you feel if The Jews came into Washington, a country as big as Washington, and they said, you all had to move out to camp, live in tents, live in concentrated areas, put barbed wires and stone walls around you in a space as small as Gaza, and IF YOU DON'T WANT TO LIVE, JUST GO INTO THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

HOW WOULD WE FEEL IF THEY TOOK OUR HOMES, OUR VILLAS, OUR LAND, OUR GARDENS?

WE NEED TO STOP THE, OH, THIS IS NOT A WAR.

THIS IS JUST PEOPLE TRYING.

THANK YOU.

THANK YOU.

OUR NEXT SPEAKER IS MOHAMMED NASSAR.

I DON'T SEE MOHAMMED'S TILE.

Mohamed Nassar.

The person after that is Carrie Conklin.

Carrie?

Oh, there she is.

Carrie?

My name is Carrie Conklin.

I'm a community organizer, a proud progressive Christian in zip code 98103. I believe every human life is inherently sacred.

I am in support of any resolution which calls for a ceasefire.

A Gazan family whose two-year-old toddler received life-saving heart surgery because of the advocacy of my Jewish friend in Israel lost their entire neighborhood to Israeli bombs, like over a million other Gazans.

They have been forced to walk to southern Gaza with their three young children only to pass countless dead bodies and body parts being shot at by soldiers, only to arrive to no food, water, or shelter.

If we want to continue to lead our region and country with the example of our humanity, which includes our Palestinian and Jewish brothers and sisters, the city council must fight the rise in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia by calling for a ceasefire and an end to the violence.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Mohamed Nassar.

Oh there we are.

Mohamed.

Hi my name is Mohamed Nassar of Capitol Hill Seattle District 7. It is sickening and disgusting to see our tax dollars funding Israel's violation of human rights and international laws and committing war crimes day by day.

I support council members' want resolution without watering it down.

End occupation now.

Invest our money in our communities.

I want to remind you that Gaza is 25 miles long by six miles wide.

There is no safe place in Gaza now.

There is no water, no medicine, no food.

Babies are dying.

Children and their families are targeted and killed.

It's in all of us to stop this now.

Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is McKenna Parnes.

McKenna, it's star six.

I see your there you are.

Thank you.

I'm a member of District 4, a child clinical psychologist and a Jewish member of the community in Seattle.

I demand that Democrats vote yes on Councilmember Swan's resolution without watering it down and move it to the top of the agenda.

The chief of the World Health Organization says a child is killed on average every 10 minutes in Gaza.

We as a community are not even directing funds and resources to our own children's mental health.

We are ranked 40th in the nation for child mental health resources and access, which is a disgrace given the amount of wealth that exists in Washington as a state.

We need to direct funds to our own community and not fuel the trauma and genocide of the Palestinian people.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Ray Levine.

Star six, Ray.

I see Ray's tile.

Ray, there you go.

Ray?

Ray, you're on.

So Ray is unmuted, but I don't know if Ray knows that it's their opportunity to speak.

Shall we?

Ray?

on yeah okay well yeah i don't know what's going to happen with ray i know i i don't i i'm concerned that ray is unmuted but doesn't know it so if we move on can ray stay on the line or we got a couple more minutes to go so i'm here speaking can you hear me now yes we can hear you now yes oh sorry i was speaking i don't know what happened hi my name is ray levine i live in seattle district 3

I'm Jewish, and members of my extended family were killed in the attack on Be'eri Kibbutz on October 7th.

I mourn their loss, but one more crime does not justify countless more.

There's no moral or legal basis for Israel's indiscriminate bombing, mass killing of Palestinians since October 7th.

More strongly than ever, I'm calling for a ceasefire to stop the bloodshed in Gaza.

I've been calling on my congressman, Adam Smith, and both senators to join this call, and so far they are refusing.

Your voice as the Seattle City Council, speaking for so many of us Seattle residents of all faiths, would mean so much.

I urge all council members to come together to pass a ceasefire resolution.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ray.

So we got, it's 3.46.

Madam Clerk, can you tell me what the count is on folks in chambers and those online?

Approximately, we have 62 in person and approximately 29 remote.

And the time is 3.46.

Okay, so this is what I'm going to do.

We're going to go until 4. And so do we move over to the room in chambers now?

Okay.

Okay, let's do that.

And let's go till four o'clock and public comment will end at four.

Okay.

Our first in-chamber person is Carl Dyer, followed by Sam Marouf.

Hi, my name's Carl Dyer from District 5, and I'm here to demand that all City Council Democrats vote yes on Councilmember Samuant's ceasefire resolution.

Put this resolution first on the agenda.

Don't hide it behind the rest of the agenda in an attempt to distract us.

And don't think that a toothless resolution will satisfy your responsibility to stand against the slaughter.

By planning to introduce a competing resolution, you've shown that pressure from the people can have some effect.

But by calling for a ceasefire without calling for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel, you'd be trying to have it both ways.

Claiming to be pro-peace while turning down the opportunity to make a real and actionable call from local to national government to stop spending our tax dollars on bombs and bullets to be used against Gazan civilians.

American money and weapons are the bedrock of the brutality we've seen in the last weeks and the decades of apartheid conditions in Gaza.

Councilmember Sawant's resolution calls for an end to the occupation, an end to the violence, and an end to the conditions that engender violence.

Vote yes on Sawant's ceasefire.

End the occupation.

Thank you.

U.P.!

U.P.! U.P.! U.P.! U.P.!

Our next speaker is Sam Aru, followed by Miraj Baig.

And I'm not seeing anybody approach the podium, so we'll move on to the next two speakers.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Mirage Beg.

I'm here in support of Councilwoman Sawan's original resolution for a ceasefire and end of occupation.

My name is Mirage Beg.

I'm a physician at a local Seattle public hospital.

I'm here because being able to leave the hospital and go home safely and being able to care for patients peacefully with dignity and with comfort is something that healthcare providers at El Shifa Hospital in Gaza were not able to do.

as they were attempting to fulfill their oath to humanity by caring for their patients.

Their patients were not Palestinian resistance groups.

These are innocent people, men, women, and children, adolescents, toddlers, infants, newborn babies.

Imagine this happening in a Seattle hospital.

Would you guys agree to disagree then?

These people were killed as a result of Israel's siege on Gaza, not just directly by bombs and gunfire, but the loss of electricity and fuel and lack of humanitarian aid has led to more than just acute killings, but deaths down the line due to lack of longitudinal care and lack of access to health care and water and food.

You guys have a platform to make a difference here.

Please use your platform and opportunity and responsibility to your citizens to support the ceasefire.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Your time's up.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Our next speaker is Mirage Begg, followed by Brandon Eng.

Hi, this is Brandon Eng from UW Student from District 2. I have been under a profound medical stress for the last week or two and having sleep difficulties and and yet I still come out here today unlike eight out of the nine council members because we need to fund our essential services such as public health care, public education, public housing, public transportation, but our tax money going to fund the war overseas is a great disgrace, and we need to redirect our with tension here.

Their fight in Palestine is our fight here.

An injury to one is an injury to all.

Thank you, sir.

Our next person is Muhammad Kahalia, followed by Iman Ramada.

Hi, my name is Mohammed.

I can name many of the atrocities Israel has committed against Palestinians.

Since 1948, Darya Seen, all the way to today, Gaza 2023. And we call this self-defense, or many of us call it self-defense, but it's actually a deliberate massacre of innocent Palestinian lives.

A young boy named Yousef, 21 years old, He is a son of a friend of mine in Gaza in Jabalia.

He was targeted by a missile attack from a war, sorry, an aircraft that killed him.

After so many communications with my friend in Jabalia, he decided to leave with his kids and his wife to Rafah, leaving behind his disabled dad and his ailing mother and his brother who can take this journey.

This is just one example of many of these daily suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and Palestine everywhere.

So you should vote on the ceasefire resolution.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Our next speaker is Iman Ramadan, followed by Yasir Morsi.

Okay, we'll move on to Hannah Swoboda.

Hi, my name's Hannah Swoboda, and I'm an activist with Workers Strike Back.

And I think it seems clear why the Democrats have put our Gaza resolution last on the agenda.

They know that hundreds of us has taken time off of work or school to come to City Hall, and they want most of us gone when they actually vote.

That's how far the Democrats' commitment to democracy goes.

I demand that our resolution be put first on the agenda.

Furthermore, Mosqueda, Herbal, and Juarez have brought a substitute resolution that is very watered down, a very watered down version of Councilmember Sawant's resolution.

Everybody should vote on Councilmember Sawant's resolution instead.

Their resolution, the one that we're not here for today, fails to call for an end to the occupation.

It also fails to call for an end to $3.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid to the Israeli state.

These are not secondary issues.

The occupation and the U.S. military funding that makes it possible are root causes of the decades-long bloody conflict, which has seen multiple temporary ceasefires.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Well, let's take a pause so other people can speak.

Our next speaker is Leah Vu, followed by Elan Hammond.

Hi, my name is Leah Vu.

I demand that all council members vote yes on Council Member Savant's resolution without compromise.

You must stand on the right side of history.

Failing this, shame on you.

Shame on you for your cowardice and for enabling a genocide.

How many more times must we, looking back, say never again to genocide?

It's time to say no, now.

No to genocide, no to occupation, no to military funding, to Israel.

Our next speaker is Elin Hammond, followed by Laila Altazi.

Thank you.

Assalamu alaikum.

My name is Elia Ahmad.

I'm Palestinian from Jerusalem.

My family flee Palestine in 19...

Jerusalem in 1948 and never come back.

And this is the story of my friend Areej in Gaza.

She flee from the North Gaza to Southern Gaza, seeking refuge for her family.

When I called her earlier this month, she said, we sleep every day thinking our name will be there in the news next day.

The moment that we wake up in the morning, we breathe again, see, alhamdulillah, praise to God that we're still alive.

These people have their dreams.

They have the life to live.

They have kids to feed.

All their kids, they sleep with no food.

Shame on you if you stand with wrong thoughts.

in the history.

You need to stop the genocide for my people.

My people fight for the occupation for the last 75 years.

So we need to stand with the right side of the history.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Layla El-Khazi.

I am a Palestinian American.

I have family within Israel's borders.

And I'm here asking that you unanimously pass a resolution for ceasefire today.

I have to say it's incredibly frustrating that it has taken the council this long to just make a basic demand for ceasefire.

It's also frustrating that the Palestinian community has been asked to curb our ask for equal rights, to curb our ask for basic human rights, and essentially beg you to stand up for a ceasefire.

So while Sawant's resolution addresses the root causes of this violence and asks for what many of us Palestinians want, an end to military funding and an end to the occupation, for the sake of the people under attack who will be murdered today and who will be murdered tomorrow.

A ceasefire is the bare minimum you should do today to support them.

And I'm asking, are you at least willing to do that?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Palestine!

Palestine!

Palestine!

Palestine!

Palestine!

Our next speaker is Randa Tawil followed by Yasmine Aritoni.

Hello, my name is Renda.

I am a resident of Seattle.

I'm also a Palestinian.

My friend Mossab Abutuha was kidnapped yesterday by the IDF as he was traveling to South Gaza.

He is a poet.

A few days ago he wrote, winter is coming and we don't have enough clothes.

More death, more destruction.

Who can stop this?

Please stop this.

We can stop this.

Every day, Boeing planes and ships are shipping weapons that are killing people like Mossab.

If Seattle does not speak out, we are complicit.

We must call for a ceasefire and an end of occupation.

There are an estimated 4,000 people stuck under rubble.

With no fuel, we can't excavate them, and rescuers are only hearing their screams.

What about these people under rubble is so scary that the Western world conspires against them?

What is so scary about us that you can't even come here?

Cease fire now.

Thank you.

Hi.

I'm Yasmeen Erituni.

I'm an Arab American.

I'm a PhD candidate at the University of Washington.

I'm one of the hundreds of people here today to support Councilmember Sawant's resolution against the war on Gaza and against the occupation of Palestinian land.

I wonder if you're listening, because I can't see your face.

Our siblings in Palestine are facing a second Nakba and it is the responsibility of the whole world to refuse displacement and genocide now.

This is such a dire time in the history of humanity.

I am here today because I don't want to tell my children and my grandchildren that I did nothing when thousands of our Gazan siblings were being slaughtered.

You have the chance now to show your constituents, the world, and generations to come what you did when genocide was occurring in Gaza.

We will not forget.

Future generations will not forgive.

Vote yes on Councilmember Chauvin's resolution without watering it down.

Cease fire now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are we at four o'clock?

Madam Clerk.

Council President, it's now 4 o'clock.

all right so we have had approximately two hours of public comment so now we have reached the end of our time for public comment today and the public comment period is now closed and just a note which i normally don't do but i will do in response to the many many hundreds of letters we received thank you those of you who also sent written public comment those of you that came to city hall and certainly those of you who have called in i can assure you that the resolutions all contain a ceasefire, they all contain of stopping the killing, they all contain a return of the hostages, and of course they all contain humanitarian aid.

And I want to thank all of you, particularly those of you who have relatives on the soil 7,000 miles away that we understand.

And I hope you do not mistake our silence and prayers for indifference.

Council President, I can't hear what you're saying.

I'm sorry.

All right.

Well, I guess we'll just have to wait again until people allow people to speak.

Tell me when we can.

All right.

All right.

So with that.

Now that we close the public comment, let's move on onto our agenda folks.

We have 10 items on our agenda today.

So next is adoption of the introduction and referral calendar.

If there's no objection, the introduction and referral calendar is adopted.

Not seeing objection, the introduction and referral calendar is adopted.

We've been on to the adoption of the agenda.

I understand that.

Well, we're just gonna have to wait until everybody can settle down.

I know just customers want, let me get there.

I know what you wanna do.

Just give me a moment.

Now, is there an objection to the agenda?

I move to amend the agenda by moving item 10, the resolution titled, a resolution condemning the Israeli military assault on the people of Gaza, urging an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian aid, and exchange of hostages, and an end to the occupation of Palestinian lands, affirming opposition to Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, and urging the US Congress to end all military funding to Israel to be the first item on the agenda before item one.

We have seen from public comment the overwhelming majority of the people here in council chambers who took time out of their day, took a break from work and school and family duties and sacrificed to win this resolution.

The other nine items on the agenda are all related to the budget, which is obviously an important issue.

But, you know, the Democrats on the council are still passing a budget that does not address the needs of working people anyway.

I mean, the people's budget has been fighting.

But the point is that the budget is also at this point an issue that was voted on and spoken about overwhelmingly in the committee.

There is no mystery at this point about the budget votes and how they will go today.

In fact, if the city council were to vote differently than in committee, then Seattle would not have a legal budget under state law until further changes were prepared to make it balanced again.

So no such surprise is going to happen.

The budget votes today are fundamentally ceremonial.

I urge council members to respect community members and working people who came here today to urge the council to pass a resolution opposing the horrors in Gaza and the occupation and U.S. military funding and take that issue up first on the agenda.

I don't expect the Democrats will support this motion, though I am happy to be pleasantly surprised, but my message to community members is, if the Democrats don't support this motion, then I really urge you all, if possible, please don't leave, because it is crucial that you all are here as witness for what happens when the resolution is voted on.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

Colleagues, before us is a motion to amend the agenda to make item J, which is adoption of resolution, to make it item H under committee reports before the current number one, which is Council Bill 120635, transportation impact fees.

So with that, is there a second?

Is there a second to Council Member Sawant's motion?

Not hearing or no second, the motion dies for lack of a second.

Let's move on in our agenda.

With that, after the objection has been noted with no second, the agenda will be adopted.

All right, let's move on.

So we are at the consent calendar now.

There are many items on here, so I'm going to go ahead and tee it up, and then I'm going to allow Council Member Mosqueda to say a few words.

We have the consent calendar in front of us.

It has the minutes from November 7th.

It has Council Bill Payroll Bills 120710 and Council Bill 120711. We also have, under the Select Budget Committee, in which the full Council is...

Council President, we can't hear you.

Okay, well, let's just take a pause...

So at this juncture, Madam Clerk, I apologize.

I'm going to look to you.

Would you like us to take a five-minute recess, or would you like me to tell me when we can go forward?

We can't hear you at this time.

All right.

Well, we will take a five-minute recess.

I want to know when we can hear you.

If you do not agree with this resolution, we're not there yet.

So we're going to move on in our agenda.

Madam Clerk, I cannot hear you if that's not clear.

Madam Clerk, can we take a five minute recess?

I think that would be wise.

Okay, let's do that.

We are now going to go to recess for five minutes.

Thank you.

We are now in recess.

Thank you.

We're back on the record and we are under the consent calendar under the select budget committee in which all council members are a member of we have 18 council bills.

1 resolution and 3 clerk files.

And all of these are related to item number 7 on the agenda regarding adoption of the budget.

And before we go to.

Um, the next part, which, which I would ask council members to remove anything customer mosquito has asked if she could speak to the consent calendar customer mosquito.

Thank you, Madam President.

Just wanted to offer clarification to colleagues.

The items three through 24, this consists of the consent calendar.

This compromises 22 of the 30 pieces of legislation that are necessary to balance the 2024 budget.

This includes items that had unanimous vote by the budget committee with no abstentions consistent with the council rules for which items can be on the consent agenda and the pieces of legislation which were able to be acted upon prior to the passage of the budget ordinance.

so i wanted to clarify there is nothing in here that should be controversial they all received a unanimous vote in the budget committee we will take up individual votes on eight pieces of legislation that includes the um specific item item number seven related to all of the 121 amendments that got included in the 2024 calendar year budget our mid annual budget that will be up for discussion and individual vote that is not part of this process here again items 3 through 24

are on the consent calendar because they were unanimous from the budget committee thank you again for considering this and urge a vote on the consent calendar thank you okay so not seeing that any of my colleagues want to remove anything from the consent calendar i moved to adopt today's consent calendar is there a second okay thank you it has been moved and seconded to adopt the consent calendar So with that as is, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the consent calendar.

Excuse me, Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Yes, I can't so President what is. 9 in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The consent calendar is adopted.

Well, the clerk please fix my signature to the minutes and the legislation on the consent calendar.

And thank you for putting that into context about what's in the consent calendar moving on into our agenda to committee reports.

My understanding is we have 9 teed up.

And with that, Madam clerk, you please read item number 1 into the record.

Agenda Item 1, Council Bill 120635, amending the Seattle Comprehensive Plan to incorporate changes related to a transportation impact fee program proposed as part of the 2022-2023 Comprehensive Plan annual amendment process.

The Council Bill was discussed in committee.

Thank you.

I move to pass Council Bill 120635. Is there a second?

Second.

It has been moved and seconded to pass this bill.

This is from Council Member Peterson and Herbal, but my understanding is that Council Member Herbal will tee this up for conversation.

Council Member Herbal.

Thank you, Madam President.

I'd like to start with an amendment.

If I may?

Yeah, oh, go ahead.

I was waiting for you to move it, then I'll do the magic words afterwards.

Perfect.

I move to amend Council Bill 120635 as presented on Amendment 1 on the agenda.

Second.

My apologies, council members.

Can we first move the bill before we move the amendment?

I think we already did.

I thought she did.

Thank you.

I moved it.

Council Member Peterson seconded it.

Okay, so it's okay.

And then council member herbal.

Move to amend it now, I'm going to say it's been moved and seconded to adopt amendment 1 as presented on the agenda.

And again, council member herbal as sponsored this amendment, you will recognize to address it.

Thank you so much.

This amendment would return the language in the Transportation Funding Policy T10.7 to consider use of from what was in the proposed bill from use.

The net effect of the amendment would simply be to maintain the language in the policy in its current form.

This amendment is in response to concerns raised by groups such as Seattle for Everyone, Cascade Bicycle Club, Transportation Choices, The Urbanist, and Seattle Subway.

The current comp plan transportation policy, T10.7, says consider use of transportation impact fees to help fund transportation system improvements needed to serve growth.

The current form of Council Bill 12.635 replaces consider use of with use.

The amendment, again, said differently, returned to the current language of to consider use of.

The ability to enact this amendment with the consider use language and still fulfill federal requirement confirms what we've been explaining in discussions of this bill.

With either language, consider use or use, the bill does not create any obligation to create a transportation impact.

program.

Hearing examiner specifically said adoption of generalized policies of a comprehensive plan do not require or even guarantee that implementing ordinances be adopted.

There is no imperative or requirement comprehensive plan policies be implemented through subsequent resolution.

They may be, but they are not required to be, end quote.

As a measure of good faith, I am offering this amendment to address the

specific concerns that we've heard from several stakeholders thank you thank you council member herbal so are there any comments to this amendment one proposed by council member herbal do i see any hands i do not see any hands um before we go To the vote on the amendment, is there anything else?

Are you going to wait till we do the final?

Okay.

Um, then.

Oh, sorry.

What what?

Can you please explain your amendment 1 more time?

I didn't realize we were running on amendment today.

yeah we are yeah i i previewed the amendment in our earlier um discussion um and shared it um prior to the public hearing that we had um the the amendment would return the language that says use transportation impact fees would return it to the current policy that says consider use of I'm offering that amendment as a measure of good faith to demonstrate that the amendment itself, the comp plan amendment itself, does not bind any future council to have such a policy.

Thank you.

Councilman Strauss, you good?

I wouldn't go that far, but.

Okay, well, you don't have any more questions.

No further questions at this time.

Okay, thank you.

All right.

I'm just trying to keep the train on the track here.

All right.

So with that, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of amendment number one?

Council Member Muscova?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Aye.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

And Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Nine in favor and nine opposed.

Thank you.

So with that, we call the roll.

The bill passes as amended, correct?

No, I'm good.

I skipped a step.

We got to go back and talk about the underlying measure.

Yes.

Thank you.

Now that the amendment is passed, Council Member Herbold.

Thank you so much.

So the bill before us adds 25 bike, ped, transit, and freight projects that could be eligible for funding.

It restates state law that allows exemptions for low-income housing and other public purposes and describes a possible policy of considering locational discounts for urban centers.

The bill does not establish a transportation impact fee program.

Any proposal to create an impact fee program would need to be separate future action.

People have pointed to the questions about the potential transportation impact fee program as a reason to not support the amendment that would allow for discussion of these very questions.

about transportation impact fees.

For that reason, questions such as how much should the impact fee be?

Is it good economic sense to enact a fee in this real estate environment?

What else besides affordable housing and childcare facility development should be exempt from a fee?

Could fees be lower in some areas to incentivize more development?

How should the fee be collected?

And at what stage of development?

These are not questions for today.

We will not be able to answer these questions until we pass a comprehensive plan amendment.

Those questions would require separate future action.

Asking these questions now in opposition to the amendment isn't aligned with the process ahead necessary to pass and deliberate on a transportation impact fee program.

State law allows the comp plan to be amended only two times a year, once in the annual process or in the alternative during the budget process.

All of us, all council members during the annual comp plan agreed on Chair Strauss' request to not consider any comp plan amendments other than those related to the industrial lands amendment.

we agreed to do that and thus in agreeing to do that we lost our first opportunity to discuss this amendment an amendment that we have voted on uh making a commitment and a promise in four prior uh comp plan docketing resolutions so all this means that during the process consistent with state law is the only time this year that we can hear this amendment So in order to act on Council Bill 120635 this year, the Council is required to vote by November 21st, along with the passage of the budget The public hearing had to take place before the Council could vote.

That's a summary of what's been going on this year.

As far as some of the historical background, in late 2014, the Council authorized development of the proposal, parks and transportation impact fees.

Um, in late 2020, late 2014, the council budget action funding, 300,000 dollars for evaluation of impact fees sponsored by then council members.

Bag shop Burgess and Rasmussen.

2015 the executive response recommended a work program for one development of an impact fee program for parks and transportation and two exploration with the school district of a program for public schools that work continued in 2016 leading to a first draft amendment later that year in 2017 council documented consideration of comp plan amendments for impact fees We made a commitment that the city would consider using the comprehensive and list of priority transportation, including transit, pedestrian, bike, safety and bridge projects.

We could consider funding with a transportation impact fee if a program.

With legislation implementing that program was adopted later.

In 2018, there was a root study and a SEPA threshold determination.

That SEPA determination was appealed to the hearing examiner, who remanded the determination to the council in October 2019. And then the council restated the commitment to the public by passing additional resolutions in 2020, 2021, and 2022. We've seen the letters from groups like, for instance, Seattle for Everyone, who says an approach to consider transportation impact fees should synchronize with a transportation revenue strategy with the Seattle move levy.

A vote in support of this proposal today would allow for this consideration of transportation impact fees together with consideration of the move levy.

I agree that the cost to develop housing should be part of any conversation about future impact fee proposal.

That's why I asked central staff to develop a chart including totals, the cost of housing production.

I think many of us have shared those charts with the public.

Central staff used them as an example for an illustration based on the average transportation impact fee for Western Washington.

Contrary to what we've heard in public comment, These charts, although it doesn't include permit fees, these charts show that the total cost of housing production can actually be lower in Seattle than, for example, Kirtland or Portland, and depending on the type of housing, either similar to 12U and Redmond or substantially lower.

so again these are all conversations that in order to have them and to deliberate on them next year we do need to take this procedural vote to clear the way for those conversations by adding these projects into the comp plan um together with um the reference to um to the uh potential exemptions of a future of a future impact fee if one is enacted thank you

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

I'm going to open the floor.

Are there any comments on the amended bill or the bill that's before us before we go to a vote?

I do not see any.

Oh, I do.

Customers who want.

I will of course vote yes on the bill to amend the comprehensive plan, which is a legally required bureaucratic hoop necessary to allow even the possibility of a vote on corporate developer impact fees.

The democratic establishment has, year after year, used backroom maneuvers to prevent corporate developer impact fees from getting a vote.

For years, they refused to conduct what's called the state-level environmental review, or SEPA review, and I disagree with the people who spoke in public comment for a no vote on this bill.

After years of refusing to conduct the review, then this past September, when the review was finally complete, Councilmember Strauss unilaterally canceled the legally required public hearing.

Now we have before us the comprehensive plan amendments, which is a necessary step, but there is still no bill to actually make big developers pay for the strain they put on our public infrastructure.

The Seattle Mobility Coalition has repeatedly sued to drag out every bureaucratic step.

They are currently demanding the hearing examiner consider the Seattle Mobility Coalition's previous appeal of the environmental impacts review of this legislation.

That is the environmental impacts of taxing big corporate developers.

That's what they're talking about.

And by the way, the Seattle Mobility Coalition has no website, no membership.

They are a legal fiction used by corporate interests to sue the city to stop impact fees and nothing else.

And there can be no question about this being just a benign technical vote.

In public comment this fall, we heard representatives of multibillion-dollar development companies such as Holland Investments, the Downtown Seattle Association, which represents multimillionaires and billionaires, and others wax eloquent about how developer impact fees will harm affordable housing.

This is truly Orwellian and disgusting.

These wealthy elites are profiting right now off making housing unaffordable, and they have the breathtaking audacity to lie by saying that if they have to pay a tiny impact fee, to help build city infrastructure, it will hurt affordable housing.

It's a complete lie.

Big business called allowing a public hearing for this bill, quote, rushing, end quote, this bill, which is frankly hilarious because it has literally been delayed for a decade already.

And I've been on the council for the decade, so I've seen this.

I will vote yes for amending the comprehensive plan to make impact fees a legal option.

To be clear, I do not believe the political establishment will have the courage to actually implement impact fees on corporate developers, but by making it a legal possibility, it is something working people can demand.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

Council Member Nelson.

I would like to read just a small part of a letter that we received from organizations that do have websites, the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber, the Housing Development Consortium, and SEIU Healthcare 1199. are sometimes strange bedfellows, but they all wrote us a letter strongly opposing this legislation.

And the reason is because in their belief, they believe that this will increase the cost of housing.

It says, finally, and most importantly, we are deeply concerned about the impact of transportation impact fees on the production of housing.

Our 3 organizations have been working in coalitions on many actions to increase housing production in our region.

We work to pass multiple pieces of legislation in Olympia this past session that make it easier to build housing.

We are supporting aggressive changes to the comp plan to allow for more housing.

We work closely with our partners at Office of Housing, SDCI, and OPCD on reducing barriers, and we are enthusiastically working to pass the Seattle housing levy later this next month.

That is why we oppose anything that would make it harder or more expensive to build more housing of any type.

now is not the time to deviate from a pro-housing strategy we ask you to vote no on transportation impact fees you know we can debate whether or not this is um uh i tend to go with the experts is what i'm trying to say and that is what gives me pause on on this legislation in in addition to the question about whether or not this is truly procedural etc etc so i just wanted to i have not spoken to this um to this measure in a public meeting before, and I just want to explain my vote coming up.

Thanks.

Thank you, Councilmember Nelson.

Councilmember Morales.

Thank you, Council President.

I won't be supporting this right now, but I want to share a little bit about why.

So within the next two years, in my district, we will see the Judkins Park link station open.

In anticipation of that, there are hundreds, thousands of units going up on North Rainier, as I am Glad that that is happening right now, because it's important that we have within housing within walking distance to the station.

But the areas between that housing and the station, we won't have sidewalks.

There's no plan from sound transit to make sure that those sidewalks are improved.

So, if we want our children, if we want elders in our community to be able to frequent transit, we want people to opt for a walking or biking or, you know.

Transit instead of driving that we need to make sure that that infrastructure is in place.

And we're expecting thousands of people to live and move through the area, an area that is already very dangerous for folks.

without really building out the infrastructure.

So it's important that we begin this conversation.

And next year, we have four different opportunities to improve the sorts of conditions that North Rainier is experiencing and that we see throughout Seattle.

We have the Complete Streets legislation that we're already talking about in the Transportation Committee that I developed with local and national pedestrian safety advocates, former SDOT director, former mayor, to increase sidewalks when we build.

We can pass the transportation levy that prioritizes equitable mobility, meaning that most more balanced investments in a connected network of sidewalks, protected bike lanes, pedestrian zones, and other safe places for people to walk or roll.

We can pass my connected communities legislation that I've developed over the last two years with over 35 community organizations that would cut red tape and provide more incentives to bring equitable development and affordable housing and services to our communities.

And we can pass a much more ambitious comprehensive plan to build a Seattle within reach where everyone can live in a home that they can afford in a neighborhood of their choice with access to services and childcare and and infrastructure that makes it safe and comfortable to navigate their communities.

We can include impact fees in that comprehensive plan update next year.

And I do think that that will be important to ensure also the affordable housing, the social housing that we've been talking about in the last couple of years and really provide the opportunity to build the housing that we need on the timelines and at a cost that can make those developments abundant.

So I do think that this is an important conversation.

I do want to see us include this.

And I think that that is a conversation that we need to have within the context of the larger comprehensive plan update that we're doing next year.

And so I will not be supporting this now.

And I will commit that this is a conversation that I think we need to pass and begin the implementation drafting of the implementation legislation as well.

Thank you, Mr. Morales.

Thank you, customer Peterson.

Thank you, Council President.

I wanted to thank co-sponsor Council Member Lisa Herbold and also our City Council Central staff, both of whom have worked on this issue for over a decade.

Anna Zavartz, the director of the Disability Mobility Initiative, wrote to us and said Seattle is far behind in funding the construction of missing sidewalks.

The Disability Mobility Initiative supports the City Council exploring transportation impact fees as a possible source for the necessity of increasing funding for this essential need.

Let's finally get those sidewalks we've all been talking about built, and we need the funding to do that.

And speaking of advocacy groups, we are taking care of a key concern they raised by reinserting the word consider with Council Member Herbold's amendment.

And colleagues, there's no need to decide based just on advocacy groups alone.

We can and should also consider our constituents.

A statistically valid survey of 1,000 Seattle residents in every district conducted earlier this year by a professional polling firm confirmed what many of us already knew, 75% support transportation impact fees.

We all want more housing.

property taxes are also a cost of housing for multi-family housing and for seniors on fixed income so the impact fee is a one-time cost but property taxes keep going if we're concerned about housing costs yesterday the seattle times editorial board endorsed this legislation to allow for a discussion of these impact fees unfortunately there's been a lot of misunderstandings and misinformation about the legislation But as the Seattle Times points out correctly, quote, the bill to be decided by the City Council on November 21st doesn't enact transportation impact fees.

It simply amends the Seattle Comprehensive Plan to show how impact fees could be implemented should the Mayor and City Council choose to adopt them in the future.

The Seattle Times also pointed out about the decade of delay, stating the council has fitfully contemplated transportation impact fees since 2014, and they've been discussed since the late 1990s at least.

It's past time for action.

So the decade of delay is even more dire because if you don't adopt this amendment to the comp plan today, there's simply not enough time within the next seven months to jump through all the hoops again to have the option available for the public's benefit.

It's because you need to craft the program in the first quarter of next year or so to have it ready as a companion funding source along with the property tax measure for transportation projects that the council needs to approve in July for the November ballot.

So you're not just kicking the can down the road, you're crushing the can until there's nothing left but a big fat property tax following the footsteps of several other big property taxes.

And I'm concerned we'll look back next year with regrets, wishing you had at least preserved the option rather than letting the window of opportunity slam shut on a diversification of funding options.

So the argument about timing that another delay would be better just does not hold water.

But if you vote yesterday to make the option possible for tomorrow, colleagues next year, we'll have the ability and the time to discuss and craft a program.

However, they see fit.

In addition to exempting low income housing, you can insert relevant economic triggers to lower pause the fee during tough economic times.

No one has provided a spreadsheet to show how their return on equity would not pencil because there's not even a fee amount to debate yet because we need to get past this procedural comp plan amendment hurdle so you can have the debate.

So you can tailor the program to address the economic concerns.

Because you can do that, the argument about the current state of housing market also does not hold water.

So colleagues, let's leave it up to the next council.

And the way to give them that option is to give them that option.

And that's by adopting this legislation here and now, or else you're actually shutting off that option and making a choice for the next council that they have no choice.

Give them the choice.

Give them a chance.

Vote yes on this legislation.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

Council Member Strauss.

Thank you, Council President.

I wasn't going to say anything because I've already said things many times over, but I have been moved to speak because of, and I'm not, I have different understandings of what the procedures are than some of our colleagues, which is that this is not a procedural vote.

This would be a procedural vote if it was, if there was a draft rate ordinance or a final rate ordinance paired with the bill.

We heard last week that if we want to amend the 2018 project list in this bill.

which includes projects that are already complete, we would need to pass a new bill to the comprehensive plan.

It would the best way to do this is to pass this comp plan update at the same time as a draft fee ordinance or the final fee ordinance in the same way that we did with the industrial maritime.

So zoning changes that were referenced earlier in this meeting.

So I disagree with the statements that we can't discuss rates without the comp plan amendment.

Best practice in my perspective is to do both at the same time.

Other statements made with the ability to pass this comp plan during the summer with industrial maritime, when those comprehensive plan amendments were passed, transportation impact fees were still being reviewed by the hearing examiner.

Still yet, most comprehensive plan amendments were delayed from this year to next year for the major update to the comprehensive plan.

Um, I'm not going to go into the rest of it just to say that I think that we're operating with different perspectives about the same facts.

And for that, for me, for this to not be a procedural bill, we would want to have all of the work from the hearing examiner finalize.

and we'd wanna update the project list and we would wanna create a draft or final rate ordinance, which as I mentioned, updating the project list would need to happen with the next council anyways, the draft ordinance or the final rate ordinance would have to happen with the next council.

And there is the opportunity to pass this comprehensive plan amendment as a package at that time.

So thank you colleagues.

Thank you for your patience with me.

Thank you before we move on as anyone else before I speak.

Okay, I'm going to speak and then I'm gonna let see customer herbal wants to close this out.

I will be supporting this.

I will be voting.

Yes, because as we shared, and I have taken this position as a, as a lawyer.

Today's action does not establish impact fees, which would need to be done by future council.

It does ensure as council member Peterson said, we does ensure that we preserve that opportunity for the new council.

That the comp plan to be amended to allow impact fees, but no fees will be imposed by this action today.

Um, it is not unusual for discussion of impact fees legislation to span across multiple councils.

In fact, council discussion and public consideration of impact fees as council her pointed out in her analogy.

began in 2014, and it has spanned four councils and multiple mayors.

I will not go through the timeline highlights, but thank you, Council Member Herbal, for bringing us up to speed on the history of this legislation.

Seattle is not the first jurisdiction to consider impact fees.

In fact, today, 74 cities and five counties in the state of Washington impose impact fees.

Other jurisdictions impact fees.

Of the 39 cities in King County, 27 currently charge impact fees.

These include large jurisdictions such as Bellevue, as well as small ones such as North Bend and Milton.

Portland, Oregon also imposes impact fees.

Today's action again does not establish impact fees.

The new council will take that under their wing and have, I'm guessing, I'm sure they will, who will ever be chairing land use, will have a robust discussion and have committee meetings and public comment to have everybody to be involved to speak to that.

So I'm going to leave it at that and let the sponsors know, Council Member Herbal and Council Member Peterson, that I will be supporting this legislation today.

So with that, Council Member Herbal, do you want to close this out or are you ready for a vote?

I couldn't close this out any better than you did then, President.

Well, I got to thank my staff for that.

They've been keeping me.

They're the ones that keep me here.

Okay.

With that, Madam clerk, will you please call the roll on the passage of the council bill as amended?

Council member, no.

Council member Nelson now.

Council member Peterson yes.

Council member so what?

Yes.

Council member Strauss.

No.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

No.

Council Member Morales.

No.

And Council President Juarez.

Yes.

That's four in favor, five opposed.

So four in favor, five opposed.

That means the bill does not pass.

Yes.

It fails.

All right.

But there's always hope in the future.

So with that, let's move on to the rest of our agenda.

These are all the next eight matters have to do with the Select Budget Committee.

So Madam Clerk, will you please read item number two into the record?

Report of the Select Budget Committee, Agenda Item 2, Council Bill 120706, relating to the regulation of network companies, imposing license and fee requirements on the network companies, adding a new chapter 6.700 to the Seattle Municipal Code, and amending Section 3.15.007 of the Seattle Municipal Code.

The committee recommends that City Council pass as amended the Council Bill.

Thank you.

Council Member Herbold, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Madam President.

So it all relates to the regulation of network companies.

And as I think we've discussed in Budget Committee and as well as in my Public Safety and Human Services Committee over the last several years, last three years, to protect a vulnerable and fast-growing sector of Seattle workers, the Council has passed protections.

for app-based workers in discussions of the minimum compensation bill last year and in the discussions of the deactivation rights ordinance this year.

I made a commitment to move forward potential answers to the question of funding the enforcement of this and other app-based worker protections.

During discussion this year of the app-based worker deactivation rights ordinance, we discussed a fee-based approach to support the enforcement.

uh lifting up the um the background from the office of labor standards who noted in their september 11th annual certification on the office of labor standards functions and resources memo that the office is responsible for an enforcement of a wide web of worker protections that cover 54 000 employers and almost 600 000 employees They have a team of 34 employees, and in the memo itself, they touch upon Seattle's leadership in building these protections for app-based workers.

I quote, much of the policy team focus has been on advancing labor standards for non-standard workforces, workers, domestic workers, and independent contractors.

Work is time consuming as few jurisdictions have tackled such initiatives.

Consequently, OLS must create a roadmap rather than relying on the experience of others." We know that OLS exists, center the needs of our most vulnerable workers, and that every law enforced by the Office of Labor Standards aims to address racial and economic disparities. Thoughtful administration of app-based worker positions is work that supports disability justice, gender parity, and racial equity. The legislation itself is a 10 cent per delivery fee, If the app-based platforms choose to pass the fee on to customers, which they don't have to do, it will cost someone who gets a weekly delivery of mixed grocery and non-grocery orders a total of $5.20 a year. The legislation explicitly exempts all grocery orders or orders with all groceries. Just quoting a fantastic letter that we received last week from the Workplace Justice Lab at Rutgers. They described the Office of Labor Standards as one of, if not the most, effective local agencies in the United States. They have recovered nearly $14 million for app-based workers whose rights have been violated. That includes $3.3 million for 10,000 gig workers who are underpaid by Uber Eats, $1.6 million for 600 workers after DoorDash violated a policy paid sick and safely rules, more than 1.5 million of 4,000 workers after Grubhub violated gig worker protections. OLS must have the funding it needs to uphold the law. Their work results in dollars in the pockets of workers. I encourage folks to check out the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement Dashboard. Almost 77,000 workers have received financial penalties resulting from the Office of Labor Standards work since its enactment in 2014. That's impressive stuff, and I'm excited to be able to support them further with this legislation. I encourage your support. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Herbold.

I'm going to open the floor to our colleagues.

Does anyone else have comments to make before we go to a vote?

Not seen any, I just want to thank you council for herbal.

I will be supporting this and I just don't know if the public should probably know you've worked so hard on this.

You've met with so many people and so many stakeholders, and we've changed the language and we had great.

robust debate, as Council Member Mosqueda likes to say, during our budget committee.

Oh, I see Council Member Mosqueda is online here.

So I will be supporting this.

Council Member Mosqueda, did you want to say something before we go to a vote?

No, you said it well.

I just wanted to echo the comments of appreciation and acknowledge as well for the record Council Member Herbold's long history and successful track record on improving labor standards.

As we improve the policy, we also must make sure that there is the funding to do education and enforcement, and that's a great equalizer for workers.

And it also helps those high road employers play by the rules as well and appreciate all the work you've done throughout your time on council.

Specifically, this legislation is, I think, yet another good example of advancing strong labor protections for some of our most vulnerable workers and supporting the office in doing that important education and outreach.

Thank you.

And I just want to add one more thing because customer herbal and I will not be here next year.

Um, customer herbal, you were instrumental and along with council member Gonzalez and a lot of folks on the TNCs, um, the transportation network, and that took a ton of stakeholder work and Oregon.

I mean, just going back and forth, meeting with companies, trying to meet the needs, but always having your North star, making sure that labor and people who working people who do this, Have the opportunity not to be exploited and having an office that's fully funded.

To make sure that we can regulate and implement this law in a good way.

So I want to thank you for that hard work.

Is there anything else before we go to a vote?

All right, I'm not seeing any, so I'm going to go ahead and customer have anything you want to say.

You already said it.

Didn't you?

I did.

Well, the clerk, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

How's the my room together?

Hi.

Council member Nelson.

Council Member Nelson?

Nay.

Council Member Peterson?

No.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?