SPEAKER_38

Good morning.

Public Safety Committee will come to order.

It is 9.31 a.m.

September 10th, 2024. I'm Robert Kettle, Chair of the Public Safety Committee.

Will the Committee Clerk please call the roll?

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Here.

Council Member Moore?

Present.

Council Member President Nelson?

SPEAKER_11

Present.

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Saka?

Here.

Chair Kettle?

SPEAKER_38

Here.

SPEAKER_52

Chair, there are five members present.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you very much.

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

Hearing and seeing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

I want to thank everybody for coming out today.

I really appreciate it.

THIS IS SO IMPORTANT TO HAVE PUBLIC COMMENT, PLUS ALL THE EMAILS.

MAYBE YOU SENT EMAILS, HAVE CONVERSATIONS, ALL OF THE ABOVE.

IT'S VITAL AS WE GO THROUGH THIS PROCESS.

AND I ALSO WANT TO THANK FOR ALL THE COMMENTS AND ALSO THE SUPPORT GIVEN THROUGH THE SNAPS.

AND I OFTEN NOTE THAT THIS SIDE SEEMS TO BE A LITTLE STRONGER WITH THE SNAPS WHEN YOU'RE SHOWING APPRECIATION OR SOME TYPE OF YOU KNOW RESPONSE TO THE SPEAKER AND THIS SITE TENDS TO BE A LITTLE QUIETER SO BUT I'M HOPING THAT ALL OF US CAN WORK THROUGH THE SNAPS QUITE WELL AS WE GO THROUGH TODAY.

I ALSO WANTED TO NOTE SEPARATELY THAT YOU KNOW WE'RE FACING MANY PUBLIC SAFETY CHALLENGES ACROSS OUR CITY TO INCLUDE AREAS LIKE THIRD AVENUE AND AURORA.

IN PREVIOUS MEETINGS WE HAVE CALLED FOR IN ONE SEATTLE WAY TO ENGAGE THE COUNTY BEYOND THE KING COUNTY JAIL TO THE KING COUNTY SHERIFF AND KING COUNTY METRO TRANSIT SECURITY.

AND I JUST WANTED TO SAY PUBLICLY THANK YOU TO SHERIFF COLTON DELL AND FOR THE SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENTS FOR THEIR EFFORTS THAT HAVE STARTED ALONG THIRD AVENUE.

IT IS SO IMPORTANT AS WE SEEK TO IMPROVE OUR PUBLIC SAFETY POSTURE THROUGHOUT THE CITY BUT PARTICULARLY THESE CHALLENGING AREAS LIKE THIRD AVENUE AND AURORA.

Separately also, our criminal justice system is very important to our public safety posture to include its impacts on the permissive environment throughout our city that we face.

And so I wanted to also thank the King County Council for their vote on the Juvenile Detention Center.

Their approach of incorporating the idea of compassion and wisdom will help those young people in crisis while protecting the neighborhoods and communities that sadly have been tragically impacted by violence and truly sadly many times by young adults.

So I wanted to thank both for their efforts in this area that we've been seeing out in our streets today.

Okay, we will now move open to the hybrid public comment period.

Public comments should relate to items on today's agenda or within the purview of the committee.

Clerk, how many speakers are signed up for today?

SPEAKER_52

Currently, we have 50 in-person speakers signed up, and there are 57 remote speakers.

SPEAKER_38

Okay, each speaker will have one minute, as time allows.

We will start with in-person speakers, and let's go approximately 10 per slot.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

The first in-person speaker is Emi Koyama.

SPEAKER_38

Can you read out a couple at a time?

And please start to line up when you hear your names called.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our first speaker is Emi Koyama, followed by Bingo, and then Mackenzie Rainer.

SPEAKER_38

Either one will work.

By the way, these are flexible ones for the taller folks.

Mic's on?

SPEAKER_52

It should be.

SPEAKER_33

Hello?

Is this on?

Okay, good.

Can I start?

Yes, please.

Thank you.

Good morning, council members.

My name is Emi Koyama.

I'm with the Coalition for Rights and Safety for People in the Sex Trade.

I also run a street outreach for women who are working along Pacific Highway in South King County.

So I have that experience.

I appreciate Council Member Moore's amendment to remove the people who are working on sex trade from the exclusion zones.

But this bill still criminalizes further the people who are engaged in sex trade.

and it targets them, it scapegoats them for the violence that they are not committing, and it increases the difficulty for people accessing services and people doing outreach.

Providing services to population requires relationship building and long-term consistent presence in the community, just building.

And that is difficult when you are also the person who is policing the neighborhood.

So police, even in the best circumstances, the police is not the great way to access those women and people in sex trade.

Thank you.

And so we need to fund services and outreach that's by the community, rather than the police, using the police to course people into truth.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next speaker is Bingo, followed by Mackenzie Raynor and Kristen O'Donnell.

SPEAKER_16

Good morning.

My name is Bingo, and I'm here today because I'm a disabled survival sex worker and performer in District 7, and here to oppose the prostitution loitering slash soap bill.

What this bill proposes will take away the important community and resources that we desperately need.

I depend on client and gig work to pay my bills.

Passing this bill will take away an essential income for me, one that I need to stay alive.

Passing this bill could kill me.

It will kill my friends.

Criminalization never saves.

It never takes away what it seeks to.

This is already known.

seen time and time again.

All it does is cause further harm to the community it seeks to control.

All this bill will do is put my friends and I at higher risk.

This bill will put us in desperate situations again.

It will kill us.

I need you to hear me and see me as a person.

Passing this will force a crisis on me and my friends.

I will not be able to earn for what I need in order to survive.

I do need my work.

My friends do.

Don't take away our work from us.

Listen to us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next speaker is Mackenzie Rayner, followed by Kristen O'Donnell and Anita Kondal-Wall.

I am probably mispronouncing that.

Please forgive me.

SPEAKER_50

My name's Mackenzie and I'm here to oppose the soap and soda measures.

Soap would allow Seattle police to arrest people for being perceived as sex workers.

This is dangerous and harmful for a lot of reasons and always results in racial profiling and perpetuates a myth that sex workers look a certain way, which is simply untrue.

There's undoubtedly a safety issue in Aurora, but if you actually cared about public safety, you would consider doing something like banning guns and decriminalizing sex work.

As for the soda laws, you can't force somebody to get sober.

Trust me, I've tried it and it doesn't work.

No matter how many times I poured somebody's alcohol down the drain or how little money they have, they always find a way to get more because that's how addiction works.

If you actually cared about public safety in terms of drug use, you would consider making treatment more publicly accessible, setting up harm reduction centers or safe injection sites, but that's not what you want.

You want an excuse to ban poor people from different parts of the city.

Like you heard last month, this is also a civil rights issue.

Start listening to the communities you claim to protect and do not pass these measures.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next speaker is Kristen O'Donnell, followed by Anita and Austin Field.

Yes.

SPEAKER_42

Excuse me?

Yes, we can.

SPEAKER_47

Thank you.

SPEAKER_42

Okay.

Um, Mr. O'Donnell, and I'm representing the Yesler Terrace Community Council, and I hope when we get to the amendments, you have amended the boundary.

I actually hope you weren't doing this.

It doesn't work.

It doesn't make it stop.

It moves it.

Um, what we are dealing with here is the...

The blue line there along Yesler is the boundary between the East Precinct and the West Precinct.

The red line is the north boundary of the soap area.

There is no north-south streets between Yesler and Main Street.

That area doesn't get patrolled.

In the last year, we have had two murders, Building 13, Building 8, overdose death outside of Building 6, an encampment outside of Building 6 that was a drive-up McDonald's drug dealing place.

We have frequent gunshots.

We shot out a window in one of our buildings last week.

Parks Department was closed down because they were receiving death threats.

If you have to do this and you should, please, please, please move the boundary north to Balder.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_42

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next speaker is Anita, followed by Austin and Bonnie.

SPEAKER_74

Good morning.

My name is Anita Candela.

I'm the King County Public Defender, and I'm here in opposition to the proposed ordinance to revive the use of soda zones.

My office has already registered our opposition to the ordinance generally, but today I'm here to draw your attention to an operational issue with proposed Soda Zone 5 contemplated in Amendment 3. As currently crafted, the zone presents a near certainty that DPD clients subject to soda orders would violate them in order to meet with their attorneys.

Although our office is right on the border of the proposed zone, the most direct path from the King County courthouse to our office runs straight through the proposed zone.

We understand that the draft legislative text includes an exemption for scheduled meetings with legal counsel, but this accommodation is largely useless.

Many of DPD's clients do not have stable housing and consequently have difficulty adhering to scheduled appointments.

They frequently drop in to see their lawyers without an appointment.

Even in a circumstance where someone was arrested for violating a SOTA order and they did in fact have an appointment, the lawyer could not disclose that fact because it is privileged.

Further complicating matters, their attorney would become a material witness to any proceedings involving the alleged violation.

This would require the city to pay for an additional...

Thank you.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_38

And I recognize there's feedback or secondary speakers, so if you hear, like I can hear my voice echoing out, I apologize, we're working on that.

SPEAKER_52

Our next speaker is Austin, followed by Bonnie, and Suresh.

SPEAKER_66

My name is Austin Field.

I am a King County Public Defender.

I'm a member of SEIU 925. I'm a homeowner, and I'm opposing both the SOAP and the SODA ordinances.

I'm opposing these ordinances because they're nothing.

You haven't proposed any resources.

You haven't proposed any personnel.

You haven't proposed any strategy.

This is theater.

This is all talk.

This is no action.

You are issuing a proclamation that says that activity that's already illegal is now a little bit more illegal.

That's nothing.

And you're going to lock up a few people just like you did on the drug ordinance, use them as props, and then forget about them and move on to the next piece of theater.

And you're going to expect people like me to clean up the mess that you have made through your ignorance and through your performative antics.

And you should be ashamed of yourselves for wasting people's time and for failing to propose real solutions to serious problems.

SPEAKER_38

As a reminder, please, please express yourselves with the snaps.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next speaker is Bonnie, followed by Suresh, and then Christy.

SPEAKER_21

Seattle committed to the welfare and not recrimination of those who have been trafficked would not be escalating.

Until every sex worker and person engaged in sex trade can safely report abuses, no woman is fully safe to report sexual assault at work.

A Seattle commit to act against human trafficking would not have executed 2,827 homeless weeks in 2023, seizing untold amounts of personal documents, no different from any trafficker.

A Seattle principal to act against trafficking would have not neglected asylum seekers and banished them to Kent.

A Seattle committed to provide respite for working women and all those doing sex work and sex trade in hock to misery would not be sabotaging social housing.

Only ghouls speaking hollow words would be trying to sabotage minimum wage and also trying to be speaking of rescue.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next speaker is Suresh, followed by Christy, and then Madison, and after Madison, we will turn to remote public comment.

SPEAKER_03

Hi, my name is Suresh Chandigam.

My wife and I and our three children live in District 3, just outside of Little Saigon.

I'm a member of Tech for Housing and speaking on behalf of our organization in opposition to the soda and soap legislation and in solidarity with sex work, LGBTQIA+, and anti-violence organizations.

There's a reason we repealed our prostitution loitering laws.

They don't work.

They don't keep me and my family safer, nor do they prevent trafficking and exploitation of sex workers.

Poverty and financial instability, largely driven by the high cost of housing, are the root cause of most violent property crime in our city.

Rapid access to safe housing for trafficking victims and people struggling with substance use disorder is what will keep my family safe.

That's a proven model to ensure everyone is safe in equitable cities around the world, like Amsterdam.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next speaker is Christy, followed by Madison, and then again we're moving to remote comment.

SPEAKER_45

Thank you.

My name is Christy Kunstman Stern.

I am an attorney with Sexual Violence Law Center, which provides free legal representation to survivors of sexual violence in Seattle and statewide.

We work with people who have experienced sexual violence while engaging in sex work.

Please vote no on the prostitution loitering ordinance.

We share the stated goal of stopping sexual exploitation and trafficking.

Criminalizing the people victimized by violence does not achieve this goal.

Stating a preference for diversion and record sealing is not enough to mitigate the harm this proposed ordinance will cause to an already incredibly vulnerable, stigmatized, and isolated population.

By state statute, sealing a misdemeanor requires a three-year waiting period.

This proposed ordinance will create a misdemeanor criminal record for the people this council claims to want to protect, which will make it even harder for them to get jobs and housing.

Adding these barriers will increase the vulnerability to trafficking.

If you want to stop sexual exploitation, please support funding for housing support and legal services so survivors can leave.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our last in-person speaker before we move to remote speaking is Madison, which as a brief note, we will be returning to in-person just for the end of this particular group.

SPEAKER_01

Madison.

I'm Madison Zakwu with Strippers Are Workers, Seattle-based organization.

I'm here to read off just a list of the orgs that I am personally aware of who are opposing this bill, who are experts and also represent probably countless constituents.

API Chaya, Accountable Communities Consortium, ACLU, Alliance for Gun Responsibility, Alphabet Alliance of Color, Black Prisoners Caucus Community Group, Chief Seattle Club, Civil Survival, Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence, Coalition for Rights and Safety for People in the Sex Trade, Collective Justice, Cocoon House, Creative Justice, Diversity Alliance of the Puget Sound, Domestic Abuse Women's Network, Evergreen Treatment Services, Gender Justice League, Green Light Project, GSBA, Harborview Abuse and Trauma Center, King County Department of Public Defense, Lavender Rights Project, Legal Voice, Look to Justice, Massage Parlor Outreach Project, Multi Communities, New Beginnings, OPIU.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our first remote speaker is Howard.

Howard, you are, my apologies.

Howard, you are unmuted.

Please click star six to speak.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

We are briefly having some technical difficulties, so we are going to return to in-person comment while we figure out the technical difficulties.

Thank you for your patience.

Our next in-person speaker is Al, followed by Erin.

SPEAKER_38

You can reset the time, please.

I'm working on that.

SPEAKER_34

My name is Elle.

I'm a District 5 resident and Greenlight Project volunteer here in opposition to the Soap Zone bill.

Picking up where Madison left off, here are just some of the other people and organizations who oppose this bill.

City of Seattle Office of Civil Rights, former city attorney Pete Holmes, Roots Young Adult Shelter, Seattle Indian Health Board, Seattle LGBTQ Commission, Seattle Human Services Coalition, Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness, Surgery Productive Justice, Organization for Prostitution Survivors, pro-choice Washington, utopia, youth care, and several of my district five neighbors who were previously in favor of this bill and are now opposed once they learned what it actually entails.

There is broad vocal opposition to this bill, and yet Council Member Moore is still pushing it forward and defending racially profiling and arresting her most vulnerable constituents, despite having been told over and over again how ineffective and harmful it is from previously having these laws on the books.

Between that and obfuscating the memo from city central staff that raised concerns about the bill, it appears to us constituents that Council Member Moore doesn't care about listening to us or maintaining even the appearance of democracy.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next in-person speaker is Aaron, followed by Ryan.

SPEAKER_10

This is on, okay.

My name's Aaron Phillips.

I'm a lifelong resident of District 4, and I'm urging you to vote no on Councilmember Moore's soap zone bill.

Having your life turned upside down by a $5,000 fine and jail time is just gonna make it considerably more difficult for people who are struggling to actually get back on their feet.

This policy would exacerbate income inequality in one of the most expensive cities in the country and drives those who are struggling deeper into poverty.

Decreasing access to resources that people use to achieve upward economic mobility only perpetuates this vicious cycle of poverty.

This policy simply worsens the problems that it seeks to address and throws the working people of Seattle under the bus.

I yield my time.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_38

Naps, please.

SPEAKER_52

Our next in-person speaker is Ryan followed by Jordan.

SPEAKER_64

Hi, thank you.

My name is Ryan .

I am the chief of staff of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, and we are in opposition to the SOAP bill.

The SOAP bill conflates sex work with gun violence, yet gun violence along Aurora Avenue is not driven by sex workers.

Targeting them fails to address the root causes of gun violence and serves to further marginalize vulnerable communities.

Sex workers experience an extremely high rate of violence of all kinds, including gun violence.

More than 80% of sex workers report being the victim of violence, and 30% reported violence of threats or violence from law enforcement.

SOAP does nothing to change the socioeconomic conditions that lead to trafficking, exploitation, or risk of violence.

Fear of arrest may cause sex workers to avoid reporting incidents of gun violence, leading to a significant underestimation and therefore misunderstanding of the problem.

In order to help prevent violence throughout our city, and for sex workers in particular, additional investment should be directed to community-based violence intervention orgs and crisis response teams like the CARE team.

Please consider further investment in the 100 Days of Action, which you've already committed to.

SPEAKER_52

Our next in-person speaker will be Jordan followed by, it's either Hal or Hallie, I apologize.

SPEAKER_02

My name is Jordan.

I work in District 5, and I'm here to ask you to vote no on Councilmember Moore's prostitution loitering law.

If this bill is passed, it will not stop street-based sex work from occurring in Seattle, but it will make it unsafe for workers by putting them at risk of arrest, having them pay up to a $5,000 fine, missing out on income opportunities, and accessing resources.

It criminalizes victims of sex trafficking, further traumatizing them, opening up to more abuse, making it more difficult to access pathways to care and safety as SOAP would restrict access to the Aurora Commons, one of the only resource centers for sex workers and sex trafficking victims.

The reality is this bill will cause an immense amount of harm to an already marginalized community.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_35

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next speaker is Hallie, followed by Ties or Tees.

And again, I apologize for mispronouncing names.

SPEAKER_18

Good morning, council members.

My name is Hallie Willis.

I'm the policy manager at the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness, and I'm a renter and voter in .

I'm here today to oppose the soap, soda, and prostitution loitering ordinances.

We've tried these bans and banishment ordinances before here and all over the country.

We know they are not the right tool.

It won't help people who will be arrested and banished, and it won't increase public safety.

But we know what works.

We know everyone is safer when everyone can meet their basic needs.

Our human services ecosystem can and does move people off the street and into housing, help people recover from addiction, and leave commercial sexual exploitation.

And much of that has been done with city funding.

never funded those programs at the scale that our community needs.

Work with those organizations that have been doing the work to craft good policy and invest in what works, not a tool we know isn't the right one for the job.

SPEAKER_99

Thank you.

SPEAKER_36

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next speaker is Thais Ortiz.

Can you please correct me when you get to the mic?

And then our speaker after that is Aspen.

SPEAKER_12

You can call me Tease.

I'm a concerned Seattle resident.

I'm here to speak out against the soda and soap laws because I'm sick of using city resources on some weird vendetta against poor people.

Study after study and experts here have come and they'll continue to come and tell you that if you really want to reduce crime, you need to reduce poverty.

And we don't want to have that conversation because then we start thinking about the people sitting in front of us are the ones who have the power to actually reduce poverty, but instead they'd rather raise city resources, criminalizing people who are already at the bottom rungs of our society.

If you want to do something actually about reducing crime on Aurora, Third Ave, wherever it is, you need to build housing, you need to make resources more accessible.

That's it.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next in-person speaker is Aspen followed by Joran.

SPEAKER_04

Hi, my name is Aspen Coyle.

I live a five-minute walk north of the proposed Capitol Hill Soda Zone.

I also got up 45 minutes early today to do a full face of makeup because I am very aware of how trans women are held to a higher standard of presentability.

I have a friend who lives just off Aurora, and when I go to her place before night out, I worry the police would see a scantily clad trans woman and worry that I might be engaged in prostitution.

But even if every single police officer was magically immune to implicit bias, this would still be a bad bill.

It attacks the most vulnerable rather than the root causes of drug use and sex work, which are economic.

It also wouldn't reduce crime associated with drug use and sex trafficking.

It would just move it into nearby areas.

Finally, this is a waste of resources.

Seattle has so many programs that desperately need funding, and to allocate precious resources to a plan that doesn't actually help anyone would be a tragic waste.

In summary, this bill just disproportionately targets women, it hurts the most vulnerable, it helps nobody, and it wastes resources.

I urge you to vote no.

SPEAKER_52

Our next in-person speaker is Joran, followed by Kate.

SPEAKER_06

Hello, good morning.

My name is Jordan.

I live on 91st and Northgate, a block off of Aurora Ave in District 5. I do not want to see the city establishing laws that re-enable law enforcement to act on their bias and prejudice.

With this passing, sex workers will be even further dehumanized, the negative stigmas reinforced, and sex workers will face more difficulty finding financial stability in their lives.

I've seen no clear harm from the presence of these individuals on the streets.

I drive up and down Aurora every day, and their presences affect me, and so I fail to see the need for them to be stopped, harassed, and arrested.

The increasing police presence and fast-track development of public air surveillance is what makes me feel unsafe as a queer person of color.

The police have shown time and time again that as public servants, they fail to people and escalate situations far beyond what they need to be.

Sex workers do not make me feel endangered.

What scares me is law enforcement's inability to identify and differentiate actual danger and their proficiency in criminalizing marginalized people.

I do not want to see additional stop and frisk laws that put my community in more danger and even walk like a criminal.

Just a reminder, sex work is sex work.

Thank you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_35

Snaps, please.

SPEAKER_52

Our next speaker is Kate, and then we will return to remote comment.

SPEAKER_56

Good morning, council and community members.

My name is Kate Weldon, and I work in Snohomish County at Cocoon House, an organization that serves young people experiencing homelessness.

As a manager of a program that supports survivors of exploitation, human trafficking, and other forms of violence, I'm here to ask you to vote no on the prostitution, loitering, soap, and soda zone laws.

Although Cocoon House is located in Snohomish County, many of our clients travel regularly to Seattle, including the proposed soap and soda zones.

Our drop-in center used to be located in a soda zone in Everett, where our clients with those restrictions struggled to access services, affordable housing, and connection to their support networks, all due to the difficulties of navigating in and out of the soda zone without incurring more charges.

Even considering the preference for diversion and services for people who are charged with prostitution loitering, there is significant potential for these laws to increase barriers to safety, future employment, and long-term stability for young people who are experiencing exploitation or struggles with substance use.

I urge you to oppose these ordinances today in favor of options and resources that truly address the root causes of exploitation and violence in our communities.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

We are now moving into a period of remote public comment.

Our next speaker is Kit Paul.

Kit, please hit star six when you hear the prompt of you have been unmuted.

SPEAKER_61

I am.

Hello, councillors.

My name is Kit and I live in Councilmember Moore's district inside the proposed soap zone on Aurora.

I'm urging you to vote no on the proposed soap and soda bills.

Bills like this that allow people to be harassed by police for existing in a public space and if arrested, block them from an entire area even before trial is not the right path forward.

We should be moving forward with legislation meant to help and protect the residents of Seattle, not moving backwards with bills that will only increase discriminatory harassment of vulnerable people by police, which is why this law was repealed in the first place.

Even with the proposed amendments, these bills are a step in the wrong direction.

And I hope council member Moore and the rest of the city council can see that this does not represent your constituents' interests.

Again, I am asking you to vote no.

SPEAKER_52

Our next remote speaker is Haley Spencer.

Haley, please select star six.

SPEAKER_55

Hi, my name is Haley.

I'm calling because I'm greatly concerned about the rise in gun violence citywide.

My mom was working at Ingram during the shooting in 2022. It was terrifying.

It had a devastating effect on that community.

That shooting and many others in the city had absolutely nothing to do with sex workers or pimps.

It makes me really angry that the city council tasked with making our community safer is trying to pass off those like soap as something that will lower gun violence.

The Alliance for Gun Responsibility and other groups are concerned that laws like soap will increase gun violence.

We deserve evidence-based strategies for gun violence, not scapegoating of already disenfranchised communities.

Our families and loved ones deserve to be safe in all neighborhoods in Seattle.

I am begging the Public Safety Committee to slow down, work with community groups and propose laws that actually reduce the violence that has increased in Seattle since the start of the pandemic.

I cede my time.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next remote speaker is Trey Sullivan.

Trey.

Trey, you can click star six.

SPEAKER_29

Hi, I'm Trey.

I live in the Oak Tree neighborhood off of Aurora.

And since two years ago, since the law was pulled, we've had nothing but a ton of gun violence up here.

We've had bullets hit our houses, cars, through windows, almost hitting children.

We've seen workers get hit on the streets.

I think something does need to happen.

I do want to vote yes on this bill.

And I also want to continue to say that we do need to ensure that budget is going towards more resources if we are going to go through with this bill to make sure that there's more places and beds for people to go to if they're being taken off the streets.

I also want to mention that the blockade on the 101st has really helped take down a lot of violence.

And I want to continue to see more blockades go up to prevent racing through our streets and guns going through and people easily getting away.

and I'm succeeding my time.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next remote speaker is Kate Rubin.

Kate, please select star six.

SPEAKER_57

My name is Kate Rubin.

I'm the organizing director of the Seattle and a renter worker and voter living in Beacon Hill.

I am deeply concerned about the misinformation that is being conveyed about the proposed soda and soap legislation.

We've tried these punitive approaches before.

They failed and harmed Black, Indigenous, disabled, queer, and trans communities the most.

Seattle has experts with lived experiences ready to contribute how to address the root causes.

But instead, the city gives a platform to Christine Moreland, a shady right-wing mortgage broker from Kirkland.

This continues the pattern of silencing real voices and promoting those who align with city policy.

We've seen this happen repeatedly, from platforming landlords while selling renters commission appointments, to collaborating with lobbyists to undermine the minimum wage to refusing to put I-137 on the ballot in time for general elections.

When the council claims to reject special interests, they're really rejecting the interests of those suffering from their decisions while valuing those who profit.

This is unacceptable.

Vote no on the anti-human soda and soap legislation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next remote speaker is Carson Bell.

Carson, please select star six.

SPEAKER_38

Carson.

SPEAKER_52

Carson.

All right, we're going to go ahead and go to the next speaker, which is Amber Bergstrom.

Amber, please hit star six.

SPEAKER_60

Hi, my name is Amber Bergstrom.

I live and work in District 5, just a few blocks off of Aurora.

I volunteer for Greenlight Project doing outreach twice a week on Aurora's Since 2019, we have provided resources and services for sex workers, drug users, and people experiencing homelessness.

My concerns about the proposed reinstatement of loitering laws with the addition of soap and soda banishment zones are too numerous to list in under a minute.

The loitering laws were repealed in 2020 for being inherently racist, transphobic, and unconstitutional.

The wording of this proposed legislation is intentionally vague and misleading, It doesn't provide any resources for the folks that are most impacted.

It makes promises it can't keep and offers no real solutions.

You can't just banish people from their own neighborhoods.

These laws aren't about helping to solve the root causes of prostitution, sex trafficking, drug use, or gun violence.

They are about excluding unsightly poor and locking them in jail.

These bills do not target the sex traffickers or the people who have guns.

Instead, they criminalize their victims.

Failing people for crimes of poverty will make it harder for them to get jobs and housing.

If City Council wants to clean up the streets, you need to be working on creating more low-income housing, more domestic violence shelters, raising the minimum wage so that people can afford to live here, feed their families.

This is an abysmal lack of domestic violence shelters in Seattle, and they are all at capacity, and there's a wait list.

Most of them won't take any.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

We're going to return to Carson.

Please press star six.

Carson.

SPEAKER_61

Carson.

Hi.

Is my microphone unmuted?

SPEAKER_52

All right, we're gonna go ahead and move to our next speaker, Arianna.

Arianna?

SPEAKER_61

Hi, my name is Carson.

Can you guys hear me?

SPEAKER_52

We can hear you now, Carson.

SPEAKER_61

Okay, hi, I'm so sorry.

I was having a hard time with my microphone.

My name's Carson, I live in District 2. I also work at a local community health center mental health clinic in Pioneer Square.

One of the proposed SOTA zones that has been placed in Pioneer Square directly overlays two very large permanent supportive housing sites that serve and house some of the most vulnerable people in Seattle.

It also covers a clinic that serves 100 to 150 people a day, three to 4,000 people a year providing life-saving medication that many of the people who propose the SOTA zone are perfectly acceptable and would like people to be on mental health medication.

However, this would eliminate and keep people from being able to access life-saving care, would keep people from being able to access their own home, and this SodaZone should not be approved.

It's going to dramatically affect people who get life-saving care and Pioneer.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next remote speaker is Arianna.

Arianna, you have the floor.

SPEAKER_61

Hello, my name is Arianna Riley.

The increase in the number of people working on Aurora has more to do with the passage of FOSTA-SESTA and the takedown of low-cost ad sites as a result of that law than anything else.

FOSTA-SESTA also made it much harder for people to advertise for legal sex work such as only fans, camming, and stripping.

FOSTA-FESTA did not stop sex trafficking, just as the SOAP law will not stop sex trafficking or gun violence from occurring.

Trafficking occurs most commonly in construction and farm labor, yet we never hear proposals to arrest all construction and farm workers in an attempt to stop them from being trafficked.

Decriminalizing sex work would reduce the need for pimps to exist, and repealing FOSTA-FESTA would get sex workers off the street.

Much like FOSTA-FESTA did, this bill will increase violence and trafficking.

Vote no on both soda and soap.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next remote speaker is Gabriel.

Gabriel, you have the floor.

Please press star six.

There we go.

Gabriel?

SPEAKER_17

Hi.

Can you hear me?

I'm so sorry.

Yes, we can hear you.

Good morning.

Good morning.

I'm Gabriel Newman, Policy Counsel and Government Relations Manager at GSBA, Washington's LGBTQ Plus Chamber of Commerce.

I'm here to express our support of the proposed soda bill with amendments.

I previously testified to encourage you not to support soda zones until or unless surrounding neighborhoods like Capitol Hill are properly resourced.

I appreciate that you listen to constituents' concerns that soda will relocate the problem by introducing amendments to add soda zones to other areas of concern in the city.

The reason we want to support these amendments is because under the current capacity, of our public safety infrastructure, we see SOTA as an important tool to remove disruptive crises as they occur and prevent crises from reentering the area.

However, we want to make sure that SOTA zones do not result in disparate impacts to our community.

We encourage council to require review of the zones after a period of time, after either through a sunset or a mandatory community-involved review period.

This way, as our safety ecosystem shifts with time, we can ensure that our policies continue to benefit the communities in which they're implemented.

Thank you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next remote speaker is Allison.

Allison, please press star six, and you have the floor.

SPEAKER_59

Good morning, council members.

Can you hear me?

SPEAKER_52

We can hear you.

SPEAKER_59

Good morning, council members.

Can you hear me?

We can hear you.

Thank you so very much.

Apologies.

My name is Allison Isengard.

I'm the director of the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness.

We're a rate paying member of the Pioneer Square Business Improvement Area.

I am here to speak, of course, in support of the eloquent folks who are talking about the SOAP proposal and the prostitution loitering proposal.

But I'm specifically asking you to pay attention to our remarks about the SODA proposal.

You received a letter earlier from our organization and others that are representing folks who are doing the work in civil legal aid, in public health, in native-led and youth-serving work among others.

And we're together as community leaders urging you to stop the proposals which are clearly ill-conceived and to bring forward real solutions in collaboration with the expertise and.

SPEAKER_52

Our last remote speaker for this period will be Julia.

Julia.

Please press star six and you have the floor.

Julia.

All right, we're gonna go ahead to Sonatina Sanchez.

Sonatina, please press star six and the floor is yours.

SPEAKER_61

Hello, my name is Sonatina Sanchez and I'm calling to oppose the soda and soap legislation.

And after hearing the previous testimony of our neighbors, I'm urging council member Moore to withdraw this legislation.

Listen to the experts.

Listen to the directly impacted residents.

We need resources to be put into the community-led initiative, like the tenant work group, the affected persons program.

We need appointments to the renter's commission.

All of these have been dragged out.

We've been withholding funds from, and we're not able to actually solve the root causes of why somebody might have to walk a street at night.

You are...

choosing to ignore 99 of the voices who are calling in everybody up and down the economic ladders a prosecutor the king county prosecutor's office if you're not going to listen to the prosecutor's office who are you listening to about this kind of legislation thank you

SPEAKER_52

We will now return to in-person public comment.

And our first speaker will be Peter, followed by Rick and Michael.

SPEAKER_28

Good morning.

Is this on?

Good morning, my name is Peter Condit.

I'm a parent living by 85th and Aurora, and I oppose the soda and soap legislation.

Central staff's memos on these bills effectively label both as racist legislation, stating that black, indigenous, and people of color are disproportionately charged with the crimes described in the bills.

The memos point to poverty, food and housing insecurity, and lack of access to resources as the root causes of drug use and prostitution.

Unfortunately, they also say that addressing these root causes is beyond the scope of the bills, which brings me to ask, why the F are y'all not writing legislation that addresses root causes?

The bills before you criminalize poverty and addiction and exacerbate structural racism.

They provide no resources to individuals experiencing violence, and they target already marginalized community members with exclusion in core areas of Seattle.

By showing some compassion and rejecting both of these harmful bills, you would save money on police enforcement and could instead fund proactive...

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next in-person speaker is Rick, followed by Michael, and then a different Rick.

SPEAKER_22

I was born up here in Swedish Hospital, and until the last meeting, I never set foot in this room, and I have a problem.

My house, I live on 102nd, and I know you all know where 102nd is, and this is key.

Closer to Aurora than Linden, and just looking at that video again, you have a war zone in your city, and the other point I kind of want to try to make is that you see homelessness, you see fentanyl camps, but in this open-air sex market, and I'm like in it.

When I go home, I'm in it.

And it is just the most dehumanizing thing I've ever experienced.

I don't know if this is the best bill, but something needs to be done.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next speaker is Michael, followed by Rick Yoder, and then Shannon.

SPEAKER_25

Good morning, I'm Michael Woody with Visit Seattle.

Last year, over 38 million visitors spent $8.2 billion in our local economy.

supporting 65,000 jobs.

Visitors pay taxes that help to fund programs like affordable housing, transportation, and mental health programs.

The number one things visitors look for in a destination is safety.

That is imperative.

If our street scene is not addressed, we'll soon be unable to overcome perceptions about Seattle that discourage visitation, affect our ability to book conventions, and degrade our economy.

When we celebrate near pre-pandemic levels of visitation, We also hear regularly from visitors who experience or feel like they're in danger downtown.

Seattle is one of the only destinations in the U.S. with the main area of concern located in the heart of the tourist corridor.

That has a severe impact on locals, not just business owners who suffer when money elsewhere, but on those who don't feel safe commuting to downtown.

Soda may not be a perfect solution, but an important step in the right direction to protect visitors.

Thank you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next in-person speaker will be Rick Yoder followed by Shannon and then Elizabeth.

SPEAKER_19

Good morning.

I'm in favor of the Soda Zone, Bill 120835. I'm the owner of Wild Ginger in the Triple Door on the corner of Third Union.

We're the only operating business on that side of the block.

The chronic drug problem has created an untenable situation for everyone.

Users are dying, businesses are suffering, and the tax basis is eroding.

In fact, the only ones profiting are the dealers.

Over the past few years, with the reduction in the police force, the drug problem has only gotten worse.

The criminals know it, and they take full advantage.

Each day and night, I witness violent, scary behavior and see firsthand how the ravages of fentanyl has wasted away so many young, vital lives.

Do you know what it's like to have your customers walk in the first thing they say?

What the hell is going on outside there?

Downtown Seattle generates nearly half the tax basis for King County social services providers depend upon.

The reputation of our city is on the line.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next speaker is Shannon followed by Elizabeth and then Robert Whitehorn.

SPEAKER_30

My name is Shannon Perez Darby.

I'm a survivor of gender-based violence and a queer person who's been advocating on behalf of my own queer and trans communities in Seattle for the last 17 years.

Exclusionary zones are not new.

They are not new nationally, and they are not new locally.

They were overturned for a reason.

They do not work.

Making the lives of vulnerable people harder will not decrease gun violence.

We know what these bills will do.

Exclusionary zones like soap and soda will hurt people of color.

They will hurt survivors of gender-based violence and exploitation.

they will hurt our queer and trans communities if passed soap and the prostitution loitering bill will do what all previous iterations have done it will be used to target our and criminalize our beloved trans communities please the prostitution loitering promotion soap and soda bills and instead working with our communities and providing meaning support to

SPEAKER_52

Our next in-person speaker will be Elizabeth, followed by Robert Whitehorn and Heather.

My name is, oops, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_08

My name is Elizabeth Nellems.

I work in District 5. We are all here because we are united in serving our economic goal to live in a city that is safe for anyone who chooses to live here.

The people you serve have expressed real fear, and this council is not only failing them, but insulting them by pushing bad faith legislation that they admit they know doesn't work.

The council would rather create the quickest option to push the people they don't want to see out of their own neighborhoods than listen to the mountain of dissent from people who would be affected by enforcing and no doubt dealing with the lawsuits related to this bill.

Lastly, I'll note that if this council is so concerned with our city being ruined by women who have been bought, perhaps they should focus their attention on Tanya Wu.

SPEAKER_52

Our next speaker is Robert, followed by Heather, and then Hamsa.

SPEAKER_00

I'm Robert Whitehorn.

I live in District 7. And I want to say I feel for the people who describe the impacts of this terrible scourge on their businesses and their neighborhoods.

But I have to point out that the testimony of people has been overwhelmingly against, and they give very cogent reasons, This legislation will be ineffective and unjust.

And even the people who support the legislation, a number of them have said, and we need more resources.

Washington state has one of the most regressive tax structures in the nation.

We've just been beaten out by Florida in the race to the bottom.

And the United States, compared to other OECD countries, has remarkably low taxes.

What you need to do is address your relationship with other governments to increase resources.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next speaker is Heather, followed by Hamsa, then Katie Spatano.

Katie, you will be the last in-person speaker for this group before we move back to remote.

SPEAKER_43

Hello, my name is Heather, and I'm a resident and homeowner in District 5. I'm here today to ask you to vote no to Councilmember Moore's prostitution, loitering, and soap law.

While I have many concerns with this proposed law, I'm here today to convey that this is not how I want my neighbors and community to be treated.

Council Member Moore claims this bill is a response to concerns on gun violence, and studies have shown that there are many factors correlated to gun violence, and loitering is not one of them.

While this law includes funding for SPD to enforce proposed citations, it does not include funding for social and emergency services aimed at addressing the root causes of gun violence, which many have stated today.

This definition of loitering is extremely vague, and this written language will result in discriminatory enforcement, meaning this law will disproportionately target already marginalized communities that we need to be working to protect and support, not cite and ban from access to housing and other resources along the Aurora corridor.

In conclusion, the loitering and soap law will not directly decrease gun violence and will only target and harm members of my community.

Please vote no.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Hamza is our next in-person public speaker, followed by Katie Spatano.

As a brief reminder, the microphones are flexible.

Please bend them so that you can speak into them for the public record.

SPEAKER_23

My name is Hamza Keser.

I live in District 3, and I'm asking you to vote against both soap and soda.

We know these are failed, racist policies that help no one because we've tried them.

Throwing people who make you uncomfortable in jail isn't solving your problems.

It's letting you pretend the problems don't exist and place the burden of your discomfort on people who cannot afford to have their lives destabilized by an arrest.

Historically, trans people of color have been accused of prostitution solely for being dressed according to their identity.

To that community, this becomes walking while trans legislation.

And while we were told these zones would be targeted last time, Councilwoman Hollingsworth now wants to expand it to Capitol Hill, where it will inevitably be used to harass trans and queer people.

You can pay all the lip service to progressivism you want, but we know that these are regressive, useless, invasive, and cruel policies.

This is one more false promise of a short-term that will only make the city a more hostile place to live for us and our neighbors.

Give us real, long-term solutions for getting vulnerable people off the streets and into safe homes, not jails.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_38

Please, snaps, thanks.

SPEAKER_70

My name is Katie Spataro.

I'm a Seattle resident for the last 25 years, and I'm here to ask that you vote no on the prostitution, loitering, and soap laws.

I think we all have a common intention here, and that is about safety.

That's understandable.

But simply going back to laws that we know were discriminatory and that disproportionately affected women of color and trans people is an ineffective strategy.

We can do better than this.

We know what creates safety, and you've heard it here.

We need housing stability.

We need multi-layers of community support.

We need safety for those most vulnerable and marginalized in our community.

Otherwise, we are not dealing with violence in an effective way.

Please vote no.

SPEAKER_52

We will now be transitioning to remote public comment.

Our first speaker for this group is Julia.

Julia, please click star six.

SPEAKER_38

And as a quick reminder, we're at the one hour mark.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Go ahead, Julia.

Julia, please click star six.

SPEAKER_61

Hello, my name is Julia Buck, and I am a resident of District 6. And I'm calling in to oppose the SODA and SOAP legislation.

I'd like to talk briefly about public safety versus the appearance of public safety.

In the year 2022, SPD did not repair a single rape case with a new victim for prosecution.

And in 2023, less than five were referred.

We have two times as many dedicated detectives for graffiti as for sexual assault and child abuse combined.

Now we're diverting more resources for this probable cause generation legislation.

Why?

Because we're defining public safety as I don't want to see a scary person, which is not public safety.

I urge you not to pass this legislation.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next remote speaker will be Damon.

Damon, please click star six, and you have the floor.

SPEAKER_53

Thank you.

My name is Damon Walkup, and I oppose the soda and soap ordinances.

These ordinances reflect a superficial and misguided approach to complex social issues.

These measures effectively criminalize the very people they claim to protect, exacerbating the cycle of marginalization and neglect.

Instead of addressing the root causes of drug addiction and sex work, such zones drive individuals further into the shadows, stripping them of access to essential services and support.

Such policies fail to consider the socioeconomic factors contributing to these issues, including poverty, lack of mental health resources, and inadequate housing.

By creating exclusion zones, the city shifts responsibility away from addressing systemic failures and onto those already most vulnerable.

This approach not only perpetuates stigma, but also hampers efforts to provide meaningful, meaningful assistance and rehabilitation.

Effective solutions require comprehensive strategies that involve community support, accessible healthcare, addiction treatment programs, and economic opportunities.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next remote speaker will be Alice Lockhart.

Alice, please select star six and you have the floor.

Alice, please collect stars.

Hello, council.

SPEAKER_39

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_58

Alice.

Hello, council.

Hello, council?

SPEAKER_99

Yep.

SPEAKER_51

We can hear you.

SPEAKER_58

Am I there?

Excellent.

I'm Alice Lockhart.

I own a home a block from the proposed Aurora Soap Zone, and I'm saddened that my council member, Kathy Moore, has proposed this fiscally irresponsible, inhumane, and ultimately, as we've heard from so many people, futile legislation.

Over the past 30 years, I've walked often, almost daily recently, in the proposed Aurora Soap, and I have not once in all these years witnessed violence of any kind by a sex worker.

Targeting them makes zero sense.

Stamps look just like everyone else.

The burden we know will be on sex workers themselves, women mistaken for sex workers, and possibly black men who happen to be in the wrong place.

Three quotes from your own central staff memo on soap and soda.

The proposed soda zones are not anticipated to reduce public drug use.

Then what the heck, counsel?

Why are we doing this?

Central staff have not found any rigorous evaluation suggesting that the use of soap orders reduces sex buyers' demand or disrupts sex markets.

That was certain.

SPEAKER_52

Our next remote speaker will be Kai.

Kai, if you hit star six, you have the floor.

SPEAKER_61

Hello, my name is Kai Bagwandan.

Yes, I'm here.

Can you hear me?

My name is Kai Bagwandan.

I am a healthcare worker and I live in District 5. I'm calling to ask the council to vote no on the soap soda laws.

These laws claim to address gun violence, which is a very important issue in this area, but that these laws do nothing to address the root causes of.

This is according to analysis done by the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility.

In fact, these laws have been proven by the city of Seattle to be discriminatory and harm our most vulnerable population.

We want data driven solutions and we need community resources to address the root causes of these issues.

Please vote no against these discriminatory laws.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next remote speaker will be Sarah Lobner.

If I mispronounced that, I apologize.

Please press star six and you have the floor.

SPEAKER_54

Hello, my name is Sarah.

I live in the proposed soap zone and I want everyone to be safe from gun violence where they live.

Doing nothing about escalating violence in our neighborhood can't be the path forward.

We need quick and cost-effective solutions like blocking through traffic from Aurora from racing into our neighborhoods with and without guns.

If this conversation is about eradicating sex trafficking, we need real local data about the ages of sex workers on Aurora.

Everyone in the room benefits from that data, and its collection should be added to this law.

PIMPs should be the focus of enforcement of this law because they are the ones bringing the violence.

If it can't be ensured that my 911 call about a pimp with a gun won't turn into a very bad night for a prostitute, then I'll be very hard pressed to make that call at all.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next remote speaker is Todd Sparrow.

Todd, if you select, as soon as I find you, I apologize.

Oh, wait, Todd, are you online?

Todd is no longer online.

So then in that case, our next speaker, it will be Emily Stone.

Emily, if you select star six, you have the floor.

SPEAKER_61

Hi, I'm from District 4. I'm a resident of District 4. I'm an educator, and I work tirelessly as a volunteer in my own time with my own resources, with my beloved unhoused and insecurely housed neighbors who would be very, very...

targeted and harmed by both of the proposed ordinances today, which is why I am urging you to vote no on both the proposed soap and soda zone ordinances.

I daily walk through the proposed U District zone where I work with my unhoused and insecurely housed neighbors who are suffering from systemic poverty and systemic racism.

They would be targeted, criminalized, and harmed by both of the proposed ordinances today.

It feels like you've drawn this zone in the U District because you know that within the boundaries are the U District light rail, access to public transit, as well as crucial resources like the University Heights Center and the People's Harm Reduction Alliance and other vital resources where our neighbors regularly go for food and survival supplies for living outside and drug use harm reduction supplies.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next remote speaker will be Rita Grace.

Rita, if you select star six, you have the floor.

SPEAKER_63

Hello.

Since you can't see me, I'll tell you I'm of Syrian heritage, so I'm brown.

I have my kids.

We have been impacted directly by people attacking our car while we were in it, trying to cross Aurora.

My son, who would have been walking to Ingraham from our house on First Avenue and 143rd, didn't want to walk because of his interaction with people.

So we moved him to Shorewood High School.

We are pro this bill because we have faced people beating on our car and saying things to us.

And so I believe that there has been a change.

Since 2020 and the rise of trafficking on our streets, there have been a lot more acts of violence.

So that is why I support this bill.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next remote speaker will be Taylor Farley.

Taylor, if you select star nine, you have the floor.

Taylor, please select star six to speak.

SPEAKER_62

Hello?

SPEAKER_52

Hi, we can hear you.

SPEAKER_62

Hello.

Thank you.

My name is Taylor Farley from Queer Power Alliance.

We strongly oppose both orders, SODA and SOAP, as neither one of them prevent crime, nor do they reduce gun violence.

They are vague and broad in language and would only be used against anyone that shows up that are black, brown, indigenous, poor, and LGBTQIA plus individuals, in particular black trans women.

There are better pathways forward, solutions that are safer and more inclusive in Seattle.

Instead of reverting to harmful policies and wasting our funding on laws like soap and soda, we propose that the following solutions created for Seattle and for everyone invest in community services, expand harm reduction programs, decriminalize sex work, strengthen anti-discrimination protections, and promote resolution justice.

We urge you to vote no.

Thank you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next remote speaker will be Andrew Steelsmith.

Andrew, please select star six and you have the floor.

SPEAKER_31

I live a quarter mile away from Aurora on 107th.

I hear a lot of people that don't live here that don't understand the chaos in their neighborhood.

Just two months ago, my fence was hit by gunfire with a known pimp firing at another pimp in our alleyway.

Three feet higher than it would have hit my kid's window.

Just last week, a motorcyclist picked up a woman on 107th, put a helmet on her, and drove her into an alleyway into our neighborhood.

He had sex with her within 20 feet of the bedroom window of my neighbor's 11-year-old dog.

Another 11-year-old was just rescued from her pimp at Taco Bell.

The SOAP Amendment no longer banishes sex workers from Aurora and includes funding for safe houses.

Like most of you, I believe prostitution should be legalized and regulated.

Legalization starts with regulation, not chaos.

Allowing a man to sell a woman to another man is chaos.

Allowing pimps to compete for our neighborhood as their territory is chaos.

Allowing johns to have sex outside of our homes is chaos.

Pass the laws, block our streets, and let's work together in a framework for legalization.

SPEAKER_52

Our last remote speaker for this period will be Lynette Jordan.

Lynette, please select star six and you have the floor.

Lynette?

SPEAKER_61

I am currently

SPEAKER_52

We can hear you.

Good morning.

SPEAKER_61

Can you hear me?

We can hear you.

Okay.

I'm Lynette Jordan.

I am a citizen of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, and I am the current chief program officer at Chief Seattle Club.

Seattle's stay out of drug areas and stay out of areas of prostitution zones are ineffective and harmful.

These policies criminalize vulnerable individuals instead of addressing the root causes of drug addiction and sex work.

By isolating people and denying them access to crucial services, the city exacerbates their marginalization.

A more compassionate approach would focus on providing comprehensive support, including addiction treatment, mental health care, and affordable housing.

Seattle's proposed strategy fails to address systemic issues and only perpetuates a cycle of hardship rather than fostering genuine recovery and inclusivity.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

We will now return to in-person public comment.

We will start with Marissa Perez, followed by Juergen and Megan Cruz.

SPEAKER_38

And we're approaching quarter two mark at this point, so looking about 15 more minutes.

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_51

My name is Marissa Perez, I live in District 1, and I'm here as the Executive Director of the Seattle Human Services Coalition, a group of over 250 human service agencies across our city to urge you to reject Council Bills 120835 and 120836. Your job as elected officials is to serve all citizens of our city, not serve some at the expense of others.

These bills will not help a single person escape exploitation or substance use disorder, but instead will ensure that they will face further barriers when trying to rebuild their lives.

Our city is not for tourists, it's for our citizens.

We do not want our neighbors imprisoned simply because they have no choice but to display symptoms of their addiction in public.

We want our most vulnerable to be offered safe shelter and the resources they need to thrive, which has all been impossible due to these arbitrary boundaries drawn through our system.

Listen to the experts in this room today who are asking you to consider another approach which does not sacrifice our own community members for short-term results.

Vote no on soda and soap.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next in-person speaker will be Jurgen, followed by Megan Cruz, and I believe it's Cynthia, but I'm happy to be corrected.

SPEAKER_07

Good morning, Council.

Juergen with the Renaissance Seattle Hotel, General Manager and President of the Seattle Hotel Association.

I have a seven-page incident report with me that gives a good example of what our teams and guests experience in our city.

A little recap.

One individual terrorized our team and guests for nearly three hours between the Saturday 11 p.m.

until Sunday morning, 1.40 a.m.

The individual returned six times to the hotel.

Six staff members were impacted.

At least 28 plus guests were impacted.

Five 911 calls were placed.

Police dispatch returned our call around 7 a.m.

on Sunday morning, nearly eight hours after our first 911 call was placed.

At that time, we didn't need any more assistance, but requested for the individual to be addressed at his property.

We are glad that nobody experienced physical injuries despite various...

and we will get over the theft and property damage.

However, what will we not recover from?

The people that were in anguish for the remaining five hours of their shifts, the tax base that we're losing in revenues.

We choose, right?

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next in-person speaker will be Megan Cruz, followed by Cynthia and Adam.

SPEAKER_48

Good morning.

I'm Megan Cruz, a resident in the area of the Third Avenue drug market downtown.

I have two important requests of equal weight.

The first is to support soda legislation.

It isn't a permanent solution to the crisis on these blocks, but it is a tool to disrupt the entrenched ecosystem that grows more lethal each year.

It offers a consequence to longstanding open drug dealing, fencing, gun violence, and assaults that are a part of everyday life in this middle of this residential business and tourist district.

The second request is equally important.

That's to move to a permanent solution by calling for a budget and metric-driven pilot plan to stand up permanent supportive housing with staffing and wraparound drug and mental health services as an option for the hundreds of people on these streets who need our help.

Outreach groups call for jump-starting this effort by reactivating the hotels and apartments used in the pandemic.

For everyone's sake, whatever...

Please require that they come with oversight and accountability.

This is a crisis, so if a plan doesn't work, we need to know why and adjust.

Thanks for your consideration.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next in-person speaker will be Cynthia, followed by Adam, and then Alicia.

Please correct me.

SPEAKER_67

I represent the Downtown Walkers group of 52 women whose average age is 77 years old.

All of us encourage you to approve the legislation.

The quality of those of us who live downtown needs to be more move from fearful danger towards normalcy.

We cannot walk freely to doctor's appointment, Walgreens, public transportation, and local business.

We've lived long enough and been through enough at our age to know without consequences, nothing changes.

Please approve soda as a start.

We view this as a beginning in protecting all of us in the hope that along with soda, you create viable programs to help the fentanyl addicts while prosecuting the drug dealers.

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_39

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next in-person speaker will be Adam, followed by Aliza, followed by Ben.

SPEAKER_26

Hi, my name is Adam Hasson.

I'm the director of real estate for Samus Land Company.

Samus owns 16 properties in downtown Seattle.

In the support of SOTO legislation to disrupt the entrenched drug dealing and drug use in areas around downtown, particularly in support of Amendment Number 3, which creates a SOTO area on 3rd Avenue right here within view of City Hall.

Drug trafficking on this area is out of control, exacerbated by boarded up storefronts.

The clients of the buildings that are above are affected by the drug activity right in front of their homes.

I'm also in support of the Belltown Soto Zone, but I think it crucially misses going one block north.

There's an art project, a mural project in the alley, and there's so much positive stuff there, but all the drug activity is in that alley.

So please consider expanding the Belltown Soda one block north.

Thank you.

One block south, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_52

Our next in-person speaker is Aliza, and I'm sure I'm pronouncing that, so please correct me.

And then our next speaker will be Ben, followed by Gabriel.

SPEAKER_44

Good morning, Chair Kettle and council members.

My name is Elise Bojani, and I'm an attorney with Legal Voice, a regional gender equity and reproductive rights organization.

I am testifying today in strong opposition to the regressive prostitution, loitering, and soap zone ordinances.

We submitted written public comment urging the Seattle City Council to consider the full breadth of research showing that increased criminalization succeeds only in further marginalizing vulnerable communities, particularly trans and cis women of color and immigrants.

This is true regardless of full criminalization or end demand regulatory models.

States like California and New York have repealed their anti-prostitution loitering laws in recognition of the significant harm they cause to communities of color.

Seattle should do no less.

This is thoughts and prayers legislation.

At worst, it actively harms the most marginalized in our city while exacerbating existing problems.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next speaker is Ben, followed by Gabriel, then BJ.

SPEAKER_05

Hello, my name is Ben.

I have worked on Third and Pine for about nine and a half years now.

I think it can't be said enough time that soda is a reiteration of failed policies.

We know it's not going to work.

My concern of what it will do almost immediately is negatively impact organizations that are working downtown and making a difference, such as We Deliver Care and LEAD, which target unhoused individuals who are struggling with mental health and drug addiction, working to get them the help they need, put them on the track to recover.

as well as the downtown ambassadors who do the literal dirty work of cleaning the place.

It's a second-chance organization that hires formerly unhoused people.

All of these people will either be displaced by this, where WDC and LEAD can't track them anymore, and all their work will have been for nothing, and who's going to clean downtown if we're marking all these people and shuffling off in other places?

So this is a terrible idea.

Please vote no.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next in-person speaker is Gabriel, followed by BJ, and then Jessica Norton.

SPEAKER_15

Hi, folks.

My name is Gabriel.

I'm an equity commissioner in the city of Renton, and I'm here today to speak out against soap and soda.

You've heard so many people here today speak, leaders in so many groups that actually do the work that we need done, people who are actually making change and fighting for it.

And they're all saying the same thing, vote no. but the only people here saying yes are the business owners.

But of course, time and time again, that is what the city listens to.

They do not care about the people, they cannot care about the poor people who they're claiming to help with this, because they will actively be displaced by this.

I have many friends who are sex workers who will be killed because of this legislation.

I have many friends who are poor and will be affected by these.

We have people who go out and feed the homeless every day, and their ability to do their work will be affected by this legislation.

At the end of the day, you need to listen to the people, not the businesses.

We make change.

We're the people, not just the people who have money.

Thank you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Our next speaker is BJ, followed by Jessica, and then Kevin Dares.

SPEAKER_24

Good morning.

My name is BJ Last.

I'm a Ballard homeowner, and I absolutely oppose soda, soap, and all loitering laws.

These are just an expansion of the new war on drugs that Council President Nelson and City Attorney Ann Davison begged and bullied the Council to pass last year.

And do you remember, Council Member President Nelson, y'all were promising the priority was going to be diversion and services, and hey, that never existed.

Instead, a year later, you're up to ramp up criminalization.

And we know why the reason is.

This was never about reducing drug use.

Your own legislation admits this ain't going to do a darn thing about that.

This is about disappearing people that you don't like.

Disappearing people, Chief Farrar describes as scary looking.

And we know who that is.

We've known this since the original war on drugs when Nixon admitted it was just to criminalize black people.

We know this because we see how SPD enforces things.

Hey, black people are stopped seven times more often than white people.

White people are given diversion at much, much higher rates than black people.

Black people get much, much longer prison sentences than white people for the exact same crimes, which again, your central staff memo, the experts you all supposedly listen to, point out that this is exactly what's going to happen.

We know this is going to happen.

We have history.

This isn't a, oh, let's wait, see, run another frickin' new study.

We all know this is the case.

Claiming that this isn't, claiming that this is anything else other than we know the same failed policies that give us massive racial disparities is a lie.

This is being done exactly to do this.

We have to admit this is to get those scary looking people out of the way and who a lot of the business owners think are the scary looking people.

Who is it that they want disappeared?

It's our BIPOC community members.

It's our LGBTQIA community members.

Thank you.

It's any poor community members.

That's all that this is out to do.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Next please.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_52

Our next public speaker will be Jessica, followed by Kevin, and then Adriana.

SPEAKER_49

Good morning.

My name is Jessica Norton.

I've owned a small business in Belltown for 20 years, and I am a person as well as a business owner.

Belltown has the largest concentration of social services in King County.

I'm proud of this and share my block with three of these programs, including DSHS.

Many of the clients seeking services struggle with addiction.

Dealers know their client base.

They work directly outside DSHS, REACH, the mobile methadone clinic, and in front of transitional housing.

They are the biggest deterrent to accessing services.

The swarm of dealers is often so thick, On the sidewalk, we are forced to walk on the street on 2nd and Blanchard.

People overdose and many die in front of the government offices that are supposed to be helping them.

I have witnessed three this year.

The impact on our neighborhood is huge, making us more vulnerable to crime, property damage.

This person was attacked with an axe in Belltown.

If Belltown is not included as a Soto zone, you endorse an open-air drug market to be embedded inside a concentration.

Thank you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_40

I'm here to speak on why if you do approve soda, you need to include Belltown.

And we do.

We talk and we talk and we talk and we talk and nothing ever changes.

And it's absurd.

So today I want to lean into the absurd because today something does change because today I no longer talk.

Today I sing.

What are we doing?

SPEAKER_41

I say, what are we doing?

Yeah.

I got addicts clogging sidewalks, dealers in the street, grandmas running scared, saying, oh, please don't assault me. walking around saying what the hell is going on?

And business has been too rough for far too long.

But we keep on hearing but nothing ever gets done.

And if you exclude Belltown, what the hell are you smoking, son?

What are we doing?

SPEAKER_38

Yeah, come on.

OK, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_52

Thank you.

We have one more speaker.

SPEAKER_38

Adriana.

Thank you very much.

Next.

Adriana, call Adriana.

SPEAKER_36

Adriana, call Adriana.

Call Adriana.

SPEAKER_52

Adriana, it is now your turn to speak.

Adriana, it is now your turn to speak.

SPEAKER_38

Okay, for our last public commenter.

SPEAKER_52

Our last speaker is Adriana or Adriana.

I am probably mispronouncing this terribly.

Please correct me when you come to the floor.

SPEAKER_69

My council members, my name is Adriana Sulu.

I serve as the policy director for Utopia Washington and a daughter of initiatives that honors the autonomy of those most impacted by these bills.

As someone with the lived experience and also have provided support systems for sex workers, soap and soda will definitely impact our community.

but not only just sex workers.

It will also filter down to those not in the industry for the policing of how you walk, talk, and dress.

These systems of criminalizations impact the safety and welfare of those we aim to support.

Sex workers don't need interventions.

We need rights.

It is how we can collectively create systems of care and safety.

This work is real work.

Vote no on soap and soda.

Thank you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_38

We will now proceed to our items of business.

Members of the public are encouraged to either submit written public comment on the sign-up cards available on the podium or email the council at council at seattle.com.

Thank you.

I also wanted to thank the lady who brought the map.

I really appreciate it.

I understand what you were saying.

We are listening.

SPEAKER_37

And I also wanted to note, I also wanted to note that, you know, the Public Safety Committee, please, please, thank you.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_38

then max 60, then we've gone an hour and a half.

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_37

I appreciate it.

Sir, thank you.

And so I want to say that we have been listening.

We have been listening.

And I wanted to note, for example, the map.

And I also wanted to note that this is the...

I wanted to note that I was listening, and I recognize that this gentleman is not letting me do this, the points that are being made.

And I think it's important for everyone to understand that the Public Safety Committee, you know, belongs to the...

falls under our jurisdiction.

The nine...

the nine entities, Seattle Police Department, fire, and the like.

And so we need to work with the human services pieces, land use, housing.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you very much.

Your disruption.

Thank you.

Goodbye.

Security.

Thank you.

This is the Public Safety Committee meeting.

This is not a public hearing.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Security, thank you.

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_32

Is our microphones on?

Are our microphones on?

Point of order.

SPEAKER_37

We'll have a five-minute recess.

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_32

Is our microphones on?

SPEAKER_99

Thank you.

Thank you.

do do

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Moore.

Present.

Council President Nelson.

Present.

Council Member Saka.

SPEAKER_38

Here.

SPEAKER_52

Chair Kettle.

SPEAKER_38

Here.

SPEAKER_52

Chair, there are five members present.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you very much.

And as stated, we will continue with council business.

I do want to thank again the lady who was here.

Here.

SPEAKER_35

This is a verbal warning regarding outbursts and failure to follow the direction of the presiding officer.

Security.

Sir, you've been asked multiple times.

Sir, security, please.

Escort.

SPEAKER_99

Thank you.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, security.

Yes, I recognize that he's not following your direction, and I believe, so yes, please call the police.

SPEAKER_14

Mr. Chair, point of order.

I note the continuing, ongoing, disruptive, harassing, bullying behavior we're observing here, disrupting our everyday business.

I fully support your efforts to restore order and any decisions you make.

SPEAKER_35

You have been...

Sir, the police have been called.

You are a disruption to this...

The police have been called.

We will have now a 10-minute recess.

SPEAKER_99

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_47

Bye.

SPEAKER_99

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

you Thank you.

so so you Bye.

SPEAKER_47

Thank you.

SPEAKER_99

Thank you.

you Thank you.

Thank you.

you

SPEAKER_38

Clerk, will you please call the roll?

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Here.

Council Member Moore?

Present.

Council President Nelson?

Present.

Council Member Saka?

SPEAKER_38

Here.

SPEAKER_52

Chair Kettle?

SPEAKER_38

Here.

SPEAKER_52

Chair, there are five members present.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you.

As we move on, I just wanted to note our council rules describe the acceptable conduct during a council meeting.

Members of the public here today have engaged in disruptive behavior by shouting and impeding our council business.

Those individuals that were shouting and have refused to comply under my direction under council rule 11D1B and I THEY HAVE BEEN ASKED TO LEAVE IN ORDER TO RESTORE ORDER SO THAT THIS BODY CAN CONTINUE ITS MEETING UNDER RULE 11D3, CHARLIE.

THE INDIVIDUALS HAVE NOT COMPLIED WITH MY DIRECTION BY AS PROCEEDING OFFICER, PRESIDING OFFICER, AND THEY ARE CONSIDERED TO BE TRESPASSING AND LAW ENFORCEMENT HAS DISCRETION TO MAKE THE ARREST.

AND AS YOU KNOW, HAVE BEEN HERE AND SPOKE TO THE INDIVIDUAL INVOLVED, PRIMARY INVOLVED.

REGARDING PUBLIC COMMENT, IT IS CLOSED.

And I wanted to note, as I was saying before, thank you for everyone that's been here.

I appreciate it.

I wanted to, as I was saying before, thank you, ma'am, for your map.

These little pieces of information are key, and we have been receiving this in many different manners, but to have it here in public comment is great as well.

I also note that this is the Public Safety Committee.

Our jurisdiction is over nine departments and agencies and the like, and that's our focus.

Now, we do work with human services, land use and housing and education, but those are other committees.

And I recognize the points that were being made, but those will be worked through committees.

As part of this process too, We've been working with the executive on this front in terms of the services piece of it.

And I know there's different places that are being worked up.

I have no details, but that piece is being worked.

But that is a separate piece from what we're looking to do today.

in the Public Safety Committee.

I also wanted to note, one of the public commenters made a great point regarding reaching out to different entities, all levels of government.

And that is something that we are doing on a regular basis.

Whether the county, opening remarks, we're doing that.

The state, as I've often noted, mental health is a state function and we've been advocating, we need to advocate better As I've often said in small groups, I'll say it here.

Last year, we were number two in college football.

And I've said often, imagine if we were number two amongst the 50 states in mental health spending over the last decade.

How much capacity would that give us?

and then having that capacity on the public health side, what would that do for our public safety?

So to the gentlemen that made that point and others that made similar points, yes, that is very key and I appreciate the public comment on that and we will engage in our other committees as a full council to do that.

And I just wanted to note too that There's a lot of different types of public commenting.

I've had countless meetings in Belltown, for example, with different constituents, and we've all done that.

We've had countless emails, small group meetings, meetings in our office, meeting in community, and the like.

And so there's a rich breadth of public comment that we're receiving in addition to that we have here in our Council Chambers.

So with that, I just wanted to make that note.

And again, thank you for everyone, ma'am, for your public comment.

I appreciate it.

And now with that said, we will now move on to our first item of business.

Will the clerk please read item one into the record?

And I'm here to say that this plan is MD versus MD.

SPEAKER_65

For years, we've been dealing with North Little Saigon problems with only minor blips of accidents.

SPEAKER_32

Point of order, Mr. Chair.

Point of order, yeah.

Point of order, Mr. Chair.

Disruptive behavior during this meeting that we have to continue to be, we have guests here who are going to talk about their lived experience, so we can continue this.

Thank you.

Point of order.

If you want to send in your public comments, you can do that.

Point of order.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Council Member Hollingsworth.

SPEAKER_32

Mr. Chair, disruptive behavior, point of order.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you.

As the presiding officer, I'm giving you a verbal warning about what is happening right now with your commenting, which is in violation of Council Rule 11D, outburst by members, and also the failure to follow the direction of the presiding officer or the security officer.

SPEAKER_65

Before they vote on the soda legislation, to say the last time they were in Saigon, because all of you are going to vote for legislation on a place that probably none of you have been.

SPEAKER_11

Chair, this is disruptive behavior.

SPEAKER_37

Thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_38

Clerk, please read item one into the record.

SPEAKER_52

Council Bill 120835, an ordinance relating to stay out of drug area soda zones, creating the ability to issue written orders to criminal defendants describing conditions of their pre-trial release or post-conviction conditions.

of sentence, creating soda zones and providing for both the issuance of court orders relating to those zones and administration of those zones, creating the gross misdemeanor of violating a soda order and adding a new chapter 12A.21 to the Seattle Municipal Code.

SPEAKER_38

I move that committee recommend passage of Council Bill 120835. Is there a second?

SPEAKER_11

Second.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you.

It is moved and seconded to recommend passage of the bill.

As chair, I will give a brief remarks regarding council bill and then introduce central staff to give their presentation on it.

Respect to this bill, our neighborhoods are hurting.

Drug dealers have preyed on the vulnerable in crisis, creating tragedies on an individual basis.

SPEAKER_15

You're going to make the problem worse to make the chamber feel better.

SPEAKER_37

As the presiding officer, I am giving you a verbal warning about what is happening that is in violation of Council Rule 11D, both outburst A and also the failure to follow direction of the presiding officer of the security officer.

SPEAKER_47

Thank you.

SPEAKER_11

Council Member Hollingsworth, are you able to hear the proceedings?

SPEAKER_37

Madam, Madam, Madam, Madam, as presiding officer, I'm giving you a verbal warning about what is happening and in violation of Council Rule 11D, both outbursts and failure to follow the direction.

SPEAKER_38

You know, as I was saying, our neighborhoods are hurting.

Drug dealers have preyed on the vulnerable in crisis, creating tragedies on an individual basis, but also on a neighborhood basis.

Neighbors have been assaulted, placed under threat, and unable to create, have and or create community.

Businesses have been struck.

where the labor community, both in baristas and coffee shops and retail, have also been assaulted, threatened on a daily basis, and many times have lost their jobs because the businesses could not thrive and survive in this environment.

This bill will not solve in itself what we're facing, but will disrupt the drug trade, building on the lessons learned from previous versions and following a data-driven approach to achieve the goals in our strategic framework plan I recognize the arguments made against the bill in emails, conversations, and op-eds.

I'm reminded by my math classes when we were to solve for X.

The challenge here, going back to the idea of compassion and wisdom, is that X cannot be defined as just those in crisis.

I agree with the points often made, even here in this public comment period, that we should help those in need.

But compassion with X needs to also have the wisdom piece so that the whole of the community and neighborhood IS ADDRESSED AS WELL.

WE AS COUNCIL MEMBERS HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO LOOK AT THE WHOLE OF THE CITY, THE WHOLE OF OUR COMMUNITIES AND THE WHOLE OF OUR NEIGHBORHOODS, WHICH REALLY WILL ALLOW US IN THE LONG TERM TO HELP THOSE, AGAIN, IN NEED.

NOW, WITH THAT SAID, WE HAVE TWO MEMBERS OF CENTRAL STAFF HERE, MR. DOSS AND MS. GORMAN.

OVER TO YOU.

SPEAKER_27

Greg Doss, central staff, here to present with Ann Gorman, and we will be walking you through a number of amendments that the council has to this bill.

SPEAKER_30

Okay.

SPEAKER_38

While this is going on, I just want to recognize that Council Member Rivera has joined us.

Ms. Gorman.

SPEAKER_73

Ann Gorman, Council Central staff.

I will introduce Amendment 1 to Council Bill 120835. It is sponsored by Council Member Saka, and it concerns judicial considerations for soda zones.

Excuse us for just a moment.

Sorry for the confusion on our part.

Amendment 1 is, in fact, a technical amendment sponsored by Councilmember Kettle.

I wonder if the clerk could put it up on the screen so people can see it.

Wonderful.

Thank you, Rebecca.

This is a technical amendment sponsored by Council Member Kettle, and it strikes ordinance language that requires SPD to enter soda orders into information systems.

Established practice and applicable labor agreements dictate that these kinds of orders are entered directly into information systems by Seattle Municipal Court staff rather than SPD officers.

It was not the intent of the bill to dictate any change, so this amendment is true to the spirit of the bill.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Ms. Gorman.

Earlier, I also wanted to note and thank all those that have participated in a One Seattle Way to bring this bill to committee.

And as it turns out, with this amendment, and it's not normally, but the Seattle Municipal Court, I appreciate the Seattle Municipal Court and its engagement on this amendment.

I move to amend Council Bill 120835 as presented on Amendment 1. Second.

It is moved and seconded to adopt Amendment 1. Central staff, we've already done that.

Are there any questions or comments on Amendment 1?

Hearing none and seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of Amendment 1?

SPEAKER_52

Councilmember Hollingsworth?

Sorry.

Aye.

Councilmember Moore?

Aye.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

SPEAKER_65

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

Chair Kettle?

SPEAKER_65

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

There are five yes votes and zero opposed.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you.

I will move to amend Council Bill 120835 as presented in Amendment 2. Second.

Thank you.

It is moved and seconded to adopt Amendment 2. Central staff is recognized to describe Amendment 2.

SPEAKER_27

Thank you, Mr. Doss.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Before I get into Amendment 2, I'm going to provide a bit of a high-level overview of the next five amendments.

The next five amendments are amendments that will be adding or expanding soda zones that are in the underlying legislation.

And I want to note that Council Central staff and your offices have worked with the City Attorney's Office The city attorney's office, as you recall, in the August 13th meeting of this committee, presented heat maps showing areas where there was a high amount of drug activity or crime with a nexus to drug activity.

And it was that data that drove the decisions about how to put together the five soda zones that you will now be hearing about and voting on as part of the next five amendments.

These soda zones are consistent with the bill language that is in 12A-21050, which requires that the zones be narrowly tailored to encompass areas of significant illegal drug activity, and also the RCW, which...

requires placement of soda zones where drug sales, possessions of drugs, pedestrian or vehicular traffic, attendant drug activity, or other related associated activity with drug offenses confirms a pattern associated with drug trafficking.

And so the city attorney, as I said, ran that analysis, produced heat maps, and for each one of the areas that you will be seeing, they have been tailored specifically only to surround those areas where there is a pattern of drug activity.

And with that, I can, well, first I'll stop and ask if there's any questions on that, and then I can turn to the specific amendments.

Any questions?

Okay, so start with Amendment 2. Amendment 2 would add a new, an additional, beyond the underlying bills, Soda zones it would add a soda zone to the Belltown area and thank you madam clerk the Boundaries of which are up there on the screen.

It would be established by North Battery Street On the south side by Blanchard on the east by 4th and on the west by 2nd Avenue And so with that I will ask if there's any questions Thank You.

SPEAKER_38

Mr. Doss First, I wanted to note, thank you for that overview as well.

And I can say, because I directly participated working with the city attorney and others on this, that we were doing our due diligence working the data sets regarding the activity of where this drug dealing was happening, where these drug markets are, and to really to refine.

And we took great care as well to restrict them so then they were not including service providers, which was largely accomplished.

Not fully, it was in this one, but in some of the others, not fully, but to the greatest extent possible.

So there was a great amount of due diligence on this, and so I thank you.

I have, as noted in my remarks earlier as we transitioned, I've been to Belltown.

I've walked with so many different groups from church groups that are doing outreach to community groups that are like Broadbase, the Belltown Community Council, Belltown United, other organizations, you know, condo groups and the like.

And this is an area that needs to have this kind of disruption and opportunity to, you know, make a difference for the neighborhood.

So with that, are there any additional questions or comments on Amendment 2?

Seeing none, hearing none, will the clerk...

Yes, Council President.

SPEAKER_11

Thank you very much.

I have some comments about this amendment, but they also apply to the other expansions of this legislation.

So just some...

remarks first.

First, I have to thank you for bringing this forward and also city attorney for transmitting this legislation.

It was carefully crafted to identify and respond to particular problems downtown because clearly what the city's response to the fatal overdoses, the violence, the impacts to businesses that we've already heard is not adequate.

and so we're trying to do something about the situation that we recognize as a problem.

Council obviously has no control over how officers enforce the law, but this legislation provides an additional means for officers and municipal judges to address these problems and is consistent with the recommendation in the city auditor's report that was presented in my committee on July 11th.

and referenced in other meetings, that we take a place-based approach to drug-related crime and overdoses in order to best respond and target our limited police and human service resources.

And because judges have the option of issuing soda and also soap orders, we'll talk about that later, as a condition of pretrial release, they serve as an alternative to incarceration.

Indeed, West Precinct Captain Strand has explained about the previous soda orders that the desired intent was to keep those with drug addictions outside of drug areas to assist them in their recovery.

It was also to keep drug dealers out of drug areas to keep them from preying on the drug addicts themselves that come into the area.

And as for the claim that soda orders don't work, well, from 2006 to 2009, when the order was in place, defendants in 83% of soda cases did not violate their orders, and 58% did not commit another drug offense.

And that is according to a council report.

And so this is a preamble for me to simply say that I originally was supportive of maintaining the original boundaries of this legislation because, in my view, I wanted to make sure that there was a good case, that it was effective in all the ways that it had been in the past.

However, I have been to those Belltown meetings and I have heard the concerns of the neighborhoods over and over and over again in here.

And so I just wanted to say that I will be supportive of this piece, of this amendment and the future ones we talk about that expand the legislation simply because it's clear that we need to do more.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Council President, and thank you for the work in this area to include those auditor reports are very important that also go to what you're speaking to.

Any other comments?

Okay, thank you.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of Amendment 2?

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Hollingsworth?

SPEAKER_38

Yes.

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

SPEAKER_38

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

Chair Kettle?

SPEAKER_38

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

There are five yes votes and no opposed.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you very much.

At this point, I often would be here already.

Vice Chair, Vice Chair Saka, would you like to move amendment number three?

SPEAKER_14

So moved.

Yes.

More specifically, I move to amend Council Bill 120835 with my proposed amendment number three.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_11

Second.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you for the second.

It is moved and second to adopt amendment three.

Central staff is recognized to describe amendment three.

SPEAKER_27

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

As I was stating before, this is a soda zone that is based on a degree of drug activity that has been noted and recorded by SPD and the city attorney in this area.

It is very narrowly tailored.

As you can see, it's only about three square blocks.

But if you were to look at the city attorney's heat map, there's a dot right over the top of that one.

It would be bordered on the north by Cherry, on the south by Yesler, on the east by Third, and on the west by First Avenue.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you.

Vice Chair Saka, a sponsor, you are recognized in order to address it.

SPEAKER_14

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

And so, colleagues, I'm asking for your support of my proposed amendment number three.

This amendment would add a soda zone to the Pioneer Square neighborhood, a historic neighborhood.

After an extensive set of stakeholder engagement, by me in my office and directly supported by data from the city attorney's office as was alluded to a moment ago.

I believe that a soda zone is critically needed for Pioneer Square.

Very narrowly tailored, it also constitutes the smallest geographic zone expansion of all of ours as I understand it.

But it is critically needed.

This zone is the direct result of engagement with the data, diving deep with the data, addressing areas that we know have been identified as hot spots and in compliance with state law.

This zone isn't just a direct result of that engagement with the data, it's also the result of engagement with plenty of stakeholders, residents, small businesses in Pioneer Square, and I want to thank everyone for that engagement.

As a result of working with our office, we were very conscious of all concerns to narrowly craft and tailor a zone in Pioneer Square and fine-tune it to the broader soda zone piece of legislation, given that there are major service providers in the area.

Could have expanded it even further.

But mindful of some concerns, we wanted to target it to an area that met the needs and addressed the hot spots in the data.

So, Pioneer Square is a great historic neighborhood, yet despite being right down the street from City Hall, we have, sadly, violence and drug use right in our own backyard.

And I heard and I witnessed firsthand too many times, too many incidents of crime and drug activity in this historic neighborhood.

Residents are fed up.

Small businesses are fed up.

Taxpayers are fed up.

Action is needed now.

And without a soda zone in Pioneer Square, there's an unfortunate compounding effect that would occur, a spillover effect in this community that we need to address.

Given that two soda zones will be on either side of Pioneer Square, it's critical that we also create a zone in Pioneer Square specifically to prevent what is a guaranteed migration down into this historic neighborhood.

So our committee and full council has been committed to thoughtful, community-led public safety policy.

This amendment is directly in line with that, and my commitment will allow Pioneer Square to turn the corner as part of a broader package of public safety commitments we have advanced, including commitment to the hiring of more officers to support our city.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you.

SPEAKER_14

Colleagues, I ask for your support.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Vice Chair.

Are there any questions or comments on Amendment 3?

Colleagues?

To include our guests, Councilmember Rivera?

Okay.

Hearing none and seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on adoption of Amendment 3?

SPEAKER_52

Councilmember Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Councilmember Moore?

Aye.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Councilmember Salka?

SPEAKER_38

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

Chair Kettle.

SPEAKER_38

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

There are five yes votes and no opposed.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you.

The amendment is adopted.

I appreciate that.

Thank you.

I move to amend Council Bill 120835 as presented on Amendment 4.

SPEAKER_26

Second.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you for the second.

It is moved and seconded to adopt amendment number four.

Central staff is recognized to describe amendment four.

Mr. Doss.

SPEAKER_27

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Amendment 4 addresses an area that is part of the underlying legislation.

It was one of two soda zones that's created in the legislation that was transmitted by the city attorney's office.

In the original legislation, this zone stopped on the west side where you see I-5 on the map above.

Council Member Wu engaged with the city attorney and took a closer look at the data is interested in having the soda zone expanded by two blocks to the west so that it encompasses 7th Avenue.

The city attorney recognized that there is a degree of crime in that area.

It is a hot spot.

Originally, I believe they proposed it as only ending on I-5 because it was an easier area for enforcement.

But after looking again at the data and noticing the crime weight, they support the expansion to 7th Avenue.

So above you, you see that it starts on the north by South Main Street.

continues on on the south by south dearborn street on the east by boron and rainier and then on the west by seventh avenue as expanded um and uh mr chair i believe that council member wu worked with you to sponsor this yes uh mr doss and um

SPEAKER_38

Council Member Wu was going to be here, but obviously with our time delays, unable.

And she has asked me to note that the amendment expands the proposed Little Saigon SOTA to include an area by the city attorney's map previously presented to the Public Safety Committee showing crime hotspots in the CID.

The expansion area was developed in consultation with the city attorney's office and is narrowly targeted based on existing crime data.

And as noted, it does come under I-5.

It creates a clean west boundary to the zone.

And this is something that we were looking into as the zone was being created.

This goes to the point about the due diligence.

Not only was it looking at hotspots in terms of drug activity, but also the service providers.

But it was also looking at streets and how they kind of fit and where they could naturally create a zone.

And this was working on all parts, and this will extend it to the west.

Are there any comments or questions related to Amendment 4?

Hearing none and seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on adoption of Amendment Number 4?

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Hollingsworth.

SPEAKER_38

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Moore.

Aye.

Council President Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Sacco.

Aye.

Chair Kettle.

SPEAKER_38

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

There are five yes votes and no opposed.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you.

Amendment four is adopted.

Moving on to our next amendment.

Council Member Hollingsworth, would you like to move amendment number five?

SPEAKER_32

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I move amendment number five to Council Bill 120835. Second.

SPEAKER_38

It is moved and seconded to adopt amendment number five.

Central staff is recognized to describe amendment five.

Again, Mr. Doss.

SPEAKER_27

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

This particular Capitol Hill soda zone was originally identified and was part of the city attorney's data analysis and original presentation back in August.

There have been no alterations to this soda zone.

It is as the city attorney recommended it.

As you can see above, it is bordered on the north by East Thomas, on the south by East Union, on the east by 11th, and on the west by Harvard Avenue.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you.

You're recognized to speak to it.

SPEAKER_32

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you Central staff for that explanation.

I want to explain my amendment, my reasoning behind it and the expectations on the impact.

I went back and forth on this.

I have spent countless hours on Capitol Hill.

My church is on Capitol Hill.

My community is Capitol Hill, and I walk the streets every day, I talk to the neighborhood, and I see how fentanyl has been impacting our community.

The outdoor drug consumption has been incredibly unsafe.

It is a severe hazard and has created incredibly dangerous environment for our community.

We as a city have made it easy for consumers and sellers to know where to go and exchange illegal and deadly drugs for money.

We are trying to disrupt these markets and make it harder for people to find each other.

Soda will not solve substance use disorders.

I agree.

But let me be very clear that these will give tools to help prevent from the outdoor drug consumption markets from continuing to take root.

We have witnessed people dying on our streets, overdosing on sidewalks, having mental health crisis right before our eyes.

All the while, drug dealers are preying on vulnerable individuals.

This is not normal for this to be happening in our city, nor is it compassionate for us to continue to allow people to suffer.

We have to target the dealers.

I have seen people talk about them being robbed, physically threatened, assaulted, homes being vandalized because of unsafe conditions.

And for me, public safety is an and.

A part of safety piece is also a robust human services component.

And I will be fighting to support these programs during our budget season.

And our office will be working with the many organizations and providers that continue to get resources needed to support our community to provide safety nets for people to move forward.

We also need housing, trauma care, food insecurity, transportation, mental health services.

Seattle has always been a compassionate, loving, and giving city, and we will continue to support these.

And we will also have the tools to enforce our laws.

We have to have boundaries.

We have to have guardrails, bottom line.

I will also be working on possible amendments to ensure that with the implementation of these laws and bills, we will identify the racial disparities to ensure there are guardrails in addition to evaluation of this bill with reporting.

That is incredibly important as well.

So I want to thank the committee for this opportunity to present, and I'm asking my colleagues for your support vote on this amendment.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Council Member Hollingsworth.

Are there any comments, questions for Council Member Hollingsworth?

Hearing none and seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on adoption of amendment number five?

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Hollingsworth?

SPEAKER_38

Yes.

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

SPEAKER_65

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

Chair Kettle?

SPEAKER_65

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

There are five yes votes and no opposed.

SPEAKER_38

Amendment number 5 is adopted.

Thank you.

I move to amend Council Bill 120835 as presented on Amendment 6. Second.

Second.

Thank you.

It is moved and seconded to adopt Amendment number 6. Central staff is recognized to describe Amendment 6. Again, Mr. Doss.

SPEAKER_27

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

As with the other amendments, this was one of the amendments that was originally proposed by the city attorney's office.

It had slightly different boundaries.

It did not extend quite as far north as this one does.

The city attorney, in working closely with Councilmember Rivera, took a look at the data and noted that there was significant activity to the north, and so this amendment would adopt a SOTA zone that captures the activity that's to the north as well as the activity that is on University Way.

It is bounded.

Its boundaries are on the north side 52nd Street, on the south side 43rd, on the east by 15th, and on the west by Brooklyn Avenue Northeast.

The amendment was authored by Councilmember Rivera and sponsored by you, Mr. Chair.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you.

As author, Councilmember Rivera, would you like to address it?

SPEAKER_09

Thank you, Chair, I would.

And thank you, Central staff.

Chair, I want to thank you for bringing this amendment on my behalf.

I don't sit on this committee, so I really appreciate that.

I requested that you, Chair, bring this on my behalf because I know that the University District is considered a hot spot.

This is based on data from SPD and data that the City Attorney's Office looked at.

I've also heard from many residents, including the University of Washington and the BIA on the University District, that the drug activity on the University Avenue has been really challenging.

I've also heard from schools and community organizations on the avenue and the surrounding area about the challenges faced with the rampant drug dealing up there.

Last week alone, I heard from the University Heights building tenants about drug dealing on and around the property.

There are two preschools, an elementary school, a children's choir, a children's Japanese language school, a children's theater program, and other kids and community programs at that University Heights building.

Kids are coming to school every day and being confronted with drug dealing.

this is not okay.

I have discussed this bill with constituents and I recognize that at first we might have limited ability to enforce the legislation but as we hire more police officers we will be able to utilize this mechanism as another tool to support university district residents and businesses with this difficult issue.

I hear from community when this was implemented in the past when judges drug dealers and drug dealers that were doing activity in my neighborhood it made a huge difference to the residents and the businesses that are on the university district.

I will say from personal experience as a person who grew up in an inner-city neighborhood where drugs were rampant and drug dealing was rampant when I was a child and I had to walk every day through those areas constantly fearing for being caught in the crossfire it was something that I wish someone had done something about.

And so I recognize, as you so aptly put, Chair, earlier today, this is not the only solution.

And we've all said that at some point up here, but this is another tool in the toolbox.

for being able to manage the drug dealing that is happening in this city.

And I want to be very clear that this is a tool to deal with drug dealers who are taking advantage of people who are in very dire situations.

And so we are trying to manage for more tools to deal with those drug dealers.

And we should be doing and addressing more things that are happening near schools And in this situation, there is multiple schools in that building that I want to make sure I'm providing my voice and my support as requested by constituents in the University District by bringing this amendment that you, Chair, are bringing on my behalf.

So I really want to thank you, and I hope that I have your support, colleagues.

Chair?

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Council Member Rivera.

Your comments actually remind me, too, another part of this is the engagement that's been happening.

So thank you for your engagement with the city attorney's office in terms of the adjustments made on the zone.

And it also highlights that sometimes, because I've received many requests regarding the Belltown Zone, too, and I think you heard in public comment in terms of shifting it to the south.

But engaging on this, unfortunately, there were service providers in that area in terms of working with the city attorney.

And on that one, too, I worked with, I spoke with Chief Rohr and her chief operating officer And given its proximity to the downtown core, in some ways it's one with a gap to allow for those service providers.

So that's an example, as you noted, and also with Belltown, the engagement piece and being mindful of the various elements of it.

So thank you for that.

Is there any other questions or comments here on the dies?

SPEAKER_27

Mr. Chair, can I just really quick, I misspoke and I want to correct the record.

The city attorney's office, as you know, in the underlying legislation recommended only two, I think I said proposed.

They didn't actually propose these soda zones, but they did work with the council members to acknowledge the crime activity there and are supportive of these amendments.

Yes, thank you.

Yes, they did.

SPEAKER_38

Yes, they were worked up as Options and the like and that was part of our engagement.

So yes in a very one Seattle way Any other questions comments?

I don't see any Clerk, will you please call the roll on adoption of Amendment 6?

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

SPEAKER_38

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

Chair Kettle?

SPEAKER_38

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

There are five yes votes and none opposed.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Clerk.

Amendment 6 is adopted.

Thank you very much.

Vice Chair Saka, again, would you like to move Amendment Number 7?

SPEAKER_14

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair.

I move to amend Council Bill 120835 as presented on Amendment Number 7. Second.

SPEAKER_38

Okay, it was second.

It is moved and seconded to adopt amendment number seven.

Central staff is recognized to describe amendment seven.

And again, I believe Mr. Doss or are we going to Ms. Gorman?

Okay, Ms. Gorman.

SPEAKER_73

I will describe the amendment, thank you.

Thank you.

Amendment seven to council bill 120835 is sponsored by council member Saka.

And it would require that a judge of the Seattle Municipal Court who is considering issuing a soda order Also consider where a defendant is housed, employed, or receives substantial services.

And the defendant, him or herself, would be required to provide evidence of that housing, employment, or receipt of substantial services.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Ms. Gorman.

Vice Chair Saka has sponsored.

You are recognized in order to address it.

SPEAKER_14

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

So this amendment would ensure judicial consideration for defendants when deciding to apply a soda zone to a defendant or not apply that zone.

And had I been in charge of the ordering of these, I would actually have let this be the first or one of the first proposed amendments, because this is a compassionate amendment.

This amendment makes clear that we are leading with compassion and we are making sure that thoughtful consideration of all the attendant circumstances are being weighed and explicitly considered intentionally by all the players in the criminal legal justice system.

Colleagues, due to an administrative snafu, this amendment is a walk-on amendment, although my office has been working diligently on this legislation for weeks, just as a quick aside.

As I noted in prior public safety votes, our city needs a holistic and dynamic public safety strategy.

We cannot have a one-size-fits-all approach.

Yes, we need to crack down on drug use and crime within our city.

We also need a safe city for our residents, workers and visitors, taxpayers.

However, we are also a community of compassion.

And again, that's the thrust of this proposed amendment.

Our city has been a leader in diversion services, and myself, along with my colleagues, have supported innovative programs like CARE and the Unified Care Team.

My proposed amendment helps ensure that we take into account, thoughtfully, thoughtfully, that we need to take stronger measures and even crack down in certain instances on drug dealing and drug pushing and fentanyl overdoses, but also that our justice system cannot be inflexible either.

It needs to account for complexity and nuance of this issue and be mindful of those that live, work, or are seeking treatment in one of these soda zones.

This amendment will ensure that soda orders are applied fairly and equitably and justly, consistent with the intent of this legislation.

It also allows the legislation to strike the appropriate balance between ameliorating drug use in our city, but also acknowledging that We are a city that doesn't, what I mentioned earlier, adopt a one-size-fits-all approach.

Colleagues, I ask for your support of this amendment to allow us to lead with compassion.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Vice Chair Saka.

Any questions or comments?

SPEAKER_68

Thank you, Chair Kettle.

Council Member Saka, can you just expand on this a little bit?

Does this mean that in considering that the...

The judge would say that they are not going to enter a soap order or there are particular areas, if they come into that area to access these services, it would not be a violation of the soap order.

Just wondering how this comes into.

SPEAKER_14

Yeah, it doesn't weigh in legislatively or purport to impose a requirement by the judge or prosecutor or anyone to make a decision and tilt the scale in one way or the other.

It just merely requires that those factors must be considered in issuing this order.

And so, you know, our judges are free to decide and make decisions as they see fit, as duly elected.

And it just merely requires that they consider this information.

SPEAKER_68

Thank you.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Council Member Moore, and thank you, Vice Chair Saka, for what is essentially a capstone.

It's a reminder, too, and something that's often not considered, that we're moving through the criminal justice system, and ultimately this comes to the judge for a decision, and the judge will decide on each of the individual merits of the case and all the various pieces to that.

So this is not some blanket kind of...

law piece that's just going to jam it.

It's going to have the reflection of the judge's discretion and review of the facts of the cases that they're presented with.

So thank you for that.

And as I noted at the beginning, it's critically important for our criminal justice system to be fully working as it's important to the overall public safety posture.

So again, thank you for highlighting this piece, and it's an important piece related to this bill.

No other further questions or comments.

Will the clerk please call a roll on adoption number seven?

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Hollingsworth?

SPEAKER_38

Yes.

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Saunders?

SPEAKER_65

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

There are five yes votes and no opposed.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you.

Amendment seven is adopted.

Okay, are there any final comments on the bill as amended?

SPEAKER_14

Vice Chair?

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I will be voting for this bill today as amended.

I think, colleagues, the headline for this piece of legislation is clear, and let it be known, scream it from the rooftops.

Seattle is no longer a safe place, safe space to do your dirt.

It is no longer a tolerable, permissive place where pushers and drug dealers can come and take advantage and exploit our most vulnerable residents and neighbors suffering from debilitating behavioral health crisis and drug addiction challenges.

It's no longer a safe space for that.

And this gives us one additional tool in the toolbox to make meaningful progress.

Go ahead, Council President.

SPEAKER_11

It is very distracting and it makes it difficult to hear when there are outbursts in the chambers.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Council President.

As the presiding officer of this committee meeting, I'm giving a verbal warning about what is happening that is in violation of Council Rule 11D in terms of outbursts.

So thank you for adhering to that rule moving forward.

SPEAKER_14

Vice Chair?

SPEAKER_11

I'm sorry to interrupt.

SPEAKER_14

No worries.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

So it's no longer a safe place to do dirt.

Residents, small business owners, their customers, visitors, commuters, workers, tourists, and taxpayers of the city of Seattle are demanding that we do better, do better for everyone.

And this is another important tool to disrupt the open-air drug markets that are afflicting our entire city.

I want to thank Council President for your work and your leadership in commissioning that report a few months back from the city auditor's office.

This and other pieces of legislation and policy are going to invariably flow from that.

The learnings contained in that report This is consistent—this amended piece of legislation is consistent, as you alluded to earlier, with recommendations that we adopt a place-based approach, a targeted approach.

And unlike prior iterations when, you know, similar soda orders in Seattle were in place, where we learned from the city attorney's office that it covered up to in excess of 40 percent of the land mass of the entire city of Seattle, under the original proposal, it was less than a fraction of 1%.

And I think as amended, I haven't confirmed, but I think as amended, it's still under 1%.

This is a targeted approach to allow us to do more.

It is, again, as amended by the consideration factor amendment, it allows us to lead with compassion.

Everyone's amendment is specifically backed by data.

And also, we know that this is guided by common sense.

So today's policy isn't a standalone, quick fix type of solution.

It's part of a constellation of policies that will lead to a safer Seattle for all.

Whether it is our commitment to hiring more officers, supporting and growing and scaling our care department, or cracking down on dangerous speed racing, today's vote shows that we are committed to the rule of law.

At the same time, the amount of community stakeholder and data-driven analysis shows our commitment to developing policy thoughtfully.

That is supported by our fellow citizens and the data.

We have a long way to go in creating a safer Seattle for all.

But this and many other measures will allow us to make much better, more urgent progress.

So, Chair Kettle, thank you for your leadership on this.

Colleagues, appreciate your support in making and your thoughtful contributions to make this bill even better.

the engagement from the city attorney's office or our central staff my own staff who worked very closely with with my constituents in Pioneer Square to on the Pioneer Square amendments but I'm proud to support this bill today thank you thank you vice chair any other comments on the bill Oh if I council president

SPEAKER_11

Thank you very much.

I was reflecting on all of these amendments, and I do think they demonstrate an enthusiasm for this legislation and a desire, at least from the committee members here and also those who do not belong to the committee but who have been deeply engaged all along, that there is a commitment to responding to to the drug and associated criminal activity in their neighborhoods, and that is why we have approved now several expansions, I believe five.

And so I do want to note that The alternative is simply, as I said before, doing nothing.

And it's clear that that hasn't worked so far.

And you have all made good points about the fact that we need to also have compassion.

But it is clear that we need both sides.

We need new law enforcement tools, and we also need services to go along with them.

So I would like to be listed as a co-sponsor, Chair Kettle, and I, again, thank you very much for your work to bring this forward and also to city attorneys' work transmitting this legislation.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Council President.

Yes, I would be honored to have you as a co-sponsor of this bill.

Thank you for that.

Okay, any other questions, comments?

All right, just to conclude, as I stated earlier, our neighborhood is vulnerable in crisis, creating Tragedies on an individual basis, but also on a neighborhood basis this bill Vice chair covering even with the amendments covering less than 0.5 percent will not solve in itself What we're facing but will disrupt the drug trade building on the lessons learned from previous versions and following the data-driven approach to achieve the goals in our strategic framework plan and ultimately again Solving for X with X being defined that yes those individuals, you know being treated with compassion and empathy But also thinking of our neighborhoods throughout our city our community.

So thank you very much on that Will the clerk please call the roll on committee recommendation to pass council bill one two zero eight three five as amended.

I

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Hollingsworth?

SPEAKER_38

Yes.

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Moore?

Yes.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

SPEAKER_38

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

Chair Kettle?

SPEAKER_38

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

There are five yes votes and none opposed.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation that Council pass Council Bill 120835 as amended will be sent to the September 17th City Council meeting.

Thank you very much for that.

Clerk, we will now move on to our second item of business.

Will the clerk please read item two into the record?

SPEAKER_52

Council Bill 120836, an ordinance relating to prostitution, creating the crimes of prostitution loitering and promoting loitering for the purpose of prostitution.

Establishing policies governing arrest for prostitution and prostitution loitering.

CREATING STAY OUT OF AREA OF PROSTITUTION SOAP ZONES AND PROVIDING FOR BOTH THE ISSUANCE OF COURT ORDERS RELATING TO THOSE ZONES AND ADMINISTRATION OF THOSE ZONES CREATING THE GROSS MISDEMEANOR OF VIOLATING A SOAP ORDER AND ADDING NEW SECTIONS 12A.10.010, 12A.10.030 AND 12A.10.040 AND A NEW CHAPTER 12A.11 TO THE SEATTLE MUNICIPAL CODE.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you.

I move that we enter, recommend passage of Bill 120836. Is there a second?

SPEAKER_68

Second.

SPEAKER_38

Second.

Okay.

I will not have any brief remarks on this, but instead we'll recognize Council Member Moore as the sponsor of the bill to provide remarks and introduce some additional presenters to provide brief remarks.

Council Member Moore, you are recognized as sponsor of this bill to introduce your presenters.

SPEAKER_68

Thank you very much, Chair Kettle.

SPEAKER_38

Actually, did I have a second on putting that in?

Okay, to make sure I heard that right.

It's moved and seconded and for recommended passage of the bill, just to make sure that was in the record.

Now, please, Council Member Moore.

SPEAKER_68

Thank you.

Thank you for double checking.

And thank you for the recognition, Chair.

At this time, I would like to invite our presenters to the table.

And while they're getting seated, I just want to note that this is the second briefing on the council bill.

There were a number of comments made in public comment, which I certainly appreciated hearing the variety of comments.

you know, that this was not addressing the concerns.

I just wanted to be clear that I was elected to address the public safety crisis in our community, and I was elected to listen to all the voices in my District 5. And this bill really is the genesis of this bill was the extreme gun violence that was happening in my community, in District 5, in the neighborhoods that were putting the lives of the neighbors, the children, and the workers on the street and the businesses at severe risk.

And it wasn't just the inordinate amount of gun violence.

It was also the other violence.

I've been reached out to by other constituents whose elderly parents were actually assaulted by women who were being prostituted.

We have had schoolchildren who were being solicited to and from school, both girls and boys.

We have had robberies.

We have had other assaults.

So it is unfortunately a system...

There is a tremendous amount of violence that has been going on in District 5, and it truly has been fueled by the sex trade.

And we will have people here to testify to that as well.

But that was really the genesis of this bill.

And from the get-go, I have reached out to the broader community of survivors, direct service providers, as well as law enforcement who actually work in vice and human trafficking, as well as constituents, to try to craft a bill that takes a nuanced and balanced approach to what we are seeing, which is truly a criminal enterprise that is putting the lives of everyone in our community at risk.

So to that extent, I have asked a number of individuals here to comment.

And it's unfortunate, given that we are so delayed because of what happened, that many of the people who made comments about this bill are not actually here to hear the testimony of survivors, people who have been trafficked from the time they were 12 on Aurora.

people who were able to escape that trafficking, people who have now devoted their lives and taken personal sacrifices and risks to actually devote their lives to getting people off the street, to breaking the cycle, because this isn't just that harms the individuals doing the work.

It's a broader communal harm that harms the families and the communities.

And so I regret that those individuals are not here to hear the counterpoint from people.

But we are here, and I'm so grateful for you to be here.

And so if you could please introduce yourselves, the organizations you work with, and give us some of your background, and then we can talk about the genesis of this bill and what you think about it, and sort of why you think it's important.

SPEAKER_72

Yeah, my name's Rebecca Fondin.

I'm a master's student at the Evans School of Public Policy.

I'm an anti-trafficking consultant, and I reside in Seattle, Washington.

I'm a survivor of human sex trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation.

I was trafficked along Aurora Avenue North over the course of two years and throughout different tracks throughout Washington state.

SPEAKER_68

Thank you.

Welcome.

Thank you for coming.

SPEAKER_20

Hello, my name is Sarah Hamilton, and I am the Director of Survivor Services at The More We Love.

And I, too, am also a survivor of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation.

I am a survivor at a young age, 12, and spent my whole life in the game.

And now I am here to give my opinion on what we should do with this.

SPEAKER_68

Thank you and welcome.

SPEAKER_71

Hi, guys.

My name is Christine Moreland.

I'm the director of The More We Love.

We are a direct service provider that works with commercially exploited people and the homeless population.

I've served on these streets for 22 years.

I have worked with the most broken, and our city is broken.

I am in support of Councilmember Moore and this bill and the legislation.

so that we can interrupt this process.

I think that there's a very fine definition between sexually exploited and sex workers, and I think we need to be very clear that we have juveniles out there, and we have to disrupt the process to be intentional with that, and we need to make sure that those services are there when we disrupt that so that Pre-booking diversion is done with intention and done with the service providers that are doing the real work out there.

So I thank you guys for today.

Council Member Moore, I thank you for being vulnerable in these spaces and listening to the direct service providers who are doing the work and really stand beside you.

SPEAKER_68

Thank you.

So you had the opportunity to hear a lot of comments today about this bill and how this bill is theorized that it's going to further harm and not be effective.

I'm just wondering what your thoughts are.

And also, if you could just give a little background about how my office has worked with your organizations and you individually to craft this bill.

SPEAKER_72

Yeah, so I can begin.

I am a member of Ways Forward.

Like I said, I do my own consulting.

I was reached out by your office and was able to come to other survivors with you and your staffers about this issue.

many times was pulled together in meetings and we were able to create a collective of survivors and organizations to really come together and sit down with you and your staffers and work on amendments that would bring us to a space where we're looking at a bill that doesn't look at the women as the perpetrator.

If people took the time to read this bill as I was listening to this testimony, it was so maddening because we're not talking about sex work out here.

I was on these streets.

I was on this track.

Be out there for five minutes, you won't last.

You're gonna have to choose up.

These traffickers don't play and it has not gotten safer out here in these streets.

So when we're talking about this issue on Aurora Avenue North, we're talking about human trafficking.

And these are children as young as 12, 16, 35, you name it.

And so something does need to be done about this issue.

And when you look at this legislation, over the years, yes, the city has done wrong.

I've been arrested over and over and over again.

If you look at my rap sheet, you could roll it out until I was able to get vacature and have my criminal records sealed.

It took years.

So what this bill does is look at pre-filing diversion, pre-booking, so that people don't have to live through what I lived through and not have access to economic opportunity for such a long time.

And so that's what we want to see in this, really holding buyers and traffickers accountable, right?

The people who are perpetrating the most harm, the people pulling guns on you on the streets, pulling knives on you, running you over with a car and leaving your leg broken and leaving you for dead.

We had one yesterday that was ran over by a car.

SPEAKER_11

Could you repeat what you just said?

I didn't hear.

SPEAKER_71

We had a woman yesterday that was given to our care by the King County Sheriff's Department who was ran over by a car.

She was 23 years old.

SPEAKER_72

Yeah, this is the reality that we're seeing.

This happened to me 20 something years ago, over 20 years ago.

And it's happening over and over and over again.

If we don't disrupt this, intervention is crucial.

And what the traffickers and the buyers would like you to think is that intervention isn't needed because they want to isolate the victims, right?

So that you can't access the services and the advocates.

I never had access to that.

So I was stuck in a life for two years.

Thank God it wasn't seven or 10 or I would be dead.

SPEAKER_20

Hello, Council Member Moore.

I'm really grateful to be here and I'm really grateful for the work that you've done with direct service providers and survivors.

I too was really disappointed listening to the commentary from the public because it did sound like nobody read the new amends in the bill.

The soap part of it does not have anything to do with the women.

It is targeting the buyers and the traffickers.

For me, this is huge, because like Rebecca, I was on the streets of Aurora at a very young age, though, and I'd never seen a buyer or a trafficker get arrested.

I've never seen them be held accountable, ever in life.

And so the fact that we are stepping forward and showing the women that we serve that they matter enough to really hold these men accountable is huge.

Right now, I am speaking to you on the behalf of the little girl or the young woman that is on Aurora right now.

begging for intervention, is looking for intervention.

Like today, my colleague said about sex workers and the difference.

There's a huge difference.

I love that there's sex workers in here that have never been sexually assaulted, that it's empowering for them.

Good for you.

That's great.

That's wonderful.

You are a small percentage of the women that I serve, a very small percentage.

I spent my whole life out there, and it's not fair for us not to show up for these women in a cause of sex work is real work.

A sex worker is not 17 years old.

A sex worker is not getting out at 18 and still on the track and who has a pimp.

That's not a sex worker.

That is somebody who is being victimized in ways that you cannot even explain.

So when we are stepping up to the plate right now and doing what we're doing, this is how we show up for survivors.

This is what we do.

So I think that people should really educate themselves a little bit better on this.

And I've heard a lot, like she said, being arrested.

Of course that causes harm.

It caused me harm.

And of course it causes the most marginalized women harm, our black and brown girls.

But you know what else causes them harm?

Being picked up by privileged white men every day.

That causes them harm too.

When they're 16, 17 years old, having to do unspeakable things in the back of a car.

That causes harm too.

So we have to show up for everybody in a way that is intentional.

And I think that doing this changes the game.

It really, really does.

So I am grateful for your guys' work and I am hoping that everybody votes yes on this.

SPEAKER_68

Thank you.

Christine?

SPEAKER_71

Thank you.

I just want to say again, I think one of the most important parts of the bill that I would like people to read is the intentional part about training the SPD.

I understand the concerns about officers and putting people in really unfair positions or even profiling, but the intention behind the amendment of writing in the training that needs to take place, especially from direct service providers, I think is spot on.

And again, I just echo, please read the bill in its entirety.

Walk alongside the victims of commercial sex trafficking, people who are literally being exploited, maybe understand it in a different view so that we can hope that a bill like this will be the interruption that we need desperately.

Because like Council Member Kettle said, this is a whole of community.

It's a whole of community.

And we are all responsible to do something.

And I thank you guys.

SPEAKER_20

And I would like to add one thing.

Yesterday, I was contacted three times by the King County Sheriff's Department.

All girls who have been trafficked.

Nobody went to jail.

All three of those girls are housed.

One with a five-month-old baby.

So this is what diversion truly looks like.

And we can do it in a way where women are not being criminalized.

Let's criminalize the people who are I'm a very simple person, but one thing I do know is supply and demand.

It's very simple.

So the demand from people who are out here doing this, if we can cut that off, then we can start to really help these women heal in a way that they deserve.

SPEAKER_68

And I think that you have talked about the services and the work that you're doing now.

Can you elaborate a bit on what's being done currently?

SPEAKER_71

Yes, currently right now we're contracted with South King County and we have been working directly with the King County Sheriff's Department there.

in an intentional diversion program alongside our partner, the Silent Task Force.

We take officer calls for juveniles and women, people who have been trafficked, and we divert them into services immediately.

That's also resourcing with food, hygiene, safety.

If we have to walk alongside them so that we can help prosecute whomever's put them in that place, we do that work as well.

But our intention is to get them immediately off the streets.

We do that.

And then we partner with our silent task force for temporary housing, which is wraparound services, which is the part that is so important here.

The aftercare, right?

The aftercare part of this.

We have to be very present for the traumas of what is endured when it comes to these trafficking environments, right?

And we have to be intentional with that.

And so we have a trauma-informed wraparound aftercare program that provides mental health support as well and detox services.

SPEAKER_68

Thank you.

Are there any questions from anyone?

For the panel, any questions?

SPEAKER_38

Well, I would like to say first, Council Member Moore, Thank you for putting this together.

And most importantly, thank you three for coming up here, giving your testimony, speaking your truth, highlighting the various aspects of the bill and the likes.

I just wanted to say thank you as the chair of the committee for coming today.

And I recognize it's much delayed, but still persevering and coming through for this.

I think it's really important because your voices need to be heard.

And again, thank you for coming.

Ms. I have it.

SPEAKER_11

I just wanted to say that I was inclined to just basically, I was ambivalent about this amendment because I felt that the law was crafted by the city attorney and the explanation that the SOTA order applying to all participants within the trade or the market or Well, the situation that we've been describing would allow for officers to approach the sellers and offer services and be a way to engage in conversation and to divert, et cetera, and perhaps to also better target their law enforcement response to the promoters.

I'm going to defer to people that know what they're talking about.

And so I just recognize that you all have, that this is a preference that you have eloquently spoken of.

And also I defer to the sponsor of this legislation.

And so I appreciate you to really make sure that we are not just instituting another law enforcement response, but also being responsive to the needs of the people that are engaged.

SPEAKER_38

Council Member Rivera.

SPEAKER_09

Thank you, Chair.

And again, thank you for letting me speak, even though I know I'm not a member of this committee.

But I care really deeply about these issues, which is why I'm here.

I really want to thank you for a couple things.

What you're doing is really brave, coming here and speaking to all of us.

You're sharing your personal stories, and personal stories are sometimes really hard and painful.

So I really appreciate you coming here.

to tell us your personal stories, and those are the people that, of the young women that you take care of.

I also, I'm the mom of daughters who were at Ingram High School, and where their friends were getting solicited up on Aurora.

I mean, if you drive up and down Aurora the way I did when I was dropping off and picking up my girls, you just see it, it's so obvious, the trafficking that is happening.

And to the point you all made, this isn't adult women choosing things.

What we are talking about are these young women who are getting trafficked, such as your personal experiences.

And we need to do something about that.

It is incumbent upon us, to your point, to do something about this.

And so I really appreciate Council Member Moore's leadership on bringing this forward.

I also want to say this isn't something any of us up here are taking lightly.

There have been conversations since we got here in January.

Council Member Moore and I have been speaking about this and communicating even with North Precinct about this situation on Aurora and how how to best address it and how to best help these girls that are getting trafficked.

So no one is up here saying we have all the answers to all the problems and no one is up here saying that this is, you know, this is one again of many tools that we are trying to use to address this really critical problem, because not doing anything, that would be the most harm any of us can do.

And to your point, we need to hold the people doing the most harm accountable.

And that is what is not happening with inaction.

And so I feel really strongly that we don't always hear the voices of the youth, like my daughters and their friends who have spoke.

They're not here today, interestingly enough.

I very much appreciate everyone who came here to give public comment, and that is important.

In yesteryear, I used to work at the ACLU, and I am very much in favor.

Every voice counts, and everyone needs to say what they feel and share.

And we also need to make sure that when we are creating legislation, we are doing things, listening to the folks that are working with the folks that we are trying to help, and making sure that we are listening to those voices which were not here today.

You know, kids at Ingram High School are not here to tell you their experience on being solicited.

Kids from Robert Eagle Staff Middle School are not here.

Middle School, to share how they've been solicited because their school is a block from Aurora.

And none of those kids are here to tell you that they're afraid to go to school every day because of the situation that's happening on Aurora, and this is what we're trying to disrupt.

So I cannot vote today, but I will be voting for this when it comes to full council.

And I just want to lend my voice of support to council presidents for your leadership on this, Councilmember Moore, and I want to thank you again for coming here and sharing your experiences and lending the voice to the girls that we are trying to protect here who are not here today to tell their personal stories, and there are countless of them, not just in Seattle, all across the country and the world.

Let's be very clear on that.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Council Member Rivera.

Thank you, Council Member Rivera.

Council Member Moore.

SPEAKER_68

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you all for that.

And I, too, want to thank you for your bravery and courage, because I know there's disagreement in the community.

And then speaking out against a particular viewpoint can subject you to personal attack and a delineation.

delegitimizing of your own personal experience, which is very traumatizing in and of itself.

I just had one other thing I wanted to raise, and this was in the conversation that you and I, Christine, had about, and Sarah Ann, how this creates an ecosystem.

So, to the point of, you know, some of the exploiters, the pimps, for lack of a better are teenagers.

And I think you said some of them are the sons of people who have been prostituted themselves.

And I'm just wondering if you can talk a little bit about how this is a, the ripple effect of the trauma and the harm is broad.

And if you could talk about that.

SPEAKER_20

Yeah, absolutely.

This is definitely generational.

I have four sons that had to see their mom.

I mean, I've I'm sorry, I have three sons and a daughter, and all of them had to see me go through a lot of stuff.

And still to this day, we have a lot of healing to do that, to do.

But, of course, we are working forward and stuff like that.

So when we think about where, I hate to say it like this, but where a pimp comes from, I mean, he is also somebody who has been on my list and seen things and put into situations that aren't really...

safe and healthy.

And I've had to do a lot of self-seeking and forgiving of myself for the things that my kids have seen.

And I have had to take on that responsibility, knowing that maybe they would have problems with that.

So when we interrupt this stuff, we're not just interrupting it just right then.

We're interrupting it for generations.

You know what I mean?

We're changing something for that family.

So now that young man doesn't have to do something.

And that's a whole other topic that we need to be taking care of our young men better and teaching them better and showing them that this is not what we need to do.

So I'm really glad that you brought that up.

I appreciate you bringing that up.

for my sons and for all my, you know, a survivor that was very close to me just passed away two weeks ago and she has four kids too.

And I'm helping her plan her service right now.

and listening to her kids tell me all they wanna do is just celebrate her life and be able to show the good in her.

That's something that we have to give these kids or it's never gonna end.

It's never gonna end.

We're gonna still see these young men shooting up Aurora.

We're still gonna see these young girls.

We have to start here so that we can keep moving and we can help the whole family.

I hope that one day that I'll be able to provide that service and have family advocates for survivors so they're not just getting advocacy for them, but they're giving advocacy for their children as well.

SPEAKER_71

Can I add a piece to that too?

A lot of the generational stuff and things that we're kind of seeing with the ecosystem is a lot of lack of accountability.

When we look at these bills and being able to put in soap orders and hold the johns and the pimps accountable, we interrupt their process too.

And at one point, somebody said to me before, was I getting arrested or was I rescued?

And we can't just always think about, you know, the women who are being sexually exploited and the juveniles.

Sometimes we have to think about showing up for the pimps and the johns as well and interrupt their process, you know, and hope that we can give them an opportunity, a chance.

I know that sounds crazy and people think about that, but accountability and who we're holding accountable and how we can interrupt their process in their lives, you never know what that will do.

SPEAKER_72

Absolutely.

Thank you for asking that.

The man who trafficked me, his father was a trafficker and his mom was the bottom.

So he groomed his son to be a trafficker one day and he told him that's what he was going to be.

And so he had kids.

I think he has 15 of them.

He's gotten custody of some of them because of our legal system.

But he's raising his kids now to be traffickers.

So when do we interrupt this system?

We can't.

We can.

SPEAKER_20

And I think we all agree, too, that poverty is our biggest trafficker.

So the comments that some people made today about higher wages, better education, all that stuff, that's all true.

Two things can be right at the same time.

Two things can be wrong at the same time.

These are true statements.

So we as a community have to start showing up and making a community for people who are suffering like this.

I always say relationships got me in and relationships got me out.

that's that's what it is and if we don't start showing up for people in an intentional way this is never going to end and it is our responsibility it's our responsibility as human beings it's our responsibility as privileged people it's our responsibility all the way around to make sure that this does not happen and we show up in a different and intentional and a radical way thank you vice chair thank you mr chair uh thank you ladies

SPEAKER_14

I acknowledge I'm probably just piling on a little bit at this point, but let me pile on.

I try to practice an attitude of gratitude every day, and it permeates every aspect of my mind and my body and my soul.

And I haven't been reminded this close in a long time, why I need to live up to it, that principle after hearing your powerful testimony today, hearing your powerful testimony over the course of the last month or so during the various sessions we've had on this.

So I wanna express my gratitude, sincere gratitude and appreciation to each and every one of you for the work that you do, for your ability to adapt and overcome your trauma and adversity and channel those learnings to benefit so many people across our great city and across our great region.

I'm grateful for you all, thank you.

This bill is better because of you all and your tremendous contributions, thank you.

I wanna thank Council Member Moore for her leadership on this bill.

People are demanding that this council be thoughtful and deliberate.

For me, the attitude of gratitude runs deep.

People who know me well know that I also try to live up to a growth mindset, this notion that practice is insatiable desire to be better.

We're not recognizing that we're all imperfect, but recognizing those imperfections and trying to be better every time, every time.

People want us, this council, to be thoughtful and deliberate.

we demonstrate that is potentially pulling a piece of legislation.

Another way is to amend significantly your own proposed bill.

So I appreciate you, Councilmember Moore, for the work that you put into this, going back to the drawing boards and many material respects on something you've been working on for months and months and months.

making sure that it is thoughtfully and carefully reflecting feedback from members of the community.

This bill isn't going to be the panacea.

It's not going to be the silver bullet.

As Councilmember Rivera was alluding to earlier, we need a diverse set of policy solutions.

And even if this bill passes committee and it passes the full council, it's not hardly the time to slap each other high fives and pat each other on the back out of boys.

More work needs to be done.

But this is an important step to help us make better progress in some of these more urgent challenges.

So again, ladies, thank you so much for your leadership and you being willing to be so vulnerable and advocating so forcefully and holding us accountable to make better, more urgent progress.

So I'm proud to be voting in favor of this legislation today.

As I said before, public policy making, sausage making is not easy.

It's nuanced and it's difficult.

It's challenging.

We get challenged all the time by members of the, rightfully so, by members of the public expecting us to do better or do more.

But the status quo of doing nothing, not acceptable.

Doing nothing is not an acceptable policy solution.

So again, I applaud you women, so many members involved of the public and various communities in shaping this thoughtful piece of legislation.

I applaud the leadership of Councilmember Moore and her office for being willing to go back to the drawing boards and make it even better.

That's growth mindset in its finest, in my view.

So supportive of this dedication and commitment to ensure a strong community-led officer training as well.

Appreciate that specific aspect and feature of the bill here.

So with these new additions to the original, I'm proud to be able to support this today.

But again, more work is needed.

Thank you, ladies.

SPEAKER_38

Okay, thank you, Vice Chair.

And thank you for noting in your remarks that we have to get to our amendments.

And again, thank you.

And I just want to close with one word.

SPEAKER_52

There's another.

SPEAKER_32

Council Member Hollingsworth.

It was just a point of information just to find out where we were regarding the amendments.

Yeah, just schedule it.

That's all.

SPEAKER_38

So thank you.

I just want to say one word, powerful.

Thank you.

As noted, it has been moved and seconded to recommend passage of this bill.

I will now introduce central staff to give their presentation on the bill and into moving into the amendments.

Welcome, Ms. Gorman.

as we move forward now into our amendment phase.

SPEAKER_73

Thank you, Chair Kettle.

The first amendment I have is sponsored by Council Member Moore, and it would clarify the boundaries of the proposed soap zone.

The boundaries of the proposed soap zone in Council Bill 120836 generally follow North 145th Street on the north.

Stone Avenue North on the East, North 85th Street on the South, and Fremont Avenue North on the West.

And this amendment has a detailed list of the zone's intended boundaries, particularly in locations where these streets are interrupted.

That is to say, they are not perpendicular on a map.

The amendment would update the map of SOAP Zone 1 consistent with the revised bill language.

And it is our understanding that this amendment and its clarifications would make it more straightforward for the Seattle Police Department to operationalize its role with respect to the bill.

And it would make SOAP orders issued consequent with the bill more enforceable.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Ms. Gorman, and we're going to bring the map up as well just so everybody can see it.

Council Member Moore, would you like to move Amendment Number 1?

SPEAKER_68

Yes.

Thank you, Council Chair.

I'd like to move Amendment 1 to Council Bill 120836. Second.

SPEAKER_38

Okay.

It is moved and seconded to adopt Amendment 1, and the central staff has described Amendment 1, so thank you, Ms. Gorman.

Thank you, Ms. Gorman.

Councilmember Moore, a sponsor, do you recognize in order to address it?

SPEAKER_68

Thank you.

As Gorman has described, this is really just a technical amendment to make sure that we are accurately describing the area of the soap zone, so it is more correctly enforceable and also that we have clarity as to what the exact boundaries are.

SPEAKER_38

Uh, thank you.

And, you know, in this notes again, uh, the coordination, um, and cooperation with all elements of government to include SPD and, um, and given that we have council member Rivera here too, I, I wanted to particularly thank, uh, the north precinct, um, captain there has been fantastic engaging with council members, but also the community on the issues that they're facing in the north precinct and particularly along Aurora.

Um, is there any, uh, questions or comments regarding amendment one?

SPEAKER_09

I have a question, Chair, and I want to say Captain Agard is the captain in the North Precinct.

SPEAKER_38

They want to say her name wrong, so thank you for saying that.

SPEAKER_09

Terrific.

And to my colleague, Council Member Moore, I'm sorry I didn't ask this question before, and I don't think I noticed on the map, but is there a reason, and I know CAO is present here as well, and thank you for being here.

Is there a reason why the boundary didn't capture the two schools that are right off of Aurora there, both Cascadia and Robert Eagle Staff?

SPEAKER_68

The reason that we did not specifically push the boundaries is that we were trying to narrowly draft and tailor the soap because we don't want to...

overly expansive because it is an exclusion area and also they are more narrowly tailored the stronger they are legally.

So that's why.

But it was also the thinking that in creating that zone there would hopefully be sort of spillover deterrent effect without actually having to create that defect.

It would sort of be de facto, but without having to create that additional area.

Does that answer your question?

SPEAKER_09

It does.

I would just love to hear more about the deterrent pieces because I do worry that based on where the line is drawn, I worry about pushing the activity toward the school instead of away from the school.

And so, you know, council member Moore, you know, I'm a big proponent of the schools and making sure that we're not having unintended consequences.

So I would like to hear more about the deterrent pieces so we're not creating unintended consequences.

SPEAKER_68

We could probably have the city attorney address that?

I wonder.

SPEAKER_38

Well, I was just going to note, Council Member Rivera, as coming out of what's been happening, particularly with the gun violence in other schools, and not to get into it, but the level of cooperation and dialogue between SPD and the broader city of government with the Seattle School District is at a point where I think we're working to address those issues.

And this is just another example of that, which I think will help to basically your question in terms of getting better coordination to ensure that that seam if you will, which is always a problem, seems always a problem between the Seattle School District and Seattle PD and or government overall.

And we'll work as a committee to ensure that that is part of the discussions that I have with Chief Warr and others to include the city attorney's office.

SPEAKER_09

And as chair of the education committee, I have these discussions as well with SPS.

So we can continue to talk schools as we move forward with something like this.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_38

All right, thank you.

And I believe now I would like to ask the clerk to please call the roll in adoption of amendment number one.

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Hollingsworth?

SPEAKER_38

Yes.

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

SPEAKER_38

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

Chair Kettle?

SPEAKER_38

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

There are five votes in favor and none opposed.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you.

Amendment number one is adopted.

Council Member Moore, would you like to move amendment number two?

SPEAKER_68

Yes, thank you, Council Chair.

I, at this time, move Amendment 2, Version 2 to Council Bill 120836. Second.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you.

It is moved and seconded to adopt Amendment 2. Thank you for the clarification.

Version 2. Central staff is recognized to describe Amendment 2, Version 2.

SPEAKER_73

Thank you, Chair Kettle.

As Vice Chair Saka alluded to, there are a number of changes in this amendment.

The effect statement is quite lengthy.

I will move through these as quickly as possible so that the record reflects all of them.

Please stop me if anybody has any questions along the way.

Amendment 2, version 2 to Council Bill 120836 is sponsored by Council Member Moore, the bill's sponsor.

First of all, it would make a number of changes to clarify the bill's intended differentiated enforcement approach for promoters and patrons of commercial sexual exploitation.

The first of these is that it would define the terms buyer and seller with respect to the Seattle Municipal Code crime of prostitution loitering.

In the bill, that crime is applicable both to buyers and sellers of sex.

It would also prohibit a judge of the Seattle Municipal Court from imposing a SOAP order on an individual charged with or convicted of prostitution or prostitution loitering as a seller.

And it would additionally express the council's intent that new SPD policies addressing arrests for prostitution and prostitution loitering for sellers state that diversion and or referral to services is the preferred disposition and that the policies themselves reflect this approach.

It would further require that SPD protocols related to these policies be based on trauma-informed best practices.

Next, the amendment would make a number of changes related to training specifically.

First of all, it would require that SPD training align with best practices for working with CSE victims, that the training be developed in consultation with direct service provider groups, among others who work with commercially sexually exploited individuals, and that it include, to the extent possible, CSE survivors themselves as trainers.

Second, it states that SPD should endeavor to train all officers who respond within the proposed SOAP Zone 1 in these best practices by October of next year, and all officers who respond to crimes that may involve CSE or sex trafficking by January 2026. With respect to the group of direct service provider groups and those who work with commercially sexually exploited individuals, the amendment would require that group in collaboration with SPD to develop the training program.

It would also add a requirement that SPD collects the age and residency of all individuals approached for prostitution or for prostitution loitering as a seller.

The amendment would make a couple changes to recitals.

It would add a recital emphasizing that an emergency receiving center for sex sellers who are CSE victims is critical to the diversion-focused approach described in the bill, and it would explicitly state the council's intent to increase this population's access to services and or diversion.

Additional new recitals would describe the bill's intended utility to SPD in its enforcement efforts against sex buyers and sex promoters, and a few edits to existing recitals clarify the bill's intent.

And finally, this amendment would strike bill language instructing SPD to enter SOAP orders into information systems.

This change is a parallel technical correction to the one that was Amendment 1 to the SODA bill.

It reflects established practice and relevant labor agreements under which SMC employees perform this work.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Ms. Gorman.

I really appreciate that.

That is quite the rundown and very thorough and concise, which I appreciate.

Council Member Moore, as the sponsor, you are recognized in order to address it.

SPEAKER_68

Thank you.

And again, I want to thank Ms. Gorman for her excellent, excellent work on this bill.

It's a dense bill, and she's been incredibly professional and a real partner in this.

I want to say that after the first hearing, we had a lot of public comment.

I reached out to the people at the table and also the ending exploitation work group and asked them for their feedback.

Most of what is in the amendment came directly from them.

And I did really have to think about removing the sellers from soap.

And that was one of the main requests.

And this bill does that.

And I think it is appropriate to do so.

I understand the concern about being unduly, running the risk of being unduly punitive.

And that has not been the intent of this bill all along, which is why this amendment is ADDS ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE STATING CLEARLY THAT THE INTENT IS DIVERSION AND REFERRAL TO SERVICES AND A LIST OF SERVICES REQUIRES SBD TO EXPLICITLY STATE THAT IN THEIR ARREST POLICIES AND REQUIRES SBD TO DEVELOP PROTOCOLS FOR BEST PRACTICES IN WORKING WITH INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE BEEN COMMERCIALLY SEXUALLY EXPLOITED.

Additionally, I did reach out to the chief of police in Shoreline because they have had a soap law and loitering law for a very long time, and it has been very successful.

And I also wanted to ask them...

you know, was the success in being able to address this criminal enterprise activity up there related to the law, or was it environmental design?

And they said the environmental design piece came afterwards, and it continues to be helpful and important, but the real reason that they were able to get a handle on the sexual exploitation that had been occurring up there was because they had a loitering law and they had a soap law.

And I asked them, well, I've been approached to remove the cellars from the soap piece.

Do you think that that would be fatal to the ability to disrupt this activity and this commercial enterprise and the harmful behaviors that are going on?

Which is the ultimate intent is to disrupt.

and to provide additional tools to provide safety to all in our community.

And the police chief was very frank and said that she did not think that that was the case, that as long as we had the loitering law in place and we had soap for the buyers and for the exploiters or the pimps, that would be an effective tool.

And so hearing from both sides of the dialogue, I decided that this was an appropriate step to take.

And so that's why that is contained in there.

And also, again, making very clear, and I heard concerns, and I think they were legitimate concerns, about prior interactions with SPD being discriminatory, being harassing, not understanding the broader context of what was going on.

And we have really, I think, progressed as a society since we repealed the loitering law in terms of understanding where that this is a trauma, a unique area of trauma, and that it is a unique population and which requires sensitivity and specialized training and skill.

And so I think it was appropriate to require that we have that particular training for SPD, for all officers, and to start out with officers who would be policing the SOAP area, but to expand it to the entire department.

And also critically important, we cannot mandate, because of separation of powers, that they include particular groups or individuals in that training, but we can strongly encourage them to incorporate survivors and direct service providers.

And that's specifically what this amendment does.

So I won't go on and on, but I just wanted to be clear.

And the one piece I do want to say that's critically important, because people have said, why don't you take the loitering for the women out of the law entirely?

The reason that we cannot do that is that the bill will fall apart and we will not be able to hold pimps accountable.

That is a primary purpose of this bill and it distressed me today to hear a number of people say this bill doesn't target traffickers and pimps.

It absolutely does.

I spent a tremendous amount of time thinking about Right now, we have promoting prostitution, which is trafficking and what the pimps are doing.

That's a felony.

In order to prosecute a felony, you've got to have the victim come forward, and you've got to have a lot of evidence.

That further endangers the victims coming forward.

It also is very time intensive.

So how do we disrupt this activity?

How do we make it possible to hold them accountable within our municipal court?

We create a crime called promoting loitering for the purposes of prostitution, which specifically describes the behavior that we see pimps engaging in.

Transporting, delivering, monitoring, surveilling.

If the underlying crime, if loitering, the underlying activity is not illegal, then what they are doing is not illegal.

And we were left again to rely on the felony law, to rely on King County, and to rely on victims coming forward.

And we are not going to do that.

we are going to create another way to hold them accountable that is protective and supportive of the women by going after the behavior directly.

And that's why we have to keep the loitering peace.

But that's also why I've made it very clear that the preferred disposition, and again, I cannot mandate because of separation of powers, but the preferred disposition is diversion, diversion, diversion, and services, services, services, and I have said it again and again that I will be asking at budget for additional services, and I expect all of you to be here to also hold us accountable in asking for services for money, and I hope that you too will all be here holding our feet to the fire and why I have specifically put language in the whereases that says emergency reserving center and services are critical to diversion.

Thank you, Chair.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Council Member Moore.

Are there any additional comments on Amendment 2?

Colleagues?

Okay.

Will the Clerk please call the roll on adoption of Amendment 2?

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Hollingsworth?

SPEAKER_38

Yes.

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

SPEAKER_38

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

Chair Kettle?

SPEAKER_38

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

There are five votes in favor, none opposed.

SPEAKER_38

Amendment two is adopted.

Okay, the amendments have been brought forward and voted on with a lot of discussion comments and commentary from both central staff and our guests.

We are now ready to close debate and call for a vote on the recommendation to pass the bill as amended.

Are there any final comments on the bill as amended?

SPEAKER_32

Mr. Chair, if I may, just really, really quick.

I also understand the time.

I want to thank Mr. Chair and thank Council Member Moore and thank you, Rebecca, Sarah Ann, and Kristen for...

Sorry.

in my mind, but I know you, for stepping forward today.

I know how, can only imagine how difficult it is to share your story and be vulnerable in this space.

And just want to thank you for being here.

Also had the chance to meet with you all in the Silent Task Force as well, a black woman-led group organization that helps survivors with wraparound services and healing and the spiritual connection and community and all these different things that are incredibly important important when you're talking about the aftercare of the commercially exploited women and kidnap girls that are on Aurora.

And I just want to be clear about this.

You know, every night there are right now on our streets are underage girls that are being raped.

by privileged men they're being raped like we have to be able to talk about that and that's what's being happened on our streets and so that's why um when councilmember moore brought this forward was so inclined to um you know understand what was going on and and make sure that we were protecting people and the aftercare how i will i will be working with councilmember moore to ensure that we do have those resources available for the young women.

And I also want to give a shout out to the McKinney-Vento program for Seattle Public Schools, because a lot of people don't know that those programs and those social workers and the family support workers are the ones that have to deal with the girls after they're coming off of the street to make sure that they're protected to be able to go to school.

They're the ones making sure that they're getting transported to and from doctor services, that they're not standing at bus stops, that make sure that they have housing and food and that program.

And that's going to be our responsibility too as well with these services to ensure that our McKinney-Vento program with Seattle Public Schools to make sure that the kids, as they are coming off the streets, have these resources with our Seattle Public Schools as well.

There is a massive ecosystem that is the afterlife and people that are being, you know, that are helping and so I just I just wanted to recognize that and I'm also gonna be working on an amendment with central staff and have been to ensure efforts that our Seattle Police Department regarding the arrest report from the soap zones so we can have a better understanding what demographic is being targeted because I think it's important that we have accountability and transparency that we are GOING AFTER THE JOHNS AND THE PIMPS AND NOT TARGETING THE WOMEN AND WANTING THAT TO BE REPORTED AND, YOU KNOW, TRANSPARENCY ON THAT.

SO THAT AMENDMENT WILL BE COMING.

I'VE BEEN WORKING WITH CENTRAL STAFF ON THAT AS WELL.

AND SO I JUST WANTED TO POINT THAT OUT.

AND SO THANK YOU.

LOOKING FORWARD TO SUPPORTING THIS BILL AND, YOU KNOW, MAKING SURE THAT PEOPLE HAVE RESOURCES.

SO THANK YOU, COUNCILMEMBER MOORE.

SPEAKER_38

THANK YOU, COUNCILMEMBER HOLLINGSWORTH.

CHAIR OSAKA?

SPEAKER_14

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

And I just want to, I guess, first express my, reemphasize my gratitude to the leaders at this table for everything.

I want to emphasize my appreciation to every last one of you colleagues for your, again, thoughtful contributions to making all these bills better.

I also, I don't know if there's to be another appropriate time to say this, so let me just say this now.

I do want the record to reflect exactly what happened today, my impressions of what happened today.

Our meeting was disrupted.

We lost a full hour and a half of solid meeting time for this Public Safety Committee meeting because certain individuals, not all, intended to in displayed behavior and conduct that was specifically designed to harass bully intimidate and disrupt and not to Share their point of view but to disrupt the the us conducting our substantive business We had two substantive items on the agenda today that we considered and we're getting ready to close out now But we had to reconvene multiple times three four I lost count one too many And I observed on security footage people on their way out spray painting city property, defacing city property.

That's not sharing a point of view and exercising your constitutional right, people.

That's destruction and damage of taxpayer money.

That's not being willing to have a dialogue or a constructive conversation, share your point of view, We need to do better as a city.

And I aspire to help create an environment where voices are heard, but compassion defines our approach.

So thank you to, again, to the leaders at this table.

Thank you for everyone who shared your point of view.

Thank you for our own security team, Tenelle and others, our SPD officers who responded.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for your efforts to restore order.

If I called up my—our colleagues in Bellevue, our councilmember colleagues in Bellevue or Kent or Renton or the mayors there and asked, what would happen if someone spray-painted—went to a city hall meeting and spray-painted during a meeting?

The notion that they could just waltz out of here—we need to do better.

In any event, I want that to be known and documented and captured because if not, it will be whitewashed and sanitized.

Let it be part of the record.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Vice Chair, Council President.

SPEAKER_11

Well, first of all, thank you very much, Council Member Saka, for putting that in the record.

And I will just add that throughout our discussion, there has been disturbance from commenters, and it has derailed conversation.

But we carried on.

I just would like to say that, obviously, the points have been made, but you can't watch that film or the video that was compiled when we first discussed this legislation.

I will not say you can't.

I cannot.

Without...

being completely moved and horrified.

Because as was said, we're not talking about a choice that a lot of people are making.

We're talking about children and horrible things that they are subjected to.

And so thank you again.

I would like to be listed as a co-sponsor here, but just want to note that Clearly, this is just the beginning.

And yes, our law enforcement resources are stretched thin.

Yes, so is our budget, et cetera.

But we cannot just not do anything.

And when I ran for office, clearly, I think that we all did, we ran to make positive change.

And that does not mean just letting things just continue the way they are.

So thank you.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Chair Nelson.

I'm going to really quickly just say thank you for coming.

As a Navy commander on an aircraft carrier, your point about supply and demand is key because I briefed my department.

We're in Southeast Asia.

You are the demand signal.

and supply and demand means there's gonna be a supply and how that supply comes about is horrific.

And these are the things that we need to tell our privileged males about the horrific nature of that supply.

So thank you for highlighting that point and I really appreciate it.

And SPD points within the amendment, Council Member Moore, recognize the training is gonna be key, also recognize they have a training load but we will work that.

Also, that today's force, like today's society, understands that these young women and girls are victims.

I have spoken to so many officers who've told me that, no, they've never arrested a woman.

But they do use, previously they would use the law, and they would try to do their best without the law.

But this is why it's important.

And then ultimately it comes down to accountability and oversight.

For example, we're going to have a 30 for 30 briefing on September 24th.

And then we're also going to be reviewing all these reporting requirements, so I appreciate the reporting requirements from Council Member Hollingsworth.

SPEAKER_11

Chair Kittle, I'm sorry to interrupt, but because of parliamentary reasons, I must ask that you, because we're coming up upon another meeting for reasons, could you please call a recess and then we will reconvene?

SPEAKER_38

Yes, Council President, I will call for a recess at this moment due to the fact that Council meeting is supposed to start now.

SPEAKER_11

Okay, so we will be starting our meeting later.

So now that we are on recess, I am letting you know, and then we will reconvene, et cetera.

But I would, yep, I just had to stop before two.

Go ahead.

So I think that we can reconvene and just call the roll really quickly again.

SPEAKER_38

Okay.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the recommendation to pass Council Bill 120836 as amended.

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Hollingsworth?

SPEAKER_38

Yes.

SPEAKER_52

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Chair Cattle?

SPEAKER_38

Aye.

SPEAKER_52

There are five, yes, there are five votes in favor and none opposed.

SPEAKER_38

The motion carries and the committee recommendation that council pass Council Bill 120836 as amended will be sent to the September 17th City Council.

SPEAKER_11

We have now reached the end of- Jareen, please stay in the room and could you please come here?

SPEAKER_38

We have reached the end of today's meeting agenda.

Is there any further business to come before the committee before we adjourn?

SPEAKER_11

Yes.

Now I can say during the other business section for the information of council members and the public given the length of this meeting.

And in the interest of giving council members and staff a break, we are going to convene at 2 p.m.

for a regular council meeting and then immediately recess until 2.45.

I will see you all at, well, I see you now at 2 p.m.

So now you can close.

SPEAKER_38

Thank you, Council President.

Hearing no further business to come before the committee, we are adjourned.