Seattle City Council 8/9/2021

August 9, 2021 meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

The time is 2.04 PM.

I'm Alex Peterson, President Pro Tem of the Council today.

Council President Gonzalez is excused from today's meeting.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Lewis?

Present.

Morales?

Here.

Mosqueda?

Present.

Sawant?

Present.

Strauss?

Present.

Herbold.

Here.

Plattis.

Here.

And Council President Pro Tem Peterson.

Here.

State President.

Thank you.

Presentations.

I'm not aware of any presentations, so we'll go on to approval of the minutes.

The minutes of the City Council meeting about August 2nd, 2021 have been reviewed.

There's no objection.

The minutes will be signed.

Hearing no objections, the minutes are being signed.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes?

Approval of the introduction and referral calendar.

If there is no objection, the introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the introduction and referral calendar is adopted.

Approval of the agenda.

And I know we have a change to this, but I'll go ahead and move to adopt the agenda.

Is there a second?

I believe there are comments.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

and is that until September 13, 2021?

That would be a request to hold until September 13.

Okay, we've got a motion.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded that Council 120119 be held until September 13, 2021. Council Member Mosqueda, I know you'd like to address the motion.

Please go ahead.

Thank you very much, Council President Pro Tem.

Colleagues, appreciate the second and the support here today to potentially hold the grocery worker hazard pay amendment that we have in front of us.

This would have eliminated the hazard pay requirement as part of the legislation while keeping other items intact.

Colleagues, I have made a motion to hold this item until September 13th.

as it is important for us to continually revisit the conversation around what best public health practices are.

Our commitment during the passage of this original piece of legislation was to make sure that this hazard pay ordinance was not in perpetuity, but that we revisited it within a four-month period.

We had intended to address this by bringing it back to council to eliminate this component, given the city's effort to try to reopen our city and the positive projections at the time we were seeing in June about increased vaccination rates and a decrease in transmission.

Unfortunately, based on the city's best public health practices, our county public health practices, and national information from the Centers for Disease Control, which has been shared in the last week, including as early as today at our own city and state level.

We know that fully vaccinated individuals can very much transmit COVID-19 if they are not properly wearing a mask.

And if individuals who even are vaccinated are not properly wearing a mask and don't have access to the vaccine, they are highly contagious.

The Delta variant now makes up over 90% of cases of new COVID cases in our country.

We have this public health guidance to look at as we continue to try to protect the health and safety of frontline workers, especially grocery workers who've been on the front line, making sure our community has access to food and critical services to make sure that families are kept healthy and safe.

And following this best practice and the recommendations from public health, I am requesting today that we hold this item until the 13th, where we will continue to evaluate our public health guidance to make sure it is reasonably safe to engage in any future conversation that would involve this piece of legislation.

We'll continue to look at the latest guidance from the CDC as we approach the 13th, but appreciate your consideration of holding this item for September 13th.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

Any other comments on the motion to hold Council Bill 120119?

Oh, Council Member Sawant.

Thank you, President Pro Tem Peterson.

I will be voting yes on the motion to postpone the vote, but I wanted to clarify, as I did the last time, The council dealt with this a few weeks ago to the members of the public that I will not be supporting the ordinance to strip grocery workers of their hazard pay over three years early.

The hazard pay ordinance that the city council passed last year required big grocery stores to pay workers an additional $4 an hour in hazard paying compensation for the dangers of doing essential work during the pandemic and in contact with so many people.

The hazard pay in the original ordinance lasted three years after the end of the public health emergency, not in perpetuity, but for three years.

And I believe and I know that working people feel this way, that frankly, the least that should be done is to support the essential workers is to keep it for that time duration.

And I don't find it acceptable that The Council will be talking about this before the public health emergency is even over.

And we know that there are many uncertainties in the next coming months.

related to the COVID variants, especially the Delta variant.

And so when this ordinance to, if this ordinance comes up for a vote in September to strip the grocery workers, the hazard pay, I just wanted to let the members of the public who are watching know that I will be voting no on that.

But today this is a motion to delay the vote for a future council meeting and I will be voting yes on that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Swine.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

Colleagues, that's not an accurate statement.

Council Member Sawant, it is not accurate to say that this legislation extended for three years.

There is various pieces of hazard pay legislation that this council has enacted during COVID.

The one we are talking about specific to hazard pay, $4 for grocery workers, was intended to be for the period of the emergency that we are currently in, and we committed in that legislation to revisit it in four months.

So there is not a walking back of a policy here.

There was never a three-month period included in this legislation.

There's various components that we have layered as a council to protect the health and safety of individuals who are truly on the front line.

All of those commitments remain intact.

This legislation is specific to hazard pay for grocery workers, which we said we would revisit in four months.

And following the public health guidance is exactly why we have continued to extend it.

Just want to make sure that folks are clear about the timeline that was included specifically in this legislation versus the other critically important legislation that I also fully support it and see Council Member Herbold as well on the screen.

And I know that she and others have been working very hard on that type of support for other frontline workers.

This was a narrow piece specific to those grocery workers we said we'd revisit.

We are going to continue to look at the best public health practices to do so, but I don't want there to be any confusion out there.

As someone who comes from labor, who has worked with UFCW 21 members, who has specifically worked with the grocers as well to make sure that we can address transmission, It was important for me not only to pass the legislation, to be the first in Washington State to put forward the hazard pay legislation, and to then be a model for other cities and regions around Washington State to follow.

I wanted to be very clear.

I continue to stand in solidarity.

with grocery workers, we'll continue to work with those who are helping to provide food and essential services in our community.

And there's no question about my loyalty to making sure that working families have the protections that they need.

But it is important to clarify that this legislation is different from the other pieces and the timeline is not a three-year look back.

We will continue to look at the public health best practices that are out there.

So let's not confuse folks.

And council members, I'd like to go ahead and vote on this the motions to hold it so I think there's going to be.

agreement to hold it and the merits can be discussed later.

I would like to very briefly respond.

I won't take much time.

The sponsor of the motion, I'm going to give the last word.

So will the clerk please call the roll on the motion to hold?

Council Member Herbold can have the last word.

I have no problem with that, but I do want to respond to what was raised.

Uh, in my view, actually, I'm sorry, Councilor Swan, you're not recognized to speak.

We're gonna vote on the motion.

It's a motion to hold.

So I think there's agreement toe hold it so we can discuss the merits when it's when it's up to be discussed September 13th.

We're just we've got a long agenda, so let's just vote on the motion.

We don't have a very long agenda.

I need just a minute to speak.

Only one minute.

I'm sorry, Council Member Sawant.

Will the clerk please call the roll and motion to hold?

Council Member 120119 until September 13, 2021. Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Yes.

And Council President Peterson?

Yes.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the bill is held until September 13, 2021. Any further comments on the amended agenda?

OK, will the clerk please call the roll on the amended agenda?

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Yes.

Hi.

And council president Peterson.

Hi.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the agenda is adopted as amended.

Colleagues, at this time, we'll open the remote public comment period for items on the city council agenda, introduction referral calendar, and the council's work program.

I thank everyone for their ongoing patience and cooperation as we continue to operate this remote public comment system.

It remains the strong intent of the city council to have remote public comment regularly included on meeting agendas.

However, as a reminder, the City Council reserves the right to end or eliminate these public comment periods at any point if we deem that the system is being abused or is no longer suitable for allowing our meetings to be conducted efficiently and effectively.

I will moderate the public comment period.

And it appears that we have about 33 speakers signed up.

So we're going to go ahead and give each speaker one minute to speak and proactively extend what's normally a 20-minute time.

We'll go ahead and extend it to 35 minutes to give everyone a chance to speak.

It'll be for one minute each.

Speakers will be called upon in the order in which they're registered to provide public comment on the council's website.

Each speaker must call in from the phone number used for this registration and using the meeting phone number, ID, and passcode that was emailed to them upon confirmation.

This is different than the general meeting listen call-in information line.

Again, I'll call on each speaker by name and in the order in which they are registered on the council's website.

If you've not yet registered but would like to speak, you can still sign up before the end of the public comment by going to the council's website, Seattle.gov forward slash council.

The public comment link is also listed on today's agenda.

Once I call a speaker's name, staff will unmute the appropriate microphone, and an automatic prompt of, you have been unmuted, will be the speaker's cue that it is their turn to speak, and then the speaker must press star six to begin speaking.

Please begin speaking by stating your name and the item that you are addressing.

As a reminder, public comment should relate to an item on today's agenda, the introduction referral calendar, or the council's work program.

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

Once you hear the chime, we will ask that you begin to wrap up your public comment.

If speakers do not end their comments at the end of the allotted time provided, the speaker's microphone will be muted to allow us to call on the next speaker.

Once you have completed your public comment, we ask that you please disconnect from the line, and if you plan to continue following this meeting, please do so via Seattle Channel or the listening options listed on the agenda.

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

Please remember to press star six after you hear the prompt.

You have been unmuted, and the clerk is telling me The public comment period we extended to 35 minutes, assuming there's no objection to extend it by 35 minutes.

Okay.

So let's go with the first speaker, who is Howard Gale, followed by Jack Francis.

Please go ahead, Howard.

Good afternoon, Howard Gale.

Over the last four years, we have witnessed the repeated failures of our police accountability systems.

Today, thanks to the reporting of Carol and Bic at the South Seattle Emerald, we get a closer look at the inner workings of the system and learn just how self-serving, self-reinforcing, bureaucratic, and paternalistic this nine-plus-million-dollar system is, protecting both itself and the SPD from the community.

In 2017, when this system was devised, Community Police Commission member Isaac Ruiz likened the three-part system to a jet plane with multiple engines, allowing for one engine to keep the plane aloft if the others failed.

What many of us in the community saw was a system so cut off from the community that all three engines could take us somewhere that no one wanted to be.

We have long since arrived at that unpleasant destination.

The failures of the system and the events of the last 14 months demonstrate the urgent need for us to have civilian accountability, true civilian control.

Go to seattlestop.org to find out how.

That's seattlestop.org.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Jack Francis, followed by Daniel Cavanaugh.

Go ahead, Jack.

Hi, my name is Jack Francis.

I'm a renter in the University District.

I'm LGBTQ, and I'm a makeup artist.

And I am calling to just give a general statement that I would really love it if my council members just supported any and all progressive for the people motions that may be voted on at this meeting.

Especially any of those that may go towards funding affordable housing in a central district for black indigenous families Possibly also extending the or increasing the tax Amazon to also fund excuse me also fund Affordable housing for low-income families.

Thank you.

I yield my time Thank you next we've got Daniel Cavanaugh followed by Kate Rubin go ahead Danny

Hey, my name's Dan.

I'm a member of Socialist Alternative and a renter and working class person living in the Central District in Seattle.

I'm speaking to support Council Member Sawant's resolution to officially recognize the harm done to the black community by the city's political establishment and fully fund the affordable housing project proposed by New Hope Missionary Baptist Church.

And I also want to speak on how outrageous it is that Council Member Sawant was denied even a minute uh...

to respond out when you find out about that but i want you are silencing me and my neighbors are in my community i thought i really did not respect that uh...

you know fifty years ago at the end of democratic abduction force new hope missionary baptist church historically black church to give up part of their land ever working-class black families were also forced uh...

to sell their homes uh...

the members of new hope and if it was the community are demanding that it may be returned to the church so that 87 units of affordable housing for black and brown people can be built, and we will not be silenced.

Thank you.

Next, we have Kate Rubin, followed by Michael Malini.

Go ahead, Kate.

Good afternoon.

My name is Kate Rubin.

I'm the executive director of eSeattle and a renter living in District 2. I'm calling to urge council to acknowledge Seattle's racist history of redlining, increase the Amazon tax to expand overall funds for affordable housing, And vote yes without any further delays or loopholes on the new HOPE resolution introduced by Council Member Sawant.

We are all well aware of the homelessness crisis and the fact that the BIPOC community is disproportionately affected with Black mothers being the most impacted by addiction.

We have witnessed the rapid gentrification of the historically Black Central District.

If Seattle truly believes that Black lives matter we must take deliberate action to ensure that the Black community isn't further displaced from our city.

When you consider the amount of money that the city has spent criminalizing poverty, the $10.5 million of public funds that would be allocated to affordably house 90 families is just a drop in the bucket.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Michael Malini, followed by Reverend Lawrence Willis.

Go ahead, Michael.

Hi, my name is Michael Mullaney.

I'm a renter in District 3, and I'm just calling for the Council to vote yes on the New Hope Resolution to support funding for affordable housing in the Central District.

I yield my time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Reverend Lawrence Willis, followed by Evan Palmer.

Hello, Reverend Willis.

And just a reminder for our speakers to press star six to speak.

Go ahead, Reverend Willis.

There you go.

Go ahead.

Go ahead, Reverend Willis.

Looks like you just went back on mute by accident.

There you go.

Go ahead, sir.

We're not hearing it.

Hello?

Yes.

Hello?

Yes, please.

Am I on now?

Yes, you are.

All right.

Yes, this is Pastor Lawrence Willis, President of the United Black Clergy.

I'm asking the Council to vote yes on the New Hope Resolution.

Seattle's Black population has been priced out of Seattle as twice as much as any other ethnic community.

And so many Blacks now are living outside of the city.

And we can fight against that, this negative impact on the displacement, especially in an eviction.

And we're wanting the council to vote yes on this.

So please vote yes.

We're in support, United Black Clergy.

Over 25 churches are represented here.

Please give them the property back so we can combat affordable housing and help support the central area and the New Hope Church.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Evan Palmer, followed by Valerie Charette.

Go ahead, Evan.

Hi, I'm Evan Palmer, and I also wanted to speak on item 18, the New Hope Resolution.

I want to urge the council to vote yes on this resolution.

I think it's a concrete way to solve the, you know, work towards solving the affordable housing crisis and the racist history of this city.

The way to do that is by taxing the rich and funding permanent high quality affordable housing.

This is a great step in the right direction.

So yes, please.

I'm asking you to vote yes on a council member response resolution.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Valerie Shrovet, followed by Mark Cohen.

Go ahead, Valerie.

Today, the South Seattle Emerald published an article about a whistleblower complaint about the Office of the Inspector General.

That's the OIG, the office that is supposed to keep the OPA, Seattle's Office of Police Accountability, honest and professional.

The whistleblower, a senior level auditor within the OIG, resigned over concerns that the OIG's Inspector General and Deputy Inspector General have quashed any pushback against the OPA.

The complaint highlights patterns of concealing the truth and avoiding public disclosure request requirements.

The details reveal that our police accountability system is rotten to the core.

It's been apparent for years that the OPA's investigations and the OIG's oversight were not about real accountability.

Now we have some details about how that system rubber-stamped police abuse as lawful and proper, thus perpetuating it.

I hope the council will regard this.

Thank you, Valerie.

And speakers, you may also email your comments to us at council at Seattle dot gov, council at Seattle dot gov. Next we have Mark Cohen followed by Don Billen.

Go ahead, Mark.

Hi.

Thank you, council members.

My name is Mark Cohen.

I'm a sociologist with Seattle University.

I'm calling in support of the supplemental budget amendment to fully fund the affordable housing project proposed by New Hope Missionary Baptist Church.

It's perplexing to me that this is even a debate about whether to support this.

I don't think it's disputed that we have an affordable housing crisis.

and that this crisis has disproportionately impacted people of color and has been a driving force of the gentrification and decimation of Seattle's black community in the central district.

And we have an opportunity to make a modest investment towards solving the problem.

And all we have to do is put the resources in the hands of leaders in the black community who have a plan and a proven track record of building and sustaining resources for the black community.

So I urge the council to support this proposal and demonstrate trust and the people and leadership of New Hope Baptist Church.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Don Billen followed by Robert Jeffrey Sr.

Go ahead, Don.

Thank you, members of the Council, for your consideration today of the lease agreement between Sound Transit and the City of Seattle.

My name is Don Billen, and I'm the Executive Director of Planning, Environment, and Project Development at Sound Transit.

Today's action before you will approve the first lease agreement between Sound Transit and the City of Seattle that will provide the city with approximately 18,000 square feet near the upcoming U district station to create an additional tiny house village and support those who are experiencing homelessness.

The lease agreement will provide the property to the city at no cost and allow the city to move forward in partnership with Lehigh to develop this tiny house village.

I understand Lehigh is ready to move on to the property and open imminently, which makes today's action before the council all the more important.

Lastly, the lease agreement addresses the liability issues from the city's use of Sound Transit property, which reflects similar approaches previously used by the city and Sound Transit.

I'd like to thank Sound Transit Board.

Thank you very much, Don Billen, and thank you, Sound Transit.

Next, we have Robert Jeffrey Sr. followed by Karen Whittle.

And go ahead and press star six on your phone.

Go ahead.

Hello, my name is Robert Jeffrey.

Hi.

Oh.

I think we actually.

OK, here we go.

We got him back.

Go ahead.

There you go.

Go ahead, please.

Hello, my name is Robert Jeffrey.

I'm calling once again.

to express my hope that Council will pass the recommendation for the New Hope Baptist Church Housing Project and the recommendation about the land that was taken from New Hope.

We believe that Council needs to make right a documented historical wrong.

Please do the right thing and pass this recommendation.

Special thanks, I want to give special thanks to Councilwoman Sawant and her organization, for their tireless efforts in assisting us in this matter.

The tragedy that is happening to African-Americans in this city and that who used to live in the central area is unimaginable to those families.

Please begin this process of doing the right to support this initiative.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we have Karen Whittle followed by Reverend Angelo Ying.

Go ahead, Karen.

My daughter was a resident of the homeless encampment at 125th and Lake City Way, a city-sanctioned encampment that included a press conference by the mayor and the police chief.

Yet, for whatever reason, the city decided it was time to sweep with the intent to send many, if not most, community members to downtown Seattle, and I'd like to know why.

Downtown Seattle is dangerous for women and elderly members of the homeless community.

Two days later, it was reported that King County had purchased motels for the homeless, leaving me to wonder why city officials didn't simply work out a plan to move a community that had been together throughout the pandemic into a motel that would allow them to get the mental health treatment many need, including my daughter, on site without having to navigate the dangerous areas like Pioneer Square.

There's a council member here that claims to care about mental health, before police intervention, but I'm keenly aware that person wasn't present to see those who were in crisis during the sweep.

I also know there's a council member who represents Capitol Hill, and I will send this to everyone.

I just want something done about these sweeps.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have the Reverend Angela Ying, followed by Shirley Henderson.

Go ahead, Reverend Ying.

Thank you to the Council.

I am the Reverend Angela Yang and I too have called in many, many times.

You have before you the New Hope Resolution introduced by C.M.

Sawant.

We ask you to vote yes today on our New Hope Resolution with the $10.5 million.

You have heard from working people, renters, residents of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church alongside hundreds, hundreds of faith and community leaders.

You have received over 250 emails, including the NAACP, the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, Black Lives Matter, the Japanese American Citizens League, MLK Junior Committee, Wanawari, United Black Clergy, Lehigh, El Centro de la Raza, Advocates for H.R.

40 for African American Reparations, churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and the leaders, and so many more who join in affirming our new hope resolution with $10.5 million.

support our new hope resolution and stop racist redlining and displacement in our communities.

To quote Desmond Tutu, come and join the winning side.

Do the right thing and right this wrong by voting yes.

Thank you, Reverend Yang.

Next, Shirley Henderson, followed by Larry Gossett.

Go ahead, Shirley.

Thank you so much.

My name is Shirley Henderson, and I am one of the owners of Squirrel Chops, a queer coffee shop and hair salon in the Central District.

as many have spoken to, it's a neighborhood which has been the epicenter of racist redlining and economic eviction in this city.

And I'm speaking in support of Council Member Sawant's resolution to fully fund affordable housing proposed by the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church.

This resolution is vital to me as a small business owner who is committed to my workers and to this community and to making the Central District and the whole city affordable.

To that end, I'm demanding that Democrats on city council act on their words that Black Lives Matter and vote yes on this resolution.

I also urge other small progressive businesses to join me and the faith leaders in the upcoming People's Budget campaign to follow up on the resolution to win the funds for the affordable housing project and also fight for residential and commercial rent control.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we have former King County Councilmember Larry Gossett, followed by Cassandra Oaks.

Councilmember Gossett, please.

Go ahead and press star six to speak.

Okay.

Yes.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

I have been living in the central area for 66 years.

I'm one of the few black family leaders that's still able to afford to live here because of the historic redlining.

I'm calling to support the resolution put forth by Council Member Shama Sawant to begin the repair process in the central area of allowing low-income housing by supporting the excellent proposal of the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church to build around 80 houses.

Most of them are affordable to historic residents.

I was in Garfield High School in 1961 as a student when Martin Luther King Jr. came to Garfield and spoke to the entire student body.

He said that he's here to start a movement against redlining in Seattle because 88% of the entire black population lived in the central area at that time.

It is.

Thank you, Council Member Gossett, and appreciate your, if you were able to send your remarks into us at council.seattle.gov.

And thank you for speaking on this previously as well.

Cassandra Oaks, followed by Robert Lee.

Go ahead, Cassandra.

Yes, I would like to support Dr. Jeffrey to build affordable housing and to give and to restore the land that was taken from New Hope Baptist Church and to give reparations for that land that was taken because that was generational wealth that they just missed out on and to give them the money to build affordable housing We need reparations, and we need money to build.

And we would like the land that was taken to make a park.

I support Sioux One's effort for affordable housing and rent control.

Seattle needs rent control.

We need to restore the community back their affordable housing, their houses, And if Seattle would do this great thing, you would do what is right, what would be a win-win situation.

Thank you, Cassandra.

And just a reminder to folks, you can email your comments also to council at Seattle.gov.

Next, we have Robert Lee, followed by Katherine Dawson.

Go ahead, Robert.

and please press star six to begin speaking.

Yes.

Hi, my name is Robert Lee.

I'm calling in in support of Council Member Sawant's resolution for affordable housing.

It is time that the City Council take a look at reversing some of our past practices of redlining and the Central District is vital to that.

And I also want to point out that restoring the property to New Hope Missionary Baptist Church also signals to the council the Black Lives Matters and that property taken for the points in which it was taken in the past was not a proper use of council powers and that we entrust our black community to do the right thing in building our community and being a part of Seattle moving forward.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Catherine Dawson followed by Robin Thompson.

Go ahead, Catherine.

The caller is not there.

OK.

Next, we have Robin Thompson followed by Carissa Yamaguchi.

Go ahead, Robin.

Hi my name is Robin Thompson.

I'm speaking today to ensure Seattle Council members vote without any further delay to approve Council Member Sawant's resolution to fully fund the affordable housing project proposed by New Hope Baptist Church to vote in full with no last minute or backroom changes to the resolution to show actual support for Black lives.

Seattle City Council must not remain complicit to the racist removal of the Black and Brown community in the Central District.

Vote yes.

I urge the council to make a formal commitment to fund this project and other affordable housing development that will begin to right the wrongs and move back people who have been displaced.

The council must not divide the Black community by tone policing by saying the church has too loud of a voice.

Rents have risen by 20 percent this year already.

Only 15 percent of the Black community remains in the central district.

Please don't tone police.

Take responsibility.

Thank you.

Next, we have Carissa Yamaguchi, followed by Rhonda Harris.

Go ahead, Carissa.

Hello, my name is Carissa Yamaguchi, and I am a Japanese-American resident of Beacon Hill and a member of the Japanese Baptist Church on Broadway in Boren.

I am also speaking in support of the supplemental budget amendment to fully fund the affordable housing project proposed by New Hope Missionary Baptist Church The Yesler Atlantic Urban Renewal Project in the 1960s displaced 416 families and 84% of those displaced were members of the black community.

New Hope has a long history of serving the central district's black community and creating affordable housing opportunities for the many, many in need.

And I urge the council to fund the church's $10.5 million affordable housing project.

Yeah, my family's been living here since before World War II and actually experienced the impact of incarceration during World War II.

And we've also seen a large amount of Black people displaced from the Central District.

And we just believe that it's time the Black community receives reparation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And we're going to go back to Catherine Dawson, followed by Rhonda Harris.

Go ahead, Catherine.

Hi, my name is Catherine.

Hi, my name is Catherine.

I'm a renter in District 3. I'm calling in support of council members to want to propose a resolution to condemn Seattle's history of racist redlining and to expand affordable housing.

I'm calling on the City Council to expand the Amazon tax to build more affordable housing, as well as to fund the $10.5 million New Hope project as one of the steps towards repairing historical wrongs.

We know the only way to combat gentrification and displacement is through affordable housing and renter protection.

I support giving preference to central area residents, mostly black, who have been displaced or are under threat of displacement as rents skyrocket.

Lastly, as a resident of District 3, I don't appreciate my elected representative, who is the longest serving member on the council, being procedurally shut out.

I'm looking forward to hearing the remainder of her comments in September.

Thank you.

Next, we have Rhonda Harris followed by Jason Sykes.

Go ahead, Rhonda.

Go ahead, Rhonda Harris.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Yes, I'm Rhonda Harris.

I'm a member of the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, and I urge you, the Seattle City Council, to vote yes on Council Member Swanson's resolution to acknowledge past practices of Rachel Redline in Seattle and to provide public funding of $10.5 million to allow the New Hope Community Development Institution project to be completed, created non-affordable homes, which are very much needed in the Seattle Central District.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Jason Sykes, followed by Janet White.

Go ahead, Jason.

Hi, thank you, Council President.

My name is Jason Sykes.

I'm a resident of District 4. about the article in today's South Seattle Emerald about one of the Inspector General staff resigning their position.

Because of the culture of protectionism and trying to protect the Office of Police Accountability instead of overseeing it, I encourage the entire Council to read the whole article.

There's a particular quote that I think just stands out, which is that The Deputy Inspector General told the whistleblower it is the policy of the Inspector General that any statement which could be construed as negative toward the Office of Police Accountability should take place via phone call only.

The reason for this was to avoid the press having ammunition to portray OPA in a bad light.

That is a serious charge, and I encourage the Council, if it takes accountability seriously, to investigate this seriously.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, we have Janet White, followed by Janice Davis Lee.

Go ahead, Janet.

Hello, this is Janet White.

I'm calling in support of the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church Affordable Housing Project, sponsored by Councilperson Sawant.

And I truly want to acknowledge and appreciate her efforts in this.

It is just time to right some wrongs that have historically taken place in the Central District.

I have been there my entire life and have witnessed all of it, the redlining, the taking of property, the pushing everybody out.

And it's just time to create housing for people to come back at this point in time.

So again, please support, vote for the proposal and do it right away.

Thank you very much.

Bye.

Thank you.

Next, we have Janice Davis Lee followed by John Grant.

Go ahead, Janice.

Hello, everyone.

I'm Janice Davis Lee.

I am a member of the New Hope Resolution in returning the property back that was legally taken.

I'm putting our trust and hope in the council.

And thank you, Council President.

Uh, that, that you all will be the ones to make history to, to make history.

Right.

Uh, and for us to be able to be, um, given the input, but how, um, in this racist red lining district, uh, this is traumatizing that we are experiencing gentrification.

And, um, I'm just asking that you support the law and we had a rally.

It was very successful.

And I just pray that you all will make the wrong right, that it's in your power and it's in your hands.

And thank you for your time.

Thank you.

And next we have John Grant, who may be our last speaker.

Go ahead, John.

Good afternoon, Council President Pro Tem Peterson and council members.

My name is John Grant with the Low Income Housing Institute.

I'm here to testify in support of Council Member Sawant's resolution affirming reparations for the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church and other black families in the central area.

Our city inflicted a serious injury to Seattle's black community 50 years ago.

Under the guise of urban renewal, city officials at the time used the threat of eminent domain to seize land and displace black families.

Lehigh has estimated that the value of the church's land stands at more than $2 million, which the city paid $34,000 at the time.

Today's City Council has taken concrete steps to undo the legacy of racism in our city, and that should be commended.

But we are talking about a specific harm that remains unmended, inflicted by the city's past leaders, and it is never too late to make a right wrong.

Excuse me, to make a wrong right.

The City of Seattle should apologize, give the land back, and go even further by fully funding the New Hope Family Housing Project.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We actually have one more speaker, Alana Liebrecht.

Go ahead, Alana.

Hi, my name is Alana Liebrecht.

I'm speaking in support of Council Member Sawant's affordable housing resolution.

I'm a resident and a voter here in the Central District, and I'm speaking today in support of my neighbors.

I call on the City Council to fully fund the affordable housing project proposed by New Hope Church.

$10 million represents a tiny fraction of the vast wealth in this city.

but it represents a huge opportunity to start undoing our city's history of racist redlining.

Again, I urge City Council to vote yes on the New Hope Resolution, to say yes to righting historical wrongs, and by doing so, show that Black Lives Matter in the City of Seattle.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And colleagues, we've reached the end of our list of public commenters, so we'll close the public comment period and go on to the next item on the agenda, which is payment of the bills.

Will the clerk please read the title?

Council Bill 120152, appropriating money to pay certain audited claims for the week of July 26, 2021 through July 30, 2021, and ordering the payment thereof.

Thank you.

I move to pass Council Bill 120152. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded that the bill pass.

Are there any comments?

Okay, hearing no comments, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Thank you.

Juarez?

Aye.

And Council President Peterson?

Aye.

Eight in favor, nine opposed.

Thank you, the bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Okay, let's get on to our other items of business.

Item one, will the clerk please read item one into the record?

Agenda item one, council bill 120151. relating to the Department of Finance and Administrative Services, authorizing the director of the Department of Finance and Administrative Services or the director's designee to negotiate and execute a real property lease with the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority for vacant land at 1000 Northeast 45th Street, Seattle, Washington, and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts.

Thank you.

I move to pass Council Bill 120151. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councilmember Lewis.

It's been moved and seconded to pass the bill.

As co-sponsor of this bill, I'll address it first, and then I'll recognize Councilmember Lewis as the other co-sponsor and open it up to comments if there are any.

Colleagues, in the spirit of engaging the homelessness crisis with the urgency it deserves, Councilmember Lewis and I walked on to last week's introduction and referral calendar, this council bill 120151. This expedited bill would authorize the city to enter into this lease with Sound Transit for the use of this site for a tiny home village in the University District.

I want to thank Sound Transit for making this land available to us to address homelessness in the area.

And thank Council Member Lewis for enabling us to go straight to the City Council rather than through a committee.

The council already authorized the funds for this tiny home village during our budget approvals last November.

The nonprofit, Low Income Housing Institute, known as Lehigh, and their volunteers have completed building these tiny homes for the university district, which I was able to visit in their factory recently.

So the last step of approval is this lease so that we can get more people off the streets and into their own space and onto a positive future.

The site is approximately 18,000 square feet and can fit approximately 36 tiny house structures.

The lease would be for approximately two and a half years.

After hosting the tiny home village, the construction of new permanent affordable housing will occur on this site in our university district.

To further expedite this project, I've asked Sound Transit to sign the lease today, which they have already done.

I've also asked the mayor to sign the legislation within the next 24 hours, and her office has agreed.

And finally, our financial administrative services director standing by ready to sign the lease on behalf of the city government.

I know the nonprofit Lehigh is eager to get started on this site so we can finally get this done and get more people who are experiencing homelessness inside.

And as we discussed this morning, we're hopeful this lease can be used as a template for future partnerships, not only in Seattle, but throughout the region to accelerate our response to the homelessness crisis.

And now I'll go ahead and recognize Council Member Lewis, if you'd like to speak to this.

Thank you, Council Member Peterson, for giving me the opportunity to weigh in on this really important bill.

I do, first off, want to clarify this morning, I believe I referred to this village as the Roosevelt Village.

I did so because it is on Roosevelt, but in the University District.

So I do just want to clarify if I confused anyone out in the public as to the location.

It is in the University District.

Speaking a little bit more broadly, I think there's just a few big points I want to make at the top, just to emphasize Councilmember Peterson, some of your points.

We are in a dire state of emergency on chronic homelessness in the city of Seattle.

We need more tiny house villages as part of, at the very least, the short-term response to give more people a safe, dignified, and hygienic place to live as we work toward getting more folks into housing.

And as we all know, permanent supportive housing is the ultimate placement to finally make progress on chronic homelessness.

But in the meantime, we do need to lean into some of these shelter placements that have demonstrated results.

We know from the past five years of our homelessness state of emergency that Tiny house villages are one of the interventions that have scored the best on the data that we have accumulated.

We know that on average, people move on from a single family, sorry, from a tiny house village to a placement that is a permanent supportive housing or some other kind of subsidized housing after an average stay of 16 months.

We know we can speed that up with other interventions like rapid rehousing.

and like a bigger supply of permanent supportive housing.

But we also know in the meantime that People experiencing homelessness and with lived experience find tiny house villages to be highly desirable interim placements.

If they weren't, they would be empty.

All of our tiny house villages are full right now.

And the folks who are living currently in unsanctioned encampments would jump at the opportunity to be in a tiny house instead of the encampment as they await an offer to go to a better place than the tiny house village.

So I just wanted to make those broader points that we need to continue to do this work.

I also just want to say, as I mentioned in the meeting earlier today, that this lease that you did an excellent job of running down, Council Member Peterson, and working with all the stakeholders to make sure that after our vote today, quick administrative action will be taken to move this forward, does offer a template for future collaboration with Sound Transit as a partner in this space.

As I mentioned at briefing today, my office has been in several meetings with Sound Transit over the course of the last six months.

Sound Transit has generously identified and sent on to us three additional suitable sites owned by Sound Transit with similar characteristics to this site in the University District.

And we should continue to explore how this lease that we are voting on today could be a template to potentially create more tiny house villages on those sites in partnership with our friends at Sound Transit.

And with that, I have nothing else to add and look forward to voting for this.

Thank you, Council Member Lewis.

Any other comments on the bill?

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

Lewis.

Aye.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Sawant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

Herbold.

Yes.

Juarez.

Aye.

And Council President Peterson.

Yes.

Eight in favor and none opposed.

Thank you, colleagues.

The motion carries.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Item two was held.

The report of the finance and housing committee agenda item three council bill 120151 related to the city's response to the COVID-19 crisis amending ordinance 126237 which adopted the 2021 budget including the 2021 through 2026 capital improvement program.

The committee recommends that the bill pass.

Thank you.

Council Member Mosqueda, as chair of the committee, recognize in order to provide the committee report.

Thank you, President Pro Tem.

Colleagues, as you'll recall, we passed the first part of the Seattle Rescue Plan in Council Bills 120093 and Council Bill 120094. We passed this first package of the Seattle Rescue Plan on June 21st, 2021. This was intended to be the first of three acts in 2021 to address the crisis that COVID is presenting and to deploy federal dollars that have been made available to the city to make sure that we're responding to the urgent needs that have only been made worse by COVID and have been created by this pandemic as well.

The first package of bills authorized spending of about $128 million in 2021 to support Seattle's recovery efforts from COVID-19, backfill revenue, and we also authorized $25 million to provide direct cash assistance to households, specifically households directly affected by the effects of COVID who are largely our BIPOC community.

I'm really proud of the first proposal that we passed, and this is our second act of three acts this year that will be in response to the federal dollars that the city has received.

The Seattle Rescue Plan number two here follows up with the first investments by authorizing spending of now over $52 million for targeted aid for rental assistance programs to support seniors and to help invest in transportation projects and services.

We're going to follow up this legislation this fall with additional funding from ARPA, the American Rescue Plan Act, with another $128 million, and that will be taken up during the fall budget process.

I want to thank all of you for your work on the first iteration of our Seattle Rescue Plan Act 1 effort and make sure that you all know how important it is that these dollars are getting out.

I've received numerous emails from folks talking about the assistance that they've received as small business owners, support that folks have received as child care providers, and also the direct assistance that we are continuing to try to get out the door for our arts and cultural community.

So thank you again for all of the work that you've done.

Today's Council Bill, again, Council Bill 120150 provides now $28.7 million more for rental assistance, $7.7 million in direct assistance for seniors to deal with isolation, abuse, and neglect.

$13.5 million for specific transportation projects that were largely predetermined by our federal partners, as we are working to act as a pass-through for that, and McCall Hall, who has been awarded $2.1 million from the Seattle Business Association, excuse me, administration, to address this shuttered venues grant application that they received.

I want to thank members of central staff for their hard work on this along with all of you and my office as we work to get these dollars out the door as soon as possible.

Thank you for recognizing me, Council President Alex Peterson.

Just really quick, I want to thank Councilor Mosqueda.

This has been a lot of hard work with this ARPA money.

And thank you for going behind the scenes and talking to us, at least talking to us individually and as a team, where the money was going, how we were targeting it, and what our needs and concerns were.

So I really, really appreciate that you are consensus-based and always look for that middle ground for us to be practical and actually get across the finish line.

So thank you.

I'm done.

Thank you.

Any other comments on Council Bill 120150, item three on our agenda?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Morales?

Yes.

Thank you.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yeah.

Herbold?

Yes.

Gladys?

Aye.

And Council President Peterson?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Will the clerk please read the short title of item four into the record?

Agenda item four, council bill 120131. Amending Ordinance 126237, which adopted the 2021 budget, changing appropriations to various departments and budget control levels and from various funds in the budget.

The committee recommends that the bill pass.

Thank you.

Council Member Esqueda, as chair of the committee, you're recognized in order to provide the committee report.

Thank you very much Council President Pro Tem.

and dealing with the legacy of racism, of redlining, and of disinvestment.

This comes out also of the uprising last year for a call for racial reckoning following the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and so many more.

There's been a large recognition across our country that we need to do more to invest in upstream solutions to create greater housing stability, equitable job opportunities, investments in child care and early learning, and access to higher education and good living wage jobs and retirement security, along with housing stability.

These are part of the efforts for a much longer term investment strategy that we must be making towards investing specifically into our black community, our indigenous community, and our communities of color across this city.

The Equitable Communities Initiative Task Force included 25 members across BIPOC communities who worked together to identify four pillars for investments.

Those pillars included housing, health, education, and small businesses.

The proposal in front of us includes $8.8 million into housing, $6.2 million into health initiatives, $7.5 million into education strategies, and $7.5 million into small business investments.

I wanna thank each of the task force members for their tremendous amount of work.

We know that they have done this work in addition to their day jobs and their ongoing activism and work to create a more equitable community.

And they did this on top of that work.

So I wanna thank them and really congratulate them for bringing forward this proposal in front of us today, as we consider lifting the proviso and releasing these funds with the expectation that they will be immediately released into community.

I want to thank Pastor Carrie Anderson from First AME Church, Song Bagsney from International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 46, Maggie Angel Cano from Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, Andrea Coupland from Bird Bar Place, LaNesha Debrond-Abin from Northwest African American Museum, Tricia Melines DeZicco from Technology Access Foundation, Manaz Ester from Refugee Women's Alliance, Olly Garrett from Tabor 100, Chris Lampkin from SEIU 1199 Healthcare Northwest, Dr. Sheila Edwards-Lang from Seattle Central College, Paulina Lopez from Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, Esther Lucero from Seattle Indian Health Board, Michelle Merriweather from the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, Donna Moody from Marjory Restaurants, Estela Ortega from El Centro de la Raza, Carolyn Riley-Pain from Seattle King County NAACP, Rizwan Rizwi from Muslim Housing Services, Victoria Santos from Young Women Empowered, Stephen Sawyer from POCAN, and Michael Tully from United Indians of All Tribes, Ray Williams from Black Farmers Collective, Sharon Williams from the Seedy Forum, Pastor Lawrence Willis from United Black Clergy, Christina Wong from Northwest Harvest, Beto Yerce from Ventures, And of course, our very own ex-officio member, Council Member Juarez, who participated in this task force as well, representing not only D5, but this entire council.

Thank you all for your hard work, and I look forward to moving forward so we can get this legislation out the door.

And we'll conclude my comments there and turn it over to Council Member Juarez.

Yes, please, Council Member Juarez.

Thank you.

I was going to begin by thanking some folks, but Council Member Mosqueda went through the whole list of 26 people, so she kind of beat me to the punch there, but thank you, sis.

I appreciate that.

I will be short with my remarks, and I do have to quickly, they're out, they're prepared, so I'll just go right through them.

Today, colleagues, after 30 meetings and months of point over the data, we get the opportunity to approve the work of 26 community members of the equitable communities initiative task force.

I served as an ex officio position for this task force and my staffer, Dean attended every in each meeting.

Once the mayor made the announcement, the task force members got to work immediately.

The task force started their work by taking an inventory of what we would call the human capital in these neighborhoods, which includes expertise, wisdom, leadership, and fellowship, and to identify what strengths not only already existed, but what also what could be.

To leverage that with investments from the city.

In July, the task force transmitted their plan for investing in the four pillars, health, housing, small businesses and education.

Council members, you know, we don't need to tell BIPOC communities what they need.

They know we just need to listen and deliver.

We're a city with amazing community organizations that are prepared and ready to implement these upstream investments now, thanks to the ECI Task Force, they will be able to apply through a competitive process to start the work.

The investments have been vetted to ensure that they are aligned with the legal and constitutional requirements of Washington State.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor Washington.

And again, a quick thank you.

Thank you to the amazing facilitation team by Pamela Oaks of the Profitable Nonprofit.

Another note of gratitude to the anchor group for their work with the media to get the word out about the task force.

I've enjoyed, we have enjoyed meeting with both organizations.

And most importantly, thank you to the task force members as Council Member Mosqueda listed, and how we all believed in their mission, including my dear friend and friend to our office, Sharon Williams.

You have left an indelible mark on the city.

I'm grateful for your willingness to take a leap of faith to work in partnership with our city to bring us closer to the equitable city we aspire to be.

On just a personal note, I was going through my notes this morning back in September of 2020, when we were putting this task force together and also some of our budget notes.

And there was talk that certain groups were being pitted against each other.

And guess what?

That didn't happen.

We adhere to the transparency.

We are aligned in our core principles.

We are aligned in our humanity and our philosophy in investing in upstream community projects with community leadership.

So at the end of the day, we put our faith in Black lives, Black leaders, and Black community members and others, and good things happened.

Today is a testament that we can have more than one plan towards equitable communities when we work together.

So thank you so much.

Thank you, Council Member Juarez.

Colleagues, any other comments on this?

Yes, Council Member Herbold.

I was wondering, should I move the amendment?

Oh.

I'll go ahead and...

I've been waiting for a pause in all the wonderful, wonderful comments.

And the love fest.

So this came out of, yeah, so this came out of committee, so we don't need a special motion to start, but yes, you can, I'll recognize you to move the amendment, please.

Thank you so much.

I move to amend Council Bill 120131 as presented on, as amendment A on the agenda.

Second.

It moved and seconded that the bill be amended as presented on amendment A.

Council Member Herbold has sponsored the amendment.

You're recognized in order to address it.

Thank you so much.

I really love Council Member Juarez.

More than one plan.

That's fantastic.

So this amendment is just simply to recognize the executive's intent as it relates to the administrative costs.

It was a question that came up in committee.

The administrative costs are estimated to average out as about $6,000.

of the 30 million.

The intent is just really, again, to memorialize that expectation.

So no one's taken by surprise when the costs are taken from the 30 million.

Again, central staff confirmed with the city budget office and the executive that that was indeed the intent.

And I also just want to flag that those administrative costs might differ depending on whether or not It's HSD quickly funding an existing investment or having to create a new program, which new programs will have to take more time.

They will not be, those are not likely to be investments that can be made immediately, and they also will have slightly higher administrative costs, but it should still hopefully even out at around 6.5%.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Any comments on the amendment, amendment A?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of amendment A?

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Yes.

And Council President Pro Tem Peterson.

Yes.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries.

The amendment passes and the amended bill is before the council.

Any further comments on the bill as amended?

Okay, will the clerk please call the, yeah, oh, Council Member Muscat.

Okay.

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

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Sawant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

Herbold.

Yes.

Juarez.

Aye.

And Council President Pro Tem Peterson.

Aye.

Eight in favor, nine opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes as amended and the chair will sign it.

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

will the clerk please read item five into the record.

Agenda item five, council bill 120147, relating to the financing of the general fund, authorizing inter fund loans up to a total of 205 million from multiple city funds to the general fund as bridge financing to be repaid from future tax proceeds and other anticipated revenues and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts.

The committee recommends that the bill pass.

Thank you.

Council Member Mosqueda, as chair of the committee, you're recognized in order to provide the committee report.

Thank you very much, Council President Pro Tem.

Colleagues, I'm again excited to be able to bring forward legislation to you that supports the council's passage of Jump Start Seattle's progressive revenue.

We have not only eagerly anticipated the funds beginning to flow in January of 2022, expected amount over $200 million, but we also anticipate that about $135 million of that annually will be available to critical investments like housing, like many of the callers called in about today.

We also knew when we passed the Jump Start Seattle Progressive Revenue Tax that the 2021 proceeds from that tax would not begin coming into the city coffers until 2022. And they would begin coming in in quarterly installments for this first year.

We have made some important investments using the expectation of funds coming in soon because we knew that those funds would be available starting in 2022. However, we also recognize, along with the City Budget's Office and the Finance and Administrative Services Department, that as we are expecting these funds to come in, as they're coming in quarterly, we still need a bridge to help fund the spending that we have committed to until we receive those funds.

So what we have in front of us today is an Interfund loan bill to be able to make critical payments towards services that we have committed to, while then also replenishing that Interfund loan with the Jump Start Seattle revenue once it starts flowing into in 2022. The bill in front of us is a typical budget bill.

It approves about $205 million from loans from several city funds as part of our Interfund loan package in front of us.

Per the city's policy, the city's Debt Management Advising Committee is compromised of myself, Central Staff Interim Director Dan Eder, Budget Director Ben Noble, Finance Director Glenn Lee, and the Director of Public Utilities, Mami Hara, and Director of City Light, Deborah Smith, We as a city's debt manager policy advisory committee met over two weeks ago to approve the Interfund loan in front of us.

This again is anticipated to be fully paid before the end of 2022, and we do not believe that we would even have to wait that long to be able to refill the Interfund loan.

In fact, it's our expectation and assumption that the Interfund loan can be paid back by mid-year next year or early fall next year.

But just to ensure that we're giving ourselves a little ample time, we've authorized the inner fund loan to extend through the end of the year.

As a reminder, this is the first year that JumpStart revenues will be paid.

Again, they will be paid quarterly.

So having some flexibility on when we pay back the loan and giving ourselves through 2022 to pay back this inner fund loan source or the sources makes a lot of sense.

And our committee fully recommends passage of the bill in front of us today.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

Colleagues, any comments on this bill?

Okay, will the clerk please read, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Aye.

And Council President Pro Tem Peterson?

Hi.

Eight in favor and none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Now under the Public Assets and Native Communities Committee report, item six.

Will the clerk please read the short title of item six into the record?

The report of the Public Assets and Native Communities Committee.

Agenda item six.

Council Bill 120139. granting Seattle Arena Company, LLC, a permit to construct, maintain, and operate a tunnel under and across Thomas Street.

The committee recommends that the bill pass.

Thank you.

Council Member Juarez, as chair of the committee, you're recognized in order to provide the committee report.

Thank you, Mr. President.

On August 3rd, the Public Assets and Native Communities Committee voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council pass Council Bill 120139. This legislation would allow the Seattle Arena Company, LLC, permission to construct, maintain, and operate a tunnel under and across Thomas Street for the life of the Climate Pledge Arena building lease.

The term of the lease is for 39 years with two optional additional eight-year extensions.

I recommend, we recommend, council pass this bill.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any comments from colleagues on this bill?

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

Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of bill, Council Bill 120139.

Council Member Lewis.

Aye.

Morales.

Aye.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Sawant.

Yes.

Strouse.

Yes.

Herbold.

Yes.

Juarez.

Aye.

And Council President Pro Tem Peterson.

Aye.

8 in favor, 9 opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Will the clerk please read the short title of item 7 into the record.

Agenda item 7. Council Bill 120140. Related to Seattle Parks and Recreation.

Authorizing the acquisition of real property commonly known as 3, 6, 3, 8, 34th Avenue South.

The committee recommends that the bill pass.

Thank you, Council Member Juarez.

As chair of the committee, you are recognized in order to provide the committee report.

Thank you.

This is again was in front of us on August 3rd in our committee and Seattle Parks and Rec has land banked almost an acre of property in the North Rainier Hub urban village since 2011. This is to meet the goal of providing a large park for a growing community which historically been underserved.

This park site is nestled within a series of affordable family and senior multifamily housing projects.

We've been doing many of these, if you all recall, throughout at least the last couple of years.

This acquisition would increase the size and improve the utility of the park.

The committee recommends council pass this bill.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any comments on this bill?

Okay.

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

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Yes.

And Council President Pro Tem Peterson?

Yes.

Eight in favor and none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Item eight, will the clerk please read the short title of item eight into the record.

Agenda Item 8, Council Bill 120141, relating to Seattle Parks and Recreation, authorizing the acquisition of real property commonly known as 1024 South Elm Grove Street.

The committee recommends that the bill pass.

Thank you, Council Member Juarez.

As chair of the committee, you're recognized in order to provide the committee report.

Thank you.

This proposed legislation authorizes Seattle Parks and Recreation, again, to acquire property located adjacent to the Duwamish Waterway Park on the Duwamish River for open space, green space park, and recreational purposes.

We recommend that council pass this bill.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any comments on this bill?

OK, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Lewis.

Aye.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Sawant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

Herbold.

Yes.

Juarez.

Aye.

And Council President Pro Tem Peterson.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

The report from the Transportation and Utilities Committee.

Will the clerk please read item nine into the record?

The report of the Transportation and Utilities Committee, agenda item nine, Council Bill 120145, naming the pedestrian and bicycle bridge across Interstate 5 connecting North 100th Street to First Avenue Northeast as the John Lewis Memorial Bridge.

The committee recommends that the bill pass.

Thank you.

As chair of the committee, I'll just say a couple of sentences before I turn it over to the chief sponsor, Council Member Juarez.

This is Council Member Juarez's proposal to name the Northgate Pedestrian Bridge after National Civil Rights leader John Lewis.

At our committee, we heard powerful testimony from former county council member Larry Gossett and the current president of North Seattle College, Dr. Crawford.

Our committee unanimously recommended this item.

Council Member Juarez, would you like to address this item?

I will.

Thank you.

Council President Lewis, pro tem guy.

I also want to thank Councilor Herboldt as a co-sponsor.

So thank you very much for letting us bring this through your Transportation Utilities Committee.

And it is correct.

It was voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council pass this bill.

This bill, as stated, would establish the legal name of the pedestrian and by bicycle bridge, connecting North college to the North gate light rail station, opening October 2nd as the John Lewis Memorial bridge as a.

Former community matter member, and then a constituent and now an elected, I have been involved in the pedestrian bike bridge since at least 2015. And I think we raised, we finally got it up to about $56 million with the city of Seattle putting in the most money to make this happen.

This bill constitutes months, if not years, of collaboration with our community.

We started by completing a citywide inventory of all the names of public infrastructures in the city of Seattle.

And what we found was that there was very little BIPOC representation citywide.

And in District 5, there's currently not a single school, park, street, library, pool, community center, or any natural habitat such as a river, lake, creek, or stream named after an African-American leader.

We do know that through Seattle Public Schools, we have the Bob Eagle Staff, Robert Eagle Staff School, which I knew Bob.

And the Northgate Elementary School, I understand, will be changed soon to the James Baldwin School.

So, working citywide and with community, we considered many names for this bridge and decided to put forward the name of the Honorable U.S. Representative John Lewis, who we lost a year ago last July.

John Lewis passed away on July 17, 2020, after serving as a U.S.

Representative for Georgia's 5th Congressional District for more than three decades.

In honor of his incredible life and legacy as a civil rights icon and voting rights advocate, I'm sponsoring this bill, along with Council Member Herbold, to name the pedestrian bicycle bridge in Northgate the John Lewis Memorial Bridge.

I was joined in committee by two incredible community members, former King County Council Member Larry Gossett and President of North Seattle College, Dr. Shameen Crawford.

Both Council Member Gossett and Dr. Crawford support the naming to recognize and remember the vital nationwide impact John Lewis made during his time as a civil rights activist, advocate, and as a member of Congress.

We had some interesting comments during this period in the last year about naming John Lewis after this particular bridge.

And again, I just want to point out something that it should be obvious, but this is why we have this opportunity to look at places and memorialize people, and that we remember to be honest to the history, and not only about who gets remembered, but how they get remembered and why they get remembered.

John Lewis was a friend of Council Member Gossett, and Dr. Shamene Crawford spoke both times about how she met Mr. John Lewis.

But all of that aside, I don't think that we should have to qualify any black leader, any indigenous leader, any Asian leader, any LGBTQ leader.

I don't think that we have to qualify that they have some incorrect, uh, incredible direct connection to the city of Seattle.

I don't think George Washington was here or Lincoln or, you know, Franklin or, you know, Jason Lee or, um, you know, let's see, I can't think of other names.

They're everywhere as you all know.

And I think we should also point out that John Thornton, where we have Thornton Creek and Thornton Place was a railroad speculator who never came to King County or Seattle and actually lived and died in Clallam County, but got his name, got the title for the creek up here through the Bureau of Land Management in 1889. And I'm not saying that to disparage people who wanted that name.

I understand and I get it.

And we have Thornton Creek and we have Thornton Place.

But I think it's time that we open that lens, that there are other people that have made this country great and they didn't necessarily have to physically be here, though John Lewis did come to the University of Washington, I believe in 2017. Because in particular, when people of that greatness and that magnitude change our minds and our hearts, we owe it not only to the Honorable John Lewis, but to everybody to remember who John Lewis was.

I want to close up by saying something that I also shared in committee and I shared with other folks as well is that we believe that when loved ones leave us, that they don't actually leave us and they are alive as long as we say their name.

So it's important that we say John Lewis's name so people know who John Lewis was.

what he did and what he did for this country and what he committed to, not only in his personal life, but his professional life.

And there are very few heroes that we have like that, quite frankly, that I actually believe in.

So this bridge is both symbolic and poetic.

When John Lewis led the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, as you know, they were attacked by state troopers attempting to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

The violent attacks were recorded and disseminated throughout the country, and the images proved too powerful to ignore.

That became Bloody Sunday, as the day was labeled, which sped up the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

And as I shared in committee, that was in 1965, 56 years ago.

And as you all know, we are still fighting for the John Lewis Voting Act.

We are still fighting for a bedrock of our democracy and people's right to vote.

And that is still going on.

And I'm hoping that this bridge will be a reminder and not just a reminder for the city of Seattle, but for anybody what this bridge means and also how we commemorate and honor those who have done great things for our country.

So I know that some of you've heard that what they would call the Honorable John Lewis, that he was a conscious of the Congress.

that he was a true bridge builder who could walk across the aisle to achieve progress.

And I believe and I hope that he inspires all of us as leaders and future leaders to do the same.

So as I shared last Friday, Council Member Larry Gossett and Dr. Crawford also appeared on Converge Media's morning show update, where they went into greater detail about this proposal and their relationship with the great John Lewis.

And if you get a chance, I hope you can go back and look at that video.

So with that, I want to thank all of you that have worked with us, in particular you, Council Member Lewis, who was an early believer in this, and some of the conversations I had with Council Member Strauss, Council Member Herbold, and others.

And with that, I would hope that we would pass this bill today.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Juarez.

Colleagues, any other comments on the bill?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Enthusiastic yes.

Councilmember Herbold?

Yes.

Quarez?

Yes.

Councilmember Peterson?

Yes.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Item 10, will the clerk please read the short title item 10 into the record.

granting Swedish Health Services permission to construct, maintain, and operate a pedestrian tunnel under and across Miner Avenue.

The committee recommends that the bill pass.

Thank you.

As chair of the committee, I'll address this item, as well as the other two items following it, items 11 and 12. I'll just make my remarks all at once, but we have separate motions for each bill.

Colleagues, these all relate to the already approved construction of additional medical facilities for Swedish First Hill.

In 2016, Swedish received from the city conditional approval for an alley vacation, a tunnel, and a sky bridge to facilitate the development of a new medical office and supportive service building pursuant to Swedish's 2005 major institution master plan.

Construction of the building has been delayed, so this legislation enables adjustments.

So a clerk file one, excuse me, council bill 120133 would grant approval of a term permit for a pedestrian tunnel under minor avenue as conceptual approval for the tunnel was already granted in 2016 with resolution 31700. Then we've got council, hold on a second.

Let me just make sure I got the order right here.

Well, let's go ahead and just stick with that.

Council 120133 would grant approval of the term permit for pedestrian tunnel under minor avenue as conceptual approval for the tunnel was granted in 2016 under resolution 31700. Are there any comments on this bill?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Yes.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Sawant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

Herbold.

Yes.

Juarez.

Aye.

And Council President Pro Tem Peterson.

Aye.

Eight in favor and none opposed.

Thank you.

The next item on the agenda, item 11. Will the clerk please read the title into the record?

Agenda Item 11, Council Bill 120134, granting Seattle Arena Company, LLC, a permit to construct, maintain, and operate a tunnel under and across Thomas Street.

The committee recommends that the bill pass.

Thank you, colleagues.

Council 120134 would extend Council's approval of a skybridge over Minor Avenue between Columbia Street and Cherry Street.

This was previously approved in 2016 with ordinance 125142. As with all these, the three Swedish bills or items before us today, Council Committee for Transportation Utilities unanimously recommended approval of all of these.

Are there any comments on this bill?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Aye.

And Council President Peterson?

Aye.

Aiden Favre and end of post.

Thank you.

And with this, we will, let's see, with this clerk file, the clerk file is approved as conditioned and the chair will sign the conditions.

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

And apologies, council members, I'm just reorganizing the script here.

One moment.

Phillip Clark, please read the next item into the record.

Item 12, agenda item 12, court file 314477, request for an extension to the conditional approval of a petition of Swedish Health Services to vacate the alley in block 95, Terry's second addition to the city of Seattle.

The committee recommends that the court file be approved as conditioned.

Thank you, colleagues.

This is clerk file 314477. It would extend the council conditional approval of the vacation of the alley located on the block between Columbia Street, Minor Avenue, Cherry Street, and Boren Avenue, previously approved in 2016 under clerk file 314304. Again, with all these items for Swedish, they were unanimously recommended by our committee.

Are there any comments on this clerk file?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the approval of the clerk file as conditioned?

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Aye.

And Council President Pro Tem Peterson?

Yes.

Eight in favor and then opposed.

Thank you.

The clerk files approved this condition and the chair will sign the conditions.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the conditions on my behalf.

Okay, now item 13. Will the clerk please read the short title of item 13 into the record.

Agenda Item 13, Council Bill 120135, granting our Seattle number 33 LLC a permit to construct, maintain, and operate below-grade private utility lines under and across Royce Street.

The committee recommends that the bill pass.

Thank you.

As chair of the committee, I'll provide the committee report.

Council 120135 would grant final approval for a term permit to build, operate, and maintain private utility tunnels under city streets for a district energy system in South Lake Union.

The tunnels would collect waste heat from Seattle Public Utilities' wastewater system and deliver it to buildings on three blocks planned and under development.

The tunnels would run below Dexter Avenue North and Roy Street.

Council.

The next item on the agenda is the council's approval for the district energy system.

Conceptual approval for the district energy system was granted already under resolution 31980 in December 2020. The Seattle Department of Transportation has negotiated the provisions of the term permit consistent with the conditions of resolution 31980. Today's council, 120135 would grant approval for an initial 15-year term which can be renewed.

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Lewis?

Aye.

Salas?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Squant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Aye.

And Councilor President for 10th, Peterson?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Will the clerk please read item 14 into the record?

Agenda item 14, council bill 120136, vacating the alley in block 21, heirs of Sarah A. Bell's second edition, founded by Bell Street, 7th Avenue, Blanchard Street, and 8th Avenue in South Lake Union, and accepting a property use and development agreement on the petition of Acorn Development, LLC.

The committee recommends that the bill pass.

Thank you, colleagues.

I'll address these two items together, Council Bill 120136 and Council Bill 120137, items 14 and 15. They confirm that Amazon met the conditions of street vacations already approved for the so-called Block 20 and Block 21. Block 20 is bounded by 7th Avenue, Blanchard Street, 8th Avenue, and Lenora Street.

And Block 21 is bounded by Bell Street, 7th Avenue, Blanchard Street, and 8th Avenue.

Colleagues, as you may recall, street vacations are done in two steps.

The most important step is granting the conditional approval with public benefit conditions listed up front.

And the second more ministerial action is to confirm the completion of what was agreed to under the first step after the construction is completed.

These two pieces of legislation constitute the second and final step.

Construction is complete.

The conditions have been met.

Our committee voted unanimously to recommend approval of both of these items.

Are there any comments on the first item, which is Council 120136, Block 21?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold.

Yes.

Quattus.

Aye.

And Council President Pro Tem Peterson.

Aye.

Eight in favor, nine opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Will the clerk please read item 15 into the record?

Agenda item 15, council bill 120137. COB, Jean Gatza, Moderator she-her-herself

Thank you, colleagues.

My remarks for the previous bill also apply to this bill, Council Bill 120137 for Block 20. Are there any comments on the bill?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Lewis.

Aye.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Sawant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

Herbold.

Yes.

Juarez.

Aye.

And Council President Pro Tem Peterson.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Will the clerk please read the short title of item 16 into the record.

Agenda Item 16 Council Bill 120146 relating to the City Light Department accepting statutory warranty deeds.

The committee recommends that the bill pass.

Thank you, colleagues.

I'll address this as chair of that committee.

Council 120146 accepts the deeds for several parcels of land already purchased by Seattle City Light as part of our obligations under the Federal Endangered Species Act.

The city has committed to contribute to the conservation of important salmon and trout habitat in the Skagit and Tolt watersheds.

The city's funding is frequently combined with grant funding to increase the positive impact.

Acceptance of these deeds is a formal step in the process.

Our committee unanimously recommended approval.

Are there any comments on the bill?

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

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

So want?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Aye.

And Council President Pro Tem Peterson?

Aye.

Eight in favor and none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Okay, the last item from Transportation Utilities Committee.

Will the clerk please read item 17 into the record?

agenda item 17, clerk file 314451 petition of Seattle city light to vacate a portion of diagonal avenue south west of fourth avenue south.

the committee recommends the clerk file be granted as conditioned.

thank you.

as chair of the committee I'll provide this report.

clerk file 314451 is simply the petition of Seattle city light to vacate a portion of diagonal avenue south west of fourth avenue south.

The vacation of this portion of the street would connect Seattle City Light's South Service Station, which includes property on both sides of Diagonal Avenue South at this location.

The Seattle Department of Transportation, SDOT, and the Seattle Design Commission have reviewed the vacation petition in this clerk file 314451 and recommend granting the vacation.

Public benefits proposed as part of the vacation process include transferring property currently owned by City Light in the Georgetown neighborhood, the so-called Flume property, to SDOT and to the Seattle Department of Parks and Rec.

in conjunction with development of a bike-pedestrian trail, improved bike-ped connections between Georgetown and South Park, and an off-leash dog park within the Georgetown neighborhood.

The committee voted unanimously to recommend approval.

Are there any comments on this bill?

Will the clerk please call the roll in granting the clerk file as conditioned?

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Sawant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

Herbold.

Yes.

Juarez.

Aye.

And Council President Pro Tem Peterson.

Aye.

Eight in favor and none opposed.

Thank you.

The clerk's file is granted as conditioned and the chair will sign the conditions.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the conditions on my behalf.

Item 18, please read item 18.

Agenda item 18, resolution 32015 regarding the impact of Seattle's urban renewal program in displacing black community members from the central area, supporting community demands to fund quality, affordable social housing to prevent and reverse displacement and urging the office of housing to fund the affordable housing project proposed by New Hope Community Development Institute.

Thank you.

I move adoption of resolution 32015. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, Council Member Swann.

Council Member Swann, as sponsor of this item, you're recognized in order to address it.

Thank you, President Pro Tem Peterson.

This is a resolution that my office worked on with Dr. Reverend Jeffrey of the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church.

pastors of other black churches and the united community black clergy as a whole.

The church Council of greater Seattle and the low income housing Institute and many central district community members by approving this resolution.

The city council will acknowledge the city's past policies of racist displacement, such as redlining, urban renewal, and weed and seed, and urge all city departments to look for opportunities to make reparations for those past injustices.

urged the Office of Housing to fund the New Hope Family Housing Project, which will create 86 affordable homes in the central district so that families with historic roots in the neighborhood, the working families who are displaced because of these redlining policies, and also in the ensuing years because of skyrocketing rent, can afford to come and stay, can afford to stay if they're at risk of displacement, or they can afford to return with the new affordable housing available, commit to expand city funding for affordable housing projects made available in 2021, and affirm support for increasing progressive taxes on big business and the rich to develop more quality affordable social housing.

I thank the New Hope Church community and so many others for helping to organize and for speaking at the amazing rally we held on Saturday, July 31st in support of the resolution, in support of the affordable housing by the New Hope Church and in support of expanding funding for such community projects so that they are not forced to compete with one another over pennies while the wealth gap in this city continues expanding at a stunning rate.

All affordable housing that can be built is needed right now, given the steep affordability crisis.

And it is the obligation of elected officials to expand the progressive revenues available for this.

Special thanks to former King County Council Member Larry Gossett, who spoke at the rally and who spoke today in public comment and also in public comment last Monday.

And also I wanted to recognize again Summer Stinson, the new executive director of the Economic Opportunity Institute, who also came out to speak at the rally that Saturday.

Members of the public, we also have seen an excellent op-ed in the Seattle Times on July 16th, authored by Reverend Jeffrey, who, as you all know, is a senior pastor of the New Hope Church, which is the historically Black church in the Central District.

And in that op-ed, Reverend Jeffrey notes that in 1969, the city forced the New Hope Church and Black homeowners in this very area to sell their land under the threat of eminent domain for Spruce Street Mini Park.

The city's establishment at the time sought the elimination of the Central District's vibrant Black neighborhood, which included working people and also Black small businesses.

And the political establishment at that time, both in Seattle and nationwide, put massive resources into what they called of urban renewal, which is a very deceptive euphemistic term that has that spell displacement and destruction for black communities in the central district this so called renewal project was named the Yesler Atlantic urban renewal project and then later named the Yesler Atlantic neighborhood improvement project, which again is misleading because it basically destroyed the neighborhood that existed at that time.

The mayor and the city council at the time literally passed literally dozens of bills spanning over a decade, gathering federal grants, contracting with consultants, and forcing black homeowners and churches to sell their land.

And the reports from the consultants, the Seattle Urban Renewal Enterprise, made their intention clear.

It describes a central district as, quote, home to the color, the poor, the ignorant, the unfortunate, the undesirable, the weak, and the undeserving poor.

This is all quoted from the report.

In 1961, the Seattle Urban Renewal Enterprise submitted to the city its Yes, Lower Atlantic report and summary which claimed that, quote, to preserve this community for, quote unquote, decent folks and families, three things are needed.

Assistance to those who need it and improving their way of life in every respect, encouragement to middle and upper income whites to move into the community, and three, relocation of those undesirables, the purveyors of vice and crime, the chronic troublemakers, the undeserving poor who are the source of the most social blight in the area," end quote. And following that report, city officials used the threat of eminent domain to force the New Hope church and the neighboring black homeowners to sell their properties. The city created quote unquote incentives as they stated in their intent for middle and upper class white families to move into the area to supposedly quote unquote revitalize the area. In other words, the city's political establishment committed a stunning outrage, an egregious theft of black resources, of working people's resources, and legalized racist redlining and gentrification. This is a resolution which means that it only has the power to state an intention from the city council. It is extremely important as the first step, but I would also make sure members of the public and community members of the central district recognize, as many did in public comment today, that this is not the budget legislation. and that our people's budget movement will need to follow this up in the autumn with a real struggle to win funding to compensate the community members displaced over decades. And my office, of course, is dedicating to support that struggle and we will be building the people's budget campaign as we have done every year for the past seven years. The property that the New Hope Church was forced to relinquish to the city in 1969 is estimated to be worth $2 million today, over eight times the inflation adjusted amount it was sold for. We know that those injustices need to be corrected, but it's not just about what happened in the past. It's about today, the city being unaffordable and the New Hope effort is very much part of the thousands of community members who are fighting for an affordable city. We need to continue to tax big business and the super-rich, which is basically expand the Amazon tax in the city. We also need statewide efforts for taxes on wealthy households. All those billionaires who have profited immensely off the injustice of capitalism in general, but also have pocketed tremendous amounts during the pandemic when hundreds of thousands of households statewide were impoverished because of loss of jobs or income. As a first step this resolution urges the Office of Housing to fund the new hope family housing project but as I said that is just the first step we also need our tax Amazon movement to continue pushing for funding. We did that last year. explicitly for anti-displacement affordable housing in the central area. And that victory was particularly won by the activism of the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, along with other Black clergy members like Reverend Willis, who also spoke today. Many community activists, Reverend Ying, who also spoke today and has been shoulder to shoulder every step of the way with the Black community in the central district. And many socialists, particularly members from Socialist Alternative, We were all together demanding that the city establishment support the central area housing plan. I also wanted to recognize Real Change, Be Seattle, the Tenants Union, and Lehigh, all renters rights and housing justice organizations that have supported this effort. I also wanted to, just before concluding, thank, of course, the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church community. the New Hope Community Development Institute, the Church Council of Greater Seattle, and Michael Ramos from the Church Council, the United Black Clergy, Seattle King County NAACP, Seattle Japanese American Citizens League, Bethany United Church of Christ, Black Lives Matter Seattle King County, Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, El Centro de la Raza, Low Income Housing Institute, of course, MLK Junior Committee members, the Nehemiah Project, Women Rising, and the Clean Greens Farm and Market Program that is supplying affordable fresh food to our most vulnerable community members. Thank you all so much. I hope you will all be voting yes on this.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

Colleagues, any other comments on this resolution 32015?

Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you very much, Council President Pro Tem.

I want to Thank Councilmember Sawant for working with my office.

I don't think it was mentioned that we did a lot of work with her office, with Ted and Erin House working together on the NOFA language on this resolution.

To reflect the language we already passed in the Jump Start Seattle protected fund legislation, you might remember just a few weeks ago, we passed legislation to make sure that all of the funding coming in from Jump Start went into a siloed fund so that we could ensure accountability and transparency, and that the spend plan that we all jointly worked on together that passed unanimously was fully adhered to.

In that bill, we expressed our intent to increase the 2021 NOFA through this year's budget process.

The current NOFA amount sits at around $35 million, which the legislation in front of us fully acknowledges is not sufficient, not sufficient to fund all of the projects that are shovel ready as we continue to work to scale up affordable housing investments, especially in the wake of COVID.

So very much in support of the effort to make sure that we are forward spending the NOFA investments that we know are desperately needed right now.

And this is a great example of what we should be funding now with the expected revenue to come.

I also want to recognize the importance of funding affordable housing that is rooted in and driven by communities, especially communities of color, especially communities in the Central District, our black communities that have been disproportionately impacted by discriminatory and racist policies of the past, like urban renewal, like redlining, like our current exclusionary zoning strategies.

This is part of the reason that I sponsored and we passed the 2018 Racial Equity Toolkit that was just discussed in the Land Use Committee finally last week, excuse me, last month.

And it explains a lot about how the lived experience of those who've been testifying meeting after meeting in support of this effort today have been caused by and perpetuated by our city's exclusionary zoning policies.

and how important it is for us to use public policy tools to really change those exclusionary policies that may have had name changes over the years but are still very much just as harmful.

The council also passed legislation making sure that we were expressly directing the executive department to every time that we had the opportunity to use public dollars to make sure that they were going into community-focused acquisition and development for communities that were formerly redlined, communities that are still dealing with the legacy of that redlining, and folks who have been shut out of previous home ownership opportunities and thus also had limited ability to acquire generational wealth because of those racist lending policies of the past.

Some of the ways that we are hoping to continue to couple efforts like today's resolution with public policy and funding policy is to make sure that the funds are going to those who have been disproportionately affected by discriminatory lending practices of the past.

So one example is in the 2018 Housing and Administration Finance Plan, On page 59, it says the objectives of the department, meaning the Department of Office of Housing, should be to prioritize partnerships and prioritize development proposals submitted by organizations led by and accountable to communities most impacted by displacement whenever available sites are located in neighborhoods with high risk of displacement.

We then followed up this legislation with your efforts this year, colleagues, in the Seattle Rescue Plan 1. In Section 8, we built upon that language from the Administration of Finance Plan specifically for our efforts to try to house more folks who have been disproportionately affected by COVID, and that includes high proportions of folks from our Black communities in Seattle.

Section 8 says the city will prioritize opportunities to partner with local community-based organizations that are culturally relevant and historically rooted in and founded by communities that have been disproportionately impacted by COVID, have organizational leadership, staff, and board composition that reflect the communities they serve for the purposes of direct grants and or allocations of grants.

And you'll all remember that we put about 50 million dollars in the Seattle Rescue Plan, so we're trying to really tell the departments and the executive to target those investments so that we can have more Black-led communities really have the opportunity to access those funds first.

I greatly appreciate the organizing that has happened with New Hope and the community at large.

We've heard from a number of folks over the last few meetings about how this project is ready to go, and I look forward as the budget process starts to make sure that we are funding these efforts in the fall process.

We know that the project is somewhere between pre-development and shovel-ready and that they're likely to apply for fall NOFA funds.

And with additional funds available through Jumpstart, we will be able to really prioritize the community-driven projects like this through ANF plan, through Jumpstart, through resolutions like the one we have in front of us today to make sure that we're supporting and expanding our commitment through Office of Housing Investments to make sure that these projects get the funding that they need.

We also need to make sure that we're reducing and removing partnership requirement barriers.

This is something I've heard directly from communities that have met with me from Black clergy who've also echoed many of the things that I've heard from communities like in the Latinx community and the Filipino community who have been trying to create more affordable housing across this city.

And they have been faced with this requirement for a partnership that really removes the ability for them to have ownership and control and direction over the land and the housing that they're trying to create.

So in addition to supporting efforts like this and the funding that's required, We will be working through this year's budget to remove those covenant requirements, remove the partnership requirements that have been a major barrier to especially communities of color who've been trying to create housing, self-directed housing for communities hardest hit by displacement.

I am looking forward to also continuing conversations about expanding opportunities for progressive revenue.

I've been long in support of making sure that we have all progressive revenue options that we can advance in the city and the state that has long been plagued by one of the most regressive tax systems in our country.

And I see this effort as a broad statement to say that we will continue to advance progressive revenue strategies so that we can layer current progressive sources to make sure that we actually create the scale of funding needed to I think it's important that we invest in affordable housing and so many other crises that are affecting our communities, especially our black community that has been disproportionately affected by redlining previous racist covenants and our existing zoning strategies.

So thank you for bringing this forward.

And thanks, Council Member Swatt, for your office's work with Aaron House to include some language regarding the NOFA.

Thank you.

Any comments from any other council members?

And we'll give Council Member Swan the final word on her resolution.

Council Member Swan, any final comments on the resolution?

Thank you, Council President Pro Tem Peterson, and thank you, Council Member Mosqueda, for working with my office on the NOFA language.

I wanted to reiterate my gratitude to all the working people, faith leaders, community members, socialists, renters, renters rights advocates and union members who have been part of this and will continue to be part of the people's budget campaign in the autumn.

You know, a lot of Black community members who were there, who were around in the 60s, including Reverend Jeffrey, but many others have told us that at that time when they were sold this program as urban renewal, they recognized it was Black removal.

In fact, novelist and activist James Baldwin famously dubbed this urban renewal program, which was a nationwide program, urban renewal as Negro removal in the 1960s.

And I just wanted to point out that this is not an artifact of history.

As horrendous as it was, it is happening again today, not in the same legalized racism kind of way, but because of skyrocketing rents.

And we know that skyrocketing rents are absolutely decimating the lives of working people as a whole.

in every metropolitan area in the United States, and disproportionate effects are being felt by black community members and some of the other communities of color.

We know that in Seattle, rents have gone up 21% just since January, which is an annualized rent increase.

just eye-popping annualized rent increase rate of 42% and that is double the national average.

That is how scary life is going to be for people in Seattle once the eviction moratorium is lifted and that is absolutely why I would urge all members of the public who are listening right now to join us.

And if you've then to keep fighting wit control in Seattle in an that my office is bringi go into effect as soon as state that the it's absol that we need to provoke that battle at the state legislature.

And it is not going to happen if we allow Democratic politicians in the city and Democratic politicians in the state to give each other cover by passing the buck, saying, well, we can't pass rent control here because the state has banned it.

And the state legislature politicians say, well, we can't pass this because nobody's pushing for this.

So let's break that logjam.

Working people have to start the fight somewhere.

Let's start in Seattle.

In addition to that, As people who are listening would know, my office has also brought forward two other bills that are extremely important for renters' rights.

Again, will disproportionately positively affect the lives of our Black community members, which is a six-month notice for any rent increase that will require landlords to give a six-month notice for any rent increase, and another bill extremely important to give an economic, for landlords to be mandated to give economic evictions assistance of three times the rent if they end up causing the tenant to economically evict themselves because the rent went up by 10% or more.

All of these bills are going to be extremely crucial.

They are crucial elements of a renter's bill of rights, which we have made tremendous progress through the renter's rights movement in my office throughout this year.

We need to keep that progress up.

We need the New Hope Family Housing Project.

We also need to end the displacement that is happening today by skyrocketing rents.

And so those who are fighting for New Hope, as they stated today, they understand very clearly that that is only part of the fight, that we need affordable housing throughout the city in addition.

I'll also mention another incredible victory that the renters' rights movement has won just days ago, actually during the weekend.

because of raising a collective voice.

We had a working family, David and Lakeisha.

Lakeisha is a Black American working person in Seattle, and she's a mother of a nine-year-old.

David and Lakeisha together are parents to a nine-year-old.

They lost their rental home at the start of the pandemic and ended up spending nine months in hotels and paying through the nose just to have shelter in the hotel.

And ultimately, it came to a point where because of various struggles, including losing their jobs, of course, during the pandemic, getting injured in the workplace, not having their Lakisha's employment show up, unemployment benefits show up, all of that landing on them.

They ended up, despite all the efforts that they made, despite all the money that they paid to the hotel, They ended up with a debt of $3,384 to Homewood Suites, managed by Hilton Worldwide, which is a major global conglomerate.

And they reached out in desperation to my office, and we carried out a public campaign through which 400 emails reached the Hilton Hotel from ordinary people, from many of the people advocating for New Hope, urging the hotel to eliminate that debt.

And within an hour of receiving those emails, we got a response from the hotel manager saying that they have canceled that debt.

That is the impact of collective voice and fight back.

I hope renters throughout the city are inspired by that.

and that we redouble our efforts when we come back in September for all of the renters rights that we mentioned, and we use that momentum to then, you know, increase the Amazon tax because that's how we won the Amazon tax in the first place.

That's how we have really won being able to win rights for our homeless neighbors as well.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the resolution?

Lewis.

Aye.

Morales.

Aye.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Sawant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

Thank you.

Herbold.

Yes.

Juarez.

Aye.

And Council President Pro Tem Peterson.

Aye.

H in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries.

The resolution is adopted.

The chair will sign it.

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

Item 19. Will the clerk please read item 19 into the record?

Agenda item 19, resolution 32013, to initiate 815th Avenue East Business Improvement Area.

I move to adopt resolution 32013. Is there a second?

Thank you, Councilmember Morales.

Councilmember Morales has sponsored this item.

You're recognized in order to address it.

Thank you, Council President Pro Tem Peterson.

That's a mouthful.

Colleagues, as I mentioned this morning in briefing, we are in the process of establishing a new BIA.

15th Avenue BIA.

And so this is part of the procedure.

This resolution 32013 will start the process for creation of the BIA and initiates consideration Next resolution that we'll be talking about, 32014, establishes the city's intent to establish the BIA and sets a date and location for public hearing on the proposal, which will begin the process that we hope to have completed by the end of the year.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

Any comments on this resolution?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the resolution?

Lewis?

Council Member Lewis?

I will come back to that.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Juarez?

Aye.

Council Member Lewis?

Council President Pro Tem Peterson?

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the resolution is adopted.

Chair will sign it.

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

and will the clerk please read item 20 into the record.

Agenda item 20, resolution 32014, intention to establish a 15th Avenue East business improvement area and fix a date and place for a hearing thereon.

I move to adopt resolution 32014. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

Council Member Morales has sponsored this item.

You're recognized in order to address it.

Thank you.

As I mentioned, this creates the intention to have a hearing.

We have set a hearing for Wednesday, September 8th at 2 p.m., where the BIA proponents and the Office of Economic Development will present their proposal.

And the goal is for the committee to pass it out, well, vote on it September 21st.

with an intention of having it in full council for consideration on September 27th.

This establishes a date for the hearing, which is September 8th.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any comments on this resolution?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the resolution?

Lewis?

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Aye.

Council President Pro Tem Peterson?

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the resolution is adopted and the chair will sign it.

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

Council members, is there any additional business to come before the council?

Council member Sawant?

Thank you, President Peterson.

I move to be excused from the August 16th, 2021 city council meeting.

Second.

And I think the clerk's advising me if there's no objection, Council Member Sawant will be excused from that meeting.

Hearing no objection, Council Member Sawant is excused from that meeting.

Thank you.

Colleagues, this concludes the items of business on today's agenda.

Our next regularly scheduled city council meeting is on August 16, 2021 at 2 p.m.

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of your afternoon.

We are adjourned.