City Council Meeting March 28, 2023

Today is March 28th.

This is the meeting of the Seattle City Council.

I am now calling it to order.

It is 2-0-1.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

My apologies, I was on mute.

Council Member Morales?

Here.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Present.

Council Member Nelson.

Present in Chambers.

Council Member Peterson.

Here.

Council Member Sawant.

Council Member Strauss.

Present.

Council Member Herbold.

Council Member Lewis.

Council Member Sawant.

Okay, Council Member Sawant.

I see that she's off mute, but I cannot hear her.

Can't hear her either.

We can come back.

I see she's off mute.

Council Member Sawant?

Ah, there she is.

Can't hear you.

Okay, we can come back.

Council President Juarez.

Here.

That's seven present.

Thank you.

Councilor Sawant is actually here, but she has some technical difficulties.

So just let us know what council members, when they arrive, just note it for the record.

So we'll move on.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Council Member Lewis has joined the meeting.

Oh, good.

Council Member Lewis is with us.

Thank you, Council Member Lewis.

Thank you.

So we have quite an agenda today.

We have four matters on the consent calendar.

We have four committee reports and we have three resolutions, items five, six and seven, which I understand Council Member Nelson will speak to.

Excited to hear from.

Seeing that, we also have no presentations today.

So moving on into our agenda to public comment, my understanding, oh.

President Juarez, sorry, you can hear me now?

Yeah, we can hear you, I can see your microphone.

You're on, okay, thank you.

Getting back to public comment, my understanding is that we have six remote speakers and five members in chambers, correct, Madam Clerk?

We now have six members in chambers.

Okay.

All right, so let's do this.

Let's give everybody two minutes and let's start with our remote speakers first.

Thank you.

I will now hand it over to you to give the instructions for public comment, Madam Clerk.

Hello, Seattle.

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

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

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

Here's some information about the public comment proceedings.

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

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

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

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

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

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

At that time, you must press star six.

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

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

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

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

At the end of the allotted time, your microphone will be muted and the next speaker registered will be called.

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

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

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

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

The public comment period is now open.

and we will begin with the first speaker on the list.

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

Thank you, Seattle.

Our first remote public speaker is Howard Gale.

Good afternoon, Howard Gale with seattlestop.org.

This morning, the mayor and the U.S.

Department of Justice have called for an end to most of the federal oversight of the Seattle Police Department, claiming in part, quote, strong community participation and civilian oversight.

At a time when the Seattle Community Police Commission has taken to attacking victims of police violence, shutting down any public commented meetings and has suspended their community engagement forums, the notion that we have, quote, strong community participation and civilian oversight is beyond absurd.

In its 11th year, 11th, the CPC has consistently eschewed any engagement with the victims of police violence.

In fact, the CPC has never even had a commissioner that has been a victim of police violence.

In their decade of existence, the CPC has had directors and employees that have engaged in subterfuge, scandal and malfeasance, and have sometimes simply disappeared, as with the recent director.

The CPC has consistently failed to uphold legally mandated duties and has, quite ironically, fought accountability for itself by claiming to fight for police accountability.

In the last couple of years, the CPC has fought against any attempts to have an outside audit and has fought the Seattle Human Rights Commission's attempts to give voice to those impacted by police violence.

The CPC remains an undemocratic, non-transparent, and unaccountable body hostile to the community.

Seattle's entire police accountability system has fought to exclude the voices of those directly impacted by police abuse and violence.

Despite this, The council did pass last fall legislation to create a program to give an official voice to those impacted by police violence.

Yet council members and people within the accountability system have unrelentingly tried to undermine this program.

With a quarter of a year now gone, this program has failed to progress, has not produced a single legally mandated report in its first three months, and has in fact been set back via attempts to exclude from decision making the very people this program was designed to serve.

Again, excluding from decision-making the very people this program was designed to serve.

Is this, quote, strong community participation and civilian oversight?

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Terri Hershad.

Terri?

Good afternoon.

My name is Terri Hershad.

I'm a former Instacart shopper and currently cleaning houses with the Angie platform.

I'm here in support of the permanent paid safe and sick time for gig workers.

And I want to thank the Seattle City Council today for showing what can be a perfect example of what a good working relationship between gig workers and the gig economy could look like versus the companies misappropriating millions of dollars to stop basic labor protections for their own independent workers.

I applaud and gratefully thank the Seattle City Council for this measure.

and I can't help but feel disrespected by gig economy companies for not developing policies such as PSST on their own.

As a house cleaner on the Angie platform, I am not afforded any type of protection, including sick leave.

In fact, in 2020, when I canceled a cleaning job at the start of the pandemic for the protection of my clients, due to the fact that someone close to me had possibly been exposed, had possibly exposed me to COVID, my account was deactivated until I sent Handy a copy of that person's negative COVID test in order to be reactivated, violating that person's right to privacy.

My own professional profile has still not recovered.

I'm prohibited from seeing jobs that are local to me.

I know that Handy has set the algorithm against my profile because I considered the health and safety of my clients first.

And even today, that platform has made zero effort to provide professionals with any type of protection for us workers who are considered essential for any public health and safety reasons, including during a public health emergency, similar to what we just experienced recently.

With the addition of the amendment put forth by council members Mosqueda and Herbold, the consideration of marketplace gig economy apps will not move the rest of us out.

And I'm ecstatic this measure is being passed by the Seattle City Council.

Our next speaker is Joelle Craft.

Hello, council members.

My name is Joelle Craft, and I'm commenting on the PTSD.

I'm a gig worker in West Seattle, and as a woman diagnosed with MS at 16 years old, I struggle to find work that I can have that fits around my disability.

Rover, which is a marketplace app, is what I've been able to use.

However, this particular app is not as great as it sounds since we have zero protection.

In fact, customers are not better than at all, and I've already been harassed by a customer on that site before.

This legislation allows you to take time off and make money when you need to take care of health issues, which I tend to a lot.

And there are personal safety things, like shopping, which I have already had four shoppers in my life.

Passing this permanent DSST gives workers the protections needed to make sure that things that have happened to workers like me don't happen to others.

Disabled people especially are the most vulnerable of our workers and need the most protections.

This gives back to workers.

Again, I ask you to use this time as City Council members to stop leaving those of us at the bottom behind.

I appreciate the amendment to intend to consider those of us in Marketplace Act, because remember, like at Clover, I don't think I can see the algorithm, and I have zero protection.

None.

And so the workers who are keep the businesses afloat are the ones that need the most protection.

So please pass this legislation.

and bring workers closer to the standards that we expect in other businesses.

Thank you all.

Thank you.

Our next speaker up is Joel Shapiro.

Hello, my name is Joel Shapiro and I'm one of the co-founders of Dumpling and also a member of the Labor Standards Advisory Committee here in Seattle.

I'm speaking in support of the Permanent Paid Sick and Safe Time Ordinance.

It's no secret that the gig economy is broken and oftentimes built on the exploitation of workers with low pay and flexibility, little transparency and no realistic way to take sick time when needed.

We need new business models to fix it and also new policies to ensure workers have basic protections.

That's why my co-founders and I started Dumplin, and it's also why I strongly support the gig paid sick and safe time ordinance being considered today.

I've heard from workers on these apps for years as we've been building Dumpling right here in Seattle.

Being forced to work through injuries and sickness has always been a huge challenge that can not only wreak havoc on workers and their families, but can also negatively impact customers and public health when ignored.

I'd like to thank council for its commitment to the focus on public health and making sure all Seattle workers have basic workplace protections.

This ordinance is a common sense way to meet both of those priorities.

All workers should have the ability to take sick time when needed, no matter what kind of work they do.

While our team is dedicated to making our model succeed, it's not enough.

There will always be other companies.

And if they're not guided by a mission to equip workers with proper pay, flexibility, the ability to take sick time and transparency, workers will pay the price.

And that's exactly what we've seen over these past few years.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next remote person is Michelle Balzer.

Hi, sorry, I had to call in today.

I'm Michelle, I am an Instacart worker and I obviously am calling in to support the PSST.

I first want to say thank you to the City Council because you guys have really been our champions and our voice and, you know, we needed help.

And then I want to say that this is a huge thing for us.

I know that without it, It's a very scary feeling for me, especially, you know, I have nephews that I often take care of, and this sick time allows me to be able to do that.

I've used it when I've gotten sick, when I've gotten injured.

It's scary, because one day of miscord can mean our rent will be paid.

And having this paid sick time is definitely that safety net that all of us need.

get flexibility, but it comes at a cost.

That is very low wages and being in the community, we're in the front lines of everything.

We drive all the time, the odds of being in an accident or, you know, grocery shopping when we're contagious or anything like that.

So I just want to say thank you for doing this and hopefully it passes today.

And then on a side note, I want to say that I absolutely support the way that senior crew is every 30 days.

However, we need a way to track it.

I don't want to, I think I should be able to see how I'm accruing the time, you know, whether they set that up in the app or what, but I need to be able to track my hours as well so that I know how many days I have or when I will be getting another day.

Right now it's very, I mean, it's very dark.

I have no idea what I have or how much accruing a day I have.

And that needs to change.

I need to be able to.

to be in charge of it too.

Thank you.

The last remote speaker is Sam Slotnick, but he's showing us not present.

So we'll move on to the in-person speakers.

And the first person up is Michael Wolfe.

Good afternoon, President Juarez, members of the Council.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to address you today on Council Bill 120514. My name is Michael Wolfe, Executive Director of DriveForward, and I'd like to first thank you for bringing forth this bill to make paid, sick, and safe time for app-based workers like our members permanent in the City of Seattle.

On behalf of DriveForward's more than 2,500 members, I would like to say we are fully supportive of this ordinance.

We are glad the council and staff were able to take some constructive feedback from stakeholders and incorporate it in the final version of this bill.

We would like to acknowledge the hard work that was done by the members of council central staff, office of labor standards and council members and their staff.

The passage of this ordinance is critical for our members and the broader app-based worker community.

It'll add a new permanent benefit for this community that will go a long way to protecting the health and welfare of app-based workers.

Again, thank you to everyone involved for their hard work on bringing this ordinance to fruition.

And we urge all the council members to approve this ordinance.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next person up is Maria Hernandez.

Hola, buenas tardes.

Mi nombre es Maria Hernandez.

Soy trabajadora de Geek Worker en la ciudad de Seattle.

Desde el 2019, estoy aquí en apoyo de la ordenanza para hacer permanente el tiempo pagado de enfermedad y seguridad para los trabajadores de G-Worker como yo.

Aunque existió esta ley de forma temporal, no tuve la oportunidad de utilizarla cuando me operaron de cáncer de mama en 2021. Los médicos me recomendaron descansar tres meses para recuperarme de la cirugía y prepararme para radioterapia.

Escribí un correo electrónico a la app para la que trabajaba en ese momento.

No me apoyaron con nada.

Solo me dijeron que solo había cobertura para los enfermos de COVID.

Si hubiera recibido este beneficio, podría haberme recuperado mucho mejor y no haber visto obligada a salir a trabajar.

cargando entregas muy pesadas, así como no tenía ahorros y tengo muchas facturas que pagar mensualmente.

Después de un tercio del tiempo recomendado de los médicos sin trabajar, tuve que volver a hacer entregas.

Esperábamos que las empresas fueran honestas.

Lamentablemente, hemos visto que no es así.

Necesitamos que el Consejo Municipal financie por completo la aplicación de nuestros derechos permanentes a tiempo pagado de enfermedad.

y seguridad con la oficina de normas laborales.

Los trabajadores debemos saber cuáles son nuestros derechos.

Esta nueva ley permanente ayudaría a crear más que solo un día libre para alguien que está enfermo.

Nos dará a todos algo de tranquilidad y paz en nuestros corazones.

Gracias Ayuntamiento por ayudarnos.

So just so we're clear, Madam Clerk, since I'm not out there and I just had been advised, I would have liked to have known ahead of time that we need is I understand that the speaker had an interpreter.

That is correct.

OK, in the future, I need to know that ahead of time.

So how are we going to do this?

Are we having the interpreter now?

Is it, was it written public comment in which, okay, in which the interpreter can now tell us, okay, thank you.

I see Councilor Mosqueda shaking her head, yes.

All right, thank you.

And can the interpreter please introduce themselves and then share with us what our speaker just shared with us on public comment?

Thank you.

Of course, Council President, my name is Danielle Alvarado.

I'm here interpreting on behalf of Maria Hernandez.

So Maria just shared.

Good afternoon.

My name is Maria Hernandez.

I have been a gig worker in the city of Seattle since 2019. I'm here in support of the ordinance to make paid sick and safe time permanent for gig workers like me.

Even though this law already existed in temporary form, I didn't have the opportunity to use it when I had an operation for breast cancer in 2021. The doctors recommended I rest for three months to recuperate from my surgery and to get myself ready for radiation treatment.

I wrote an email to the app that I worked for at the time.

They didn't support me in any way.

They told me that PSST only covered sickness due to COVID.

If I had received the benefit, I would have been able to recover much better and I would have not been forced to go back to work and to carry very heavy deliveries.

Because I don't have much savings and I have many bills to pay monthly, after one third of the recommended time to not work from the doctors, I had to return to making deliveries.

We had hoped that the companies would be honest, but unfortunately we haven't seen that to be the case.

We need the council to fully support our access to the right of paid sick and safe time, working with the Office of Labor Standards.

Workers need to know what their rights are.

This new permanent law will help create more than a free day for anyone who is sick.

It will give us tranquility and some peace in our hearts.

Thank you for helping us.

Thank you.

Do we have any I'm guessing we have.

We don't have any other people here for public comment that are going to be using interpreter.

Not that I'm aware of.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Let's continue.

Next speaker is Carmen Figueroa.

Hello, my name is Carmen Figueroa.

I am a gig worker in Seattle with a hidden disability and I'm here to support permanent PSST for gig workers.

My disability forced me into the gig industry about six years ago.

Working a traditional nine to five job is no longer a possibility for me.

Traditional employers would never allow me the flexibility to work at the pace or intensity that my disability allows.

Not many employers are willing to work with the nuances that come with my health issues.

I am one of the thousands of disabled gig workers who relies on gig work as my only source of income.

I do not survive paycheck to paycheck, I survive order by order.

Without PSST, I am forced to work in inclement weather, hazardous road conditions, or while sick or in pain.

Paid safe and sick times provides disabled gig workers peace of mind and knowing that they do not have to push themselves past their physical limits or jeopardize their cars to earn an income to live and to stay alive.

I would just like to express my gratitude to the full council for championing this ordinance.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Marguerite Richard.

My name is Marguerite Richard and I brought this face down here since you're not showing our faces.

Madea.

And then this other one, and flowers, you guys like sunflowers.

Yep.

Because you don't show our faces down here so back to the issue at point is surveillance and.

some kind of request with SPD after what Bruce and his gang is committing to this justice department situation.

And because of the fact that I watched a documentary on Angola, I'm not signing off on this because of the fact that it's worsening than a threat to a person back in, The 60s we had all kind of traumatizations, and it's a continuance of this we just left something over there, this place where mosquito wants to be over there with the King County Council.

We had like six, six of them look like army gangs.

Wasn't nothing even happening up in there, you know people, well they did have a little protest and looking situation.

But I'm, what I'm saying is that anything that's following the situation that it bars us, us as people at and the Constitution.

It's wrong.

Anything that's barring us and interrupting our speeches, making us look like we don't exist on this planet is wrong.

I'm saying get rid of it.

I'm talking about eliminate, eliminate.

I'm not talking about adding money to things that are of no use to us anymore.

Okay, you know what threat condelta is?

Just ask anybody in the service what threat condelta looks like.

And back then it was so horrendous, the stuff that was happening to us as a people.

And then you want to sit up here and earmark more money to sit up here and cause us more ill will when we're barely making it right now.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Ajani Smith.

Hello, how are you guys doing today what we guys are in well, the sun actually left it was out earlier, it was really beautiful um anyways um I will like to talk about um.

I guess the request for a six month extension for surveillance.

And I guess I'm personally asking for surveillance on the police department and the individuals that work there.

Other than that, I really do not have much to say.

I just hope you guys have a wonderful day today.

Bye.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Alex Zimmerman.

Okay.

Start the timer, please.

Behild, my lovely consul, a dirty crook, a Nazi pig from animal farm.

My name Alex Zimmerman.

I am candidate for ship to the moon.

I stand here.

You want to speak about agenda number one, about city light.

I like light.

Dark room is very bad.

You know what this mean?

Dark room is only for gangster, from bandito, and light is for nice, honest people.

It's exactly what is I want delivery to you.

And I'm totally confused about this city light department when manager make $400,000.

I spoke with them inside commission many time.

They suck blood and money from us.

They're a pure criminal.

You never stop them.

And who give a boss $400,000 salary?

What has happened, guys?

It's gone for a long time.

Are you Consul a little bit crazy about this because your $150,000 salary, what is you have sitting home in heaven, like you, you sit in heaven for $150,000.

It's a part time to me.

So you are criminal still, a bandita.

So look what this government we have.

We have a totally criminal bandita government.

Is this exactly what is happening now?

Mr. Zimmerman is now officially shut down.

We are not going to engage in racist comments.

Mute the mic now.

Mr. Zimmerman, that is your third time that you have violated Seattle Council rules in regards to calling people racial names, and we will not have that.

So, Mr. Zimmerman, I'm hoping that security will escort you out, and we're done with you today.

Madam Clerk, let's make note of this incident.

I'm certainly making note of it on our end.

And we also like to say that we would always want to have an opportunity and a safe place for people to come to tell us what's on the agenda and what their thoughts and concerns are as we do the city's business.

We do this every Tuesday at two o'clock run the recording, you know what the rules are.

And if you can't behave and act with any kind of dignity to other human beings here, then you simply will not have the opportunity or the privilege to speak.

So we're done.

All right.

Madam clerk, who's left.

Our last speaker is Danielle Alvarado.

Go ahead, Danielle.

Thank you.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Danielle Alvarado.

I'm here as the executive director of Working Washington.

And on behalf of our entire organization and the Pay Up campaign, we're thrilled to be here to support the permanent gig worker PSST ordinance being voted on this afternoon.

As I shared with some of you in my committee comments last week, this bill really shows us what good governance looks like here in Seattle.

Workers who have organized for years to bring attention to the overwhelming need to transform the gig economy have worked in partnership with so many parts of the city to do just that here in Seattle.

Creative policymaking initially responding to a global pandemic unlocked the framework for a way to address a gap in gig workers' access to one of the most basic workplace protections, paid sick and safe time.

Partnership this year between the mayor's office and council resulted in a diligent stakeholder process that brought together workers, companies, and the Office of Labor Standards to ensure that we could set up this permanent ordinance for success, before our critical April 30th deadline.

Today, we can say Seattle is a place that is committed to moving forward towards a future where every single worker in our city has access to PSST.

We are ready to make sure that workers know about their rights and how to use the time that they have earned, which will help keep workers and the public safe and healthy.

And we will be there to support future efforts to extend this common sense protection to workers who are not yet included, including marketplace app workers and domestic workers.

Supporting this policy today sends a message that the Council recognizes and appreciates the workers who make the gig economy thrive.

We are setting a national example today that hopefully other cities and states around the country will follow, and we urge you to support it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's the end of the list, Council President.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Well, folks, we've reached the end of public comments, so let's move along in our agenda.

Let's go to the adoption of the Introduction and Referral Calendar.

If there's no objection, the introduction referral calendar will be adopted.

Not hearing or seeing objection, it is indeed adopted.

Moving on, there's no objection, the agenda, today's agenda will be adopted.

Not seeing or hearing an objection, the agenda is adopted.

Moving on to adoption of the consent calendar.

We will now consider what's on the consent calendar.

We have the minutes of March 21st, We have payroll bill, Council Bill 120536. We have clerk file 314518. That is regarding the Seattle Police Department's request for a six month extension for the filing of the surveillance impact reports for, and correct me if I get this wrong, Council Member Nelson, Calio and the hostage negotiation throw phone due on September 1st, 2023?

Correct.

Thank you.

And then second, we have an appointment out of Council Member Sawant's committee, and that would be the appointment of, and Council Member Sawant, I may need your help on this name, Shanadeen Sadia Resigian.

She is a member of the Seattle Renters Commission that came out of Council Member Sawant's committee last week.

There was no opposition, and Council Member Sawant has placed that appointment on the consent calendar.

Are there any other items?

Let me ask this, I'm sorry.

Are there any items any council members would like to remove from the consent calendar?

All right.

Not seeing or hearing none, I move to adopt a consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

Thank you.

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

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

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

And Council President Juarez?

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The consent calendar is adopted.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes and legislation on the consent calendar and the appointment obviously on my behalf.

So we're gonna go into committee reports, and we have four committee reports in front of us today.

The first one is gonna come from the Economic Development Technology and City Light Committee.

Madam Clerk, can you please read item one into the record?

Report of the Economic Development Technology and City Light Committee, Agenda Item 1, Council Bill 12532, relating to City Light Department authorizing the department to enter and participate in the Western Resource Acquitancy Program, including the ability to execute additional agreements necessary or convenient to participate in the Western Resource Acquitancy Program and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts.

The committee recommends that city council pass the council bill.

Thank you.

Council Member Nelson.

All right, so this bill authorizes City Light to join the Western Resource Adequacy Program, or WRAP.

What's that?

Well, WRAP is a new voluntary resource adequacy planning and compliance program in the western United States, and it unites multiple participating utilities.

And its purpose is to ensure that we have enough resources to provide electric service under a range of conditions or scenarios with a sufficient degree of reliability.

You might have caught the article written by Brendan Kiley of the Seattle Times.

He described the wrap in an excellent piece titled, Seattle Utilities Consider Massive Efforts That Could Help Green Our Grid.

And he said, quote, Think of the rap as a kind of neighborhood pact in which each neighbor shows the others it has enough resources to meet its own needs, plus a little extra for anyone in a pinch.

So basically, we know that utilities in the Western United States will be facing increasing demand.

And these utilities have a lot of, especially with hydropower.

And there'll be increasing demand in the coming years to provide the energy necessary, especially to support our decarbonization and electrification goals.

And this program will help ensure that there will be enough resources available to meet the current demand and the future demand.

So that's what WRAP is and for.

And I just wanted to extend a shout out to City Light General Manager Deborah Smith and her team for the leadership role that they played over years of work with other utilities and federal regulators to develop this program.

With that, if I'll answer any questions that you might have.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you very much.

I just wanted to echo the appreciation for this ordinance being the former chair of Seattle City Lights oversight in the Housing Energy and Workers Rights Committee.

That's a throwback to a different title of committee name.

This is part of the process that we oversaw as well.

And I just wanted to thank the thank the members of Seattle City Light, the good chair and the community stakeholders who really engaged in a significant community engagement process, including entities that we anticipate will participate in the program, as well as non-participant industries from a variety of sectors, including state regulators.

I think this is going to benefit enhanced coordination.

It's going to increase visibility and transparency across the regional power systems.

And for us, that all means that we will be better prepared for emergencies and we will be better prepared to be good neighbors for other jurisdictions who are experiencing emergencies.

So I'm glad to see this pass today.

We'll be voting yes and very thankful that Seattle City Light has provided an opportunity for early input on the development of this really important program.

So congratulations to everyone.

Thank you.

Are there any other comments before I see if Council Member Nelson wants to close us out?

Council Member Nelson, do you have any closing remarks before we go to the vote?

No, I do not.

Thank you.

Thank you.

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

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

And Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes, the chair will sign it.

Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Moving into item number two, which I see comes out of Council Member Mosqueda's committee.

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

Report of the Finance and Housing Committee.

Agenda item two, Council Bill 120-514, relating to app-based workers in Seattle, establishing labor standard requirements for paid sick and paid safe time for app-based workers working in Seattle, adding a new chapter 8.39 to the Seattle Municipal Code, and amending section 3.02.125 of the Seattle Municipal Code.

The committee recommends that City Council pass as amended the Council Bill.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Council Member Mosqueda, the floor is yours.

Thank you very much, Madam President, colleagues, community members.

This is a really historic day, and one I think that we can all be proud of, just like we've been proud of the City of Seattle for leading on labor protections and public health protections over the last decade plus.

Here we are in the midst of an ongoing pandemic, with the flu still present in our community, and various communicable diseases still within our region.

Seattle is acting today out of a desire to protect workers and out of a commitment to improve the community's health.

I'm very proud that our city has been on the forefront of providing labor protections year over year.

And I think all of us are now familiar, intimately familiar, with the need for us all to have paid sick and safe leave.

Over the course of the last three years, many of us have worried about whether or not we've contracted a communicable disease, or sometimes even more stressful, whether or not we've given a communicable disease to our loved ones, our friends and our neighbors, or people that we work with.

We all need to be able to take a day off when we feel sick, when our kiddos or our family members feel sick, and not worry about having missed a day's wage.

It's good for the health, the physical and the mental health of workers.

It is also good for the health of our local economy.

As much as it is, it is good for the health of our population.

Today we have an opportunity to make sure that more workers across Seattle have the opportunity to take a paid sick and safe day.

My Chief of Staff, Sejal Parikh, just yesterday had to take a paid sick day because of the need for her daughter to access emergency care.

As folks know, you heard me talk about how in the very week we were intending to have a conversation about paid sick and safe leave, I had to take days off, including our committee day, because I contracted COVID.

And then three weeks later, the same month, I contracted flu.

The twindemic is upon us and we need public policies to protect us.

And that is what paid sick and safe leave does for workers who are W-2 workers.

And today we extend that commitment to more gig economy workers in a permanent statute that will forever live in law.

I am so honored to have been able to work with all of you, and thank the robust stakeholders in this room, the folks who've called in over the last few months.

I thank Sejal Preek, Chief of Staff, and Karina Bull from Central Staff, along with the incredible partnership of the Mayor's Office, specifically Breonna Thomas from the Mayor's Office, who was our labor lead.

Because we knew it was time for us to act, to put into statute the very commitment we had concretized 11 years ago.

and make sure that more workers had access to paid sick and safe leave.

We know that it is important for workers, no matter what industry they work in, to be able to have paid sick and safe time.

We knew this 11 years ago when we passed paid sick and safe leave for workers who are traditional W-2 workers to make sure that they could take time off and be able to earn a day's wage without the fear of not being able to put food on the table or pay for rent or mortgage.

We made sure that workers could take time and take time with the freedom of knowing that they would be free from retaliation, that they could keep their job, and they wouldn't be questioned when they needed to care for themselves or a loved one.

We also proved that it's good for the local economy.

It improves retention, it reduces turnover, and improves satisfaction and workplace morale.

When people know if there is a health emergency, they will be able to take time and be able to get paid.

This is about removing impossible barriers and removing the chance that any worker will ever have to decide if they should go to work sick.

or go in and risk worsening their health condition, getting other people sick, just to make sure that they can have a day's wage.

Whenever anyone is sick, we want them to be able to stay home.

The city of Seattle acted to provide paid sick and safe leave to workers 11 years ago, and what we didn't know then, we know now, that the gig economy continues to grow, and we need to act to protect more workers on these platforms.

I am so proud that the City of Seattle not only acted 11 years ago, but that at the beginning of this pandemic, we swiftly worked to make sure that we protected workers and the population's health by amending that 11-year-old policy to ensure that people could take time off and paid time off to be able to provide care for their loved one when their places of care closed.

Think about daycares, schools, long-term care facilities.

At the beginning of the pandemic, there was a huge amount of stress in our community because we didn't know when our daycares or schools or long-term care facilities would be closing, when they would open.

And working with Sajah Parikh and Chief and Central Staff's Karina Bull, we worked quickly to amend our safe leave policy so that if there was a public health crisis, people could access their safe leave, have paid leave off in order to care for their loved ones.

That's what it means to be constantly updating and amending our policies and responding in real time when we see pressing issues within our community, our economy, and especially on our workers.

I'm thrilled that the city of Seattle acted then in the beginning of the pandemic to expand safely protections and even more excited that we were on the cutting edge of expanding labor protections like paid sick and safe leave to gig economy workers whose work had never been more essential.

than when the pandemic hit.

Because I know for my family, we didn't go to the grocery store anymore.

We were ordering our groceries online.

I know for my family, when we asked for food to be delivered, we had somebody who dropped it off at our door.

And those workers who are delivering food, the basics for health and vitality for our family, those workers should have the basics in terms of protections for paid sick leave.

And that's what we did in the spring of 2020. We expanded a temporary measure to make sure that gig economy drivers, folks who were driving us around and lifting Uber and delivering food, add protections of paid sick leave under the pandemic.

And it was temporary.

And I am proud of that work that we did during the pandemic.

It was unanimously passed, thank you, council colleagues, and signed into statute by the mayor, but we knew it was temporary.

And we put into that statute a six-month extension so that we could do exactly what we're doing today.

And that is to put into statute a commitment to continue paid sick and safe time for these gig economy workers who are vital, not just in a pandemic, but who are essential to the function of our local economy, and make sure that our families and our communities are connected, fed, and cared for.

And it is our turn now to make sure that these gig economy drivers are cared for as well through public policy.

Today, colleagues, I'm thrilled that yet again, the city of Seattle is acting with urgency to protect workers and population health by making sure that all workers on these platforms, gig economy workers who deliver food, or as you heard on the line, maybe care for our loved ones.

all of the workers defined in my colleague's statute that Councilmember Herbold and Councilmember Lewis led on in the pay up legislation, that we will be able to see more workers benefit from paid sick and safe leave.

What we have in front of us is a piece of legislation that puts into statute a permanent protection and guaranteed right to access paid sick and safe leave, We've made it easier for apps to be able to display the information and importantly for workers to be able to know what their rights are and take that sick leave and be able to get paid for their day's wage.

You heard the diversity of people who testified today and over the last month talk about the importance of this work and it is truly because of the broad stakeholder engagement led by Brianna Thomas and Sejal Parikh who are in the audience today and I want to give them a huge shout out for that type of aggressive collaboration.

We're aggressively collaborative in our office and in our partnerships and we want to make sure that the workers that we are put the protections that we are putting into statute actually to the workers that we are promising these new benefits.

So colleagues, I'm thrilled that we have legislation in front of us today.

For your consideration, I want to thank Councilmember Peterson, for example, who had worked to do outreach to some of the platforms and make sure that they understood what the impact would be of this new Seattle ordinance.

There's been good and thoughtful conversations in partnership with your staff, specifically with Gabby, and we appreciate it.

And as I see my colleagues on the line, especially Councilmember Herbold and your colleague, Councilmember Lewis, in your joint efforts on pay the pay up campaign.

I want to remind folks that this legislation in front of us does a few things.

It builds on the definition that was included in the pay up legislation so that we've harmonized who will ultimately be able to benefit from paid sick and safe leave and make sure that there's greater symmetry with the pay up legislation and who is being covered in that statute as well.

Today, we are recognizing that the public health crisis continues, the pandemic persists, but there will be more iterations of public health crises over the years to come.

Given what we've seen with global warming, changes in population migration, we have to be prepared to take care of our community's health, and this piece of legislation will be a cornerstone in the future to make sure that we center public health and workers' rights going forward.

Third, as you heard me say, we've heard from workers and we've heard from apps about ways to improve consistent delivery of information and reduce barriers.

That is the very definition of good governance to make sure we've learned from past policies and improved our statute going forward.

And I'm thrilled that the Office of Labor Standards has been such a great partner in helping us dissect the information they've received over the last two and a half years.

And that will only continue to improve under this legislation.

And lastly, We are centering this work on making sure that as we go forward with labor standards, we never forget the gig workers who are central to our economy.

As the Central Staff Memo notes, 16 percent of Americans have earned some form of their income on app-based platforms, and nearly a third of those workers across our country This is their only source of income.

And it is the only source of income for a much higher percentage of Black, Indigenous, and people of color workers who have a higher rate of fearing contracting a communicable disease while at work.

This is an economic justice issue.

This is a racial justice issue.

This is a public health issue.

And today, I'm proud that the city of Seattle is acting yet again to center our labor standards improve excuse me to to expand our labor standards and while doing so improve the population's health.

I also want to thank Sajal Parikh who's been lead and chief of staff in my office on labor standards for the last five and a half years.

And after today, this will be her last labor standards legislation.

So today we have many reasons to celebrate and thanks to all of the community partners who have made today possible, which madam clerk, madam president, excuse me, I will note at the end of the comments.

Okay.

Are you You okay there?

Okay.

Is there any of my colleagues that would like to have comments?

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you so much, Madam President, and thank you, Council Member Mosqueda, for bringing forward this legislation.

I'm appreciative of your leadership as well as that of the Mayor's Office, Office of Labor Standards, the Labor Standards Advisory Committee for their efforts to work together to move forward this legislation, ensuring a basic right to an under protected group of workers.

It is true our paid sick and safe leave laws for employees was passed 11 years ago.

And it is long past time that we extend that same right to this group of workers.

Just wanna flag because we heard some folks in public comment talking about deactivations.

Council Member Lewis and I continue to work on pay up policies.

And I'm pleased to know that these protections also remain a priority for the mayor's office and members of council.

And in closing, I just wanna say that labor protections like these are not just public health policies because they ensure workers are able to stay home and not spread contagious disease, but they're also economic development policies because they strengthen local economies and ensure that workers have a secure income to spend in their neighborhoods.

They're community development policies because they help workers avoid displacement and their homelessness prevention policies because they help workers keep a roof over their heads.

Really appreciative both of this legislation and the commitment to continue discussing basic worker protections for folks who are doing work in the gig economy.

Thank you.

Thank you cast member herbal are there any other comments from my colleagues before we go to a vote or before I let customer mosquito wrap this up.

Okay, not seeing any customer mosquito would you like to close this out before we go to a vote.

Thank you, Madam President.

I just again want to thank everybody who made this legislation possible and the broad array of stakeholders who we've heard from over the last six months.

You heard from some of them today and from the worker advocate side.

Thank you to Working Washington who's here, Teamsters 117, UFCW 3000, MLK Labor, along with with many other labor advocates as well and to many of the workers who are working on these apps but not in that group.

I want to specifically thank Drive Forward.

Thank you for your testimony today and thank you for your partnership with us over the years as we've tried to carefully thread the needle.

of expanding protections for workers on app-based platforms.

I also want to thank DoorDash and many of the other platforms that had engaged specifically with Breonna Thomas from the mayor's office.

Thank you again for that engagement and the drafting of the legislation in partnership with Office of Labor Standards.

And I want to thank Karim Levitas and Steve Marchese, the director of OLS for their partnership with us via the mayor's office as well.

We really have built upon their strong understanding of what was working and what needed improvements in the existing statute.

And once again, thank you to Karina Bull from central staff and Sejal Parikh from my office, who again was really the driving force behind expanding labor protections and has been leading on this issue in my entire time that I've been on council.

So huge amount of congratulations and appreciation for everyone involved in helping to pass this ordinance today and the improvements that you've helped make along the way.

Felicidades.

Thank you.

I want to thank Sejal again.

I don't want to for all her hard work and this is her last council meeting with us so I'll have time to thank her again offline.

All right, with that, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

And Council President Juarez?

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes.

The chair will sign it.

Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Big round of applause.

Thank you.

Yay.

Yay.

All right.

Let's go to item number three.

Also Council Member Esqueda.

Madam Clerk, can you please read item three into the record?

Agenda item three council bill 125 to seven, relating to acceptance of funding from non city sources, authorizing the heads of various departments to accept and authorize the expenditure of specified grants, private funding and subsidized loans, the committee recommends that city council houses amended the council bill.

Thank you.

Councilor Mosqueda.

Thank you, Madam President.

The description is pretty self-explanatory.

We are authorizing the acceptance of various grants and private funding.

This is what we do in an effort to be transparent to any additional funding that you didn't see in the 2023-2024 biennial budget.

I want to specifically thank Council Members Herbold and Council Member Peterson for your joint amendment that was adopted in committee.

This amendment is included in the legislation in front of us.

It asks SPD to develop a written policy in partnership with their accountability partners at the Office of Inspector General that is to ensure that we have consistent and national best practice standards related to the use of armed rescue vehicles.

Thanks again to Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives, Heather Marks, new at SPD, for her work with my office and providing us with an explanation of SPD best practices for deployment of the Bearcat specifically, and including information about how the deployment of this armored vehicle is used.

I think the addition of Council Member Peterson and Herbold's amendment strengthen the ability for our council and the public to have oversight over the use of this, resource.

And with that, there is broader application of grants and funding being accepted here today.

But I just want to make sure that I called out the specific hard work to ensure additional transparency done by my colleagues, Council Members Peterson and Herbold.

I encourage a yes vote.

Thank you.

Are there any comments from my colleagues before we let Council Member Skater close us out and go to a vote?

All right, Council Member Sawant.

Thank you, um, President Morris, the overwhelming majority of this grant expect acceptance ordinance contains grants that I support, such as federal grants for the Seattle Department of transportation.

However, this bill also includes funding from the US Department of Homeland security to fund something called the fusion center.

I voted no on supplemental budgets in the past.

because of fusion center funding.

The fusion center is the place where the Seattle police and the FBI share information, which has historically been overwhelmingly used to undermine, to attempt to undermine progressive grassroots movements, such as the Black Lives Matter movement.

It was similarly used against the anti-war movement at the height of the Iraq war.

For that reason, I will be voting no on this grant acceptance ordinance consistent with my previous votes.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

And with that, is there anything that you want to, is there any closing comments before we go to a vote?

Okay, you're good?

All right.

Madam Clerk, can you please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

No.

Council Member Strauss.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Thank you.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

And Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, one opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes, the chair will sign it, and Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

So let's go to item number four, and I see we have Council Member Mosqueda again.

Madam Clerk, can we please read item number four into the record?

Agenda item for Council Bill 12516 relating to the multifamily housing property tax exemption program amending section 5.73.090 of the Seattle Municipal Code.

The committee recommends that City Council pass the bill.

Thank you.

Councilor Mosqueda, you are chair of the committee.

Go ahead.

Thank you very much, Madam President.

So colleagues, this multi-family tax exemption or MFTE extension would extend the sunset for the MFTE program from December 31st of this year to the end of next year, 2024. This extension enables the program to continue for another year while providing time for a deeper dive and full authorization of the program to take place before the 2024 expiration date that we are putting forward in this legislation.

Passing a one-year extension to this legislation through the Office of Housing will allow for us to focus our capacity on deep policymaking and community engagement for the development of the housing levy that's going to be in front of us over the next three months, and to make sure that we have a robust policy process before the MFT ordinance is fully in front of council.

It will provide stability in the program during a time of particular market volatility, and it helps us to have stability given the interest rate changes, workforce layoff issues, concerns about recession, all of these fun things.

Let's have stability over this time and MFT extension allows for us to do this.

But I want to make sure folks know that even within this extension, the 2019 policy changes that we made then to strengthen the program will remain in place.

That includes deeper levels of affordability for studios and 1 bedrooms, a higher set aside requirement for 2 bedrooms.

And we added more specific comparability requirements for affordable units.

And we included a 4.5% cap on rent increases and we also incorporated standards specific to tower buildings, which is a new type of development in participating in the program, which has gotten some recent headlines.

Very excited to see those.

So, thank you very much for your consideration of extending this project investing under this program over the next year.

will be required to comply with those strength and affordability standards and the other requirements that we put into statute in 2019. We will also receive a report back from the Director of the Office of Housing that is going to be analyzing the changes as we requested in the housing market, including recommendations for changes to the program.

My commitment is to try to get that report in front of us before we head into the fall budget this year so that we have ample time to consider those recommendations in anticipation of the work to come throughout the next year.

Thanks again to Erin House in my office, policy director, and Tracy Ratzcliff, who is from central staff for their work with Office of Housing to bring this legislation in front of us today.

Good.

Thank you.

Are there any comments regarding this legislation before I ask Council Member Mosqueda to close this out?

I'm not seeing any.

Council Member Mosqueda, I think you need to thank Sejal again.

Go ahead, Councilor.

I'm sorry, I can't see.

I don't see any other hands up.

Was there another hand up?

I don't see any.

Council Member Strauss, did you?

There you are.

Okay, Councilor Strauss, go ahead.

Thank you, Council President.

I'll take this moment to thank Sejal, but I'll also reserve further remarks for good of the order.

Thank you.

Well, I think this is the time to make your comments.

Oh, not on this bill.

Oh, okay.

Thank you.

All right.

Councilor Mosqueda, is there anything else you want to add before we go to a vote?

No, that's great.

Thank you.

Teamwork makes the dream work.

Is that what they say?

We're good to go.

Yes.

Yes.

They also say everything is awesome when you're part of a team.

So let's make sure we get that in there as well.

So with that, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

And Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Great, it passes.

So, Bill passes, I will sign it or the chair will sign it.

And Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Moving along on our agenda, we are now to the consent calendar.

There were no items removed from the consent calendar.

So now we will go on to adoption of other resolutions.

And we have three resolutions up on deck and they are all by Council Member Nelson.

So, Council Member Nelson, do you want to do an overall?

Because I understand Well, let's do this.

Madam Clerk, can we just read?

Well, let me say this first, then we'll five, six, and seven.

Let me just make a side note here.

I know that we're dealing with the Metropolitan Improvement District, the initiation, the intention to establish, and the de-establishment.

Did you want to do general comments on all three, or did you want to comment all three?

It's up to you.

How do you want to do this?

If it pleases Madam President, I think it'd be easier just to say a few introductory words about all three, and then I won't have much to say individually.

Okay, great.

I'll go ahead.

Okay, so let's let the clerk read it into the record, and then I will hand you the floor.

Adoption of other resolutions, agenda item five, resolution 32089, a resolution to initiate a new business improvement area to be known as the Metropolitan Improvement District.

Thank you.

Council Member Nelson.

Okay, thank you.

Resolutions 32089, 32090, and 32091 make up a package of legislation to kickstart the reauthorization of the Metropolitan Improvement District.

So as you know, the MID is a Business Improvement Area, or BIA, in downtown Seattle, managed by the Downtown Seattle Association through a city ordinance.

It includes six downtown neighborhoods across 285 square blocks.

Property owners within the MID boundaries have agreed to pay an annual assessment for services that make downtown a better place, including additional cleaning, safety, hospitality, and parks and public space management.

The MID was created in 1999 and renewed in 2013 with the support of 60% of MID rate payers.

The current ordinance is scheduled to sunset on June 30th of this year and must be approved again for the next 10 years.

But before we can do that, we need to pass three resolutions and send notice to mid to mid rate payers of a public hearing.

So, again, I'll just say what each one does.

Resolution three, two, zero, eight, nine states are intent to initiate a new business improvement area to be known as the Metropolitan Improvement District.

Resolution 32090 states our intent to establish a new Metropolitan Improvement District and also sets a date and place for the public hearing.

And then Resolution 32091 states our intent to disestablish the current MID and sets a date and place for a public hearing on that.

There will be only one public hearing, however, and it will address both disestablishing and establishing the mid anew.

And that date of public hearing is on April 12th at our next committee meeting.

And so, again, these are procedural pieces of legislation that are necessary for us to go through the normal committee process over the course of two committee meetings, one on April 12th and then the second one on April 26th to reestablish the MID and also that reestablishment does raise the rate that rate payers will pay.

So that is my introduction to this suite of legislation.

You know, thank you Councilmember Nelson I made a mistake I forgot to adopt it and then get a second, and then I went right into it so I apologize so let me go back and correct the record.

I moved to adopt resolution 32089 is there a second, second.

It's been moved and adopted and Council Member Nelson already spoke to item number five, which is in front of us.

Are there any questions before I hand it over back to Councilor Nelson to close this out before the vote from my colleagues regarding item number five, resolution 32089?

Okay, I do not see any.

Council Member Nelson, are you good?

Do you have anything else you wanna add before we move?

Just one note.

I will say that I appreciate everybody's support for these resolutions because although procedural, they are very important because they will create the path toward reauthorization.

And that has taken a long time, much work and much stakeholder process to get to this point.

Thank you.

Mr. Nelson, I have a question, and I'll just ask it now before we get there.

When I was going through the resolutions, this expands the MID, correct, from 2013?

It does, but we will go through the details on when we actually look at the actual legislation.

OK, good.

Thank you.

All right.

With that, are there any other comments?

We'll go to a vote.

All right.

Not seeing any.

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

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Esqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

And Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Excuse me, thank you.

The motion carries.

The resolution is adopted and the chair will sign it.

Madam Clerk, will you please affix my signature to the resolution?

Let's move on to item number six.

Madam Clerk, can you read item number six into the record?

Agenda item six, resolution 32090. Resolution of intention to establish a new Metropolitan Improvement District and fix a date and place for hearing thereon.

Thank you.

I move to adopt resolution 32090. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

Councilor Nielsen, is there anything else you would like to add to item number six?

No.

Okay.

Are there any questions from our comments from our colleagues regarding item number six?

All right.

Not seeing any.

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

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

And Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Nine in favor and none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries, the resolution is adopted.

And Madam Clerk, will you please affix my signature to the resolution?

Moving on to item number seven.

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

Agenda item seven, resolution 32091, a resolution of intention to disestablish the 2013 downtown business improvement area known as the Metropolitan Improvement District and fixing a date and place for a hearing thereon.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

I move to adopt Resolution 32091. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to adopt the resolution.

Council Member Nelson.

I will simply say that you can't have two mids at the same time.

So this legislation came in slightly after the one that establishes the new mid.

So this simply disestablishes the current mid.

The current mid from 2013?

Correct.

Okay, got it.

Sorry, that was my confusion.

Are there any other questions or comments for Council Member Nelson before we move to a vote?

Okay, I don't see any.

Council Member Nelson, are you good?

I'm good.

Great.

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

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

And Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Nine in favor and none opposed.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

The motion carries.

The resolution is adopted and the chair will sign it.

Please affix my signature.

All right, let's move on into our agenda to other business.

Is there any other business to come before Council?

Council President.

Yes, customer Morales.

Thank you.

I have two issues, if I might.

The first is that at my committee meeting last week I misspoke about the date of my next committee meeting, it is not April 28 that's April 14. So for my colleagues on committee, we do have a meeting in two weeks.

That's one thing.

The second is that I would like to ask to be excused for next Tuesday's meeting, April 4th.

Okay.

So let me, Council Member Strauss, hold up a minute.

Let's do Council Member Morales first.

If there's no objection, Council Member Morales would like to be excused from a city council meeting, correct, Council Member Morales?

Yes, and a briefing.

I will be at a conference through Tuesday.

Okay.

So you will be excused April 3rd and 4th?

Thank you.

Okay.

No, I mean, that's, yes.

Is there any objection for Council Member Morales being excused?

Not seeing any, you are indeed excused Council Member Morales.

Thank you very much.

Council Member Strauss.

Thank you Council President Juarez I just wanted to take this moment to acknowledge and thank Sejal Parikh for all of her work here.

I got to start my start as staff here at City Council on the first day that Councilmember Mosqueda and her staff started so it was a, you know, we both got our pictures taken at the same time.

And so it's just been an absolute pleasure to get to work with Sejal over the last five years.

And in Ballard, we have a tradition when we honor people.

This particular tradition was given to us by the ambassador to the United States from Norway.

And so colleagues, I know Council President, this is a bit out of typical order, but if I could, a call and response, we say hip, hip, hip, and then you all say hurrah, hurrah, hurrah.

And I'll note, it's not hurray.

It is hurrah.

And so if you would, hip, hip, hip.

Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah.

Hurrah.

Did we do it right?

Good enough for Seattle.

Well, I'm going to save all my comments to say goodbye to Sejal again when we do her proclamation.

So I'll leave it at that.

Uh-oh, Councilor Mosqueda's got her hand up.

Councilor Mosqueda.

Thank you.

Oops.

Yeah, we got you on two.

Okay, how's that better?

All right, sorry about that.

Colleagues, thank you so much.

I just wanted to remind folks that next Wednesday, April 5th, is when the Select Housing Levy Committee starts.

That is a committee of the whole.

We definitely would want to make sure to have a heads up, similar to what you do during full council, if you're not able to make it, given that this is a committee meeting of the whole.

It will be April, May, and June, and I sent around an email reminder yesterday of all of those dates.

but just strongly encourage participation with this committee of the whole as we consider the housing levy that the mayor is working on transmitting to us so that we can quickly and expeditiously make sure that that gets out of committee so that voters can consider that for the November ballot.

There will be lots of time for conversation, but I just wanted to flag for folks that that is in your inbox and please do make sure that you have those dates marked down.

We'll see you next Wednesday for the Select Housing Levy Committee starting on Wednesday at 9.30.

Thank you.

All right.

Is there anything else to come before the good of the order before I can adjourn us?

Okay.

Okay.

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

The next regularly scheduled Seattle City Council meeting will be held on April 4th, which is a Tuesday.

Thank you all.

And we are, oh, did you have your hand up?

Nope, you're good?

Okay.

Thank you all.

We are adjourned.

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