Seattle City Council Special Meeting 1/23/2025

Good afternoon, everyone.

The January 23rd, 2025 special meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It is 1.03.

I'm Sarah Nelson, president of the council.

Would the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Saka?

Here.

Council Member Strauss?

Present.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Here.

Council Member Kettle?

Here.

Council Member Moore?

Present.

Council Member Rink?

Present.

Council Member Rivera.

Present.

Council President Nelson.

Present.

A present.

Thank you very much.

If there's no objection, the council rules will be suspended to allow public comment at today's special city council meeting.

Hearing no objection, the council rules are suspended and will proceed with public comment.

Colleagues at this time will plan on, will open the public comment period Please note that because this is a special meeting of the City Council, speakers' comments should relate to items on today's agenda.

Clerk, how many people are signed up to speak today?

We have 17 remote and seven in person.

Okay, we will give everybody one minute to speak.

And we will begin with the in-person speakers.

What were you gonna say?

Phil, do you need me to read the instructions?

I can do it.

Thank you.

The public comment period will be moderated in the following manner.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they are registered.

We will start with in-person speakers and then move to remote speakers.

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

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

Speakers' mics will be muted if they do not enter comments within the allotted time to allow us to call on the next speaker.

The public comment period is now open.

We will begin with the first speaker on the list.

We'll begin with Alex Zimmerman, following Alex Zimmerman, Stephanie Velasco, and then Reverend Walden.

Where is timer?

That timer's coming up, thank you.

No timer?

Yeah, thank you very much.

Please begin.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I want speech.

Where is it?

Oh, yeah.

It's good.

She give one minute.

It's very absolutely good because she maybe don't give nothing because we don't have freedom of speech right now.

Is this another six cloud?

A damn sucker.

You know what this mean?

What is will become here?

It's very interesting.

For 10 years, Hundred times I spoke this open Berta room in City Hall for three minutes for everybody one day per week so we can come and speak.

Look her, she's a very Nazi pig.

It's exactly one minute when critical position for many city, I come here for 20 years, and what is I see here?

Please speak to an item on the agenda.

Same stupid, idiot, what is your choice?

Again and again, and nothing different.

Stand up, America, for Donald Trump, in America, for everybody, and free speech for everybody.

Thank you very much.

Stephanie, and then Revin Walden, and then Steve Semsky.

Good afternoon, council members.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

My name is Stephanie Velasco.

I'm a homeowner, a 13-year resident of Seattle, and a mother of two young children.

And I'm here to speak in support of Eddie Lynn to fill the vacant District 2 Council position.

As you're considering the candidates who will become your newest colleague, I want to share why I say it was a pleasure and a privilege to call Eddie my colleague for five years while I worked at the Office of Housing.

Eddie is first and foremost a great listener.

He has the ability to quickly understand someone's concerns and then turn those concerns into actions and advocacy, all while making sure every voice is heard and considered.

After hearing from the candidates earlier this week, I don't envy your position of having to choose between such highly qualified individuals.

What I will offer is this.

If you are looking for a candidate and future colleague with one, a deep knowledge of the city, how it works, and an informed perspective on how it can be improved.

Two, an exceptional ability to truly listen and help everyone be heard.

And three, a humble and collaborative mindset that will quietly but with conviction make everything he works on a little better than I can't think of.

Following Reverend Walden would be Steve Zemski and then James DeBerry.

Excuse me if I can't pronounce that.

Good afternoon.

My name is Reverend Walden, longtime activist in Seattle.

and the proud mother of Chicundi Salisbury.

I'm here to speak in favor of him as being appointed to the open position District 2. And also, just a little bit to just highlight all of his good work.

I mean, he's absolutely a good listener.

He's been engaged in the city.

He's a city employee.

He's been around in the city for a long, long time.

And I just know that you would not be disappointed to appoint Shikandi Salisbury to this position.

He knows the South End.

Actually, he knows the whole city.

I mean, he does.

He knows the whole city and has friends everywhere.

And he's an innovator.

He's an innovator.

He stands up.

He's honest.

And he's all the things that you're looking for.

And plus, he has charisma.

and he absolutely knows how to be in the world with all people.

Choose Chikandi sauce.

Good morning, afternoon.

I'm Steve Zemke.

Just a suggestion of a few questions.

You already may have them.

One, I would ask a question on their experience in land use issues, City White and D2, City Chair of the Land Use Committee.

I would ask the question if they have actually read the revised draft of the comprehensive plan by Mayor Harrell, and if they have any initial thoughts.

I'd ask for their experience on budget issues, since they will be dealing with the potential budget cuts or ways to raise new revenue before the council.

And last question, I would ask their position regarding tree equity in District 2 and citywide, balancing needed housing, particularly affordable housing, with the need for healthy communities where people live.

Thank you.

We now have James and following, oh, there's two James.

Following James Abrel is James Shepard.

Yes.

I'm James Eberle.

I don't live in the city, but my partners and I build single-family dwelling units in the city of Seattle, and I just want to say I'm grateful for the opportunity to communicate here.

I'm grateful for our upcoming District 2 City Council representatives, whoever it may be.

I pray that you would lead our city well and your people well.

I'm asking the city of Seattle and whoever is our next district representative that we would reduce the ability for the city of Seattle to raise taxes on its...

people.

And I know that this isn't for today to be voted on, but there's an upcoming proposition, Prop 1A, that would increase the tax on people producing over a million dollars a year annually who live in the city of Seattle by 5%.

And although that seems like a little bit to someone like us, and maybe the people in this room aren't producing that income, I'm not.

I believe that if we raise taxes on them, it would increase the ability for the city of Seattle, its council members, and the people lawmakers to raise taxes on other people as well, which I don't think should be the goal of this city.

Thank you.

Please keep, I'm encouraged by our clerk to remind people to please keep your comments to the items on the agenda, which is our questions and conversation with the District 2 candidates.

Thank you.

James Shepard.

The following James Shepard will be Daniel Moore.

Hi, my name is James Shepard.

I lead the RV remediation and geo-clean programs for SPU.

I work for Clean Cities.

You might have heard me as Shep is what I'm called.

from city employees.

I was born and raised in Seattle.

I joined the city in 1994 after graduating from Garfield.

I've been here 30 years, and I'm only 48. I've never used this forum before or put my name behind anybody in front of the council.

But Chikundee has his ear to the ground in District 2 and all of Seattle, as only SPD and I would hear.

We've been on the front lines our whole lives, and that's not even including our employment.

I'm here to say it would be a colossal mistake to let Chikundi leave here without this position.

He's passionate.

He knows this community.

And we all thank you.

DANIEL MOORE.

And following Daniel would be, I believe it's Marcus White.

I thank you for taking public comment on this very important matter.

My name is Daniel Moore.

I live in the Beacon Hill neighborhood, and I've lived there since 1999. And I went to college in Minnesota with Eddie Lin, and I'm here to speak on his behalf and say that he's been a longtime friend, longtime I've actually hired him as a lawyer to help with my small business.

And the most important thing that I'd like to share with you all about, you already know his background and his vast expertise.

What you may not know is just how incredible of a listener he is and how he takes in different viewpoints and is able to come up with something that everybody feels very confident is the right answer.

I think he'd be an incredible team member working with you all.

And I really appreciate that he would be in this for the long haul.

As a longtime resident, I would hope that whoever you appoint to this position is somebody that really wants to be there to take this position forward.

Thank you for your time today and consideration.

There's a famous saying that goes, life doesn't just happen.

Life happens just.

Basically, it means that oftentimes, not all the time, that things work out the way they should.

And with that being said, I don't think it's a coincidence that Mark Solomon is once again a finalist to be a part of the city council.

2019, 2024, and 2025. I just want to say to the council today, just honor his work.

I think his work deserves to be honored the same way that y'all want y'all's work to be honored.

For the new council that came in 2024, think back to about a year and a half ago when you guys were knocking on doors, going to farmers markets, trying to really push your name out there to show the city that, hey, I really care.

And that's how I feel about Mark.

I worked very closely with two of y'all.

Y'all know who you are.

And I just want to say that the same way I believed in y'all, I believe in Mark.

And the fact that with the council member who departed, I think another great reason that Mark should be elected is because the problems that were happening with the council member who departed won't happen with Mark.

He's going to align with you in the way that she didn't align with you.

And I think that he'll be able to hit the ground running and make an immediate impact for the good of the city.

I just want to say that.

That's our last in-person speaker at this moment.

Thank you.

Okay, we'll now move to remote speakers.

And our first remote speaker is Andrew Richardson.

As a reminder to speakers, please press star six when you hear the prompt that you have been unmuted.

After Andrew will be Jim Buchanan.

Go ahead, Andrew.

Thank you.

I want to thank the council for taking my comment by phone so I can be home to pick up my kids from school this afternoon.

Adonis' kids are the same age as mine, and I know his passion for their safety and enrichment drive his commitment to serving our community.

So it's with great pleasure that I offer my strong support to Adonis Duxworth for appointment to the Open District 2 City Council seat.

His deep, homegrown understanding of his neighbor's priorities, coupled with his experience and expertise working for positive outcomes for all of Seattle, make him the strongest candidate for this job.

I've known Adonis for more than 15 years.

I've witnessed his passion for earnestly engaging members of his community firsthand when we worked together implementing transportation improvement projects.

I can attest to his integrity, his dedication, and earnestness.

Simply put, he's a genuinely good person who's motivated to find solutions that work for his community and the city of Seattle.

And I just offer this as a 17-year resident with two kids in the Seattle Public School.

And thank you.

I strongly urge you to cast your vote for Adonis Duxworth for district.

Thank you.

Next is Jim Buchanan.

Good afternoon, council president and members.

I'm Jim Buchanan, president of the Washington state, descendants of the enslaved.

I'm here this afternoon to testify in support of your company.

Salisbury is an important product of our community.

Over the years, I've seen him consistently tackle hard subjects like public safety, youth mentorship, legacy home ownership, preservation, economic development, arts and culture that this date is contribution to our city is invaluable.

Having him on the city council significantly adds to the existing talented council and elevates his arms to stretch to community more effectively.

His communication, he communicates well and has great sensitivity to listening to others and understanding their points of view.

He also has great morals, values, strong convictions.

He's the turnkey and can hit the ground running.

Bottom line is he possesses all the skills we need to make the city more effective for all.

I ask you collectively to vote to put the county Southbury in the open seat in the second district.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Doug Hunter.

And after Doug will be Alberto Alvarez.

Good afternoon, council members.

I'm Doug Hunter.

I'm a Seattle resident, native, and homeowner.

And I'm also here to lend my full support to Adonis Duxworth for the District 2C.

I've known him for about five years and find him to be an empathetic, compassionate person with great common sense based on his personal and professional experience.

I do believe his professional experience speaks for itself here to this appointment and that he would definitely bring thought leadership to it.

I'm going to speak just really briefly on the personal side.

I've observed his passion for the community in various capacities, including his involvement in the skateboarding community.

I have a son that grew up in the city skateboarding.

He remains very passionate about it.

And when asked why, he always mentions the community aspect of it, which is vibrant, inclusive, and supportive.

More often than not, when he comes home after a skating session, he says, I'm I wonder what our society would be like if we could all say that on a regular basis.

I know Adonis believes in one-on-one building.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Alberto Alvarez.

After Alberto will be Rose.

Edward Lynn is the prime choice for District 2. He challenged the idea that the new minimum wage is causing businesses to close.

He began with I support our workers who are struggling as well.

Mr. Lynn said affordable housing, quote, will ultimately support our workers and our small businesses.

Edward Lynn supports small business tax cuts and help with business expenses like accountants, lawyers, et cetera, to figure out applicable tax benefits to small business owners.

Mr. Lin clearly makes the connection that both worker wages and affordable housing are foundational to the success of small businesses in Little Saigon, Columbia City, and across all neighborhoods.

Edward Lin is...

Thank you.

Next speaker is Rose Wallace-Brun.

Good afternoon, President of the City Council, and to all the honorable council members.

I'd like to take this opportunity to speak on behalf of Shikundi Salisbury.

I have known him for over 30 plus years.

I am a 50 plus year resident in Seattle.

I grew up in Seattle.

I graduated from Garfield High School.

I attended Coleman Elementary School.

I graduated from the University of Washington, Seattle U. I have served with Shikundi for several years.

He is both intergenerational and ecumenical.

He has worked only as a business owner.

He has worked with several of us that are business owners.

He knows the community, and he has served in the community, and he has done his best to bring all of us together.

So I personally have had the opportunity to work with him with seniors, and I believe that he would be the right choice for this seat

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Michael Tui.

After Michael will be Violet Lavatai.

Hello, my name is Michael Tui.

I'm a resident, Seattle resident in District 5. I live in the Pinehurst community.

I had the pleasure of meeting Adonis Duxworth two years ago at a community snowboarding event at Mission Ridge Sea area in Wenatchee, Washington.

As a leader and mentor within my own community, I immediately recognized the like-minded, focused, empathetic father and community leader in Adonis.

Now, having had the opportunity to know him better, I'm proud and excited to support his efforts to join the Seattle City Council for the vacancy in District 2. I am actively involved in fostering the growth and development of young people within snowboarding and skateboarding.

As a father, I'm very impressed with Adonis' dedication to supporting his daughter, Luella, in her progression as an aspiring young skateboarder and snowboarder.

His continued support of her within this community is inspiring, and I would like to acknowledge how important this is, as it shows me that he truly cares about supporting the youth in this environment by providing opportunities for them to these exciting outlets.

Through his hard work and dedication, Adonis has shown me that nothing is more important than community.

Hi, my name is Violet Lavatai, and I grew up in Seattle.

I'm a Seattle resident that lived there for many years.

I am calling in a strong support for Adonis Duxworth for District 2. He would be an added asset to the city council right now, working together with others.

He's actually been in the community, having deep conversations with all of us, different ethnicities, and he has a deep understanding of how the city works.

I was impressed by he's a family man, and he loves the community.

And I think this person would strongly be an asset to the city council now.

We have a good council team, and Adonis Duxworth but adds to that.

And I'm in strong support of Adonis Bettsworth.

Hope you vote for him.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Caleb Jackson, after Caleb will be June Blue Spurs.

Go ahead, Caleb.

Hello, can everyone hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

My name is Caleb Jackson.

Okay, great.

My name is Kayla Jackson.

I'm the Executive Director of Resource Equity, and I am here to recommend Shikendo Salisbury for the vacancy of distance two-seat.

I have seen him in community.

Even before I took on the role in the non-profit space, I saw him in community.

And since I have joined the fray, he has taken me with open arms and accepted me.

I've seen since working with him, one, that he cares about the community deeply.

Two, he is very knowledgeable on all the subjects that the community cares about.

When prescribing a problem, he first chooses to diagnose it by listening to the community and being actually involved, hearing it firsthand.

Then he consults with experts and holds that vision of the community while understanding the problem at a higher level and then makes the prescription that everyone in the community can really get behind because he's heard of it and he knows how we feel.

He's been on multiple boards, including those that care about housing, care about the tree canopy.

And the last thing that I'll say is that he not only serves his employment, not only serves the city of Seattle, but in his free time.

Thank you.

The next speaker is June Blue Spruce.

After June will be Emily Jones.

Hello.

I'm a long-time resident of District 2, which is the most diverse area of Seattle by economic status, race, language, and national origin.

That rich diversity is at risk because of gentrification and displacement, as well as other forces.

South Seattle is also an environmental justice priority area.

Our health and well-being are threatened by loss of tree canopy.

We need a council member who can stand up for the people of District 2 now in this critical period before the November elections.

Someone who can stand up for a robust anti-displacement plan before the One Seattle Plan is approved.

Who can stand up for a revised tree ordinance that protects trees on lots under development, which the current ordinance does not.

I'm going to be listening closely to the candidate's answers, but I believe Adonis Duckworth is the best candidate to represent District 2. He has both the life and work experience to prepare him for this role at this time.

I'm impressed by his intention to make sure the voices of people who live in South Seattle are heard as the One Seattle plan moves forward.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Emily Jones.

After Emily will be Martha Reyes.

My name is Emily Jones, and I'm calling in to voice my support for Adonis Duxworth for the District 2 City Council seat.

I've lived and voted in South Seattle for the last 18 years, and I've known Adonis for about four years.

In that time, I've learned that Adonis is deeply caring and considerate.

He cares about his friends, family, and the community at large.

I believe that his unique personality traits, including his creativity, compassion, and lifelong learning mentality, make him the best choice to bring a creative and informed approach to tackle the issues that matter the most to the city and to District 2. Adonis is incredibly curious and makes the effort to get to know everyone in his circles on a personal level.

It's obvious that he cares what others have to say.

I'm confident that this aptitude will translate into a unique ability to seek out and consider outside perspective when making decisions on the city council.

He'll represent the perspective of a diverse cross-section of community members, including those who don't always have a voice in decisions made by the city council.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Martha Reyes.

There we are.

And after Martha will be Mike Mullin.

Let's go ahead, Martha.

Hello, council.

This is Martha Reyes, a proud resident of Seattle.

My boys graduated from Rainier Beach High School, and I live just a few blocks from a fellow station.

The council will face difficult decisions and deep community engagement will be critical to moving forward.

Because of this, I want to express my wholehearted support of Hong Church's candidacy for our next district to council members.

Hong would add an important lens of someone who has spent decades committed to advocating for people of our city.

He's worked across the spectrum of stakeholders, including local businesses, frontline human service providers, and community members experiencing challenges themselves.

I've known Hong through his years of service in the nonprofit sector.

He's worked to advocate for equitable, affordable housing, shelter, and emergency services for those in need.

Spent a large part of his career studying finance and leading nonprofit communication, where he built trust among community members.

Seattle residents who are- Thank you.

Our next speaker is Mike Mullen.

After Mike will be David Haynes.

Hi, my name is Mike Mullen.

I'm calling to support Adonis Douglas for District 2. I gave my support at the January 17th meeting and I'm sending detailed letters to each council city member, so I'll keep this really short.

Although the other candidates might be qualified to fill the District 2 position, I can't comment on that.

But what I can state definitively based on my direct experience with Adonis in the areas of work, volunteer, and personal matters is that he is extremely qualified and has a strong and honest desire to be of service to Seattle and the people of District 2. Adonis has my full support based on his selfless and...

So educated, and most importantly, he cares.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is David Haynes.

After David will be Brendan Ferrer.

Hi.

Thank you, David Haynes.

This is a 10-month job specifically related to land use.

Thaddeus Gregory has the resume to provide the expertise he is motivated to hit the ground running on land use as the Land Use Committee Chair.

We knew we don't need someone who's not a land use expert learning on the job, the whole 10 months.

And I hate to say this, but you wouldn't have known that listening to that moderator who I think might be a radio DJ.

No offense, but that moderator was kind of pathetic, incompetent and unprofessional.

It was painful to listen to.

I think it took 35 minutes to get through the first question because he had all this other irrelevant stuff to say.

Then he started interrupting people with his 15-second warning that didn't last 15 seconds, and then he changed it to 10 seconds, and then he forgot to ask people questions, and it was like proof that we need Transit Writers Union or somebody more professional to start offering the public forum moderation.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Brendan Ferrer.

After Brendan will be Ruby Holland.

My name is Brendan Ferrer.

I am here to offer my support to Adonis Duckworth for the city council member in District 2. I've known Adonis for eight years.

I find him to be a remarkably inquisitive, thoughtful, and kind human being.

His professional experience lends itself to be super active in the community, and his personal life is unparalleled in watching how he deals with family and community.

So he has my full support, and I hope that you select him.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Ruby Holland.

My name is Ruby Holland, and although I'm a resident of District 3, my most cherished memories is of the district of my birth and early childhood, District 2. It was a magical childhood in a magical place.

It's where my love of art and nature was born.

It's where I lived when my dad, a U.S. veteran, died and where I still have family.

I trust Chacundee Salisbury to honor my family's D2 legacy and to keep D2 intact as we navigate MHA upzoning, HB1110, the comp plan, and Governor Inslee's anti-displacement mandate to D2 residents.

Upzoning should not equal displacement.

However, as City Council candidate Rob Johnson said in a 2015 debate on the Seattle Channel, we can update, upzone them, and tax them for highest and best use to encourage turnover.

In other words, to displace us.

And that's what happened.

Thank you.

There are no additional remote public commenters.

Thank you very much, and I really appreciate that the public's been paying attention to this process, so thank you very much for your input.

We're moving on to the next, well, to the one item on our agenda, which is, well, the next one is presentations from individual candidates D2 candidates.

So at this time, I'd like to invite you all to come to the table.

There are name tags to help you figure out where to sit.

And this is how it will go.

First, we'll call on each finalist in alphabetical order by last name and each candidate will then have three minutes to address the council in public.

And then following that, and I will be repeating this again, each council member will have 10 minutes to use in any way they see fit.

And so, for example, you can ask the same question of every candidate.

You can ask a subset, a particular question.

You can ask them to follow up on an answer that they gave previously.

However you want, I will just say that it'll be up to you to manage your candidates' responses to your questions.

So be thinking about how you're gonna do that as we go forward.

All right.

So we are now proceeding I just have to that is an interruption.

You will.

This is disruptive behavior.

If you do not.

If there is another outburst, you will be asked to leave.

All right, welcome everybody.

Thank you for coming today.

All right, you've now got three minutes each to tell us more about yourselves.

And just so you know, the timer on the clerk's desk will turn yellow to alert you that you've got 30 seconds remaining before your time expires.

And just to be fair, microphones will be muted at the end of three minutes.

With that, we'll proceed in alphabetical order by the last name, starting with Hong Short.

Hold on a second while we pull up the, well.

All right, make sure that it is visible to folks.

Okay.

Please proceed.

Esteemed council members, I am honored to be here with you today and grateful to be considered for appointment to council.

I'm also grateful for this process, believe it or not, because I was able to interact with most council members and candidates, and I got to experience the human beings that each of you are, and in turn, have you lift up my own humanity.

And because of that, some of the sleepless nights and even some tears were worth it.

Pursuing public office wasn't something I had in the cards for 2025, and when people I respected asked me if I would put my name in the hat for this appointment, I told them I'd have to think about it.

After many conversations with my family and others, I've realized that my unique blend of lived and professional experiences and the relationships I've built over more than 15 years of service to different communities give me insights and perspectives that are valuable in addressing our city's biggest challenges.

For me, those include safety, investing in a thriving local economy, and addressing our housing affordability and homelessness crisis.

Many of my fellow candidates bring experience in crafting policy and navigating the ins and outs of city government.

Others have a track record of community engagement and activism.

So what would I bring?

I'm the first and only person in my immediate family to graduate from college.

I was a renter and I lived in subsidized housing.

I juggled multiple hourly part-time jobs until I was in my early 30s.

I know firsthand what it's like to rely on my tips to buy groceries because rent takes up a whole paycheck.

I understand what it's like to witness the overall economic success of our region and feel like I'm struggling to keep up.

Through my family business, King Donuts, I get to be part of defining the character of my neighborhood.

I get to build relationships with my neighbors and hire their kids.

I get to donate to school fundraisers.

I get to make people smile by providing sweet fried dough.

I could help grow the voice of small businesses as a member of this council.

As a nonprofit professional, I have served those who rely on government services to become citizens, get jobs, access healthcare, register to vote, leave homelessness behind, seek a treatment for addiction, and support youth in realizing their power and potential.

I could help reconcile legislative and policy intent with real life impact.

My community service began over 15 years ago when I helped to revive the Capitol Hill Community Council.

Some of the folks I met through that experience reached out to me with encouragement when they learned that I was seeking this appointment, and I was reminded about the power of relationships, accountability, and building trust.

Whether or not I'm appointed, though I hope I am, I will continue to partner with folks like Quinn at Friends of Little Saigon, Jamie and Jared at SCIPTA, Jeff at the CIDBIA, their staff and many others to protect and advance the interests of our city's cultural and economic gems.

As a longtime volunteer and board member with FLS, it breaks my heart to see what has become of the area around lamb seafood, the Nisei Veterans Committee Memorial Hall, and Hwa Mai Park.

It is critical that we have someone on the council who understands and has strong relationships with the immigrant and AAPI communities who can be a champion for all the good things happening in the CID, Little Saigon, and all of District 2. Thank you for your consideration.

I cannot see the clock, so I'm not sure if it's ready to go.

Okay, please proceed.

Thank you, council members, for this opportunity, this opportunity to make Southeast Seattle more welcoming, safe, vibrant, and affordable.

Kids, culture, and community.

Those are my values.

Keeping kids safe.

I want to keep my kids safe and their friends safe.

I want to keep them safe when they walk to school, take the bus downtown, or go to the park.

Culture.

I grew up on Beacon Hill.

I remember when I was in 1993, I turned 18, which was around the time of the grunge era.

I remember going to see Soundgarden down at Memorial Stadium.

I played golf at Jefferson Park.

I won the City Golf Tournament.

I shot a one under par.

I used to work for the Sonics.

I was a ball boy for the Sonics for two years.

Those were very defining moments in Seattle's culture, and I want to preserve, celebrate, and push forward culture if I should get this appointment.

Community.

I've worked for the City of Seattle for close to 10 years.

I have a career in outreach and engagement, and through my career, I've been all about bringing communities into the conversation rather than excluding them from the conversation.

This is how you get things done.

Projects I've been a part of and got built, such as 23rd Avenue, Madison BRT, the West Seattle Bridge.

I've also been part of key legislation, key policy and legislation that I've got done.

That's the Seattle Transportation Plan, and the transportation levy.

I know how to get things done.

I'm really excited to step into this role and work as a council member to adopt the comprehensive plan, work on legislation, be responsive to my constituents.

In addition to that work, there are five things I will be prioritizing for the district over the next 10 months.

And these are things that I know can be done.

Number one, address the state of emergency in the CID Little Saigon.

Number two, make Rainier Avenue safer.

Number three, adopt a resolution that outlines a framework for how the city should be engaging with the community.

Number four, host SPD recruiting and outreach fairs in every District 2 neighborhood.

And number five, we need to give kids a different path.

That's why I want to break ground on the Rainier Beach Skate Park this year.

So I want to stop for a moment, take all this in, My life and career has led me to this moment.

And this is just a continuation of the work that I've been doing, bringing people in and getting results.

And I also want to take this moment to just be on the record and say that if I do get this appointment, I've talked with my family, I've talked with my friends, and I made the decision to run for the District 2 seat should I get this appointment.

So thank you.

Go ahead.

Next person, please say your name.

My name is Thaddeus Gregory.

We're gathered here today at a pivotal moment in our city's history.

Throughout D2 and across the city, we face an affordable housing crisis and need to better support our unhoused community members in the spiraling impacts of public safety challenges that threaten the livability of our neighborhoods and vitality of our small businesses.

The challenges our city faces are systemic issues that must be addressed through systemic changes.

And there's no stronger tool to create this change than the comprehensive plan, the same plan City Council will shape over the next several months.

As a land use lawyer, I know firsthand the immense potential our planning documents have to foster a stronger south end and stronger city, because I engage with them every day.

I've worked alongside community stakeholders in each one of your districts, using these documents to create diverse, mixed-use, affordable housing options in our neighborhoods.

Housing that fights against displacement, that provides opportunities for all to live in our communities they serve, and incorporates commercial space to alleviate food deserts and provide opportunities for small businesses to thrive.

My work in the region has also preserved industrial land, strengthening our industrial and maritime sectors and protecting blue-collar union jobs that help from the backbone of our economy.

In my neighborhood, Othello, and throughout D2, too many of our neighbors fall asleep to the crack of gunshots and scream of sirens.

That's why I've spoken with Seattle police officers and King County Sheriff's deputies, discussing how to better serve our communities.

That's why I've organized, led, and participated in educational events alongside leaders at City of Seattle to discuss how community-led and informed development can strengthen our communities and how urban design principles accepted can create a safer city.

Protecting our communities also means taking proactive steps to avoid problems.

We want to work alongside this council to actively engage community stakeholders in the CID to preserve the strong historical legacy built there.

As we work to revitalize the businesses and housing serving the CID, we must also safeguard it against future harm using equitable investment to reactivate its streets and secure the unreinforced masonry, which leaves one of the nation's most endangered neighborhoods at even more risk.

As a lifelong Seattle-led and D2 resident who grew up in the South End, went to El Centro de la Raza, John Muir, Washington Middle School, and now serves on nonprofit boards supporting its disabled residents, providing critical educational opportunities for our POC youth.

This is and always has been my community.

I love my community.

I love my city.

We have the opportunity to make lasting positive change that will reverberate for generations to come.

I wanna use my land use skills and lived experience in building our community to create this change alongside a talented city council who likewise care deeply about the future of the city.

Thank you for your hard work and dedication to strengthening our beloved Seattle.

I hope we have the opportunity to work together.

Thank you.

Go ahead, please.

Good afternoon, City Council.

My name is Eddie Lynn and I'm honored to be here.

And if appointed, my commitment is to be a great colleague to you and to be all in on constituent services.

I've been an active member in our community supporting public schools and at work, I truly enjoy helping clients solve problems and achieve their goals.

I would take that same approach of service and care to empower residents and businesses of D2.

We all know the CID and especially 12th and Jackson needs urgent attention.

I've been talking with community leaders, local businesses and the BIA and would be absolutely committed to working with them and CBOs like Friends of Little Saigon to address their needs over the next 10 months.

The CID cannot wait any longer.

And I know whoever is appointed will have to jump into committee work.

I consider myself a team player and would be happy to serve on any of the committees in whatever capacity makes most sense.

And that said, I'd like to touch on how I might be of service.

Council member Strauss, I believe we might talk about land use later.

So I'd like to say my remarks on that.

Another vacancy is the vice chair of housing and human services and council member Moore.

We chatted about housing recently and I'd be super excited to work with you on issues like operational challenges and affordable housing.

Another issue I'm passionate about is our youth and public schools.

The current FEPP levy provides critical support to our D2 families and youth through partners like Chinese Information and Service Center and health centers and schools.

I'm very excited about the renewal and I'd love to join you in that work, Council Member Rivera and Council Member Rink as chair and vice chair of libraries, education and neighborhoods.

Council member Hollingsworth, I know you care deeply about fixing the wrongs of the past and not perpetuating the wrongs of the past when it comes to our comp plan.

The impacts of lost generational wealth, billions for our black community and other communities of color due to redlining and past housing discrimination.

Comments like Ruby Holland addressed about anti-displacement.

We need to have strong anti-displacement measures and I'm so thankful that you're the chair of the select committee Council member Saka is chair of the transportation committee.

I know that you know that MLK and Rainier are two of the most dangerous corridors in the city, and I'd love to work with you on how to address that.

Council President Nelson, the great work of your committee on small business development and support is gonna be so crucial to the CID, to restoring it to the great place we know it can be, and to helping those businesses take advantage of future events like the World Cup.

and council member Kettle, public safety is obviously a top priority for D2 from Little Saigon down to Rainier Beach.

And if appointed, I would love to partner with you and all of the council members on the intersectional issues of public safety and with all the great community leaders here in D2 to make D2 a great place to live, work, play, and go to school.

Thank you.

Okay.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

First of all, thank you again for having me today and considering me for this position.

As a 27-year employee of the City of Seattle, and I'm a longtime activist with a demonstrated commitment to district number two and the entire city for that matter.

I've worked citywide as the trails coordinator and where I directed the Green Seattle partnership and created the youth green core and many items.

So I have a long history of service in this committee at this community as an employee.

I most certainly have a even longer history, in which I won't need to necessarily go into about everything.

You can find it on my website.

But I have many examples of recent, demonstrated, collaborative community engagement.

And to that end, I'd like to bring up at least three topics right now.

We talk about the comp planet as an important...

Once I saw that the comp planet could displace my community, I went out and formed a coalition.

And I worked collaboratively with my neighbors, right, to come up with our anti-displacement agenda.

So it's not just I will work on the comp plan.

I have worked on the comp plan.

And our comments are part of the public record.

And I think that you may have our comments in your hand now.

I've handed them to the clerk.

Thank you for reading our anti-displacement agenda, and that again comes from a coalition of community members.

Public safety, I've convened many events in response to gun violence.

I have an excellent relationship with precinct commanders and captains and detectives in the Seattle Police Department.

while being on the front lines as a volunteer with Mothers for Police Accountability.

So I've been on both sides of the issue and I have a level head for around public safety.

The other piece is education.

We know that education is gonna be very important this year for the person that gets this position.

And as the founder of 100 Black Parents, I've worked recently to advocate for our students and our families.

And I don't even have a student in Seattle Public Schools right now.

My son's in college.

But I showed up when schools were getting ready to get closed.

I was down at the Seattle Public Schools Council meeting.

And I sat there and I worked with the folks down there, right?

So the point is I have a history of showing up around recent school closures and even when I didn't have a child or in the school.

The last thing I would say in the last 30 seconds that I have here is I wanna advocate for the council to choose a caretaker, right?

I think that our district deserves a former candidate and a person that's ran and knows what it takes.

You know, I think our district deserves a true candidate that will have a robust democratic process.

The expectation that a person can be effective and effective council member and run at the same time is unrealistic, and we will handicap that candidate and district at the same time.

Please consider.

Before we continue, I had heard that there were some materials.

Did they get?

Good afternoon.

It's good to be among this company of people that you are considering to be your next colleague.

You know me.

I'm Mark Solomon.

And I've heard a lot of comments related to public safety.

And I'm really the only one here who, for the past 34 years, has been directly involved in delivering public safety solutions and responses and work collaboratively across departments and with community-based organizations to actually deliver for the people of District 2. But I've also heard from folks that, well, what do you do other than public safety?

Is that it?

Is that your only basket?

No, it's not.

And I would also say that I think about public safety of more than just police and firefighters.

And I'll give you some examples of what I'm talking about.

When I think about pedestrian safety, I've got neighborhoods in Southeast Seattle that do not have sidewalks.

We need sidewalks in Brighton Dunlap.

We need sidewalks in Rainier View.

I want to work with the Department of Transportation to make sure that we can have sidewalks for our pedestrians so they're not walking down the street.

Traffic safety is a public safety issue.

A long way near, between 57th down to the city limits, there are no traffic controls.

We have had cars that have slammed into other people's cars as well as slammed into people's houses because of the unregulated traffic in that area.

My own kid was the victim of a car crash.

Alana was heading north, another car was heading south, it was spun out of control because of speed, hit her on a passenger side, which is fortunate because if Alana had been hit on the driver's side, Alana would be dead.

So talking with the neighbors who live on that trip about what we can do to put in place some kind of traffic control measures is very important to me and it's also very personal.

I think about environmental health as a public safety issue.

Working with the Beacon Hill Council, we are advocating for increasing the tree canopy, increasing our green space, maintaining the green space that we have.

Working with the Port of Seattle as well as King County Airport on the micro particulates and the health impacts those are having on our residents, especially our seniors.

Housing and homelessness is a public safety issue.

If we're telling somebody who's living outside and living outside is not safe, and we're telling them that, okay, you can't be here, we gotta have some place for them to go.

We need more affordable housing.

We need it at 30 AMI or less, and it needs to be throughout the city, not just concentrated in one neighborhood.

I thank you for your time, and I look forward to your questions.

With that, we'll now go into the next phase of our meeting.

So here's how this will work.

Each council member, as I said, will be given 10 minutes to provide comments or ask our candidates any questions that you would like.

You can divide your time however you see fit, and the timer on the clerk's desk will turn yellow to alert you that you have 30 seconds remaining in your time.

And as I said before, if you're going to be asking the whole panel a question, it's up to you to sort of make sure that you're able to get through all of the candidates and everybody has a chance to speak.

So however you wanna do that is up to you.

And we will start with the, it will go in roll call order as well.

And this week we'll start with Council Member Saka.

So please go ahead as soon as we, yep, there is the timer right there.

Go ahead, please.

Thank you, Madam Council President.

And for clarity, I wanna plant the seed now.

I will be asking two questions.

One, a yes or no question pertaining to the caretaker issue.

Second, pertaining to the comp plan.

So just plant the seed now.

Good afternoon, distinguished panel of candidates.

Really honored to share this space with you all.

Really excited to have been able to have conversations with you all in my office personally and learn more about what you want to accomplish and share out my priorities and what we can potentially partner together on.

It's been such a great privilege.

So congratulations on making it this far.

Irrespective of what happens next week, whenever we are anticipated to make our final decision, every last one of you and the communities that you represent, which transcend District 2, should be incredibly proud of you rising to this level today.

And regardless of what happens, I look forward to continuing to work together on any number of these shared challenges.

So congratulations.

and really loved listening to all of your opening statements because it was very clear from my perspective that you all paid attention to our conversation and incorporated certain elements of the conversations that we had directly together, which is a very politically savvy and astute thing to do.

I want to share out, look, I've been clear and consistent about my priorities for this person in this role and what will ultimately guide my own personal decision making.

And so I wanted to highlight two areas.

One is a caretaker.

Again, I believe that we're not setting anyone up for success by...

putting someone in this position that they might choose to run again.

They're not setting them up for success, their constituents in the broader city.

And for those reasons, I think it is important now more than ever, especially with the complexity and the volume of the work that we know, who knows what we don't know is coming down the pipe.

It just makes sense for a caretaker.

So someone who is going to commit to not running.

And the second thing is, Also a priority of mine, I'll just share.

I think these are really shared priorities of whoever ends up in the seat on an appointed basis or an elected basis.

They are priorities of your would-be predecessor, and they're priorities of mine as chair of the transportation committee, not just because my district is often the most impacted, and we'll learn about that, but also because from a city-wide perspective, I believe that these two policy areas represent our greatest challenge and opportunity from a macro broad perspective in transportation policy in the city of Seattle.

One is transportation safety, vision zero, So I have the highest number of traffic accidents or traffic deaths, excuse me, and serious bodily injuries.

My district, out of all seven council districts, I have the highest proportion in my district.

And up until recently, during recent redistricting, the district two representative had the highest number.

Then I picked up SOTO and therefore highest number.

District two, marginally behind.

So traffic safety is a huge priority.

how we can take better care of all people and serve all modes on our roads.

Second is, and I think that should be a shared priority for whoever ends up in the seat.

The second is sidewalks, missing sidewalks.

Yeah, we have a dearth of sidewalks in the city.

It's no secret.

Myself, Council Member Moore.

Council Member Moore has the highest number of missing sidewalks.

And my district has the number two out of all seven council districts.

Your districts, District 2, has the third highest.

And under the current pace of construction, it would take the city over 500 years to fill that gap.

27% missing sidewalks in the city.

500 years under the current pace.

Now, did some big, bold, transformative things, will continue to do more.

Under the recent voter-approved levy, for example, it was the single biggest one-time investment in new sidewalks in the city history.

And we need to look for more opportunities to do more, especially in this limited resource environment.

That means potentially reallocating resources and doing more.

So it's a huge priority of mine, I think this city, from a transportation perspective, and I think whoever ends up in this seat is our colleague.

So on to the questions.

One is really short, it's yes or no.

And pertains to the caretaker, issue.

Two of you have committed to me directly that you would not, if selected, you would not choose to run.

And some of you couldn't make that commitment at that time and probably might not be able to make that commitment at this time as well, which I totally understand.

Leaving room for flexibility, we heard some strong opinions on what they would do if selected, and some people just, if selected, they just don't know.

I understand that.

But yes or no, would you definitively rule out running this year, in 2025, if appointed, And as a lawyer, there's at least one lawyer, two lawyers, let me qualify that.

There's a couple of qualifications baked in there, if appointed and this year.

So that means other years.

And if you're not appointed, so question is, would you definitively rule out running this year if appointed?

Green card means yes.

The red card means no.

Hold them up, please.

What if you're in the camp of, I still don't know?

So the question is, would you definitively rule out?

So in that case, I would say, Probably red for you.

You wouldn't mind holding them up, everyone?

So red, if you're definitively ruled out?

Yes, definitively ruled out.

So if you're not going to do that.

Well, actually, Shikundi, I heard you say you were interested in being a caretaker.

I'm a caretaker.

Yeah, OK.

So green for you.

Green for you.

OK.

My bad.

OK.

All right, great, thank you.

My next question, everyone, I have three minutes, so everyone will have 30 to 45 seconds to answer this next question.

Comp plan, what, that's a huge undertaking that we're confronted with this year, amongst many other things.

What would be your highest priority for the comp plan?

What would be your highest priority this year as a council member for the comp plan.

And I guess in fairness to Hong, who had to go first last time, I'll start this end and work my way that way.

Go ahead, Mark.

Highest priority is to ensure affordability throughout our neighborhoods, followed by, well, actually, no, they're kind of in tandem.

We need more density.

We need them throughout all of our neighborhoods and not just concentrated in one neighborhood, especially when we're talking about low-income housing, affordable housing, tax credits.

It needs to be spread out rather than just concentrated in D2 because D2 already has a density, but do we have the affordability?

So that's something I'm gonna be looking at.

My number...

My number one agenda will be anti-displacement, strengthening the anti-displacement measures within the current comp plan.

And my comments along with my collaborators have been noted on the site.

And so we have some actual skin in the game.

This is not aspirational.

I've actually read the plan with my team.

Most of it, we all collaborated.

And we most certainly have our comments in there right here for your leisure when you want to read them.

But anti-displacement.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You know, we were the rapidly, most rapidly growing city last decade, and we're going to continue to grow rapidly.

And so the question is, how do we grow without losing our identity?

And for me, this is a critical time that we got to get it right.

We have to engage with our community, especially in D2.

And for me also, anti-displacement is a critical top priority, as well as how do we engage, do community wealth building so that our community really benefits from this update?

Thank you.

It's investing in diverse affordable housing options, using mixed-use development to ensure that we make space for our small business owners and allow people to pursue their economic passions.

It's capitalizing on existing transportation options to make sure that when we do put in affordable housing, people are able to get around the city.

It's also creating more sidewalks.

That's part of it.

which is making sure that people can walk from their housing to those transportation options.

For me, it's planning, designing, and building cities for kids, our most vulnerable people.

If a city works for kids, it'll work for everybody.

Enhancing and preserving the city's culture and uplifting and keeping together communities.

Anti-displacement is a huge one for me.

And keeping communities together, but also uplifting and celebrating communities.

So kids, culture, and community.

Okay, I am going to override and I will give 30 seconds for the last one, but everybody else, please make sure that you have planned so that everybody can have a chance to speak.

And this is the only time I'm doing that because I just don't want to leave one person out.

Go ahead, please.

What I'll say is that we all in this city have to get more comfortable with density.

Seattle is a changing and evolving city.

We're a dynamic city.

People want to come live here.

And so my priorities, knowing that, would be focusing on protecting the most vulnerable.

And that means anti-displacement.

Not anti-displacement, but making sure that we are aware that that could happen and to prevent it where we can.

And the end result that I want, that I think we can come from is to, by building engagement and trust and understanding of the plan across the city, making sure we do it in different languages, do it in different modes, meeting people where they're at.

Thank you very much for everybody.

So, all right, Council Member Strauss, go ahead.

Good afternoon.

I'm going to speak very quickly because we only have 10 minutes.

I wish I had more time for you to answer these questions, and that's why I sent them ahead.

I'll give you a warning.

I'm going to ask you about what middle school you went to since Thaddeus' name dropped his middle school.

Doesn't have to be in the city.

Doesn't really matter, but I think it's a fun fact.

In my Seattle Channel interview in December, I indicated that a caretaker position was what I was looking for.

I'll share with you today that I am so humbled and impressed by all six of you after the community forum earlier this week that I'm evaluating people on their merits and not necessarily on their caretaker.

I don't think that this serves as an advantage or disadvantage either way.

I'm just so incredibly humbled and impressed by this pool.

I'd be comfortable working with any of you.

First question is, what middle school did you go to?

And then the second and third question is, the person who is appointed to fill this vacancy will chair the Land Use Committee and help this council adopt a new 20-year comprehensive plan.

What land use experience, expertise, or engagement would you bring to this council?

And the second part of that question is, how would you approach the dichotomy of our city's need for housing and the density with neighbors concerned that they don't want their neighborhoods to change.

The second part is more about values.

I'm not interested to know if you're pro-density or anti-density.

I'm more interested to know how you approach this work.

I am going to start right in the middle with Eddie Lin and we'll work towards Hong and Chikunde you'll have last word.

Thank you, Councilmember Shaw.

Sorry, just real quick.

I'm going to time you too.

So if you see this, that means you hit a minute.

Please wrap up if you see a minute.

Got it.

Thank you.

Githens Middle School, Durham, North Carolina.

So I have 15 years of real estate practice as an attorney.

The past five years working with the Office of Housing.

So I'm deeply familiar with our incentive program.

programs in the land use code.

So those are things like childcare bonus, housing, affordable housing bonus, and now the mandatory housing affordability program.

Another thing I've been working on recently, which is before the land use committee right now is the office to residential conversion bill.

One approach I would take, I think part of the land use code, we need to be thoughtful about how land use interacts with other parts of our priorities.

So things like the multifamily tax exemption bill, things like MHA.

And so, are we cross purposes?

Are we working together to reduce costs for development so we can provide more affordable housing?

In terms of your question about values on the comp plan, I think this council is actually a great cross section of some of the debate and discussions that we're having as a community.

And so I really think it's all about leaning in.

I think a lot of the community members want the same things.

We understand we need supply, but it's about how and where and who benefits from it.

And I really believe this council through the select committee are gonna be great leaders in bringing our community together to have those hard discussions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thaddeus?

Yes, so I mentioned Washington Middle School.

I also attended U-Prep.

My background is a land use attorney.

Every single day, I worked with community stakeholders.

I worked with the people who are building our communities, people who are helping bring jobs to the city and ensure that we have a community that we love and can play in and enjoy.

I was active during the Maritime Industrial Land Strategy, helping create housing in pockets, helping secure industrial lands, helping ensure that our transportation approaches were responsive to what we heard from community stakeholders.

I helped small businesses and other stakeholders as Sound Transit planned their expansion, advancing people's concerns about the impacts on their businesses and on their homes.

I'm very familiar with MHA, with MFTE, with our bonuses.

I want to use our land use code to help accomplish the work that we want to do.

As we do this, we need to bring together all the stakeholders.

Our values have to be one that bring people in, but that also listens to the people who are already in place.

Thank you.

Mr. Duxworth.

I went to Mercer Middle School on Beacon Hill, and I met my wife there back in 1988, and we've been together pretty much ever since.

So yeah, Mercer Middle School.

That's the spot.

That's the spot.

Land use.

My experience with it.

I have a bachelor's degree in urban studies.

I have a master's degree In public administration, I have a minor in geographic information systems.

Definitely have the education for all that.

I interned at the City of Ritten Planning Department.

And since then, my whole career has been in infrastructure.

And we know land use and that type of thing is not just about zoning, but it's about the infrastructure to support it.

I also worked with many of you on your committee, so I understand how committees work.

in setting agendas with departments and then discussing passing legislation out of those committees.

So that's part one.

Is it just one minute for both?

No, it was a minute total.

You were actually the fastest at 45 seconds.

Just how would you balance the values of need to be denser with people's desire for no change?

Yeah, and that just makes me think about just, you know, I'm talking about Mercer Middle School.

I grew up on Beacon Hill.

Me and my mom lived in a triplex a couple blocks off of the arterial, and that triplex didn't really look any different than any of the houses that were on the block, right?

And so I had my friends.

We had access to green space, access to transit.

It was, you know, it was great as a kid growing up, and so thinking about going forward, I want to provide that same opportunity for kids.

Thank you.

Thank you for the question.

I went to Odo Middle School, which is on the other side of Lake Washington in Bellevue.

So I would say that in terms of land use, my experience comes from both my volunteer and lived experience and also my professional experience in two broad categories.

On the volunteer side, there was a couple of years in my life where TOD and transit-oriented development was like in my vocabulary every other day.

when I was volunteering with the Capitol Hill Community Council, when, as I mentioned, I've lived in subsidized housing, I've lived in single family housing here, and so for me, it's about just practical experience of what we choose to do and how I navigate space.

On the professional side, I've worked at an organization called Tilth Alliance, where we talked about, well, look at all this open space, why can't we grow food?

And then it translated and intersected my volunteer work when I advocated for a parking lot to become a pea patch and park up on Capitol Hill.

On the professional side, I worked at Plymouth Housing.

It's a permanent supportive housing organization focused on 30% and below MI for the most vulnerable people in our population.

And then on the private side, when our lease came up for King Donuts, I was looking for a space where I can stay in the Rainier Beach area.

And it was hard, I'll just say that.

When it comes to the second part of the question, I wanted to ask, why do we limit ourselves to that dichotomy?

Could we take a moment to consider that changing the narrative around changing the character of our neighborhoods is a form of gatekeeping?

And are we really a society in the city that wants to default to, I got here first, and therefore I get to make the rules?

That's what I would ask people.

Thank you.

Ms.

Stallman.

Okay.

I've done a lot of work with Department of Construction Inspections around different problems, problem properties within District 2. So I'm very familiar with zoning issues, land use issues, code compliance issues.

So I do bring that, you know, boots on the ground experience to this position.

At the same time, I heard crime prevention through environmental design being discussed.

I am certified in CPTED.

I actually teach CPTED.

So I'm looking at the comp plan, and I've seen certain areas within the comp plan where we can insert CPTED language.

In fact, I'm working with a group right now to codify CPTED into our permitting process, into our planning process.

We have 43 other municipalities and jurisdictions in the state of Washington that have CPTED codified in it.

including Federal Way, Des Moines, Electric City, okay?

Seattle doesn't have it.

I wanna make that happen.

Getting to the issue of one other thing I wanna change on the comp plan or address, the permitting process.

I have personal experience with how difficult it is to get a permit to build a freestanding 12 by 16 shed in my backyard.

Took me seven months to get a permit to build a shed.

That's, yeah, so.

Second part, community engagement.

We gotta engage with community, listen to community voices as part of this entire process.

I'm sorry, Shaquan, I only gave you 45 seconds.

Yeah, so Rose, I think everybody up there knows it.

I've got skin in the game around the comp plan.

I've reviewed it with my team.

And I have my comments.

So you have that.

You know where I stand.

But what I will say, in addition to that, I've met with OPCD as a community volunteer.

I met with Rico and his team and gave feedback, right?

Not as my job, but as a volunteer and worried about my community.

So and then in addition to that, I've worked for Seattle Parks and Recreation for many years as a project manager.

And I'm familiar with things like the SEPA checklist and environmental review and the like.

And then lastly, as the leader of the Black Legacy Homeowners, I've reviewed all types of zoning and home things that relate to your home.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you all.

And for the record, I went to Whitman Middle School.

Oh, my bad.

I didn't do the middle school.

Oh, yeah.

Where'd you go to middle school?

Summit K-12.

There we go.

Immaculate Middle.

There we go.

Thank you, Joan.

Councilmember Hollingsworth, are you with us?

You may ask your question, please.

I am.

Thank you, Council President.

Appreciate it.

I have on here Hong and Eddie.

You did not go to my rival middle school, so you all get points today.

Everyone else, you all went to rival middle schools.

Thank you.

So real quick, I want to thank you all for your participation in this.

It is not easy to put yourself on the line.

And then also for you to come out to, you know, just put yourself out there in the community and with your values and present yourself.

And I know it's a lot.

So I just want to first of all, thank you all.

I know I've talked with all of you except Eddie Lynn, who I wanted to, for the record, I am going to call you.

I apologize.

I'm going to get back to you.

I want to make sure that I give everyone opportunity just to have a one-on-one conversation or whatever way.

So I wanted to make that clear for the record.

And then the other thing, I have been listening to everyone's comments.

I've watched the forum twice just to get a better idea of people's values and what they're trying to bring to the table, what their issues are, and so forth.

And I have one question that I'll be asking.

Everyone will get about a minute to answer the question.

And it basically and I know a lot of people I've heard some comments about children and families and kids.

And one of the things that I know I'm really passionate about is our kids and our families in our city.

We have one hundred and five thousand children under the age of 18 in our city.

So that's a little under 20 percent households that have kids under the age of 18. And the health and vibrancy to our city, the health and vibrancy in the future of Seattle is going to rely on young families and kids and safety and our community.

And so my question to you is very simple.

And it's what about the children?

What about our babies?

As I always talk about.

So I would love for you to share some of your values.

around bringing those to the family education preschool promise levy.

I know Councilmember Rivera is gonna be spearheading that and helping lead that, but share with us some of your values regarding families uh young kids creating safety around that um you don't you might be able to say hey i want to double down on this program that the city currently does or hey we could do this a little bit better but what are we missing as a city for our youth our kids are and i heard uh Mr. Duckworth say, our most vulnerable population, which I truly agree with.

Thank you.

And we'll start with, I'm sorry, we'll start with Mark Solomon, Mr. Solomon, and we'll work our way down.

We'll go Shikundi, then Eddie Lynn, Thaddeus, Adonis, and we'll end with Hong.

So Mr. Solomon, you are up.

Thank you.

So thank you for the question.

Regarding our kids, this is kind of personal for me because I just found out two days ago that my stepdaughter gave birth in California.

And the child was struggling because of her past substance abuse.

So, sorry.

I do keep in mind that we need to have places for our kids to go, for them to recreate, to have those open spaces, to have the skate park in Rainier Beach, to have the play structures at Jefferson Park.

One of the things, one of the groups I'm involved with is the Breakfast Group and one of the programs we have, we have several programs geared towards our young people and lifting them up in terms of, you know, career connected learning as well as mentorship opportunities to provide them a role model, a path to see that, hey, somebody who looks like me is successful.

I wanna be that.

So is my time up?

I'm sorry.

No, no, no, you're good.

I apologize.

I don't have a way to signal.

Thank you, Mark.

I appreciate that.

Shikandi.

Yes, starting my own timer now.

Yeah, so thank you for the question, Joy.

As you know, many of you have gotten to know me just recently.

I am a tireless advocate for our community and our children, right, as a certified parks kid.

I grew up at Miller Community Center, and I most certainly have been engaged with parks.

When you drive by Garfield Community Center, you see the We Love Garfield mural that I painted over in 1998, right?

So I most certainly know the value of having places for our young people to go as a community member.

and a parks kid and a person who grew up here.

I can remember the days of when we had Children's Day, and we had the Ride Free Zone, and we had a lot of different things that made it easy for families to be able to get out and go to a lot of free things.

And so that's important to me.

And then again, as I mentioned, I have a demonstrated ability to engage.

I don't even have a child in Seattle Public Schools right now, but you see me at the meetings.

uh and so yeah there you go i'm just i want to work on behalf of families out like i have been and will continue to thank you thank you thank you for this question council member hollingsworth um so i've been deeply committed to our public schools for years uh focus on school funding and just watched way too many school board meetings about what's going on with our school district and um our schools are struggling and educational inequality in Seattle is some of the worst in the nation.

And what I've realized is a lot of things that happen outside in our communities, whether it's housing and homelessness, gun violence, those have huge impacts in our schools.

And so with the FEP levy, things like kindergarten readiness, the wraparound services, providing food and summer programs, those are huge ways that we can make a real difference in D2 lives for our youth.

I'd love to lean into things like high school internships, connecting our youth to the enormous wealth and job opportunities in our region, whether that's with the trades or tech companies, our maritime industries or police.

And yeah, thank you for this question.

Thank you, Eddie.

I appreciate you.

Hi, Thaddeus.

Thank you.

Hi, Council Member Hollingsworth.

Thank you for the question.

One of the first important things is using anti-displacement measures as we approach our comprehensive plan to make sure that families and kids can remain in the community that they grow up in so they don't have to move out and try and make new friends and try and integrate into new places and keeping those families here.

Part of it is childcare accessibility.

We have an incredible childcare crisis with the high amount, or with how much childcare costs.

I have worked on projects that use incentives to have childcare in the projects, to provide childcare as part of the which allows for people living in the development to have their kids close by.

It's also investing in third spaces, having places where kids can go, investing in sports, arts, music, culture, absolutely critical.

Monday, I was at, for King Day, I was at Northwest African American Museum, and it's partnering with places like Langston to get kids involved in our community.

Thank you, Thaddis.

Hi, Adonis.

Hello, Councilmember Hollinsworth.

This is just making me think about my own experience as a kid growing up, and I think as a city, we really do have to support our community-based organizations.

It was me and my mom in our triplex, and she was working two jobs, and I guess we needed a third because she made me get a job at the golf course when I was 12. Anyways, First State Golf Club, I'm up there working, and they said, hey, man, why don't you try to play golf?

I was already strange because I skateboarded, and so now I'm skateboarding and playing golf in Beacon Hill.

But they got me into that, right?

And those guys raised me, you know, outside of the home.

They were the men in my life when I didn't have a man in the home, right?

They helped me get into O'Day High School.

They helped me graduate from high school.

So they took this kid, right, who could have been a statistic and, like, took me in.

And on the other side, I was able to go to college, and now I get to sit here and have this opportunity.

So I really feel like we have to support our community-based organizations because those are the types of things that happen with them if we want to support our kids.

I love this question.

Thank you.

Hi, Hong.

Hi.

I love this question so much because it immediately made me think of my Chinese Cambodian heritage.

Family is everything in my culture.

And it is a source of, for me, resiliency, it's a support, it's mentorship, and it's accountability to make sure that I am accountable to the people in the communities that I'm a part of.

It's so that I do the right thing and that I show up and that I contribute.

On the professional life side of things, I used to work at Plymouth Housing addressing our homelessness crisis, but I decided to move to Friends of the Children because I see inherent hope in children, and then the only thing that stands in their way is us.

So we need to be there to support their potential, to nurture their gifts.

Another way, and then I'll finish, another way that I've been supporting this is, or that it shows up in our work, is in supporting multi-generational housing, which I come from.

It was lovely for me to see my mom, my nieces and nephews interact with all of us in the house together, and I'm working on a project with Friends of Little Saigon, and skipped it right now.

We call it the Landmark Project, and the biggest focus for us on the housing side is to create housing that supports these types of family connections.

Thank you.

Don't mean to cut you off there, Councilmember Hollingsworth.

I'm gonna- No, that was it.

I just wanted to thank everybody for the answers.

I heard community center, art, culture, housing, food, golf, family, all the things that make a well-rounded individual and young person.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Councilmember Kettle, go ahead, please.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, everyone who's here.

I just wanted to start off with a thank you for meeting with me yesterday.

I also want to say thank you for the background packages, the resumes, the cover letters, all the material that related to that.

And thank you for those that advocated for you.

There's many people out.

It's not just here in public comment, but there's a lot of advocates for each and every one of you.

AND BOTTOM LINE, THANK YOU FOR PUTTING YOUR NAME FORWARD.

IT'S A BIG STEP AND I REALLY APPRECIATE THAT.

I KNOW THERE'S A LOT OF FOCUS ON LAND USE BECAUSE YOU WOULD CHAIR THE LAND USE COMMITTEE, OBVIOUSLY WITH THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON COMPREHENSIVE PLAN, THAT CHANGES THAT UP A BIT.

BUT IT'S IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT YOU WOULD ALSO BE THE VICE CHAIR OF THE HOUSING HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE.

AND AS I KNOW FROM WORKING WITH MY VICE CHAIR ON PUBLIC SAFETY, YOU KNOW, WHO I PARTNER WITH, IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT.

But you'll also be a member of Libraries, Education, and Neighborhoods.

You'll be a member, and I'll be on this one with you, Finance, Native Communities, and Tribal Government, in addition to Sustainability, City Light, and Arts and Culture, chaired by my neighbor here to the right.

But also, surprise, there's also county and regional committees that you could participate in.

I was on the PSRC, the Puget Sound Regional Council, this morning with Councilmember Sacco, the executive committee.

So there's more for you, too.

And a lot of it's related to growth management with the Planning Council or with the PSRC, the Puget Sound Regional Council, and then the King County Regional Policy Committee.

So there's more for you.

And I think that's important to note.

My question for you really quick is to, and you all gotta head up on this, so you're not gonna be surprised.

My priorities are in terms of looking at the candidates, obviously public safety's out there, but all those issues, but public safety.

But importantly is your work and professional backgrounds.

You all have very strong combination of those.

Academic, very strong there as well.

And so what I like to ask and the focus is, and this is important to me, is, you know, what are your community volunteer opportunities?

Where have you been a civic volunteer?

And this has kind of come up already.

And I think this is super important.

And it was really important for me last year and this year, particularly those instances where you're working for or against the city.

You know, it's that experience of banging your head against city halls, doors or walls that really gives you some insight, you know, when you're advocating for that.

that community group that you're participating in And speaking of community members too, Reverend Walden, thank you for all your community work, Mr. White for your community work, and all the others.

And Tyler, back there as well, thank you for your community work.

And so with that, I'd like to give about a minute for each of you, Councilmember Strauss, if you can help me with this.

And I'll start with Hung first.

And everybody got a heads up yesterday.

So how does community volunteerism, being a civic leader, Help you and how is it going to form your approach to the for this appointment?

Thank you for that.

Thank you for that question and also for the heads up and I'll go back to something I shared at the very beginning which was around the time that I first became a voter I Thought that this has got to be the very least that I could do so I was involved with the I saw a flyer on a poll it said come to this community council meeting, start, uh, be a voice.

And so that was the, how I got sucked into the, uh, Capitol Hill community council.

And I did not know what I was signing up for, but, uh, um, so that was the beginning.

And then, um, and more fast forward a little bit, um, as you know, I'm, I serve on the Friends of Little Saigon board until very recently I served on the board of Asian counseling and referral service.

And, uh, that looks like a lot of different ways.

It, it looked like, showing up for community meetings.

It looked like going to Olympia and talking with our state representatives on behalf of a whole slate of priorities for our AAPI community.

So community service and being involved with the various issues and challenges that we have as a city and as a region, as a state, is very much a part of who I am.

Thank you.

Mr. Duckworth.

So for the last 10 years, I've volunteered a lot of my time in the recovery community helping men and women move from drugs and being addicted to drugs and alcohol to recovery and getting back to their families.

That's through the Union Gospel Mission, the Salvation Army, and sometimes doing 12-step calls down at Virginia Mason.

I'm gonna pull a chikundi and give a plug for the Rainier Beach Skate Park.

If you Google, King 5 Rainier Beach Skate Park, that is my daughter, giving a plug, and she did a nice news story about the skate park and why we need a skate park in Rainier Beach.

And there's an equity piece there, there's no park down there, but at one point in the design, the park was covered.

And I'll just give you a quick, quick, just a little bit about this in north seattle they have altogether skate park which is covered so when it's raining and it's cold the kids can go inside in the south end we don't have a park that's covered and so kids don't have that opportunity and if you don't have transportation if you don't have a car to get up north you're not skateboarding in the south end so in this position i do i will fight for that park and fight for a covered park thank you

Mr. Gregor.

Thank you.

Giving back to the community has always been incredibly important to me and my family.

I grew up volunteering at Hammond House, serving meals there.

It's a homeless woman shelter.

I currently serve on the board's Benefits Law Center, which is a...

organization that provides legal advocacy to people living with physical and mental disabilities.

I serve on the board of Rainer Scholars, a program that I am a graduate of.

I'm an alumni.

Rainer Scholars helps young children of color excel academically, get into good schools.

It follows you from fourth grade all the way through college graduation.

Giving back also in community service also informs how we connect with each other, how we make deep, meaningful connections.

During COVID, for example, I worked with musicians across the city to ride neighborhood concerts so people had third spaces where they could come to.

Those were in North Seattle.

Okay, well, thank you so much, Mr. Gregory.

Thanks.

I don't wanna get in trouble with the council president or our clerk.

Mr. Lynn.

Thank you.

As stated earlier, it's really all about the youth in our community.

And so for me, I've been deeply involved in our school community.

I'm married to an educator.

Both kids went to public schools here.

And so I've been deeply involved in advocacy around school funding, spoken to most of the legislators in Seattle, as well as legislators outside of Seattle.

We have the school levies coming up, so please vote, folks, in February.

But I like to use my legal background to help people who maybe don't have that same training or access to information.

So being able to provide information to other parents And I'm kind of like a policy nerd, so I just think about this stuff all the time, and I like to do it in my spare time.

So it's just something that I enjoy and kind of comes naturally.

And then in prior practice, doing stuff like pro bono work, help Food Lifeline with their new headquarters and their warehouse, and protecting Pacific Northwest Ballet, who is being condemned by Sound Transit.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Lynn.

Mr. Salisbury.

Okay, start.

Yes, so I am a lifelong community and volunteer servant.

To that end, I was in youth and government at the YMCA as a teen, and all the way to today, I'm a PCO, an elected PCO in the 37th District, where I continue to be civically engaged and engaged with my community around youth government.

I'm the founder of Black Legacy Homeowners, where we're protecting and working on anti-displacement.

I'm the founder of 100 Black Parents, where we advocate for black families and youth on how to make sure that they are not the furthest from educational justice.

I'm the founder of HerbVote, where we've been funded by the Seattle Foundation and King County Elections to go out and do voter registration and engagement in our community.

I'm on the board of YMCA Camping Services, making sure that we get kids outdoors and connecting to nature.

I spent seven years as a board member on real change, the homeless newspaper, so I'm intimately involved with that community.

And lastly, I volunteer at the Rainier Valley Food Bank.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Salisbury.

Mr. Solomon.

Yes, thank you for the question.

In the past, I've been involved on a number of different community councils from Madrona when I lived in the neighborhood to Rainier Beach, participated in other programs such as Black Achievers Program, again, Long time back, have been a 37th district precinct committee officer as well.

And was a long time board member of youth care.

I actually, I think I hold the record for serving on that board for about 27 years until they finally said, okay, time to go.

Currently I am sitting on the Beacon Hill Council and we've advocated for things like working with the airports regarding the micro particulates.

that are impacting the health of our community.

I was co-chair of the committee that got Jefferson Golf Course renamed to the Bill Wright Golf Complex.

We've worked on the issue of, again, increasing the amount of green space we have in the community by securing the block at 17th and Walker as open space, as well as trying to preserve the brick pit area to maintain that green space.

Thank you, Mr. Sullivan.

Thank you very much, and I appreciate it.

And I see the remainder of my time to Council President.

Amen.

Council Member Moore, go ahead, please.

Thank you.

Well, good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you for being here.

I just want to say I've had the pleasure of being able to meet with all of you before today and really enjoyed the conversations that we had and feel that I just feel so grateful and honored that you all bring such a deep bench of professional and life experience and such incredible diversity and variety to that so no matter the outcome here today or in the election I am confident that District 2 and the City of Seattle is going to be well served so thank you for putting yourselves forward really do appreciate that I'm gonna ask a number of questions and I think I'll start with Thaddeus Gregory so obviously I am a supporter, as I think all of us are, of trees.

That's a big issue.

One of the things that I would like to hear from you is whether you think the current tree ordinance is working well, and as it should, and the second piece to that question is would you commit, as chair of the Land Use Committee, to accept and hear legislation to revisit the tree ordinance?

And Darius, I'm gonna start with you.

Yeah, sorry.

Thank you.

I have worked on projects, again, all throughout Seattle in all of your different districts.

And trees are absolutely important.

They help form the backbone of our green spaces.

They help create the healthy air and the healthy environments that we love to enjoy.

Trees can sometimes be complicated.

And we see that in our tree code.

Our tree code works to a certain extent, but sometimes more flexibility needs to be allowed.

When that flexibility is there, we need to make sure that as we develop, if any trees are taken away, we replant twofold, threefold, fourfold.

We have a goal of having a 30% tree canopy.

It's something that I think Seattle should absolutely aspire to and achieve.

We can do it using the comprehensive plan, using the tree code.

I think that we should revisit the tree code, examine how we can both incentivize development and use new development to spur more trees in our communities, especially in the Southland.

Thank you.

Adonis?

We definitely need trees to improve our quality of life and health, shade, good air.

Trees, to me, define Seattle, and that jives with the culture of Seattle.

As a lot of you know, in the transportation levy, we invested millions in new trees, in new street trees.

So my goal here is no net loss of trees and to add trees where we can.

There's lots of places to do that, especially in the public right-of-way, but also in the neighborhoods, too.

Thank you.

And would you commit as chair of the Land Use Committee to hearing tree legislation this year?

I would need to get a little bit more information on that before making it up.

Thank you.

Same questions?

Okay.

I think that there, in my mind, there are a few things that are written in stone and that it's all said and done and we shouldn't revisit.

So I would bring that mentality first of all.

And then when I think about trees, one of my favorite things to do is to spend time in my garden.

And I know that that is a privilege that I have one.

And as I shared earlier, I helped to push forward and find funding for turning a diamond parking lot in the middle of one of the densest neighborhoods in the city to turn it into a park and pee patch so that all of us can enjoy green space.

Also, I don't think trees are just decorations.

They are an environmental justice and they are a social justice issue, the shade, the climate, all of those things are impacting us, and we need to think about all of those things.

And for those reasons, I would definitely be open to revisiting.

Thank you.

Mark?

Oh, I'm sorry.

I don't think the tree ordinance is working for us right now as it currently stands, and I do want to address it.

I do want to increase our tree canopy, as I mentioned, as part of the Beacon Hill Council.

one of the things we're concerned about is the lack of tree canopy that we do have, and I feel that if we have more tree canopy, that can help address the issue of the microparticulates.

So I do want to look at the comp plan, the tree plan, how can we increase housing and keep trees.

I don't see it as either or, I see it as a both and.

There's a reason why we're known as the Emerald City, and that's because of our trees, and I want to see more of them.

Thank you.

Thank you for the question.

I am most certainly in favor of revisiting the tree policy, first and foremost.

And then secondarily, I would say as a former manager of the Green Seattle Partnership, which is an effort to reforest our 2,500 acres of parkland in Seattle, I'm most certainly intimately engaged around the need for trees.

And then also just as a community member, I've gone to bat with my neighbors around cutting trees and the like.

So most certainly I am committed not only as a professional, but as a community member and understand the value of our trees, not only just aesthetically, but again, as a urban forester, I've seen the studies and the research around, you know, the heat maps and the like.

And so most certainly this is something that's very important to me.

Thank you.

Thank you, council member Moore.

So yeah, I, my, my understanding, I don't think anybody is very happy with the existing tree ordinance.

So certainly would be open to revisiting that.

My only hesitation would be, I'm not sure about the timing of it with the comp plan and which comes first, or, you know, if there's delays, how that works together.

I think for us, you know, there's sort of this, pitting housing versus trees.

And I think we need to look more comprehensively.

We have a lot of land in Seattle.

So like Mr. Ducks was saying, you know, we have a lot of, and on Beacon, we have a huge median that goes for four miles.

There was a great article about it recently.

And I'd love to see more trees there.

We do have a lot of pavement and, you know, we're not going to be getting rid of cars anytime soon.

But long term, you know, we have a lot of pavement in our city, a lot of parking spots.

So how can we think comprehensively about having both trees and housing?

And that's how I'd approach it.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for that question.

Sorry, for those answers.

So the other question I have is if you could only accomplish one item in your tenure here, whether it be 10 months or the entirety of the term, what would that be?

And I guess I'll start again with Thaddeus and follow the same route that we just did.

I want to create a comprehensive plan that creates an equitable Seattle that provides affordable housing, that provides diverse housing options, that helps create childcare opportunities, that creates more trees and fixes sidewalks.

And I believe we can do it.

Thank you.

Adonis.

If I, on top of the work of the council member, I would say my number one priority, well, which I did state was my number one priority, is addressing the state of emergency in CID, Little Saigon, and looking at different ways to unlock funding, implement the budget from last year to make sure CBOs, law enforcement, and others get the resources they need to help the people and the small businesses in the CID and Little Saigon.

Thank you.

I don't think this is gonna be a surprise for anyone, but if I do nothing else in my 10 months on the council, it would be similarly to address the travesty that is occurring at 12th and King in Little Saigon.

Thank you.

I can't agree with you guys more.

I see it on a daily basis.

My colleagues and I are working on it.

That would be my number one priority.

If I had a second one, it would be the permitting process.

Thank you.

My number one priority in the 10 months here, other than coming to all the committee meetings and the like and being on time, would be strengthening the anti-displacement framework in the comp plan.

We know that if we do not strengthen this anti-displacement, 20 years from now, there will not be a black community and many of our other BIPOC neighbors and the like who are at the most risk for displacement will not exist here.

And so this is one of the most important things to me.

We gotta be here to even work on these things.

Thank you.

Yeah, such a hard question.

I care so deeply about the comp plan and anti-displacement, but I gotta say the CID and 12th and Jackson, it's just been way too long and it can't take any waiting longer.

Thank you.

Well, I'm not going to ask any more questions, but to your question, Council Member Strauss, I went to three middle schools in three years.

So pick your choice.

One here in Seattle, one in Colorado, and one in New York.

So there we go.

Anyway, thank you all very much for your commitment and your answers.

Really appreciated hearing them.

Council Member Rink, go ahead, please.

Well, hello.

Thank you so much for stepping up to do this, and thank you in advance for fielding all of my questions I have for you today.

I'm going to make the most of our time together, and I promise everyone's going to get equal amount of time.

Just to give you a sense, I'm going to ask a couple of questions for 30-second answers, and then close with a couple of yes or no questions.

So let's do this.

This first question is actually just .

And in 30 seconds, we know that D2 has a history of displacing black, brown, and immigrant communities.

This 20-year comp plan provides an opportunity to mitigate this.

So what are your ideas on how to prevent displacement?

Starting first with Hong.

I think that you have to understand the experience of black, brown, indigenous communities.

You have to understand our culture.

You have to understand our family situations.

You have to understand how we approach making a living in our lives.

And so I'll just speak from my experience, which is I live in a multi-generational household.

I'm a small business owner.

So what I'm gonna look for are opportunities to fit my family in the house, and then for us to have spaces where we can conduct our family business.

Great.

Thank you.

Eddie?

Thank you.

Yeah, so I'd like to lean into areas like community wealth building and the Equitable Development Initiative.

And like Hong said, a real opportunity here is in the areas that used to be single family zoned where we can do gentle density, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, where somebody can age in place and we can really build wealth within the community and not just have it go to outsiders.

And so people can live in one and rent out the other.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

And Mark?

Actually, I look at the work that Shikundi's been doing with the Black Legacy Homeownership, encouraging people and providing tools for people to be able to stay in their homes, building generational wealth.

I benefit from the fact that I live in the house my grandparents built.

If I didn't, I couldn't afford to live there, right?

So keeping people in their homes, helping them build that generational wealth, and...

providing more opportunities for home ownership.

Fabulous, thank you.

And this next question is now for Chikundi, Adonis, and Thaddeus for 30 seconds.

Understanding that around two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions within the city of Seattle are from vehicles and frontline communities like so many in D2 most often bear the brunt of environmental pollution, how would you work to solve this problem and promote alternative modes of transportation?

Starting first with Chikundi.

So most certainly I would continue to promote services and programs like the metro via van and the like, and really promote those things to where folks have access to them, rapid ride and the like, right?

But I would also encourage people that can to commute, right?

But I would also respect the people that have two and three jobs and actually do need to drive and not vilify them.

Thank you.

Adonis?

Transit, transit, transit, transit.

Improving those connections to transit, but also making transit safer.

Not just safer transit on the road, but for folks who are on the bus or on the train, make it safer for them.

And then also too, reliability.

So we need to make sure that the road is in good shape so that the buses can get down the street.

And then also enforcement on those arterials where we have transit lanes so we don't have people driving in the transit lanes and keeping transit from moving down the road.

So transit.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Adonis and now Thaddeus.

Yeah, transit is absolutely key.

It's investing in multimodal transportation options, protecting bike lanes to actually incentivize people to safely be able to use the bikes in the city.

It's visiting parking minimums and considering how we want to approach that conversation.

It's also adding things like neighborhood corner stores so people don't have to drive miles to go get bread and milk and eggs.

And that is also a corner of making affordable housing actually workable.

Thank you.

And now this next question is for everybody.

So 30 seconds to respond and we're going to go from left to right.

So starting with Mark, there are legitimate concerns that governments in Washington state could experience a lack of fiscal support or retaliation from our current federal government.

How do you think the city should be responding to actions the Trump administration may take that could harm our community and city government?

I do think that we need to guard ourselves for what may be coming.

Just looking at the executive orders that have flown out of the past couple of days does give me pause.

And it made me think, okay, if you're going to deny us money because we're a sanctuary city, I'm going to go find my own money, right?

I'm going to find a different source of funds so I don't have to rely on you.

That's one of the reasons I've been advocating for us to explore a public bank, right?

something that we can do where we can set this up to borrow against our own assets to fund our own projects so we don't have to rely on the feds for those funding.

Thank you.

Yes, I agree that we most certainly need to arm and guard ourselves for the incoming wave from the Trump administration.

And to that end, I'd like to see us really make sure that we're looking at our rainy day fund, as well as work with private industry in ways that we can fund other ventures.

I've talked to different council members about leaning in on private industry, not just taxing them, but asking them to really protect us as a sanctuary city.

Thank you.

Oh, sorry.

Thank you.

So one thing we really just need to do is to come together as a community.

We are a blue city, and so we gotta stop fighting with ourselves.

And the best thing we can do to protect ourselves is to really take care of our business right here at home.

The other thing we need to focus on is making sure that our law enforcement isn't doing the work of the feds when it comes to immigration issues.

This is something personal to me as a son of an immigrant and our immigrant community needs to feel safe and not in threat by our local police.

Thank you.

Yeah, we have to focus on protecting community members.

We know that community members from our Asian, Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ communities are at risk under this administration.

So it's also looking to work collaboratively with existing community organizations because our city doesn't have to do it alone.

We have incredible leaders within our community, many of which are here now, that we can work with.

And it's pursuing public-private partnerships, so our funding sources can be more diverse.

Thank you.

And I think just as the city of Seattle, we can lead by example of how we are protecting our immigrants and refugees.

There's some amazing organizations in Rainier Valley, like Rainier Avenue Church, that are helping and welcoming immigrants and refugees.

helping them get housed, helping them get stabilized.

And one thing I think we can do as a city is we can expedite resources to those community-based organizations because time is of the essence here, right?

So if we can expedite those resources to the community-based organizations, they can get to work to help folks who may be under the threat as it makes its way here.

The world is a little bit of a different place than the first Trump presidency.

But at that time, I was working for a social justice organization called Asian Counseling and Referral Service.

And the two words that come to mind as I ponder on your question is organize and resist.

And for me, when I say the landscape has changed, I mean we don't have an Attorney General, Bob Ferguson, anymore, but we have an Attorney General, Nick Brown.

And we do have a governor a governor, Bob Ferguson.

We also have Jorge Barón, who was at NERP, who's now on the county council.

And we have a King County executive who's going to change.

And so for me, it's about resisting and organizing together as a whole entire state.

Fabulous.

And a final round of yes or no in the one minute we have left, just with your show of cards.

Do you, let's see, apologies.

Do you support a worker's right to organize a labor union?

Fabulous.

Do you support decreasing the number of proposed neighborhood centers in the proposed comp plan?

Thank you.

And given the city's current budget shortfall, would you be supportive of expanding progressive revenue options to make sure that vital programs are fully funded?

Great.

And, oh, wait, I have more time than I thought.

Okay.

Would you support height bonuses for community-led affordable housing projects?

Can you ask that question again?

Yeah, absolutely.

Would you support height bonuses for community-led affordable housing projects?

And my last question is, do you support expanding the FEP levy for this year?

Great.

Thank you all.

Appreciate you.

And thank you again for everybody who turned out in support and being a part of this process.

Thank you.

Council member Rivera, you are up.

Go ahead, please.

Thank you, council president Nelson.

And I want to thank you all again for throwing your names in the hat.

This is, I know it's a lot of work.

First of all, um, not just this process, but just your willingness to serve and really appreciate how much you care about your community so much so that you would be willing to throw your name in the hat and do this job.

So really appreciate all of you.

You all bring excellent experience.

And as I said last week, this makes it a very hard choice.

I have two questions.

One is a yes or no.

And then one is you'll have, hopefully, a minute to answer.

I will say that I also very much appreciated you going through the public forum.

I watched it this week.

I'm very impressed with community's questions.

And they were very thoughtful questions.

And I very much appreciated hearing your responses to those questions.

So congratulations on getting through that forum.

And so my questions are these, you know, being last, I also, I am so appreciative of my colleagues' questions.

So I'm learning a lot via the questions that have already been asked.

So my question is, as you know, the city's facing a large deficit in 2027. Would you support a mayor's proposal that would include thoughtful reductions based on review of programs at the city?

Thank you.

And then you'll have about a minute to respond.

How would you ensure programs are held accountable for intended outcomes?

And we can start with Hong.

I would bring curiosity to my conversations with folks.

I admittedly, I don't know the ins and outs of government and how it works, but the way that I approach budgets is I'll just go back to something that Council Member Rink asked about progressive taxes.

I'm a person who favors keeping as many options as we have on the table for solving our problems.

The state has dictated what our tools are, and so for me, having progressive taxes is an option, but it may not be the first one.

So what I want to do is make sure that we're spending the dollars that we have wisely.

And then again, lead with curiosity because there's a way and a path for how we got there.

And I want to make sure I understand that before I go wielding because that means people's lives, right?

There are livelihoods and then the commitments we've made and we need to honor those.

Thank you.

I would say as we draft legislation, we look for opportunities for some type of oversight, like the transportation levy has a levy oversight committee.

Many of the levies we have have oversight committees.

So there's an avenue there.

And then also as you chair your committees, you bring the departments to the committee, you ask questions, you can track projects, you can track programs.

They will be on the record telling us how they're doing.

So you have committees, levy site levy over .

You have things like statements of legislative intent and asking for reports.

All right, into the county building.

Oversight is absolutely key.

It's bringing people, bringing decision-makers together, people who are implementing the programs and considering what the impact of the programs are, how the community is actually using them, whether the programs are indeed good but underutilized due to lack of knowledge.

One of the great parts about this process has been getting into the community and just learning about all the different services that are available, all the things that you work hard to bring to citizens.

But there's so many programs that people don't know about.

So as we go through the process, it's considering how these programs interact with each other and figure out ways to make sure that we're not double-duffering, that we're not funding two programs that are doing the same things while also making sure that the programs that are helping our community are to stay in place.

Thank you.

Yeah, having worked at the city and worked with a lot of different departments, I know that people are doing good work, but it's important for there to be that transparency and accountability so that the public knows, so that council knows that there's real metrics.

And we do see that a lot.

So for example, with the housing levy, there's metrics about the types of units that are produced and and it's monitored and tracked and so i think that's an important aspect of it it's also important so that you know council understands that that you know departments um or certain programs aren't working in silos and so how how is this um how are programs working together and and not uh across purposes um This happened a few years ago with our homeless response system.

I know that there was pushed for a lot more transparency and reporting, and it's hard.

You don't want to create a huge administrative burden for these people that are doing the hard work, but it is important that there be a certain level of reporting back.

Thank you.

Yeah, so two ways of looking at this.

From a community-based perspective, we most certainly want to have oversight and the like, but what I would be in favor of is having especially city-funded programs, including in the funding to those community-based organizations, there's a city person that is there as a storyteller, as a person to get, you know, not as the hammer, if you will, but to assist.

Because we know that community-based organizations that oftentimes receive city funding, they're really good at what they do.

They're respected.

They're on the street corner with youth or whatever they're doing.

They might not be the best storyteller, and they might not be able to articulate the value in how their work is going.

Then I guess as an internal person, I know my coworkers don't want to hear this, but, you know, we got to look at that spending in the fourth quarter, right?

And there's a lot of times, you know, we kind of spend money that, you know, that we could have saved.

And so, yeah, let's look at that.

I recall having a conversation with an organization that provides some funding for The Breakfast Group, and the person told us, I'm about documentation, not conversation.

So show me your books.

So what I'm thinking about when we're looking at how do we hold programs accountable, I want to look at the deliverables.

I want to look at what the expected outcomes were.

What did they tell us they were going to do?

What did they do with the funding that we gave them?

And how effective were they in using those dollars that were allocated to them?

I've said many times that it makes sense for us to look at what's been spent, what has been spent on, and what the results of that spending are.

And if the outcomes don't match what the intent was, then maybe we need to reexamine where that funding goes.

Thank you.

And with two and a half minutes to spare, I will give that back to you, Council President.

Thank you so much for answering my questions.

These are tough jobs.

These are tough questions.

These are the things we grapple with, and I really appreciate all your responses.

I just wanted to hear more.

Okay, I'm ready.

So here's the, I'll just frame this.

From the moment you decided to throw your hat in the ring here, you've been talking to people all over District 2. And so I have a whole bunch of questions, and I narrowed it down to two.

The one that I will be asking you is the one that you're gonna answer for 90 seconds, but I also would like you to know that I am still really focused on, I'd like to know your thoughts later on perhaps of how to deal with fentanyl crisis, that addiction, drugs, et cetera, was touched on in the community forum in a couple different questions.

So that's why I'm not asking it now.

But if you do have any thoughts about that, because it's so inextricably linked to public safety and homelessness and housing and also education, et cetera.

So that is the question I'm not asking today.

Here's what I am asking.

You did speak with so many people and you went in.

So what I'm curious about is, what did you learn about District 2 that you didn't know already?

And how could that inform your policy priorities, if at all?

So that's just a really open-ended question.

And I have my little clock set at a minute and 30 seconds each.

Hong, I'm gonna ask you to start because it's just easier for me to go in that direction.

Thank you.

I don't think that I'm gonna have anything new that you haven't already heard.

So the general pieces would be that we need to have a council member who not only shows up advocates for us, listens to us, represents us, but we also need someone who's gonna be a champion for us, one who is just gonna be an everyday person who's gonna go to our local businesses, check in with them, ask them how life is going, Be like a, this is not a good way of saying it, but be like a customer service representative.

Say, how can I help you and how can I make your life better?

That thing that you need, that's not me, but you know what I can do is make a few phone calls or make some calls.

introductions and just start a conversation about how we can address it, this thing that you need.

So those things could be things like, what do I do if someone breaks the glass in my business?

What should I do if there is a car that appears to be abandoned?

What should I do if there seems to be just garbage or or encampments in my neighborhood that make me feel unsafe.

Who do I talk to because I don't want to get that person in trouble.

I understand they're going through a hard time, but who can I talk to?

So it's just to have someone who's going to show up and help and listen.

And just to finish, we need someone who's going to be excited and a champion and not just be focusing on the bad things.

We need someone who's going to say, this could be so much more And I'm going to be a person who's going to live that and talk about all the positive things.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Adonis.

Thank you.

Yeah, over the last month, it has been awesome going and talking to so many people and business organizations.

And my whole thing was like, well, who else should I be talking to?

Who else should I be talking to?

Who else should I be talking to?

And there's a number of things that I've learned or that were new to me.

But the general theme of what I've heard from people, and this is why it's one of my priorities, It wasn't a priority before I decided to jump into this, but it became a priority after talking to so many people.

But what I'm hearing from people, and you kind of know it in the city, but we're doing our day-to-day work and we're doing our things, but people, all the way from public safety all the way down to the projects that we do, but the city needs to listen.

The city needs to listen to us.

That was just a reoccurring theme I heard over and over and over and over again.

And I hear this, doing projects with the DOT and whatnot, but when the Coffee shop owner down in Rainier Beach says, you know, somebody was murdered next door, and I've been telling the police, like, hey, can we do an investigation of this?

And the police say, yeah, we'll do an investigation, but months and months and months go by, right?

It's like, are they hearing us?

Are they hearing us?

So that's why one of my priorities is to get this resolution, work with you all to get this resolution adopted that outlines the framework for how the city should be engaging with the community.

I think this is a positive thing for how we should be talking to people in District 2. Who should be involved?

Who should be at the table?

Who are those voices that we need to hear from so that we can truly say like, hey, you know, we're listening to you, right?

So that's what I've learned and that's what I would do.

Thank you.

Before you start that, yes, I'll kind of raise my finger at 15 seconds left, just so you know.

That sounds good, I appreciate it.

Just a moment.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Yeah, as you said, this opportunity, the last few months have been absolutely incredible.

I've met with community leaders, neighborhood stakeholders, people all across D2 every single day.

Some of the things that I've learned that I didn't know already surround public safety.

I, for the first time, went on a ride along with Mark Solomon.

I took a tour of the South Precinct.

I talked to police officers as I saw them in coffee shops.

And I asked, hey, what's going on with public safety?

Why do we not have more police officers joining the force?

This year, I'm so happy that we finally had a net positive of one.

It's a testament to the work that's been going on in the community.

And it's learning about what actually goes on there.

It's something I hadn't been exposed to, but I was so happy to hear about the mental health support that our officers get.

In the South Precinct, they have a mental health professional come in every single week.

It's also just more deeply learning about the community.

It's getting to 12th and Jackson.

first on a three-day, a week basis, and then after talking to council members on a daily basis so I could start recognizing the people there.

Because that is absolutely a priority, something that we need to tackle and something that I really wanna invest in.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Just a second here.

Thank you.

Like everyone else here, this has been a really meaningful process.

One, I just feel like I've gotten a little bit of insight into the pressures that you all face in meeting with so many different stakeholders and the range of issues you have to face and the hard questions that you get and the negative feedback that you get that often is unwarranted.

One thing that I've enjoyed learning about, so I'm not originally from here, I grew up on the East Coast, and so I don't have the deep roots that many in the Asian American community do have here, but one thing that people have very strong feelings about, which I was not aware of, is the language and terminology.

So some people feel very strongly that it should not be called the Chinatown International District, because they feel like, hey, I'm an American, I'm not international.

Other people feel like their heritage is not represented by just calling it Chinatown or even Chinatown, Little Saigon, and Japantown because there's also a strong Filipino history in our community.

So that's been something that I need to continue to learn and lean into, but it's been fun to hear so many different voices on that.

Just one other small thing, there was a homelessness shelter that was going to be placed in that community, and they weren't upset that the homeless shelter was going to be placed there.

They were just upset that they weren't spoken to, and so that just reinforced to me that community engagement is so important.

Yeah, so, you know, first of all, I talk to people all the time.

It hasn't just because I was going to put my name in this ad.

One of the things I said at the forum, I was at the Lake Washington Boulevard meeting because it was contentious, but I didn't know that Council Member Morales was going to leave.

I was just there as a community member.

So I've been talking to community and going to these meetings.

But that being said, what I found in the last few weeks as I've been working on this is that I find myself doing more education around what the city offers.

Oftentimes we run into people in the community that are completely unaware.

Right?

And a couple examples of that is, for example, the care team.

I ran into people in the south end and they said, you know, hey, man, I'm tired of them sending the police out for mental health emergencies.

Man, we need, you know, we don't need officers.

We need care.

Hello?

There's a care team, right?

I sent somebody a picture yesterday of actually the care Tahoe out there that's going out there.

There's CSOs, right?

So there was a person that said, hey, the city needs to do something about these vacant storefronts downtown.

And I was like, oh, well, the Office of Economic Development has this program, Seattle Restore, right?

Like, so, you know, what I found is that there's a huge gap in the amount of information that is out there.

And a lot of people just don't know all of the great work that the city does.

You know, as an employee, I pride myself on knowing what we do.

Thank you.

Hold on a second.

Go ahead, Mark.

Okay.

Good, so I do get to go.

All right.

You know, having worked in this role for 34 years, pretty much all of that in my community, in D2, I know the people of the community, I know the issues of that community on a granular level.

And just like, you know, Shikundi was saying, there's a lot of times people don't know who to contact about what's going on in their community.

And...

I'm feeling phone calls and voicemails from people and emails about things that are not necessarily a law enforcement matter, but it's a quality of life matter.

It's a matter in their community that they want addressed.

And what I'm doing is making sure that we connect those people with the proper resources and pulling together the team to address those particular concerns.

So, One of the things that has been very clear to me over the years is a lot of communities in D2 do not feel heard.

They don't feel like the city is listening.

So that is something that I'm actually known for.

People call me because I answer the phone.

People work with me because I get stuff done.

And that's kind of energy and the kind of customer service because I would say that it is a customer service role.

Serving the community is what we do.

Thank you very much.

I do have to apologize.

There were a lot of bills going off my phone, that thing, and I am sorry for breaking my own rule for going over time, colleagues.

I apologize.

I know, I'm recognizing it, and that was...

I said I wasn't gonna do it again, and then I did, but I just wanted to make sure that we heard from everybody.

Thank you very much, everyone.

Let me see what my script says we have to do now.

We've finished with this process and we will continue with our decision making going forward.

There will be, as you know, per the charter, we have 27 days to fill a vacancy, 20 days to fill a vacancy.

Therefore, our deadline is on the 27th.

So at that city council meeting, we will be making our decision.

Is there any further business to come before the council?

Council member Rivera.

Chair, I just want to recognize that there are parents and partners, spouses and friends and supporters in chambers, and I want to thank them all for taking the time to come out here and supporting your people.

As a mom, that's really meaningful to me.

I'm sure it's meaningful to you panelists, and I really just wanted to give everybody recognition.

Thank you for being here.

Council President.

That's right.

Play by our own rules.

Councilmember Strauss.

Thank you.

Just inquiring, I know that we had originally scheduled the Monday Select Committee for 930 because we had council briefing.

It's now my understanding we might not have council briefing.

I was just wondering if there's flexibility on the start time.

We will talk about that.

I have yet to talk to staff about that.

Do you have a preference?

I just find that 9.30 in the morning on a Monday is probably a time that I might be following up with some of the candidates and having my second cup of coffee.

I know it's going to be a long meeting, but just inquiring.

Well, if anything, the flexibility is on the other end of the meeting because we have noticed it already.

So is there any time to...

I'm gonna keep the start time at 9.30 and we do not have briefings scheduled in the afternoon, but I wanna make sure that there is some overflow time and so that we're not rushed, but thank you very much for that suggestion.

Is there any other question or suggestion or business before the council?

Okay, we've reached the end of today's agenda.

The city council will meet again on Monday, January 27th.

The city council is scheduled to vote and appoint a finalist at the January 27th meeting.

Hearing no further business, we are adjourned and we have a weekend.

between now and then to continue our conversation should we wish.

Thank you.