Seattle City Council Briefing 6/5/23

Thank you, Madam Clerk, and thank you, IT.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Today is Monday, June 5th.

It is two o'clock.

This is the council briefing meeting, briefing meeting.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Peterson.

Here.

Council Member Solant.

Present.

Council Member Strauss.

Present.

Council Member Herbold.

Here.

Council Member Lewis.

Present.

Council Member Morales.

Here.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Council Member Nelson.

Here in Chambers.

Council President Juarez.

Here.

Present.

And we can loop back to Councilor Mosqueda when she joins us, because I know she's here today.

Okay, so next, let's go to approval of the minutes.

If there's no objection, the minutes of May 22nd will be adopted.

Not hearing or seeing any objection, the minutes of May 22nd are adopted.

We'll move on to the President's Report.

On today's agenda, we have one proclamation offered by Council Member Herbold proclaiming Elder Abuse Awareness Day.

I will let her speak to that when we get there.

Signing the proclamation will be followed by individual reports from council members as we do every council briefing.

We will start with Council Peterson today.

Following our individual reports, we will then have three executive sessions.

Two are expected to take about 15 minutes and one will be probably a half an hour.

So we anticipate about an hour-ish.

Hopefully it will be done I don't know if we're going to get done at four, but we got three to do so we'll see where we're at at the end of today's agenda and what the clerk shares with us.

On tomorrow's agenda, the consent calendar will include the minutes and the payment of the bills, as well as two appointments to the Seattle Renters Commission.

I believe that comes out of Council Member Sawant's committee.

Next, we'll take one vote on all items on the consent calendar.

And again, any council member wants to remove anything from the consent calendar to vote on later in the agenda, we can do that.

Let's move along.

Tomorrow we have one item for a committee report.

And let me give a little background, because today I really want it to be a briefing and I'm going to make a few comments here as council president.

So you all know that we have Council Bill one two zero five eight six regarding possession of controlled substance tomorrow.

It's sponsored by Council Member Peterson and Council Member Nelson, who work closely with our city attorney, Miss Dan Davidson.

They will be speaking to it today.

In addition, central staff prepared a 12 page memo which was distributed last week, which identifies anticipated jurisdictional changes.

I also believe counsel heard from the King County prosecutor, Lisa Mannion, in an email on this matter as well, in which she sent us a letter regarding her comments and statements regarding this council bill.

As you all know, governor, the governor convened the state legislature in a special session on May 16th.

to address the Blake decision by the Washington State Supreme Court in 2021. At that special session, the state legislature passed a new state law regarding possession of a controlled substance.

That was by a vote of 83 to 13 in the House and 43 to 6 in the Senate.

On the day that the state legislature passed that, the governor signed it.

So it was passed and signed on May 16. So that is the present state of the law today.

So I believe the intent of this legislation, which I believe is coming tomorrow, is to adopt the new state law into our municipal code, thus ensuring sales compliance with the state before the current state law expires on July 1st, 2023. As you know, it's a standard practice that I ask is to ask committees to review and recommend legislation in advance of council consideration, which can take up to four to six weeks.

However, I believe the sponsors and the committee chair thought it would be appropriate to consider this in full council, given the pending July 1 expiration of the current law.

So our practice here is to work with and defer to the committee chair that has subject matter jurisdiction, as well as central staff.

So we have been dealing with this issue for about three weeks.

So this isn't anything new.

It's been in the news.

We were looking at the law.

We were waiting for the state legislature to act and they have.

And now that's what will be in front of us tomorrow in which everybody will have an opportunity tomorrow to discuss their position and how they will be voting.

So all the information of the items on tomorrow's agenda is available online.

And again, you received a 12 page memo from central staff regarding an analysis of the bill, of the pros and cons, I believe.

So before we get started, I would like to caution people that I don't want today's briefing to turn into a committee hearing about what we're going to be discussing tomorrow because there's a lot of discussions that are going to probably happen between today and tomorrow regarding the memo questions for central staff.

And that's how I think it should be.

And again, I want to thank Council Member Herbold in working with her as the chair of public safety and her wisdom of saying, listen, let's Let's let's see what the state does.

Let's talk to the city attorney's office.

Let's work with central staff.

Let's work with our two colleagues.

And let's do this when you come back from vacation.

And that's what we've done.

So we've had a little almost three weeks to thoroughly look at this council bill, ask the questions, look at the memo, look at the state law.

And that is the current state of play.

And I'll let the sponsor speak to it further in their reports today.

So let's see, before we get started, I would like to thank Council Member Herbold for chairing the May 22nd council briefing and the May 23rd council meeting.

And Council Member Peterson, thank you so much for chairing the May 30th council meeting.

I understand you were fifth in line and I appreciate that you actually, yeah, thank you.

You guys have no idea how appreciative we are when people step up to chair when other people can't make it.

So thank you very much, Council Member Peterson and Council Member Herbold, in my absence.

Also, exciting news.

I would like to remind everyone that our new city clerk, Shireen Dedmon, first day will be June 27th.

You should have all gotten a memo a couple of weeks ago or an email from me, information regarding Shireen.

That is also the date for her confirmation vote.

Shireen is making herself available to meet with council members prior to June 27th, either virtually or in person.

And you should have all received an email in your inbox with her contact information.

Please welcome her.

I'm very excited to bring her here.

I think she's just gonna be a breath of fresh air.

Of course we miss Elizabeth and Monica, but life moves, life goes on.

So I'm excited to welcome Shireen to our wonderful city.

Our next council briefing will be June 26th.

And so with that on our agenda, I'm going to go over to Council Member Herbold because she has a proclamation recognizing June 15th to be Elder Abuse Awareness Day in Seattle for signatures.

So from there, Council Member Herbold, do you want to take the floor?

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Madam Chair.

That is true.

I am asking for my colleague's signatures on a proclamation.

recognizing June 15th to be Elder Abuse Awareness Day in Seattle.

The proclamation was offered by the Human Services Department, and the mayor is concurring.

My office circulated the proclamation to all council offices last Tuesday, and the proclamation itself highlights Seattle's participation in a multi-jurisdictional Elder abuse multidisciplinary team that works to address cases involving elder abuse or neglect.

It calls upon the people of Seattle increase awareness.

of elder abuse issues and to support community connections for older people that reduce the likelihood of abuse.

The proclamation also encourages residents to learn the signs that abuse may be occurring and to know that confidential and professional resources for abused elders are always available in our community.

Elder abuse is both widespread and it is also underreported.

Confidential and professional resources for abused elders are available by calling 1-866-END-HARM.

I welcome my colleagues sharing any comments or questions that they have and appreciate in advance your joining onto the proclamation.

Thank you.

Thank you customer herbal colleagues, are there any questions or comments you would like to make before we move on to a vote on whether or not you want your signature affixed to the proclamation.

Okay, customer, I don't see anybody raising their hand.

So with that, will the clerk please call the roll to determine which council members would like their signature affixed to today's proclamation.

Council Member Peterson.

Yes.

Council Member salon.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Nine signatures will be affixed to the proclamation.

Thank you.

And thank you Council Member Herbold for bringing this forward.

I think you bring it forward every year.

Is that correct?

I don't know if it's been every single year, but I've definitely brought it forward in the past.

Yeah, I always appreciate that.

Elder abuse is a really underreported crime, and we've seen a lot of that.

So I want to thank you for that.

OK, so we will move on in our agenda.

So today, the roll call order, as I shared earlier, Councilor Peterson will go first and then we have Council Member Sawant, Straus, Herbold, Lewis, Morales, Mosqueda, Nelson, then me.

So with that, Council Member Peterson, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Council President.

Good afternoon, colleagues.

There are no items from our Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities Committee on the full council agenda tomorrow afternoon.

As our Council President noted, tomorrow at full council, I'm co-sponsoring Council Bill 120586 with Council Member Nelson.

That bill incorporates into our Seattle Municipal Code, the law on drug possession and use that was recently updated by our governor and state legislature.

Our next meeting of the Transportation Seattle Public Utilities Committee is currently scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, June 6th at 9.30 a.m.

We'll have three items on our committee agenda.

House Bill 120585 grants permission to King County's Wastewater Treatment Division to construct, maintain and operate a power transformer and retaining wall at 63rd Avenue Southwest intersecting with Beach Drive Southwest and Southwest Spokane Street for an unlimited term.

specifying the conditions under which this permit is granted and providing for the acceptance of the permit and conditions.

Big picture, this term permit will support the operation of the Alki Wet Weather Treatment Station facility and the 63rd Avenue Pump Station facility in West Seattle.

We already granted conceptual approval via Resolution 32079 on February 14th of this year.

and this Council Bill 120585 would finalize our permission with the term permit as crafted by our Seattle Department of Transportation.

If you have any questions before we vote on this tomorrow at committee, please consult with Lish Whitson of our Council Central staff or consult his memo, which is attached to the committee agenda, I believe.

Because we already provided conditional approval and the conditions have been met, I'm hopeful we'll vote it out of committee tomorrow for S.N.

for King County.

Our committee will also have a briefing and discussion of progress report from our Seattle Department of Transportation regarding the move Seattle transportation package, as we know that nine year $930 million property tax approved by voters in November 2015 funds various transportation projects.

One of our seven transportation advisory groups is the Oversight Committee for that Move Seattle levy.

And as Transportation Chair, I serve on that Oversight Committee, which heard a similar presentation from SDOT recently.

SDOT's working hard to see what they can do to finish as many of the promised projects as possible during the next 18 months before that property tax levy expires.

Our final item for tomorrow's committee is an overview of utility taxes.

With Seattle Public Utilities paying by far the largest share of utility taxes to City Hall, I've asked central staff to provide a Utilities Taxes 101 presentation to the committee.

It's mainly for the general public, though our colleagues are already familiar with these regressive taxes.

The presentation will enhance the understanding and transparency for the general public about these regressive charges that impact everyone's utility bills with lower income residents paying a greater portion of their household income.

While these utility taxes are authorized by state law they do go above and beyond the actual cost of providing the vital services including drinking water.

because utility bills have been increasing and they are regressive on it to make sure we shed additional light for the general public on how these utility taxes work.

Colleagues, that's all for my report.

If there are no questions, I can turn it over to Council Member Swann.

Council Member Swann.

Thank you.

Thank you and good afternoon.

There are appointments to the Seattle Renters Commission from the Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee, as President Juarez mentioned, on the consent calendar of tomorrow's city council agenda.

And the next regularly scheduled meeting of the committee on June 16th will be canceled and rescheduled for June 30th at 9.30 a.m.

My office has informed all committee members of this and we have heard from Council Members Nelson and Lewis that they are available.

Thank you for the prompt reply and we look forward to hearing from other committee members.

That's it for my report and I assume there are no questions so we'll hand it over to Council Member Strauss.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

There are no items from the Land Use Committee on tomorrow's full council agenda.

I will be speaking to the blanking on Council Bill 120586. I will be distributing a proposed amendment I plan to bring to full council tomorrow.

It is already on the agenda, so it's already attached to the agenda under Amendment A. My amendment simply highlights the state legislature's deep commitment and encouragement of prosecutors and law enforcement entities to prioritize diversion and treatment services whenever possible.

By explicitly including text from the RCW, this amendment lifts up shared intent to expand and prioritize treatment options needed to balance accountability and treatment as the state law intends.

And while I still have concerns about the bill tomorrow, not going to committee and I'm still making my final decisions.

Colleagues, I just wanted you to be aware of this amendment, so I'll be forwarding that in an email shortly.

From land use committee.

There is a special land use committee this week, Thursday, June 8, please be prepared for a longer committee meeting.

This will be before and this is a two session meeting much like the tree bill had its two part session for all of the amendments, the first session starts at 930am until noon.

where we will take a break and then we will pick back up at 1pm until completion.

We have eight items on the agenda, five of which are the Maritime and Industrial Zoning Package.

We also have Interim Director Rico Quirendongo's confirmation and a bill regarding changing SEPA thresholds downtown.

Regarding Maritime and Industrial Zoning changes, The five bills that are in committee will come up for a vote on amendments, and then we plan to vote the bill out of committee.

This will be a similar format to how we took amendments on the tree bill, as well as the same procedure exists today, as I shared at the beginning of April.

This is where we had an amendment deadline in committee, and we are not welcoming amendments at full council.

at a previous committee meeting.

I did ask all colleagues if there were any amendments they planned to bring that were not on the list.

I did not hear an affirmative yes or no from anyone on the committee.

So I am assuming and hoping that there are no lingering amendments out there.

The amendments will be attached to the agenda and the full list is already attached to the previous agenda.

There are a couple amendments that I have put forward that I will be pulling back.

If you have any questions about the amendments, please contact Liz Whitson prior to the committee to save as much committee time as possible.

We will also be hearing a transportation resolution that will highlight considerations we need to take into account as we plan for zoning changes occurring in these industrial zones.

We will hear it as an informational item in committee this week, and we will send it straight to full council with the rest of the industrial and maritime packages for a vote.

Colleagues, if you have concerns with this process, please do let me know, and we will do our best to attend to your concerns.

Regarding Director Kirandongo's confirmation, Colleagues, you may remember we sent around questions for acting director Kieran Dongo's confirmation appointment last August.

We have sent those again and we've worked closely together for over a year, nearly nearly two years, it feels like.

And I've gotten to see firsthand what a great fit for this role he is.

Acting Director Kirandongo has answered the questions we originally sent in August 2022. Thank you, Council Member Morales, for sending some additional questions along.

These questions and Acting Director Kirandongo's responses will be attached to the to the agenda.

We will probably keep this week's meeting light in regards to his confirmation.

He will be coming back to committee for final confirmation at the following meeting on June 14th.

And that's where we'll be taking a vote.

We have a packed agenda this week so I want to have colleagues your ability to hear this item twice, and please understand this week is quite packed.

The final bill that we will be hearing this week is the SIPA thresholds changes for downtown.

We are having a briefing and discussion on adjusting the thresholds for environmental review on development in downtown Seattle under the State Environmental Policy Act, SEPA.

The proposal would exempt residential buildings with up to 200 units and buildings up to 30,000 square feet of non-residential space from environmental review based on new provisions in the Washington Administrative Code.

This has been the case in the past, whereas under the major updates to the comp plan, when we have not met the growth that is anticipated within these plans, SEPA is exempt on projects such as this.

Once we hit the anticipated growth, then SEPA is put in place on any future projects.

So because downtown has met its growth targets, the thresholds for SEPA are if a building has 20 residential units or 12,000 square feet of non-residential space, they have to go through SEPA, which adds time and cost.

The proposed new thresholds are needed because downtown exceeded the anticipated levels of growth.

that were estimated under the most recent comprehensive plan.

This simply allows us to revert to the comprehensive as if we did not meet the growth targets because we know that our city is growing faster than anticipated.

Before downtown exceeded that level of growth, projects with 250 residential units or 30,000 square feet of non-residential space were exempted from review under SEPA.

This legislation, after being heard in committee this week, will come back to the Land Use Committee on June 14th for a public hearing.

I will ask to suspend the rules to a vote on the bill in the same committee because this is important to helping revive downtown.

Thank you, Council President, colleagues.

That is my report.

Colleagues, do you have any questions?

I have one, Council Member.

So you're going to have an amendment.

There's already Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-K

I will now, if there are no further questions, I will pass it to Council Member Herbold.

Welcome.

Yep, you are still on mute.

Sorry about that.

Many, many buttons to push to get back to the right screen.

Thank you so much, Council Member Strauss.

So there are no items coming from the Public Safety and Human Services Committee on tomorrow's full council agenda.

The Public Safety and Human Services Committee is not meeting this week.

The next meeting will be Tuesday, June 13th.

One of the items on the June 13th agenda will be a possible vote on the wage equity for human services workers resolution.

Council Central staff did circulate the introduced version last week and any amendments are due on June 6th.

There are other items on that committee agenda as well.

I'm just lifting up this particular item for purposes of discussion.

being informative and helpful as far as the deadline for the amendment process.

Again, staff is seeking any amendments by June 6, tomorrow.

On issue area updates, as I think we all know, late last month, the city attorney announced the office would no longer participate in community court, effectively marking the end of that program.

I have asked Deputy City Attorney Lindsey about their plan to expand free trial diversion, quote, for particularly those defendants who are able to meaningfully engage with service providers and or are able to perform community service.

these eligible defendants will not have charges filed if they meaningfully engage with designated service providers.

So that is the framework as they have described it for the new pretrial diversion program.

Again, I've asked for more information about that new approach that they are planning to roll out.

And in particular, I've asked what offenses will be eligible and whether or not certain prior convictions in charges will make some people ineligible for pretrial diversion.

I have not yet received any additional information in response.

More items in the public safety realm for updates on Friday morning.

I and Councilmember Strauss joined members of the regional peacekeepers collective for wear orange day.

presented the Council and Mayor's Proclamation for Gun Violence Awareness Day and Public Health and a lot of other folks were on hand to give out free lock boxes for storing firearms at home.

We highlighted the work of essential partners who are on the ground working to disrupt violence and helping those most impacted every day.

On a related note the location where we were doing the lockbox giveaway.

There's a strong nexus for some of the community violence that we've been seeing around Garfield High School, both shootings and threats of violence.

SPD has been working very closely with the Seattle School District to identify and address ongoing disputes.

And SPD has begun a patrol emphasis in the area.

It's not ideal that we rely on increasing police presence near the public schools to deter and address violence.

I can tell you that there are also violence disruptors and safe passageways, staff associated with the Seattle Community Safety Initiative that are also working in collaboration with SPD to make the young people safer in both going to and from school, but also in strategizing around hotspot remediation.

But again, this points to, once again, why it's so important to develop our public safety network via the Human Services Department's Safe and Thriving Communities Initiative, as well as implementing the Council's funding for behavioral health resources in school and robust community-based violence prevention strategies.

One more note in the public safety area of updates.

Let us know that we are in CPR Awareness Week, and if you receive CPR training, you will be increasing a cardiac patient's chance of becoming a long-term survivor by more than double.

If you as a trained person come on the scene to administer prompt CPR while emergency aid is on the way.

On the regional committee updates, King County RHA and fellow members of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority to approve the authority's five-year plan last week.

That five-year plan calls for a focus on bringing sheltered people inside.

There were another, a number of additions and edits to the plan that were incorporated thanks to the work of council central staff, as well as Christina Cosubas in my office working to State very clearly that the region cannot afford to lose any existing capacity in temporary housing of any sort that that language was intended to address concerns around reduced commitments to tiny house villages included.

consideration of recovery housing as a potentially needed tool in our continuum, and also ensure that new versions of the plan were posted publicly well ahead of our votes to just make sure that stakeholders had a chance to review it in advance.

I also in the meeting last week that we voted on the five-year plan, I took that opportunity to urge the authority to focus its efforts on strengthening its fundamentals before taking a planned system-wide rebuild of all of its, a rebid of all of its provider contracts.

We know that there is a plan at RHA to rebid provider contracts, but there isn't a need to do so immediately while we know that our providers are reporting delays in getting their existing contracts with RHA executed.

So, again, A system wide rebuild by design introduced significant uncertainty for providers at the time when we should really be making it quicker and easier for them to provide additional services.

And then last week, I also participated in the Domestic Violence Prevention Council meeting, of which I am a co-chair, and shared with the council our information on Gun Violence Awareness Day, as well as planned events for Pride Month.

And all the members received things on the Human Services Department's Gender-Based Violence Awards.

and also we heard about Municipal Court on School, a class for people engaged in commercial purchase of sex.

Coming up this week on the regional committee front, I'll be joining the Policy Coordinating Group for LEAD.

Again, members are representatives of the multiple jurisdictions and departments who have signed on to the Memorandum of Understanding, establishing LEAD back into 2010. That includes everyone from the King County Executive, King County Council, the Mayor's Office, Seattle Attorney's Office, the King County Prosecutor's Office, Police Department, and the King County Sheriff's Office.

And then other highlighted events coming up this week, I just want to share with folks that I will be attending Habitat for Humanity's Beyond the Build Luncheon this week, as well as meeting with Southwest Precinct Captain Rivera and Inspector General Lisa Judge.

And before I just close out, I do want to thank the Human Services Department's involvement and engagement at the Refuse to Use refused to abuse 5K, a benefit for the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence this week.

All of the teams together participating in this 5K raised over $70,000 to improve how communities respond to domestic violence.

and really appreciate HSD's leadership in supporting this work, as well as inviting me to participate in the 5K.

It was a great, great way to start our Sunday.

Thank you, and that's all I have.

If nobody has questions or comments, I will ask it on Council Member Lewis.

I have a question for you.

It's like waving my hand.

And I didn't I didn't run the five K.

I walked it.

Yeah, OK.

I did see the pictures.

You look great in that orange dress.

So let me I got a few just a few questions about and I know we're going to have some more discussion, but these are just specific questions on the community court and city attorney Davidson's decision.

And I think it was May 26th when we got the announcement that it would be discontinued.

by June 12th.

And thank you for following up with a deputy Lindsey about kind of the timeline, the timeframe, what we're looking at.

So is it fair to say then, or will you be asking them or someone from the city attorneys to come to your public safety committee to brief the council about how we're going to fill that gap?

What pre-trial diversion will look like?

I'm anticipating, but is that something that you're thinking of doing Council Member Herbold?

Before we had learned that the city attorney was terminating the agreement with municipal court for community court, we had already begun to calendar on my committee agenda a briefing to council members on the pretrial diversion funding that the council provided to expand the existing, the Choose 180 program, which is for folks under 25, council provided funding to expand it for those over.

So we were already planning to have this conversation, but I don't, it would be, I think, very naive and unrealistic to expect the program that we provided some funding for will be able to handle the capacity associated with the end of community court.

But all of that said, there's a plan to talk about pretrial diversion in committee, and we're gonna have to broaden the conversation that we already planned to the, okay, well, what else?

What else are we going to do for this population?

And Catherine, thank you, because I know that this is during budget and other discussions on pretrial diversion and community court in the funding and what we've been doing.

So thank you for that, because we kind of had it.

at least for me anyway, a short timeline between the announcement and then when it would would end June 12th.

So I am going to be meeting with and speaking to presiding Seattle Municipal Court Judge Faye Chess because I want to get some of the judges perspective.

in municipal court about not just, you know, like you were saying, broaden the discussion on pretrial diversion.

And if you're going to take out community for what that's what that means.

So that was my question there.

So thank you for answering that.

And I look forward to your to your council, to your committee meeting so I can hear what the here or see and ask questions about what we are going to do about that.

All right.

I see Councilor Lewis has his hand up for you.

Thank you so much, Council President.

A related inquiry for Council Member Herbold related to the community court announcement that I think hit all of us as a surprise when the end of that program was announced on a Friday afternoon before a three-day weekend.

I do think it would be appropriate to have a broader inquiry in the Public Safety Committee if Chair Herbold is anticipating making more time, not just about potential successor programs, but also just to put on the record some of the assumptions and conclusions of the city attorney's office that led to their decision to pull out, and candidly, an opportunity for the court to share their impression of how some of those decisions have been characterized publicly by the city attorney's office.

Just really briefly, my understanding, but I think a committee hearing would be a better place to air this out.

And I will be sending significant remarks and requests for questions on my own end at the city attorney's office in this respect as well.

But my understanding is that the fundamental purpose being quoted is an allegation of a 77% failure rate for participants in community court.

It's been a misleading statistic.

because it counts failure to appear at intake as a failure of the program.

Failure to appear for a court summons is something that would attach to any program in the municipal court.

It's not a unique challenge for the community court.

So to attribute failure to appear in the data is misleading.

Judge Shadid, who presides over the court, has cited that for 75% of the people who enter the program, they complete it.

And 80% of the people who are successful go on to not commit any additional criminal legal system referrals.

Those statistics would seem to indicate that that was a successful program.

It's concerning to me that the decision to pull out and disrupt that program has been made without a well thought out plan on what replaces it, at least in terms of the information that's been promulgated.

I say that knowing that we may get a reply to your inquiries, Chair Herbold from the City Attorney's Office that indicates that their pre file diversion concept is further along than maybe what has been publicly made available at this time.

But at this time it does not appear that programmatically there's something in place to take that inflow of caseload.

And that is something that has big considerations for the economy of the court and the flow of the city's criminal legal system.

So I do think it would be appropriate not just to be requesting those answers from the city attorney's office in a hearing, but to also carve out space where the municipal court and Judge Shadid has an opportunity to come to present on community courts and the metrics of that program, which I believe he has presented on in the past, and which I know he has made himself available to pitch me on on numerous occasions as well.

And I just wanted to add that on to Council President's very prescient questions on this topic.

So thank you so much.

I appreciate that.

Nothing further to add, but we'll definitely be circling around with folks who are interested in planning that committee discussion.

Thanks.

All right, Council Member Ellis.

I think Council Member Lewis is next.

I forgot, it's you, Council Member Lewis.

Thank you so much, Madam President.

Okay.

God, I guess I could have just kept the mic after my question, huh?

All right.

Good afternoon, colleagues.

So in committee this week, we will have two presentations.

Council Bill 120590, an ordinance relating to waterfront park operations.

And we will have a briefing on the return of Bumbershoot via the Bumbershoot Festival Agreement.

So it will be a fun committee meeting for public assets and homelessness on Wednesday.

At this time.

I don't anticipate any other agenda items, but of course we will let council members know if that changes.

There is no clean city data for this week, but hopefully by our next council briefing we will have double data so I will be able to fill in the blank spot from this afternoon.

Also report that I'm glad to see that Seattle's park system ranked number eight in the public land trust rankings of city park systems in the United States.

This represents an improvement from number nine last year, and we expect to see that rating continue to rise given the investments in the Metropolitan Park District.

Our lagging category is amenities, and as colleagues will remember, we definitely put a significant investment into amenities that are in the pipeline.

So I really look forward to seeing how that reflects in our public land trust ranking in future years.

But for now a huge congratulations to our team at Seattle Parks and Recreation for going from number nine to number eight and hopefully more good news on the horizon.

Seattle Public Library.

Celebrate Pride Month with the Seattle Public Library where everyone belongs.

Enjoy a pride dance party.

visit the library at Pride Fest or wave at the Seattle Public Library in the Seattle Pride Parade.

Find some new to you LGBTQ plus films, novels, and poets in the collection of the Seattle Public Library to check out.

And the library works with local organizations and community members to offer programming for Seattle's many diverse communities, including LGBTQ plus patrons and allies, and to offer resources and build knowledge.

You can find events and resources related to Seattle Public Library and their programming at Pride at www.spl.org slash pride.

The old lights at the soccer and ball field at the interbay playfield are being replaced with new LED luminaries and this project is being completed with no interruptions to game.

So just flagging that for particularly for our friends at Ballard FC that the interbay playfield lights are being replaced and we are looking forward to that infrastructure improvement.

Also wanted to give a shout out to constituents in Magnolia and beyond regarding Munger Pool opening dates.

Munger Pool is going to open on June 10th and Seattle Parks and Recreation staff are currently cleaning and repainting the pool and facilities to prepare for that date.

So wait until June 24th and you will be able to once again enjoy one of our marquee aquatics facilities at Munger Pool in Magnolia.

The Terminal 91 bike path is closed today until June 9th for Port of Seattle improvements.

And just that's my final update here for constituents who might be watching briefing.

And if there's any other questions or concerns about anything in advance of this week's committee meeting, colleagues do please let me know.

I appreciate your consideration and I will turn it back over to well first questions.

Not seeing any.

I will turn it over to Councilmember Morales.

Thank you very much Councilmember Lewis Good afternoon colleagues.

There are no items from the neighborhoods education civil rights and arts committee on this week's full agenda, and our meeting that was scheduled for June 9 is canceled.

Our next meeting will be June 23 at 930. I got a short update this week.

Last week, I was joined in my office here by the fifth grade class, a fifth grade class from Maple Elementary.

I went to visit them last year and they decided they wanted to come visit us.

So I want to thank Imani Carey and Evelyn Chow on my staff for organizing a tour of the entire legislative department.

They got to meet some central staffers.

They got to meet the clerks.

I also want to thank Anne Frontilla and Janet Pallotta who took time to show the students the city archives.

They saw the first book with Seattle city ordinances that were handwritten as part of the public record.

They saw several letters from children of Maple Elementary from the 70s writing to then Mayor Ullman.

Asking him to address air quality and street safety for them on their way to school.

So that was very interesting.

I was also honored to join Mayor Harrell and the LGBTQ Commission for the annual Pride Flag Raising Ceremony down on the plaza last week, and really, really always honored to be in space with members of the LGBTQ community, and to remind all of us that there were Over 500 pieces of legislation have been introduced this year across the country advocating for discrimination and hate against the community.

So we might think we are safe here in Seattle, but we know that there are still folks who are being targeted here in our community, including in my own neighborhood.

A couple weeks ago, there was a series of beatings in my just a few blocks from where I live.

And so there is an investigation underway but want everybody to be aware and to acknowledge that there is a lot of work to do still even here in Seattle to make sure that people are not discriminated against and that their legal rights are protected.

I also attended the 1% for art celebration at King Street station last week to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the program.

I think it was first in the nation.

When it started and obviously an important program to support our local artists and to support the art sector in the city.

This weekend, as many of you did, I'm sure, I attended one of the lockbox, gun lockbox giveaway events.

I joined the Southeast Safety Network, Moms Demand Action, and others to give away 100 gun lockboxes at the Rainier Beach Safeway.

Since late 2020, Southeast Safety Network has been activating the parking lot there at that Safeway and been working with King County Council, excuse me, King County Council Member Zahalai, in the community members and Safeway to really make sure that that corner is activated.

And they've been attending Friday afternoons and evenings since then, really making sure that there are kind of eyes on the street and that there are peacemaking circles and opportunity for young people to come and gather.

safely.

It's really led to a dramatic reduction in crime and gun violence in the area and is a good example of the kind of community solutions that can provide effective responses to increase safety.

So I want to thank Marty Jackson, Raquel Jones and others who are there every week, making sure that our young people are safe.

I also attended a peace coalition meeting at New Holly gathering hall to hear from parents, I was joined by state senator so Dania and county council member Sahalai parents in the neighborhood are really eager for more support for their children.

They talked a lot about particularly young people with special needs who need more support in their school system, and also accessing things like speech therapy, ABA therapy, as well as after school programs, late night teen programs at our city community centers.

And although folks are very I'm glad to have the extra support that we provided for mental health, through the FEPP levy and other funding last year.

frequently, regularly hearing now from families who want to see an extended commitment to mental health supports and actually to see it doubled.

So there's a lot of interest in making sure that our young people have the resources that they need in order to deal with the anxiety, increased anxiety and depression that we know our young people are experiencing.

And this is obviously something that we need to work with the school district and with King County Public Health on, but folks are definitely interested in a sustained effort at supporting them in that way.

That is all I have, colleagues.

If there are no questions, I'm not seeing any.

I will hand it over to Council Member Nelson.

I'm sorry.

We all seem to have forgotten the alphabet.

Thank you very much, Council Member Morales, and welcome back to our Council President.

Colleagues, this has been an exciting week for the housing levy.

We have spent the last three months and honestly, you know, the year plus in advance of that with the Community Technical Advisory Committee getting prepared for this very week for our Select Housing Levy Committee to be able to take a vote on the 2023 housing levy legislation.

Last Wednesday, we had the select committee on the 2023 housing levy, where we had a briefing and discussion on the legislation to renew the levy, which affirms the mayor's proposal to invest $970 million over the next seven years into creating new deeply affordable and permanent supportive housing, expanding our home ownership investments, especially for our communities at most of risk of displacement, and stabilizing our permanent supportive housing workforce.

It also invests in homelessness prevention.

And I want to thank all of you and the mayor's office for the work that we've done in partnership with community to make sure that we brought forward a handful of amendments to enhance our focus on serving communities most impacted by our homelessness crisis, our housing crisis, and the displacement crisis that our region is facing.

On Wednesday afternoon this week, we will, excuse me, on Wednesday afternoon last week, we were joined by affordable housing advocates for a press conference to really make sure that the community at large knows about the work that went into crafting the 2023 housing levy legislation that is in front of us this Wednesday.

This included speakers from the Housing Development Consortium, Habitat for Humanity, DESC, Plymouth Housing, Africatown Community Land Trust, and so many more.

It included partners from labor, including MLK Labor, SEIU 1199, Seattle Building Trades, Labor's 242, Carpenters, and IBW 46. And the audience, or the group, was packed with community members from Cheap Seattle Club, El Centro de la Raza, Filipino Community of Seattle, and as I mentioned, Africatown Community Land Trust, and more.

All of this can be found on Seattle Channel.

Thank you for being there and was covered well by the press who were present as well.

And we were able to lift up how this council, the mayor's office, and community at large have created a collective package that invests not just in housing units, but also in the stability and well-being of our neighbors, workers, and communities who make up the fabric of our city.

Wednesday evening there was a public hearing on the 2023 housing levy renewal legislation.

Again we heard overwhelming support for this legislation as proposed and I'm going to tell you of the three months that we've had this legislation in front of us there's only been one person who called in with concerns and that was last Wednesday.

Unfortunately that one person got some air time but it's been overwhelming support for the housing levy so thank you to everybody who's been able to work with us on this collective proposal.

This week on Wednesday, it'll be June 7th at 9.30 AM.

Of course, we will start with public comment again.

This will include a briefing and discussion we've already had on the chair's proposed modifications to the housing levy renewal legislation.

This was the substitute bill that we introduced.

Working in partnership with my colleagues, we will have two amendments for your consideration, both of which I consider friendly amendments, and we'll be encouraging a yes vote along with the sponsors of the amendments.

I want to thank Councilmembers Morales and Councilmember Nelson, who were working with our office and central staff on the amendments.

And Councilmember Morales and Councilmember Herbold worked jointly on the friendly amendment to Councilmember Herbold's amendment.

So friendly amendments across the board.

These two amendments will be considered on Wednesday prior to our final consideration of the substitute legislation.

And those materials were sent to you.

They were also published last week on Friday.

So everyone has access to the substitute bill which is the housing levy legislation as introduced by the chair.

The two amendments that are going to be considered on Wednesday morning and we will again take a vote on that on Wednesday with the hope to bring it to full council on June 13th.

This is a select, excuse me, a special committee so that means that it has everybody from council on it and I appreciate that you've all been actively engaged over the course of the last three months.

Don't anticipate any concerns or surprises next Tuesday when we do final passage on the 13th.

And again, strongly credit all of you for your collaborative work with us and the community to bring forward those amendments for a really smooth process.

So thank you very much.

And of course, if it gets out, it's up to the voters ultimately on the November ballot.

Uh, for the calendar we have on Wednesday, I'm going to be joining a local progress call with the Robert Wood Johnson foundation to discuss housing issues with the folks at the national level on Wednesday.

I'm going to be speaking about democracy vouchers, wearing our city hat.

This is.

A huge opportunity we've had over the last 6 years to talk about democracy vouchers, and this will be the national convening on democracy reform held in our city.

And what a great way to feature Seattle's democracy vouchers and honest elections program and the impact it's had on.

creating opportunities for more people to participate in our local electoral process.

On Thursday, I'll be attending the Habitat for Humanity luncheon.

With that, I think that that rounds out our week.

I will note that I am still concerned about the vote that's scheduled for tomorrow.

I know that many folks have had the chance to ask questions and to try to dig into this a little bit more, but I do think that this does require a much more detailed conversation in committee.

I don't think this is a nothing burger.

I think it's clear that there's serious policy impacts.

And if not policy impacts, I think that the concern from the fiscal impact analysis has not been fully presented.

We have spent the last four years trying to decrease our contractual obligations to pay for beds at King County.

Reducing who gets jailed is not just a county issue.

When the city has purview over who gets arrested and who gets prosecuted, those individuals end up at the county jail.

And if we are going to be sending out legislation at the city level to arrest people and prosecute people for simple possession without really analyzing what city resources are needed, redirecting our city officers and using city time, we need to spend ample time at the city to understand the implications of this legislation.

So I get the state legislature had to act.

They had to.

We do not at the city have to act.

The city does not have to implement what the state has passed.

It's already in statute.

And to the degree that we need to have conversations with the county prosecutor about their resources or our priorities across this region, we should, of course, do that.

But I think absent any conversation about the policy implications and the fiscal impact on our city, it would be really not appropriate to move forward on this legislation.

I would much rather have a conversation in committee to talk about the impact of our community who is dealing with the public health crisis and the illness of addiction and make sure that we're not sending mixed messages to our officers.

So I look forward to having the discussion.

I understand the council president has requested us to defer our science based and research questions to tomorrow.

I will be doing that as well, but I think that there's real consequences for us to move forward with this policy absent a detailed discussion in a policy committee.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Councilor Mosqueda.

You know what?

I still have my Seattle Housing Levy cut from 2016. So now, if it passes, It will be over at least 42 years of affordable housing.

And in 2016, the levy passed by 70%.

So hopefully you'll get me another cup.

Love it.

Love it.

Yes.

And now we can update those cups to talk about the higher rates of production that we were able to accomplish.

Good stewards of the public dollar equals public good.

Thank you so much.

Well done.

Thank you very much.

All right.

Can we move on?

Good.

Can we go to counselor Nelson.

Yes, thank you everybody and welcome back President on tomorrow's agenda I'm prime sponsoring Council Bill 120486 which would adopt state law making the knowing possession and public use of illegal drugs, a gross misdemeanor into the Seattle Municipal Code.

The next meeting of the Economic Development Technology and City Light Committee will be on June 14th and will consider a bill to authorize City Light to consider moving electrical distribution facilities in the First Hill neighborhood underground.

And there will be additional items TBD.

Past meetings.

Last week I met with Beth Knox, President and CEO of the Seattle Sports Commission, to talk about the economic development opportunities surrounding the upcoming All-Star Games festivities.

And I'm really looking forward to Ken Griffey Jr.' 's HBCU Swingman Classic.

an annual all-star experience for baseball student-athletes from Division I programs at historically Black colleges and universities.

And side note to parents, there are $10 tickets available for children.

I also attended the Puget Sound Regional Puget Sound Regional Council's 2023 General Assembly, which is a gathering of the elected from all member jurisdictions.

It's an annual event but hasn't been held in person since before the pandemic so that was that was.

that was fun to see people in person.

Mayor Harrell welcomed attendees and one of the highlights for me was PSRC Board President and King County Council Member Claudia Balducci passing the baton to current PSRC Vice President Poulsbo Mayor Becky Erickson to be the new president after a vote of the body.

Moving on to meetings this week, I met with, this morning, Mike Stewart and members of the Ballard Alliance, and we discussed renewal of their business improvement area, which is set to expire at the end of this year.

My chief of staff, Jeremy Moan, will be attending a webinar called Prove It, Proving the Cultural and Economic Value of Your Nighttime Economy.

As as nightlife falls under my purview as economic development chair, I've been strategizing all year on ways in which we can better support our nightlife community, particularly when it comes to public safety.

And on that note, I'm pleased to announce that backed by popular demand, SPD is restarting their joint enforcement team trainings for nightlife business owners and security guards on how to lawfully handle public safety threats and the first trainings will begin this month.

Jet also works with nightlife establishments on permitting issues and conduct safety inspections.

So I just want to thank SPD for all your work to bring back this important program.

And then finally, the last thing I'll mention is this Saturday, June 10th, I'll be attending the inaugural Pioneer Square Summer Market in Occidental Square Park, which lasts from 11 a.m.

to 6 p.m.

And the market features up to 40 vendors offering handmade crafts, delicious food, and unique gifts.

So this is not a traditional farmer's market, but it is a great opportunity to support your local businesses And the festival also has a really great lineup of live music with a diverse range of talented musicians that will be taking the stage all day.

And they range from AG Joints and Cherry Ferrari to Beverly Crusher and Reposado.

So check that out.

It is also featured on the city website and I can get anybody that information if they want to know more from me.

That's it for me.

Are there any questions?

Yes, Council Member Nelson, to be fair, Councilor Mosqueda spent a couple of minutes discussing her position.

I know I said we were not going to turn this to a committee hearing, but to be fair, if there is anything you wanted to add about the council bill that you are co-sponsoring tomorrow, if you wanted to spend a minute to say anything as well, I want to give you that opportunity.

I appreciate that, Council President, but I will honor the tradition and the protocol of council briefings and not engage in a policy discussion.

I think that Council Member Peterson and I as co-sponsors addressed that, and we will have the policy discussion tomorrow, but thank you for that opportunity.

Thank you.

Where was that addressed?

Pardon me?

Where was that addressed, Council President?

When you discussed.

No, I addressed it.

I know I'm asking the sponsor when she thinks that there was a public conversation that address any aspect of this bill publicly.

No, she said she will address it tomorrow.

OK, I'll hold off then.

All right.

Just want to be fair.

So we're all moving forward, all on the same page.

OK, with that, I think it's my turn, right?

Yes, it is.

All right.

So, There are no items from the Governance, Native Communities and Tribal Governments Committee on tomorrow's council agenda.

However, our next meeting will be Thursday, June 15th at 930. Let's see.

Now, I have been out of town.

And I want to thank all of you for covering for me, including my office.

They've been great.

And my colleagues, thank you for stepping in and sharing meetings when I couldn't be here.

So even though I was gone, my office was open.

Our office was open and operating.

In my absence, our staff met with HSD, Human Services Department, and the Regional Homeless Authority, and Lehigh Low Income Housing Institute regarding encampments, RV encampments, in tiny house villages in D5, our new district director, Leila Geysar, also met with constituents and encampment about with constituents regarding encampment concerns, as well as a potential tiny house village in D5 off of Lake City Way.

Our staff also met with the South Sound Transit CEO and board leadership as part of the North King County sub area.

Murphy Bush also attended a tour of the Linwood link line.

Thank you, Murphy Murphy's my point person and policy person on sound transit, working with Elliot in the mayor's office, and how Seattle represents.

on the Sound Transit Board.

Our staff also attended the oral argument hearing in the U.S.

District Court on a joint motion made by the city of Seattle and the federal government to approve an agreement finding partial sustained compliance with the 2012 consent decree.

Judge Robar's court is now in recess while the motion remains under consideration.

I'm sure some of you already read the opinion in the comments that were made.

And I want to thank Sarah Mase from my office who is my lead policy person, not only with the consent decree issues and CPC, but also the LRPC and anything public safety related.

So thank you, Sarah, for attending the court hearings on my behalf.

Finally, our office has been working with the North Haven Senior Housing in the Northgate neighborhood.

And we have learned that a major private investor will be making an announcement this week or the week of June 15 of a significant contribution to the expansion of affordable housing for low income seniors at Northgate.

This is something that we have been working with Bill Dorn, a good friend of D5 in the city of Seattle.

up in North Haven, which is the elders, those elders for who are low income and who are most of them are on Medicaid.

And so we actually worked when council member I forgot Council member Johnson, but we did up zones for five years ago I can't remember.

We worked hard to up so in that area, and anticipation that we could build and work with North Haven.

It finally is going to happen.

So we are very exciting that we will have more affordable housing for our elders, and it's been a long time coming.

So, just goes to show if you stay at it long enough and bother people enough things happen.

That's going to happen.

I'm very happy about that.

Anyway, this week I will be meeting with the Children's Home Society.

They're good friends of ours.

We've been working with them since the day I got elected on all kinds of issues.

And they are situated in D5.

And we and I want to thank this council and the budget chair because you did vote to fund and do some partial funding for them.

Our office will also be meeting with the Lake City Neighborhood Alliance and the Parks Department regarding the new Lake City Community Center, which is going to be built.

And I should add that, again, this is another issue that we've been working on since 2015-2016.

I believe we will be the first district to have our new community center built with affordable housing and social services also in the building above it and next to it.

We've been working on this for a long time.

And as you all know, all these capital projects are put on hold because of COVID.

But now we know that we will get back to moving some dirt and building a new community center and providing affordable housing and social services in a hub that is dense with social services.

That's where our library is.

Our pre-K is there.

Our food bank is there.

So I'm real excited about this.

This is for me, something that I will be very proud of when I leave that I can look back and point at and say, I helped do that.

So thank you to everyone in D5.

particularly the parks department, both directors who've been working with us and of course all the mayors that I have gone through to raise the money over 40 million to finally get this done.

Next, we will be attending a meeting with Captain Lori Agard, the new captain of the North Precinct, as well as the North Precinct Advisory Council.

We pretty much attend their meetings.

We have been doing that for years and making sure that we're not only talking to the North Precinct, but we have an idea of what's going on within community and also in call times.

And I also still have my meetings with the chief as well to look at the, if you've noticed, we have like a dashboard that tells us where the shootings are, what neighborhoods are being impacted the most, and all those kind of issues.

And also focusing on gun violence and what we can do.

In addition, our office will be meeting with King County regarding plans for the downtown civic campus.

I don't know if you all know this, but King County is working with Sound Transit on plans to locate a major light rail hub.

closer to downtown to relieve construction impacts on our neighbors in Chinatown ID, the international district.

And this, again, is another exciting project.

And I'm honored that I was invited to be part of this with my chief of staff, Randell Swift.

and working with Dow Constantine, the executive, and how we can use this civic campus as an alternative for light rail so we don't disrupt Chinatown and the ID.

So I'm very happy about that because that was a long time in the making, and it's going to happen.

So I'm just happy.

So are there any questions from my colleagues before we conclude and then I read the executive session script?

OK, I do not see any questions, so that will let me go ahead and bring us into executive session and then we will go from there.

So if there is no further business, we had three matters on the executive session.

And as presiding officer, I'm announcing that the Seattle City Council will now convene into executive session.

Purpose of the executive session is to discuss pending potential or actual litigation.

The council's executive session is an opportunity for council to discuss confidential legal matters with the city attorney's office as authorized by state law.

The legal monitor, as always, is always present to ensure that council reserves questions of policy for open session.

I expect the time of the executive session to last one hour.

So one hour from now is probably going to be four fifteen and I'll have Madam Clerk give me a time period announcement.

So we will stay within hopefully that one hour.

If the executive session is to be extended beyond that time, I will announce the extension and expect a duration at the conclusion of the executive session.

This council briefing meeting will automatically be adjourned.

The next regularly scheduled Council briefing meeting is on June 19 at two o'clock.

And with that, the Seattle City Council is now in the executive session.

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