All right, good afternoon.
If I had the gavel, I'd bang it right now.
Today is July 22nd, 2024. The council briefing meeting will come to order.
The time is old-fashioned 2.02 p.m.
I am council member Rob Sacca, serving as council president pro tem.
I will note that council member Morales and council president Nelson are excused today.
Will the clerk please call the roll?
Council Member Moore.
Present.
Council Member Rivera.
Council Member Strauss.
Present.
Council Member Wu.
Present.
Council Member Hollingsworth.
Here.
Council Member Kettle.
Here.
Council Member Rivera.
Present.
Council President Pro Tem Saka.
Here.
Seven council members are present.
Colleagues, if there is no objection, the minutes of July 15, 2024 will be adopted.
Hearing no objection, the minutes are hereby adopted.
All right.
No president's report.
No signing.
There are no proclamations or letters for signature today.
So...
We will now begin with our next discussion of the preview of city council actions, council and regional committees, and other order of discussion items.
And this is established by the rotating roll call for city council meetings, which is designated alphabetically by last name and with the council president pro tem called last.
Yours truly, this week's roll call rotation begins with Council Member Moore.
Council Member Moore, please begin and then hand it over to Council Member Rivera.
Thank you, Council Chair Pro Tem.
So let's see, very short amount of information today.
Let's see, there are no items on the agenda tomorrow from Housing Human Services.
The next meeting is this Wednesday.
It is a very light agenda.
The only item is the Office of Housing is presenting their 2023 annual reports.
They should have been circulated to everybody on the 27th.
So if you haven't gotten them, let me know.
For regional committees tomorrow, I will be representing the governing committee for the Regional Homelessness Authority, the convening to have a, bringing all of the electeds together to have a discussion about what does KCRHA look like?
What does a regional approach look like?
So I'll be sure to keep all of you posted on those conversations and anything that comes forth from those conversations.
I hope that they're productive.
And then lastly, in the district, I would just say that those last two weeks and last week have just been incredibly tough.
We have had basically a shooting every night.
Some people have been wounded, just an increased gang activity, pimp activity, street prostitution.
It is really a crisis in North Seattle and in Aurora.
Fortunately, I've been in touch with the mayor's office and they've been very receptive.
We were able to get some eco blocks in where there was a lot of gunfire activity, which has helped.
in that particular area, but now it's spread to other areas.
So it is just something that is going to need a very intensive, multi-pronged approach, and If you have any suggestions, I'm happy to hear them, but we really are in a public safety crisis in North Seattle and doing my best to try to work with everybody to find some sort of solution.
Thank you.
And with that, I'll turn it over to Council Member- Can I just say quickly, really appreciate the updates.
Obviously, well aware of what's going on in North Seattle.
We'll be working within the committee structure, but I have my meetings with Chief Orr, which will happen this week, And we'll discuss that as well and talk through the things that are going and can be taken up as well.
So it's really important to have that kind of comprehensive approach.
So it's really good.
Most important, though, is that we as a council really need to highlight the challenges that we're facing and like the prostitution on Aurora, which is not limited to Aurora.
It's happening in Belltown and some other places as well.
So thank you for that update.
Thank you.
So last week, I was pleased to be a panelist on the Seattle Metro Chambers Education Panel on Tuesday.
I was invited as chair of the committee that contains the Department of Education and Early Learning.
I was there with Seattle School Board President Liza Rankin and representatives from the Children's Alliance and Western Governors University.
panelists answered questions about policy decisions impacting education, including funding, curriculum, safety, and workforce preparedness.
We touched upon the recent investments by the city on mental health at SPS, and then also talked a little bit about and the schools, and also the $2 million proposal that the mayor put toward gun violence prevention at SPS.
I also last week met with Councilwoman Jhajapal, whom I worked with several years ago, actually, when I was working at the ACLU and doing Know Your Rights Education in Middle Eastern communities, and the Congresswoman was doing Hate Free Zone.
She helped found that organization.
So it was nice to see her again.
We had a good conversation about what the needs of the D4 were specifically and across the city from what I've heard about constituents.
look forward to a partnership.
This week, earlier today, I had a first of my series of regular monthly check-ins with Chief Arar.
You know, we talked about challenges at Magnuson Park and we talked about a shooting that occurred last week actually at Magnuson Park.
Again, that's not something I hear about often.
So as of serious concern, Council Member Moore, I echo your sentiments on what's happening in North Seattle and particularly for our district, some challenges that are happening at Magnuson Park.
I was happy that last week, you know, the drag racing piece moved forward.
And I know that's been a challenge at Sandpoint, which is right by Magnuson Park in front of the park.
So I continue to have concerns about the public safety situation, not just at Magnuson Park, but across the district and across the city.
So look forward to the continuing partnership with all of you and the mayor's office to address this.
This week as well.
I'm chairing the committee that I chair the library's education and neighborhoods Committee on Thursday.
We'll have a presentation from the Department of Neighborhoods on the Chinatown International District community capacity building project and also on the pea patch gardening program which I know is a beloved program by many Seattleites across the city and The CID project, which culminated a 10-year strategic plan, is close to implementation, and I'm looking forward to hearing updates from Don as to that particular project as well.
So I welcome anyone who wants to attend that meeting to hear about that project in particular or anything on the LEND committee.
And then lastly, my office is having a mid-year retreat, temp team retreat this year to check in at the mid-year to talk about goals for the office and how we can best serve our constituents.
It's really important to meet with staff and make sure that we're constantly keeping constituents' eye on the prize for the constituent services and how we're helping them constituents across the district and so we're gonna have that retreat to follow up on the goals that we talked about in January see how we are and then making sure that we're taking into account anything that has transpired between now and then if we need to pivot on some of those goals but always keeping constituents at the forefront because we're clear that we're here to serve the constituents so that is what I have this week there any questions happy to answer them and And if not, then I will turn this over to Council Member Strauss.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone.
We finally took the reigning champions for longest committee meeting.
I believe Parks almost had it for about a week, and Public Safety had it there for a good long stretch, and the Finance, Native Communities, and Tribal Governments Committee has finally taken the prize.
You blew us out of the water.
We have taken the prize.
I will say that we did stay to the 1230 deadline in which I had asked, said that we weren't going to go past the 1230. We stuck to that.
Thank you, colleagues, for your patience as we got through that meeting.
We're going to do it again.
And so we've got the select budget committee coming up on August 7th.
And in the select budget committee, we are going to be taking up the majority of the same body of work that we had in FNC last week, plus the economic revenue forecast.
and so again i will be asking that for folks to not schedule before 12 30 because we might run long hopefully if everyone has their briefings completed before the meeting and it still allows for everyone an opportunity to get your um Anything that you want on the public record and then having the meeting the briefing ahead of time Let's you dig into the details because there's a lot of details This is a very similar structure to how we will what we will be doing throughout the fall budget process.
So this is a good round one So just going through that agenda.
We'll have a briefing from the office of economic and revenue forecast director Yon Doris they will be providing our economic forecast.
We'll then have a briefing by Central Staff Director Ben Noble to talk about the budget process of the fall.
And this might actually go at the very end of the committee.
We'll figure it out there.
But the idea here is that we've got the most recent economic forecast, we have the mid-year supplemental, and then we're immediately transitioning already into the fall budget process by outlining what you should expect.
The three bills that make up the mid-year supplemental budget are the annual wage increase AWI adjustment ordinance that's CB 12811. We will then have the bill which is the supplemental budget and that's the mid-year supplemental budget ordinance which is CB 12812 and then the mid-year grant acceptance ordinance which is CB 12813. I did ask when this bill was transmitted that you provide central staff the awareness that you have amendments by this coming Thursday, July 25th.
Again, you don't have to have your idea fully vetted out.
It's almost probably better that you just say, hey, this is something that I'd like to do something about this and then have central staff walk you through and how to accomplish your goals.
So again, that's this Thursday by noon.
Tell central staff that you have an amendment idea so that they have the time to properly set it up for select budget committee.
I'd also love a courtesy awareness in advance as well.
But you absolutely have to tell central staff.
Again, this is a request from central staff.
This is not just from me.
It's just going to help everyone do our jobs better.
For full council this week, stemming out of that epically long FNC meeting, we have appointment 02920, Robert Howard, to be a member of the Seattle Indian Services Commission.
This will be on the consent calendar.
And then we have appointment 2897, the appointment of Jamie Carnell, As our city finance director of the Office of City Finance, in plain language, she is our comptroller.
She's been with the city for 30 years and has risen the ranks, and I can't think of a better person to be our finance director.
That's the budget stuff.
External committees, I'm attending the Seattle City Employee Retirement Systems Investment Committee on Thursday, as well as the Sound Transit Board of Directors meeting on Thursday.
In the district, I'll be joining the Fremont Neighborhood Council tonight.
And as always, I have office hours every week, virtually or in my office in District 6. There's a lot more that I could share, but I'm being conscious of our communal time together.
Any questions?
With that, over to you, Councilmember Wu.
Thank you.
So last week I met with the LGBTQI Commission to discuss housing affordability and the cost of living.
I had a tour of Ailey Camp during their open house, saw young students in various dance classes, communication and creative classes for youth empowerment.
Also toured the Duwamish Longhouse and learned about their plans to activate the surrounding buildings to provide spaces for youth.
I would also like to thank my committee members for attending two very long committee meetings last week.
So City Light will be back August 2nd for more discussion on the strategic plan, proposed rate path, and their integrated resource plan.
I'm looking forward to a very robust discussion within the committee.
Also this week, I attended the United Indian Pow Wow.
It was so much fun.
I went twice, Saturday and Sunday.
Also attended the community service officers football combine.
It was amazing to see so many young people out in the sweltering heat, just doing what they love.
I also attended the Capitol Hill block party, and I joined Council Member Saka.
Thank you so much for allowing me to march with you in the West Seattle Parade.
That was a lot of fun.
This weekend, I also spent some personal time attending events in South Seattle, mainly the Chinatown Seafair Parade.
So the Chinatown Seafair Parade is the only parade in South Seattle that I know of.
We used to have the Central District Parade, but that is no longer in place.
So during the parade, We were kind of marching down in the middle of the parade two blocks in.
All of a sudden, I saw crowds of people running up the streets.
People were grabbing their babies with one arm and then grabbing their chairs and just running.
There were reports that there were shots fired.
Someone had a gun.
And they told us all to drop down and get down.
And so officers assigned to the parade responded to 911 calls, quickly apprehended the suspect.
They were able to match descriptions provided by witnesses.
And the suspect had illegal firearms.
They booked three people into the youth service center.
They were all juveniles.
And SPD continues to investigate this incident around the parade.
heard that there were shots fired.
People reported that, but there were no rounds found.
And they think that someone might have brandished a gun that caused people to run.
But no one was hurt.
There were a couple of twisted ankles.
Someone had a seizure.
And there were a couple of bruises.
But it was really interesting.
People just threw down their food and just ran.
And It was unfortunate the event had to end early.
It was interesting to see community come together.
The drill teams, after they got down, they ran into a nearby building.
We were able to shelter in place until the investigation was cleared.
So I know a lot of people in the parade either ran or were able to go into surrounding buildings.
It was quite unfortunate.
And, you know, I understand that Lincoln Park, Stanley Sayers, Aurora, are among the places that also had gun-related incidents.
And so it was supposed to be a fun event, a community celebration, turned into a really tragic event, especially for our young people and the drill teams.
Many of them were crying, and they were scared.
And I'm really worried about the impacts, especially for Torchlight, which is coming up this Saturday, and especially for the community of the Chinatown National District.
But I want to let people know that this was an isolated incident.
This had nothing to do with the parade.
And I talked to Seattle Police Department.
They are committed to having a safe event, and they're diverting most of their resources to this event, the Torchlight, this Saturday.
This is one of SBD's largest deployments of the year, and they're encouraging everyone to come down to the event.
Seattle Police Department and Seattle Fire for months.
So there's a lot of things happening behind the scenes.
Volunteer emergency management folks are all along the route.
I got to see some of the infrastructure that was put in place behind the scenes during the Pride Parade and it's really, a big operation, so officers will be visible during the Torchlight Parade.
This parade happens during the day, it's no longer at night, and there will be a lot of things happening in the background, so really encourage people and families and people involved with drill teams to please come out and support Seafair and Torchlight Parade and all the small businesses along the way.
So, you know, as a nation, we really have to look at past reform to protect our children and uphold our values.
Also open to any ideas anyone has.
Working with our partners to strengthen our mental health service is engaged with the community.
I know many of these drill teams before the Torchlight Parade are working with their team to allow for mental health counseling, for people to talk about it.
It's unfortunate that we have active shooter drills in our schools, and now these drill teams have to come together and come up with active shooter scenarios while they're out in the parade.
But I know these conversations are being held.
And so at the grassroots level, family level, we need to cultivate resilience, solidarity.
I know I will be marching at the Torchlight Parade as a volunteer among the Seattle Chinese Community Growth Rural Team.
But on Seattle City Council, we don't have easy options to stop this violence through lawmaking alone.
We in Seattle can't change what the US Supreme Court alone, projects could take decades.
And we should, doesn't mean we should be held hostage by the gun lobby, but we must explore every legal option provided to us until we can confidently say that our children are safe.
There's not gonna be a single solution that's gonna help solve this crisis.
Action is needed on every level of government and community, and also we need to see a cultural shift, and that really has to focus on our youths because These young people that I saw that were involved were really young.
And they had really dangerous weapons, illegal firearms that are really scary.
And so I know this is happening in all our communities.
And it's a priority for city council.
And we have conversations about this daily.
And I hate to end on a sad note.
I know we're working together and looking forward to partnerships and community.
And if there are no further questions or comments, we'll pass this to Councilmember Hollingsworth.
Well, thank you.
I actually, is it okay if I make a comment?
Go ahead, Councilmember.
Go ahead.
Because this is really, we talk about this every week, but, you know, there's youth...
gun violence involving youth from end to end in this city, from the south end to the north end.
And our students and our youth are really living through a very tough time in their childhood.
And while they should be allowed to be children and teenagers, allowed to do safe knucklehead things, what I call, to do, they're having to worry about going to a parade and getting shot at, or being at a park and getting shot at, or being in school or on the school grounds and being shot at.
And, you know, this is something that All of our kids are experiencing, and I will say that last week, my daughter was at a friend's house on Queen Anne, and there was a shot that they heard.
They called the police.
And this, kids who have this experience, it's the constant PTSD.
PTSD.
that happens when something like that happens.
They don't feel safe anywhere in the city.
And that is a sin and a shame.
And it's really unacceptable.
So I wanna raise that also because we are spending so much money as we should on mental health for kids because they need it.
Because every time this happens, it really kicks up something for many of the children who've actually either been directly impacted or indirectly for just being around when it is happening.
And I just wanted to underscore that because it is something, like I said, that all the kids across the city are experiencing.
And we have to do something about this.
And you're right, Council Member Wu, We have limited things that we're able to do, but we have to come together and find and explore and brainstorm creative solutions to address this.
And Council Member Kettle, I want to, you know, I appreciate your leadership on this front.
And we need to continue to work.
And I know a lot of conversations, I had this conversation with Chief Rahr this morning.
So I know a lot of conversations are being had, not just amongst ourselves, but with SPD and also with the mayor's office.
And I appreciate all the partnership that's going into this.
And I want folks to know that all of that is happening.
And we know that even with all of that, we need to continue to do more and explore creative ways to deal with this because our kids are suffering in this city.
And I cannot even believe it.
Of all places, Seattle, but it is happening and we need to keep attention and focus and keep talking about it.
So thank you council member Wu for raising this.
And thank you council member Hollingsworth for cutting a little bit into your time there.
No worries at all.
No, it's definitely an important issue, and I appreciate you bringing that information up, Councilmember Wu, and the comments that you made, Councilmember Rivera.
It's hard to segue into, I'll pretend like I'm on the Today Show, and I'm Al Roker reading the weather after they've given information.
So, Parks Utilities Technology Meeting will be this Wednesday, July 24th at 2 p.m., Again, we will be doing a, on the agenda, we have a resolution set, which basically allows parks to seek funding for some projects at our state recreation and conservation office.
I know that some of the colleagues in the committee, you've all been reached out to, to get a briefing about those projects and just really encourage you to take that time to see what those are.
just so we can feel comfortable on moving forward with that.
And I know they haven't already met with some folks or they have something scheduled, but just wanted to throw that out there.
And then we also have on the agenda, SPU, they will be coming with an ordinance for drainage and also an ordinance for wastewater services as well.
Should be quick and easy and we'll be delighted to have director Lee, give us that information as well.
Real quick, last week, I had a wonderful visit the Arboretum.
It's the actual, our other waterfront of Seattle.
We have the waterfront down with the Salt Lake and this is our waterfront of the Freshwater.
And also, I think I've said this before, Madison is the only street that goes from Freshwater to Saltwater, unless SDOT or Council Member Saka changes that.
The second thing, that's a joke there, but I don't want you to change that.
No amendments.
Number two, also had a great time, Bird Bar, they're celebrating their 60th anniversary, so I joined the mayor.
this weekend celebrating Bird Bar and the community, and he read a resolution, and it was great to see people there.
Also had a great time at the Jewish Family Food Bank.
What's interesting about this food bank is a lot of people might think, oh, they only service Jewish households.
Actually, 50% of the Jewish households, they also do 50% of people from all different backgrounds.
So that was really great.
to see, and then their immigration services, how they, you know, are able to incorporate that into their programming.
It's not everything that they have.
encompass and, and, and met, um, uh, rabbi will.
So that was, that was great.
And then also definitely big shout out to our Seattle parks department.
I had an opportunity, uh, with Reggie, shout out to Reggie Witherspoon, um, invited me to speak to kids, um, the youth that are in a lot of their programming that they do mentorship program.
And that was at Garfield.
It was probably 30, 40 kids.
Um, they're just kids to me.
I know they're youth, but I'm old kids.
Um, and got that opportunity.
And last but not least, Summer of Soul Block Party with the reunion on union.
One thing that really stuck out to me about all the events that I went to, and I think it's one thing that really speaks volumes to when we activate spaces and communities, and we're talking about creating them safe, the reunion on union and the Summer of Soul with Africatown and all that they do have never had a...
Thank God that has been violent.
And one of the key components of that, it's multi-generational, the people that attend.
So you have the grandmoms, you have the aunties, you have the uncles, you have the kids, and then you also have the moms and dads.
And it's very multi-generational in how they're piecing a lot of those things together.
And it's very intentional.
And I think when we think about events and activating spaces, and we need, this has to be a multi-generational approach.
Our kids need mentors.
They need good mentors.
I always had mentors growing up.
I always know the people in my neighborhood.
And I think that's one thing that we are severely missing.
And so whenever millennials, particularly, or Gen Zers, are asking me, hey, what can we do?
I need more of them stepping up to be mentors.
I need more Gen Zers being mentors.
I need more millennials being mentors, just like I had growing up.
I think that's going to be really the key to addressing a lot of the gun violence that we've been, because we can't rely on our baby boomers or our grandparents to be able to do that.
We need people that are, you know, can be able to navigate those things that are closer to that generation.
So my call, and I will do it, is for our Gen C-ers who are younger than us and our millennials to start being mentors to a lot of the kids.
I think that's gonna be key.
And if there's no questions.
Yeah, absolutely.
Council Member Strauss.
Very well said about mentorship.
I will just note that I saw Council Member Sally Bagshaw poke her head into council briefing just now and step out.
She's always been a good mentor to me.
And so, yes, I will take your pledge.
We'll get it going.
One statement, two questions.
Shout out to Parks Department, Andre and Discovery Park.
I also attended the powwow and had a nice conversation with Andre.
It's amazing how much knowledge he has about that space and the dedication of our Parks Department.
people on the ground doing the work we we talk a lot here in city hall and they're out there doing the work so two questions one trivia so if we don't need to answer today we can answer another day why does madison run from freshwater saltwater give us the answer because of the ferries so the ferry on madison used to run to kirkland And then the ferries down at Coleman dock still run out into the sound.
And there was a trolley line between the two ferries.
So you could get from Kirkland to Bainbridge Island without a car.
That's amazing.
It's my new interesting fact.
I love that.
Second fun fact is, do you know what street in the last 15 years used to run from freshwater to saltwater and no longer does?
it would be Broad Street because of the tunnel.
And so one of, and Council Member, sorry, I'm going down a side tangent, but one of the, the skate park at Seattle Center had been moved, I think, eight times in its existence.
It was the first skate park in our city.
And so when Climate Pledge Arena did its rebuild, it had to be moved again.
And we placed it on the right of way that Broad Street used to occupy that no longer works because of the tunnel entrance.
Wow.
That's amazing.
And then if I could say one more thing, Councilmember, I totally forgot, and I don't want to, and I know, I don't know if you were going to bring it up, but Chandler Gayton with the mayor's office unfortunately passed away this weekend.
I know a lot of us worked with him, had a chance to, you know, He was a little bit younger than me, but his family went to First Amy Church.
So I know that family really, really well in Chandler and it's a devastating loss to our city.
Also, I know there's a lot of people hurting in the executive's office.
So obviously sending our love from the second floor and Council Member Strauss, I didn't want to take your time, but if you wanted to, I just want to pass it off to you as well.
Yeah, I mean, death is a hard thing to talk about in our society.
And Chandler is somebody that I consider to be a friend.
He's somebody that I relied on to increase and improve public safety here in the city of Seattle.
And my heart just goes out to him and his family because he was too young.
And something another one of my mentors said, Deborah Juarez, his life is short.
We're here for a very short amount of time, even if we're old.
And it really matters how we show up in the world.
Um, so hug someone you love because life is short.
So thank you for that.
Uh, quick, quickly.
Um, Yeah, thoughts and prayers with Chandler and his entire family and everyone in the mayor's office and who's worked with them every day closely on these issues.
Council Member Hollingsworth, really appreciate your comments there, especially the bit, the insights about mentorship and the importance of mentorship and how it is incumbent for all of us, especially youth, to step up, younger generational folks, because we can't rely, I think you said we can't rely on older generations, whether it's Gen X or baby boomers to mentor particularly younger folks.
I would respectfully modify that and say we can't rely solely on anyone mentoring.
Mentorship is the key.
Nor can we rely on laws or resources or...
I think mentorship is one of those things that, you know, there's a certain level of community and individual responsibility in terms of addressing all of these solutions, like underlying challenges.
And mentorship is a really key part of that.
And so thank you for uplifting something that is really, really important.
I view it as a responsibility on all of us, you know, regardless of like who we sort of mentor or our mentor by, that might change over time.
But, you know, I kind of view it as like, I have one hand up, like, seeking mentorship and guidance and wisdom and advice of others, and, like, one hand down, pulling the next person behind me, because we can all win.
But really important, insightful comments.
Thank you, Councilmember Hollingsworth.
Sorry to snatch your thunder, but go ahead.
Well, thank you, Council President Pro Tem.
And you noted Gen X. You did not mention Gen X as a representative of Gen X. Gen X, too.
We need to...
Sorry, my bad.
Gen X is there for you, stepping up as we do.
My bad.
And so, yes, very important.
And so I will transition now to this week.
We do have our Public Safety Committee meeting tomorrow morning and of course invitation to all attend essentially think of Public Safety Committee as a select committee too because you're always welcomed given I know you were at last one Councilmember Rivera very important and it's really important to get the various I'm well aware of the different areas of the city and the challenges that we're facing but it's good to get the voices in to get that comprehensive look and And for tomorrow's meeting, we have the Chief Smith appointment that we're working through.
Also, Chief Rohr is coming to do a 60-day quick look update in terms of how she's seeing her, how she sees the landscape within her first 60 days, which will be an interesting and a chance to follow up with some questions on that, as I will.
And then also, we'll have basically a look at the criminal justice ecosystem and its impact and how what it does or doesn't do impacts our public safety posture.
And we'll do that with Chief Rohrer, City Attorney Davison, and Chief Smith.
So we'll have the three of them together.
And I think that's very important.
And speaking of public safety, Council Member Strauss, as you mentioned, we'll also remember Chandler, along with our security here, Jim Hillis as well.
So again, open invitation on public safety.
This week, I also have the PSRC, the Puget Sound Regional Council Executive Board meeting on Thursday.
Last week, we had the King County Board of Health meeting.
Interesting.
We had a Board of Health membership and recruitment pitch, some on solid waste program briefing to include some code amendments, some very technical, nothing major there.
And then we also had a LGBTQIA2S community health service, mental health and services briefing.
And that was really important to hear, you know, what the impacts the LGBTQ plus community is facing and the challenges that they have.
And, you know, as we are here in the city, but also in the broader context of, you know, the nation.
So very, very good briefing that we received.
Within the community this week, there's going to be a grand opening of Harbor Steps tomorrow as we head down to the waterfront, the saltwater version, I should add.
And on Wednesday, I'll be doing a downtown street ministry walk.
And as it happens on Friday, I'll be a senior gathering at the Queen Anne Presbyterian Church and Consejo Consulting in South Park also on Friday.
Last week, I had a very A good meeting with Lehigh, Ms. Sharon Lee from Lehigh.
Also, a very good visit to the Holocaust Center for Humanity.
If you do not know it, I recommend everyone here to visit it.
And in fact, I recommend it for all Seattleites because what's interesting about it is how it connects the Holocaust to Seattleites, those that survived and for...
whatever their relationship is to the Holocaust and made it to Seattle and their story.
And it's a very interesting, but it also looks at not just in of itself, but its connections to community and how it plays out in different ways even today.
And so basically needing to learn the lessons, because oftentimes we tend to forget the lessons and have to learn the sad story again.
And then the last thing I also want to, from last week, was a visit to Mary's Place.
It was my first visit to Mary's Place on Thursday.
Definitely recommend everyone also here to do a visit to Mary's Place.
Such an important place.
service to our families, particularly the women and children.
And that is something that we really need to support.
And I'd like to thank Amazon for their support to them as well, since it's so vital.
And, you know, we can do our bit too.
And it's got me thinking in terms of you know, as a father of a young daughter in terms of what could we bring to Mary's Place to support what they have or don't have, I should say, to fill those gaps.
So, again, definitely recommend those visits to the Holocaust Center for Humanity and Mary's Place.
And with that, from this Gen Xer to, well, I don't want to presuppose anybody's generation.
Careful, careful.
Except for Council Member Rivera.
She's a fellow Gen Xer.
That's all I will say.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I proudly wear that.
a label.
I was just saying everybody needs that.
You know what council member Hollingsworth, everybody needs a mentor.
I have mentors.
We all have mentors.
And to your point, council member Saka, you know, um, we need to pull people up as we're getting pulled up.
And that's really important.
And one thing that's very clear from this conversation today is just the fact that there isn't a one strategy.
It's, We need mentors.
We need active engagements like Teen Nights.
Council Member Hollingsworth and I are very big proponents of things like Teen Nights and engagement arts.
and culture access is really important.
Kids need and teenagers need the ability to express themselves and to be creative, creative outlets.
And then also obviously the mental health and then public safety, all of it working together is what we need.
There isn't one piece, it's all of it working together.
And that piece is really important.
And, you know, and it's true.
It's a truism.
So anyway, thank you, Council Member Kettle, for telling folks my age.
Just kidding Well, yeah, thank you councilmember Rivera like lift as you climb so to speak for the record I am a millennial and Whatever that means but in any event so I All right, well, rounding out the bases here.
So transportation levy and the committee, our regular transportation committee.
On the levy, we all know voters will decide.
It's in the hands of voters, out of our hands completely.
But I do, with respect to shaping the legislation and the package that's gonna go before voters, I really do appreciate all of your thoughtful engagement and collaboration and partnership and from you and your respective offices.
and bearing with us through seven, I think, select committee meetings.
And, you know, we are able to reach a consensus levy package, thanks in large part to all you all.
Someone asked me over the weekend, well, could you have done that?
And we all know it was unanimously passed at this level.
And someone was like, could you have done that if you were remote?
And I thought about it.
I don't know if we could have done that if we all weren't here every day doing the work because there's so much going on.
I think we could have got something passed, but I don't, I'm not confident because of the spontaneous collaboration and just the flurry of activity going on.
We could have got that unanimously passed.
So just good shout out to you all for being in office and your staffs as well, being around and available and accessible because as smart as some of these software engineers are, and I've worked and supported some of those teams and tech teams, No one's figured out a way to fully replicate the face-to-face, in-person, human experience, interaction, and the collaboration that directly ensues from that.
In any event, but again, on the levy itself, we all know voters will decide in November.
But now we're back to the regular business of the Transportation Committee.
So our next Transportation Committee will be on August 6th.
Tentatively, we are teed up for discussion amongst other things on one of the work items from the Levy Select Committee, which is now over on transportation.
So one of those work items is the Transportation Funding Task Force.
As you may recall, this proposal was slated for the council to address the post levy.
And here we are.
While the levy will be decided by voters again this fall in November, we are preparing, hard at work preparing for this work should the levy pass.
So Council Member Kettle, Chair Kettle of the Public Safety Committee, And I share the same sentiment.
It's true, I think, for the Transportation Committee.
Every last Transportation Committee, you should all view as a select committee.
Maybe that's not the bet because select committee implies mandatory attendance.
It's not for those that are not on the committee.
But you are all, if you don't sit on the committee, you are more than welcome to.
to join those transportation committee meetings.
And so that is transportation.
Another item that I'll quickly mention is the Elk Eye Traffic Calming Program.
improvements.
So one of the key improvements that were consistently voiced over the years by community members and elevated at our recent community meeting last month where we addressed the problem speeding along Elk High and Harbor Avenue and some of the associated challenges and public safety problems there.
So later today, I'm going to be issuing a newsletter that will announce a few of SDOT's specific improvements.
They announced high level at that meeting.
Thanks to Council Member Wu for joining me at that meeting.
But they announced at that meeting some things were coming, high level.
And so we're going to share out some of those specific improvements.
improvements that the safety and engineering team at SDOT has in mind for that area.
So we'll share that out here later today.
And similarly, the issue of speed cameras in Elk High, I want my constituents to know it remains a top priority.
And we are working with the executive to move this forward.
On the regional committee front, I will be joining Councilmember Kettle at the PSRC Executive Board meeting on Thursday.
Really looking forward to that.
I'll be in person if you're able to join me there.
Councilmember Kettle, would love to see you in person as well.
Should be a good conversation, good meeting.
And aside from that, For the first time in the community, I was really thrilled and honored to march in the West Seattle Grand Parade on Saturday.
Thank you, Councilmember Wu, for joining me for that exciting, monumental event.
I believe it was the 90th anniversary of that historic event, and I also understand that that specific parade is the oldest in Seattle's history.
And so this year was particularly, well, it was just fun.
It was like, it's always fun.
It's always a, but anyways, I was honored to participate in that.
So thanks to all who joined us and said hello and waved at us and slapped high fives with me along the way, along the parade route.
We got a lot of candy before that to hand out to the kids.
some adults and parents who have sweet tooth like myself but we ran out early such is the case with resources but you know it's fine they're fine now but high fives we learned were handed out liberally and often so uh so thank you to all the community members who uh who showed up for that
Not diminish.
No, no, no.
There's an abundance of high fives to be had.
Did you make recommendations for everyone to brush their teeth afterwards?
I am not a dentist.
I am a pothole royalty member, not a dentist or an orthodontist.
But in any event, awesome event.
And I also was really honored to be there.
Someone told me after the fact that I might have been the only elected official there that was not there on behalf of their campaigns.
So...
But it was really good for me to get in front of my constituents, our constituents, because you are a citywide elected official, and just be a part of...
fun celebratory event so aside from that uh final as an epilogue colleagues you may know that last week i was gone for part of the week um you know in my role as a father and cheerleader council member Those worlds intersected because my daughter played on the 10U West Seattle Little League softball team in the state tournament in Othello and Moses Lake.
And proud to announce that that team tied for fifth in the state out of all the teams, dozens, heck, maybe hundreds of teams in the state.
So tied for fifth.
But while I was out there, I was also able to connect with the mayor of Othello and, and learn how they kind of a little bit, how they prioritize, uh, just the infrastructure basics in their parks and their, in their, uh, in their pothole repair and amongst other things.
And so it was good to collaborate, you know, across the region when I'm, when I'm there and as primarily as a dad and cheerleader.
Uh, but, and, and also, uh, Good to know that the team that finally ended up winning yesterday was Woodinville, and Woodinville was the team that knocked us out of the thing.
And so the West Seattle team, they knocked...
The Woodinville team knocked the West Seattle team out.
So if you're going to lose, you might as well lose to the eventual champion.
But I understand at least one more because there's three divisions, 10U, 11U, 12U, boys baseball, and then softball for girls.
And I understand that the 11U West Seattle team is still fighting like heck and competing hard in the state tournament, representing West Seattle and the entire city of Seattle well and making us proud.
So good luck to them.
That is all my comments.
Colleagues, welcome any comments, questions from you all.
If there are none, then let me ask this.
Is there any further business before we adjourn?
Hearing no further business, this meeting is adjourned.
It is 2.52 p.m.
Fake gavel.
Thank you.