Public Assets & Homelessness Committee 12/6/23

Thank you, son.

The December 6th, 2023 meeting of the Public Assets and Homelessness Committee will come to order.

It is 2 p.m.

My name is Andrew Lewis, chair of the committee.

The clerk will note that Council President Juarez is excused from today's committee meeting.

Will the clerk please call the role of the remaining committee members?

Council Member Herbold.

Council Member Morales.

Here.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Present.

Chair Lewis.

Present.

Chair, there are three members present.

And I will notify the committee if Councilmember Herbold joins us.

Approval of the agenda.

If there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Public comment.

I will moderate the public comment period.

And we do have a number of public commenters signed up.

How many folks in person and remotely, Mr. Clerk, are signed up?

We have four people signed up for in-person public comment and roughly nine people signed up for virtual public comment.

Okay, why don't we do all nine virtual commenters first and then the four in-person commenters.

I'm gonna limit public comment to one minute given the packed agenda.

People should direct their remarks to an agenda item and introduce themselves and otherwise keep their comments concise and polite and respectful.

And with that, The clerk will moderate the public comment period beginning with our virtual commenters.

The first virtual commenter is Sophie Debs.

Sophie, you will need to press star six and then you'll have one minute.

Hi, am I audible?

Hi, Sophie, we can hear you.

fantastic um i'm here i'm talking uh the agenda item i in reference to is the parks and recreation uh equity initiative uh report that was shared um specifically i have concerns around another equity project um that the parks and recreation is currently undertaking i'm a trans satellite and someone who really cherishes the space that denny blaine beach provides for our community the parks department has announced a plan to potentially build a playground there putting neighborhood families who don't want to encounter nudity in conflict with the people who have been using the beach goers in the way it's been used dating back to the 1960s.

There's far better sites such as Lakeview Park for a number of reasons.

I'm also really concerned about the lack of transparency in the project.

I filed a request with Parks to identify the donor who pitched the product and would be providing the funding for it, requesting literally any single document that has the donor's name on it, the easiest request possible.

And they've stated it'll take until late February, months down the line in the development process.

to provide that single piece of information that's critical to understanding the motives and source of the dark money here, the effort to displace a historic queer community.

I urge the city council to have the private department provide this information promptly and quash the plan.

Thank you, Sophie.

Our next public commenter is Nicole Bych.

Nicole, please press star six and you'll have one minute.

Hi.

Hello, everyone.

Are you able to hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon.

My name is Nicole Bache.

I am here today to voice concern that Seattle's public works departments, including Seattle Parks and Recreation, are slipping away from the equity, diversity, inclusion principles stated in the mission statement.

This sentiment includes concern that the city of Seattle is prioritizing pay to play tactics that erase queer community while simultaneously weaponizing children as a means of social warfare.

Later today, there is a meeting to discuss Seattle Parks and Rec's proposal that Sophie just spoke to.

The most recent City Council election highlights that money wins.

Crosscut.com writes, outside interests spend more than $1 million on Seattle City Council races.

The majority of funds come from businesses and real estate groups supporting conservative candidates.

Adding, I would like to give a public thank you to Council Members Sawant and Mosqueda for their public support in regards to not building a playground at Denny Blaine Beach Park.

recently award-winning travel media brand Afar, named Seattle one of the top 25 international cities to visit in 2024. I would love for people to visit a landmark clothing optional and queer history spot at Denny Blaine Beach and hope that this subcommittee will support us when the time comes for a landmark designation.

Thank you.

Thank you, Nicole.

Our next public commenter is Colleen Kimsey-Love.

Colleen, please press star six to unmute yourself.

Hi, my name is Colleen Kimsey-Love.

I graduated from the University of Washington with a master's degree in maternal and child health in 2018. I was a 2019 Bonneman fellow in peacemaking, and I'm also a volunteer lifeguard and uncle to a bunch of kids.

Water safety and children is an area of particular interest of mine.

A children's play structure at Denny Blaine would increase the number of children at the park, which currently has an active community of queer and nudist attendees.

The park is made up with two grassy terraces, third on the beach.

The height of these terraces mean that each level is not visible to the others.

This is a nightmare set up for children and water safety.

Being able to clearly see who is in the water is one of the first tenets of water safety.

A parent or caregiver bringing their child to any proposed new play structure at Denny Blaine would not be able to quickly tell where their child is.

Sorry, I think that was perhaps a cutoff.

No permanent bathrooms.

I also got a quote from Frederick, Dr. Frederick Rivera, who is a children's injury safety researcher at Harborview, who pointed out that in the spirit of equity, this is one of the highest income neighborhoods in the city with multimillion dollar front homes.

There are no low income children in this neighborhood.

Thank you, Colleen.

We have to cut off at roughly one minute.

Our next public commenter is Trey Lamont.

Trey, please press star six and you'll have one minute.

Hello, Council.

My name is Trey Lamont.

I am speaking on behalf of the agenda of CB 120643 in regards to the personal guarantee for commercial space, commercial tenants and landlords in Seattle, Washington.

I personally would like to speak and let you guys know that personal guarantees for commercial businesses starting up and small businesses like mine, the Jerk Shack, It puts us in a bad position if it's a personal guarantee that stays on for the full duration of tenancy.

There should be limitations to how long a personal guarantee is implemented so that our personal effects and our resources and our wealth such as my home or my livelihood that's protected as an LLC cannot be gone after if there's something like a pandemic that hits our city again.

I think we need to really rethink how personal guarantees are affecting businesses in many cities and how it can destroy a whole economy and family.

So thank you.

Thank you, Trey.

Our next public commenter is listed as Eric Tanaka, but Eric is not present.

Eric, if you call in now is the appropriate time to give public comment and we'd love to hear from you.

Our next present public commenter is Todd Carden.

Todd, please press star six and you'll have one minute to speak.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon council members.

My name is Todd Cardin, owner and operator of Elliott Bay Marine Company and local commercial property owner in our community.

Today I stand before you to express my support for Council Bill 120634. This critical piece of legislation directly impacts personal guarantees of new commercial leases, a topic of immense significance to small business owners and landlords alike.

As someone who has navigated small business ownership and property management for 26 years, I've thoroughly contemplated the implications of this bill.

Despite understanding the risks of opposition, it is clear to me that facilitating the journey towards business ownership is a cornerstone of this bill's purpose.

Our city is at a crossroads.

We face a pressing need to bolster our small business and foster our environment where entrepreneurs are encouraged to contribute to our city's diversity.

The landscape of business operation is daunting, with escalating wages, rising cost of goods, utilities, taxes, social economic changes.

Crime is a problem.

So drawing from my 26 years of experience in Seattle I often ponder the necessity of risking personal assets such as a home merely to lease a space.

This bill would would pivot the dynamic between Seattle tenants and property owners towards more synergetic partnership.

The rest.

FRED PODESTA.

Thank you Todd.

Our next public commenter is Cody Zalewski.

Cody if you press star six you'll have one minute.

Hi, my name is Cody Zaleski, District 4. My comment concerns the placement of a playground at Denny Blaine Park.

This is obviously an attempt to, quote, clean up a traditionally queer public park frequented by nudists by a private individual donating money.

I'm not a nudist, but people close to me are, and they're very concerned to lose one of the few places they feel welcome in the city.

Please block the placement of this playground.

Thank you.

Thank you, Cody.

Once again, Eric Tanaka, if you're listening, you should call into the public comment line and we'd love to hear your comment.

Our next present public commenter is Astra Ford.

Astra, please press star six to unmute and you'll have one minute.

Hello, I'm Astra.

I am a and I'm commenting on Denny Blaine Park.

The I am a trans woman and like many uh and like several other commenters here um i am really concerned that some private donor is trying to spend half a million dollars on a pro uh on a project uh to basically just like uh seemingly drive us out of the uh drive us out of one of our um like our community's safe spaces um so I TRIED TO FIGURE OUT AND I'M REALLY CONCERNED ABOUT THE TRANSPARENCY HERE.

SOMEBODY JUST SPENT HALF A MILLION DOLLARS.

AND I TRIED TO FIGURE OUT WHERE THE MONEY IS COMING FROM.

AND LET'S SEE.

PARKS AND RECS.

SO I CALLED THE PARKS AND RECS DEPARTMENT.

THEY DIRECTED ME TOWARDS THE BOARD OF PARKS AND RECS COMMISSIONERS.

PARKS AND RECS COMMISSIONERS SAID THEY WOULD FUND THROUGH THE SEATTLE PARKS FOUNDATION.

But then I called the Seattle Parks Foundation and they've frozen their involvement.

So I am not sure like whether the...

Thank you, Astra.

Our next public commenter is Milo Cusold.

Milo, please press star six and you'll have one minute for public comment.

Hello, my name is Milo and I'm a resident of Capitol Hill.

I want to express my opposition to the Parks and Rec playground proposal at Denny Blaine Park.

Denny Blaine holds significant personal value for me and my girlfriend.

We visit frequently, choosing where we live based on proximity to this beach.

As someone who is genderqueer, Denny Blaine provides a unique space where I can swim without the discomfort of a bathing suit or feel fear of public reactions, making it an essential haven in the city as well as a safe, free space for the queer community.

Regarding the playground proposal, I don't think it's being done in good faith for the genuine benefit of children.

Denny Blaine is a free community beach surrounded by affluent homes, with the Parks Department labeling it as a low priority for improvements.

The suspicion arises that the playground is a means to exclude queer individuals from the beach using children as leverage.

Despite suggesting alternative locations, the funding appears to be tied exclusively to Denny Blaine.

While queer individuals and children can coexist, the playground may play on harmful stereotypes to pit these communities against each other.

False narratives about the queer community preying on children have gained traction, especially as trans communities face increased scrutiny.

Placing a playground here risks inviting families unfamiliar with the closing optional nature of our beach, potentially leading to misunderstandings and police interventions due to the vague nudity laws.

Ultimately, I think that most queer folks who come to the beach will indeed be too uncomfortable and scared to continue using the beach as we had in the past as a playground or to be installed, which feels conveniently like the goal of the private funder.

Thank you.

Thank you, Milo.

Our next public commenter is Gabriel Newman.

Gabe, please press star six and you'll have one minute.

Hello, Seattle City Council.

I'm Gabriel Newman, Policy Counsel and Government Relations Manager at GSBA, Washington's LGBTQ Plus Chamber of Commerce.

I'm happy to testify in support of the minimum guarantee bill.

As an LGBTQ chamber, we have the privilege of meeting with hundreds of small minority businesses, and I'm amazed at the creativity in their entrepreneurship.

However, starting a business is an expensive process.

And while folks can often come up with the funds to cover initial licensing costs, they are unable to take that final step towards opening a physical location.

This is especially true for many of our younger entrepreneurs and BIPOC community members who have not had the privilege to build up credit or capital.

In helping to ease the financial burden associated with business ownership, this bill would bridge the gap for many entrepreneurs who would have otherwise been excluded from the realization of that dream.

When more businesses are able to open storefront locations, entire neighborhoods will flourish.

Thank you, and we are happy, GSBA is happy to support CB120643.

Thank you.

Thank you, Gabriel.

That concludes our online public commenters who are listed as present.

Eric Tanaka, if you are able, please do call in and we'll still be happy to take your comment.

But for now, we're going to move toward in-person public commenters.

Our first in-person public commenter is Steve Hooper, followed by Nat Stratton-Clark.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Steve Hooper.

I'm the president of the Seattle Restaurant Alliance.

I'm here to talk about the personal guarantee legislation.

I would like to thank Councilmember Lewis for your leadership on this post-pandemic, something we've been working on for quite a while for a first in the nation piece of legislation that will actually do good work balancing the equity equation between landlords and tenants.

As a white male with an MBA, I was able to negotiate my own personal guarantees from the very first lease I ever signed.

The vast majority of people who sign leases in this city don't know they can do that.

And so they guarantee their entire family and life savings against their business succeeding, which is completely not the way things have been prior to 20 years ago.

This piece of legislation helps put the level playing field for more business owners to come into our city and be a part of the economic revitalization that we're all hoping to see here.

There are arguments about not being able to get loans.

That's a red herring argument.

Banks will absolutely loan to landlords.

There are arguments about only leasing large businesses.

Those large businesses aren't beating down the door to come into our city right now anyways.

They'd lease to them if they could.

So please see this for what it is.

A great piece of legislation that's first in the nation will make a difference.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Steve.

Our next public commenter is Nat Stratton-Clark, followed by Charlie Anth.

Hi, my name is Nat Stratton-Clark.

I own Cafe Flora here in Seattle and I'm a member of the Seattle Restaurant Alliance as well as the GSBA.

I'm here to ask your support for Council Bill 120643 which caps the personal guarantee clauses and new commercial leases at the sum of two years of base rent plus the total cost of tenant improvements.

Commercial affordability in our city is already a tremendous barrier to entry and anyone that is willing to risk starting a small business should not have to worry that if their business fails, they're also at risk for losing their home and their personal assets.

During the pandemic, the city of Seattle, as part of its emergency orders, prohibited commercial landlords from seizing small business owners' personal property in the event of a lease default.

This was a critical step for maintaining the viability of Seattle's business climate for small businesses.

By limiting the personal guarantee in commercial leases, we're working to level the playing field and allow small businesses to thrive.

This change will ensure the vibrancy of businesses across the city and advance equity for operators.

Thank you for putting forth this proposal, and I urge you all to support it.

Thank you.

Our next public commenter is Charlie Anthe, followed by Travis Rosenthal.

Good afternoon and thank you.

My name is Charlie Anthe.

I'm a co-owner of Moshi Moshi, Sushi, and Izekiah in Ballard.

I'm also a member of the Seattle Restaurant Alliance and GSBA, and I am here to speak in support of Council Bill 120643, which limits the personal guarantees on new commercial leases.

I can speak from personal experience that unlimited personal guarantees are a huge barrier to entry for new and aspiring entrepreneurs.

In my personal case, when I purchased Moshi, not only did I have to personally guarantee the lease, but our landlord refused to release the seller of the business from his own personal guarantee, which ended up becoming a major point of contention, and our purchase agreement almost derailed the sale of the business.

And I think he was very justified in that concern in being personally liable for a business that he would no longer have any association with, but somehow he would still have a personal liability based on my success or failure to run the business I was purchasing from him to the tune of nearly half a million dollars over the course of the lease, and that's just for a single business.

Small businesses are the backbones of any municipal economy.

Unlimited personal guarantees are a huge barrier to entry for underrepresented community members who do not have the large capital requirements needed to support the personal guarantees in which they may be on the hook for a failed business for years after their business .

I appreciate the support and the introductions legislation and thank you for your consideration.

Thank you.

Our final in-person public commenter is Travis Rosenthal.

THANK YOU.

MY NAME IS TRAVIS ROSENTHAL.

I OWN PIKE STREET HOSPITALITY GROUP.

FIRST I WANT TO THANK COUNCIL MEMBER MOSQUEDA FOR HER AMENDMENT.

THE SEATTLE RESTAURANT LINES WOULD SUPPORT THAT.

I PERSONALLY HAVE HAD LANDLORD abuse the personal guarantee clause in my lease by essentially forcing me to personally guarantee an additional 10 years of a lease, or they would refuse to approve a sale of the restaurant that I owned.

My lawyer said I could spend lots of time and money trying to sue him and probably would have won, but I would have lost the buyer, my business.

When a new buyer business owner did have issues paying rent, the landlord immediately threatened to come after my personal assets, which forced me to personally demand rent payments from this tenant.

I had to be their debt collector or face personal financial ruin for their business, a business I was no longer associated with.

Landlords are well versed on how to weaponize these personal guarantees, and they're not afraid to use them for 10 to 15 years of continuous lease payments.

We need this legislation to help balance the playing field between landlords and tenants.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

That concludes all of our in-person and online public commenters.

Members of the public are always encouraged to provide comment by emailing the council at council at seattle.gov.

Thank you so much, Mr. Clerk, and thank you to everybody who signed up for public comment today in person and remotely.

For the record, too, Councilmember Herbold has joined the committee meeting, so we'll reflect in the attendance that Councilmember Herbold is in attendance.

We'll move on to the consent calendar that is in front of the committee.

The consent calendar is composed of reappointments to the Seattle Center Advisory Commission for terms of September 28th of 2026. So I just wanted to flag for committee members, since they are reappointments, it is our choice to, or is my prerogative as chair to offer these reappointments as a consent agenda.

So just to explain why they've been included in that part of our agenda.

So I will turn it over to the chair or to the clerk of the committee to read these appointments into the record.

The appointments are appointment 02687, the reappointment of Eric Burlenberg.

Appointment 02688, the reappointment of Holly D. Golden.

Appointment 02689, the reappointment of Stacy E. Hutchison.

Appointment 02680, the reappointment of John Olenski.

And appointment 02691, the reappointment of Sarah C. Rich, all as members of the Seattle Center Advisory Commission for terms to September 28th, 2026.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk.

Are there any reappointments councilmembers would like to remove from today's consent calendar?

Hearing and seeing none, I move to adopt the consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

Moved and seconded.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the committee recommendation of the appointments?

Councilmember Herbold?

Yes.

Councilmember Morales?

Yes.

Councilmember Mosqueda?

Aye.

Chair Lewis.

Yes.

Chair, there are four in favor, none opposed.

The appointments will be sent to city council for final confirmation.

If any of the reappointed commissioners are watching, thank you for your service.

You do not need to attend the council meeting next week, but you are, of course, welcome to if you so choose.

Moving on to items of business and agenda item six.

Will the committee clerk please read agenda item six into the record?

Agenda item six, council bill 120643, an ordinance relating to commercial tenancies, establishing limits on the maximum personal guarantee that may be included in or as a condition of commercial leases and establishing limits on the value of a commercial leases required security deposit and or letters of credit and adding a new chapter to the Seattle municipal code.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk.

And we did hear extensively about this item in public comment today.

Thank you to the community members who made themselves available to share their stories and speak to the importance of this legislation.

I will move it to get in front of the committee and then we can open it up for some additional remarks.

I believe we are joined.

by Ann Gorman from Council Central Staff, who has staffed this piece of legislation and has written the memo for the committee.

And there are a couple of amendments that I and Council Member Muscata will speak to.

So before we move forward to that, I move the committee recommend confirmation of Council Bill 120643. Is there a second?

Okay, moved and seconded by Councilmember Herbold.

So, Council Colleagues, we had an initial hearing on this legislation in early September right after the Council recess.

This is the first legislation of its kind in the United States relating to commercial guarantees, a component of a tendency that has gotten additional scrutiny and attention during COVID-19 when, due to exigent public health and safety demands brought on by the pandemic, the government had to pursue the extraordinary circumstance of essentially shutting down the economy for large periods of the time in 2020 and restarted in fits and starts over the following couple of years.

To a certain extent, we're still in the shadow of adapting to that post-COVID environment in a way that is having a significant impact on folks on the front lines of our restaurant and retail businesses.

One of the hurdles coming out of that period that I heard extensively from community was the impact of the personal guarantee, not just in terms of the pressures and the anxiety of that looming personal guarantee over the heads of particularly a lot of our restaurateurs in the city of Seattle during COVID, the possibility that would be invoked, the inability to make their business viable given the shutdowns given the uncertainty that anxiety really putting front and center the long-term challenges posed by commercial guarantees and and really the or personal guarantees and really the overarching extent and exuberant requirements required by many standard personal guarantees.

Lots of small business owners not really aware of what they had signed up to or agreed to until they were facing it straight in the face, post-government shutdown in an environment where it was gonna be very difficult to square that personal guarantee in the face of extraordinary circumstances.

The legislation in front of us would not ban or eliminate personal guarantees, but would rather put some sidebars on future personal guarantees to limit the scope to two years of the rent under the commercial tenancy plus tenant improvements.

This accomplishes our stated public policy goal of making sure that people who enter into commercial leases are held accountable for honoring the terms of their lease and for the expense that is often borne by the commercial property owner for major capital improvements like a tenant improvement.

So making sure that the prospective tenant is accountable for those improvements made to support their business and has significant skin in the game with a requirement of two years of the commercial rent, but curtails the ability for those personal guarantees to um, extend out to the point, uh, of much more, um, significant exposure, several years of additional, um, uh, rent requirement, or even as we heard in public comment, uh, um, personal guarantees that, that are so large and significant, they in essence can be passed on from tenancy to tenancy, uh, making a future, um, land or future tenant, uh, um, uh, potentially, uh, uh, um, have to perform to prevent a previous tenant from incurring enforcement of the personal guarantee.

So these limits maintain that accountability and make sure that the commercial landowner has the assurance necessary to pursue their own lending, to pursue their own interests in the property, but make sure that potential financial disaster or undue hardship does not fall on the small business owner who is just trying to set up a small business and do it with that peace of mind.

There's another component to the legislation, as is indicated in the memo from Ann Gorman, that the first month and last month rent would be the maximum total value of a security deposit under this new legislation.

And those are the substantive components.

We are not trying to eliminate personal guarantees.

We are not trying to...

do something, I think, do something revolutionary, just trying to do something that is fair and do something that makes this a more equitable exchange between the small business owners who we all know and love.

but also making sure that we are duly respecting the rights of commercial property owners to continue to pursue this tool for the reasons that they need to pursue it.

So with that, just getting everybody up to speed, we do have a couple of amendments.

I do want to give an opportunity to Ann Gorman if there's any thing else that you wanna add at the front here before we go into discussing the amendments, or if council colleagues have some broader questions about the overall legislation since we reviewed it in September, I wanna take a second to allow Ann to answer those questions before we get into the two amendments that have been distributed.

So with that, I'll turn it over to Ann Gorman.

Thank you, Chair Lewis and Gorman, Council Central staff.

Thank you for your comprehensive introduction to the legislation.

The only further detail I would provide is that the bill also creates a regulatory structure around the limitations that you discussed, including mandatory notification by lessors to tenants, and it provides for the issuance of citations by the City Department of Finance and Administrative Services.

should any lessor be found to be in violation.

Thank you.

Yes, thank you so much, Anne.

Are there any...

questions from council colleagues on the base legislation for central staff or myself before we discuss the amendments.

Seeing none, there are two amendments that were distributed.

As chair's prerogative, I'm going to identify the amendment distributed by Jacob Thorpe on my staff at 1.31 p.m.

as Amendment 1 for the purposes of the agenda.

That amendment was distributed.

It is slightly different from an amendment that was distributed earlier today, but once we move it, we can get into the details of the amendment.

I'm going to say that Councilmember Muscata's amendment distributed at 1.39 p.m.

is amendment two.

We will move Amendment 1 first.

So I move Amendment 1 to Council Bill 120643. Is there a second?

Second.

Okay.

Second.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

Seconds moved and seconded.

So, council colleagues, I will speak briefly to Amendment 1. One concern that was raised through stakeholdering through the fall on this legislation was that it was not necessarily clear that life sciences would be excluded.

There's a clear exemption for office space and other businesses.

that are outside the scope of what our intent is as a legislative body to put safeguards on.

This really is legislation geared towards restaurants and related businesses and not to offices or, in this case, life sciences research and labs.

As colleagues are probably very well aware, the businesses that make up, Life sciences and research and development are very capital intensive and involve very complicated and expensive build outs.

There are personal guarantee regimes that make more sense in that context for that kind of a business than would necessarily relate to a restaurant.

or the types of businesses that are more envisioned by stakeholders and community for the focus of this legislation.

So this amendment adds this language that's underlined as office space, semicolon, as research and development laboratory space.

to just make sure that it is clear in the legislation that those types of build outs and those types of businesses are outside of the scope of what we are trying to do here.

So are there any, I'll open it up to colleagues if there's any questions or comments on this amendment.

And Anne, I'll turn it over to you if you have anything else to add to my description of the amendment.

No, nothing to add.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Seeing no questions or comments from colleagues, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of Amendment 1?

Yes.

Councilmember Morales?

Yes.

Councilmember Mosqueda?

Aye.

Chair Lewis.

Yes.

Chair, there are four in favor, none opposed.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk.

The amendment passes and will be adopted into Council Bill 120643. We do have another amendment that was distributed by Council Member Mosqueda, and I will move that amendment.

I move Amendment 2 to Council Bill 120643. Is there a second?

Second.

Moved and seconded.

Council Member Mosqueda, I will hand it over to you to speak to your amendment.

Thank you so much, Mr chair and thank you to the clerk.

Thank you very much.

Mr clerk for putting the amendment up on the screen colleagues.

This was circulated and then an updated version of this with some final edits were sent to you and you should have that in your inbox.

Thank you to the clerk for projecting that on the screen.

I want to thank you, Mr chair for the amendment that we just passed.

I think that addresses.

A concern that we did hear from a number of stakeholders.

So thank you for making that improvement to the legislation and happy to have just voted on that amendment.

Similarly, this amendment is bringing brought forward and appreciate your motion to include this.

Thank you for considering this a friendly amendment.

This builds on the conversations that we know you have been having so far with various stakeholders, but to broaden out the stakeholder process and include an evaluation of the impacts and the effectiveness of this legislation.

We have done this in many other forms as we've passed new legislation to ensure that a stakeholder process is ongoing to provide recommendations for future amendments and enhancements to legislation.

This includes bringing in key stakeholders that have been weighing in over the past few days.

Many folks thought perhaps this legislation wasn't moving forward, but when they heard that it was moving forward, many folks were raising opportunity to really understand Um, how we can lift up the intent of the legislation and also evaluate the effectiveness of it.

So, with this includes a series of stakeholders, including the restaurant association, downtown Seattle association, small restaurant operators and hoteliers as well as.

And others, so very, very broad group of stakeholders who've been weighing in over the past few days.

And I know Mr chair, you've been working with folks as well to provide an update throughout the year.

This would allow for the stakeholder group to provide an initial report back to the committee within a year.

And then annually after that, with also language that we borrowed from our land disposition policy, that includes a opportunity to review the legislation in whole.

within three years.

We did this in the 2018 land disposition policy that I passed, baking in a date certain for a review of the policy to ensure that we're meeting objectives, provide opportunity for future amendments, and reflect on what we've learned from the initial implementation of policy.

I think it's a good opportunity to apply it here, especially given the novelty of this policy as you described, Mr. Chair, and ensure that we're including any additional enhancements or tweaks that are necessary TO ENSURE THAT THE POLICY IS FUNCTIONING WELL AND THAT WE HAVE INCLUDED VARIOUS STAKEHOLDER EXPERIENCES AS WE ANALYZE THE POLICY.

SO THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR POTENTIAL SUPPORT ON THIS AMENDMENT THAT HAS TWO COMPONENTS TO IT.

AND APOLOGIES AS WELL, MR. CHAIR.

I DID NOT ALLOW FOR CENTRAL STAFF TO COMMENT ON THAT.

SO OF COURSE WOULD BE DIFFERENTIAL TO YOU, MR. CHAIR, IF YOU WOULD LIKE ADDITIONAL WALK THROUGH ON THAT.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, VICE CHAIR MOSQUEDA.

AND DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO ADD TO VICE CHAIR MOSQUEDA'S DESCRIPTION?

J. No, nothing, nothing to add, as she stated, the, the stakeholder process that is described in the amendment is consistent with what the city has done many times in the past, and the language about the review period.

J.

Is is indeed consistent with the city land use disposition policies.

Thank you so much.

And yes, I'm very supportive of this amendment and appreciate Councilmember Muscato bringing it forward and look forward to this being incorporated in the underlying legislation.

My understanding is, as we heard in public comment, that Seattle Restaurant Association, or the Seattle Restaurant Alliance rather, is supportive of the amendment as well.

So are there any other comments or remarks?

Councilmember Morales.

Thank you, Chair.

And thank you for bringing this amendment, Councilmember Mosqueda.

I'm very supportive of the underlying intent here to have a stakeholder process and to have a regular evaluation of the impact of this legislation.

And I will say that I'm very supportive of the underlying legislation as well.

I was happy to co-sponsor with Councilmember Herbold the commercial tenant protections during COVID.

And I think this is going to be a really important step forward for our small businesses.

I think what is missing for me in this amendment, and I don't know if we, I apologize, I did just see this.

What is missing for me is our neighborhood small businesses.

I appreciate that the Restaurant Association is here and some of these other larger representatives.

In my district, we have a lot of very small mom and pop shops, very small retailers, restaurants that are owned by immigrant and refugee community members.

And I don't see any representation of their interests on this list of stakeholders.

And so I'm just wondering if we can include, for example, the Beacon Business Alliance or the Columbia City Business Association or some of these smaller, very neighborhood-focused business associations in the stakeholder list.

And I don't know if I'm asking for an amendment on the fly, but I would like to make sure that those much smaller businesses have inclusion in this process.

Councilmember Muscata, I have some thoughts on that as well, but I'll turn it over to Councilmember Muscata first as the mover of the amendment.

Yes, thank you very much Councilmember Morales and Mr. Chair.

I think that it's a point well taken.

Smaller BIAs or neighborhood business associations, I think would be a good value add.

I don't have a specific catch-all language, but if we wanted to do a lowercase neighborhood business associations, perhaps that would be inclusive enough.

It could also say including but not limited to.

and i know ann has already been doing a tremendous amount of drafting today on this so i'm happy to have that as a verbal amendment if um something along those lines would be amenable to the conversation um and the idea that you just teed up councilman morales and perhaps i'll defer to the chair if there's additional um thoughts about how to make um though the neighborhood association or bias bias fold into this potential amendment here

Yes, and I'll just say, and I'd like to get Council Member Morales' take on this.

I agree with Council Member Mosqueda on what the phrasing of an addition to this amendment could be, more broadly recognizing business improvement areas and you know, other organizations that represent small businesses, neighborhood chambers, local chambers of commerce.

I think there's maybe two options here.

I could spend a minute coming up with a verbal amendment that could be inserted, I think fairly easily into this list of stakeholders.

and we can incorporate it here.

My preference would probably be, since I don't think it would be a controversial addition, that we bring that amendment to the table.

to full council if this passes with a unanimous recommendation and just incorporate it when we consider the legislation at full council, given that I don't imagine anyone would be opposed to small chambers of commerce and business improvement areas being consulted.

I'm happy to work on that, Chair, if that's the preference.

The last comment I would make is that it is not just BIAs and chambers at least not in my district, it is just business association.

So I wouldn't want to unintentionally exclude the actual organizations that are down here, but I'm happy to work with Ann to draft something that seems appropriate.

I think that would be my preference to make sure that your intent is as accurately captured as possible and what we incorporate in the bill.

And I don't want to...

I mean, as a general rule, I don't like making verbal amendments on the fly.

Sure, I appreciate it.

Yeah, so my preference as chair would be that we move this amendment and we work on adding a couple more stakeholders to make this comprehensive in anticipation of this being at full council next week.

Is that agreeable?

Thank you very much.

To committee members?

Okay, great.

Sorry, Council Member Herbold.

Thank you.

I'm just going to jump on this effort to work on this amendment for full council and see if I can get an additional concept agreed upon to look at.

I had developed an amendment working with the Washington Hospitality Association that would address the issue of specifically businesses with short-term leases of two years or less and creating a cap on the personal guarantee of 20%.

I had tried to find out how the bill sponsor felt about that amendment and have not been successful in connecting with you.

My apologies.

But rather than offering that as an amendment, I'm wondering if we could include it in the things that are looked at as potential policy amendments for the future, looking at what the impacts of personal guarantees are specifically on businesses that have shorter leases, less than two-year leases.

I'm all for giving additional work to next year's city council.

So if that's your preferred course of action, Council Member Herbold, I'm happy to talk to you this week about how we might phrase something along those lines.

All right, thank you.

Okay, so with that, are there any comments on Council Member Mosqueda's amendment?

Any additional comments?

Seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of Amendment 2?

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Chair Lewis.

Yes.

Chair, there are four in favor, none opposed.

Thank you so much, Mr. Clerk.

The amendment passes and will be incorporated into Council Bill 120643. The bill as amended is in front of us.

and there are no additional amendments to be considered by the committee.

Are there any final comments or remarks before we do the final committee recommendation vote on this legislation?

Seeing none, and it's already been moved and seconded, I believe, so seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the recommendation to pass this legislation to the next full council meeting?

Councilmember Herbolton?

Yes.

Councilmember Morales?

Yes.

Councilmember Mosqueda?

Aye.

Chair Lewis.

Yes.

Chair, there are four in favor, none opposed.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk.

The ordinance or the proposed ordinance as amended has been recommended unanimously by the committee and will be referred to the next full council meeting for consideration.

And we can move on to the next agenda item.

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

Agenda item seven, council bill 120712, an ordinance amending section five of ordinance 125761 to establish new appointment terms for the Central Waterfront Oversight Committee and create additional positions on the committee to expand representation.

Thank you so much, Mr. Clerk.

We do have some folks here from the Office of the Waterfront for a presentation.

Director Foster, would you like to introduce your panel and begin the presentation?

Yes.

Good afternoon, Chair Lewis and committee members.

It's great to be back with you.

Marshall Foster, Director of Seattle Center, and I am here with.

I am the Waterfront Operations Manager at Seattle Center.

All right, we're gonna just jump right into this.

And I think you, yeah, thank you.

I just could do a quick, there's a lot of legislative history and building blocks that we've had that have kind of gotten us to where we were with our committee.

and where we are with considering this amendment to adding and expanding committee roles.

Most notably, 2019, we developed the Central Waterfront Oversight Committee, and we had certain positions that were going to serve three years and then other positions that were going to serve two years.

And then this really unexpected thing happened in 2021 with COVID, and we put a lot of our work on hold with being able to move our committee work along.

So we had asked at that time if we could just consider amending what everyone's assignments were in terms of terms, and we are coming down to the table to actually make that adjustment to people's terms.

I wanted to really quick showcase.

I want to say thank you.

Actually, this committee has put in a lot of work into where we are with our waterfront operations at this point.

From 2020 to 2023, we have had some really significant legislative bills done, we really so I wanted to just quickly just show you on our next slide here we delegated to Seattle Center.

For the operations and management of waterfront park which started in July sorry next slide and.

And this is just coming to life right now.

So starting July 1st, we took over operations at Seattle Center.

You see here we have our Central Waterfront Oversight Committee that's actually been out and down on the waterfront experiencing portions of the park as it opened.

We have our dedicated team that we've started hiring that this committee really supported having that dedicated team come out of Seattle Center to provide that holistic view of operations for the park.

And next slide.

We also have our public safety team, which was a really, really important piece of the operations model for the waterfront, really tailored off of the success that Seattle Center has with the emergency service unit at Seattle Center campus.

And so they've been down there as well, 24-7 since July.

And we've seen an incredible positive response from the community and a lot of community interaction engagement from this team.

So just wanted to say thank you for all of your support that has gotten us to this point because it's just really, really significant for the city and the revitalization of downtown and we are going to continue to expand this model in 2024 as we continue to complete portions of the park.

Okay, so just to focus on the legislative piece here we have in front of you, 2019 we had the Oversight Committee, which had 19 members on it.

We had six at large, eight that were tenant-led property owners or tenants, and five nonprofit organizations that are really involved in the community engagement down on the waterfront.

Their primary role is and was to advise on the operations, maintenance, and public safety of the waterfront.

They were tasked their first two years with developing a performance standard, which council in 2019 outlined very specific metrics they wanted measured for park performance with equity and inclusion, public safety.

So the committee, the Central Waterfront Oversight Committee spent two years doing a big national kind of deep dive into how other parks operated and came up with a performance standard.

And then they also provide an annual report to mayor and council on park operations.

Starting 2024, they're really going to incorporate that performance standard into what their annual report to council and the mayor look like.

So they started all this work in 2020. We did pause for COVID.

It had an impact for about a year on the committee being able to meet and actually progress work forward.

We had some delays with our construction that happened at that time.

So there was a little bit of a pause.

So this is why we're coming to request at this time to amend the terms that we had in 2020. Our 2019 legislation so it's extending original terms to an initial four years so 2019 to the end of 2023 and then changing terms to two years and sorry next slide.

following after that, so we'll do renewals on a two-year basis, and this kind of just resets everybody so that they're back on a cadence and a schedule of when we're doing renewals.

We're also looking at creating a new position for the Port of Seattle.

They are a very key governmental partner for us, and we really would like to have them have a seat at the table as we continue to work on how Waterfront Operations also impacts port operations and how we come together in partnership.

And then it creates positions for the Seattle Center Director and the Executive Director of Friends of Waterfront Seattle, which with our switch to Seattle Center for Operations and Friends of Waterfront Seattle being our key partner on park operations, really having them be engaged with this committee work is important for us.

And so this is we're proposing that the addition of the Center director and friends of waterfront Seattle and next slide.

And that would be Marshall Foster currently and Joy Shigaki for Friends of Waterfront.

And then Jerry Poor would be in our new permanent seat for the Port of Seattle.

And that is a seat that is authorized.

The appointing authority is the port and not mayor or council.

So, and that is a permanent position.

We anticipate being able to come back in the new year with renewals.

We wanted the consideration of this council bill to be at committee and if voted on and passed, allow time for the bill to come into effect before we come back and do reappointments.

But we do have a full committee that is looking to continue to serve on our committee.

Thank you very briefly.

I just want to recognize before we move into questions that this has been a very effective advisory committee to the city and want to thank them for their for their work.

I've worked with a lot of commissions and committees over the years, and this particular group has really dedicated itself to both designing that performance standard and then working hand in glove with Tiffany.

And now with our Seattle center team, as we're really putting that performance standard into practice with the actual operations of the waterfront.

And a unique thing about it that really helps is having this relationship where you've got residents, property owners, our nonprofit partners and the city department directors all sitting together and working as a collaborative team on how we solve problems.

So I just want to give a shout out to the commitment of this group.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Are there any questions or comments from colleagues based on that presentation?

Councilmember Mosqueda.

Thank you very much.

I wanted to ask here, as we have you in our committee again, we know that there's been a lot of participation that you have engaged in at the request of the council as well for involving more of our labor partners, given their active participation in helping to revive the waterfront and construct it, but also the number of people that will be involved in maintenance and regular construction.

service along the waterfront.

So all kinds of labor are involved here.

I didn't see it reflected in the presentation materials, but can you speak a little bit about that labor representation on the Central Waterfront Oversight Committee?

Are there dedicated positions for labor and are there currently members of the labor community serving on this board or in other ways?

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you for flagging that, Councilmember Mosqueda.

That is a really important position on our committee.

We have one position that is dedicated solely to labor representation, and we have MLK Labor and Katie Garrow, who currently serves in that seat and is interested in continuing to serve in that seat.

And I'll let Marshall add anything he would like to add.

So, I'll just add, as I know the council member knows, I think our recent negotiation of our management agreement with friends was a great example of where.

Having that close relationship, having.

Katie garros awareness and experience with the waterfront kind of helped to really facilitate expanding our partnership with labor.

To friends in a, in an effective way, given the history and the role she had on the committee.

So we're very happy to have them part of the committee.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

And it was really great earlier this year to reach a labor harmony agreement with a lot of our activations and activities on the waterfront and have a well-earned celebration of that moment, really centering, bringing the waterfront back and doing it in an equitable way that centers the work and elevates that work.

And thanks for the leadership of everybody here and bringing that about.

I don't really have any questions about the legislation.

I do just want to say that I think that the leadership of the Seattle Center and the partners at the Office of the Waterfront has really warranted a lot of trust and deference from this committee and from the council in terms of the delivery with hurdle after hurdle that's been thrown.

in the way of completing these projects and of getting these spaces activated, the teams that we have put in place really get it done.

And I think that this presentation and some of the other activities I've been involved in supporting the work of the department has really shown the wisdom of this partnership of having the activation for the space come from, or some of the services activating the space really come from the Seattle Center and the history of placemaking in that definitive civic campus in the center of the city and extending that to what is in essence going to be an additional big civic campus that is programmed in a fairly similar way.

So really looking forward to that firing on all cylinders and being in a position where You know, the cranes are gone, the scaffolding is gone, and it is the park that we've been waiting for for a long time.

So are there any other comments or questions before I move this for a vote?

Seeing none, I move Council Bill 120712. Is there a second?

Second.

Moved and seconded.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the underlying legislation?

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Chair Lewis.

Yes.

Chair, there are four in favor, none opposed.

The committee has unanimously recommended this legislation.

It will be referred to the next full council meeting.

Item number eight, will the clerk please read item number eight into the agenda.

Item eight, Seattle center 2022 through 2023 race and social justice initiative report.

Thank you so much, Mr. Clerk.

And sticking with our partners at the Seattle Center, we're going to move on now to the RSJI report.

I've been looking forward to this and looking forward to hearing from department leadership on where we are for 2022-23 and what it's going to look like going into the future.

So with that, why don't I hand it over first to Director Foster and look forward to the presentation.

Great.

Thank you so much again, Chair Lewis and committee members.

I'm delighted to be able to be here with our team to talk with you about our work on RSGA for the last two years.

And before we jump in, let me just do a quick allow our team to introduce themselves and then we'll jump in.

I'll hand it to you, Chelsea.

Hi, my name is Chelsea Riddick-Most and I'm the Director of Programs and Events for Seattle Center.

Hi, I'm Jackie Kern, and I'm one of two RSJ co-leads for the department.

Thank you both.

I'd like to also take a moment and just recognize Chris Zhang with our team, who is our other RSJ co-chair, who's not able to be with us today, but is here with us in spirit.

So what we're going to do, if I could get the next slide, we're just going to take you through a quick summary of where we are with our commitments to RSJ and racial equity work today.

We're gonna highlight some key program areas where we see that work really coming to life, and also areas where we focus across the work of the organization in hiring, campus improvements, department-wide services.

And then we're gonna end with a little look ahead to some of the key areas where we see ourselves centering this work as we move forward.

Next slide, please.

Overall, I think a couple of themes I want to just put on the table as we start to walk through our work in this area is kind of part of our fundamental vision where Seattle Center sees itself really moving the needle on racial equity is by integrating it into our core work.

I'm relatively new still in my role at the center.

I've been learning all the different ways we show up in this work.

And one of the things that really excites me and I think is unique are the direct ways we serve community on the campus.

Obviously through the events that you all know and have experienced, the King County Clinic, Seattle King County Clinic that we're going to talk more about, many others.

We have the opportunity because we're so public facing, to really engage people and to really focus on the way we invest our time and energy, the way we invest our dollars as an organization can really impact people and benefit them directly if we can really work this approach into the core of what we do.

We are in a moment of transition, as I've talked about at this committee in the past, where Seattle Center is changing.

We are growing into our work post-pandemic and with downtown recovery.

We are bringing new staff in.

We are seeing transition.

And so we're really looking to recommit and to build up our commitment to RSJ and to rebuild and to bring more energy into our change team as part of that as well.

And then the last thing I just want to emphasize is we're trying to be very humble and real about this work.

You know, we are gaining experience.

We have not perfected anything.

We are continuing to learn as we go.

And part of our culture we're aspiring to is to not be afraid to experiment, to try places where we think we can make a difference and also recognize where maybe it hasn't worked the way we want it and then to pivot and try other things.

So we're just trying to be very humble and real about how we do this work.

And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Chelsea to talk about programs and events.

Thank you, Marshall.

Thank you.

First on our list is the Seattle Center King County Clinic.

We are now going into our ninth year of the clinic.

It was formed as a temporary solution to support people struggling with securing the basic needs of healthcare.

To date, it has served over 30,000 people.

and who have received millions of dollars of in-kind support.

And that population includes homeowners, senior citizens, students, and working class who are underinsured.

A generous sector of this population comes from various zip codes within our state.

But what we are seeing is a growing number of people that are coming from outside of Washington State and making it a point to travel here for those services.

Many of our clients share with us that it is the only time and the first time for many that have the opportunity to see the inside of our buildings on campus like McCall Hall.

And you'll see from the slide here that this year we served over 3,000 people.

They received a little over $2.5 million in direct costs.

and we continue to grow our partnerships.

And as it stands right now, we have 80 plus partners and organizations that support the clinic.

Next slide.

Bumpershoot.

This is one of our amazing festivals that we all can be incredibly proud of.

This year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Bumpershoot Festival.

It was incredibly successful.

We saw over 36,000 attendees.

We were able to employ 700 artists, 68 live bands, and we additionally distributed over 5,000 tickets to nonprofit organizations and people from marginalized communities.

The other thing that I'm really proud of and continue to share outwardly is the workforce development program that is also a big part of Bumper Shoot.

We saw 16 youth who were placed into the workforce program.

through a competitive application process, 75% of those young people were identified as LGBTQIA plus and BIPOC.

88% of those students came from households earning less than $70,000.

The huge win with this workforce program is that 90% of those students were placed in full-time positions as a result of working in the workforce program.

Local businesses additionally saw record-breaking food and beverage numbers and noted that they received more visibility and support as a small business entrepreneur.

Next slide.

Naturalization ceremony.

We have so many things that we're so excited about.

Naturalization ceremony is one of those things.

It is into its 38th year being hosted on the campus.

This year, we saw over 500 people received citizenship representing over 80 countries around the globe.

some of our new programs and not so new programs, but certainly have proven to be a success.

This year, we hosted our first premier Afrobeats concert in the state of Washington.

We saw, it was noted, it was called the Blast Fest.

And we saw over 4,000 people on our campus and 3.8 million people accounts were reached across all platforms, social as well as digital.

58% of the attendees were based here in the state of Washington.

The remainder of the attendees came from all over the world, as well as all over the country, as well as all over the world.

We saw people from Barcelona, Madrid, as well as Africa.

We tapped into a demographic that is important to our city.

48% were Gen Z.

41% that attended were millennials.

The other pilot that we are working on that we started this year is we're working with Daybreak Star Radio, which is a streaming radio network that is primarily, that was developed to support indigenous communities.

We work with young people and they develop playlists, music playlists that we share inside of the, in the armory here on campus.

And we're super, we're really, really proud of that.

They get an opportunity to work alongside professionals here on campus that are also technicians in stage as well as video and sound.

Artists at the Center is another one of our big success stories that we're proud of.

This year, we had 26 awardees participate in Artists at the Center.

19 of those 26 awardees were BIPOC.

and they were able to display their artistry and their talents to more than 4,000 patrons that were on our campus.

We also had three of those artists participate this year in our Winterfest program, and that was by special request to have them return.

Next slide, please.

Our series Fest All, this is another one of our flagship programs and festivals that we host here on campus.

It's 24 cultural festivals that we have here on campus.

This year, we saw almost 200,000 people grace our campus to attend and participate.

in our Festall series.

And lastly, what I will say about Festall, as well as the clinic, both of these festivals were, we used the RSJI toolkit to implement different portions and areas of the of the program.

And so we look at the clinic as well as the Festol series as being a shining example of what the possibilities are for when you look at things through an RSJI lens.

Next slide.

And I'll turn it over to my colleague, Jackie Kern.

Thank you, Chelsea.

Seattle Center is using a variety of approaches to diversify hiring and increase opportunities for BIPOC employees to advance their careers.

A good example is a new hiring model for a senior position that we used that resulted in an increase in BIPOC applicants up from 16% to 31%.

Next slide.

Racial equity is an important part of campus improvements.

We're upgrading ADA access around the campus with a focus on universal design that makes facilities more accessible to everyone.

We are excited about a major $23 million ADA upgrade to monorail platforms due to an estimated 23 million federal and state grants.

And this is going to make a dramatic improvement to the platforms overall, and especially to access for those who need it.

Next slide.

We're involved in many department-wide services and partnerships.

A couple that I will call out.

Very importantly, particularly this time of year, the Seattle Center provides shelter services during extreme weather, also during unsafe air quality bouts in the summer.

And that happens at our exhibition hall and and Fisher Pavilion, and also the armory served as a daytime shelter.

We are proud of our collaboration with Seattle Arts and Culture for Anti-Racism, which is a group that involves many of Seattle Center's resident organizations.

The leader of that group, Alina Santeon, comes to our monthly resident organization meetings, and we have some very robust conversations about opportunities to reduce barriers and increase racial equity in all of our activities on campus.

And finally, customer service does a variety of things.

They provide language services for foreign visitors, for immigrants, and residents with limited English skills, and also people who are hard of hearing.

With that, I'm going to turn it back to Marshall.

Thank you, Chelsea and Jackie, for walking us through some of those elements of our RSJ program.

If you could go to the next slide.

Just in closing, I want to highlight a few areas that we're excited about as we look ahead.

At the beginning, I mentioned first and foremost for us is continuing to build up our staff's capacity to do this RSJ work.

I think it's something we've learned and are continuing to to appreciate is that this is hard work, it takes time, it takes resources.

And so we really want to deepen that commitment to an RSJ change team.

We're interested in deepening some of our partnerships in the budgeting process and looking at how that can help us drive impact.

What I mean by that is, you know, if you looked at some of the programs we just highlighted, Festal, the clinic, some of those great moments that you know Seattle Center for, Those are some of our least funded elements.

The clinic is actually something that we put together.

It was a staff initiative that was grown over multiple years.

And it doesn't have a, it's entirely philanthropically funded at the moment without dedicated department resources, believe it or not.

We want to work to create a more sustainable path to provide those services.

Programs like the Fest All series are great candidates not only to invest city resources, but we think to also leverage philanthropy and other sources to be able to expand what we do for community and with community through those programs.

A second exciting opportunity is we are excited to embark on a new strategic plan for the future of Seattle Center.

This is something we will be putting together and building the foundation for in 24. And we really see it as defining the future of this organization for the next 10 years.

Racial equity needs to be the beating heart of that effort.

It needs to be the center that we organize the whole process.

Around and it needs to ask hard questions about how we not only celebrate the things we're doing now, but go deeper in our commitment and who is at the table to help design that future.

For Seattle center, so I just want to put a flag down that that is something that is very important to how we do this artistry work going forward.

And then lastly, you know, I know the Council's aware we're very excited about our partnership with Seattle Public Schools for the new Memorial Stadium.

We are making great progress together with them and our partner, the One Roof Partnership, for how that amazing project will come together.

And one of the early steps that we've taken is to develop an approach to do a racial equity toolkit together with those partners around how the project is designed, how it is developed and ultimately how it is operated.

And to make sure that racial equity, the presence of students and student perspective Is at the center of how we conceive and execute.

That project still very much in the formative stages, but we're very excited to be committed together with the school district to do that work.

Okay, I'm going to stop there and unless there's anything else from our, from our group here, I'll open it up back to the committee for any questions.

Thank you so much, Director Foster, for that thorough presentation.

And it's great to see the summary of so many things that I've participated directly in.

You know, in one of the early slides in the presentation, the clinic was mentioned, which is always a big highlight taking that tour.

I never had the privilege of touring the clinic when it was in the key arena.

My time on the council, you know, Climate Pledge has either been open or under construction.

And it's been great to see that tradition evolve and take on a new identity in a different set of buildings, but in a way that has allowed it to expand, to thrive, to continue to have a big impact on an annual basis.

And it's always an inspiring opportunity to go and visit that clinic when it is open.

So thank you to everything that you do to put that on and continue to be the host to that really indispensable service.

Also really looking forward to the potential collaborations of One Roof and really appreciate the vigorous bidding process that produced something that is true to the spirit of what we want Memorial Stadium to not just continue to do in terms of its past, service to our community, but how that can be enhanced and expanded going forward.

And that's clearly the bid that has been accepted and the vision that has been taken on by One Roof Foundation.

So with that, I'm going to turn it over to colleagues if there's any questions or responses from this thorough presentation.

seeing none, just really appreciative of the service of everyone at the Seattle Center.

There's no department like this that I'm aware of in any other city in the country that is this civic programming and festival space that we have elevated to a cabinet level position.

It's really a unique Seattle tradition and something that continues to bring a lot of joy to me personally as someone who spent a lot of time on that campus as a graduate of the center school.

I saw Council Member Muscata come off camera for a moment.

Do you have a question?

Okay, very good.

Well, look, with that, thank you for hanging with us here, Seattle Center team, through two agenda items today.

Really great pleasure to see you and looking forward to future pronouncements and successes at our premier Seattle Center campus.

So thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Chair.

Great to be with you all.

Will the clerk please read agenda item nine into the record?

Agenda item nine, Seattle Public Library 2022 through 2023 Race and Social Justice Initiative Report.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

And we are joined in chambers by our team from the Seattle Public Library.

For those who are watching remotely, the committee clerk is assisting the library panel up to the briefing table.

So I'll just give them a moment to get settled.

Okay, and we are joined by Chief Librarian Fay.

So Chief Librarian Fay, I think I will turn it over to you to introduce your panel and get your presentation ready.

And it's been a very eventful year for the library, so I'm looking forward to this presentation.

to Chair Lewis and good afternoon council members.

Thanks for having us today.

I'm Tom Fay, executive director and chief librarian of the Seattle Public Library.

And with me today is Laura Gentry, who is the head of communications at the library, as well as our executive sponsor for the library's race and social justice change team.

Next slide, please.

And of course, before I start, I'd like to note that we are giving this presentation on indigenous land of the Coast Salish people.

And today, next slide please, we will be covering the library's RSJ activities for 2022 and 2023, and it's been a little while since we've seen you to report and update you on our work.

There are a lot of very exciting things happening and focused on equity and the various projects at the library.

Today we will only have time to go through a few of these projects, but we have submitted additional information for your review, and we're happy to answer any questions you might have as we cover them here today.

Laura and I will take turns covering these next few slides, and I'll hand this next one over to Laura.

Thank you, Tom, and thank you council members for having us here today.

On May 25th, 2023, the Library Board of Trustees formally adopted a new statement on equity, race, and social justice.

This public statement will guide the work of the entire organization, committing library staff and administration to identify and remove barriers to access for library programs and services.

particularly those barriers that result from racial, social, or economic oppression.

While the board or the library board adopted a policy on this work in 2018, we felt it was important to make a more prominent public statement about these commitments for transparency and accountability.

Of course, the statement is only as good as the action you put behind it, At spl.org slash equity, we've shared this statement along with the library's equity priorities and examples of how we put this into practice.

Some of the work we're talking about today is reflected on that page, but there's much more to explore.

We'll update the page every year to illustrate the many ways in which our staff reflect upon library service delivery to ensure that programs and services are accessible and truly representative of community identity and need.

Next slide.

This next one I want to share is our library's collection diversity audit.

I'm really proud of this work on our collection and selection team of librarians.

The library collection services team began conducting the audit in 2022 and well into 2023 to ensure our collections reflect the richness and diversity of the human experience.

The library worked with three primary book vendors on this audit, Ingram and Baker & Taylor for print books, and Overdrive for e-books and e-audiobooks.

The library's holdings were compared to titles identified as diverse, and we were then provided with a report indicating the diversity of our collection and a list of titles that weren't in our collection that we considered diverse.

All vendors reported that the Seattle Public Library ranked among the top for diversity in collections.

Ingram, for example, noted that SPL, the Seattle Public Library, ranks in the top 10% of libraries in North America, not just the United States.

This affirmed the diversity of our collection prior to the audit.

Books by and about BIPOC and queer people are also added to the collection every day.

Titles we did not have in our collection were then reviewed by our selection services librarians and thanks to their work and funding from the 2019 library levy, they have added more than 1,500 titles and nearly 4,700 copies to our print and digital collections.

This work helps amplify the voices of historically marginalized and underrepresented groups, the very people whose voices are being silenced by book bans nationwide, and why the library started, the Seattle Public Library is involved in books unbanned to this day, making sure these resources are available to everyone in the United States and its territories.

Next slide, please.

In 2022, the library also conducted an equity analysis of the Begin With Books program, which is an early learning program that has been promoting literacy skills and early learning for young children in Seattle for more than 30 years.

The program offers book kits that include board books, a music CD, a resource book, and an activity card, essentially a story time on the go.

It's a great teaching resource for parents and caregivers.

However, there's been a decline in circulation of these materials over time and a desire by library staff to make materials more visible and useful for more Seattle families.

The library conducted an external analysis of the program to determine its impact, any gaps in service that exist, and begin to reimagine the program.

The analysis found that the biggest gaps in service were to disadvantaged and marginalized communities.

This included newer immigrants, English language learners, families experiencing poverty or homelessness, and families with children who have disabilities or special needs.

The findings from the study included recommendations for addressing these gaps.

And these recommendations included increasing the diversity of materials to ensure they're inclusive and culturally appropriate, removing barriers to access that are related to lost item fees, multi-language support and needs, and access, which was most commonly identified as transportation issues, as well as engaging the community to identify their needs for this program and prioritizing access and promotion where it can have the most impact.

In 2024, the library will convene a work group to take these recommendations and apply them.

We're looking forward to evolving this program to better serve Seattle families.

Next slide, please.

Lastly, we want to share the results of an internal analysis conducted on the current state of digital equity in Seattle and the library's role in supporting and increasing digital inclusion.

This report is the work of a cross-divisional library work group formed in 2022 to assess the library's position and role in digital equity and digital inclusion.

This important work, as we know from the City of Seattle's Technology Access and Adoption Study, last produced in 2018, showed that folks who live in poverty are five times more likely not to have internet access.

People living with disabilities are three times more likely.

And people of color, older adults, and people whose primary language is something other than English are two times more likely not to have internet access.

Library staff analyzed the city's report, along with hundreds of comments about digital inclusion from library and community initiatives, including community outreach conducted for our future of the library, strategic foresight study that included dozens of community-based organizations serving marginalized communities, comments from patrons who use the library's outreach hotspots or library equal access program, Feedback received during library listening sessions and program partnerships with several community agencies and organizations, and grant applications for the Seattle King County Workforce Development Council's Digital Navigator Program.

The work group used a gap analysis approach for the report, framed by the components of digital inclusion as outlined by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance.

The report provides recommendations to help address questions of opportunity, community relationship, and the role of the library in increasing digital inclusion in the community.

Those recommendations include advocating for policies that build equity in digital access and participation, design a library program of service through a community-informed process that advances community priorities, support library staff to work with community-based organizations in support of equity goals, and promote available community tech support options via a more sophisticated just-in-time support model.

And finally, create an access plan for those who need support to participate in the library's virtual programs and services.

There are other recommendations as well.

The complete report has been submitted to you along with other materials of this report.

We look forward to evaluating these recommendations in 2024 and building a multi-year implementation plan for the work.

Next, please.

Next time we have a chance to update you in 2024, we'll be reporting on some very exciting projects that we're working on.

As you all probably know by now, we've been in the middle of our strategic planning process.

We also started that with a Future of the Library foresight process as well to look out about 10 years.

We are in the middle of that work now.

As I say, it's beyond the messy middle.

We're down to the nitty gritty and we are working through all that.

But as pointed out by Marshall Foster, one of the things that will be baked into this at every level is racial equity, equity and also race and social justice throughout the entire document.

And we want to make sure that the organization is embedding this in everything that we think, do, and also create.

We're excited to share a draft with the public once it's ready later this year and to implement the final draft in early 2024. We are also tracking the progress of the city's comprehensive plan and identifying where there are intersections and opportunities to connect.

Early learning and our youth and family learning services framework, and following some years of pandemic disruption, we made a return this year to in-person story times, in-person kaleidoscope play and learns, and in-person story time sessions at community partner sites.

The library's Youth and Family Services has developed a new service framework for comprehensively serving children and youth from prenatal to young adulthood, as well as serving their caregivers and families.

We look forward to sharing more about that next year.

We're also developing a new library app.

We're in the process of developing a new mobile library app to increase access to library services, enhance the online patron experience, and attract new patrons.

To ensure it is useful for the entire community, the app must support accessibility features, multiple languages, and represent the needs of our diverse community.

This is now in the RFP stage, and we're looking forward to a build-out by next year.

More information will be available as we turn to the first part of the year.

We are also looking at our rules of conduct.

In our materials, you'll find information about our review and future revision of our rules of conduct.

Our primary goal with this work is to eliminate racial disparities that may exist in library exclusions through both de-escalation, trauma-informed practices, and other culturally relevant strategies.

The revised rules of conduct are expected early next year.

Lastly, caucusing opportunities have been asked for by library staff for several years now.

The library's RSJI Change Team has been a leader in getting this effort off the ground for us.

We have had several staff volunteers be trained as facilitators to host staff discussions about topics important to library staff.

We're excited to launch this program in 2024 and report back to you next year.

Many thanks to our consulting partner at the Racial Equity Action Lab for their support.

And that covers our presentation for today.

We're happy to open it up to any questions you might have, and anything we can't answer today, we will follow up with you.

Thank you so much, Chief Librarian Fay.

Really, you know, lots of...

departments come under the Public Assets Committee, I do think that the Seattle Public Library is the most unique in that there are some semi-independent structures.

We do not confirm you, Chief Librarian Fay, the library board does.

And with that, I think there comes a little bit more leeway and it's always a great pleasure to get on the initiatives and projects that the library's engaged in.

I think that this RSJI report is very unique because I'm hard-pressed to find examples of other departments that we work with at the City of Seattle that do have such a big role supporting so many other institutions in the city, you know, supporting public education, supporting our higher education system, supporting workforce development and all of the other systems that rely on information.

And I really think that under your leadership, we have seen leaning into enhancing that component of programming around English as a second language, around early learning, around digital literacy, all of which are so important to the broader equity goals that we're trying to realize as a community.

So I appreciate that, and I appreciate that being within the four corners of this presentation today.

I also appreciate in the last year and a half, the library expanding their mission beyond the borders of the city to make our digital collections available to parts of this country, parts of this world that have materials that are censored or don't even have materials available.

for the broader dissemination of information through making the digital collections available and library card, special library cards available to people beyond the borders of the city.

So I really do think as far as us as a board scrutinizing the race and social justice work of a given department, I'm just so grateful to the role Seattle Public Library is doing in expanding and enhancing equity in our community.

So thank you so much and thank you for this presentation.

And expanding equity and access to information beyond our community.

So with that, are there any additional comments, questions from colleagues on the presentation?

No, seeing and hearing none, I'll give you the last word to the panel, and then we'll move on to the next agenda item.

But thank you so much for reporting back, and I look forward to hearing more about the strategic plan in particular when that becomes finalized and is made public.

But I'll give you the last word.

thank you chair lewis and thank you for the kind words on behalf of the 705 staff members of the seattle public library and the board of trustees and i would like to say thank you to this committee you have been very supportive of the library we do have that separation as you mentioned but we do believe we're part of the one seattle solution that we often hear about all of us working together.

And we have a great team doing this work every single day.

I actually get to represent them here, but I know I can never represent the quality of their work that's being produced every day.

So thank you for giving us the time to do so.

Thank you so much.

Okay, Mr. Clerk, will you please read item 10 into the record?

Item 10, Seattle Parks and Recreation 2022 through 2023 Race and Social Justice Initiative Report.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk.

This is our final RSJI report today before we move on to our final piece of legislation.

And it is with our partners at Seattle Parks and Recreation who are joining us remotely.

Deputy Superintendent Williams, are you leading the panel here?

I will.

Well, I will turn it over to you.

It's great to see you.

And I know we have a lot to talk about this year.

It's been a great year for the Parks Department and look forward to hearing about a lot of your initiatives.

Okay.

Well, thank you very much.

Thank you for the opportunity to come before you and share our race and social justice accomplishments for the period 2022-2023.

Today, we will highlight a snapshot of some of our accomplishments.

And I'll say before we get into the presentation that we are a very public-facing department.

Nearly every service and program we provide has a race and social justice imperative to it.

We frequently say that if the city had never launched a race and social justice initiative 20 years ago, that fundamentally this would be our work.

We would be doing race and social justice work even without an initiative.

Before we get into the presentation, I'd like to take a minute AND INTRODUCE MY COLLEAGUES HERE AT SEATTLE PARKS WHO WILL BE PART OF THE PRESENTATION.

AND MAYBE IN THIS ORDER, WE'LL ASK PEARL, NATONIA, TRISHA, DONNA, MICHELLE, AND DARRELL TO INTRODUCE THEMSELVES.

HELLO, I'M PEARL THOMAS.

GOOD AFTERNOON, COUNCIL MEMBERS.

human resources business partner for recreation, and I'm also the racial and social justice colleague.

Good afternoon.

My name is Natonia Tyag, and I'm the equity engagement strategic advisor.

Hello, I'm Tricia Diaz, and I've been the equity lead for Parks and Environment Division for the last two years.

Uh-oh.

Don, I think you're muted.

Can you hear me now?

Yes.

Okay.

Hi, I'm Donna Brown.

I'm an equity engagement advisor here in the facilities planning and capital development branch.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Daryl, would you like to introduce yourself?

Good afternoon.

My name is Daryl Cook and I am the other co-lead for the change team, Seattle Parks and Recreation change team.

All right, thank you team for being here and thank you for introducing yourself.

Next slide, please.

So our department's commitment to race and social justice is broad and deep, and it's also historical.

The Seattle Park and Recreation Department was one of the first city departments to pilot the idea of a race and social justice change team.

This occurred under the Mayor Nichols administration almost 20 years ago.

And since then, our practice and commitment to equity has deepened and become stronger and stronger.

We really live and breathe that equity to The equity of access to public recreation is really important and imperative.

You heard some of that in the public testimony today, and we truly believe that.

There are far-reaching examples that you'll hear about related to our commitment to equity and inclusion, scholarships that make recreation programs more accessible to Seattle's families, expanded community center hours, which were funded in the park district to create access for everybody in all parts of the city to community centers.

And then you'll hear about a variety of new grant opportunities that don't require a match.

When AP Diaz joined us as a new superintendent, He modified the vision statement to really double down on our aspiration to really live into the wider, broader commitment to race and social justice here.

So I won't read that to you, but it is intended to be a dynamic, evolving vision that I think is changeable over time, but really leans into this idea that we need to constantly be resharpening our toolkit in this area.

So with that, I'll turn it over to my colleague, Natonia Tayag, who is going to do the majority of the presentation and the other members of the race and social justice team who are on the call will serve as subject matter experts.

So, Natonia.

Thank you, Christopher.

Next slide.

So at parks, we believe to provide equitable community programs, services and access, we must start by embedding equity into our internal system.

Some of the work that we did this past year includes developing equitable tools, including worksheets and rubrics to perform equity analysis and improve our system.

We participated in a citywide equitable budgeting process to determine where we fall on CBO's equitable budget development continuum and so that we can make any necessary adjustments.

A field equity study is underway to look at the conditions of our field, particularly those in our more marginalized communities of Seattle.

And we are developing an equity and recruitment plan in human resources that includes working with us in diversity to increase the diversity of applicants' community reach and hires.

Next slide.

We're committed to continuous improvement, and training is one of the ways we get there.

Foundations of Change is our annual employee RSJI training.

It began in 2018 to center SBR to anti-racist principles.

The content and delivery style adjust every year to meet the needs of our staff and continue the learning.

For 2023 and into 2024, we have decided to do a six-part speaker series about trauma, healing, joy, and resiliency, brought to us by Deanna Mena and sponsored by our Race and Social Justice Change Team.

Next slide.

At Parks, we understand that equity work is everyone's work.

Our change team is comprised of dedicated and committed staff across our department that help us engage in RSJI work.

The primary goals for 2023 were membership recruitment and appointment at every level, training, and opportunities to gather in spaces to enhance RSJI learning with and for the workforce.

Today, the change team has a total of 11 members, including two new co-leads and executive sponsors.

A large number of new change team members require that training become a priority.

Change Team co-leads contracted with the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond to conduct a three-day undoing institutional racism workshop for the team and invited staff.

The People's Institute has a long history with the City of Seattle.

The citywide RSJI principles were actually partially derived from this training, so we thought this would be a great foundational training for our team and to have alignment with the city.

Next slide.

Moving over to our service and access work.

Having a good number of sustainable trees is a big part of environmental justice.

We believe all neighborhoods deserve access to green parks and shade.

I will highlight for you today three projects from our Parks and Environment Division where equity analysis were used to improve community outcomes.

First, we have the new tree canopy project focused on addressing existing urban heat islands.

As temperatures continue to rise in the summer months in Seattle, it is becoming increasingly important for us to provide areas of shade and respite for our community members.

80% of the 500 new trees planned this year were placed in the top two highest equity priority zones, as identified in GIS maps, like the one on the left of the screen.

The program, funded by the city's new tree ordinance, is specifically for trees placed in areas with 25% or less existing tree coverage.

Another tree project underway, shown in the picture in the center, is the Urban Orchard, behind the Amy Yee Tennis Center.

This project increases no-cost food supplies for local communities and those in the highest priority equity zones.

In phase one, which started this year, parks work with community stakeholders including Black Farmers Collective, Clean Greens Farm Market, and Black Star Farmers to design, construct, and maintain the orchard, as well as harvest and disseminate the fruit.

Next slide.

Regardless of where you live, everyone deserves to enjoy the number one park activity, a walk in the park.

and they need to be able to do that in a safe way.

The Parks Trail Program makes trails more welcoming and safer for the community by providing improved access and connection to other area amenities, such as bus lines, schools and daycares, retirement communities, stores, and other high-use needs.

On this slide, you can see four before and after photos, which are examples of the trail and trailhead renovations done this year in the highest equity priority zone.

Next slide.

Moving over to our facilities and planning and capital development divisions, we have Elevate, a Seattle Parks and Recreation initiative to elevate, diversify, and widen the platform of opportunity for everyone.

Elevate aims to strengthen the connection between design and the community it serves by rewarding vision and purpose and by providing support throughout the creation of new and vital parks design.

This additional level of engagement offered a design opportunity to launch the Dr. Jose Rizal Park renovation project in a historical Filipino community in Seattle.

Community members were asked to submit a statement of interest with the potential of moving to this stipend process and partnering with a design professional for the park renovation.

Eric Alappio, the final selected, is a Beacon Hill community member who identifies as Filipino and American Indian.

SPR is exploring the application of this expanded process to another capital project as resources and project timelines allow.

Next slide.

The Park Community Fund is a new program that gives community opportunity to apply for park grants without the requirement to match the grant funds.

PCD developed the framework after meeting with over 15 community-based organizations who helped advise on the program process and engagement.

This fund is a community initiated capital project fund focused on frontline communities that aims to advance park equity.

Over 500 participants engaged with the Hutchinson Playground Innovation Project in Southeast Seattle that was conducted in multiple languages and include a great partnership with the PTSA.

The division also held three equity-focused workshops for internal staff to engage in this year.

And next slide.

Our recreation division offers one of the most diverse arrays of programs and services across the nation.

Our programs expand from serving our 50 and better community to our mobile recreation offerings where we specifically go to what we call play deserts and offer services to those furthest away from social, physical, and economic opportunities.

We'd like to spotlight for you today, Swim Seattle.

In April this year, our superintendent and mayor hosted a kickoff event at Rainier Beach Community and Aquatic Center, launching a citywide initiative where our department and the YMCA of Greater Seattle would provide free swim lessons and water safety education to prevent drowning incidences.

This came with a focus on youth and communities of color because incidents of drowning disproportionately impact communities of color.

Since then, the Recreation Division repurposed the Swim Equity Fund where we've distributed 350 free swim lessons to youth between the ages of 6 and 18 and 1,472 scholarships where up to 90% of lesson fees were covered.

We also piloted a huge systems change where we offered early access registration to all of our scholarship eligible families.

We saw that upward of about 80% of all scholarship eligible families who registered for swim lesson utilized that early registration period, securing themselves a spot in our lesson.

Next slide.

Lastly, we wanted to share a racial equity toolkit process that our leadership team led in partnership with our nonprofit partners, the Associated Recreation Council.

Quarterly, our division prints beautiful brochures listing the many activities we offer.

There was a desire to reduce print waste as well as increase marketing reach.

So we set a goal to make recommendations that will eliminate barriers to information for our equity-seeking groups.

Some of the recommendations that we are moving forward with include improving our media and outreach efforts, like investing in ethnic media and translation of social media content, improving language access with translations of materials, and utilizing our in-house community engagement ambassador program to support bringing information to the people.

Next slide.

On behalf of the Seattle Parks and Recreation, we would like to thank you for your time and ask if there are any questions.

Thank you so much.

Really appreciate this overview.

Going to Superintendent or Deputy Superintendent Williams' comments earlier about the strong commitment in Parks and Recreation to equity.

When we in earnest were coming together in 2022 to shape the priorities for the Metropolitan Park District, my interactions with the Parks Department always started in terms of the representatives from the Parks Department from that standpoint of how will this investment advance our goals around equity?

You know, I think the final package that we produced where we dramatically expanded the equity fund, where we took out deserving projects and funded them separately to stretch even further The impact of the equity fund speaks really highly to that commitment from the department and really appreciated the guidance, the assistance of producing a package that is going to lean into that mission for all the people of this city and make sure that we do have equitable access to programming, to capital improvements, to everything that parks does as part of his portfolio.

So those values in this presentation and through that work that we've done together is something that I very much appreciated during my time on the city council.

Do council colleagues have any questions based on that presentation or any comments?

All right, seeing none, really appreciate everybody coming here and giving this update.

Always look forward to hearing what we're doing to move the ball forward in our Parks and Recreation Department and have really appreciated working with everybody here on advancing those priorities.

Thank you for all your hard work and thank you so much for coming here with some really great updates, demonstrating that commitment that runs through everything that you guys do.

So thank you so much.

We will now move to our last agenda item.

Will the clerk please read agenda item 11 into the record?

Item 11, Council Bill 120719, an ordinance relating to Seattle Parks and Recreation authorizing the superintendent of Parks and Recreation to grant and convey utility easements under portions of Magnolia Park, Magnolia Boulevard, Ursula Judkins Viewpoint Park, and Smith Cove Park to the King County Wastewater Treatment Division for the purposes of operating a combined sewer overflow pipeline and to accept payment, therefore, and finding that the grant of a permanent subsurface easement meets the requirements of ordinance 118477 adopting initiative 42.

Thank you so much, Mr. Clerk.

And it looks like Tracy is going to be our person for this.

She just came on camera.

So Tracy, why don't I hand it over to you here for an overview.

I do want to note that we will have to go through the process of setting up a public hearing for this piece of legislation.

After Tracy's presentation, I will go and say the necessary words and we will have our public hearing and then move on to consider the bill.

But first, let's pass it over to Tracy to get an overview of this legislation.

I'm actually going to pass it over to Parks.

It is executive request legislation, so I'm actually going to have them go ahead and go through their presentation.

It is very straightforward legislation in the late hour.

I don't think you need me to add what exactly will be.

There are a few comments that they have to make about this ordinance, which is, again, pretty simple and straightforward.

So I'll pass it over to Christopher, I think, and Richard to go ahead and talk about the very limited details that there are about the legislation.

Yeah, thank you so much.

Go ahead, Deputy Superintendent.

Okay, thank you so much, Tracy.

And council members, thank you for the opportunity to make this presentation.

Whenever we seek a property or utility easement in a park, we're required to bring legislation before the City Council for review and approval.

As with all such legislation, we make sure that we're meeting the requirements of Initiative 42, which is legislation that requires the use of parkland for park and recreation purposes.

And if we're going to suspend that, then we need to have a public hearing, which is what you mentioned here a few minutes ago.

This is a case where underground pipelines are going to be installed in Magnolia, and we think this use is consistent and allowable with Initiative 42. And with that, I will turn over the bulk of this presentation to our Senior Real Property Agent, Richard Golagun.

Richard?

Thank you, Deputy Superintendent Williams, for that introduction.

And I'm Richard Golagun.

I work with Property and Acquisition Services at Seattle Parks and Recreation.

And I'm a senior real property agent and have been involved with this project for some time.

So the reason, and I do want to clarify something, the pipeline has actually already been installed and has been functioning.

It was installed roughly in 2013. And that was after a federal consent decree required that Seattle reduce its sewage overflow problem, you know, to protect public health, the environment.

So an agreement was reached, and this involved several governmental entities, the City of Seattle, King County, and the Port of Seattle, to construct a pipeline.

In this case also, King County constructed a CSO, and this facilitated the Parks Department expanding Smith Cove Park with coordination with the other groups.

It was a coordinated effort.

So the city council passed resolution 31476 in 2013, granting conceptual approval for the pipeline and Seattle Parks and Recreation provided the revocable use permit for the pipeline construction.

Again, construction has been completed and it serves to reduce the overflow events that happened in the past.

Next slide.

Thank you.

So this map shows you the course of the pipeline and the areas that it occupies.

That purple line represents the actual easement that the pipeline is contained within.

If you look at the right, that is King County's CSO.

It is a non-park property with in Smith Cove playground, which is shaded green.

It flows to the left, which is westward direction.

And the parks that are impacted or involved with the pipeline are shaded in the orange, except for Magnolia Boulevard.

The portion of the pipeline is under the paved part of Magnolia Boulevard.

The pipeline is 140 feet deep.

in most places, and as it continues west, it does descend to about 20 feet, but it's well below ground, so it does not impact, impair, or affect the use of park property, maintenance, and we don't foresee any future issues with it.

Again, it has been in the ground for a while.

Next slide, please.

So today's legislation would authorize the superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation to grant and convey a utility easement on a portion of park property.

And these properties, again, involve Magnolia Park, Magnolia Boulevard, Ursula Judkins Viewpoint, and Smithco Park.

The pipeline utility easement was appraised and it was reviewed by the city appraiser.

We will be paid $330,000 from King County for this conveyance of an easement.

Again, it's a utility easement.

Our finance team has shared that this $330,000 is well-timed and that we anticipate a continued shortfall in community center revenues due to the CIP closures.

and the continued ramp up of facility rentals, which has not returned to pre-pandemic levels.

We've heard throughout the presentations how the pandemic affected basically the world.

And so this is actually something that is timely and very well needed.

Next slide.

Next.

And I open it up to questions.

Thank you so much.

Uh, do council colleagues have any questions regarding, um, the presentation from parks?

Okay, seeing none, I'm gonna see if members of the public do and open a public hearing.

So before we formally move the legislation, we need to have a public hearing on this legislation.

As presiding officer, I am now opening the public hearing on Council Bill 120719 relating to Seattle Parks and Recreation.

Are there any speakers, Mr. Clerk, who wish to speak on Council Bill 120719, either online or in person?

There are no speakers signed up online or in person to provide public comment.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk.

It is also the chair's observation that the gallery at City Hall is empty currently.

As there are no speakers or members of the public remotely or physically present for this public hearing on Council Bill 120719, this public hearing is now closed.

If there is no objection, the council rules will be suspended to allow the committee to vote on the bill on this same day that the public hearing was held.

Hearing no objection, the council rule is suspended and the committee will proceed with the bill.

So I move council bill 120719. Is there a second?

Moved and seconded.

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

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Chair Lewis.

Yes.

Chair, there are four in favor, none opposed.

The ayes have it and the unanimous recommendation for the legislation will be brought forward to the next Seattle City Council meeting.

Colleagues, thank you so much for helping us get through a very packed agenda a little earlier than I anticipated that we would.

Is there anything for the good of the order from committee members?

Hearing and seeing none, it is 4.06 p.m.

and this meeting is hereby adjourned.