ready to go.
Good afternoon.
This is a meeting of the Public Assets and Native Communities Committee.
The date is March 4th and the time is 2 p.m.
I'm Councilmember Juarez and I am chair of this committee.
Will the clerk please call the roll?
Councilmember Herbold?
Councilmember Mosqueda?
Present.
Councilmember Peterson?
Here.
Council Member Sawant.
Present.
Council Member Juarez.
Here.
Thank you.
Or here.
I'm sorry, Nicky, I didn't.
I'm sorry, it was for present.
Thank you.
So we've done our call to order, and we will move to the approval of the agenda, the chair's report, public comment, and then we have six items of business.
So approval of the agenda.
If there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.
Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.
I will now do the chair's report.
Today we have six items on our agenda.
We have three appointments and three pieces of legislation related to parks.
For folks signed up for public comment, if you're prepared to discuss agenda item four, that's the Red Barn Ranch legislation, please ensure you have signed up for the public hearing instead, which we will conduct during agenda item number four.
After the general public comment period, we will welcome our guests to present the three appointments for agenda items one, two, three.
So today we have Misha Avril for the Seattle Indian Service Commission.
I understand the Seattle Indian Service Commission Governing Council is making the recommendation.
We have Denise Moriguchi for the Washington State Convention Center Public Facilities District Board.
That's a mayoral reappointment.
And we have Ron Hsu for the reappointment to the Seattle Public Library Board of Trustees.
Again, another mayoral reappointment.
In regards to agenda item number four, the Red Barn Ranch Bill, that requires a public hearing.
All required public notices regarding this legislation have been posted and available online ahead of this meeting.
We will conduct this hearing first under agenda item four.
And then once we've exhausted the sign-up sheet, I will ask our presenters to lead us through the legislation for discussion and possible vote.
So basically on the Red Barn Ranch Bill, we'll do the public hearing first, and then we'll go to the presentation.
A reminder to my colleagues and the public, The legislation does not assess a final plan for the use of the Red Barn Ranch, nor does it assess new ownership of the property.
The legislation is a technical step by simply removing the recreational covenant on the property for future discussion on use and ownership.
I'm glad to see so many people have written to us about the future of this property.
Then for agenda item number five, we will hear a presentation from Superintendent Aguirre on a reciprocal right of entry license agreement concerning the Helene Madison Pool and the Southwest Teen Life Center Pool.
That's actually a parking agreement between Seattle Public School and Seattle Parks and Recreation.
And lastly, on agenda item six, we will hear a presentation by Parks and the Southwest Youth and Family Services team about an agreement renewal.
And I understand this is a really good PowerPoint, by the way, Jesus.
Really good section on public benefits.
So if you get a chance to look at that, I think that's on page six.
regarding public benefit, the description and the value.
And so with that, let's go to public comment.
So I need to read what the rules are here for public comment.
At this time, we will open the remote public comment period.
It remains the strong intent of the Seattle City Council to have public comment regularly included on meeting agendas.
However, we reserve the right to end or eliminate this public comment period at any point if we deem that this system is being abused or is unsuitable for allowing our meetings to be conducted efficiently and in a manner in which we are able to conduct our necessary business.
I will moderate this general public comment period in the following manner.
The public comment period for this meeting is up to 20 minutes, and each speaker will be given two minutes to speak.
The clerk will call on two speakers at a time and in the order in which registered on the online sign-up list.
If you have not yet registered to speak but would like to, you can sign up before the end of this public comment period by going to the council's website at seattle.gov slash council.
The public comment link is also listed on today's committee agenda.
Once a speaker's name is called, staff will unmute the appropriate microphone, and an automatic prompt of, you have been unmuted, will be the speaker's cue that is their turn to speak.
The speaker must also touch star six, press star six, on their phone to unmute themselves after their name is called.
Nagin, how many people are signed up?
We have six folks signed up.
Okay, so we have six speakers, two minutes apiece.
So please begin by stating your name and the item that you're addressing on today's agenda.
Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of the allotted time.
Once you hear the chime, we ask that you begin to wrap up your public comment.
If speakers do not end their comments at the end of the allotted time provided, the speaker's microphone will be muted to allow us to call on the next speaker.
Once you have completed public comment, we ask that you please disconnect from the line.
And if you plan to continue following if you plan to continue following this meeting, please do so via Seattle Channel or the listing or the listing options listed on the agenda.
The public comment period is now open and we will begin with the first two speakers on the list.
Again, can you can you start calling our speakers?
So first we'll have Isaac Joy and then followed by Naima Clark.
Go ahead.
We have Isaac Joy.
Don't forget to press star six.
Star six is
Okay, so until we can figure out the line for Isaac, let's go ahead and go to the next person, Naima Clark.
Hello, can you hear me now?
Yes.
Is this?
Is this Isaac?
This is Isaac.
Yeah, I just wanted to call in to voice the support.
Is this now a good time to speak?
Yes, it is.
You got two minutes, sir.
Okay, thank you.
Yes, I just wanted to call on the council today to support the transfer of the Red Barn Ranch to Nurturing Roots.
I think for a city council that has no black representation, it's imperative on the city council to make immediate actions to directly invest in the black community.
There are very little opportunities that make as much sense as immediately transferring Red Barn Ranch, two nurturing roots, and Black Farmers Collective for the immediate action of, immediate activation of Black urban farming.
This is 40 acres that has a history of being gifted to the city by a Black individual.
The land is currently vacant and being underutilized, and the City Council has done far too little in 2020 and in 2021 in terms of actually getting real investment into the Black community.
We know that Black wealth is near zero in Seattle.
It's 10 times less than whites.
And that falls on the actual policy decisions and the actions of City Council.
We also know that City Council has the authority right now to supersede the Seattle Parks Department and transfer this property over to Nurturing Roots who's been advocating for this land for over a year and has had thousands upon thousands community engagement of people in support.
So really I think the questions on City Council to, and on their conscience, why not make immediate actions right now to transfer this property to Nurturing Roots and Black Farmers Collective via removing the restrictive covenant, but I would say even more an expedited process of just directly transferring it.
When you think of black wealth being zero, these are decisions of folks that are on council.
You all bear the responsibility of that reality.
And so I would hope that y'all do the right thing.
Sir, I'm going to have to I didn't want to stop you because maybe you didn't hear the beginning of the instructions.
Your comments regarding the Red Barn Ranch are actually should come up when we get to item number four.
We actually have a public hearing on that right now.
So I don't know if you want to call back.
Maybe the clerk can advise us if we just take note of that.
And also today, we're not we're just lifting the covenant, the recreational covenant.
There's no There's no vote about a transfer of the land or ownership or use yet.
That's way down the line.
So how are we going to do this, Clark?
Do we have the gentleman call back at the appropriate time as the instructions, as I stated on the outset, or we just note for the record that he made the comments now in regards to item number four?
Chair Juarez, he can do either.
We can just note that he spoke right now if he wants to hold on the line until the public hearing comes up and repeat the comment again.
He's welcome to do that, but he doesn't have to.
Sir, did you hear the instructions?
Okay, well, all right, we'll just keep going then.
Okay.
Okay.
Yes.
Okay.
Yeah, we had given instructions for a public hearing on the Red Barn Ranch when we got to item number four, and that's not what we're doing right now.
We're just doing public comment on the rest of the agenda.
So you can either, we'll take your comments now and you don't need to call back Or you can call back if you want again when we get to item number four.
But thank you.
Thank you for calling in.
OK, next we have Naima Clark.
And please speak to the general comments on the agenda when your time starts.
Thank you.
May I begin?
Yes.
Yes, please.
Good afternoon, everyone.
here today.
Unfortunately, I can't see anyone.
My name is Naima Clark.
I'm a community member located in Seattle, Washington.
I was born in South Seattle, and there was a large, you know, opportunities for a lot of recreation, but there were not a lot of recreation activities for farming.
My specific reason for calling in and providing comment today is to highlight the ambitions of community to get behind this process.
I would love for city or council members to perhaps dwell upon the fact that a lot of community called in and emailed over a thousand emails in order to support the acquisition of Red Barn Going to Nurturing Roots The first step of that, of course, is this covenant.
So I appreciate the fact that this has come to council, but I want to lift up the voices of community members that actually identified this covenant being transferred as a viable solution to the land being restored.
A lot of our community support has gone into advocating and calling There's been a lot of folks, Christopher, Max, Selena at Parks Department, that we've talked to about the idea of this covenant coming away or being transferred to a new parcel.
A lot of that right now seems to benefit parks and the city.
And I believe the community is being left off as almost non-existent in that process or being silenced in a way that doesn't necessarily stand behind the original voices that perpetuated this motion of the covenant being transferred.
City Council, Parks Department hasn't done anything with this land for years, and now that there's a new parcel of higher value in South Seattle that now can be governed by the city, we are hoping that a rural area you will consider as a viable solution to our ask.
But I am in support of the covenant being transferred with, again, the institutional grace that Olivia asked for when we spoke to Christopher
Ma'am, I'm going to have to, maybe I wasn't clear in my direction in my opening comments.
We are not addressing the Red Barn Ranch during public comment right now.
We're going to have a public hearing on the Red Barn Ranch when we get to item number four.
We'll have an official public hearing.
As the gentleman before, I thank you for your words.
And so what I'll do is we'll just note that your comments were to item number four but i again caution the other callers that are on the line if you're calling about the red barn ranch this is not the time we need to talk about the other items on the agenda for public comment but when we get to item number four which is the official public hearing public comment on the red barn ranch That's when we need your comments.
But I understand there maybe have been some confusion.
So clerk, we'll do the same thing again as we did with caller number one.
We'll note it for the record.
And ma'am, if you want to stay on the line and speak again when we get to item number four for the official public hearing on the Red Barn Ranch, you're welcome to do that.
So with that, again, please, if you are calling about the Red Barn Ranch, wait till we get to item number four, where we have the official public hearing.
And today, we are not transferring any land.
All we are doing is lifting the recreational covenant.
We're not discussing the use.
That's way down the line with a lot of public process.
Mageen, can you call the next two names?
Yes, thank you, Council Member Ores, and I have noted the first two callers to be transferred to the public hearing list.
The next item for the general public comment period, we have David Haynes.
David, are you on?
Yes, thank you.
Okay, great.
City Council, I find it highly suspect and offensive that the City Council goes out of their way to sarcastically tell the entire community how much homeless trash is picked up every week, as if class war on the homeless is tres chic.
Please stop announcing how much trash and needles are picked up every week, City Council, because those needles are passed out by a church who charges rent for a mini 18-wheeler that picks up or drops off all the drug paraphernalia of crack pipes and heroin needles right next to the children's shelter.
We need better resource and outreach.
And I hate to say this, but that land you all are talking about, you're trying to grab again, that was meant specifically for particular purposes of the public.
It's not supposed to go into private hands.
And we need that for an authorized encampment for the homeless crisis with community outreach, service officers on site with 24 seven outreach to get people in a proper path.
And you need to stop exempting the drug pushers who've imploded our society, but please, Stop announcing how much trash you pick up.
Why can't you just have the unions show up with trash service every week instead of blaming the homeless, judging the homeless, and trying to hate everybody who's homeless, act as if we're the criminals, and then we throw all the trash around instead of some junkies making a mess at everything.
And somebody says, well, I'm not picking up after them.
You've got to have the same weekly trash pickup for the homeless containments that you have for the rest of the community without making announcements about it.
Please.
Thank you.
Who's next, again?
We have Muammar Herman Stein, signed up for public comment but is not present.
The next, we have Darnell Hibbler, signed up for public comment but is not present.
Amir Noir.
Sulkeen is signed up for public comment but not present.
And Timi Wacoma, signed up for public comment but not present.
We have completed the list for public comment period.
Okay, so those for the viewing public again, when we get to item number four, which is the Red Barn Ranch, we'll have the official on the record comment to the lifting of the recreational covenant.
You're not voting on the use or transfer of the property today.
Okay, with that, thank everybody for calling in.
I appreciate you taking the time to call City Hall and give us your opinions and your views on today's agenda.
So we'll go to the items of business.
So, Negin, can you read item one into the record?
Yes, and before I do that, I will note that Council Member Herbold has attended the meeting.
Okay, thank you.
I shouldn't announce officially that public comment is closed.
Thank you, Council Member Herbold, for joining us.
Go ahead, Negin.
Item 1, appointment 01874, appointment of Misha Y. Averill as member of the Seattle Indian Services Commission Governing Council for a term to June 30, 2023.
Thank you.
Do we have Senator Coffman available?
Oh, hey.
Hi, Claudia.
So I would like to invite the chair of the Seattle Indian Service Commission, Senator Claudia Kaufman, to speak to this appointment.
Senator, could you introduce yourself?
And then, of course, introduce Misha.
Ms.
Averill, I'm sorry.
Thank you, Council Member and Chairwoman Juarez.
I appreciate the opportunity to be here.
My name is Claudia Kaufman, and I'm a member of the Nez Perce tribe, and I serve as chair of the Seattle Indian Services Commission, which is a public development authority chartered by the city of Seattle.
In fact, it was the very first public development authority of the city of Seattle.
And we are charged with working and convening and providing opportunity for assets within the Native American community.
We currently have site site control over our property, which is on 12th and Weller.
And we're working diligently on redevelopment plans.
But we're so excited and happy to have Misha April join the Seattle Indian Services Commission.
She comes to us with a wealth of experience in real estate, as well as a very active and generous community member of the Native American community.
Thank you.
With that, Misha, you want to share a little bit?
We got your reappointment packet.
So I already know that you are a member of the Native Action Network in the cohort group.
So I'm going to give you an opportunity to talk about why you would like to be on the Seattle Indian Service Commission.
And of course, the governing board is submitting your appointment.
Of course, good afternoon.
I'm Isha Averill.
I am an enrolled member of the Diné tribe, Navajo Nation.
And I have grown up in the Pacific Northwest.
I work in commercial real estate right now.
And what's exciting to me is being a part of this commission allows me to give back to the community and the future, I guess, of our community and the youth and those in need.
So I'm very excited to offer my professional experiences as well as It's kind of a passion project to be part of and be excited about.
Yes, I'm really glad to see you and thank you Senator Coffman.
I know you and our friends have started the Native Action Network and Misha was part of one of the cohorts, one of the many cohorts.
with Iris Friday.
So it's really special for me to see you here today and see you and getting involved.
Exactly what the whole reason why you created the Native Action Network for young Native American women to get involved in politics.
So thank you.
It's an honor to have you here today, Misha.
Are there any questions or anything that my colleagues may want to ask of either the Senator or Misha Everill?
Am I saying your last name right, Everill?
Okay.
So with that, um, uh, I will move the committee recommend confirmation of appointment 0 1 8 7 4. Miss Misha Avril second motion has been moved and seconded.
There's any, is there any further discussion?
All those in favor say aye.
Aye.
Oh, wait, do we have to just do, it's an appointment so we can just say aye.
Right.
Clerk.
Correct.
Okay.
All those in favor, say aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
It'll be in front of full council May 10th.
So thank you very much.
And I'm glad you were here today, Senator Kaufman, as well.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The motion passes.
Good to see you.
Thank you.
You too.
Yeah.
My Navajo sister and my Nez Perce sister.
Thank you.
Hey, Nagin, you want to read the next one in?
Agenda item two, appointment 01875, reappointment of Denise Moriguchi as member, Washington State Convention Center Public Facilities District Board for a term to July 30th, 2024.
Yes, this is another mayoral reappointment.
I would like to invite the CEO and president of the Washington State Convention Center, Jeff Blosser, who's here with us today, to speak to the appointment.
Can you please introduce yourself?
And I don't know if Ms. Moriguchi is with us today, but you want to go ahead, Jeff?
Sure.
Thank you, Chair Juarez and members of the committee.
Unfortunately, Denise apologized.
She cannot be here today, and so I'm trying to do the best I can to stand in for her.
Washington State Convention Center Public Facilities District is here in support of the reappointment of Denise Moriguchi to our board.
With the opening of the new facility in the summer of 22, as well as the issues surrounding our reopening for business here due to COVID, having a continuity of board members for our leadership is very important for us to be able to move forward.
Denise chairs our outreach committee, which has overseen the MWBE program and goals for the project, zip code hires, as well as apprenticeship program.
and I'm glad to report that all are surpassing the goals established by the board at this time.
Ms. Morgucci also sits on our finance and marketing and art committee and has been integral in navigating these difficult fiscal times, being on the finance committee, and as well has been an integral part of the addition project art selection, which includes five Native American artists who will be displayed at the two entrances to the new building.
We're looking forward to having that all installed.
This is more Gucci in her comments and her application is very concerned about the safety kindness and the revitalization of downtown, both from a business standpoint as well as visitors and people coming back downtown to be able to enjoy everything that downtown has to offer.
She wants to be a major part of this rebound and world wants to work closely with City Council to help make this happen.
As a board member, we support the reappointment of Denise Morgucci to our board.
and ask your positive vote in this appointment.
Thank you very much.
I'll be more than happy to answer any questions.
Thank you, Jeff.
We have all had an opportunity to review the appointment packet, and I know that we have looked at Ms. Muruguchi's resume before.
She's a CEO at Wajimaya, and she's been very involved with the business community, and certainly been here at public comment many times on a lot of business issues.
So thank you so much for that presentation.
Are there any questions that my colleagues may have of Jeff or Mr. Blosser?
Seeing none.
OK, I move the committee recommend appointment number 01875, Ms. Denise Moriguchi.
Second.
Motion is moved and seconded.
If there's no further discussion, all in favor say aye.
Aye.
Yes.
Aye.
Any opposed?
No, the ayes have it.
The appointment passes, and we will be moving on to full council on Monday, May 10. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you for coming, Jeff.
Let's move on to item number three, Nagin.
Item three, appointment 01876, reappointment of Ron A. Chu as member of the Seattle Public Library Board of Trustees for a term to April 1, 2026. Thank you.
This is, again, is another reappointment by the mayor for Mr. Chu, who's been around, has been great to us.
So with that, I will now invite the Interim Chief Librarian, Mr. Faye, Mr. Tom Faye, to speak to the reappointment.
Can you please introduce yourself for the record?
Yes, thank you, Chair Juarez and committee members.
I'm Tom Faye.
I'm the Interim Chief Librarian for the Seattle Public Library, and I'm happy to introduce Ron's Pedigree and reason for appointment today.
Ron was initially appointed to the library board by Mayor Ed Murray in September 2016. He served on the board for four and a half years.
In that time he has served as vice president during the years of 2019 and 2020. During Mr. Chu's tenure on the library board the board is focused on a number of priorities including elevating race and social justice to a guiding priority and creating and establishing the board's race and social justice policy.
During this period the Seattle Public Library has earned a national recognition for its equity work and was named Library of the Year in 2020 by Gale Library Journal.
Several years prior to joining the library board Mr. Chu also served on the Seattle Public Library Foundation board during the Libraries for All campaign to rebuild or renew every library in our system.
Mr. Chu is a third generation Seattleite and has attended Franklin High School and the University of Washington.
He's deeply committed and connected to the community.
He recently retired from 10 years as the executive director for the International Community Health Services Foundation where he helped raise money to support a network of community clinics serving Asian Pacific American immigrants and refugees and other underserved populations.
He's served as director of the Wing Loop Asian Museum from 1991 to 2007 and served for more than 13 years as editor of the International Examiner.
The oldest and largest nonprofit Pan-Asian Pacific American publication in the Northwest.
Mr. Chu's The Principle of Chu Communications where he documents local community history through oral history and multimedia projects.
Mr. Chu's book My Unforgotten Seattle was published in 2020. and is a memoir documenting a personalized history of the Asian community in Seattle.
Mr. Chu's commitments to the community and to the library make him a solid addition to the Seattle Public Library Board of Trustees, and the board supports his reappointment.
Mr. Chu regrets that he could not attend today, but did send his best wishes to the committee.
Thank you, Tom.
Yeah, we've had, this is his second term.
These are five-year terms, right?
Correct.
Yeah, and this is the second mayoral appointment.
And we've worked with Mr. Chu on all kinds of things, including the levy.
So thank you for that great introduction.
And we've all had an opportunity to look at the appointment packet as well.
Are there any questions that any of my colleagues have for Mr. Fay?
Council Member Herbold, have you raised your hand?
I have not raised my hand.
OK.
I'm sorry, I don't have the hand raiser thing.
I thought she was speaking.
I wanted to make sure she was caught.
Sorry about the interruption.
That's OK.
OK, with that, I move the committee recommend confirmation of appointment 01876, Mr. Ron Chu.
Second.
Motion has been moved and seconded.
There's no further discussion.
All those in favor of the appointment say aye.
Aye.
Those opposed?
They were non-opposed and the appointment passes and it will go to full council Monday, May 10th.
Thank you, Tom.
Thank you, Mr. Fay.
All right.
So, Nageen, you want to, let's go into, now we are at number four regarding the Red Barn Ranch.
So Nageen, you want to read number four to the record and then we'll start?
Yep.
Council Bill 120048. in ordinance relating to the city-owned real property known as the Red Barn Ranch and to the featured North Rainier Park, authorizing the superintendent of Parks and Recreation to execute documents removing recreational covenants from the Red Barn Ranch and placing a restrictive covenant onto the North Rainier Land Bank development property.
We'll first begin with public hearing, followed by briefing discussion and a possible vote.
Thank you.
So we will now open the public hearing on Council Bill 120048. How many people do we have signed up besides the other two that already spoke?
We have six.
We have six new people?
Six people signed up, yes.
Okay, so we have six people signed up for this hearing.
When your name is called, you will have two minutes to address this item.
You will hear a chime when you have 10 seconds left.
Once the speaker's name is called, staff will unmute the appropriate microphone and the automatic prompt of you have been unmuted will be the speaker's cue that it's their turn to speak.
The speaker must also touch or press star six on their phone to unmute themselves after their name has been called.
Before beginning your comments, please state your name for the record.
So with that, Nagin, you want to go ahead and start calling our names?
Sure.
So first on the list is Nathaniel Menges.
Daniel.
Daniel, are you with us?
Hello.
Yes.
Can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you, sir.
Go ahead.
Okay.
Yes.
Thank you for having me today to all the council members and to everyone who's spoken on their issues today.
There's so much important work going on in this city, and I'm honored to be here in this space with you all today.
As far as Red Barn Ranch, I've been involved in conversations and actions with Nurturing Roots for some time now, since last year, and I've wanted to support their work, and I believe that it would be an amazing opportunity for Black folks and, you know, folks in Auburn.
We really want to connect with the Puyallup Tribe around how to transform that land, that underutilized land, into a space that can come alive and support food security and not just hunger, but children's education and a space for all kinds of folks, marginalized folks, to be able to be together and heal and learn together and to get in touch with food and land So as far as the covenant goes I think removing the covenant and the ways that that will create more flexibility for how this land can be managed and what kinds of transfers can happen would be a positive thing.
This is just like Naima mentioned as long as nurturing roots is prioritized in helping move that process forward.
I'll end my comments there.
Thank you.
Next, we have Isaac Joy listed.
Isaac, are you on?
Are you there, Isaac?
The caller has left.
OK.
OK.
Go ahead.
Naima Clark?
I see Naima.
Thank you.
Yes.
Thank you.
My name is Naima with Nurturing Roots.
I'm calling in support of the covenant being transferred to a new landscape in South Seattle.
I want the record to show that this covenant transfer was initiated by thousands of comments, calls, and emails from community supporters.
And those supporters wanted the covenant transferred so it can remove any barriers for community to access the Red Barn Ranch parcel.
I've spoken to a lot of county.
I've spoken to parks and rec.
And the parks department seems very adamant about finding a way to get community on that land.
And one step was this covenant.
So I just want the record to show that once again, community has created a tidal wave that the city will benefit from by receiving a new landscape in the city that's higher value.
But how will it benefit the community that actually started this movement?
I just want to lift up all the voices that have, you know, triggered this.
And I hope that a lot of County, excuse me, a lot of city officials, both County and in parks will identify why this was triggered.
And again, in favor of moving the covenant to, in hopes for community to receive access on the red barn land.
Thank you.
Next.
Next is.
David Haynes.
IT, is that the updated sign-up sheet?
It's correct.
Okay.
David Haynes is not here.
Council Member, shall I move to the next person?
Yes.
Okay.
Trayana Holiday.
Don't forget to press star six.
Hi, everyone, this is trying on a holiday and I just wanted to say that I fully support removing this restrictive covenant that is not allowing for this property to be transferred to such an amazing community effort as nurturing roots and.
transforming this into Red Barn Ranch.
I echo so much all of Naima's comments in regard to how we need to have a community approach towards food stability food sustainability and Nurturing Roots has proven that they have a direct model and direct connection to community organizations and groups to help bring a multitude of services and resources to this space.
And so I fully support uplifting this restrictive covenant that unfortunately means that there's some type of layers of bureaucracy that nurturing roots would have to go through in order for them to even get this property.
Again, I think Seattle as a city has an opportunity to lead with these kinds of direct actions that mean a direct impact for Black community.
And when we talk about it being in your hands, this is one action you guys can take.
as a collective council to say you know what we understand the need for this in community and we oblige that need because we do have to find innovative ways to move forward from so much restrictive covenants like this one that would keep nurturing roots from acquiring Red Barn Ranch.
So I'm in full agreement with leaving that old covenant behind and moving forward in an innovative way.
And Seattle taking the opportunity to lead and show the rest of the nation how we get things done.
Thank you.
Next is Rachel Perlow.
Can you hear me?
Yes.
Yes.
Rachel, go ahead.
Hi, my name is Rachel Perlow.
I was born in and I live in District 5 in Seattle.
And I just want to echo Naima's comments.
I think that removing this covenant from Red Barn Ranch is a great next step.
towards transferring this property to the community.
I'm an urban farmer in Seattle, and I think the more farms we can get to improve Seattle's food sovereignty and food security, the better.
So fully in support.
Thank you.
Next, we have La Jolla, Washington listed, but is not present.
I just want to confirm that.
Okay, next we have Emijah Smith listed but not present.
And then we have Alexander Place signed up but is not present.
And then the last person signed up is Karen Toring and is listed present.
Karen, are you on?
Yes, I'm here.
Can you hear me?
Yes, we can, Karen.
Go ahead.
Thank you all very much and thank you committee for considering removing this restrictive covenant so that the community can put that Red Barn Ranch property to the best and highest use.
I support the previous speakers.
I have been in community with those speakers.
I know the work of Nurturing Roots and the Black Farmers Collective.
I believe that they are ideal candidates.
to have the property transferred over to them.
It is the best way to activate an inactive space and I am in full support of removing this restrictive covenant.
One other thing that I would like to add is that the agenda that was published for this particular meeting had only one item.
So I would ask the council staff, the committee staff to You know, if there are four items on the agenda, then the public should be able to see those four items so that we can be properly prepared.
But I support and approve this work.
I think it is the right way for the council to go.
And I would hope that future bureaucracy related to the transfer of this land to nurturing roots and the Black Farmers Collective be expedited.
Thank you.
Thank you.
OK, with that.
Are we?
That is the end of our list, Council Member.
OK, great.
So we'll need to close as well.
Standby, we have one just came in.
OK.
We have another caller.
Someone else for public comment on the Red Barn Ranch.
Son, who is it listed on your list?
Because I'm not seeing it on mine.
Number nine.
Thank you.
Timi Wacoma.
And I apologize if I'm butchering your name.
Are you available?
Hello?
Yes, we see her.
Go ahead, Timi.
Can you hear me?
Yes, we can.
Go ahead.
Hi, I'm here.
Can you speak in regards to the Red Bar Ranch?
I just want to echo the comments of the community members that I'm close with that spoke on the call.
I completely agree with removing the restrictive covenant.
The work that Red Bar Ranch has done so far in our community has been life-changing.
It's been inspiring.
And for land to be not in use this is a perfect opportunity for the city to do something forward in the community and put it to use through the Red Bar Ranch.
So I just want to uplift, again, all the sentiments that were said by the community members that I care about so much that took their time to be on this call to inform you all that this is the most important project that we consider.
So, yeah, that's all I wanted to say.
Thank you very much, Jamie, for calling in.
Are we any more callers?
Okay.
I believe we're done.
Okay, so at this point, we are going to officially close our comments for the public hearing, which was item number four on the Red Barn Ranch.
And so we are now going to move forward and hear a presentation by Seattle Parks and Recreation on the legislation.
And I would like to invite our presenters, and I ask everyone to introduce themselves for the record before beginning, but I want to make a few comments.
Superintendent Aguirre is here and he has an eight page PowerPoint that is going to walk us through what we're going to do today regarding the Red Barn Ranch and the North Rainier Land Bank property.
So we are removing, we are working today to look at removing the recreational covenant from the Red Barn Ranch, which is a ranch located outside of Auburn, not in the city limits.
It's about 39 acres.
And we're also looking at placing a restrictive covenant on the North Rainier Land Bank site, which in the future will be a new neighborhood park in the south end.
So with that, I'm going to hand it off to the superintendent and you can make introductions and we will go through your PowerPoint.
So go ahead, Jesus, it's yours.
Thank you, Chair Juarez and Council Members.
Jesus Aguirre, I am Superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation, and we've got several folks from Parks and Recreation here for the various presentations, so I'll let the two folks who are going to help me out with the first item introduce themselves, and then if it's okay, we'll introduce the others as we go along.
So, Selena, why don't we kick it off with you?
Hi, everyone.
Selena Elmer on the SPR Policy Team.
Good afternoon, Council Members.
Max Jacobs with Seattle Parks and Recreation and Real Estate.
Thank you.
And I think, um, the game is going to share the presentation as we jump into it.
Yes.
One moment.
Thank you.
Look, I'm looking at the history on this.
Hey, Sue.
So this looks like the city bought this way back in 1970.
That's correct.
Yep.
40 years.
Yep.
Okay.
Are we ready?
Okay.
Can folks see the screen?
Yep.
Okay, well, thank you again, council members.
And as we get started here, I wanna absolutely acknowledge and express my appreciation for all the folks who came to testify today, but also all the folks who have been advocating on behalf of a new use for this property, particularly the individuals from Nurturing Roots, some folks from King County Equity Now, and really appreciate the advocacy that they're sharing in terms of supporting black farming and investing in BIPOC community.
Obviously this kind of advocacy really helps us and pushes us to explore different possibilities for the site and really think about creative uses for this underutilized land.
So we appreciate that very much.
And as you said, Chair Juarez, the idea here obviously is procedural to some extent to clear the way so that we can begin to do some more creative thinking.
And the next steps for this property have not yet been identified.
But again, we do appreciate the ongoing advocacy and collaboration on behalf of community.
So, again, if you can go to the next slide.
Just to give folks a little bit of geographic awareness here, as Council Member Juarez, you stated, this is a property that's just under 40 acres, 39 acres, excuse me, that is southeast of Seattle, near Auburn, and about 30 miles southeast of Seattle, near Auburn.
The map you can see on the left, on the right, it sort of shows you the layout of the site.
It's got some, you can see sort of that white square.
There's some structures in the top left, and then there's some forested land and some wetland areas to the right and then to the south.
So it's a pretty big piece of property, has a lot going on there, but largely it's open space.
Next slide, please.
In terms of some of the historical context here, and as you said, Council Member, the city did in fact purchase this property back in 1970. And that's part of the reason why we're here today, because the way in which the city acquired this property was utilizing funding from the Recreation Conservation Office.
Whenever we purchase land, and we do that to this date, whenever we purchase land with funding from Recreation Conservation Office, we accept these grants with the requirement of placing restrictive covenants on the property that's being purchased.
And those restrictive covenants require us to keep the land in use for parks and recreation and continue to provide public access.
So, you know, historically, again, this property has been with us for many, many years, has been used in various different ways, as you can see here by the history.
Most recently, in the 2000s, Seattle Tilth had been on the property along with Camp Baraka.
And then in 2014 to 2018, Seattle Tilth was there on their own, and then they vacated the property back in 2018. Since Seattle Tilth left, we began at Parks and Recreation a process to try to understand and identify what we could do with this property.
Some very practical and pragmatic challenges for us are where the property is and how much work it requires for maintenance and supervision, etc.
So we pretty quickly realized we wanted to dispose of the property and thus began the conversations with the Recreation Conservation Office about what we could do with the property.
And those conversations started way back in 2019, as I said, once, once till the month, but the property has been vacant since then.
Next slide, please, Nagini.
And just a quick overview again, as I said, this recreation restrictive covenant comes with the funding source.
So therefore, in order for us to do anything differently with this property, we would need to remove the covenant.
And that's what we're here asking for your approval, which again, This would limit us.
If we don't remove these covenants, then what we can do on this property is pretty limited.
So again, without it, we wouldn't be able to do anything differently.
So it's also important to note that in addition to these covenants that are restricting the use currently, another step as part of this process will be to take a look at initiative 42, which for council members, you should know for members of the public, initiative 42 is, Um, so there's lots of reasons why, and obviously we'll get into that more deeply when we come back to you with this, We expect to be coming back to you all to address that and likely would need to just move forward with setting aside initiative 42 with regards to this.
But more to come on that.
That's not what we're asking today.
Today is just about the RCO commitments.
Next slide, please, Nagini.
And so part of the process to remove this covenants was first getting approval from the Recreation Conservation Offices.
And I said, we started this back in 2019. More recently, in January, we were able to get approval from the RCO board to remove those covenants.
But in order to remove them, we have to put them somewhere else.
And that's the reason why the North Rainier Land Bank site comes into play.
In order to place recreation covenants from one property, move them to another, it has to be a piece of property that has not yet been developed.
And we have very few of those that qualify for this.
The North Rainier property is really the only one that's a good target.
We have one other that is on Lake Union, but that already has been identified as a place to transfer some other covenants that were working as part of another project.
So the other reason why this property, the the North Rainier site makes sense is it's a site that we're already seeking our additional RCO money for, Recreation Conservation Office money for, so there will be covenants on that property anyway, so this is really a great opportunity for us to take advantage of that.
So again, today we're going to ask you to release the existing recreational deeds from the Red Barn Branch property.
We're asking then to record a new deed covenant on the North Rainier property which again allows us to, it doesn't intervene with our current plans for that property.
In fact, it allows us to move forward.
The timing on this is important.
As I mentioned, in order to remove, to transfer the covenants to a new property, that property can't yet be developed.
The North Marineer property is actually one of our land banks that is moving forward.
And again, pending some receipt of grants, we're planning to move forward that development this summer, as early as July.
So we'd like to move these covenants over if we're able to do it, so then we don't slow that down.
Next slide, please, Niki.
Sorry to back up just a tiny bit, just to show folks where the North Rainier property is.
It's in, excuse me, Southeast Seattle.
This is a series of kind of land acquisitions we've made to pull together this property, which then, as you said, Council Member Juarez, will be a neighborhood park of about 38,000 square feet.
And again- That's one acre, right?
It's just under an acre, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's correct.
Next slide, please.
And then as we've been stated several times here, this is just the first step in order to create some flexibility for us to do something different and creative with the Red Barn Ranch property.
Once we remove the covenants, then we've already begun engagement with consultants to help us understand what needs to be done on this property for future use.
Now, obviously, in order to figure out what needs to be done, we have to have a better sense of what the future use is.
So there's still some work to be done there.
But ultimately, We imagine or we actually we would plan on designing and implementing this sort of community visioning process that would help us then identify the long-term use, then work with the consultant to figure out what needs to happen to the property in order to support that specific long-term use, whether it's one organization or several organizations.
Still have to do some restoration on the site.
Again, figure out what we as a city need to do to the property to be able to move forward.
And then there's several aspects of further legal analysis that have to be done.
I mentioned initiative 42. There are also some questions around if we're going to invest further resources, whether they're, for example, if we needed to invest other resources from the park district, for example, can we spend park district money outside of the city of Seattle?
So some legal analysis and legal work that still has to happen as we work through this.
Again, this is the first step that we're asking for today.
And I guess on the last slide I have here, Nagin, if you don't mind, again, just asking you all to help us transfer this Recreation Covenant from Red Barn Ranch to North Rainier site allows us to be more creative and have more options with the Red Barn Ranch.
And it allows the timing of this allows us to continue the development of the North Rainier site.
And those are the slides on this item.
I'm happy to take any questions.
And Selena and Max can chime in and help out with any questions if I don't have the answer.
First, let me just add, thank you for the PowerPoint, Superintendent.
And also, I had a chance to go through the summary and the fiscal note and, of course, the legislation.
And I, too, appreciate.
We've gotten many, many letters about the use of this and advocates for the use of this property in the future.
I know that you had, like your PowerPoint had showed, the city had bought this in 1970. And now this is just another technical piece of removing that covenant.
And then of course, placing a restrictive covenant for you can land for the north, the Rainier property.
So that's a good thing.
We can move forward on that.
So I'm gonna ask, I'm gonna open up the floor and see if there's anything else from my colleagues or anyone else that wants to share any information or ask any questions of the superintendent or Selina or Max.
Okay.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Kasper Herbold, please.
Thank you.
One of the things I heard folks speak to in the public hearing is a desire for there to be a reflection in the public record.
I think in what I was hearing was sort of a reflection, not just in the public record, in their testimony, but in our actions that we're taking about the interest in transferring the property to Nurturing Roots and specifically supporting the vision for creating a space for black farming, a healing space, and youth empowerment on the property.
Really appreciate the work that the leaders have been doing at Nurturing Roots and meeting with the leadership at Parks and Recreation regularly since last year.
We've received hundreds, maybe thousands of emails encouraging this transfer.
And I'm just wondering, is there a way that we can sort of memorialize this interest in our legislative action, maybe with a recital or something, just in order to you know, to respect and honor the engagement and efforts of community members to, and their work really to have brought us as far as we have.
Well, I could answer that as a lawyer, but I'll let the superintendent because today it's just technically, just to legally, just to remove the covenant, I assume from the PowerPoint and my discussions with the superintendent, we have a long public process ahead of us and we can certainly entertain resolutions, Council Member Herbold, this committee can, honoring and voicing the concerns and the interest of the group.
And you're right, we have received hundreds of letters from the nurturing, is it, I forgot, I'm sorry, I just, I had it written down.
from the Nurturing Roots Organization and from the other folks.
But I should be in all candor.
There's some other groups that are interested in this property as well, including some tribes.
So I guess with that, that's why we have this.
Right now, this is just the first step.
Just get rid of the covenant.
So now it's free and it's open.
Answer the initiative 42 issues that we have to do for parks.
And then we're gonna start the process about Again, with the whole public process, with the person that Jesus and them hired, you guys hired a third party to come in to advise you, and then we'll start the public process there.
And I think there will be plenty of opportunity for us to entertain resolutions for particular groups and address some of the issues that you've said, Council Member Herbro to honor the voices and about their main concerns about this property.
But we're not doing that today about use.
In fact, that's why we're being very clear about it.
Right now, it's just lifting the covenant so we can move forward.
Is there anything that you want to add, Superintendent?
No, thank you, Council Member Juarez.
I would just want to clarify, the consultant we've engaged in is only on the physical property itself in terms of what work needs to be done.
We've not begun discussions with any consultant about a future use.
And we have had lots of discussions internally with other agencies to help us understand, again, both the legal hurdles as well as opportunities for a community visioning process that would then get us to start asking those next series of questions that you mentioned.
So when will the consultant be able to get back to us, this committee?
Well, just tell us exactly what is the deliverable from your consultant.
Sure.
So we've had one consultant that engaged and looked at the existing buildings to give us some information about what useful life is left in any of these buildings.
Some of them, they're clearly recommending to be demolished.
There are others that could be usable with significant investment.
The challenge we have, though, council member, is that we have that data.
We need another round.
But that second round of of information really is dependent on what we anticipate the next use to be.
So we sort of have to do it.
We have to do these two things together.
So as we identify a process to understand what the next and long term uses property is, then we will bring on the consultant to help us as we get to that to that answer.
So I don't have a deliverable anymore for a consultant beyond what we currently have, which is a report in hand that, again, gives us some very facility-specific items to do.
And that was really if we have this property ourselves, what would need to happen to make it safe and just viable to keep the property going.
So.
Right.
And we've had these issues before where we've gotten property.
and there's been structures on the property.
And this property has been vacant for three years.
So there's going to be some structural issues, some safety issues, just like we've done before.
We had flooding issues on other pieces of property where people just said, why can't you just give it to us?
And we're like, well, we can't.
There's liability issues.
You can't just build housing there.
A lot of stuff was zoned before.
the growth management act and a lot of other, you know, a lot of other acts and laws.
And so I understand that this was bought in 1970 for a purpose, but I'm guessing it outgrew that purpose.
So that's why right now, and since it looks like the County didn't want it, or that didn't work out the County, King County.
So this is why we're moving forward just to remove the covenant.
But I do appreciate, appreciate your sentiments and what you're trying to establish council member Herbold.
And there will certainly be opportunity for that.
And it would be in this committee.
Yeah, and I wasn't suggesting any amendments to the legislation that predetermined any use of the property, merely to recognize that we would not be discussing lifting the covenant if it were not for the interest of the community in this piece of property.
Council members, there is a recital in the ordinance that talks about the city exploring the options for the future use of the Red Barn property, including the potential transfer to, or the property to an outside entity.
Again, with the expectation that any kind of transaction would come back to the city council.
So I think there is a nod there, at least in that very broad and vague language about the fact that they're gonna look at a potential transfer and other use, but again, not at the specific level that some may have wanted, but I don't know.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready.
I'm not ready and you're then transferring those to another property.
You've got, we've got a 38 acre property here currently, and then you're transferring it to a property that has, I think you said about one acre.
Is there any sort of equivalency requirement or just to sort of make sure we're abiding by what the state requires?
That's a great question, Council Member.
I'll start, and then others on the team can chime in.
But essentially, there is a consideration for value.
I think what happens here is we have 40 acres, but it's out in King County, not in the city of Seattle.
The North Rainier Land Bank site is much more valuable.
So the real question here was for us to, that's part of the question, we went to the Recreation Conservation Office to ask them if this was sufficient for them.
Once they agreed to it, then we're fine.
And that's part of what they consider is whether there's a comparable exchange there.
So I don't know if that answers your question, if you wanted a more legal question.
Yes, thank you.
Thanks.
All right.
Any other questions?
All right.
So if there are no further questions, so we can move to a vote.
In order for this committee to vote on a final recommendation to the city council, we first need to suspend the council rule relating to voting on legislation on the same day a public hearing is held, which we had.
With that, if there's no objection, the council rule relating to final committee recommendations on legislation on the same day a public hearing is held is suspended.
Hearing no objection, the council rule is suspended.
We will now proceed with the vote.
I move that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 120048. Second.
There's been a second.
Any more comments?
All right.
Will the clerk please call the roll?
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda?
Yes.
Council Member Peterson?
Yes.
Council Member Sawant?
Yes.
Council Member Juarez?
Yes.
That's five in favor, none opposed.
All right.
That passes, and that will, the committee's action will go to full council on Monday.
All right.
Let's move into item number five, Seattle Public, I'm sorry, This is all about parking.
Seattle Parks and Rec and Seattle Public School, but go ahead, Nagin, why don't you read into the record.
Item number five, I'm sorry.
Council Bill 12033, an ordinance authorizing the Superintendent of Parks and Recreation to execute and accept from Seattle School District 1 on behalf of the City of Seattle a reciprocal right of entry license agreement concerning Helen Madison Pool, Ingram High School and Southwest Teen Life Center and Pool, Chief Sealth High School.
Briefing, discussion, and possible vote.
All right.
So I'm guessing we have the same presenters if they could, excuse me, again, for the record, introduce themselves before you begin your presentation.
And again, this is the reciprocal license for parking for Seattle Public Schools in Seattle Park and Rec.
Superintendent?
Sure.
Esther Zaguirre, Superintendent, Seattle Parks and Recreation.
and Max.
Good afternoon, council members again.
Max Jacobs with Seattle Parks and Recreation Real Estate.
I think for this, we're going to have Lise Ward as well.
Hi, Lise Ward, Seattle Parks Real Estate.
Hi, Lise.
Well, this is a really exciting PowerPoint on parking issues.
I just want to let you know.
Leave it to us to make even parts.
Yeah, there's eight, six pages of riveting information.
I thought it was to use each other's pool.
No.
So I'll jump in and thank you again for sharing the presentation.
This is exciting.
It's certainly important to us and exciting to us in the school district.
But as you stated, we're here to request approval for a reciprocal license that allows us, agreement that allows us to share parking with the public schools.
And we, as you know, council members, we do a lot of facility sharing with the school district across the city with fields and buildings where we work together.
This one's a little bit different because it doesn't fall within the joint use agreement because it's much more about our own facility operational requirements.
And it just requires a different model here.
So the first slide, if you don't mind, Nageen, again, this sort of captures the overview.
We have a situation in which on the north part of town, we have a lead Madison pool with parking.
adjacent to Ingram High School with limited to no parking.
In the southwest part of town, we have a Southwest Teen Life Center pool with no parking, and then the Chief Sealth High School compound with lots of parking.
So SPR and SPS share these facilities, and we've done so, I believe, for decades at this point, and this is just a renewal of an existing relationship that we have.
On the north end, Ingraham High School students and staff would use the Madison Pool parking during the school days, during the school year.
And then our staff and patrons on the southwest side of the city would use the Chief Sealth parking, essentially at all times when we have programming.
Next slide, please.
Again, just shows you a map of where the two locations are.
I think folks on the call know where these are.
Next slide, please.
A little more specificity on the left, where this one shows you the relationship between Ingram and Helene Madison.
If you look on the left-hand side, it's a pretty packed compound there with the high school on the left and the field to the south.
The yellow little inverted L there is the parking lot that belongs to the Department of Parks and Recreation that's attached to the Helene Madison pool, which is to the south of that.
On the right, you see the parking lot in sort of an actual picture.
Again, there's 128 stalls where this agreement allows the school district, specifically students and staff and visitors of the school, to utilize those 128 stalls during the school year, during school hours.
And then the Parks and Recreation Department and patrons utilize the remaining stalls and any other stalls there for the use of the swimming pool.
Next slide.
And then, again, similarly, well, a little bit different here.
Here, the school district has all the parking, and you see on the sort of middle left is where our Southwest Teen Life Center and pool, and then to the right is the fields of the school, then up to the top is the high school.
So the yellow boxes there represent the parking stalls that are subject of this agreement.
We have access to 85 stalls And we're able to use them at all hours aligned with our program, with the exception of some negotiated days where the school district, as you can imagine, the stadium has significant events on a regular basis during the school year.
During those days, the access that we have to the parking is reduced.
And so the school district can have their event.
And then the next slide is just to do a little due diligence.
We went through and had an appraisal of the two properties, the value of each of those stalls that's being shared, just to make sure that there was some comparability here.
And for the parking spaces at Chief Sealth, the stalls there are a little more higher value than the stalls over at Wayne Madison.
So when you look at the overall, if we went out to market and we were renting these spaces or the school district was renting them, essentially it would be an even swap.
And so this is where we think it makes a lot of sense for us, both operationally and it helps us, helps the school district and us meet our parking needs.
So that's all we have.
Max, or others, if I left anything out, or council members, happy to answer any questions.
So any questions, colleagues, to our presenters here today?
And we did get, and Elise, you did the summary and fiscal note.
Thank you.
And had a chance to look at the legislation as well.
Any questions from anyone?
Basically, a renewal of agreement to share parking.
pretty straightforward, okay.
With that, I will move forward then.
I move the committee pass Council Bill 120033. Second.
There's been a motion, it's been seconded.
If there's no further discussion, will the clerk please call the roll?
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda?
Aye.
Council Member Peterson?
Yes.
Council Member Selland?
Yes.
Council Member Juarez?
Hi.
Five in favor, none opposed.
Okay, let's read item number six into the record, which is the Southwest Youth and Family Services Use and Occupancy Maintenance Agreement.
Did I just read that?
Did I just do your job?
That's okay.
That's good.
Council Bill 12050, an ordinance relating to Seattle Parks and Recreation authorizing the superintendent of Parks and Recreation to execute for and on behalf of the city a use and occupancy and maintenance agreement with Southwest Youth and Family Services to provide family support center programs consistent with Seattle Parks and Recreation purposes.
There will be a briefing discussion and possible vote.
So, Jesus, this was the one where you have your, what is it, eight page PowerPoint?
And I want to thank you because I really like the public benefits piece.
I know we're not to page six yet, but that's a really good example to lay out the benefit, the description and the value.
So I'll let you go ahead and do your presentation, but.
Well done, thank you.
Thank you, thank you very much.
And obviously all the thanks go to the staff.
Again, I'll introduce myself for the record, Jesus Aguirre, Superintendent, Seattle Parks and Recreation.
In addition to the Parks and Recreation staff that I'll ask to introduce themselves, we also have Steve Daschle, who is the CEO of Southwest Youth and Family Services, who will also be participating and assisting in the presentation.
So Joanne, do you want to introduce yourself?
Sure, Joanne Orsucci, Manager of Parks, Contracts, and Concessions.
And we also have Bob Warner here, if he jumps on.
Hello, my name is Bob Warner, and I'm also with Parks and Recreation.
I see Joanne did the summary and fiscal note.
It was a team effort.
Oh, OK.
Well, I was thanking the superintendent, but thank you.
Thank you.
And Steve, do you want to introduce yourself?
Is he there?
Yes.
Thank you very much.
I'm Steve Daschle.
I'm the Executive Director of Southwest Youth and Family Services.
Thank you.
And so we have a presentation customer, we'll jump into it again.
We'll ask Nagin to share.
Thank you, Nagin, for your help.
As we go through this, this is the renewal of a 20-year agreement that has been in place between the Department of Parks and Recreation and Southwest Youth and Family Services Center, really to continue a partnership that aligns with our mission vision in terms of supporting community.
And so we'll go into some of the wonderful services that Steve and the team there do.
This is a lease that actually expired in 2015, and we've been renewing it year over year as we've sort of navigated our way through not the least of which is a pandemic, but also to your point, Council Member Juarez, the whole public benefit aspect of this.
And I will say that this was a partnership that started back you know obviously 25 years ago now with the intent that it was going to be an opportunity for Southwest Houston Family Services to be in this building at no cost in exchange for their service to community.
And so as we went through the public benefit identification really working with Steve and his team to make sure that we were able to articulate all the great work that we did that they do quantify it in a way that made sense for us in terms of our new framework for public benefits, including the reporting, et cetera.
So that's what this agreement is all about.
I'll go in and jump into the presentation.
The next slide here just shows you where this facility is.
And it's important to note, this is down in Delridge.
This is the old, the former Delridge Community Center location.
that we're talking about, which you can see by the photo here.
The new Delridge Community Center is just north of the picture on the top right there, to sort of give you a sense of where we are there.
And of course, this is a location that is well aligned with the mission and the work of the Southwest Youth and Family Services Center in terms of really looking at working with the community members who have the highest needs, both in Delridge and the High Point community.
Just a little bit.
Next slide, please.
A little bit, just in terms of the history here, as I mentioned, this is a long standing partnership.
We're really pleased to continue this.
I had the opportunity to visit the facility several years ago now with Steve to see some of the great work they're already doing.
But back in 92, The city, as we entered this partnership, really allowed Southwest Youth and Family Services Center to design and develop and build a new facility there on the site of the old Delridge Community Center.
And in exchange for their investment that they raised $1.2 million to do that, they would then have access to the building free of rent.
and provide those services to the community.
So they've, as I stated, they've been a valued partner providing, and Steve can go into this, but youth development, mental health services, family support, education services, again, to some of our neediest community members, at least most underserved for young people and families here in Seattle.
Next slide, and then I think I'll turn it over after this to Steve, but again, this is a, we're renewing a lease that was in place for 20 years with several one-year extensions.
We're proposing a 10-year extension here with an option for another 10-year extension.
under mutual agreement.
We've done the analysis in terms of what the market rate rent would be, which is just under $200,000 per year that would then be adjusted based on the CPI.
And as I said at the beginning, but our intent clearly here from the very beginning was to continue this longstanding partnership to work with Southwest Youth and Family Services Center to be in the building without having to pay rent in exchange for the great services and programs that are offered to the community.
Another thing to note here that's important certainly for us at Parks and Recreation is that Southwest Youth and Family Services Center takes care of all of the building itself.
They do all of the both major and minor maintenance, they have their own custodial, et cetera.
So in addition to providing access and services, we at the Department of Parks and Recreation do not have to worry about that building.
And we can talk about some of those specific things in the public benefit.
At this point, I'd like to turn it over to Steve on the next slide, and again, talk a little bit about some of the programming.
Great.
Thank you very much, fellow council members.
I don't often get a chance to talk about Southwest Youth and Family Services when I talk to you, and so I'm grateful for this opportunity.
You know, just a brief history.
You know, Southwest Youth Policy Board was created in 1979 as a function of the city of Seattle.
And so we were actually a part of the city when we were founded to respond primarily to the accountability courts that were put together at that time.
for young people who were getting involved in the criminal justice system for the first time.
And they didn't have anywhere to refer them to.
So they created four of us, Southeast, Southwest, Central, and Northwest at the time to sort of be those referral sites.
And over the last 40 plus years, we've developed programming in four main areas.
Behavioral health, we're a licensed mental health agency and we provide a variety of supports for young people and their families, including, you know, anti-violence work and case management and youth development, as well as therapy for youth and families.
We have an education program for kids who've been kicked out or dropped out of school.
And we do a summer writer's workshop.
that allows for young people to express themselves in the way that they see fit.
And it's just a phenomenal program.
We have a family resource center that was initially started by the city of Seattle and has been with us since 1991. and where we support families, primarily immigrants and refugee families, to access resources and supports.
It also is the home of our Parent Child Plus program, which the city of Seattle supports, but is also supported by our county in every way.
And then we have youth development that we do some youth development work in Seattle, but most of that came as a result of our merger in 2013 with New Futures, a program that serves South King County and five apartment complexes where we have facilities and staff to provide youth development and family advocacy.
Just to give you a brief overview of the organization's budget, we have a $6 million budget.
We are roughly divided 60-40, 60% public, 40% private.
Of the total budget, about 20% is the city of Seattle.
So the majority of our budget is actually from sources outside of city funding.
all of the funds that we use to offset our rent is from other sources other than the city of Seattle.
We're grateful for being able to use this facility.
It's a phenomenal building and I've been the executive director at Southwest now for almost 33 years and I got to negotiate the original lease And I'm thrilled that I'm here 20 years later negotiating the second lease extension.
So other than that, I'm going to turn it back to Jesus.
I think we have one more slide, right?
Thank you, Steve.
I appreciate the fish behind your head.
Thank you.
Thank you, Steve.
Sometimes I feel a little underwater at times.
I like that.
Um, yeah.
So the next couple of slides go into more detail, uh, to your point, customer is about the public benefit and certainly Steve, feel free to chime in or Bob or Joanna, if you want to talk about any of these, but these just give you an outline of the various programs.
And I think the key point here is Steve mentioned, I want to underscore the idea is that we, part of the reason we wanted to make sure we outlined this very specifically is to ensure that whatever we're giving, uh, Southwest, uh, uh, credit for in terms of public benefit isn't aren't programs or aren't other services that are being funded by city dollars.
And so that's what you see here.
So obviously this doesn't capture the entire scope of the work that Southwest Youth and Family Services Center does, but it gives you an idea of where we're giving them credit for that.
So- Yeah, it lets the public see how it's offset though.
Exactly.
And that's what's important.
And that's why when we focus in on public benefit, when we're talking about city owned material, our assets, where we have to explain to them, this is how it balances out because they provide this public benefit and there's a number attached to it and services.
This is why they don't pay rent or whatever.
We aren't collecting fees from these groups.
So that's why I was complimenting your staff on this PowerPoint in particular, because we often have to explain why particular organizations use city public assets for programs.
And we explain that it's because they are contributing a public benefit.
They're keeping the public in the institution itself.
So thank you.
Yeah, thank you.
And you know, to that end, in addition to the $1.2 million that already has been invested in the building itself, Southwest Youth and Family Services Center invests roughly $384,000 a year of non city dollars serving the residents and the folks in the area.
So This gives you a breakdown and the next slide gives you further information about program scholarships and outreach.
And again, I don't wanna, Steve, feel free to chime in on any of these.
This is your work and it's really wonderful and fantastic.
So happy to let you chime in or let council members ask any other questions with regards to this, but we really would appreciate your support in extending this agreement for another 10 years and giving us the option for a second 10 year extension.
Mr. Daschle, is there anything you want to add before I open it up to the floor to my colleagues?
No, I think these slides have done a wonderful job representing our work.
I think given that much of our work is focused on the BIPOC and immigrant refugee communities, I think we are facilitating public policy in the work that we do.
I often say that the nonprofit sector is the implementation arm of public policy.
And I think we're an example of that work we do together to better serve our community.
And with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions.
Thank you.
Colleagues, are there any questions that we want to ask of our presenters?
Council Member Herbold.
Not a question, just a statement and appreciation and thanks.
I want to thank first the Parks Department for working with Southwest Youth and Family Services historically.
in creating this partnership that I think is, as Steve says, is so important for driving not just our investments, but for driving public policy, and appreciate the reminder from Steve how cutting edge your organization was around the conversation that we are continuing to have today, which is about alternatives to the criminal justice system.
And just really, really appreciate all the work that you do in Southwest.
So thank you.
I just want to add to Steve that, you know, looking at it looks like this, the last one, you guys negotiated this in 1996. 25 years of contributing and being an example to other organizations about what you do for the community that goes, as Council Member Herbert was saying, that implements the policy and the issues that we have for the city to have these nonprofit groups out there.
So thank you.
I know you guys do some really good work, and I know Council Member Herbert is very proud that it's in her district.
Is there any other comments anyone would like to share?
I thought I was going to hear from Council Member Mosqueda, but I guess not.
Well, I say my district too, and it's just around the corner.
Appreciated the tour.
Steve, thanks so much for that time a few years ago.
You bet.
Great.
OK, so with that, folks, we have no further questions.
I am going to move the committee pass council bill one two zero zero five zero second.
Great.
The motion has been moved and seconded.
And will the clerk please call the roll?
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda?
Aye.
Council Member Peterson?
Aye.
Council Member Sawant?
Yes.
Council Member Juarez?
Aye.
That's five in favor, none opposed.
Great.
The motion passes, and we will recommend this to full council on Monday.
So thank you so much, all of you folks, for showing up and doing all this great work.
I am going to use your public benefits template for other departments that aren't so good on the public benefit piece.
I'm going to use it as an example.
So thank you.
Well, Joanne has been a great help.
Joanne did a good job, and the summary and fiscal note as well.
Thank you.
The history there is always really important, so thank you.
Good to know.
Okay.
So with that, that will go to full council on Monday, the 10th, I believe.
So with that, um, we will move to adjournment.
I can never say that word.
And we're going to adjourn that concludes our items of business.
All items passed out of this committee will be forwarded to the May 10th city council meeting for final action.
The next public asset and native communities meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 4th at two o'clock.
That's also the day that my daughter turns 30. And with that, we stand adjourned.
Thank you.
Thank you all so much.
Bye, guys.
Thank you all.