Council Briefing 7/8/2024

Good afternoon, everybody.

Today is July 8th, 2024, and the council briefing meeting will come to order.

The time is 2.02.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Present.

Council Member Kettle.

Here.

Council Member Moore.

Present.

Council Member Morales.

Here.

Council Member Rivera.

Present.

Council Member Saka.

Here.

Council Member Strauss.

Council Member Wu.

Present.

Council President Nelson.

Present.

Eight council members are present.

Thank you very much.

Okay, if there's no objection, the minutes of July 1st, 2024 will be adopted.

Seeing none, the minutes are adopted.

All right, we have no proclamations, presentations, or executive sessions today, and so I'll just go through what's happening tomorrow.

On tomorrow's City Council meeting agenda, there are eight items on the introduction and referral calendar.

The weekly bill payment ordinance, an ordinance allowing SPU to seek to modify the 2013 consent decree with the State Department of Ecology and the federal EPA regarding sewer overflows.

an appointment to the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners, a package of three ordinance that make adjustments to the 2024 budget, which are the three pieces, a Labor Appropriations Ordinance, the 2024 Mid-Year Supplemental Ordinance, and the 2024 Mid-Year Grants Ordinance, and then two resolutions relating respectively to City Lights 2024 Integrated Resource Plan Progress Report and its 2025 to 2030 Strategic Plan.

All right, the consent calendar includes the weekly bill payment ordinance and three appointments to the Equitable Development Initiative Advisory Board.

And there are three pieces of legislation from committees, Council Bill 120788, the 2024 Transportation Levy Ordinance and a related resolution 32137. And Council Bill 120761 relating to converting non-residential structures to residential use.

All right.

I wanted to be clear that I mentioned the consent calendar and then those last pieces of legislation in quick succession.

I wanted to make sure that people understand that the transportation levy bill, those legislations are not on the consent calendar, of course.

All right.

As I said, no proclamations for signatures today.

Before I go into the preview of Council actions in a round robin, I did want to note that on Friday, the Northwest Asian Weekly published an article condemning the hate speech desecrating historic buildings in other places throughout the CID in early July.

I applaud them calling this out, and I'll add that it's absolutely unconscionable that the messaging targeted a sitting Asian council member in an apparent attempt to intimidate you know, her out of office.

Now, this is precisely the kind of toxic language and messaging that is, that has the result of keeping good, dedicated public servants with histories of community activism or organizing or whatever from actually running for office.

And we want to reverse that.

And so I'll note that In addition to what was mentioned in that article, in 2022, Council passed Resolution 32065, condemning, quote, harassment, threats, and political violence against elected officials, election workers, those seeking elected office, and other public servants, unquote.

So I feel that I have not only a moral duty, but also a...

Well, a legislative duty to speak out against this and also just to speak out in general against this sort of racist attack.

And so there might be some comments from people during their round robin, but I did think that it did bear mentioning at the top of this meeting.

With that, let's go right into the council previews.

And the roll call today begins with Council Member Hollingsworth.

Go ahead, please.

Thank you, Council President.

Good afternoon, colleagues.

Parks Utilities Technology Meeting will be this week on Wednesday, 7-10.

Yeah, 7-10 at 2 p.m.

The first thing, we're having a presentation about ball fields.

I know that a lot of people wanted to hear about that to understand...

our inventory, how many fields have been turfed and how many are lit, the whole nine.

So full presentation, I've seen it so far and it's gonna answer a lot of the questions people have had about ball fields.

We also are gonna have a presentation from Brian Gidnight from Central Staff, which is going to be the second presentation from our strategic business plan for SPU.

We'll be going over that as well.

And then there's also information about the flood district, the flood district for South Park and our arrangement with King County.

So we have a bunch of stuff that we have to handle.

I don't have any updates like in the community.

Last week, obviously, was a holiday.

I want to thank Unity Church and District 7. Boom.

Council Member Kettle's district.

Sorry, I'd like to hop around in everyone's district.

So thank you for the opportunity to connect with the congregation and do meetings and connect with people that had a great service.

a great service.

And then I spent my 4th of July last week, which is even though it's in LA on Skid Row with, it's a gentleman named Kevin Call.

He's in the mayor of Skid Row.

And for the last six years, I've spent my time down with him once a year to connect with people.

He does a great job.

He has a great story, 21 years served in prison.

He lived on Skid Row and now he gives back to the community.

So anyways, had time with that and Humanity Heroes, which is started by a woman who grew up in the Central District and they will be coming back to here on 23rd and Jackson to do a big giveaway of backpacks.

So that will be fun.

And so that's our connection there.

And if any, there's no, I really appreciate Council President bringing that up.

about some of the destruction in the CID with historic buildings.

As I said before, anytime people do stuff, especially at black churches, it's anti-black, and I think that what was done in the CID on historic buildings is defacing its vandalism, and we just have to call it out, so.

I really appreciate you bringing that up and I will continue to call it out as best as I can on my public platform and in public as much as I can.

So thank you.

I will pass it off to Council Member Kettle.

Council Member Hollingsworth, if I might, sorry, before you take it over.

Council Member Kettle, I do have a question.

I'm not on your committee.

You mentioned one of the agenda items is ball fields, and I've seen, heard from constituents who are concerned about, not a ball field, but a play area at the Rainier Beach that's gonna be redone with, I don't know what the, it's not AstroTurf, but it's the artificial turf.

And there are a lot of concerns around its impact on children's health, because it's very loose and kids inhale it and it's got its problems.

So I wonder if during that committee, you can just ask a little bit about how they came to the decision to use that instead of real grass and if it is a final decision or still worth Community is very interested in having something besides that.

Got it.

The play area at Rainier Beach, it's being done.

Not AstroTurf.

You're right.

It is turf.

I know that they switched over from using rubber to cork because of that concern, but I will find out more regarding that.

No problem at all.

Absolutely.

Quick question, was that Rainier Beach or Rainier Community Center?

Both in your district.

It might be Rainier Community Center.

Because the Rainier Community Center, I know for sure, was recently, I guess, hybrid.

They had a hybrid...

turf and like basically covers the infield.

I know for firsthand, I'll, I'll share it during my portion in just a minute, but, um, you know, so I was just curious, is that the, the, the play field?

They just did the, they redid the play field.

The Mariners redid the play field, uh, last year.

Um, this is the, the children's playground area.

Oh, okay.

Yep.

Yep.

I got you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's the infield that's redone with turf, but like, um, I'll find out how they came to that decision and if they can, you know, all that good stuff.

Thank you.

Yep, absolutely.

And with that, I will pass it off to Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Council Member Hollingsworth.

I will start first.

Thank you, Council Presidents, for your remarks.

It came to my attention to the Northwest Asian report.

And it's not just historical buildings.

It's also parking kiosks.

And since then, I've seen it or been reported to me on yard signs.

And this is clearly wrong in what's happening.

And it should not just be you know, a great, PUBLICATION HERE, BUT PUBLICATIONS ACROSS THE BOARD.

AND, YOU KNOW, WE NEED TO LEAD BY EXAMPLE, SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR RAISING IT NOW AND FOR US TO SPEAK ON IT AS WELL, BECAUSE THERE IS NO PLACE FOR THIS IN OUR CITY, AND WE NEED TO STAND UP NOW, BECAUSE IF WE DON'T, IT'LL ONLY GET WORSE.

AND THEN PEOPLE WILL JUST EXCUSE IT OR PERMIT IT, AND WE CAN'T ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN, SO THANK YOU FOR RAISING IT.

APPRECIATE IT VERY MUCH.

In terms of my report, previewing, tomorrow we have our Public Safety Committee meeting.

It's gonna be focused on two things.

Street racing bill that we have, that we've been working with our stakeholders and so forth about this bill, including two amendments from Councilmember Vice Chair Saka In addition, we're going to have our accountability partners for their mid-review, so CPC, OIG, and OPA will be joining us tomorrow.

Also coming up this week, we have a PSRC Transportation Policy Board meeting on Thursday.

I will be traveling that day, so I'll have to defer to my colleague also on the board, Councilmember Saka, for that.

Also this week, we have Coast Guard-based Seattle tour, which will be happening on Wednesday.

And then later this afternoon, I'll be touring the King County Correctional Facility this afternoon.

I should also note in community, we have the Queen Anne Community Council meeting this Wednesday as well.

And since I'll be traveling and I'll be traveling back, so I'm presaging my point about not being here next Monday, I just wanted to note the following week I will be visiting The Holocaust Center for Humanity on Wednesday the 17th.

Mary's Place on the 18th.

And then we will have our King County Board of Health meeting on the 18th as well.

And in terms of last week, obviously it was a holiday week, 4th of July.

I had a tour of the Garden of Remembrance.

Royal Hall right there that same block is an outstanding memorial for those lost in our city particularly World War two through the present day and this is city of Seattle property to by the way both been Royal Hall and garden remembrance and It's something that should be celebrated, it's something that more people should know about it, but it's also something that needs to be kept up, too.

They do have some challenges with the trees that we need to work through, and I just really encourage everybody I've kind of volunteered my fellow veteran to the group.

I haven't had a chance to tell you yet, but I'll do it right now.

But I think it's something for everybody to attend and, you know, to visit and to see.

You can sit and reflect, but really to meet with the governing board of it, too, just to get the sense of, you know, the challenges that are facing.

And it's...

Very good shape.

The one challenge does relate to the trees, and that's something that we would have to work through at some point.

It's nothing immediate, but something that we need to have on our radar screen at the moment.

So that is it, and I will turn it over to...

One point.

The Garden of Remembrance is where the annual Memorial Day celebration is, if I recall as well.

So some people might have already been there if they've attended that event.

that celebration.

Yes, and definitely encourage that.

And I've had a family bad habit of being out of town on Memorial Day, which I express my regret on the tour.

But it's also opportunities other times of the year as well to be part of official, like you were saying, Memorial Day celebration.

So that's something that I encourage everyone to attend and participate in.

And because...

It's really poignant, you know.

At the end of my tour, one of the people giving me a tour was a Gold Star mother, and she was highlighting the name of her son.

And, you know, it's really difficult.

And, you know, it goes to, for those that read my Memorial Day letter, it goes to the idea of not forgetting.

And I think that is really important.

And I made that point to her.

And so, yes, we have to do that collectively as well, not forget.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council Member Moore.

Thank you very much.

Sorry.

I was just thinking about what you said.

It was very moving.

And I too want to echo your comments about the hate speech that was displayed against our colleague is totally unacceptable.

My apologies that you endured that.

And also to the community, it's unacceptable.

So I hope that there's something more that we can do besides just calling it out, maybe to call it out more regularly.

And it comes on the heels of a time when we're very divided nationally, and I think it only contributes to that division, which we need to be united.

We are in an existential crisis in this country at this point, in my personal opinion.

Moving on from that, let's see, we have the Housing Human Services Committee this Wednesday.

We will be hearing from housing providers on the current challenges they are facing with the city's rental regulations.

And then we will also be having a presentation from HSD on their community safety work, particularly around gun violence and prevention programming both what they are doing and also their partnerships with King County, and then also the mayor's executive orders and how that's going to be implemented.

So I think it's going to be a very informative and interesting presentation.

I would encourage everyone to attend.

Just let my office know if you're going to be coming.

And last week was...

The highlight was our road and select committee, transportation committee.

I don't have anything to offer beyond that.

So thank you very much.

And I'll turn it down to Council Member Morales.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, everyone.

As council president said, there are four items from the land use committee on tomorrow's full council agenda.

We have three appointments for the EDI advisory board and council bill 120761, which is the office to residential conversion bill.

That bill did, the committee recommended unanimously that that bill pass.

So we will be hearing it tomorrow.

The next Land Use Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, July 17th, and we anticipate hearing seven items at that meeting.

We'll have an annual report on the status of the attached and detached accessory dwelling unit ordinance that was passed in 2019. We'll have a briefing from the Equitable Development Initiative on the program.

I think my staff sent around an email this morning, but we are requesting committee members, if you have particular questions that you would like them to come prepared to answer, please try to let us know by Wednesday so that we can share that with the team and they can come prepared to answer.

We also have four appointments to the Planning Commission Advisory Board.

And then we're going to be having a series of round tables on the comprehensive plan.

So over the next four land use committee meetings, I'm gonna have community stakeholders joining us to talk about how the city can meet our anti-displacement goals.

So the first meeting will be July 17th to talk about anti-displacement and housing.

We will also be talking about climate accessibility and mobility issues and economic development and arts.

This will be a series of discussions led by community and stakeholders and folks who are engaged in this work.

So this is not for city staff, just for...

my committee members' information.

So yeah, so that's everything related to committee.

Tonight I'll be attending the 37th Legislative District meeting with OPCD.

They are hosting a discussion on the Comprehensive Plan, so we'll be talking about that.

Tomorrow I'll be meeting with the Church Council of Greater Seattle, which houses the Faith Land Initiative and organizes around supporting our immigrant populations.

My team and I will also be meeting with representatives from Space Between, which is a nonprofit that facilitates mindfulness-based social-emotional learning in South End schools.

We met them at my in-district office hours several weeks ago, and so we're going back to learn a little bit more about what they do.

And my office will also be joining the Executive Leadership Advisory Group on Gun Violence Prevention on Wednesday in Bertha Knight Landis.

This is the second meeting of this body in 2024. Our first meeting was at Lumen Field several, a few months ago.

And this will focus on the recently announced 100 Days of Action Initiative in partnership with the Regional Office on Gun Violence Prevention.

And then finally on Saturday, my team will be attending the South Beacon Hill Block Party hosted in partnership with the Department of Neighborhoods, the Parks Foundation, the Seattle Foundation at the site of the Climate Resilience Pod, which we were able to secure funding for in the last budget cycle to build neighborhood connections and resiliency.

And this is really an effort to start piloting some of the green building and climate resilience building projects models that we're using in the city for some of our community centers.

There are no questions?

Did you have a question?

My ears picked up when you mentioned economic development in the arts because that's now the third committee that's mentioned something having to do with that and I never thought that the two would be cool together.

You did your round table.

I've had a piece of economic development in the arts.

So could you talk a little bit more about that?

Yeah, so both of those are elements in the comprehensive plan.

And we are especially interested as...

These things are all connected when we're talking about neighborhoods.

What is...

required for a neighborhood to be thriving, what besides housing and transportation do we need?

And it's about small business, it's about, as we have all talked about already in different venues, the importance of the arts sector in our economy, the importance of cultural space in our neighborhoods, and having space for cultural anchors.

And all of that relates to how we use ground floor space in our neighborhoods as well.

So I know there's a heavy emphasis on that in downtown, but throughout the city, our commercial corridors and our commercial districts also have art space or an interest in art space and anchors.

It is also, from my perspective, a way to engage young people We're working with the folks at King Street Station.

There's several different youth arts organizations there that focus on how to support young people in their music, in their art, in their learning production skills, and it's really a way to try to drive the next generation of creatives.

all of that has implications for what kind of land use, what kind of uses we allow in our neighborhoods.

So that's sort of the connection of all of that to land use and I'd love to have all of your.

I fully support that.

I would say also get the support of the Music Commission.

I nominated somebody to the Music Commission because he was really focused on the dearth of venues in the South End for performances.

And so I recognize that as a need.

And support whatever process you're doing to...

rehearsal space, production space, all of that is also part of this conversation as it relates to land use.

So, yeah.

Great.

Thank you.

And I will add, in terms of the arts sector, how, you know, artists are also small businesses.

They're...

And so, really, galleries and...

and other retail spaces for artists to be able to sell their art is really important.

And it's in the economic development space, not usually thought of in that way.

And I think artists themselves from my prior work at the Office of Arts and Culture, a lot of artists don't necessarily see themselves as entrepreneurs, but they are.

So I think all those kinds of opportunities in addition to the venues, it's also really helping artists be able to make a living in their work.

in their trade.

And learn how to actually run a small business.

They don't think of themselves as entrepreneurs.

They think of themselves as artists often.

Correct.

So giving away their product is not a good business practice.

No, it's not.

There's an expression called exposure kills.

Yeah.

So some of that retail can go toward the arts as well.

All right, well, I guess it's my turn.

Thank you for that.

So this week, well, first I wanna say, I wanna underscore what many of us have said today about hate speech.

There isn't room for hate speech in this city.

It is really...

I'm speechless whenever this happens because it is something that I take really seriously, as do we all, and so know that I will offer any support to my colleague and anyone else in the city who's been a victim of a hate hate speech crime, that is a crime.

And so I appreciate you bringing it up and we should bring it up every time it happens because this is how we address it.

We don't stay silent when these things happen to our colleagues or anyone else in the city.

So I wanna start there.

um also want to say this week i have um the next meeting of the library's education and neighborhoods committee this week's meeting the department of education and early learning deal will present on the 4.5 million dollar mental health pilot investment as you may know deal received a 500 000 allocation in 2021 and then a $4 million allocation in 2022 to look at implementing mental health services in schools.

Initially, it was post-COVID to address the impacts of COVID, and then when the shooting happened at Ingram High School, it brought in to deal with the aftermath, sadly, of that.

And so this particular 4.5 million investment, like I said, was the investment that was made between 2021 and 2022. And it's specifically what deal we'll address in addition to addressing the school-based health centers, which is an investment that's made out of the families and education and preschool promise levy.

So they will be doing this presentation.

I would welcome as many of you as would like to sit in to hear on this presentation on what DEAL has done.

You may also know this is not, and you've heard me say, this is a new line of business for DEAL.

DEAL doesn't normally do mental health services, and so I'm very much looking forward to hearing from DEAL on how they went about, and they did a lot of work working with, I know, public health and Seattle Public Schools, as well as parents and students on figuring out the best way to implement this investment.

And this is what they're gonna be presenting on Thursday.

So please let us know if you'd like to attend.

And like I said, I welcome as many of you as would like to come and hear how deal went about.

implementing this investment that actually most of those contracts are just starting this year in January because it took them and rightfully so some time to figure out how to best implement.

And then I will say these, next few days look to be in Seattle like record-breaking heat so I'm gonna take an opportunity to do a little PSA about staying safe and looking out for our vulnerable neighbors as you may know the city has libraries community centers and then water facilities you can find a list of libraries and community centers that are air-conditioned on the city of Seattle website and so just Be mindful if you have a neighbor that might have that type of need, please do help them and direct them to an air conditioned safe space.

So stay safe out there and I hope everyone had a safe and fun July 4th as well.

So unless anyone has questions, I will pass it on to my colleague, Council Member Saka.

Thank you, Council Member Rivera.

And thank you, Madam Council President, for raising the issue that we no doubt are all aware of.

And I didn't come in to this briefing prepared to speak on that, but now that it's out here, let me just say a few words from my heart, which will be way better than anything that I could have pre-thought and thought about in advance and written up.

You know, what happened was wrong.

What happened was hateful, it was misogynistic, it was xenophobic.

And we need to shut down that kind of behavior immediately.

I think as a city, to be honest, we need to do a better collective job of living up to our values that we purport to hold near and dear, not just when people happen to philosophically or politically agree with whatever our policy position is.

And I don't care who happened to be the subject of that.

I want you all to know, colleagues, I will stand up and defend against any of that behavior targeted towards any of you all, because it's wrong, it's abhorrent, it's shameful, and we can do so much better as a city.

So let us do a better job of living up to our purported values and let us continue to shut that down, address it and call it out.

Council Member Moore, I appreciate your comments earlier.

We do need to do more, but it absolutely starts with calling it out every single time.

So make no mistake, I call out that nonsense, prospectively call out any other hateful speech targeted towards any last one of you all.

Cannon must do better.

I'm sorry that happened to our colleagues, one of our colleagues.

We learned through last week at the select committee of the levy that we can and are able to effectively champion our, whatever our policy position is on any number of topics, advocate hard for it.

And then if it doesn't end up passing in the final thing, collectively moving forward together.

It's a great playbook, I think, that will serve this council well on a going forward basis as we continue these thorny, complex, very deliberative, delicate conversations on any number of topics.

But my point is we can work together effectively.

We can advocate forcefully for our thing, whatever that is.

And we can unite and rally towards a common goal...

in any event.

And I'm sorry that happened.

All right, so...

I guess segue into something a little Little lighter, little better.

Thank you all colleagues for your support, your engagement, your collaboration, your partnership over the past few months of this levy.

Proud that we voted it out of committee.

Tomorrow is our final vote.

So at the full council level.

So stay tuned, but I just wanna say, I think we put together a thoughtful, balanced package that reflects our collective priorities.

And yeah, just thank you again.

We couldn't have done that without really a full court press by this council and a collective team effort by all of you and your respective offices.

and appreciate the partnership with the mayor and his efforts to put together a great initial package that we could make even better once it got to our court.

And so stay tuned for the final vote tomorrow.

On Wednesday, I will be participating.

And here's a heads up to the chair of the committee.

So we're going to do a joint executive legislative bill signing.

The mayor's going to sign the bill on Wednesday because now is, again, the time for unity.

These were...

very intensive, deliberative negotiations, deep engagement by many constituents, stakeholders, and it will soon be behind us.

But as we look ahead, we're going to move forward together.

So again, colleagues, thank you for your participation, your engagement and collaboration.

Really, really appreciate it.

And as an aside, today is the first day of my brand new legislative director, Ian Griswold, proud to welcome him as the newest staff member in my office and newest member of our broader legislative department.

Couldn't be more excited to welcome Ian on board.

He has a diverse array of professional experience.

And he's also a graduate of the Evans School of Public Policy, which I know a few of you have LAs from as well.

And he's also...

He also earned his law degree from Gonzaga University.

So please do.

I sent out an email earlier today welcoming him officially, but please do, colleagues, welcome.

Stop by as your schedule permits, you and your staffs, and welcome Ian to the team.

And final thing I'll say gives me great joy and glee, because sometimes, I love what I get to do every day, wake up and do this job.

I say it a lot, but I really do mean it.

I do feel privileged to be able to wake up and do what we do every day.

And sometimes, sometimes our worlds, so we write policy, we show up for communities, we listen to communities, we try to amplify the voices of various communities in all we do.

And And sometimes we just show up.

That's sometimes, you know, half the work.

But really a proud parent moment recently when my world as a council member and a proud father collided recently, last week to be exact.

Colleagues, as you know, I have three young kids.

But...

And then all of them participated this past spring in baseball or softball, in my daughter's case.

And I coached one of my kids baseball, because I don't like sleeping, apparently.

But my daughter, her 10 and under softball team for West Seattle Little League made it to the District 7 Championship, and I'm proud to say, and apologies in advance, Councilmember Hollingsworth, but they defeated the mighty, strong Central District team from Seattle Central Little League, to be exact, for the District 7 Championship, and they won, and I got to attend that game in wearing two hats, And so now my daughter Maeve's team is on to the state tournament, along with three other teams from West Seattle Little League softball teams who all went to the state, advanced to the state tournament.

Congratulations to the players themselves and the coaches.

It takes a village to do all these things.

Congratulations to their mighty opponents, including Seattle Central Little League.

Great coach that they have.

And I guess this is also a plug.

Their tournament is next week in, I don't know, some Othello maybe, who knows?

But I might be remote a few days next week.

And if so, you'll know why.

But in any event, that is all I have.

And Council Member Kettle, thank you for volunteering me, my time and services.

But...

Listen, you know, have them.

If it's for veterans-related issues or advocacy groups, have them send me an invite.

I would love to attend.

And also, Councilmember Rivera, you're right about the heat.

It's ironic you mention that.

My kids' daycare or preschool, which is part of the deal, they lost power earlier today, so...

So they closed, and I know a lot of daycares, there's a lot of preschools and similar things throughout District 1 who are similarly impacted.

So, yeah, you're right.

It is important to take care of each other, particularly our most vulnerable, during these very, very hot times.

hot times.

So in any event, thank you.

Welcome.

Any comments, questions from you all?

And if not, I suppose I will pass the baton to Council Member Wu.

Go ahead.

I have a comment.

It's not a done deal.

The vote is tomorrow, but I just went into following up on your comments.

Thank you very much for all the work that you've done.

That was that, you know, last week was a milestone in a long process that you have put pretty much your whole legislative life into recently.

And I really do acknowledge that.

And it's I just have to, I was looking when you mentioned the meeting or the celebration or whatever, I was looking at my email.

It's at 10 o'clock on Wednesday, which is really unfortunate because Council Member Moore is gonna have some very important things going on in her committee.

So it's really too bad that the celebration and photo op cannot be at a time when more people can participate.

Because you're in that committee as well.

I am.

So I will be participating.

for a bit and I noticed there's no votes.

So I was comforted to see that.

But no, thank you for the acknowledgement there.

I wanna thank my own staff, our central staff, experts, your staff, I'm proud to be a cog in the wheel.

It was, it was a truly a team effort and you're right.

Like got one more hurdle tomorrow.

Uh, but thank you for your partnership and thank you to Elaine and, uh, and Layla and my office.

And, um, yeah.

So thank you.

Thanks.

Thank you.

So in the Seattle City Light Arts and Culture and Sustainability Committee, we will have two committee meetings next week.

This is, of course, to make up for not having a committee meeting last week, where it was 4th of July.

So on our special committee, which will take place on Monday, July 15th, we will have a briefing and discussion on OSC's Clean Heat Program.

We'll also talk about City Light's strategic plan, which includes their six-year rate plan path.

They will come back on August 2nd for the council approval, so it's going to be a really good briefing.

And we will also vote on the wholesale energy risk market, also known as City Light's worm policy.

Then on our regularly scheduled committee meeting, which is Friday, July 19th, this is our third Friday committee of the month.

So, of course, the arts and economic roundtable discussion will be first on the agenda, and we will learn about the Doors Open program and the impact on the nonprofit creative economy.

We will also have a briefing discussion of City Lights' integrated resource plan and their financial report audit, and we will continue any City Lights strategic plan discussion as needed before the August 2nd vote.

Okay, and then, so instead of reviewing my week, I like to take some time to talk about something serious, something that happened this past week.

Thank you, Council President and colleagues for mentioning the Northwest Asian Weekly article in your reports.

But just to sum up what's happening to Levelset, last week, I got several phone calls from people in the Chinatown International District community letting me know that there was some vandalism and graffiti on pay stations, the historic buildings, a historic landmark structure that said hateful things about me.

At the time, I didn't think it warranted a response.

I thought, you know, this happens to all of us.

I've heard and read hateful attacks against many of my colleagues.

I didn't think it was anything new.

People even think that as a public official, it should be expected.

But I thought about it and realized two things.

One, the graffiti was done on historical buildings and landmarks.

And so it's very hard to remove graffiti off historic buildings and landmarks, because when it's on a brick building, you have to remove the outer layer of brick to get to it.

You're also, number two, doing this in a community that does not understand politics, that doesn't understand the context of it.

So when you write down, you direct an expletive towards somebody in the community and you say, get out, they're not gonna think office, they're gonna think exclusion, especially in Chinatown community after coming out from anti-Asian hate, through the pandemic, exclusion laws and xenophobia.

So you are directing these messages towards a community, marginalized community, that does not understand what is going on and what the messages really mean.

And not only that, the destructiveness of graffiti and vandalism on the historical building, a historical landmark structure.

Also, that is something the small business owners have to clean up, the seniors pitched in.

And with the landmark structure, we can't take that off.

It's still there.

That's going to require even more thought and permitting and implementation to get that repainted.

So a new development over the weekend following the graffiti vandalism, two different men on two different occasions in the Chinatown International District referenced the graffiti they saw outside and verbally threatened physical harm.

One said that they were going to kill me.

I was not safe here.

I needed to get out.

Another person came at me with a large stick that he's swinging around like a bat.

He was banging it on the floors, on the walls.

He pointed it right at me and just kind of repeated what the graffiti said.

And so through my Community Watch work, I run towards police scenes, try to offer assistance.

I go to Elton Jackson.

But I've never been so scared for my life safety ever during these initial situations.

And so I want to mention one thing, you know.

Everyone here on this council will protect your First Amendment's rights to free speech.

We will defend that.

But free speech and yelling at a public official is very different than vandalism and defacing of a historical building.

You know, having critical verbal responses to someone's policy is very different than threatening somebody's life safety.

I think that's where we have to draw a line, and we have to stop it because any time you threaten somebody or any time you vandalize or graffiti or deface something, That's very different than your First Amendment free speech rights, and we have to draw the line, and we have to condemn that.

It's not okay for public officials.

It's not okay for community members, your family members.

It's just not okay.

So I think many people realize that my colleagues and I are more to our communities than public officials.

We are their voices, their trusted channels to local government leaders.

And especially, many of us represent marginalized communities.

And so the atmosphere of intimidation created by vandalism, hate, directly undermines the stability of our communities and has a real day-to-day impact on the people we represent.

Because I did not see many of this graffiti.

Community took it down before I saw it.

But the seniors told me and pointed it out and asked me about it.

So while I welcome difficult conversations and critical feedback, especially regarding my policies, my role in the community, those are productive.

Everyone is welcome to join me.

If you Google the CID Community Watch, you can walk and we could discuss issues.

But it is not productive.

to the destruction and harm to other people's property, their businesses, and especially to the overall morale of the community.

So, you know, I've heard my share of hateful rhetoric, but, you know, I draw the line when it comes to physical safety being threatened, whether it's to my colleagues, towards my community that we represent.

So I want to thank you to my council colleagues for your support, especially to Council President Nelson for your leadership, because, you know, Yes, these things happen.

I know in the past the council has tried not to feed this kind of flame, but we need to draw the line when it comes to what the difference between free speech and threats of violence and violence and graffiti is.

And so, thank you, and this has to stop.

Well said.

Thank you very much, and I do have the ordinance, I mean, the resolution that I referred to, vetted by law, and...

I believe it was passed on August 16th, 2022. So if anybody wants to take a look at section one in here.

Okay, so moving on, I'll be quick.

The next meeting of the Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee will be this coming Thursday, July 11th, and we have nine items on the agenda.

Two appointments to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission.

Following that, we'll have three reappointments and two appointments to the Labor Standards Advisory Commission.

And then a possible vote on Council Bill 120781, which is an ordinance updating definitions in the Seattle Municipal Code related to cannabis businesses to align with state law.

And then finally, a presentation on a new audit from the Office of City Auditors entitled Addressing Places in Seattle Where Overdoses and Crime Are Concentrated.

an evidence-based approach.

And this audit will be published tomorrow, I believe, sometime around the noon hour, and it'll be available for anybody to take a look at prior to the committee meeting.

This was requested by Council President Juarez and Mayor Harrell, and it's been in the works for the past year.

And I urge everybody to...

To read it, I learned a lot.

It identifies existing resources and evidence-based strategies that have proved effective in other jurisdictions, and it draws on research conducted by the Office of City Auditor informing the recommendations of a whole bunch of previous...

audits, including, let's see, the city's response to unsanctioned encampments from 2020, methamphetamine use disorder from 2022, and organized retail crime 2023. So basically, one of my takeaways is that we don't have to start from scratch or reinvent the wheel.

We just have to do what...

what we've been advised to do in the past, and then seriously consider the specific actions that this audit puts forward.

And its formal and common-sense recommendations provide a roadmap for change that I think that we all hear from our constituents is very much needed.

There's crime, there's addiction and drugs and the drug crisis and then the two together.

And this audit does talk about the importance of taking a place-based approach and mapping the two phenomena so that we can best deploy our limited resources.

And there are already existing resources from the feds and great things that other jurisdictions are doing.

So, if you can't make it, Vice Chair, sorry about that, but the The document will be available and I'm looking forward to a very rich and robust discussion and committee the the confirmed presenters include Natalie Walton Anderson from the mayor's office Matt Duran deputy director Elisa Powell prevention and treatment manager and Mike Miser drug intelligence intelligence officer from the Northwest high-intensity drug trafficking area and That is, it's a government initiative.

Win Hyun Sehor, who is the Chief Behavioral Health Integration Officer, and Alia Baines, Behavioral Health Program Manager from Plymouth Housing.

We've got Mona, who's the Homeless Initiatives and Veterans Services Director from the YWCA, and, of course, Claudia Gross-Schrader, and I believe that Auditor David Jones will also be joining.

If not, he'll be in the audience.

So it will be a great discussion.

All right, that's pretty much it.

I will just say one thing that happened last week, and I haven't really looked at this week's calendar to choose things that I want to highlight coming up, but last week my staff did meet with representatives of the people-powered elections of Washington to hear their thoughts on a possible renewer of the democracy voucher program, which is currently set to expire next year.

So I look forward to meeting with them directly myself.

Okay.

Oh, this Friday will be our tour.

Yay, I've been asking for this.

This Friday, we'll be going to tour the Seattle Storm Training Facility Center in Interbay.

And I was really, really pushed to have some improvements in the right of way for that.

And I'm looking forward to that.

And I'm probably the last person at this table to take advantage of that offer.

Oh, yay.

Okay.

No.

Levy.

I'm still waiting.

Okie dokie.

But it's on the list.

All right.

So if there is, so that I'm done with my report, if there are any questions, comments?

Okay.

Well, if there is no further business before we adjourn, looking around the table, it is now 2.52, and hearing no further business, this meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.