Seattle City Council 6/4/2024

Good afternoon, everyone.

The June 4th, 2024 meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It is 201. I'm Sarah Nelson, president of the council.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council member Moore.

Council member Moore.

Thank you.

Council member Morales here.

Council member Rivera present.

Council Member Saka here.

Council Member Strauss present.

Council Member Wu present.

Council Member Hollingsworth here.

Council Member Kettle here.

Council President Nelson present.

8 present.

Thank you very much.

I am sure that Council Member Moore will be joining us and I will announce her presence when she arrives.

Okay, everyone.

There is no presentation today, so we'll move right into public comment.

And as I noted in yesterday's briefings, at the request of Councilmember Saka, Chair of Transportation, I'll be limiting public comment today to 40 minutes, and I'll break that into two segments of 20 minutes each.

And that is so that we can start our...

public hearing on the transportation levy promptly at 4.30.

So the goal is to end at 4 here so that we can make sure that we begin on time and give the people that care a lot about the transportation levy time to speak.

It is the last public hearing, I believe, on that measure.

That is what we'll be doing today, and I apologize if there are a lot more people that are here than we have time to speak, but we have devised a new system, I believe, today that will hopefully help us move through public commenters more quickly.

I think that we have a card system.

So we have a card system.

People will be called up according to a number, and the instructions will be made more clear when we get there.

um again i ask that you not clap or make other uh noises in between speakers because that does add time and it's also not respectful to the to the person coming to speak right afterwards and it is in addition um a considered a disruption by our council rules and i have to apply the council rules evenly and fairly across the board so i ask that that out of respect for each other and in the interest of time, which is limited today, that we can follow those rules.

So I will then, we can then open up the public comment period.

And Madam Clerk, how many speakers are signed up?

We have 31 in person and 17 remote.

Okay, thank you very much.

Everybody will have one minute, and we'll start with 10 in person and then go to 10 remotely, and I'll let you provide the instructions.

Thank you.

Sorry about that.

I was muted.

Speakers will be called on in the order in which they are registered.

We will alternate between sets of in person speakers and remote speakers until the comment period has ended and speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of their time and speakers mics will be muted if they do not in their comments within their allotted time to allow us to call on the next speaker will now begin with in person speakers.

For in-person speakers, we're going to try to ensure we have as many speakers addressed to council in this 40-minute public comment period.

To help facilitate it, I will call this group in numbers in increments of 10. If your speaker number is in the group, the number called, please stand by one of the two podiums so that we can try to get as many speakers in again within this 40 minutes.

Thank you.

I will start though with the three elected officials that we have here in person.

We're gonna start with, it's Ken Workman and Tanya Treat and Councilmember Yvonne Griffin.

Hello.

Hello.

I am workman of the Duwamish tribe, council member of the Duwamish tribe.

And I'm here to oppose C.B.

and hope that the Seattle City Council will also oppose this proposal in that it prevents the free distribution, not free distribution, but easy distribution of funds into the proprietary budgeting channel.

And so with that, I'll yield my time.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Tanya Treat.

I am also a Duwamish council person.

This is my cousin, Ken.

I'm a resident of council district five as well.

And I've been in Seattle for well over most of my life.

I'm here to discuss amendment B1 to council bill 120774 proposed by council member Rivera.

This amendment is to change what otherwise would have been a standard administrative process to carry over funds.

This amendment is unnecessary and has proven last week, this week showing, and this week, the showing of public opposition is necessary and it's needlessly inflammatory to the community receiving monies from EDI.

The Duwamish Tribe has benefited from EDI, both for the Duwamish Longhouse expansion and the Heron's House project.

These projects would not have otherwise been available to us.

This program is a promise to our community.

It's also an extraordinary successful program.

The amendment will only marginally improve by amended A is still threatening to the community EDI serves.

Do better.

Fully fund this program.

Good afternoon.

My name is Yvonne Griffin, and I'm a council member with the Duwamish Tribe as well.

I've been a part of the PB process for over a year.

I've seen the Duwamish Tribe active every step of the way.

We urge the City Council to follow through.

The public voted in November to fund $7.2 million for the Duwamish Centered Community Center for Native Youth and Shared Recreational Space for the Urban Native Indian Community.

Also, I'm here regarding the importance of how EDI has supported the Duwamish tribe and urban natives.

Please do not disregard commitments made by this council.

It is time to honor your word.

Please follow through, please.

Thank you.

We're going to now go through speakers one through 11, and we just had three out of those one through 11. So if your speaker card is one through 11, please stand one at the podium.

So our first speaker is going to be Bailey.

Medillo, if I'm not mistaken, followed by Jasmine Smith.

Hi, my name is Bailey Medillo.

I'm the digital and communications organizer for the Washington Bus, a youth advocacy organization in Washington State, and I'm here to center the outrage and panic felt by youth when council members on this dais proposed an amendment to cut off EDI funding for community development, which has been ostensibly tabled.

I was told about this threat actually from my cousin who heard that organizations she relied on were under threat of having their funding cut from the city.

Organizations that provided services that supported her as a worker and a community member.

And her fear and uncertainty is shared by many youth in community.

And by investing in communities of color, you're planting seeds that will grow into the Seattle that black and brown youth will inherit.

This takes time, and having unequal scrutiny for funding going to BIPOC communities is steeped in bias and harm.

Defending and supporting progressive revenue is essential for our city to survive, and the lives of young people who inherit Seattle are not problems set aside for the future.

If you refuse to equitably and unapologetically invest in our present, young people who look like us won't be your future.

But seeing the actions of this council,

My name is Jasmine with the Washington bus as well.

And we've seen these calls to justify restricting and now scrutinizing EDI due to the budgetary issues with the city.

And again, that's not the, issue that we're supposed to solve on the backs of black and brown community members.

This amendment, like the one before it, is a massive step back and a spit in the face for our most vulnerable and marginalized communities, especially for the young people that come from them.

And time and time again, we've seen that austerity measures have backfired, disinvesting in the people who need and deserve support is always more costly than for all of us taxpayers in the long run.

And taking money away from black and brown, working class communities, and the young people and the projects that we fight for is going to hurt Seattle for years to come.

Putting money into community experience, the worst displacement, investing in young people, keeping money in our communities where it can be used to promote flourishing, that's economic common sense.

Freezing that funding is not.

We're now moving on to speakers number eight, nine, 10, and 11. Leslie followed by Karen, Arianna Riley, and Ho Shen.

Hi, I'm Leslie Morishita with Interim Community Development Association.

So we together with so many others fought dearly for the EDI and for Jumpstart as a funding source to sustain the EDI program which has proven to be a powerful antidote to displacement.

EDI provides a unique source of funding for non-housing uses that are notoriously difficult to find funding for, and yet are essential for BIPOC communities to create the sorts of community-based, culturally relevant places and spaces that we know we need to thrive in Seattle.

Now more than ever with our communities facing unprecedented displacement pressures, we need the EDI program to be continuously sustained.

Interim has been fighting displacement and gentrification for over 55 years, and we are not going away.

We proudly stand together with our brother and sister EDI organizations committed to the struggle to ensure that you do not balance the budget on the backs of our BIPOC communities, but rather stand behind your commitment in our communities.

Thank you.

Thank you, council members.

My name is Karen Turing, and I represent District 2, Black and Tan Hall, which is an EDI-funded project.

I have a few just very simple things to ask.

Number one, please don't characterize us as misinformed, because we are very informed about the work that needs to happen with our projects.

I would also like to remind you that the executive already froze the $25 million.

So what are we doing here today?

And I'd also like to remind you, Council Member Rivera, that departments have to report anyway.

So why are we doing this additional reporting on top of the reporting that already has to happen in order for the budget to be resolved effectively?

What you could do is build more capacity for EDI to do the work that you're asking them to do.

And remember that EDI projects are public safety.

Please hold your claps, snaps, et cetera.

Go on, please.

Good afternoon.

My name is Arianna Riley.

Today I'm here for the third month in a row addressing the racist proposal to lower delivery driver wages, remove protections, and ensure that a mostly immigrant workforce will no longer be able to provide for their families.

Since pay up went into effect, service quality for customers has been massively improved.

Before this law, food would often sit ready at restaurants for up to an hour before finally being canceled, and restaurants had to refund the order because DoorDash wasn't paying enough for a driver to pick up the order.

Now, all food gets picked up and delivered promptly while still hot.

If you want food or sundries delivered at 11 p.m.

on a Monday night, you can have that done within 30 minutes.

Before, this was not the case.

Refunds are down because service quality is up.

I will call another driver in saying that the way to increase delivery volume is to increase service quality.

We've seen this over the past two months especially.

Delivery volumes are back up.

Keep pay up in place as is.

Our last speaker in the set is speaker number 11. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Haoshan.

May he please the court with a joke by Jekyll Vidgar, an economist in UW.

Starting to study the minimum wage is like walking to a bar where there's a fight going on.

This is the Freakonomic Radio podcast episode 460, the true story of the minimum wage fight.

Professor Vicker then talked about his paper on Seattle to increase the minimum wage from $9.50 in 2014 to $13 in 2016. The major findings are, one, employer cut the workers' hour in response.

Two, therefore, high-skilled workers' monthly wage increased by only 9% at most, despite the 37% increase hourly.

Three, low-skilled workers such as teenagers, especially minorities, are likely prohibited from entering in the labor market and never show up in the data.

What is the difference between this study and the payout?

It was a 37% increase over three years, but payout requested 30% over the minimum wage overnight, plus U.S. federal minimum wage rate, which is intended to reimburse occasional road trips for government employees.

Can we please have a moment of sobriety to admit it was way too gung-ho?

For the intellectually curious audience, you can find the original paper on Freakonomic Radio, episode 416. Thank you.

We'll now move on to remote speakers.

Our first registered remote speaker, Courtney Casey, is not present, so we'll move on to our second remote speaker, Myesha Mitchell.

And Myesha will be followed by Strawberry S. Go ahead, Myesha.

And remember, remote callers, please press star six once you hear the message that you have been unmuted.

Star six.

hi my name is maisha mitchell and i'm the owner of my time for massage birth school as well as i do work in community advocacy for health equity i'm born and raised in seattle and i've seen many changes over time cultural congruent care and influence is important in a direction of change this is another reason why it's imperative for this council to have accountability of your positions of power giving power back to community means allowing people who work and live in these experiences daily to have the capacity to serve their community, funding is a direct limitation that is systemic in black and brown communities.

Our council has the opportunity to make right a wrong with EDI funding.

Let's not perpetuate harm of inequality that has been caused in our community by dismissing of our voices and lived experience.

Finally, I like to say I'm not here to be a victim of inequality, but a change maker who's creating solutions.

Empathy from doing this work directly with black and brown communities is necessary, not something that should be optional.

We are here to be better together, and this is what community looks like when it's not performative.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Strawberry S, and Strawberry will be followed by Alexis Mercedes Rink.

Go ahead, Strawberry.

Strawberry, you may need to press star six.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

OK, great.

Hi, I'm a member of the Seattle Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

I am here to voice my opposition to Rivera's suppression of the EDI.

I just wanted to say that it's absolutely ridiculous that we are here again.

Your constituents made it crystal clear that we do not support any cuts to the crucial programs the EDI supplies.

I find it cowardly and disgusting that Rivera is trying to slither out a public critique by saying that her original amendment was mischaracterized.

That is laughable.

The people of Seattle saw Rivera's amendment for what it was, a racist and classist desperate cash grab.

Her new amendment is no different, despite her self-righteous claims.

We aren't fools and we won't stand for our communities of color being used.

city's budget shortfalls if this is the only so-called solution our city council can think of to fix their budget deficit they're even worse at their jobs than i thought do better the people of seattle deserve so much more than this disgusting behavior thank you our next speaker is alexis mercedes rink and following alexis will be anitra freeman go ahead alexis

My name is Alexis Mercedes-Rink, and I'm calling in today to continue advocating for Seattle's frontline communities.

Last week, I joined over 100 stakeholders in public comment.

After only a few hours of notice, communities shared their stories and the importance of equitable development.

And following this outcry, council members defended the dangerous amendment and delayed the vote.

Despite the revision, today's amendment still poses a threat and leaves EDI divestment on the table.

It is offensive to our black, indigenous, immigrant, and communities of color that these programs are being scrutinized much more heavily than any other item during budget evaluation.

Further, the report requirement for OPCD could take staff time away from capacity building and the execution of these important projects.

Accountability is important, but be accountable to the commitment made to black and brown communities.

This is inequitable scrutiny.

I again urge you to please vote no.

The solutions to our budget crisis must be equitable and protect critical programs and services that frontline communities rely on.

Consider implementing progressive revenue streams or look somewhere else.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Anitra Freeman, and following Anitra will be Kitty Wu.

Go ahead, Anitra.

Anitra, it looks like you may need to press star six.

Okay, we may need to come back to Anitra.

Let's move on to Kitty Wu.

And following Kitty Wu will be Sonatina Sanchez.

Go ahead, Kitty.

Kitty, are you there?

Can you press star six, please?

There you go.

Thanks.

I WANT TO THANK COUNCILMEMBER SACA STRAUSS AND MORE FOR THEIR VOTE TO REMOVE COUNCIL BILL 120774 FROM LAST WEEK'S AGENDA AND THANK YOU TO HOLLINGSWORTH AND MORALES FOR ACKNOWLEDGING THE FAULTS IN THE AMENDMENT AND FOR UNDERSTANDING THE NEEDS OF OUR COMMUNITY.

COUNCILMEMBER RIVERA, LAST WEEK YOU SAID SOMETHING TO THE EFFECT SIX YEARS IS A LONG TIME FOR OUR PROJECT.

I HOPE YOU COMPREHEND NOW THAT DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS CAN TAKE THIS MANY YEARS TO COMPLETE.

I'VE WORKED AT WASHINGTON HALL SINCE 2010 AND OUR PROJECT TOOK SIX YEARS TO COMPLETE.

We already and we already had the building.

And we also already had a so-called experienced PDA historic Seattle managing the project.

And EDI is barely seven years old.

My question today is does OPCD have the staffing and support to provide the detailed analysis of EDI by September.

And why are we having to do this additional detailed analysis.

How will you how will the council uphold their promise to the BIPOC communities that have in good faith spent precious time and energy provide programs that our city definitely needs.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Sonatina Sanchez.

And following Sonatina will be Susano Surface.

Go ahead, please, Sonatina.

My name is Sonatina Sanchez, and I am calling to urge the council to vote no on the EDI amendment.

I am speaking for myself.

I am a resident of Community Roots Housing, and I sit in the resident seat.

on the board, the PDA board, and we are currently in the middle of many projects that have a potential to use this money if we're not hindered by unrealistic deadlines.

Projects do take years to develop.

I have been in meetings for the last two years since I joined the board about projects that had been going on for two years and are still in the process of being developed.

We need to make sure that we stay the course in supporting our neighbors and especially listen to our indigenous community that spoke at the beginning of this meeting and explained how this project is essential for making sure that our Duwamish people who have been tending the land for time immemorial are respected and supported in our era.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Susano Surface.

And following Susano is Olisa Enrico.

Go ahead, Susano.

Hello, my name is.

Hi, my name is Susanna surface, a former city of Seattle employee, the strategic investment fund lead with the city of Seattle's Office of Arts and Culture.

I'm here to express my enthusiastic support for the equitable development initiative.

I support accountability and proper reporting standards in the management of public funds and programs.

Therefore, I am glad the amendment to CB 120774 that would have placed provisible on the EDI has been retracted.

The current amendment requiring extensive reporting by September also appears hasty and misguided to me, a district-free voter, taxpayer, and neighbor, and continuous improvement professional currently specializing in the creation of performance evaluation and reporting standards.

Instead of harnessing an opportunity to exemplify the oversight and transparency the public expects and deserves, it has been widely interpreted as adversarial and punitive.

How many individuals, including nonprofit and government staff members, have had to set aside their usual work over the past two weeks and beyond?

The very work being called into question as to why it is not moving more quickly to respond to this crisis in order to advocate for the EBI numerous times.

This work is best accomplished when funds are secured and guaranteed now and in the future.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Olisa Enrico.

And following Olisa will be Alice Lockhart.

Go ahead, Olisa.

Hello.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Awesome.

My name is Elisa Enrico, and I'm the executive director of Cultural Space Agency, EDI recipients, and partners for other projects.

We ask that you not ask for these recordings.

It is a burden on the system, but you will get the information you need with time.

We know it takes time.

And we also know that we are an ecosystem, and what affects one of us affects us all, as you heard in the youth statement, as you heard in other statements.

We also know that historically it isn't what is written on the line, but what is written between the lines and what is written between threatened funds designated for our communities.

Jumpstart, EDI, the ad tax.

We see a pattern emerging and we know and we're ready to represent ourselves.

There are other ways, and as creatives, we can help you find them.

We know what it's like to be new to things, and we want to help you along the way and give you what you need to understand what we need.

Could you please pause there?

Jody, excuse me.

Yes.

We've now reached the end of 20 minutes.

If there is no objection, I will extend public comment for another 20 minutes.

No objection, Madam Council President, but I do, so I do support the additional one-time extension here, and I do appreciate your leadership for, so we can accommodate the existing long-standing levy oversight, or excuse me, levy public hearing that we have on the calendar at 4.30, so thank you.

Thank you very much, and thank you, audience, for allowing for the rapid succession of speakers.

Go ahead, please, Jody.

Thank you.

Alice Lockhart and following Alice Lockhart will be Shimona Marino.

Go ahead, Alice.

Good afternoon, Council.

I'm Alice Lockhart with 350 Seattle.

You're going to hear in a moment from our executive director.

So here is saying it backwards.

I'd like to add to Shimona's testimony that EDI is the city's principal economic tool against displacement and displacement has two really bad climate effects.

One is that it fractures and damages community climate resilience as people are displaced.

And the second is that it results in suburban sprawl and long commutes that contribute to the climate pollution that is the Seattle's largest source of climate pollution from transportation.

And therefore, Please lose Amendment B, the report that fosters the funding of EDI and instead issue the 2024 EDI RFPs now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Shimona Moreno.

And following Shimona will be Joey Lopez.

Go ahead, Shimona.

Hi, my name is Shimona Moreno.

I'm the Executive Director at 350 Seattle.

I'm here today to speak in support of the Equitable Development Initiative Here we are again telling the city council to not balance the budget on the backs of BIPOC communities.

From the south end to the north end, EDI helps us thrive despite inflation and red tape.

EDI is the economic common sense.

It drives growth and job creation for our communities.

It supports labor, small local businesses, and sustainable development.

Protect these investments and focus on equitable solutions that benefit local communities.

Tell the mayor to authorize OPCD to immediately issue the 2024 EDI request for proposals.

Withholding these EDI funds harms historically excluded communities.

The city should stand by its commitment to racial and social justice and deliver on the promises made to communities of color.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our last speaker for this group of remote speakers will be Joey Lopez.

And then following Joey, we'll move back to in-person speakers.

And Joey, go ahead, please.

My name is Joey Lopez, co-executive director of the Church Council of Greater Seattle.

I live in District 3, I work in District 2, and I worship in District 7. Last week, too many council members were keen to question why OPCD had yet to release an RFP for this year's budgeted funds.

This was nothing more than a smokescreen of disinformation, implying OPCD was not fulfilling its mandate to hide your true intent, balancing the budget at the expense of BIPOC community investments.

As members of city council, I would expect you know that the mayor has not authorized OBCD to release the EDI RFP.

I appreciate your concern for accountability and transparency.

However, creating obstacles for EDI staff and grantees isn't the solution.

Since 2018, EDI has built community infrastructure, affordable housing, and enhanced local services.

EDI has leveraged millions in partnerships and federal funding.

These outcomes show skilled governance and effectiveness.

Simply put, EDI makes economic common sense.

The church council is paying attention.

We ask the council to pass CB120774 as submitted without any amendments.

All right.

So we're going to go through the next 10 speakers.

It's going to be speakers numbers 12 through 21. If you're within that range, please stand up and go to one of those two podiums, please.

The first one's going to be Alex Kim, Jason Ugelink, and then Alice Park, followed by Sleeman.

Again, numbers 12 through 21. Alex Kim.

Hi, my name is Alex Kim.

I'm a district two resident gig worker and pay up supporter.

Last week, someone made the claim that the DoorDash Top Dasher program is merit based delivery.

This system existed for one reason, to get people to accept terrible offers where the driver would be paying DoorDash to work after counting expenses.

With pay up, there's no need for this anymore because every order gets picked up because every order is worth taking now.

It's the difference between motivating positively and negatively.

If you know about psychology, it's accepted that positive motivation is more effective than negative.

The proposed drive forward revision actually makes delivery less merit based by allowing for underpayment on offers and true up instead of a straight paper offer So let's say a worker completes four $2 orders in an hour.

Another worker completes two.

They both are going to get paid $20.

That means workers will take longer on each job because there's a financial incentive to do so.

That's bad for customers demand.

I urge the council to reject this revision.

And if you must go back to the drawing board with real workers involved.

Thank you.

Jason.

$12.66 an hour is now considered a successful wage.

This is a consequence of pay up.

This June, my rent and phone bill were paid in the 11th hour, but only because I had cobbled together a $73 emergency fund from customer tips over the past five months.

Now I have $17 in my bank account to figure out how to eat while I save for July's expenses.

That's been the monthly pattern since January.

This law needs to change.

People need the relief right now.

We're on speaker number 14, Alice, followed by Slayman.

Hi, my name is Alice Park and I'm testifying about EDA on path of ERA, the Equitable Recovery and Reconciliation Alliance.

With a massive budget deficit looming, it's critical to protect and preserve resources like EDI that are vital to vulnerable and disproportionately impacted communities of color.

Preserve and further progressive revenue streams like Jumpstart.

Council chose to give the police a 40 million raise in the name of public safety, but true sustained safety depends on addressing inequitable conditions like displacement that cause hardship and suffering for some in our city while others are protected.

Please preserve equity investments such as EDI.

This is what helps BIPOC feel safe.

do not allow black and brown communities to continue to suffer and take the brunt of budget shortfalls.

We ask you to tell the mayor to authorize release of the EDI RFP and multi-year capacity building contracts and vote no on the amendment, adding burdensome reporting requirements for community organizations already stretched thin with limited resources, staff capacity and time.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Sleiman Abudolo.

I lead the real estate development projects for the Cham refugees community.

For the past 40 years, the organization has served the underserved communities of the Cham community and other underserved refugees and immigrants.

it was through Seattle EDI that put us on the map, that made people recognize and understand and know who the CHAM refugee community are, who the CHAM people are.

Prior to that, we were doing that work without any recognition on volunteer efforts.

So this project, this EDI program is very important.

And, you know, the team has provided a lot of support for our projects.

Nothing short, you know, without doing the projects themselves, they provided real estate development training 101, 102, leading us through the process of real estate development, asset management, property management, and also addressing the barriers that many of the EDI projects were facing.

And that is the dispersion criteria, which they convened a work group of EDI recipients to address it, which we passed.

to move forward with the project.

We're at now number 16. I believe it's Pete filed by Yordanos and Leah.

It's Peter Manning.

Hi, my name is Peter.

Can I get the mic?

Hi, my name is Peter Manning.

I'm with Black Excellence Cannabis.

I'm here to talk about money too.

Last year, this city council, or not the city council, but the prior city council, approved $225,000 or $250,000 for social equity program.

That money got allocated, but we never seen it.

So we'd like to know where that money's at.

I brought this issue up before.

This city was responsible for helping cut out the black and brown dispensary owners in 2015. Now that those licenses have become available, this city should take action to open that back up and correct the zoning problem that the black and brown community has suffered.

And you know, what kills me is if you take away from us our opportunities, our fair opportunities that we had at one time legally, and then we have to come to you and ask for money.

Who's at fault here?

You guys closed us out from making money, making income for our families.

It's your responsibility to give it.

We don't need stipends from you.

What we need is opportunities.

Thank you.

Number 17, 18, 19, and 20. All right.

We have Giordano's, followed by Leah, Jesse, and Ubox.

All right.

Number 17. Okay.

Number 18. All right.

Followed by 18, number 19. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Leah Martin.

I'm the co-owner of Allied Eight Architects in Seattle.

Councilmember Rivera, I've heard you ask what can be done to make EDI projects move faster.

I've been working with the EDI department since 2019. I have observed firsthand what would help the most.

EDI needs a much larger staff, more funding to allocate to projects, and it really needed the Connected Communities pilot.

or some future version of it that relieves communities of the owner's development standards in the zoning code to help correct the harms of the past.

EDI projects do something that market rate projects cannot.

EDI projects innovate from the ground up, When communities design and build their own projects, they get what is needed most for their communities.

EDI is the best tool to enable innovation in the city.

The status quo got us where we are.

EDI is one of the best tools we have to improve upon the status quo.

Good afternoon, council members.

I'm Jesse Simpson, Director of Government Relations and Policy at the Housing Development Consortium.

I've been heartened by the outpouring of community voices at last week's hearing and today's, talking about all of the great work happening here in Seattle, affordable housing, childcare, cultural centers, that has only been made possible through the Equitable Development Initiative.

Development is difficult.

It takes time and money.

EDI funds are intended as the first round of investment, often a first tranche to show the city's commitment to a given project and to help a small community-based organization get off the ground and build capacity.

be able to assemble other funding and navigate permitting.

I'm glad to see that the original amendment freezing EDI funds was drawn, but ask that you, as you look ahead to the next year's difficult budget season, that you uphold the integrity of the jumpstart spend plan so that we as a city can keep investing in equitable development and affordability.

Hi, good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Ubax, not Ubax, Gadere, Director of Investment and Fund Development at the Cultural Space Agency, a mission-driven cultural real estate development company chartered by the city of Seattle.

Before this, I was the Division Director of the Equitable Development Initiative at OPCD.

The Equitable Development Implementation Plan from 2016 has a vision and I will quote for you since you're saying that we don't know what's going on.

It states boldly, Seattle will be a city with people of diverse cultures, races and incomes.

All people will thrive and will be able to achieve their full potential regardless of race or means.

Our city's neighborhood will be diverse and will include the community anchors, support goods and services and amenities and that Our residents can lead healthy lives and can flourish.

End quote.

Release the RFP, cut the checks for capacity building.

These communities have both the lived experience and the policy chop.

And Rob Saka, meet with your constituencies, please.

You have a lot of projects in District 1 that is already performing.

Thank you.

Our last speaker on the set is Tony Tu, number 21.

Thank you.

My name is Tony To and I'm a retired resident of District 3. I was a member of the Race and Social Equity Task Force who partnered with the Office of Civil Rights and OPCD to develop equity analysis that seeded the creation of the EDI program as part of Seattle 2035 Comp Plan Update.

The EDI program was a first in Seattle and in the country.

documenting historic marginalization through redlining and myriad schemes to deny access to tangible assets by black and brown communities.

Seattle 2035 is an adopted policy by the city of Seattle to not only recognize the injustices, but to act on reversing generational business sector and government sanctioned thievery.

by merging social equity with financial equity.

The EDI Fund is the only dedicated public source of capital upon which communities and other marginalized communities have to fight displacement by preserving or creating community institutions one by one.

I urge you to firm your commitment to fight displacement, support community- Thank you, we'll now move on to

Thank you.

We'll now move on to our last two remote speakers.

Our last remote speakers will be Celine Russo, followed by Alberto Alvarez.

Go ahead, Celine.

And a reminder that you may need to press star 6 when you hear the message that you have been unmuted.

There you go.

Thank you.

Hi.

My name is Celine Russo.

I'm a District 1 community member.

All these other speakers have pointed this out way more eloquently than I, but I wanted to call in and also show my support for EDI.

EDI prevents displacement, helps BIPOC communities thrive, and make our entire city better.

It's proven to work, one of the only things in the city that actually seems to be able to work, and provides opportunities and solutions for housing and safety in our communities.

Please don't add any more unnecessary red tape and support EDI as it is.

It is not broken, so don't try to quote, fix it.

And do not try to balance the budget on the backs of BIPOC communities.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And then we may try one more time for Anitra Freeman to see if she is able to unmute.

But before Anitra, it'll be Alberto Alvarez.

Go ahead, please.

Hello, my name is Alberto.

I'm a delivery driver here in Seattle.

Very quickly, I stand with EDI.

Support that and uphold that at all costs.

Cut anything else before you even look at EDI again.

What I'm talking about is for the driver repeal wage.

I want to talk about competition, hardworking delivery people, restaurants throughout the city.

Yes, even delivery services must compete.

Their competition is good for business.

However, collusion by the likes of DoorDash and Uber Eats, who arrived at the same $5 penalty for orders, is what's holding our economy hostage.

The apps have elected to flood our local politics with money and corporate lobbying.

They are not applying fair economic principles.

The people through government set the rules of the game, rules that are being broken or applied maliciously.

Colluding apps should be forced to compete.

Fair competition fair wages fair leadership for Seattle.

ELLIE WILSON- Thank you.

And now we'll try Anita Freeman before finishing up our public comment in person.

Anita are you there.

You may need to press one time star 6. Otherwise we'll just have to move on.

OK.

Nope she's not unmuting.

Go ahead in person people.

We have about three minutes, and then.

Okay.

Okay, all right, so I'm gonna call the next three speakers.

If we can get through more, we will, but let's do this.

Numbers 22, 23, 24, Stephanie Morales, Courtney Casey, and I believe it's, I can't pronounce the name, but number 20, again, number 22, 23, and 24. 22, yes.

We are tired.

We are tired of the politics, and we are tired of the wordplay, and we are tired of the push and pull, and the give and take.

There is irony in the fact that this type of behavior was ever called Indian giver.

I stand before you to ask you to uphold the promise and the promise in full of those that sat in this seat before you that had this duty, that had this oath, because you also represent that.

As a promise to do what is right, not just by the constituents of your districts, but also what is fair and right and just for all the people in Seattle.

To disenfranchise us in a moment when we are most vulnerable is to be complicit in the very act this funding is meant to make right.

When you restrict or reduce or redact funding meant to create equity and fairness, you take away our opportunity to create diverse, expansive, and inclusive housing, food sources, education, care, healing for ourselves, by ourselves, by the only true means of liberation in this system, which is ownership.

We know you want to do what is right as the city grows.

Hi there, my name is Courtney Casey, and I'm a project manager at Mount Baker Housing Association, and we develop affordable housing in Southeast Seattle.

Affordable housing developers are not only tasked with adding homes to neighborhoods, but engaging in meaningful community development.

The neighborhoods we build apartments in are often zoned to require commercial space on the ground floor.

The EDI program is important to providing resources to BIPOC-led organizations which allow them to purchase these commercial spaces anchored in their communities and the communities that they serve.

The development process can take eight to 10 years from acquisition through design, fundraising and construction.

While the city requires us to build commercial space, it does not provide a source to pay for its construction.

Non-profit affordable housing providers like us are required to find committed buyers to secure the construction loan to build the building.

Since public affordable housing funds are not allowed to be spent on commercial spaces, EDI is one of the few sources that allows us to complete the financial stack necessary to provide affordable housing in Seattle.

Please continue your support for ADI.

Thank you.

Our last speaker.

I also work for Mount Baker Housing.

My name is Buntai Chim, and I'm the Resident Services Program Manager.

I'm here in full support of full funding for ADI.

My team and I have the honor of directly serving our predominantly black and brown immigrant and refugee residents who live along the Rainier Avenue corridor.

And one major pillar of our work is partnerships with culturally competent experts that know best how to help our residents, like many of the ones that spoke today and last week.

That's why EDI funding has been so important.

It helps these culturally rooted organizations keep close and accessible to the resident community we serve.

We ask that you continue to fully support EDI funding as intended.

Thank you.

All right.

My number 25. My number next.

You told me 25.

Sir, sit down, please.

We have reached the end of our public comment period.

We have gone through two rounds of 20 minutes, so the public comment period is now closed, and we'll move on to the first item, the next item on our agenda.

But you told me number 25.

So, please have your seat.

You are disrupting...

I'm sorry.

All right.

If there is no objection, the...

One last thing for all of you who came to speak today.

Thank you very much for engaging and wanting to share your thoughts with us.

The best...

You know how to reach us, probably, but please send your comments to us.

The fastest way is councilatseattle.gov.

You can also send to individual council members.

Thank you very much for understanding our time constraints and our situation today.

Thank you.

Thank you for your grace.

Okay, so moving on.

If there's no objection, the introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the introduction and referral calendar is adopted.

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

Hearing none, the agenda is adopted.

We will now consider the proposed consent calendar.

Items on the consent calendar include the minutes of May 28th, 2024, Sure.

It's hard to hear out there, anyway.

Okay, the minutes of May 28th, 2024, Council Bill 12073. The last digit is missing.

793, which is the payment of the bills, four appointments from the Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee, and two appointments from the Public Safety Committee.

Are there any items that council members would like removed from the consent calendar?

Seeing none, I move to adopt the consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to adopt the consent calendar.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the consent calendar?

Council Member Moore?

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Thank you.

Council member Morales.

Yes.

Council member.

Thank you.

Council member Rivera.

Aye.

Council member Saka.

Aye.

Council member Strauss.

Yes.

Council member Wu.

Yes.

Council member Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Council member Kettle.

Aye.

Aye.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

The consent calendar items are adopted.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes and legislation on the consent calendar on my behalf?

All right.

Will the clerk please read item one into the record?

The report of the sustainability, city lights, arts and culture agenda item one, appointment 2864, appointment of Don Lindell as general manager and chief executive officer of Seattle City Light for term to May 31st, 2028. The committee recommends that the appointment be confirmed.

Thank you very much.

Councilmember Wu, as chair of the committee, you are recognized to address this item.

I do believe I need to add some information about this, that this requires...

Nope, never mind.

Go ahead, please, lead the discussion.

Thank you.

So I'm honored to lead the first confirmation for department head of 2024. Thank you to my colleagues for your engagement thus far.

I spent time with Dawn when we drove up to meet with tribal nations and tour the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project and learned that Dawn has already achieved so much in her interim role.

And I appreciated learning more about her experiences and values, especially in response to equitable community impacts as we electrify our grid and face environmental challenges and commitments.

I agree with the mayor that Dawn champions the customer service experience, demonstrates a strong commitment to environmental stewardship and climate action, and makes decisions that are centered on equity and accountability.

So I know that many of you met Dawn, and thank you again for submitting your questions before committee meeting, and thank you to Dawn for your thoughtful responses.

And so I would love to, if possible, invite Dawn now to talk more about her background and aspirations for Seattle City Light.

Yes, that is, yes.

So I believe we need to suspend the rules to do so.

We were going to, okay, we'll go ahead and do that after we vote.

Yeah, so do any of my colleagues have any comments before we take a vote?

Go ahead, please.

Thank you, Council President and Council Member Wu.

I have to say you led this process expeditiously and in such great fashion and form.

It seems like you've done this before.

Colleagues, take note.

What I have to say about Don is it's been a short time that we've gotten to work together, and we've already gotten in the weeds of some pretty thorny issues, whether it's doing government-to-government relations with multiple tribes, working on the Skagit relicensing effort, the Magnolia Bridge streetlights, and some pretty incredible efforts a lot of infrastructure that's aging and needs to be replaced.

Those are three really thorny issues that can go down a lot of different lines.

And every step of the way, you've been a partner, you have not made excuses, you've looked at problems straight on, and you've said, how do we solve these?

The answers might not always be what we want, and they are always transparent, truthful, and action-oriented.

I couldn't ask for anything more.

Thank you, Don.

Thank you.

Are there any other comments?

Well, I have one, and I would just like to say that I am delighted.

All right, that was my attempt at humor.

I am delighted to vote yes on Don Lindell's appointment as general manager and CEO of Seattle City Light.

I don't serve on this committee, but I was able to read all, I believe, 30 pages of responses to council member questions, and I was impressed both by her Her reflectiveness about her leadership style, some of the challenges she's faced and the strength she brings to us, and also her vast knowledge of the sector and experience in California.

I also met with her one-on-one, and we, I believe, agreed on many issues, particularly the need to support and integrate the widest possible array of renewable energy sources and solutions into our portfolio, not only to protect our ratepayers, but also our environment.

And so I just believe that she's the right person to lead the utility.

as it navigates increasingly intense pressures of increased electrification, which is a good thing due to our efforts, but that is a demand on our capacity, but also increasingly intense seasonal storms and droughts, all of which impact the snowpack.

So thank you very much for leading this process, and I'm happy to vote yes for for Ms. Lindell.

Anything else?

Okay, if not, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointment?

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Wu?

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Kettle.

Aye.

Council President Nelson.

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Thank you very much.

The appointment is confirmed.

And congratulations General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Lindell.

You're now recognized to speak after I suspend the rules.

No objection?

Okay.

You're welcome to come up and speak to and offer some brief remarks to Council.

Thank you, Council Member Nelson, Council Chair of the Sustainability City Light and Arts Committee, Wu, and Council Members.

I wanna thank you for your leadership, vision, and guidance for City Light and the entire city of Seattle.

Your discerning questions, your thoughtful perspectives, and representation of your constituents concerns and issues make us all better.

While there are many people to thank in addition to council, I want to start by thanking Mayor Bruce Harrell for nominating me for this opportunity.

His leadership in energy sustainability, equity, inclusion, and decarbonization make Seattle and our planet better.

I also want to thank the leadership in the mayor's office, especially Marco Lowe, the city's chief operating officer, and his senior advisors, Kaya Caldwell and Karen Eastby, for their insights and advice, which have been invaluable.

I also had the pleasure of working with Dan Nolte, who was amazing in shepherding me through this process and sharing his wisdom.

The mayor's entire cabinet is inspiring, and I very much appreciate the gracious welcome that they've extended to me, making me feel part of the city of Seattle's family.

I deeply appreciate the City Light review panel, the tribal leaders, customer stakeholder groups, and community partners who took the time to welcome me in the first few weeks and shared their expectations of me and the City Light, as well as giving me support for confirmation.

Since starting this role back in February, I am so impressed with how the leaders of City Light demonstrate care and excellence in all they do.

Their creativity combined with innovative implementation ensure that we make every single dollar count as we serve our customers.

They have patiently coached me as I learn more about our highly regarded utility and the valuable communities that we serve.

The professionals at every level of City Light give their time, talent, and energy to the communities that we serve, doing their part to keep the lights on, seven days a week, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, including the last two very windy ones.

Terrible weather?

You can bet our team is out serving our communities.

Holidays?

Yep, we work those too.

And finally, I want to thank my family and friends without whose support and guidance I would never have been able to step into leadership.

My mom, Amy Freehafer, is 86 years old and still an inspiring leader.

She has served multiple times in every single leadership position in her two garden clubs, her bridge clubs, her bunco clubs.

She's an avid reader, engages in influences in politics, church, and family matters, and she's the head chauffeur of her friend group so she can get those people around safely.

While she brooked no nonsense or untruthfulness growing up, she encouraged spirited discussions, broad learning, and creativity.

An artist in her own right, she encouraged us in all pursuits.

And as a woman entering the workforce in the 50s, she is one of the millions of women who paved the way.

Thank you, Mom, for being the wind beneath my wings.

My husband, retired Major General Jay Lindell, has inspired my leadership through his own.

Find a way to help and push it up are two of his philosophies.

My sons, who are both science leaders and artists, continue to teach me with their tech-savvy, sustainable future thinking, and it has been so nice to get to know my step-sons and watch them succeed as well.

The future City Light faces is one of challenges that we've never seen before in our industry.

The move to 100% carbon-free energy across the nation has placed incredible cost pressures on those resources, more than tripling their cost in the last four years.

Weather variable resources like wind and solar plus batteries must be supplemented with additional base load resources from new sources that will provide resource every day, every hour.

We must cast a wide net as we uncover those opportunities to create a reliable energy future.

Seattle's bold moves to rapidly increase electrification make our planet cleaner and are the right steps to take.

They also require additional resources to meet a building electrification load that since 2022 is forecasted to triple and a transportation electrification forecast that has increased 70%.

In fact, two years ago, we thought we'd be adding 400 megawatts of additional load.

Today, we know we need to add at least 1800 megawatts of additional load.

That's more than four times just what we thought two years ago.

We need to invest in our assets, replacing and modernizing those components because old components lead to increasing outages.

I am excited to lead City Light in rising to meet these challenges through innovation and investment.

We will increase our engagement with communities through partnerships like the one we recently are implementing with Department of Neighborhoods to reach out to more underrepresented communities.

We will partner with businesses to develop demand response rates and conservation practices.

We will partner with residents through time of use rates to reward those who help us reduce our peak demand.

We will continue to incentivize conservation and help customers save money through our programs.

We will partner with nonprofits including sustainability, equity and housing organizations as well as tribes to meet those needs.

Partnerships with other industry leaders may help us meet our investment needs by sharing costs and to build the added resources.

Diversity of thought, respectful dialogue and disagreement as well as creativity are so crucial in helping us reimagine energy generation, delivery, use and recovery.

Finally, we need ideas from all over.

We will try many things.

Some will work and some we will learn from as we try again differently.

So I am so grateful to get to live in the beautiful Emerald City here in the evergreen state and be able to be at the forefront of this work to safely create a sustainable, reliable and affordable energy future.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

Yes, Council Member Kettle.

Council President, thank you.

I didn't mention it earlier, but since Ms. Lindell mentioned the military, that was a big part of our conversation.

And I just wanted to say thank you for your service on that front, because it's something that people don't realize, but I do.

So thank you.

All right.

If there are no further comments, we'll move on to item two.

Will the clerk please read the title into the record?

The report of the Public Safety Committee, agenda item two, Council Bill 120777, we lean to unsafe building abatement.

The committee recommends the bill pass as amended.

Okay, Council Member Kettle, as chair of the committee, you're recognized to provide the committee report.

There are five amendments, and so I will go through those sequentially, and this is emergency legislation, so I'll note that this does require seven affirmative votes.

Thank you, Council President.

The need for this ordinance, this legislation, is clear just from today's news.

Overnight, early morning hours of today, there was a fire in a vacant building.

One individual was killed, three were injured.

Our firefighters, as represented by Chief Scoggins here today, were put at risk.

We need to pass this legislation to create the safety for our firefighters, for our neighbors, and also as part of our attempts to, you know, basically address the permissive environment that underlines our public safety challenges that we face here in the city.

So I'm honored with my colleagues to have this bill before us, and I urge support for it.

Thank you very much.

Are there any comments on the base legislation?

Before we vote.

Okay, seeing none, we'll move on to the amendments.

Council Member Saka, would you like to move Amendment A?

Thank you, Madam Council President.

Yes, I move to amend Council Bill 120777 as presented on Amendment A on the agenda.

Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded to amend Council Bill 120777 as presented on Amendment A. Council Member Saka, you're free to address your amendment.

Yeah, regarding my Amendment A, constituents from my district have raised this concern with me specifically on how the bill would impact historic districts and buildings.

And so what this amendment seeks to accomplish is simply clarify what happens in those circumstances.

It is a mere good governance amendment, one that respects the unique characteristics of our many special historic districts and buildings across Seattle.

And you know, there's a there's a valid reason why you know, we have historic preservation district designations and And so so anyways, thank you to to our constituents in this case Pioneer Square for your input very valuable and and and We heard you loud and clear.

So this is the thrust of that amendment.

Thank you.

I

Thank you very much.

Council Member Wu, is that a hand for right now?

Go ahead.

Oh, yes.

If we're allowed to comment.

Thank you.

I would defer to Council President on that point, but yeah, I think so.

Yes, if there are no other explanatory comments that you would like to make.

Okay, go ahead.

Yes, thank you so much for putting forward this amendment.

I experienced that with my family's building, a historical building that caught on fire, and it sat empty for two years before we were able to redevelop it.

And so I'm grateful for the many people who came forward to bring this to light, and happy that you put forward this amendment.

And based on my experience redeveloping, I'm glad that there will be...

collaboration and grace with families who own historic buildings to preserve that character, but also be able to redevelop and hopefully keep the characteristics of these historical properties.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Kettle.

Thank you, Council President.

I support this amendment and is in some ways born out of public comment.

And so that's a highlight that we should make that public comment is important.

I definitely recommend those to have a position on any bill.

public safety or otherwise to come up and make that, because that turned into, in part, this amendment.

And I also wanted to note that we've received comments from many groups as well, Friends of Historic Belltown, for example.

And so this amendment is for them.

And should I add, Amendment E, which will come up later, also kind of speaks to this in terms of the protocols and so forth.

So thank you, Council Member Saka, for submitting this amendment.

Thank you.

And shout out to Chris from Pioneer.

I think it was the Alliance for Pioneer Square who brought it up, but I could be wrong.

Okay.

Moving on.

Let's see.

It's been moved and seconded.

Are there no other comments?

Will the clerk please call the roll on adoption of Amendment A?

Council Member Moore.

Aye.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Rivera.

Aye.

Councilmember Rivera.

Aye.

Okay.

Thank you.

Councilmember Saka.

Aye.

Councilmember Strauss.

Yes.

Councilmember Wu.

Yes.

Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Councilmember Kettle.

Aye.

Council President Nelson.

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Okay, the motion carries and Amendment A is adopted.

Moving on to the next amendment.

Let's see, I believe this is Council Member Morales.

Would you like to move your amendment?

Yes, I move Amendment B as presented on the agenda.

Second.

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to amend Council Bill 120777 as presented.

Council Member Morales is sponsored.

You're recognized in order to address it.

Thank you.

Colleagues, this amendment is in the findings and acknowledges that these buildings represent a safety risk to the communities they're located in and the general public because they can create opportunities for unauthorized trespass or occupancy.

which may enable illegal or unsafe behavior and create additional fire risk.

Unauthorized access to these buildings and the potential for drug use or other illegal behavior inside them can lead to further structural damage, decrease community safety, and endanger our first responders.

And I do wanna acknowledge as council member Kettle did that there was another fire and death last night at 63rd and Roosevelt.

One person was killed and three people were injured.

So this couldn't be more timely.

I do wanna thank fire department, council member Kettle, SDCI and Mayor Harrell and our city attorney's office for collaboration on this.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, comment?

Council President, thank you.

I just wanted to say I support this amendment, and frankly, it's well-written, and it captures basically what happened this morning.

And so thank you, Council Member Morales, for this amendment.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

All right.

If there are no further comments, will the clerk please call a roll on the adoption of Amendment B?

Council Member Moore.

Aye.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Rivera.

Aye.

Council Member Saka.

Aye.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Wu.

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Council Member Kettle.

Aye.

Council President Nelson.

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and Amendment B is adopted.

We'll move on to the next amendment sponsored by Council Member Kettle.

Go ahead, or Chair Kettle, excuse me.

Thank you, Council President.

I move to amend Council Bill 120777 as presented in Amendment C on the agenda.

Second.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded.

You may proceed.

Thank you, Council President.

This amendment is brought forward working with law, and it kind of goes to the point regarding our first amendment in terms of ensuring that T's are crossed and I's are dotted in terms of the process that we're working through this, the protocols that are necessary for the proper application of the abatement authority.

It's really straightforward on that front.

It's just about good governance and making sure, again, that we're we ensure that the properties, the owners, and everybody's involved.

Thank you very much.

And for the public, all of these amendments are linked to the agenda, if you're wondering about the specifics.

And there are copies up here at the table.

Okay, any further questions or comments?

All right, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of Amendment C?

Councilmember Moore?

Aye.

Councilmember Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Rivera.

Aye.

Council Member Saka.

Aye.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Wu.

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Council Member Kettle.

Aye.

Council President Nelson.

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and Amendment C is adopted.

Moving on to Amendment D. Councilmember Kettle, please go forward and move and address your amendment.

Thank you, Council President.

I move to amend Council Bill 120777 as presented in Amendment D on the agenda.

Second.

Thank you.

This amendment is very straightforward.

Again, working with the community and listening and engaging with the stakeholders.

An important part of this is the Master Builders Association, because they're building these buildings and the like.

And they noted that one thing that was not covered in the original ordinance was the idea of construction sites.

Those that are not your buildings that are already completed, but those that are may not have been completed.

Maybe they were abandoned.

And so this is essentially the construction sites amendment that I encourage everybody to support.

Thank you.

Additional comments?

Questions?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of Amendment D?

Councilmember Moore?

Aye.

Councilmember Morales?

Yes.

Councilmember Rivera?

Aye.

Councilmember Saca?

Aye.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Wu.

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Council Member Kettle.

Aye.

Council President Nelson.

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and Amendment D is adopted.

Last amendment.

Go ahead, Council Member Kettle with Amendment E.

Again, thank you, Council President.

I move to amend Council Bill 120777 as presented on Amendment E on the agenda.

Second.

I'm sorry, go ahead.

Thank you.

Hold on, let me say this part.

It's been moved and seconded to amend Council Bill 120777 as presented on Amendment E.

Thank you, Council President.

And for this one, the last one, very important, again, to the good governance, is reporting.

This amendment requires a report given to the City Council regarding the following information.

The number of abatement actions, the number of summary abatement actions, including the number of demolitions, all costs associated with each abatement or summary abatement action, and the status of attempted cost recovery for these actions.

Also data on, this goes to the Race and Equity Justice, data on the geographic distribution of abatement and summary abatement actions and the type of properties involved.

So basically, you know, getting the reporting on what's happening each year at the end of the year.

Thank you.

Okay, additional comments.

All right, seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on Amendment E. Council Member Moore.

Aye.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Rivera.

Aye.

Council Member Saka.

Aye.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Wu.

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Council Member Kettle.

Aye.

Council President Nelson.

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

All right.

The motion carries and Amendment E is adopted.

We now have the amended legislation before us.

Are there any comments on the base legislation?

Council Member Rivera.

Thank you, Council President.

It's already been said, but I wanted to talk about the vacant building in Roosevelt where there was a fire early this morning.

As my colleagues have said, it's in the D4 in the district I represent.

Sadly, one fatality, three injured.

And I've been supportive of this bill from the very beginning.

So really want to thank my colleagues who brought it forward and for all the amendments and the thoughtful work that has gone into this.

And I want to acknowledge Chief Scoggins and his crew, his team at Seattle Fire Department who do great work and risk their lives every time one of these buildings and any building for that matter is on fire to work as quickly as they can to pull everybody out which they did in this instance and sadly one person it just it was it just the damage was too great so really my heart goes out to the family of that person and you know this is sadly an example of why this type of legislation is needed so Thank you, Chief, and thank you to my colleagues.

Mayor?

Councilmember Strauss.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Councilmember Kettle and Councilmember Morales for bringing this legislation forward.

As I will oftentimes say, governing is an iterative in engagement, meaning that there are continuing to be iterations of the work that we do together.

This legislation builds off of my council bill from last year, Council Bill 120622, that increased the vacant building monitoring standards as well as the tools that we have to ensure that compliance is met, as well as increasing the standards for which vacant buildings are held.

At times, they also need to be demolished and followed up by with the fire department.

This gives us another very important tool.

It is a very timely bill.

I thank you to the sponsors for continuing this work.

Thank you, Chief, for all of the work you and leadership of Seattle Fire Department do and for all of the firefighters in IAF 27. Thank you, colleagues.

I'll just say one thing and permit the co-sponsors to have the last word.

I just want to thank you very much for bringing this forward.

I had a prop that I was going to bring today, which was a piece of wood that was off of the Seven Gables Theater that I collected on the day that that building burned down, which was the first time that I learned from firefighters on the scene that this kind of legislation was necessary.

that was i believe in december 2020 i've already mentioned this on the record but my point is that it's been a long time that you've been talking about this councilmember kettle i know that the city attorney and also the executive thank you very much for everybody pulling together we could have improved this forever, but it is an emergency as we witnessed and have already expressed about this morning.

So I thank you for including amendments that provide for accountability and specificity.

So this is a big deal.

Thank you very much.

And I will let you take us out.

Thank you, Council President.

All I will say is, Chief Scoggins, this represents our commitment to you, to your, as you mentioned, the leadership team and all the members of the Seattle Fire Department, including IAF 27. It's also a commitment to our neighbors in each of the districts that we have these vacant buildings in, these public safety threats, essentially.

And again, our commitment to, you know, create a safe base for our city.

So thank you.

If there are no further comments, will the clerk please call the roll?

On the...

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Thank you.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Wu.

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Council Member Kettle.

Aye.

Council President Nelson.

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes its amended and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Thank you.

Moving right along.

Will the clerk please read item three into the agenda.

I mean, into the record.

The report of the Select Budget Committee, Agenda Item 3, Council Bill 120774, Amending Ordinance 126995, which adopted the 2024 budget.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you.

Councilmember Strauss is chair of the committee.

You're recognized to provide the committee report.

Thank you, Council President.

It is deja vu all over again.

I say that in good tidings.

Colleagues, Council Bill 120774 is back before us today to carry forward unexpended appropriations from the 2023 budget to the 2024 budget.

This legislation requests that unspent funds from last year be reappropriated to the current year This is a small and technical bill.

I'm not going to read through all of my notes here because the underlying bill is technical in nature and does not typically capture the city's attention in the way that it has.

I urge a yay vote on the underlying bill.

Thank you very much.

We do have an amendment.

It is now time to ask for comments on the bill.

Go ahead, Councilmember Rivera, you are welcome to move and address Amendment B. Thank you, Council President.

I move to amend Council Bill 120774 as presented on Amendment B on the agenda.

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to amend Council Bill 120774 as presented on Amendment B.

After meeting with community members and stakeholders, I have decided to withdraw my initial Amendment A, which included a proviso for this year's approximately 25 million.

Instead, I'm bringing a new amendment, Amendment B, to keep the call for a detailed report from OPCD on how they will ensure EDI's successful completion of its 56 ongoing projects.

This was the main intent of my amendment.

I continue to have questions.

It does not sound like OPCD has been adequately partnering with other departments to help these projects along.

I remain concerned that OPCD has not shown an appropriate level of accountability or transparency regarding the EDI program and its ability and track to track and complete these important projects in community.

We don't control the departments, but we can compel them to offer transparency and accountability.

As I said last week, the ongoing EDI projects were never at risk.

OPCD could have asked for a continued carry forward next year for any amount they didn't spend this year.

But I understand that stakeholders needed a strong message of support for the program, which is why I withdrew Amendment A. I have learned that OPCD has spent, on average, only 25% of EDI's total budget every year for the last five years.

If this trend continues by 2026, the program will have over $90 million of unspent funds in its budget, which they need to continue to request carry-forward authority for.

This chart, which I showed you all yesterday, created by central staff, makes this trend very clear.

Even if the department were to increase its spending of this program to 50% every year, it would still have more than $50 million in underspend each year for this program.

My intent is to provide accountability to this in all city departments.

We need to provide good governance when managing public funds as we continue to unequivocally support the community and these projects that have been awarded and who've been waiting quite some time to get these projects completed.

And as I said, I've talked to community.

I know there are needs beyond just the funding that are needed in order to complete these projects.

And I look forward to continue engagement with community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any comments?

Question?

Yes, Council Member Ellis.

Are we doing question and discussion?

Okay.

Thank you, Council Member Rivera, for revising the amendment and removing the proviso.

I do have a question.

The new amendment doesn't indicate what happens after the report is submitted, so I've got two questions.

How will the report be evaluated, and what happens if you don't like the report that OPCD transmits?

Is the plan to deny funding at that point?

There is no...

Can you talk closer to the microphone?

The report is so that we know how the program is doing.

These are reports that we typically, as you know, having been here for a while, departments have to submit reports on how departments are doing.

They don't always submit reports detailed and timely, and so this ensures that that is happening so we know where these 56 projects are or they are in the pipeline and what the OPCD intends to do to help these projects move forward.

There is nothing attached to the reporting in terms of future funding.

It is very much an ask of the department to give detailed reporting that we have not received, I have not seen, and very much so to get the department to work with these organizations toward what further they can do to help these organizations move these projects forward.

For instance, I heard from a community member that their project is stalled in the permitting process, and so my ask is, OPCD should be working with SDCI and making sure that these, where they can help further these permitting processes, make them quicker, let's do so.

Are there things that we can do legally to help these projects move along further and help community complete these?

We need to be doing that since we've committed to community to help with these projects.

Are there any other comments?

Go for it, Rob.

Yeah.

Hold on a second.

Did you have a follow-up?

I'm sorry, Council Member Morales.

I didn't know if we were doing discussion and then final comment, but I can...

Okay, fine.

Oh, sorry.

I'll just go ahead and make my remarks.

Colleagues, I don't disagree that an evaluation of EDI could determine the long-term effectiveness of this program, particularly as an anti-displacement strategy.

In fact, I welcome the chance to do that.

But that kind of program evaluation has to be carefully planned and carried out, not thrown together in just a few weeks.

90 days for an evaluation and reporting timeframe is just as harmful, even if the language doesn't explicitly call out for a reduction of funding.

And it's unclear what council members who are requesting this information will do with it.

As I mentioned in briefing yesterday, I met with STCI to discuss their progress on implementing recommendations from the city auditor.

That audit was requested in 2021. The auditor spent several months determining the right scope of work It took a year to conduct the audit of the permitting process and programs.

The department itself received the report and recommendations late last year and they are now several months into implementation and evaluation of those recommended changes.

My point is that city government does not move quickly and our processes are designed for better or worse to be thorough and cautious and that goes for program evaluation too.

In an article by American City and County, a publication that is a resource for state and local governments, the author describes how municipalities can ensure that their program evaluations have a sufficiently long-term scope.

The author writes, and I'm quoting, taking a short-term approach to studying a program, gleaning a few necessary improvements, and then moving on will not allow municipalities to track and communicate the long-term impact of their efforts.

short-term evaluations fail to understand or plan out the long-term trajectory of a program and can thus become outdated and unhelpful quickly, end quote.

This amendment requests significant information from the department.

The OPCD EDI team is in the process of evaluating EDI, but this amendment puts undue pressure on a team that is already significantly constrained and understaffed to do a quality evaluation in just 90 days.

Again, I support the evaluation, but I think the timeframe should be set by OPCD and they should present their findings in the Land Use Committee for review and oversight of the program.

For funding decisions, EDI should have a similar process as Office of Housing or SDOT, both of which have significant carryover for capital projects every year.

In short, we can do this without an amendment because they're already, as Councilmember Rivera herself said, required to report.

Which leads me to a final question, which is, is this amendment suggesting that if the reporting is insufficient, if it's based on some undisclosed rubric we don't know about, that funding for EDI in 2024 and beyond is still at risk?

If they don't produce a report that we approve of, what will the impact be for additional funding that will actually be released in 24 and 25?

Right now, there are five or six buildings in the CID that are for sale.

This creates a historic opportunity to secure buildings for ownership of land, and EDI funds help with that kind of acquisition to maintain properties for the public good, to preserve affordable housing, or convert to home ownership opportunities.

Eliminating this program funding means there are virtually no other funding sources to help nonprofit groups and the city to jump on these kinds of opportunities.

And without public funding to support EDI acquisition, we're all very likely to see more speculative development swoop into the CID and other communities of color.

Again, I don't object to an evaluation of this program, but this amendment seems to suggest that its real purpose is to serve as a pretext for defunding the program before an authentic evaluation and audit can be performed.

And that does not serve our goals of anti-displacement or good governance or fiscal responsibility.

It just serves to harm communities of color by eliminating critical funding for community-led projects.

I will be voting no on this amendment.

Council Member Sotka?

Thank you, Madam Council President.

And first and foremost, I want to clarify I am in strong support of the EDI program, supporting important capital programs for historically marginalized communities, and also giving great community development opportunity, bringing together partners and experience and community wealth building.

Absolutely, yes.

In my own district, I've asked for a central staff analysis and breakdown of sort of what those projects are last week.

And then this was released and many of them, I know many of them already, but in my own district, there are 11 current active projects.

And of those 11, already this year as a council member, I have either visited personally or connected with, engaged with six of those, six of those organizations on that list.

So this is a program that's really near and dear to me.

I'm familiar with many of the beneficiary community organizations, again, who are very near and dear to me.

And that's just within my district.

There are others on the list of 56 EDI organizations on the list that I am close to and have connections with as well and full disclosure and full transparency.

My family and my children's own daycare family center is on that list.

The refugee and immigrant family center in District 1, on that list.

I'm invested personally before I even became a council member in many of these community programs and have fought like heck to protect them and center their voices, even the Refugee and Immigrant Family Center.

I represented pro bono on a volunteer basis in connection with the dispute that they had with the city.

So I'm very familiar with the impacts of what this program can do for communities, and I'm committed to continuing to support the EDI program.

My position is that it is critical that we continue to fund these current projects to completion.

We also need to better understand the current status of projects in the queue, along with specific types of technical supports that may be needed to get these projects completed in the most efficient manner possible.

We need to better help and support and empower these communities.

I think I understand the intent of Councilmember Rivera's amendment.

And I'll say as a city, we need to live up to our promised spending obligations to communities.

And I think this amendment, especially with the proviso lifted, does exactly that.

And I also understand that the amendment is to provide better transparent, or is intended generally to provide better transparency in reporting.

which could apply equally to all publicly funded programs and projects and is absolutely within the purview of this legislative branch.

So the reporting requirements that are outlined in the amendment is worthy of my support, as are the broader EDI projects.

Enhanced transparency in reporting is a universal across-the-board best practice to drive good governance.

Ironic twist of fate, colleagues.

15 minutes ago, we just got done approving unanimously an amended version of the vacant building legislation that had Amendment E from Councilmember Kettle that required reporting, annual reporting.

Earlier today, we sat here at this very dais, and I sat before you as chair of the Transportation Committee, I propose a $1.55 billion chair's amendment package.

In that package, with some of the most comprehensive, transparent, accountable reporting obligations, it imposed that, those kind of obligations onto, in this case, SDOT.

Because we're talking about a 1.5, the most transparent, the most reporting obligations, the most accountable in the history of any levy.

As an example of that, it requires, the proposal requires, quite literally requires SDOT to report, to create an initial readiness report on their ability before any money is even delivered and even approved by voters.

They should create a report to document their readiness and how they're prepared to implement.

And that's specifically designed to avoid the levy, you know, like initial challenges and the levy reset that happened during the 2015 move levy.

But again, enhance reporting.

Or reporting, just in general, is generally a good thing.

And this doesn't impose any conditions.

The text of the actual proposed amendment actually says, not only does it not condition anything on any reporting on any funding, but it says the city council requests.

It's not saying the department shall or must or requests.

So I support this.

Thank you.

Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Council President.

I appreciate it.

I wanted to say I support the Equitable Development Initiative, and I'm saddened, actually, that so many people left, because I wanted to say it directly to our Duwamish friends who are sitting in the front row, other members in the CD and other parts of the city.

So I'll say it again to those that are remaining, but also to those outside.

I support the Equitable Development Initiative.

It is so important for our disadvantaged and marginalized communities.

We need the anti-displacement approach of EDI, and I would add the comprehensive plan needs that anti-displacement approach.

As noted last week in this meeting, I recently participated in a public safety meeting in the CD that featured EDI businesses that participated, two of them, and they're key contributors to their community.

I also note that good governance requires the city council to provide oversight of the executive to ensure proper functioning of programs.

I am not supporting any poll of funding, but allowing the EDI program to report to the legislative about where they are with the projects throughout our city.

This oversight is not unlike public safety, which I have the most direct engagement on.

where we work with the mayor's office and SPD to improve police recruitment and retention.

Very engaged there.

Or with the mayor's office and fire and SDCI and the bill that we just passed related to vacant buildings and the public safety threat that they pose.

There are many requirements in public safety report to the council or to the committee.

I have multiple bills in work right now.

MULTIPLE BILLS IN WORK RIGHT NOW THAT REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT'S OFFICE AND THE COMMISSION THAT FALL UNDER MY COMMITTEE TO REPORT, PARTICULARLY SPD.

SO AGAIN, I AM NOT SUPPORTING ANY PULLING OF, AND WILL NOT, COUNCILMEMBER MORALES WILL NOT IN THE FUTURE PULL ANY OF THE MONEY OF THE CARRY FORWARD OF THE $25 MILLION THIS YEAR, BUT ONLY ALLOWING THE PROGRAM TO REPORT TO THE LEGISLATIVE.

AND I DO RECOGNIZE The combination of the Memorial Day weekend with respect to the timing of the Carrie Ford bill was not ideal, but that also contributed to some of the challenges that we're facing.

I also wanted to note that this topic also highlights the issue of miscommunication, or at worst, disinformation.

At no time were the Carrie Ford dollars or this year's budget at risk, but the emails and the communication had that point front and center.

I never, never supported that.

And in my communications with my colleagues on this dais, to include Council Member Rivera, no one ever said they were gonna pull the carry forward funding or this year's funding as well, or moving forward on top of that.

This reminds me of the emails, et cetera, that were sent and said to me regarding the lowering of standards with our recruitment and retention bill.

I would read these, I would be like, what?

At no time were we going to lower the standards of our recruitment and retention of Seattle Police Department.

At no time.

But yet, I was getting all these.

I'm like, how is that possible?

I was never going to pull the National Testing Network test from, you know, I vice-chair that committee that passed that bill, plus I chair the Public Safety Committee.

I never was going to pull the NTN.

Never.

There was going to be never any lowering of standards in that bill, but yet, Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of emails and other communications stated it with such certainty.

And that's a problem.

So where does this miscommunication or disinformation originate from, or how does it get pushed?

I don't know.

Some may say this is politics, but I think it contributes to the lack of civility.

I think it contributes to the lack of the ability to have a full public discourse on the issues that face the council.

And I think that we should be looking to do better.

And again, bottom line here is, There will be no pulling of the carry-forward money from the EDI.

There will be no pulling of this year's.

Obviously, we work with the executive, obviously, with the request for proposals and all that.

That process will work through.

And to the chair of the Finance Committee, I recognize, I support, you know, the fact that this is a standard bill, but I do think it's important to highlight the need for the EDI program to report to the legislative, so I will support the amendment.

Council Member Wu.

So I know many of these EDI projects personally.

I am knowledgeable about all of them because they are in my neighborhood and I work closely with many of these organizations.

We have a new council that's in community that listens and cares and this week I have been in contact with many of my EDI stakeholders and friends.

I know many other council members are in contact with their EDI participants in their districts And so this program has clearly grown to become a program in the community that provides funding, technical assistance, and integrated investments in neighborhoods to counteract historical disparities caused by redlining, underinvestment, and other forms of institutional racism.

And I know that many, if not all of us, want to preserve EDI funding now and in the future.

And so I understand that we want to prioritize accountability in the face of unprecedented structural budget shortfalls.

But as a fellow service provider myself, I know that all projects, particularly projects within our program, EDI program, funding represents more than financial stability.

It represents a strong foundation of support and community.

And so I agree with much of what we've heard from community in recent days.

Putting proviso on EDI funds sends the wrong message.

After decades of institutional racism in the communities, like my own community, Placing a provisional funds already budgeted weakens the very foundation that the EDI program was created to strengthen.

So, however, I do agree that there's a need and obligation to make our decisions based on good data, timely reporting and fiscal accountability.

That means understanding the different phases Phases of where each project is at because that will tell us the specific areas where organizations need more support And I want these projects to succeed I want to I think Understanding where we could send support where they are and how do we make sure that we get these projects to the finish line is really important So I am thankful that we had an additional week to kind of sort through everything I'm looking forward to to seeing all the good work that OPCD continues to accomplish in the community, and I support the reporting aspect of this amendment.

Thank you.

Councilmember...

your hand went down?

Yeah.

Okay, Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Thank you, Council President.

I just want to clarify for the record that we are voting on the funds are not being frozen.

They are being carried over.

that this is particularly an amendment that calls, that requests that OPCD delivers a report regarding the projects that are the 50 plus projects, or is it 70?

It was a bunch of them.

56. 56 Thank You councilmember Rivera 56 projects that are currently that have been funded and essentially Where are the gaps that we need?

To be able to help with the projects to continue to move forward.

I would like to note the date of the the report I do have an issue with the amount of time I'd support the report being given.

I think the amount of time, you know, is giving them 90 days is a little challenging.

The report that we just voted on for our fire department is by the 31st of every year.

So it's through the end of the year, not necessarily before budget season.

So that's one thing that I flagged.

But I do support the reporting efforts to understand where we are and what support that we can give but I just want to clarify this does not freeze any funding this money continues to carry forward is that correct I just want that for the record so people understand correct thank you

Okay, I will let you have the last word.

I just have a couple comments.

I voted this bill out of committee.

I'm going to vote for it today, and I'm going to also support this amendment because in our legislative role, we are responsible for overseeing executive programs, and this is asking for additional information.

I never say no to additional information.

In fact, this discussion over the past week or so has...

made me realize how much I don't understand about the program and as well as seeing the potential for the possibility of better supporting projects to be completed which benefits the very community members that the program was designed to help and support, was designed for.

So I will be, I thank you for bringing this forward, this amendment to provide more information for us all and for explaining the intent behind it today, and I will be supporting it, and I will let you take us out of this discussion.

Council President.

Sorry, I did raise my hand again.

I didn't think I was going to share comments, but may I before she closes this out?

Colleagues, I came here, and Rob can look over my shoulder and see my notes here.

I came to council today prepared to not support this amendment for a procedural reason, not based on content.

I just voted on the...

the reporting requirements within the vacant building bill.

You'll see tomorrow in the land use committee coming back with additional reporting on the audit that I asked for on permitting.

I am a regular user of please report back to city council.

From a procedural standpoint, the amendment missed both the original and the extended deadlines.

And I was gonna use this opportunity to make it very clear that I have a strong desire to keep amendments in committee and that my position is based on procedure, not on content.

And colleagues, I'm gonna use this opportunity to still share the words that I was gonna say because I make great efforts to give early alerts of topics within the committee I chair so that colleagues, we all have the time to develop the amendments ahead of the deadlines.

The reason that I use this moment to reiterate this point is because between now and December, the issues within the purview of the committee which I chair will become more and more difficult.

The reason that I have, the reason that I spend so much of my time making efforts to be sure each of you have the information you need in the time that you need it and that there are no gimmicks when it comes to deadlines is so that I'm able to facilitate a process in a good way, which we all navigate together.

I also give Council Member Rivera immense grace, especially regarding the second deadline because there were miscommunications about who was to notify my office about the amendment.

I come to you today with grace because a lot of the actions that are coming across our desks or for the first time, whether it's procedure, policy, et cetera.

And so I come to you with grace today, as Council Member Saka can attest, my note said that I will vote against this amendment.

I will vote with you today Council Member Rivera, especially because this doesn't, there was a content change from the amendment that you provided last week.

But I am also using this opportunity colleagues to reiterate and double down on As I give grace, I also hold firm in my request to meet deadlines.

I've never seen a carry forward bill used in this way, but today I'll vote yes.

Council Member Rivera, would you like to address the challenges about, you know, the deadlines, et cetera, and then finish the discussion, then we'll take it to a vote?

And, Council President, I don't mean to interrupt.

I had one...

No, I apologize.

I had one more comment real quick.

I wanted to address...

I can only imagine how...

how painful it was last week for a lot of the organizations to come here with information and feeling like council was going to defund.

I know a lot of the words were thrown around, EDI.

And I spent the whole weekend connecting with a lot of groups and organizations that were on that list, people that I knew personally.

had grown up with and so forth.

And to sit through that was really tough and challenging just because I know a lot of people were scared.

They were nervous.

They were, you know, they had been on edge.

And I just want to recognize that because I think we have a responsibility as a council to communicate and connect with people and enough time for people to understand the legislation that's being presented and what it means and the impact.

And I know that it was painful for me just to sit here and watch that.

And I just want to recognize that because I don't think that had been addressed with our community.

People took off time off work to come down here.

People, you know, had babysitters.

I can't begin to tell you how many people, you know, some of them was their first time coming to City Hall.

So anyways, I just wanted to recognize that, to present that, because that is something that should be recognized.

So thank you.

Mr. Zimmerman, this is the second time you've gotten up and disrupted the speech of Councilmember Hollingsworth, so could you please take your seat?

Do you have final comments?

Yes, I do.

Thank you, Council President.

It's unfortunate that, you know, I the carry forward was never at the at issue, I think it's unfortunate that communications were sent out to community that the money was at risk.

And that's why community came to chambers.

And that is really unfortunate because that was never the case.

Fortunately, we can't always control how other parties communicate out to community.

And it is really...

I feel like, you know, I will say as a woman of color, it really pains me when community is pit against each other in such a way.

And I think it was really unnecessary in this instance because The funding was never at issue.

OPCD had not put out an RFP this year for the money I was trying to proviso, and all along I was trying to get them to be responsive to this program that's really important that they oversee.

And I will say that on the requirement for the reporting, the It is a request.

It is a reporting on the status update of each project funded by the EDI, which they should have.

including the current project stage and completion timeline.

All those things are things that EDI should have, and if they're having trouble producing this, then this just talks about their ability to manage this particular program, which concerns me because I care about the completion of these projects.

As I said, I did talk to community members.

And I know, as I said earlier, another piece here is to identify obstacles to completion of these projects.

As I said, some of these community members that I spoke with identified some, like the permitting, but that's just one aspect.

That's not all of the aspects.

So nothing in here is really onerous.

And while departments are always required to do the reporting, they don't they don't always and if we don't follow up they don't always send it to us so it's a back and forth and it was an attempt to really get information from the department because i support these projects and i want to see them move forward and you know Accountability is important.

We've all talked about that, and I've talked that.

And so I wanted to say that is the point of this bill, and it was never to take money away from these 56 organizations that are already counting on the money, but some of which stand to lose bigger than just these EDI funds because they've gotten funds from the strategic investment fund and they have 10 years within which to complete those and two years have already passed by.

So there are timelines for these organizations that are receiving this funding.

And so we need to do our due diligence as the city who is managing this program to make sure that we're being responsive to community and providing all the technical support that we can legally can to make sure that these projects are completed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

If there are no further comments, would the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of Amendment B?

Councilmember Moore?

Aye.

Councilmember Morales?

No.

Council Member Rivera.

Aye.

Council Member Saka.

Aye.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Wu.

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Council Member Kettle.

Aye.

Council President Nelson.

Aye.

Eight in favor, one opposed.

Thank you very much.

The motion carries and Amendment B is adopted.

Are there further comments on the bill as amended?

Let me see here.

Council President, if I could just close this out once everyone else is done.

We are finished.

Thank you, Council President and colleagues.

This is a small and technical bill in nature.

We will have more of these before us as we continue through the select budget series as well as into the fall budget session.

I look forward to continuing to work with you on these upcoming issues, and I urge a yes vote on this bill.

Thank you.

Okay.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill as amended?

Council Member Moore.

Aye.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Excuse me.

Yes.

Thank you.

Council Member Rivera.

Aye.

Council Member Saka.

Aye.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Wu.

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Council Member Kettle.

Aye.

Council President Nelson.

Sign in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes as amended and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?

Okay, colleagues, there were no items removed from the consent calendar and there is no resolution for introduction and adoption today.

So is there any further business to come before the council?

All right, hearing none, we've reached the end of today's agenda.

Our next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be held on June 11th at 2 p.m.

Hearing no objection, we are now adjourned, and it is 3.59, a minute to go before the deadline.

Thank you very much, everybody.