City Council 9272022

Okay, you can begin now, thanks.

Thank you.

Welcome to Seattle City Council.

Today is Tuesday, September 27th, and the meeting of the Seattle City Council will now come to order.

The time is 2.02, and I am Deborah Juarez.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Mosqueda?

Present.

Council Member Nelson?

Present.

Council Member Peterson?

Present.

Councilmember Sawant.

Present.

Councilmember Strauss.

Present.

Councilmember Herbold.

Here.

Councilmember Lewis.

Present.

Councilmember Morales.

Here.

And Council President Juarez.

Present.

Nine present.

Thank you.

Today we have three presentations and I'm just going to briefly go through this.

The first presentation, we would like to welcome Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell, who will be transmitting the mayor's proposed budget to the city council and for inclusion in item on today's agenda, which I believe is item number 1. Senior Deputy Mayor Harrell, you are recognized in order to address the council.

I am honored to be here today.

First of all, I would like to submit to the council the budget speech from the mayor earlier today.

And I would also like to officially and formally present the proposed budget.

I do wanna just say a thank you and a few words to our council today.

You worked with this administration on our very first budget, and in that work, you really partnered with us in this.

This was something where we sat down, we had multiple meetings with each council member, and we talked about what our values were, how we were gonna collectively move through this process.

where how we were going to navigate the budget shortfall and how we were going to create something that the city could both sustain itself, move and look to the future, and also build for the city that we want to be.

The work that you have already put into this budget, I hope you see it in here.

I hope you see our collaboration because it really is with your work and your guidance through this process that we were able to deliver this final document to you today.

We know that there is still work to be done, and we are honored to continue doing that work with you.

We know that there will be questions, and we know that there will be additional things that you will want to deliberate.

But so far, this has been one of the best collaborations and processes that we have been through, and it is because you gave so much of yourselves to this process to get to this point with us.

So thank you so much for allowing us to share in this day.

I want to give a special shout out to Director Dingley for leading her first budget as our CBO director.

And really, again, this is how the city works better together when we work together.

And I think that the work that we have done so far is something that we can all be proud of.

And I hope the city of Seattle is really proud of the work that we have collectively done together.

So thank you so much.

I leave with you the grand binder.

We'll plant a few more trees to make up for this, but thank you all so much, and we're looking forward to the next months together.

Thank you, Senior Deputy.

Before you leave, I wanted to see if any of my colleagues had a few brief comments to make before we move on to item number two.

Is there anything from my colleagues that we would like to share?

Councilor Mosqueda.

Thank you very much, Madam President.

I don't have prepared remarks, but I do want to thank Senior Deputy Mayor Harreld, the Harreld administration, and specifically Julie Dingley, the City Budgets Office Director, and would concur with what Senior Deputy Mayor Harreld noted.

This has been a process in which I think greater collaboration and transparency has been shown by this administration.

The collegiality between the two branches of government is very much improved, and We have a lot of work to do.

We will take this budget and have our own deliberations at the legislative branch and deep partnership with the community.

I'm very much appreciative of the work between our offices, our staff and towards creating a more equitable Seattle.

Much work to come but thanks for all the work you put into this draft budget.

I feel like I can exhale.

Thank you, Councillor Mosqueda, for being our mighty budget chair and working with Julie Dingley and the Harrell administration to get us to where we're at.

We have a lot of work in front of us, but we could not have done it without the leadership of Mayor Harrell and Councillor Mosqueda.

And I also learned today that there is no one Seattle without West Seattle.

So with that, I will move on.

Thank you, Senior Deputy Mayor Harrell.

All right.

So we are going to move on into our agenda, into item or our other proclamation, proclamation number two.

Councilor Herboldt has a proclamation proclaiming September 24th through October 2nd, 2022 to be Diaper Need Awareness Week.

And Councilor Herboldt will first present the proclamation, then I will open the floor for comments from council members.

After any particular council member has a comment, we will suspend the rules and allow our guests, and I understand that is Sarah Cody Roth from West Side Baby, to address the Seattle City Council.

So with that, Council Member Herbold.

Look at that.

My mute is already off.

Thank you so much.

I'm so delighted that we have with us Sarah Cody Roth, Executive Director of Westside Baby, to accept this proclamation declaring September 24th through October 2nd to be Diaper Need Awareness Week.

This is a serious topic.

A few facts about Diaper Week and Diaper Need.

In King County, 23% of families are experiencing diaper need.

Black, indigenous, and families of color in King County experience diaper need at rates two to three times the average.

The average cost of diapers has increased 22% since 2018 due to inflation.

More than half of black and Latino households report that price increases have caused them serious financial problems.

60% of parents experiencing diaper insecurity in 2021 missed school or work.

because they did not have enough diapers to leave at daycare or to get through the day.

Out of desperation, caregivers may reuse dirty diapers or resort to paper towels, T-shirts, and plastic bags.

These actions can have long-term effects on health and well-being, and studies show that the stress from diaper need increases the likelihood of a mother suffering from maternal depression and mental health problems.

In our community, we are so fortunate to have Westside Baby, which exists to make the basic needs of children, to promote safety, security, and healthy development.

They collect and distribute diapers, clothing, and equipment throughout all of Western King County in collaboration with 100 different partnership agencies.

Last year, Westside Baby distributed 2.5 million diapers.

With funding provided by this council, they were able to grow their partnerships with these other agencies by 75%.

I'm really proud that they do their work out of District 1, and thank you for joining us this afternoon, Sarah.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Are there any comments from my colleagues before I move to suspend the rolls?

All right.

Oh, I'm sorry, Council Member Ales.

thank you.

I was absent for services yesterday and I think I missed the opportunity to sign on and I wonder if I might be able to do that now.

I think we can.

Thank you.

All right.

I am not seeing any other hands raised, so if there's no objection, the council rules will be suspended.

Hearing and seeing no objection, they are suspended.

And Sarah Cody Roth, our guest, the floor is yours.

Thank you so much for having me here today and suspending the rules so that I can share what an honor it is to have the support of this council in addressing diaper need in Seattle.

I want to thank Councilmember Herbold for sponsoring this proclamation and Mayor Harrell for concurring and the entire council for your support.

As Councilmember Herbold just shared, diaper need is a hole in our social safety net.

I am so proud to live in a city and a state that is leading the nation in the equitable provision of basic needs.

In addition to what Council Member Herbold shared, I wanted to talk about how each of us here in Seattle can be part of eradicating diaper need.

That is our goal and our vision.

As we celebrate National Diaper Need Awareness Week, Westside Baby is also wrapping up our community's largest diaper drive.

We call it From the Bottom Up, formerly known as Stuff the Bus, for those who are familiar.

And I would just urge everyone to take just a few minutes, that's all it takes, to visit our website, westsidebaby.org, to help us in meeting our goal of collecting 300,000 diapers as part of From the Bottom Up.

Folks can donate diapers via our Amazon wish list.

and they ship directly to Westside Baby, or you can donate dollars for diapers.

For every $1 that our community donates, we actually are able to buy twice the diapers than you can purchase at retail cost.

And so that is a great way to have double the impact.

And finally, it's not too late to host a virtual or in-person collection drive to collect diapers with your neighbors, friends, your co-workers, fellow council members.

West Side Baby has all the tools that are needed to get set up really quickly to do that.

So again, it's just westsidebaby.org.

And thank you again for having me here today and for your amazing support.

I feel so lucky to live in Seattle in this community.

Thank you, Sarah.

Thank you, Christopher Herbold.

So let's move on to our third proclamation.

Councilor Mosqueda has a proclamation honoring the accomplishments and impact of El Centro de la Raza and proclaiming October 8th, El Centro de la Raza Day.

That is also a very special day for me.

That would have been my mother's 85th birthday.

So it's good to see you here, Estella.

Thank you.

What we'll do first is Council Member Mosqueda will present the proclamation and then we'll open up the floor and then we'll move to suspend the rules to allow our guest Ms. Estela Ortega to speak.

But with that, Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you very much, Madam President, council colleagues, members of the community.

I'm very excited about the proclamation in front of us and the ability for this city to honor the accomplishments and the impact of El Centro de la Raza.

We, through this proclamation, are proclaiming October 8, 2022 to be El Centro de la Raza Day.

On Saturday, October 8th, El Centro is going to be celebrating 50 years through their anniversary and having a gala called the Building the Beloved Community Gala.

We are so excited our city, our region, our state, and our nation get the chance to celebrate all the accomplishments that El Centro has made possible and to be able to gather in person and virtually.

We're very excited today that we do have El Centro's leader with us, Estela Ortega, And we did want to take a minute to really just highlight all of the work that her team has made possible, the team in the past and the work and the leadership and vision of Roberto Maesta.

Madam President, I would like to read just a few of the passages from the proclamation, if I may.

Please.

Thank you.

Whereas founded in 1972 by the legendary civil rights leader Roberto Maestas, El Centro de la Raza has established a legacy of stewarding social justice work with and for community by addressing their needs and advocating for civil rights, literacy, health care, education and housing justice, among many other issues.

Whereas El Centro exemplifies what it means to provide community culturally responsive services to the Latinx community, immigrant and low-income community and families, and individuals of all ages to reaffirm their agency and support them so that they can thrive in our society.

And whereas throughout the last 50 years, El Centro has been recognized nationally and internationally for its work in community, in organizing, in providing access to greater civil rights, human services, building a multiracial community and unity, and early education development and youth leadership development.

And it's very exciting that we have with us today, El Centro de la Raza's Executive Director.

I'm very pleased to call Estela a friend, but a mentor and an inspiration to me personally.

And in the proclamation, it notes that whereas El Centro has continued its mission, its original vision, and has built upon this vision with the leadership of Estela Ortega, who has grown El Centro services in response to urgent community needs and providing additional affordable childcare, comprehensive and affordable housing.

and community gathering and cultural space for all.

I'm very excited that we are going to be able to celebrate 50 years with El Centro and another 50 or 150 more to come.

Thank you for your leadership, your advocacy, and for all the resilience you've brought not to just the Latinx community, but to our community and region and state as a whole.

I'm honored to have with us Estela Ortega to receive this proclamation.

And I want to thank the mayor for concurring with this proclamation as well.

Okay.

Thank you, Councillor Mosqueda.

Are there any other council members that would like to speak to Councillor Mosqueda's proclamation?

Councillor Morales.

Thank you, Council President.

I would again like to request to be added to this proclamation since I missed yesterday.

And I also do want to thank you, Estela, for being here.

It's so good to see you.

And I want to thank you and your staff at El Centro for the work that you do to lift up community members.

I think it's important that the principles that guide your work are especially important to me as we're all working to serve our black and brown neighbors in South Seattle, whether it's democratizing access to resources and to power, or planning for the health of our environment and our future generations, or working to repair the harm that's been done to our neighbors, all of the things that El Centro does between social services, the childcare, all of the support that you you lend and actively pursue to build community and to build the infrastructure and the resources that people need to thrive have been so important.

So I want to thank you and Miguel also for working with my office on our Seattle Within Reach work in the last year and really just thank you for being such a strong advocate for our beloved community.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

Before I go forward, Council Member Sawant, I got you.

Madam Clerk, Council Member Sawant would like her name, her signature affixed to the second proclamation, the Diaper Need Awareness Week, and I'm understanding she would also like her signature affixed to the El Centro de la Raza proclamation.

So let's make sure the record reflects that, and Council Member Sawant, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Council President Juarez.

That's all I was going to say since I was not available to add my signatures yesterday.

So I appreciate that.

Thank you.

Before I hand it, I move to suspend.

Estella, I've known you way too long, way back in the day with Roberto and way back in the day, even I think before I went to law school.

So again, 50 years.

Wow.

So we both still look good.

That's important.

Yes.

So let me do this.

I am going to move if there's no objection, I'm going to move to suspend the rules.

Not seeing an objection.

And then I'm going to hand the floor over to Estella Ortega as our guest to go ahead and speak to the proclamation.

Go ahead, Estella.

Thank you so much, Council Member Juarez.

and all the city council members and a heartfelt special gracias for council member Mosqueda developing the proclamation and honoring El Centro in this way.

It truly is an honor to have you all acknowledge our work of 50 years.

When I reflect back on what 50 years has meant, there's not enough time to talk about all of that.

And our people, our volunteers, our staff, our donors, everyone has worked so hard for the last 15 years to develop a sense of community in the Latino community and having our voices heard on issues that are important to the Latino community and communities of color and all working people in general.

We have confronted racism, we fight for justice and the right for our people to belong.

And at this time in our country, the sense of belonging is extremely important.

We've developed programs for the betterment of our community and we continue to work for justice.

Over the last 15 years with funding from city government and county government and donors and foundations and banks and so forth, we have reached and supported over 500,000 households with our life-changing programs, our cultural work, our education, and our advocacy work.

So in reflecting on 50 years, there are a few important lessons that we have learned and that are important in terms of building unity.

It is working in multiracial coalitions.

We have utilized different methods of organizing through legal methods, protests, electoral policies, going to jail, social programs, and obviously so, so much more.

And most importantly, in terms of building unity, is knowing when to lead and when to support and follow others.

Everything that we set out to do when we sent out that first press release to the Seattle Public Schools, to city government, we have achieved and so much more.

It was programs of bilingual education that we today we call dual language, English learners programs.

And we still today have an English as a second language program.

And what's important to take a minute to mention that it was ordinary people who were learning English who were the impetus for the occupation of El Centro de la Raza.

And so when people are educated, when people develop courage, when people understand the issues, they're going to take action.

And in taking action, you develop hope.

You cannot have hope without action.

So just to reiterate, again, so many people are responsible for the last 50 years.

There's no way that we as staff and volunteers can take credit for the 50 years alone.

Just so many people out there, people who, again, who volunteered their time, who gave up their money, who were just, you know, who gave us solidarity and were committed to the organization, know that we could not be here without you 50 years later.

So thank you so much for honoring us in this way, and it is truly heartfelt.

Thank you.

Thank you, Estella.

I just want to add, you and Roberto have a long history of mentoring.

There was a day when I was a young lawyer and I remember when Roberto was the very, it was the Hispanic bar then, but when we created the Hispanic bar and Roberto was our very first keynote.

Oh, wow.

And that was like, God, well, 30 years ago, maybe a little longer.

So anyway, we could spend all day and this is why it's nice to have you at city council.

so we can catch up and visit, but for all sorts of you in public to see, this is a long history of love for the beloved community.

So thank you.

All right.

Thank you for the honor.

And thank you, Councilor Mosqueda, for bringing this to us.

All right.

Let's move on to our agenda, folks, to public comment.

Colleagues, at this time, we will go into our hybrid public comment period.

Madam Clerk, I understand that we have 16 remote speakers and 10 people in chambers.

Council President, we have seven remote speakers and 11 in council chambers.

Oh, okay.

So why, so we have seven remote and we have 10 folks in chambers.

Correct.

Okay.

So let's do the, um, let's do the remote folks first.

Each speaker, I'm sorry, I was looking down, each speaker will have one minute and those requesting language interpretation will have additional time.

Madam Clerk, I will now hand it over you to present the instructions and the public comment recording.

Those of you that have called in, please be mindful of those of you who are in public that you have one minute.

So to honor that and I hate to cut people off.

So when you hear the chime, you know, you have 10 seconds to wrap things up.

We don't like to just cut people off, but we will start again with the remote speakers first.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Hello, Seattle.

We are the Emerald City, the City of Flowers and the City of Goodwill, built on indigenous land, the traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples.

The Seattle City Council welcomes remote public comment and is eager to hear from residents of our city.

If you would like to be a speaker and provide a verbal public comment, you may register two hours prior to the meeting via the Seattle City Council website.

Here's some information about the public comment proceedings.

Speakers are called upon in the order in which they registered on the Council's website.

Each speaker must call in from the phone number provided when they registered online and used the meeting ID and passcode that was emailed upon confirmation.

If you did not receive an email confirmation, please check your spam or junk mail folders.

A reminder, the speaker meeting ID is different from the general listen line meeting ID provided on the agenda.

Once a speaker's name is called, the speaker's microphone will be unmuted and an automatic prompt will say, the host would like you to unmute your microphone.

That is your cue that it's your turn to speak.

At that time, you must press star six.

You will then hear a prompt of, you are unmuted.

Be sure your phone is unmuted on your end so that you will be heard.

As a speaker, you should begin by stating your name and the item that you are addressing.

A chime will sound when 10 seconds are left in your allotted time as a gentle reminder to wrap up your public comments.

At the end of the allotted time, your microphone will be muted, and the next speaker registered will be called.

Once speakers have completed providing public comment, please disconnect from the public comment line and join us by following the meeting via Seattle Channel Broadcast or through the listening line option listed on the agenda.

The council reserves the right to eliminate public comment if the system is being abused.

or if the process impedes the council's ability to conduct its business on behalf of residents of the city.

Any offensive language that is disruptive to these proceedings or that is not focused on an appropriate topic as specified in council rules may lead to the speaker being muted by the presiding officer.

Our hope is to provide an opportunity for productive discussions that will assist our orderly consideration of issues before the council.

The public comment period is now open, and we will begin with the first speaker on the list.

Please remember to press star six after you hear the prompt of, you have been unmuted.

Thank you, Seattle.

Speakers will now be called in the order registered.

If you have not registered to speak, you can still sign up before the public comment period has concluded by registering for public comment online for remote public comment or for in-person public comment.

please sign up on the sign-up sheet located near the podium in council chambers.

The first public commenter for the remote public comment is Alicia Ruiz.

Good afternoon.

My name is Alicia Ruiz.

I am the Seattle Government Affairs Manager for the Master Builders Association, and it's nearly 3,000 local members.

I'm here today to enthusiastically support Council Bill 120394, also known as the Town Home Reform Legislation, As SCCI's data has shown us, townhome permit applications have plummeted in Seattle.

Townhomes are seen as a large part of missing middle housing, so we need to do everything we can to increase production.

The most important change in this legislation is to the density provision that will, again, allow for builders to build four units on a lot.

And under today's code, in order to make the most out of available land, builders are forced to jump through excessive and expensive hoops.

actually adds about $3,000 in extra cost per project.

And builders are, they must subdivide a lot into two separate pieces of land to get four units.

This is all unnecessary and causes more work for both the builder and city employees.

The amendments or the changes in this bill don't act.

Our next speaker is Megan Cruz.

Well, this is Megan Cruz and speaking today on CB 120401 and specifically the amendment that banned people like glare appeal.

The project that participated in design review.

In fact, Seattle did not have like standards for for like glare.

The city brought this amendment to the state and by developers and lobbyists it was added to an existing bill in the final days of the legislative session.

This amendment that denies due process came to the Land Use Committee as a done deal.

It completely circumvented Seattle's public introduction and debate vetting process.

The amendment that bans SEPA appeals has never had a SEPA review.

This is government keeping its citizens in the dark while eroding SEPA safeguards that are intended to avoid abuses.

No matter where you stand on this issue, it should alarm you that some official thought this was good government.

The city's own hearing examiner has told the city and developers They need to not litigate, but address the light impacts.

Please work with all stakeholders and establish light standards.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Julia Shetlar.

Hi, my name is Julia Shetlar and I'm commenting on Bill 120394. I am asking you to vote against the bill in its current form so it can be sent back to the Land Use Committee for amendments to preserve and add trees in townhouse neighborhoods.

I am a renter living in a townhome built in the 1970s.

Because my building is older, there is some green space in the front and the back of the building, so we have trees which our landlord maintains.

This is not the case for new townhome developments being built around me.

Most have no trees or space to plant them.

People and their pets are in danger when heat waves routinely put Seattle at 90 degrees or above, with temperatures inside buildings much higher than that.

The amendments mentioned in today's Seattle Times op-ed could help.

vertical stacking of homes could free up the ground to save or plant trees.

We should also require at least one significant tree per development.

A large shade tree can cool the inside of a home by up to 20 degrees in a heat wave.

Saving and planting trees is the most important thing we can do to provide residents of townhouses the same benefit of trees that other neighborhoods enjoy.

Our next speaker is David Haynes.

Thank you.

Let's review the 3rd Avenue corridor, shall we?

Remember the City Council that Bruce Harrell was on with Councilman Nick Licata and his staff?

We spent a million dollars to break up one bus stop in between Pine and Pike Street, claiming the only thing needed to improve safety in Quilts crime hotspots is change the environmental infrastructure, only to see the same area get worse with prolific crime, death, and ongoing implosion while mayor Harold shut down same bus stop instead of the drug pushers seeing the same evil move one block away continuing to endanger polite society and here we are again repeating failed policies with city council about the vote to spend millions on third avenue as a favor to 70 building owners willing to trick good people to come down to an unsafe area, still undermining public safety as if sending a bunch of good people amidst bad people will kind of work out for innocent folks, proving council has foolish ideas to keep from having to jail a bunch of evil customs-violating criminals listed non-violent low-level misdemeanor.

City Hall claims the answer to public safety on 3rd Ave is environmental design, while why in God's name has council turned over their responsibility on public

Our next speaker is David Moehring.

Go ahead, David.

Hello, this is David Moehring with TreePak.

I promote the City Council Bill 120394 for its density, but it does need work to get its trees.

So please return this to the Land Use Committee so that you City Council members who love trees will include provisions for both the added density and the trees.

Two simple amendments were noted in the Seattle Times yesterday.

Make tree planting and retention requirement as mentioned earlier in townhouse development.

The green factor makes tree planting only an option.

It can be replaced by ground cover or pavers.

Also you should know that the subdivision 2342 which is no longer required used to require the maximum retention of trees.

That's no longer going to be enforced.

Number two, the vertical stack in townhouses over other dwellings has allowed like in other cities like more Washington, adding these dwellings stacked allows more ground space for parking trash in dwelling access.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Leslie Buick.

Hi.

Hi, my name is Leslie Buecher, addressing CB 120401, and specifically the amendment to ban SEPA appeals based on light and glare.

This amendment is described as making minor amendments.

In fact, it makes broad policy changes, including the ban to ban SEPA appeals based on light and glare.

This ordinance was proposed by the city.

However, instead of being introduced and debated in the Land Use Committee, the city worked with the developer lobby to pass it as an amendment in the final days of the state legislature session.

The only people to testify were developers who were in favor of it and would benefit financially from this legislation.

Our elected officials need to be working with citizens who live in Seattle and make this a vibrant community, not just special interest groups, including developers who will benefit financially.

Failing to engage with citizens and only hearing the voices of developers is wrong.

Safeguard against abuses.

This legislation takes that safeguard away.

This amendment skirted the civil process and that should concern you.

Our next speaker is Aiden Carroll.

Aiden, go ahead.

Star six.

Did it work?

Yes.

I'm thinking about the park rangers today, but that's not the only thing this relates to.

I really don't understand why the city hasn't made any effort to create any kind of sanctioned encampment.

For example, a couple of years ago, we were talking about putting housing on the golf courses that are connected to many of our parks that clearly have a history in wealthy people having fun in a large amount of space.

and wasting land that way.

Why don't we create, within those, for example, places for people to camp so we don't have these endless evictions?

Because I have seen so many sweeps in the last two years, and increasingly, impatient city workers not allowing us to save people's belongings, towing RVs while we're trying to get a tunnel set up voluntarily.

just not be willing to work with the volunteers who are trying to help people rather than make them worse.

It's...

Our next speaker is Matthew Mitnick.

Hello, my name is Matthew.

You see him pronouns.

I'm just commenting, I guess, on the item with the mayor's address, the 2023 budget.

Just wanted to speak in support of 350 Seattle's campaign healthy through heat and smoke.

It's just really important that we invest in climate resilience hubs in the future.

You know, I'm a runner, I run all around the city, and there's no accessible restrooms or drinking fountains at any park.

And something I've experienced, people I know have experienced, but also notwithstanding, our most vulnerable neighbors are being forced outside in the wake of a climate catastrophe.

And it's just critical that we invest for long-term long-term care in that area.

And just everything 350 Seattle's been advocating for I urge you all to consider in this budget process.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Mario Bamonte.

Mario.

Star 6. Let's give Mario a minute here.

Second.

Mario, star six.

There you go.

Wonderful, thank you.

Hello, my name is Mario.

I am here to speak on behalf of 350 Seattle.

a proposal for keeping people healthy through heat and smoke.

I've lived in Seattle for 20 years, which is my whole life, which in retrospect really isn't that long.

But even during that time, I have seen the heat, the smoke conditions get so much worse.

I think it's really important that we make sure to protect our neighbors through that process.

And most importantly, we have to make sure it's equitable.

We need to make sure that the people in Aurora, the people in South Seattle, people in Lake City have the same protections from heat and smoke as our neighbors in the Laurelhurst area do.

It's so important that everyone gets the help that they need and deserve.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mario.

Go Nathan Hale.

Let's go Raiders.

We will now move into in-person public commenters.

Once your name is called, please approach either microphone and state your name and the item to which you are addressing.

The first public commenter for in-person public comment is Alex Zimmerman.

Thank you very much.

Oh, where is my face?

What's going on?

Where is my face?

Yeah, why is this black woman half-face and white Jew don't half-face?

Okay, we're done.

Stop, Madam Clerk.

Stop the recording now.

We're not doing that today.

Please, could you please have Mr. Zimmerman escorted out?

We have rules of decorum and decency.

We've been over these rules many times, not asking a lot to just come and speak to the agenda or any item in a respectful manner.

Not comment on people's race, gender, all of those things, just be kind.

So let's take a two-minute break.

Two minutes, everybody.

We'll reconvene in two minutes.

Madam Clerk, thank you.

Two minutes.

All right.

Thank you Madam Clerk.

Are we back on.

Just let me know.

Seattle Channel.

Are we back on.

We're on Council President.

Thank you very much.

Again, I want to apologize to those folks that called in and the individuals that show up in chambers who want to give us public comment about our agenda, our work plans, the items that we have in front of us.

I apologize when we get behavior like that.

There's no room for that type of language or hate anywhere.

particularly if we have the People's House, which is Seattle City Council in the chamber so everybody can feel safe, including the employees and people that work here.

With that, Madam Clerk, can we finish doing public comment for the individuals that are our guests today and ready to speak?

Okay.

Thank you.

Our next in-person public commenter is Nicole Grant.

Hey, Nicole.

Thank you, Council President Juarez.

Climate change is here in Seattle.

You know, the heat waves, the wildfire smoke.

Right now, our air quality is not good, literally.

And we need to address this with every move we make.

I'm so excited for this afternoon's Nunes Parks Levy vote.

There are 13 upgrades to our community centers, converting them to climate resilience hubs with fossil-free cooling, air filtration, rooftop solar.

These solutions add up, and they protect our community.

And I am so grateful to all the leadership that made this happen.

Long list of thank yous.

A lot of people I'm gonna be thinking about tonight as I celebrate, and especially the Healthy Through Heat and Smoke Coalition that represents everyone from climate activists, labor, abolitionists, church, and many more.

So thank you to everybody who participated in this campaign, and a special thank you to Council Member Andrew Lewis.

Our next speaker is Katie Garrow.

Hello, Katie.

Hi, Council Member.

Good afternoon, Council Members in person and online.

My name's Katie Garrow.

I'm the Executive Secretary-Treasurer of MLK Labor.

I'm also a member of the Central Waterfront Oversight Committee and excited to provide the Labor Council's full and enthusiastic support for the Parks Levy Package this afternoon that you all will consider, especially the additions brought forward by Council Member Lewis and the Great Base presented by Mayor Harrell.

We passed a resolution at the Labor Council back in May in support of this levy upgrade.

It was a resolution brought forth by the Seattle Building Trades and it was a resolution where they called on the labor movement to support the parks levy because they knew that it was going to mean hundreds of jobs for workers in the construction industry who will work to renovate and retrofit our community centers and our local parks.

But we're also excited about the more than 100 FTEs in ProTec 17, Teamsters 117, and Laborers Local 242, who will see more than hundreds of new members in their fields.

Thanks to the levy.

Our next speaker is Alice Morabey.

Seattle wanted to mainly commend you on your climate leadership in funding these 13 resilience hubs.

Like everyone else, I have some personal experience with Seattle heat waves.

My family recently replaced a 50-year-old oil furnace with a heat pump, and we thought we were set in 2021. and quickly realized we were in error when the power went out.

We were left with no cooling whatsoever.

So what that shows me is that investing in these community-led solutions for everyone is the only way forward.

And it also shows me the importance of including microgrid solar in the package, which I believe is currently only legislative intent.

We need to protect against power outages and make sure everyone has a safe place to go.

Also, I'm deeply concerned at the same time that you're including funding for park rangers and the parks levy.

This proposal is a huge investment in enforcement at a time when our city is desperate for services, so I hope you will reconsider that portion of the levy.

Thank you very much.

Our next speaker is Marcus White.

Hello, everyone.

Hope everybody's doing well.

My name is Marcus.

I'm speaking on behalf of Community Involvement as a member of the Community Involvement Commission.

Our purpose is to advise the mayor and city council on strategies, plans, and policies to help advance equitable engagement and civic participation in the city.

To that end, we want to show our face at meetings at the last Tuesday of the month, which is today.

And just we had Council Member Morales come to our meeting last Monday and it went well.

and we just wanna be able to help you guys with the problems that you guys have in terms of engaging renters, immigrants, minorities, and young people, and just getting people to engage with the city and just make it better.

And so we would like to invite and involve other council members as well to come just to get their insights into things and how we can just progress the city.

And lastly, to second what Estella Ortega said, there's hope in the future, there's power in the present.

Our next speaker is Marguerite Richard.

Yes, my name is Marguerite Richard.

I just want to piggyback on what he was talking about, community involvement.

Basically, that's why I'm here.

I had three minutes in Bellevue the other day.

I come here and I get chopped to one minute.

You know, what kind of stuff is this?

This is the 21st century.

We should be so far ahead of what people are experiencing here, getting thrown out for basically nothing.

If we don't have our free speech, we don't have nothing at all.

And you know, my speech is ordained by God.

So I'm not afraid of none of you.

I am not, even though Honorable Michael B. Fuller and myself were racially profiled by a higher contract of security that you have.

And for what, Deborah Juarez?

You got an explanation for me as long as you sit in that seat about not eradicating this racism and discrimination here in Seattle, King County.

Do you understand me?

Our next speaker is Keith Ware.

Madam Clerk, is he speaking?

We can't hear him.

Can you hear me now?

Yeah.

You want to start the clock over?

Thank you.

Go ahead, sir.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Keith Weir, electrician with IBW Local 46, here today to speak in full support of the parks levy moving forward.

As I stand here right now looking at air quality index of 145 down where my offices are located in the Kent Valley, they're unhealthy for sensitive groups.

We're living through this every day.

I'm a Seattle native and it's just getting worse and worse.

So we need to do better by our communities.

By upgrading and making resiliency hubs we can offer through community workforce agreements with our building trades partners, opportunities at diversity, equity, and inclusion, getting people into careers, not jobs, living wage careers with benefits, family sustaining wages and benefits, and a full career, greening our city and making it better for future citizens.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Dee Rosh.

We're going to go ahead and move on.

Our next speaker is Andrea Ornelas.

Afternoon all, I'm Andrea Ornelas, a proud member of my unit 242 and its 7,000 plus members.

I'm glad to be here today in support of 350 Seattle's Healthy Through Heat and Smoke campaign and the benefits it will create.

Expanding the Seattle Parks Levy is an opportunity to create safe spaces for community engagement as things are opening from the pandemic by expanding the hours of several community centers.

to build pathways and career opportunities through Seattle's Priority Hire Program, giving Seattle BIPOC residents an expanded opportunity to work on projects covered on this levy.

Also, expanding the Seattle Parks Levy is an opportunity to create a healthier community, healthier environment, and a greener Seattle.

Thank you to all that have had their hand in putting this together.

The last speaker is Steve Rupstelo.

60 seconds is not really a whole lot, but let's go with the land use first, and that's the changing of the law.

Once someone finds a loophole and has to pay money to beat the law, what do we do?

We don't ask why the law was there.

help them.

We eliminate the cost.

We shorten the time because we don't care about yards for kids.

We don't care about access for fire trucks.

We don't care about deliveries.

What we care about is what we're told to do by the land use developers.

The large ones speak very well of you.

Some of the smaller contractors, not so much.

Now on the issue of City Light, I hope you're gonna take a look and make sure that the average citizen doesn't get beat over the head again.

Because we don't have a lot of lobbyists, or what you call governmental relations folks.

Because every time around, I see the folks that are the big users seem to get the big deal.

The owners of City Light are the citizen.

Thank you, sir.

That concludes the public commenters, Council President.

Thank you, Madam Clerk, and thank you, folks, for the folks that called in and for those of you that came to Chambers to provide public comment for Seattle City Council.

Council President, we are missing one person.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Okay.

Was this a gentleman we called earlier?

Right.

Sorry, Council President, that was for the parks meeting that's coming up.

Okay.

Are we good?

Good.

Okay.

I can move on to the agenda.

We can close public comment.

Yes, you can.

Thank you.

Okay, great.

We've reached the time of ending our public comment.

Again, thank you for those folks that came to City Hall and those of you that took the time to call in to talk or speak to today's agenda.

Moving on on today's agenda, let's go on to adoption of the IRC.

That's the Introduction and Referral Calendar.

If there's no objection, the Introduction and Referral Calendar will be adopted.

Not seeing or hearing an objection, the Introduction and Referral Calendar is adopted.

Moving on to adoption of the agenda.

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

And again, hearing or seeing no objection, the agenda is indeed adopted.

On the consent calendar, the proposed consent calendar, are there any items any council member would like to have removed from the consent calendar?

Okay, not seen any before I do that.

Let me share with you briefly, also for the public, what is on the consent calendar.

We have the minutes of September 20th.

We have payroll bill, Council Bill 120425. We have Clerk File 314503, sponsored by Council Member Nelson.

And we have 24 appointments.

For the land use, we have Council Member Strauss who has two appointments for the Design Review Board.

From the Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities Committee, that would be Council Member Peterson.

We have seven appointments to the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board, eight appointments to the Seattle Freight Advisory Board, and seven appointments for the Seattle Transit Advisory Board.

We'll hear about those items in our agenda as we move along.

Okay, with that, I do not hear or see anyone wanting to remove any item from the consent calendar.

Hearing none, I move to adopt the consent calendar.

Is there a 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 Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

And Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Nine in favor, nine opposed.

Thank you.

The consent calendar is adopted and Madam Clerk, please fix my signature to the consent calendar, the adoption of it.

On our agenda, moving to H committee reports, we have eight items.

I'm just going to rattle this off really quick, but we'll go back to it.

Councilmember Herbold has item one.

I have item two.

Councilmember Staus has items three, four, five, and six.

Councilmember Lewis has item seven, and Councilmember Peterson has item eight.

So we'll start with item number one.

Madam Clerk, will you please read item one into the record?

the item one, Council Bill 12423, relating to the city's traffic code conforming the Seattle Municipal Code with changes in state law and making technical corrections, amending sections.

Thank you.

I move to pass Council Bill 120423. Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to pass the Council Bill.

Council Member Herbold, the floor is yours.

Thank you so much.

As I explained yesterday in council briefings, Council Bill 120423 updates the city's traffic code to bring the Seattle Municipal Code in line with changes to state law made during the state legislative session earlier this year.

Asha Venkataraman of Council Central Staff sent Council members an email summary of the bill on Friday afternoon.

This bill is going to full Council given that it includes updates from state law, a companion bill to update the criminal code to reflect changes from the state legislature also includes a few updates that are proposed by the city attorney's office so that bill was heard this morning in the public safety and human services committee and voted out of committee and will be at next week's full council.

State law requires the city's traffic code matches state law as traffic laws are required to be uniform statewide and local jurisdictions cannot have ordinances conflicting with state traffic laws.

Central staff recommended that this bill go to full council and recommended that the criminal code go to the committee and I concurred with that recommendation.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Are there any comments from our colleagues?

Council Member Herbold, is there anything you want to add before we go to a vote?

Nothing.

Okay, thank you.

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

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

And Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Nine in favor, nine opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries.

The bill passes, passes.

I'm sorry.

And the chair will sign it.

And Madam Clerk, will you please fix my signature to the legislation sponsored by Council Member Herbold.

Let's move on to item number two.

Madam Clerk, can you please read item two into the record?

Item two, clerk file 314505, Mayor Bruce Harrell's budget address on the 2023 budget.

Thank you.

I move to accept

And file clerk file 3, 1, 4, 5, 0, 5, 0, 2nd.

2nd, thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to accept and file the clerk file a sponsor.

I will address it 1st, and then open the floor to comments from my colleagues.

I'd like to thank Mayor Harrell for his public address today at noon, and Senior Deputy Mayor Harrell for her delivery of the budget to Seattle City Council.

Today officially kicks off Council's review of the 2023 budget.

Between today and November 21st, all standing committee meetings are suspended and the Council exclusively focuses on the Mayor's proposal, and of course, our own budget process, which is being led by Councilmember Mosqueda.

Today's action puts Mayor Harrell's budget address officially on the record.

Are there any other comments?

OK, not seeing any other comments, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Musqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

And Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Thank you, the motion carries, and the clerk file is placed on the record.

Moving to item number three.

Will the clerk please read item number three into the record?

Report of the Land Use Committee.

Agenda item three, Council Bill 12394, relating to land use and zoning, amending sections 23.45.508, 23.45.512, 23.45.518, 23.45.536, 23.53.015, 23.53.020, 23.53.025, 23.54.015, 23.54.030, 23.84A.024, 23.86.007, 23.86.014, and 23.86.015.

of the Seattle Municipal Code and adding a new section 23.53.00 to the Seattle Municipal Code to implement changes to support the development of townhouses and row houses.

The committee recommends that City Council pass the bill as amended.

Thank you.

Councilor Strauss, you are the chair of the Land Use Committee, so please provide us with your committee report.

Thank you, Council President.

This bill, the Council Bill 120394, known as the Townhouse and Rowhouse Bill, does not change how many townhouses or rowhouses can be built.

This density level that is being discussed in this bill is already able to be achieved and is currently being built throughout Seattle.

This is done through subdivisions at this time.

The bill before us does remove procedural barriers, paperwork, and red tape that create time delays and cost increases to constructing housing in Seattle, all the while we are in a housing deficit.

I've heard some people say we are not building to the current density capacity as a reason to not change zoning in our city.

This bill exemplifies the issues and barriers in place that prevent us from utilizing our current zoning capacity.

This bill does not change, again, how many townhouses or row houses can be built.

It can be viewed as a technical correction because it simply removes paperwork from the process.

The townhouse bill will remove code barriers for townhouse construction through three key changes, modifies the density limit for low-rise one zones.

By an amendment that I passed, it will update the requirements for bike parking, speak to that in just a minute, and it will make easement requirements consistent with fire department standards When the original bill was created, fire department standards were different than they are today.

In layperson's terms, this bill will make an administrative change to make design review process for townhounds faster.

Excuse me, not design review process, this just makes the entire process.

As you might be aware, I'm a strong advocate for protecting our tree community, nothing new here.

I added an amendment removing the requirement for exterior bike parking at townhomes and row houses as this increases the permeable space that a tree can be planted or water can seep into our soil.

As well, the issues raised about trees do need to be addressed and addressed comprehensively in the tree ordinance that Councilmember Peterson and I are working on.

This bill again and finally does not change how many townhomes or row houses can be built under today's standards and can be viewed as a technical correction because it simply removes paperwork.

Thank you, Council President.

That is the committee's report.

Thank you and I'll come back to you.

Are there any comments or questions?

I see Council Member Peterson and then Council Member Mosqueda.

Council Member Peterson.

Thank you, Council President.

I'd like to thank Chair Strauss for enabling us to hear this important bill twice in the Land Use Committee.

I'd also like to recognize the thoughtful op-ed published in the Seattle Times today regarding this legislation, and I appreciate similar concerns raised by constituents about changing the Land Use Code as requested by the Master Builders Association and others eager to build brand new townhouses.

colleagues my amendment was not approved at the land use committee and that amendment was important to me to test these changes as a pilot program while we craft the comprehensive plan and also to require data on displacement of existing residents the price of the new townhomes and potential loss of trees.

Once the comprehensive plan and the new tree protection ordinances are adopted, we may need to revisit this new townhouse law to reconcile any competing policies.

And consistent with my vote last Thursday at the Land Use Committee, I'll be voting no on this council bill.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Peterson.

Who we have in the queue is, and remind me if I get this wrong, it's Councilmember Mosqueda.

Councilmember Herboldt and then Councilmember Lewis.

Go ahead, Councilmember Mosqueda.

Thank you and apologies Councilmember Peterson and Council President for being off of mute for some of that.

I am just wanting to weigh in and express my appreciation for Chair Strauss for his stewardship of this legislation and committee.

Also appreciate the administration working with community stakeholders broadly.

And I want to congratulate everybody who's involved in this legislation and thank also Erin House who's been involved in these discussions.

We have been waiting for years to help make sure that this option gets codified.

Very supportive of the effort here to make sure that we're developing additional missing middle housing options like townhouses and row homes.

Colleagues, I'm excited that this legislation is one component that gets layered on to the other efforts that we are advancing in the future and have advanced in the past to make sure that there's more housing options across our city.

Additional changes that we're going to continue to need to make are changes to our zoning code to allow more housing to be built around our city, investments in affordable and home ownership options and rental options for all of our city's working families, and to make sure that we continue to advance the Jumpstart Progressive Revenue investments that we put towards housing.

Again, 62% of the funding from Jumpstart goes towards building affordable housing, including first-time home ownership options.

So all of these pieces come together.

I know that we have already talked about this in committee and that this is not exclusively about affordable housing or just low-income housing, but I want to again reiterate, every opportunity that we have to create more homes We're excited about that.

The Seattle Times continues to talk about those moving to our region We want to welcome people.

We want to make sure that any individual who's coming here to start a business, to seek good living wage jobs, to find a more temperate climate, given climate change, that they have an affordable place to live in the city, that we prevent sprawl, and that we do everything we can to create greater density.

So, excited about the opportunity to support this legislation.

Again, an important piece long in the making and very excited to see it cross the finish line today.

Thank you very much, Council Members.

Thank you, Council Member Skada.

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you.

Sorry.

Oh, I am off of mute again.

Sorry.

I think I'm just leaving myself off mute all day today.

You guys have to hear me typing.

My apologies.

So yeah, I just want to flag the fact that I know that this was a divided report coming out of committee.

recently learned it was a divided report coming out of committee.

I was unaware of that until today, and really just wish we'd had a little bit more time with the legislation.

It being a divided report, I think I prefer the practice that we skip a week for those of us who aren't on the committee to sort of catch up with the differing opinions.

I don't think there was a written divided report either.

That is another tool that is really useful to folks who aren't on the committee to suss out sort of what the differing issues are about the topic.

We have received some constituent emails over the last couple of days all advocating for more time.

And there's some specific changes that I think some people, some very learned people in the area of land use are recommending.

And I'm just wanting to express some disappointment that I didn't have time to take a look at those issues.

I'm torn on my vote, but because I have not given Councilmember Strauss, the advance notice that I would hope for from him if I was going to be voting on something coming, when I'm voting something out of his committee, I'm going to vote yes, but I did want to just use this time to express my hopes in the future that we observe the, unless there is a reason for urgency, I would just really hope we observe the practice of skipping a week when there's a divided report.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Herbold.

Before I go to you, Councilmember Lewis, for the viewing public, my understanding is that Councilmember Strauss, Morales, Mosqueda, and Nelson all voted yes in committee, and only Councilmember Peterson voted no.

With that, and Councilmember Strauss, I will give you an opportunity to address some of these issues, but I want to go to Councilmember Lewis now who's in the queue.

Councilmember Lewis.

Thank you so much, Council President.

And similar to Council Member Herbold, this is my first time weighing in on this legislation given that I do not currently sit on the Land Use Committee.

I appreciate a lot of the recommendations that have been raised in the community in the Seattle Times editorial that I was able to review in advance of this in addition to reviewing the legislation.

And I think a lot of the suggestions that are in that editorial are some good suggestions that moving forward we can consider.

I am going to vote for this ordinance today.

I'm worried I might have been giving Councilmember Strauss a heart attack there in the initial lead into it.

But I do just want to highlight that I appreciate Councilmember Strauss' efforts to make some practical steps in the committee to improve the legislation to prioritize trees over other potential on-site uses.

And Councilmember Strauss spoke to some of those things today.

I think as we continue to develop a comprehensive tree ordinance, we can go even further than that.

I would personally like to see a strong mandate and prioritization of trees over incorporating on-site parking into townhouse development.

I think that we can have density and trees and increasingly more transit-focused communities that are also prioritizing that balance of density along with a greener environment.

And I appreciate the recommendation in the editorial in particular on recommending stacked housing and I don't want to speak for the authors of the editorial, but it sort of sounded like an advocating for sort of a Ian Swallow, Boulder Housing Partners, Planner Item 9. that are older prior to the down zoning of some of the neighborhoods in my district that you can find that integrate excellently into the Queen Anne neighborhood in particular.

And a lot of those, I can send pictures if anyone's skeptical, but a lot of those fourplexes, two on top, two on the bottom, have quite a few trees that are also on site and typically predate insistence of on-site parking requirements.

So there are examples of how we can have that kind of a growth strategy.

I don't think this bill today says that we can't consider those things.

This is a constantly iterative process in how we are assessing and developing the accommodation of growth and the expansion of our tree canopy.

So I'm gonna be voting for this today, but it doesn't end the discussion.

And I do appreciate Council Member Strauss' leadership in accommodating some improvements in the bill at the committee level that were conducive to incentivizing maintaining onsite trees.

Thank you, Council Member Lewis.

I have a few words to say that I'm gonna hand it back to you, Council Member Strauss, to kind of bring us home.

I do not sit on this committee.

However, I did review the material.

I did talk to Councilmember Strauss.

I really want to support what Councilmember Mosqueda said because she's been on this council long enough and has done this work.

I do trust the judgment and the discretion of the committee, particularly Councilmember Mosqueda.

and Morales, Nelson, and Strauss.

I should add that I am supporting this also because as Council Member Mosqueda pointed out and Council Member Strauss informed me of, we have been looking to build this kind of housing everywhere.

This has been going on a while and it isn't the end.

I would just caution, I don't look to the media or editorials actually from anybody, do my own homework, talk to the chairs of the committee, and just kind of go with that.

So I just want to make that comment before I hand it over to Councilmember Strauss to go ahead and respond, and then of course do your conclusion so we can move to a vote.

Councilmember Strauss.

Thank you, Council President.

I did not realize we were going to have so much conversation about this nearly technical correction.

So a couple things.

Council Member Mosqueda did bring up townhomes being less expensive than the larger, I'll call them McMansions, small mansions.

And then I'll also add on to this that townhomes also pay into mandatory housing affordability.

which directly pays into creating affordable housing.

So when I lived on Northwest 64th Street in Ballard, and there were four years of construction of townhomes completely changing the neighborhood, and there was a house across the street, three-bedroom, that rented for $1,300 a month, That was turned into three townhomes, each between five and $700,000 for purchase.

It did strike me that there was some issues here.

What I did not see was the transfer of payment to Office of Housing, because those dollars collected off of that street were transferred just a quarter mile down to 57th Avenue.

Street from 64th, where we are building family affordable housing funded by Office of Housing, which is funded by Jump Start and mandatory housing affordability.

So I know that these connections cannot always be seen in real physical life unless the connections are demonstrated.

as I'm doing right now.

And then Councilmember Herbold, my apologies if there was any type of miscommunication.

I did come just check in with you yesterday.

This wasn't brought up.

There was no disagreement between committee members that this should be held a week.

And as a new staff member on my team is coming up to speed, I did not intend to create misinformation or lack of clarification at yesterday's council briefing.

We've seen each other a couple of times.

I haven't, didn't hear about this, so.

We also did hear this bill twice in committee this month.

We even held a special meeting to make sure that we had time to digest this work.

With that, Council President, committee recommends a divided vote with four in favor and one opposed.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

Council Member Lewis, is that an old hand or a new hand?

That's an old hand, Council President.

Okay, just wanted to make sure.

Okay, so with that, thank you, Council Member Strauss.

So, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

No.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Councilmember Lewis?

Yes.

Councilmember Morales?

Yes.

Council President Juarez?

Aye.

Eight in favor, one opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes.

The chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the bill?

Thank you, on my behalf.

So moving on to item number four.

Will the clerk please read item number four to the record?

Agenda Item 4, Council Bill 12405, relating to land use and zoning, amending Section 23.41.010 of the Seattle Municipal Code to approve the Crown Hill Neighborhood Design Guidelines 2022. The committee recommends that City Council pass the bill.

Council Member Stross, it's you again.

This is your committee.

Could you please share your report?

Council President, Council Bill 120405, the Crown Hill Design Guidelines.

I have been waiting for this bill for so long that Director Quirindango and I made a song about it.

I'm not gonna sing it here.

And I will just tell you that if you wanna roll back the tape to March 2020, When we all came in here and sat around this table and looked up to the screen where Jeff Duchin told us to start wearing masks and go home, it was that month that the Crown Hill Community Action Plan was supposed to be passed.

Let me take one step back further.

The bill before us today is one of three steps.

One is community involvement.

The second is an action plan, and the third is our design guidelines.

And so it was in March of 2020 that the design guidelines were supposed to be passed.

Clearly, that work went on pause, and it did get lost in the shuffle because of the cascading emergencies we were attending to.

I never lost focus on this.

I never lost my attention.

on making sure that the community's vision was passed because Crown Hill welcomes density through mandatory housing affordability to be brought to their community.

And with that density, they have a vision for their community because it is bisected by Northwest 85th Street, which is an arterial, and Holman Road, which is also an arterial.

And so we are changing the environment.

There are two arterials that cut the community in pieces.

And this, These guidelines and the community vision really wants to steward development to support a walkable community.

They've identified Mary Avenue as the walking street, support public life by creating community gardens and community gathering spaces, encouraging that walkable business district, if you will, It used to be the Dane, it's now called Decisions on 85th and 15th.

That is just so close to Mary Avenue, which connects all the way throughout the entire community.

They also have the desire to increase the neighborhood's tree canopy and increase affordable housing.

And so what we have before us today is the result of a multi-year effort to help Crown Hill have the neighborhood that they envision.

And so I want to really thank Crown Hill community members for their collaboration on these guidelines.

Again, thank Director Karen Dongo, Katie Jaime, and Rawan for your work at Office of Planning and Community Development.

And really a huge thank you and appreciation to Karen Labelle, and everyone at the Crown Hill Village Association, not only for saying we want a denser neighborhood, and also for saying we want to have a world that is livable, walkable, a place that you can live, work, and play, get an education, and have a nice day at the park all in the same time.

And colleagues, if you haven't seen Fred Miller's Community Garden Project that is right there at the former Crown Hill Community Center, you must go and see and taste it for yourself.

The community garden is a front, just gonna tell you that right here.

It's a front for connecting people in the neighborhood and teaching children and adults alike about food security, gardening, and healthy eating.

This was a unanimous, voted unanimously at a committee, and we recommend a yes vote.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

Are there any comments or any issues that anyone would like to present to Council Member Strauss before we go to a vote?

Okay, not seeing any.

Council Member Strauss, do you want to say anything before we go to a vote?

There are townhomes being built in Crown Hill.

Thank you very much.

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

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Aye.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

And Council President Juarez?

Aye.

Nine in favor, nine opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes, the chair will sign it, and Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Moving on into the agenda, item number five.

Will the clerk please read the short title?

of item number five into the record.

Council Bill 120-400 relating to land use and zoning, updating regulations to allow virtual meetings for the design review program and other land use permit processes following the termination of the civil emergency proclaimed by the mayor on March 3rd, 2020. The committee recommends that city council pass the bill as amended.

Thank you.

Council Member Strauss.

Thank you, Chair, Council President, excuse me.

Thank you, Council President.

Council Bill 120400, virtual and hybrid options for land use meetings.

Again, to provide some background, we'll take the way back time machine when the civil emergency was declared in 2020. We had to put temporary changes into public processes to allow for meetings to continue while having to meet virtually because of the pandemic.

These temporary code changes are set to expire two months after the civil emergency ends.

And candidly, there have been some benefits to having virtual meetings for these land use meetings.

This bill will allow hybrid meetings to become permanent for public hearings related to land use and planning and will reflect changes that the state has made to the Open Public Meetings Act.

Specifically, a few of the benefits to this bill are we have seen increased participation from residents and board members.

This allows people to use assistive technology for people who have impaired hearing or vision, there are ways for them to participate more fully because of these virtual meetings.

The virtual meetings also reduce carbon emissions, travel time, and time away from family as compared to in-person meetings.

and meetings can be more easily recorded and transcribed so that they can be reviewed.

You don't necessarily have to be there while the meeting is happening if your schedule doesn't allow.

So there's a lot of benefits to the virtual meetings.

Part of this is requiring a place for people to come in person to participate or view the meetings if they don't have access to the technology or for other reasons.

So committee urges a yay vote.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss.

Are there any comments before we go to a vote?

The only thing I will share two things, Councilmember Strauss, and we we've said this before.

Well, two things are I believe the governor is supposed to lift the statewide moratorium in October 31st.

But I want to share one other comment that you've said, because we've seen this throughout the pandemic.

I think the pandemic has forced us to do the people's business in a different manner and to implement policies that we really didn't do before, but for the pandemic forced us.

And one of them is being able to have people who normally can't get downtown to call in, more diverse voices, people that don't have to worry about driving, parking, childcare, more voices from elders that cannot get downtown.

and just having more access.

And I could share a few more odds and ends about that.

I know some people are not happy that Seattle City Council, that we're not all out there.

And I will just say this on my own behalf.

Some of us, our immune system is compromised and we have to be very careful.

And I don't think there's anything wrong, nor do I think anyone should have to apologize for taking the position that they want the hybrid model.

I think it provides more flexibility, quite frankly, and provides more access to City Hall and to government and to the listening public to hear more voices instead of just sometimes just the usual people that show up.

And I appreciate that.

I appreciate it when we get 30 callers from all over the city.

And so we do this in committee.

We'll be doing this during budget.

And I commend customer Mosqueda for pushing that we continue to do the hybrid model, because I want to hear more from everybody across the city.

And I want to hear from people that normally can't get downtown because they're elderly, they're disabled, they've got children, they can't pay for parking, they can't get on public transit.

And so for me, I think it's an equalizer.

I think it's kind of leveled the playing field.

So I commend you for doing this.

And is there any other comments before we go to a vote?

After your comments, I rest my case.

Okay.

Well, okay.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

I wasn't expecting that.

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

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Aye.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes, thank you.

I'm council president Juarez.

I nine in favor none opposed Thank you.

The bill passes the chair will sign it and madam clerk.

Please affix my signature to the Legislation on my behalf So moving on to the calendar.

We are down to I think housemember Strauss's last matter Item number six madam clerk.

Can you please read item number six into the record?

I

Item 6, Council Bill 12401, relating to land use and zoning, correcting typographical errors, correcting sections, references, clarifying regulations of making minor amendments, adding a new section 23.45.600 to the Seattle Municipal Code, amending sections.

Thank you.

I should have added short title.

I'm glad you did not read that whole title.

I was going to stop you if you started.

So thank you, Madam Clerk.

With that, Council Member Strauss.

Council President, every two years, SDCI proposes an omnibus bill, Omnibus Land Use Code Amendment Ordinance, which is, the short term is an omnibus bill, that makes minor tweaks to the land use code to make it easier to understand and use.

If I brought out a binder of the land use code, it would be three times the size of the budget that the mayor just delivered.

And so making these small changes allows for builders, allows for homeowners, allows for everyone in the public to be able to more easily digest what is required to build a building in Seattle.

These minor amendments include correcting errors and omissions, updating updates in response to state law, and clarifying confusing provisions in our development code.

One of the, so all of this is very minor, work, I will say something that has garnered a fair amount of attention in this bill specifically is an addition to exempt certain SEPA elements from the environmental appeal sorry, to exempt certain SEPA elements of the environment, the aesthetics, light, and glare, so we are exempting aesthetics, light, and glare from a SEPA appeal if the project has completed a design review.

This was mandated by state law.

This was, I mean, we heard today that the state passed a law exempting aesthetics, light, and glare from a SEPA appeal.

And so in this bill, the city has also adopted this language so that we are in line with state law.

We don't have flexibility on whether or not to adopt this.

I just wanna make that clear for colleagues.

That's all we got.

The bill passed out of committee and we recommend a yay vote.

Thank you.

Are there any comments for Council Member Strauss?

Kasper Lewis.

Thank you, Council President.

I similarly met with a couple of different groups of constituents last week concerned with some different portions of the omnibus bill, and similar to the information Council Member Strauss just provided, and I told these constituents I would provide it on the record.

This omnibus bill truly is a truing up based on recent changes to the RCW that we have to adopt to reflect the changes in state law.

I think it's important to understand that there are areas of our building code that we might want to look into in collaboration Today, we don't have the ability to make those tweaks.

We are merely altering our code to reflect what the change in the law is as we are mandated to do in areas where we are preempted from making our own changes.

So for those reasons, I am gonna vote for this omnibus today.

Thank you, Council Member Lewis.

Are there any other comments before we go to a vote?

All right, not seeing any.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

President Juarez.

Aye.

Nine in favor, nine opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes.

The chair will sign it.

Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation.

Moving on to item number seven.

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

Report of the Public Assets and Homelessness Committee, agenda item seven, resolution 32067, endorsing the goals of Downtown Seattle Association's Third Avenue vision and stating the intent of the city of Seattle to work collaboratively with the Downtown Seattle Association, King County Metro and Sound Transit to pursue the improvements to the Third Avenue in Downtown Seattle.

The committee recommends that city council adopt as amended the resolution.

Thank you.

Councilmember Lewis, you're the chair, so you will be providing us with the committee report.

The floor is yours.

Thank you so much, Council President.

I really appreciated the two hearings we were able to have on this resolution and committee and have appreciated that there's been a significant amount of media coverage on this resolution that has no doubt been helpful to council colleagues and the public in evaluating the resolution.

To put it succinctly, the resolution requires an interdepartmental process to evaluate a longstanding proposal from the Downtown Seattle Association to make significant physical and use changes on 3rd Avenue to really put more functionality and use to the transit uses in that corridor, as well as increase opportunities for placemaking and activation In a corridor that's otherwise been abandoned for those kinds of purposes.

And we did have two very robust community discussions in committee.

around that that I think revealed a lot of good core urbanist values between committee members and the general public and what we're trying to accomplish in this area.

I believe that there is an amendment for us to walk through that is going to be proposed by Councilmember Morales.

That is a friendly amendment.

and the resolution did pass the committee unanimously last week before being referred to full council.

So I'm happy to turn it back over to you, Council President, to go through the amendment process and then give some final remarks once we have it amended and in front of us for final passage.

Okay, I would have appreciated knowing that there was going to be an amendment and did not know that.

So I'm going to do this on the fly.

I understand this is a friendly amendment.

First, I've heard of it, but that's okay.

Council Member Morales, you are recognized for the friendly amendment.

Is there a motion you want to make?

Thank you, Council President.

I move to amend as presented in Amendment A, which I apologize.

I thought it had been distributed earlier in the week.

My apologies.

It is on the Legislature, but I'm happy to resent.

Okay.

So Councilor Morales just moved to add her amendment.

Are there any comments before we go to I'm sorry, Joyce, I let you address it and tell us what it is first, right?

Sure.

Yeah, I apologize.

No, go ahead.

That's OK.

So this amendment would direct the working group that has been established to review the vision and the different options would direct the working group to engage with social service providers as part of the evaluation of the design concepts.

As we talked about in committee, these are really important conversations about how downtown will adapt.

to what will likely be a very different kind of future of work.

And so we're very interested in learning how our downtown can be more inclusive and safer and how it can promote prosperity for everyone.

So there are several organizations that serve people on 3rd Avenue, Reach and Lead, DESC, YWCA.

and others who are in the downtown corridors who can provide really critical perspective on how to make, excuse me, how to make our public realm safe and inclusive.

And so this amendment would direct the working group, which has important discussions ahead, to bring together not just property owners on 3rd Avenue, but those who ride transit, who use the services that are provided, and who provide the services that are offered.

in the third avenue corridor.

Thank you, Councilor Morales.

So we'll have some, anyone else has some comments?

Councilor Herbold on the amendment.

I don't know how important this is.

I think the clerks might say it's important.

Maybe we could ask for a point of order.

I think we need to waive the rules since this wasn't distributed, to my knowledge at least.

And I'm wondering also Councilor Morales if this can be maybe put up on the screen so we could read it.

That would be very, very helpful.

Okay.

One minute.

Madam Clerk, do I need to waive the rules to allow Council Member Morales to submit her amendment to Resolution 32067?

Council President Juarez, amendment A is on the city council agenda.

It's been published and it is available for the members of the public and council members.

Because it was on the agenda, the council rules do not need to be suspended.

We can still provide a view for the council members, a version of it on the screen if they'd like.

Okay.

Why don't we do that if we can provide Councilmember Lewis's resolution so we can see it.

And then we'll see if there's any more discussion, and then we'll go to vote on the amendment.

So do you need a moment?

Clerk, staff?

Yes, please.

Okay.

Councilmember Lewis, I see your hand is up.

Is that the same hand?

This would be to speak to the amendment, Madam President, so I'm fine with waiting until that would be appropriate.

Okay, great.

So let's get the amendment up on the screen here.

Great, there it is, Amendment A. And so, Council Member Morales, do you want to just read that to us?

Would you mind doing that?

That is fine.

Yes.

So the amendment reads, this amends section 2D, which discusses the technical data developed for the work plan for a conceptual level study of the urban design and transit improvements to 3rd Avenue that will help inform a preferred design concept that furthers the 3rd Avenue vision and that maintains transit, bus and rail capacity downtown to meet ridership and travel time demands, includes the work plan planning level cost estimates and engagement of community that travels to and through the 3rd Avenue corridor.

My amendment adds at the end of that sentence and social service providers located on the 3rd Avenue corridor.

Great, that's a good amendment.

So Council Member Lewis, I'm going to go back to you because I understand that you agree with this amendment.

So I'm going to let you go ahead and speak to it and then see if there's any other council members before we go to a vote on the amendment.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes, thank you, and I do appreciate Council Member Morales bringing this forward because it is part of the intention to include a lot of the social service providers active on 3rd Avenue in this work.

Indeed, the informal efforts that the Downtown Seattle Association and my office have been engaged in since the spring of last year around the situation on 3rd Avenue have intimately involved Lehigh, Bellwether, of the city of Seattle and the city of Seattle has been able to reach and lead the just care intervention on 3rd Avenue that had some of the most dramatic pro-public safety impacts on that corridor in years.

So, I think it's good to make that official and incorporate that in here, I think it also lifts up the fact that a lot of the people who actually live on Third Avenue in the Lehigh building and the bellwether building that are in that.

that retail core do have a very important stake in this and need to be part of the constituency consulted.

So I'm happy to support this amendment and make the resolution more comprehensive.

Thank you, Councilmember Lewis.

I should add that I saw your presentation in the PowerPoint in the committee, and I unfortunately didn't make it to the committee where you all voted in favor of it.

So I think that this is a really good amendment that Councilmember Morales has put forward, and I trust your judgment as well as Councilmember Morales and social service providers located on the Third Avenue border.

So thank you for that.

Are there any other comments before we go to a vote on the amendment?

Councilmember Nelson?

Are all residents part of these conversations too?

You mentioned residents in those buildings.

I mean, are downtown residents involved in these discussions as well?

Well, I mean, through the Downtown Seattle Association, yes.

Okay, all right.

you know, and through my office's own outreach to those organizations over the last two years.

I mean, through COVID, this has been the epicenter of some of the worst urban challenges we've faced as a city, and everyone's been involved, including these groups that are catering to alleviate some of, alleviating some of those hurdles.

So I, you know, everyone is gonna be comprehensively consulted.

This is Seattle.

This consultation would happen even if we didn't pass this amendment.

and this list should be seen, I believe, as a floor and not a ceiling for that effort as we work with the executive to report back on progress.

This might be a good moment just to also note that in the budget release today, there is $350,000 proposed for downtown planning outreach that include, it's not exclusively for 3rd Avenue, but includes it.

It also includes planning around sound transit alignment and a couple of other downtown priorities.

So just wanted to put that out there too, that it will be resourced outreach according to the proposal the mayor has brought forward.

Okay, so we're going to vote on the amendment and I will let you all hold your more your broader comments when we actually vote on the amended if this passes on the actual base legislation.

So with that, I'm going to move that we go ahead and have the clerk call the roll on Council Member Morales's amendment to Council Member Lewis's resolution.

Madam Clerk.

Council Member Musqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

And Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Eight in favor and none opposed.

Thank you.

So the amendment passes.

And now we're going to move to the base legislation of the amended resolution.

So before we do that, are there any comments before we vote on the amended resolution?

I see Council Member Strauss and Mosqueda, and then I will let Council Member Lewis finish.

So go ahead, Council Member Strauss.

Council President, and thank you Council Member Lewis for bringing this resolution forward.

Going on the way back time machine again for the third time in this full council meeting.

I'll return us back to January, February of 2020. This was just after I had worked for Council Member Bagshaw and on this work about 3rd Avenue because there were a lot of different changes at different levels of ownership.

different levels of government private public partnerships that needed to take place and specifically councilmember bags i got to work with councilmember bag shop for i worked for her on city hall park where we had one of the best activation plans that didn't push people out it included more people into the city hall park space that everyone from judges to folks here in the city were saying was some of the best vibrancy that the park had seen.

And in a matter of weeks, We took months to get this work up and running.

And in a matter of weeks with the pandemic, this work was all brushed aside and we lost ground.

And so Council Member Lewis, seeing this come forward today, I really just, I'm very heartened by it because I think that this is demonstration that we are turning the corner out of being in reaction mode and getting back into action.

So we've got the bones that downtown needs to be the best it can be, and I think that this is part of that.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Council Member Lewis.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

Council Member Esqueda.

Thank you very much, Madam President.

I wanted to express my appreciation for the work that's gone into the legislation in front of us.

As we talked about in committee and for those who are not part of Councilmember Lewis's committee, I think there's a lot of excitement.

I think that there's broad excitement across the community for how we can I think it's important that we use the public space along 3rd Avenue to not only promote transit, but also create active space for community cultural events.

How do we activate public spaces so that maybe there's more art and culture, but also some of the small storefronts.

in terms of employers and workers who are actively deciding to stay home and continue to have a hybrid model of work from home.

We want to support that and also make sure that our storefronts have creative ways to utilize that space and create greater opportunity for folks who are transit riders, small business owners, residents down there, so that we are creating a vibrant downtown core.

I also want to make sure that we are rejecting the notion, outright rejecting the notion, that somehow Third Avenue needs to be reformed because of transit or transit riders.

Transit riders and transit itself is a boon to our local economy, making it possible for more people to get into work, to be able to bring their kiddos to daycare, to make sure that more small businesses can have more patrons.

We want to promote the use of transit and we want to reward people who are taking the bus and this is I think an opportunity for us to both encourage transit and transit ridership as well as promote active engagement along our transit corridors so that we're supporting the activation of those storefronts and utilizing public space to the public's good.

We clarified in committee and I want to thank our colleagues for raising the questions that I also had about the use of public sidewalks and how the language in the initial report was talking about, you know, a hybrid between public-private partnerships.

We clarified in committee that these public sidewalks will remain public, that we will retain the cities right away, and we as the city and community will continue to engage in conversations about how we protect our most vulnerable who are going to be interested in riding buses, as well as promote the ability for people to eat outside or have the ability to shop at pop-up markets, things like that along 3rd Avenue.

So it will be public space retained in the public hands and there is no selling off of any of the public sideways.

I'm looking for sidewalks.

I'm looking forward to additional conversations to continue to make sure that individuals who are downtown who are unhoused are treated holistically, that we're creating options and more services, more amenities to make sure that people can be treated humanely and really protecting against any sort of effort that has us versus them mentality as we look to solve some of the issues that have come up along 3rd Avenue.

but recognize that we need more resources, more activation, more transit, and more opportunity for everyone in our downtown core.

So I look forward to supporting this today, and I just wanted to make sure that we're lifting up the value and the positive input that transit riders and transit have along our downtown core.

Thanks so much, and I want to thank Alex Hudson as well from TCC, who really lifted this up in her public comments.

Thank you.

Well, this is quite the amendment.

You spent a lot of time on it.

Okay, we've still got more.

No, no, we're at the underlying bill, Madam President.

I'm sorry, I just liked it with the amendment.

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you.

Yes, to the underlying legislation and an amendment that was actually made in committee.

I want to thank Council Member Lewis and the committee members for supporting the amendment that I think makes, in part, the point that Council Member Mosqueda just made.

This is one of the best performing transit corridors in the nation.

And we do not want to sacrifice that as we work to address the other challenges in that corridor.

So I really appreciated the support, not just of the committee members, but also the DSA in developing language that expresses an intention that we are going to continue to meet the capacity, the transit capacity needs in this corridor.

Thank you.

Okay, so that was our comments on the overall amended resolution.

So now we are back to Council Member Lewis to have our concluding remarks before we go to a vote on the amended resolution.

Thank you so much, Council President.

And I know that we have a lot more items in the Metropolitan Park District, so I'm not going to take too long on this.

But we've seen nationally lots of examples of cities that have really dynamic, well-activated transit malls in the middle of the city that emphasize the place of transit, but also enhance the rest of that right-of-way and that street to have vibrant storefronts, to have activations, to have it be a vibrant place where people want to live because it's fun and convenient.

And what we have historically seen, at least in recent years, is neglecting some of the other needs of 3rd Avenue and basically only having it be a transit corridor which in the long run erodes its usefulness and utility in that role if people don't feel safe there, if people don't feel welcome there, if it's not a place people wanna be and where they wanna congregate.

So I really wanna thank the Downtown Seattle Association for giving us a good product as a launching pad with some initial visioning work and coalition building that we can work with as a city to make some improvements, both some short-term things and some long-term things.

And I look forward to the results of the work that the executive branch has queued up with some of the proposals in the current budget so that we can really start making sure we have a 3rd Avenue that takes a backseat to nobody nationally and providing a great transit experience, but also being a very livable corridor and an activated one.

Is there anything else, Councilor?

Are we done there?

Okay.

All right.

So we are now going to, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the amended resolution?

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The amended resolution is adopted.

The chair will sign it.

And Madam Clerk, will you please affix my signature to the amended resolution?

Before we move on to item number eight, I have a housekeeping matter.

If there's no objection, Council Member Sawant, is excused from the rest of today's calendar, that is for items, for the rest of the agenda, items seven and eight.

Hearing no objection, Council Member Swann is excused for the rest of today's agenda.

All right, that being said, let's move on to item number eight, which takes us to the Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities Committee.

Madam Clerk, will you please read item number eight into the record?

Report of the Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities Committee.

Agenda item eight, Council Bill 12419, relating to the State Route 520 Bridge Replacement and High Occupancy Vehicle Program, authorizing execution of an amendment to General Maintenance Agreement GMB 1094 between the City of Seattle and the State of Washington to add the Portage Bay Bridge and Renewal Glid Project.

The committee recommends that City Council pass the bill.

Thank you.

Councilor Peterson, you were chair of this committee.

Do you want to share your report with us?

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, our Transportation Committee unanimously recommended this Council Bill 120419, which pertains to the western portion of the State Route 520 bridge replacement and high occupancy vehicle project.

The bill appropriately updates the roles and responsibilities under the maintenance agreement between the City and the State of Washington.

for that Portage Bay portion of that bridge that we sometimes call the rest of the west, which will include the Roanoke lid.

This project has undergone an extensive design review and community engagement process during the past decade.

We're grateful to the state legislature for providing the funds to complete this long-awaited bridge safety project and the community benefits of adding the open space.

We encourage you to vote yes.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Peterson.

Are there any comments for Councilmember Peterson?

Not seeing any.

Anything else you want to add, Councilor Peterson, before we move to the vote?

No, thank you.

All right.

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

Council Member Musqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Aye.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Council Member Morales?

And Council President Juarez?

Aye.

That is seven in favor, none opposed.

I see Council Member Morales still on the, I still see her tile.

Council Member Morales, are you there?

All right, we'll just move on then.

So the bill passes and the chair will sign it.

And Madam Clerk, will you please affix my signature to this legislation on my behalf?

Thank you.

Moving on into our agenda, items removed from the consent calendar.

There were no items removed from the consent calendar.

Moving on to adoption of other resolutions.

I am not aware of any adoption of any other resolutions.

Other business.

Is there any other business before the council, before I move?

Because I got another section to share on the adjournment piece.

Is there any other business?

OK. not seen any.

Let me make a quick statement because I know Council Member Lewis is getting prepared.

This does conclude the items of business on today's agenda.

Our next regularly scheduled City Council meeting is on Tuesday, October 4th at 2. As a reminder, there is a scheduled Seattle Park District Board meeting to begin after this meeting.

There is a separate Zoom meeting invite for this meeting, and staff will need at least, Council Member Lewis, is 10 minutes good or 15?

What are you looking at?

10 minutes is just fine, Madam President.

Great.

So it is- I should say, sorry, as long as that's good for the clerks.

Madam Clerk, is 10 minutes good?

10 minutes will work.

Thank you.

Okay.

So it is 4.01.

And we will be back here at 411. And with that, I hope you, well, I'll see you all again in 10 minutes.

We are adjourned.