Seattle City Council 4/4/23

We are recording.

Thank you, son.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Good afternoon.

Today is Tuesday, April 4th.

This is the meeting of the Seattle City Council.

I'm Deborah Juarez, and I'm now calling the meeting to order.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Mosqueda.

Here.

Council Member Nelson.

Present.

Council Member Peterson.

Here.

Council Member Sawant.

Council Member Strauss.

Present.

Council Member Herbold.

Here.

Council Member Lewis.

Present.

Council President Juarez.

Here.

Seven present.

Madam Clerk, before we go further, I should add that Council Member Morales is excused from today's meeting.

However, we do have another Council Member which is to be excused.

So if there's no objection, Council Member Sawant will be excused from today's City Council meeting.

Hearing no objection, Council Member Sawant is indeed excused from today's Council meeting.

Moving on in our calendar, we have three presentations today.

One from Council Member Lewis with the Seattle Public Libraries, in which we have guests.

Council Member Mosqueda with her proclamation for April 6th being Sagel Day.

Council Member Herboldt will have a proclamation for Sexual Assault Awareness Month for the month of April.

So before we begin, let me just add a few words.

Thank you, Council Member Nelson, for being Council President Pro Tem in my absence yesterday.

I really appreciate it.

I very seldom take this opportunity to share more personal issues, but I do have MS and sometimes I have these days where things are not good.

And I just want to thank all of you, each and every one of you that step up and lighten my load.

and help me and check on me.

I hope the public knows and can see that we may all have our differences, but at the end of the day, we all guide each other.

I couldn't ask for a better group of people to step up for me, take some issues for me, step up, step in for me, give me a call and see if I'm okay.

So today's gonna be a little rough, and if it gets a little rougher, I got Councilmember Nelson ready to step in and be Council President Pro Tem again.

So thank you Councilmember Nelson for being ready.

So with that, let's move on to presentations.

Our first presentation will start today with Councilmember Lewis and Seattle Public Libraries.

Councilmember Lewis, the floor is yours.

Thank you so much Council President and it's a great privilege to be joined today by our leadership in the Seattle Public Library, including our chief librarian, Tom Fay, who is now approaching to the, the front of the room.

I would just say.

One of the first appointments that we worked with the library board on early in the new administration was Tom's ascension to the leadership of the Seattle Public Library.

And we've really been through a difficult time coming out of COVID with Like a lot of departments have experienced around staffing around reliable hours of service around programmatic expansion for all the things that community depends on.

And it's been really great to see Tom and his leadership team really rise to that level of making sure that we have.

digital literacy training in the community, making sure that we have things for young people to do after school, making sure we are continuing to digitize and make accessible the collections that we all depend on in the library system.

And as someone who, you know, I know on this council dais we have a couple of people who have grown up in the city of Seattle and relied on programming at the library.

Council Member Strauss has been very eloquent about that.

Myself, I learned how to use a computer at the Greenwood branch of the Seattle Public Library.

And it's always a great opportunity to have the Seattle Public Library come and present to committee, even greater a treat to have presentations here in chambers from the leadership team during full council.

And with that, I wanna go ahead and hand it over to our library team that have approached the public testimony portion in the center of chambers and give them the floor for today's presentation.

Thank you Councilmember Lewis.

Thank you Councilmember Lewis and thank you Council President Juarez and council members.

We're very happy to be here today to talk about our Seattle Reads program.

As Councilmember Lewis mentioned our programming is now coming back into being both in person, as well as in some cases being hybrid.

Just for some additional exciting news, we were able to bring on the first phase of our expanded levy hours, more open hours, just this week on Monday.

So we're excited about that.

More opportunities for folks to access the library.

As you may or may not know, we are celebrating our 25th year of Seattle Reads this year.

This is a program that was developed and created here in Seattle that is now global.

There are so many places in the world today running a program very similar to this, which is one community reading one book.

We're proud of all those who created this program, who ran it for many years.

And it's my great pleasure today to have Stesha Brandon, who is our literature and humanities program manager who now runs this great program.

And she's gonna give you a little bit more about this year's Seattle Reads.

Thanks so much, Tom.

And hi, everybody.

I'm so happy to be here today to chat with you about Seattle Reads.

As I'm sure many of you know, Seattle is a UNESCO City of Literature.

And one of the reasons that we were designated is because of the work that we do at the library and Seattle Reads and the impact of that that helps make our literary ecosystem in Seattle so great.

As Tom mentioned, Seattle Reads is a program that was created in 1998 at the library and the idea is that we invite everybody in the community to read the same book and then discuss it in their homes with their communities, their houses of worship, and at the library.

So this year the selected book is The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka.

Julie is going to be doing four programs with us in May and As Tom mentioned, because it's the 25th anniversary of Seattle Reads, we thought it would be a really wonderful opportunity to honor somebody who had actually been part of the program in the past.

And so Julie came in 2005 for what was her debut novel, When the Emperor Was Divine.

And we thought we would invite her back to talk about her latest book and also reflect on the impact of being at Seattle Reads at such an early point in her career.

We thought that that would be a fun conversation to have.

So I thought I would tell you a little bit more about the book, just give you a little taste, and I believe you all have copies, but just to whet your appetite.

The Swimmers begins as a story of what happens to a group of recreational swimmers when a crack appears in the bottom of the swimming pool.

But the book is really an exploration of memory and its loss and what we owe one another when the things that bind us together fail.

The Swimmers is primarily about dementia and memory loss, but it also examines relationships between mothers and daughters and touches on the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

As you may know, Julie is a really well-respected writer.

She's the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and her first novel, When the Emperor Was Divine, won a 2003 Asian American Literary Award, and the same year, the American Library Association Alex Award.

Her second novel, The Buddha in the Attic, was an international bestseller, and was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2011, and won the 2012 Penn Faulkner Award for fiction.

So we're just thrilled that she's coming back to Seattle and this year we're going to be doing four programs with her and we're working with two Senior Center partners.

We're working with Southeast Seattle Senior Center and the Greenwood Senior Center.

In addition to doing programming at library branches and we prioritize doing programming during the day because the book does focus on folks experiencing memory loss and aging in place, we wanted to prioritize making the programs as accessible as possible.

So three of the four programs will take place during the day to ensure accessibility.

And we also wanted to make sure that the programs shed light on dementia and Alzheimer's.

And so we are organized them to coincide with Dementia Awareness Week, which is the 15th through the 21st of May, and just ahead of June, which is Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month.

So this program is really about reaching into the community, and so we're thrilled that we have so many community partners that have already come on board for the program.

We're working with the Frye Art Museum's Creative Aging Programs, the Memory Hub at the University of Washington Brain and Wellness Center, the Greenwood Senior Center, and Densho.

And all of these partners have been really enthusiastic about the program and eager to engage with us.

We were able to integrate reading suggestions from Densho and Greenwood Senior Center into the printed materials for the program.

And then the Fry Creative Aging Program and Memory Hub are hosting a very cool complimentary event that includes a facilitated gallery walk that focuses on an art show that ties into themes in the book.

And then afterwards, they'll host a moderated discussion of the swimmers.

And one of the ways that we wanna encourage people to read is that we distribute books throughout the community.

So in addition to the more than 300 copies that we have that are cataloged, you can just check out at the library, we're distributing more than 1,600 books throughout the community with about 30% of those going to prioritized communities.

And we also widened our distribution points for copies to include non-library locations like ACRS, Densho, the Fry Art Museum, and both the Greenwood and Southeast Seattle Senior Centers.

And we love to have artistic elements as part of the program as well as another entry point into discussing the book.

And so this year we've invited a cut paper artist, Lauren Ida, to create what she calls a memory net, which will be inspired by the swimmers.

and we will hope to display the memory net as part of Julie's programs with us in May, and then it will be on display at Central Library through June.

And that brings me to the final element of this year's program.

Because it's our 25th anniversary, we thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to host an exhibit at Central Library that looks back on the 25 years of the program.

It will take place in our level eight gallery space at Central Library, and the exhibit will feature posters, photos, video, ephemera, and other items from throughout the program's history.

And it will honor the work of the program's early stewards, Nancy Pearl, and Chris Higashi.

And the exhibit will cover the program's history and timeline, as well as its global impact.

And it will run from April 24th through June 26th.

So we're very excited to celebrate Seattle Reeds and the 25th anniversary and the swimmers this year.

And we hope that you'll be able to join us for the program.

Thanks.

Great.

I see we have a hand up.

Council Member Strauss.

Thank you, Council President, I just want to thank you both for coming before us and letting us know about this year's Seattle reads and your silver anniversary congratulations.

I know that your librarians do so much more than teach people to read.

You are a safe place for so many people in our community.

I wanted to give them also recognition in this moment.

And Kirsten, I couldn't help but recognize you as well.

You seem to be the one I always call when I need help with our libraries.

So you've got an amazing team with you and just thank you all for your service to our city.

Thank you, council member.

Are there any other comments that we would like to share with our friends from the Seattle Public Library?

And thank you for the book.

I have to say it's one perk of being on Seattle City Council is every year I get a free book of what we're reading.

And I actually read when the emperor was divine years ago.

So thank you for that.

Is there anything else for any of our colleagues?

All right.

Council Member Lewis, do you want to close us out on this?

I just want to thank our partners at the library for coming here and giving that presentation.

Having the library in my committee is a true pleasure as a lifelong patron and supporter of your work.

So thanks for coming and sharing that with us this afternoon.

Thank you.

Okay, so we'll move on our agenda I understand we have a little bit of a change up here so I'm going to, I understand yesterday, which I will fix my name to that we had a proclamation for April 6 to be sage all day.

And so customer mosquito I'm going to hand the floor over to you to kind of just give us a quick update and then we can move on.

Sounds good.

Well, I want to thank you, Council President, for adding your name to our colleagues who have, I think, unanimously added their name to honor Sejal Parikh as Chief of Staff in our office and Strategic Mind and Master on Public Policy Crafting over the last five going into six years on behalf of my team and really on behalf of our city and our city's residents.

We are so thrilled that she has chosen to work in public policy to advance labor standards to ensure that we had progressive revenue and to make sure that we fought for additional transparency and accountability in our budget.

Yesterday I read a number of her accomplishments on behalf of the city of working families and our most vulnerable.

And folks, I really appreciate everybody signing on to the proclamation.

We have also received the signature from the mayor's office, and we had an opportunity to talk about how Sejal's big push on policy ideas, the work that she's done on bringing together diverse coalitions.

This has led to shaking things up, pushing against the status quo, creating history, not just within our city, but across the nation.

On the policies that she has had the opportunity to really spearhead, and I'm just so excited that we will be able to honor her work with us and her tenure at the city on 4, 6, from 4 to 6 in Georgetown, and we will be presenting her officially with the stage of break day proclamation signed by our colleagues and the mayor.

this Thursday.

There's going to be a handful of folks who will also be making comments on that day in Georgetown.

But I would invite anybody who is not able to, of course, come with us that day or would like to say something officially here today to do so.

But just know that there's more celebration, Madam President, and more words of appreciation for Sejal to come on Thursday as we present this proclamation to her on her official day, her last day, 4-6.

4-6.

Thank you.

I'm sorry, I wasn't here yesterday.

I think, well, the best thing about Sejal, she's a Michigan Wolverine.

So that's how we bond during football and NCAA basketball.

So I hope Sejal's watching so I can appropriately embarrass her.

I'm gonna miss her, but I know she's not going far and she will still be in our Seattle family, making sure that policy and other good things happen to our great city.

So I will leave it at that.

Is there anyone else before I move on?

Council Member Herbold.

I'll make it super quick.

I did not have a chance to share my appreciation for Sejal yesterday, and I'm going to take this opportunity now.

She's been such a fantastic leader, helping workers raise their voices and fight for economic justice.

She's worked on scores of policies that have resulted in more fairness for the people of Seattle.

And I most closely worked with Sejal even before she came to the city, when she led labor stakeholders.

and their advocacy in successfully passing Seattle's secure scheduling law, one of the first in the nation.

And this law has resulted in nearly $6 million in the pockets of nearly 6,000 Seattle workers.

Sejal not only grounds her work by centering workers' voices, she does so with integrity, tenacity, and sometimes the most important in this work, she does so with fun.

I know that I, like many of us, are so excited to see what Sejal does next, and no doubt her work will continue to drive Seattle closer towards governing with policies that more closely match our values as a city.

All right, that's a lot of words for Sage.

I hope she's watching.

So with that, let's move on in our agenda to the next presentation, which is you Council Member Herbold.

You have a proclamation proclaiming April to be Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

So I'm gonna hand the floor to you.

And then after that, we'll see if our colleagues have any comments.

Then I will move to suspend the rules to allow our guests to accept the proclamation and provide comments.

So go ahead, Council Member Herbold.

President, you excuse me to my council colleagues for joining me and Mayor Harrell by declaring April Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

I know we also have Human Services Department Director Tanya Kim in chambers today to offer her remarks.

And we're members of the Seattle Women's Commission and the Seattle Disability Commission to accept the confirmation in person.

Thank you everyone for being here, being there in the Council Chambers.

This year's Sexual Assault Awareness Month theme is Drawing Connections, Prevention Demands Equity, and that calls on all individuals, communities, organizations, and institutions to lift ourselves up.

and also lift systems surrounding us to build racial equity and respect.

Call to action issued by the Seattle County Sexual Assault Resource Center for this month is that ISARC is calling on our communities to be upstanders, people who actively take steps to prevent sexual violence.

You don't need a superhero cape stand up to sexual violence.

An upstander is an ally, someone experiencing bullying or harassment, and an upstander is someone who helps another person who is too incapacitated to find a safe way home, for instance, after a party.

And if someone tells you they've been a victim of sexual assault, you can be an upstander by listening without judgment, by being supportive, and sharing the 24-hour resource line for free and confidential help and information.

Answering that call right here today because we know, sadly, that many people listening today have experienced sexual assault.

If you are seeking help for yourself, a friend, a family member, or anyone else that you know, the resource line is 888-998-6423, or you can go to KSARC, that's K-C-S-A-R-C.org.

You can find help in Spanish as well.

Just want to also remark that Denim Day falls on April 26th this year, a reminder to folks to wear denim as a visible means of protesting against the misconceptions about sexual violence.

And I'm so grateful to Human Services Department Director Kim and Commission Representatives Sarah Liu and Christina Lewitsky for being here today share their remarks about Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

And thank you to my Vice Chair, Council Member Lewis.

He's doing double duty today on proclamations.

I really appreciate you physically presenting the proclamation to our guests.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Colleagues, is there anyone that would like to share any comments before I move to suspend the rules?

All right, I'm not seeing any.

If there's no objection, the council rules will be suspended to allow our guests, and I'm guessing they will all introduce themselves again.

Not hearing an objection, the council rules are suspended.

So I want to make sure I get this right, Council Member Herbold.

We have Tanya Kim from HSD.

We have Sarah Liu from the Seattle Women's Commission, and also Christina Sawicki, correct?

All three?

Yes, is my understanding.

Okay, great.

So, now that we have suspended the rules.

Our guests have an opportunity to accept the proclamation and provide remarks.

This would be your opportunity.

Now, you are now recognized.

I want to thank.

city council for this proclamation.

My name is Christina Savitsky, and I am one of the co-chairs on the Seattle Disability Commission.

And with that, to really say thank you, because individuals with disabilities are anywhere from three to seven times more likely to experience sexual assault in our community, as well as struggle with being seriously taken by law enforcement, as well as medical personnel.

And we also have many in our community who struggle with the ability to even report such instances like our individuals and friends in the deaf blind community.

So this proclamation is very important to the Seattle Disability Commission and the awareness that sexual assault really does strike home with our members with disabilities in the Seattle community.

Thank you very much today for having me and for the proclamation.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

I just want to recognize that this is a tough subject.

I want to thank Council Member Juarez for your leadership and humanizing your leadership.

Thank you to Chair Herbold, my committee chair, for your leadership in the work that we do together behind the scenes as well as in committee.

And of course, Vice Chair Lewis, for handing us the proclamation and for your work in being a champion.

It's really important to humanize the work for all these reasons.

The Seattle Women's Commission, the Disability Services, excuse me, Disability Commission are really important leaders and providing voice.

And the reason why I came in person today, actually the first time since the pandemic is because the Human Services Department is very committed to this work.

I mean, you'd know that through our funding, our policy work, but as a leader in this space, I just want you to know that I'm personally committed as well.

It impacts all of us in some way.

whether directly or indirectly.

It doesn't matter your gender, your age, where you live in the world.

Unfortunately, this is something that we all are addressing and we need to combat.

One of the things that is so important to the Human Services Department is making sure that, as you said so beautifully, Council Member Herbold, that people are educated and that we stand up and voice that Violence is not okay.

It is not acceptable.

It's not okay.

And so when we talk about a proclamation or an opportunity to wear denim, and I'm previewing part of my outfit for you a little early as inspiration, it's really because we need to continue to promote this.

And it's a conversation starter.

And if we can spur that conversation, build the confidence in people asking for help or seeking resources, then we've done something good together.

And we have that opportunity.

I wanna mention part of the work that HSD is doing outside of funding is we are going to be blitzing our social media to make sure that we're part of this.

And so please look for that.

I'm not a hashtag person, so I'm gonna have to read this, but I know it's important.

It's the hashtag HSD believes survivors.

So I really appreciate what you said, Council Member Herbold, that we need to listen and be available and believe.

Underscoring one more time, April is the month, but April 26 is where we can wear denim, all of us, so we can spur that conversation.

And with that, I just wanna say thank you.

Thank you, Director Kim.

Did we have another guest?

No?

I think that's all we've got for today.

Okay.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Um, uh, thank you for, um, is it, was it Sarah or Christina and Tanya or director Kim?

Thank you for being here today customer herbal I know that you do this every year and I really appreciate it, it's, you know, it should obviously be more than just once a year and a month.

And as we know, I'm, I'm just going to say this in all candid, you and I are a little bit older so we've been watching kind of the history of sexual assault and violence how it went from.

not being reported, to being a misdemeanor, to finally being a felony, to having these operational discussions with SPD on sex trafficking and the issues that we deal with behind the scenes.

So I want to thank you because you always bring this to the forefront.

Sometimes I tease you about Denim Day, but I know that it comes from a good place and I'm glad that you remind us about this all the time, especially now that we're dealing with a lot of sex trafficking, and with children in the internet.

So thank you very much.

Are there any other comments from my colleagues and if there's anything you want to end with Councilmember Herbold before we, I don't see any of our colleagues that have any comments if you want to wrap this up and we move on.

I don't think I could top the comments of yourself, Madam President, or our guests today.

So we'll leave it there.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you.

And thank you to our guests for being here today.

Okay.

We're going to move on in our agenda to public comment.

Madam Clerk, how many folks do we got signed up remotely and how many are in chambers?

We have 15 remote speakers and two in chambers.

Okay, let's start with everybody getting two minutes and we will allow our folks, our visitors in person speakers to speak first.

So we'll take the first two speakers in chambers and then we'll go to our remote callers.

Thank you.

Our first speaker in chambers is Lloyd Elliott Lytle.

Thank you, Council President Juarez, members of the Seattle City Council, a pleasure to be here.

My name is Lloyd Elliott Lytle, I live in Des Moines, Washington.

I'm a lifelong Seattleite, went to school here at the UW, lived in the U District, Fremont, so I got a lot of love for Seattle.

I just want to ask you all for your support in these ORCA proclamations that are making their way through the Salish Sea community.

It started in Port Townsend, In December of 2022 they were the first city to adopt this proclamation, and it recognizes legal rights for the southern resident orcas, and it was followed by Langley gig Harbor Bainbridge, and my own current home city of Des Moines.

The original idea came from Legal Rights, the Salish Sea, a local organization and Earth Law Center.

And it basically asked for support for the Southern residents who need a lot of help these days.

They are an endangered species and we're just trying to build that support.

And I believe City of Seattle has a special responsibility because City of Seattle leases space to Seattle Aquarium.

And in the 1970s, the director of Seattle Aquarium, Ted Griffin led The Penn Cove captures which decimated the southern residents, they violently took 50 of their babies.

They drowned four of them and they tried to bury them with chains and rocks so nobody would see them.

And that's the main reason why they're on the endangered list now.

They're very slow breeding and they didn't recover too well.

There's one left, the rest died in captivity, Toketai in Miami, probably seen the news.

They're making a big arrangement to return to the Salish Sea.

I've been involved helping out with that also with the Lummi Nation who gifted me this blanket here.

They're well low motion, they call them.

I'm learning a bit of Lactamish with this effort and they, there's these proclamations as well.

And we ask for your consideration.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker.

Our last signed up in-person speaker is Marguerite Richard.

Yes, my name is Marguerite Richard, and I just want to say that I'm in sympathy right now of Elijah Lewis and his family with the death that happened on Capitol Hill, known as Capitol Kill.

And he was killed up there, and his nephew was wounded.

But getting down to brass tacks, which is the aspect of this civil rights appointment, Listen, I think I may need to say something different because, oh, they don't seem to get it.

I think it's because so much racism and discrimination and them not showing our face.

And he had such a beautiful blanket.

It was even deserving of being on the screen, but they done wiped our faces out from coming up in here.

And that's your privileged character.

So why do we need a civil rights office, and anybody appointed down there.

If we can't even get our basic civil rights.

It's ridiculous, even over there at the King County courthouse in the chamber, they mute you for your free speech, you're not saying anything wrong but they cut your mic off.

What is this insanity?

And it's time for you young people to rise up just like they did back in the 60s.

This is ridiculous what they're doing in this town.

This is ridiculous and I'm gonna continuously speak out against it because it's wrong, okay?

You got folk up in here, all kind of illnesses.

Whatever illness that you want to call an illness, people are suffering from it right now.

And the pandemic didn't help none.

But I'm here to let you know, you better not never run up on me.

You better not run up on nothing that I own, that's my family, and anybody else that's close to me.

Because a lot of people, oh, next time, see.

We'll now move into our remote speakers.

And our first remote speaker that is signed up and listed as present is Brett Popowski.

And a reminder for your remote call-in speakers, you'll need to press star six to speak.

Hello, am I coming through?

Yep.

OK, thank you.

Yes, I'm Brett Popowski.

OK.

Thanks.

I'm a Seattle LGBTQ commissioner and co-chair, but I want to make it clear.

I'm speaking on behalf of myself today, not the commission.

Here to talk about the appointment of Derek Wheeler-Smith for director of OCR and say that I oppose the appointment of Mr. Wheeler-Smith until he's taken accountability for his actions towards SOCR's commission and displayed transparent communications and action as well as genuine support for the important work we do.

The SOCR commissions are critical connections between the general public and the city of Seattle.

Our last director understood this and communicated with us regularly during meetings and via email and speedily addressed our feedback to SOCR.

On the other hand, Mr. Wheeler-Smith has attended exactly one of our meetings where he gave vague answers to my specific questions about how we could collaborate with his office and has never emailed us directly.

Furthermore, in February, the Seattle Commission posted a Black History Month event that was sponsored by two community projects.

SOCR, under the direction of Mr. Wheeler-Smith, prevented another city department from advertising for our community event, and two days before the event, lost thousands of dollars in funding from one of our sponsors.

SOCR and Mr. Wheeler-Smith did this without contacting us directly to explain why he pulled the advertising and budgeting, and without attempting to resolve the issues with us.

Given this undermining of his own commissions and his lack of transparency communication, I ask that the city council not appoint Mr. Wheeler-Smith until or unless he has addressed and corrected these wrongs.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Olivia Ashe.

And Olivia, you may- Hi.

Oh, we can hear you.

Thank you.

Yep.

Go ahead, Olivia.

Hi, my name is Olivia Yashay, and I've come before you to speak in support of Derrick Willard Smith as the permanent director of the Seattle Office for Civil Rights.

If you knew anything about Cleveland High School 18 years ago, you know that it wasn't the place of success that it's known as today, right?

And although it was full of excellence at that time, many people didn't see it that way.

But I'm just so grateful that Derrick Willard Smith did.

Derek came into my life 18 years ago.

I was a 14-year-old freshman at Cleveland High School, joined the women's basketball team, and Coach D, as we called him, and his wife, Coach Steph, had taken on what many people thought was an impossible task, the task of being able to see excellence in a women's basketball program that, quite frankly, had been forgotten.

But that's really one of Derek's many gifts as a leader.

It's seeing excellence and drawing it out of unexpected places and doing so when no one else is willing to take on such a daunting task.

So Derek came to Cleveland to coach a group of girls, right, who had no prospects of making history by winning a first state championship basketball game, because our morale wouldn't even let us believe that we could reach such heights.

But Derek brought an ethos that was contagious and enough to make even the most unbelievers believers.

And this is really about more than basketball.

That was my first interaction with Derek, but he wasn't just teaching us skills and drills.

He was teaching us about life, about leadership, about compassion, self-love, community.

I mean, I really could go on.

And so Derek has been a mentor to me and a mentor to many others in the city.

And so it's clear that, you know, Derek has worked to be in the position to be considered for this role and is qualified to be able to do so.

Um, and I know that he wouldn't be here if he didn't see the potential for excellence.

Yeah.

And so with that, I cannot think of a better candidate for this position.

Um, I trust Derek to carry the mantle of this role with courage, humility, and compassion.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Claudia Panetta Panetta.

Before we begin speaker again, folks.

Listen for the chime.

We hate cutting people off.

When you hear the chime, you have 10 seconds.

So I know when the callers call in, if they're not listening for the chime, then what happens is you get cut off.

So if you could pay attention to that, that'd be great.

Go ahead, Madam Clerk.

So our next speaker is Claudia Pineda.

Claudia?

Hello, folks.

Hi.

Hi, everybody.

My name is Claudia Pineda.

I had the pleasure of working with Derek Willard Smith at King County towards the initiative of zero use detention.

And I'm here to speak to support Derek's appointment as the director of the office of civil rights in Seattle.

Uh, during the time that I worked with Derek, um, we worked in a very difficult, politically tense, controversial environment, and it was a breath of fresh air to work with.

a man who I saw was willing to walk in integrity with his values and the things that he promoted.

Um, in working in government and leadership, these roles are very difficult to walk, particularly being a black man.

I watched how Derek was constantly walking on fine lines and I learned to admire his courage and respect him as a mentor.

Another thing that I loved about Derek's leadership is that he balances compassion and intellectualism exceptionally.

Derek is well-read and he knows the subject matter of race equity.

He also knows how to put it into practice.

And at the same time, he balances that with his approach as a compassionate leader.

respect and admired Eric, I, I think that he handles situations extremely well.

And I also think that he is lost her.

Hello.

Maybe our color, if she calls back, we'll give her another.

Sure.

The call has dropped off.

Sorry.

And Council President, we do have Christina in the council chambers that would like to speak.

Christina Sawicki, can we finish that up?

Absolutely.

Hello, Christina.

Absolutely.

Let's let her have an opportunity.

She's speaking to the proclamation, correct?

It might be of her own.

I'm not sure, but she'll use her two minutes of public comment.

OK.

Ma'am, thank you.

No, I'm speaking about what has been just recently discussed.

Excuse me, Mr. Wheeler-Smith.

As an individual on the Disability Commission, I have tried for months to reach Mr. Wheeler-Smith.

And after I had to go through a more public channel of email saying I can't reach him, did I get any call back?

He does not seem to be well versed in the way of disability and disability matters.

He's been to our commission once, whereas I could been on the Seattle Disability Commission as a member, or somebody watching in for almost six years now, and our former director, at least came out four or five, six times a year, participated in our events and maintain that communication with us that I have not seen with Mr. Wheeler-Smith.

And I feel that at this point, he would not be a well-suited fit for us at the Disability Commission because he doesn't reach out.

He doesn't participate with us.

We don't hear from him and we don't hear from him at all.

Frankly, I just, for us at the Disability Commission, it just does not see a good fit.

And he might have some great skills on racial equity, but disability equity and disability social justice is also equally important here in Seattle.

So that's what I wanted to say.

And thank you very much for allowing me the opportunity to speak today, council members.

And we'll now move back into our remote speakers.

The next remote speaker will be Patty Hayes and a reminder to please press star six.

Good afternoon.

This is Patty Hayes and I am calling in to support the appointment of Derrick Wheeler Smith.

As the council knows, I've worked with Derrick as his supervisor when he was at the Seattle King County Public Health Program with zero use detention.

And I've really seen firsthand the impact of the leader in community empowerment.

Derek really brought forward bold ideas and a courageous voice and the ability to inspire and bring sound analysis in his role in the leadership of zero use detention.

where he built a regional approach to gun violence from scratch.

And that approach was so well thought of that the White House actually invited him to the table to participate in their national community violence consortium.

As you know, in 2020, I, along with Executive Constantine, declared racism as a public health crisis.

And Derek was part of a team and an integral part in mapping out the initial steps that King County took as part of that declaration.

And that ended up with the $25 million funding invested in the community as well as other efforts that continue to this day.

I believe Derek can prove to be a bridge and an asset, and that is so important in these polarizing times.

I'm certain you've already seen some things in this first year of impact he's had And it's with confidence that I support his confirmation.

And it's a delight to be with the council.

Thank you.

Thank you, Patty.

It's good to hear from you.

Our next speaker is Sharon Okamoto.

Sharon?

I see Sharon.

She's present, but she's muted.

Sharon star six.

I see her tile.

So Sharon, what we'll do is we'll go to the next caller, but stay on it's star six and then we'll take you when you get online.

So go ahead, madam clerk with the next caller.

Our next caller is Sean.

Good.

Sean.

Good afternoon, everyone.

It's a pleasure to be able to call in.

I'm calling to speak on behalf of Derrick Wheeler-Smith for this appointment.

Over the course of my life, I've had the privilege to work with Derrick in a variety of capacities.

In addition to the last decade or so that I've had the fortune of working closely with the Office of Civil Rights and the City of Seattle.

And one of the greatest challenges of working in OCR, as all of you are so well acquainted, is that There is this accountability to the mayor's office and also an accountability to the council and the duality of this role that requires the person who's in it to hold the messy middle and stand in the tension of it all and do it with a high level of integrity and understanding.

Stubbornly, this is one of the things that has frustrated me the most about Derek at times and one of the things that I have grown most appreciative of.

There's been many moments where I wanted Derek to move more aggressively towards the agenda that I held to be true.

And he consistently brought me back to a place of compromise, a place of understanding, and a place of reconciliation that allowed us to move forward as a collective body, a collective us, in a way that galvanized instead of tore apart.

It's this characteristic that Derek holds, this ability to stand in the tension of the messy middle that I think most appropriately, rightly fits him to lead in this way.

And I also will echo some of the sentiments of the previous folks who offered testimonies Derek, yes, is an absolutely proficient in diversity, equity, inclusion efforts as it pertains to race.

And he is an incredibly well-read individual who is more than adept at setting up on the areas that he has less information on to be able to help bring the right people into the space to make decisions that benefit a broad collective group of individuals.

I believe our city is better with Derek Wheeler-Smith at this post, and I'm grateful that there's an opportunity to have someone like him serving in this way.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Richard Mullen.

Richard?

There you go.

Hello.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Richard Mullen, and I appreciate being here today.

I speak in support of Derek Wheeler-Smith.

I am an African-American man.

I am a business owner and entrepreneur.

Um, but today I want to speak on Derek, the person.

Um, when I see Derek, uh, the husband, when I see Derek, the father, when I see Derek, uh, the brother and friend, I see a person and I've experienced the person of integrity of great conviction and truly a love for all people.

I think in our conversations throughout the years, the tension that I find is Derek is willing to go into the deep end of conversations and defend people that individuals may disown, discard, disagree with.

I find Derek there on defense for them.

I've seen it in other debates and conversations.

He and I have had spirited debates and conversations, and I can say that he's a person who does love all human beings.

And I feel confident that he is suited to walk forward as the Director of the Office of Civil Rights.

I'm confident, my family's confident, that he is someone that we need at that place and on that platform.

So I'm honored to know him, I'm honored to stand by him, and I appreciate everyone's time here today.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Sharon Okamoto.

Sharon.

Sharon, it's star six.

There you go.

I'm Sharon Okamoto.

giving wholehearted support for your confirmation of Derrick Wheeler Smith as Director of the Office for Civil Rights.

I've witnessed Derrick's life of justice for the restoration and thriving of our beloved community.

I met Derrick 25 years ago in Rainier Valley.

He came alongside students in our community supported high school.

Derrick leads with brilliance and brings life to those served for their and our community's long-term gain.

Youth wounded by trauma had previous histories with adults equating their display of pain as their character and making decisions to put them out, stating they had no future.

Derek saw each youth, heard and knew them.

His acute vision sees beyond the evidence to the inner greatness within that yearns for release.

Michelangelo said, I saw an angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.

Derek unleashed youth into new life and a future.

Derek's created new realities throughout his career.

He doesn't get mired in what is wrong.

He strategically directs time, energy, and all stakeholders to build what is right.

National programs, racial equity, zero youth detention.

He's now poised to bring his keen wisdom, innovative leadership, and collaborative work to the city of Seattle.

Derek's integrity embodies all that is good, excellent, honorable, right, and praiseworthy.

He will engage you and the city at that level.

Your decision to confirm Derek Wheeler Smith will have immediate impact and long-term results to live that reality of One Seattle, a thriving, innovative, and equitable city.

Good, excellent, honorable, right, praiseworthy for all.

Thank you, Sharon.

Our next speaker is Leonetta Eliho.

Hello members of the council.

My name is Leonetta Eliho and I'm here to offer enthusiastic comment in support of the appointment of Derek Smith.

I've known Derek for nearly 20 years and have had a proximate view of him and his leadership as a community leader, as a public servant, as a thoughtful parent to three beautiful children and many more.

as a loving husband, as a coach, as we've heard already today, to young people, but also to adults alike on and off of the court, and also as a strategic leader of work.

I was Derek's supervisor when he was leading national youth empowerment work in communities across the country.

In that role and in countless ways since, I've experienced Derek to partner with leaders and community members of all types to get things done for the collective good.

He effectively navigates the nuances of a multiracial society focused on the equity for all.

I've witnessed him work with folks of all genders, white bodies and bodies of culture, folks of all sexual orientations, marginalized populations, as well as civic and business leaders.

His integrity and commitment to truth is unmatched in my experience.

And I've worked with many leaders.

I know this from the work that I've seen him do in our working relationship, but also in the broader community.

He's fiercely committed to truth and justice for all, as I think many other testimonies have spoken to, but he's also committed to reconciliation and restoration for all those that have been harmed.

My understanding of the city's vision for OCR is not only to do the work of reducing barriers to equity and enforcing laws, but to also proactively facilitate healing and belonging.

Derrick as a leader uniquely gifted to lead both of those from accountability and duty to understanding the nuance needed to create a culture of healing that far too many are in need of in our city.

Thank you for your time and I'm confident that Derek will surpass your expectations in this role.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Willard Jemerson.

Willard, it's star six.

I see your tile up here, so I know you're on the line.

Would you like to come back and we can move on to David Heppard?

Let's do that.

Our next speaker is David Heppard.

Hello, how you doing?

My name is David Hepar.

I'm currently the executive director of the Freedom Project and I want to speak in support of Derrick Wheeler Smith.

I had the opportunity and the pleasure to be able to work with him as a lot of different community organizations came together to combat the gun violence in our community and his ability to be able to hold that process and support us and all the difficulties it is to take so many different perspectives and vantage points and lead us on a regional approach to a problem that has decimated our community and the root causes that have set the table for those results.

And so I really want to speak to, a lot of folks have said a lot of different things about the brilliance of Derrick Willis Smith and how he shows up to the work.

I wanna talk about his compassionate nature and his ability to be able to really stay connected to people as we traverse the difficulties of some of these paths that are ahead for him.

And I think that he might be uniquely qualified to be able to deal with all the difficulties of a position as such and to do so with the compassion that's necessary.

And so my hope is that folks are able to see that in difficult work like these, it's difficult to show up perfectly.

And at times that things might not go as planned or, but my hope is that we could all give the support that's necessary so that he can be successful because he is ideal to be able to navigate these waters because of his values and who he is as an individual, more so than what he knows.

And I also like to add that as fluent as he is in racial equity, when he talks about the framework, that framework gives you the tools to be able to accept all the different aspects of oppression that hits our community.

And so I think that promoting him to the position would be best for our community.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Edward Purpose.

Edward.

There you go.

Go ahead, Mr. Purpose.

Okay.

You guys hear me?

Yep.

Okay.

Good afternoon.

My name is Edward purpose.

I am the current founder and executive director of progress pushes, um, here today calling the support of, uh, Mr. Derek Willis Smith.

I first met Derek Willis Smith through the federal public schools.

And I went to meet him concerning some support that he was going to provide on behalf of the work that my organization was doing for young folks in Federal Way Public Schools.

I ended up receiving mentorship from his brother, from the wonderful works that he was already doing and wanting to make the Federal Way Public Schools a better environment when it comes to the groups that we provide.

In addition to that, My organization has been providing resources and services to green heel juvenile prison.

Um, it was a weekend and we had the opportunity to go to green heel in order to, uh, be a light, right?

Like miss by Angela said, be a light in some, uh, uh, somebody, be a rainbow, right.

And somebody else's life.

And so, uh, what Derek really did was come and didn't have to.

but he came to support youth that he never met before who didn't have support.

And so, uh, he spent all day with them, um, alongside of myself and a few others, uh, but he didn't have to do that.

And so just him doing that really just show a little bit more about his compassion, a little bit more about his heart and, um, and, and, and the reasons why he does what he does.

Uh, lastly, um, I also worked with him in the capacity of the regional peacekeepers concerning gun violence and safety.

Um, and just noticing his leadership once again, and this third capacity, um, it's something that I really see when it's, when it comes to his leadership.

I do.

Without a doubt, believe that he is the best one for this particular position when it comes to OCR.

Uh, I believe that we all need to galvanize.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Andrew Ashiofu.

Good afternoon.

My name is Andrew Ashiofu and today I stand on the memory of black queer activists like James Baldwin and Marsha Johnson.

I stand on the stabbing of my back for being a black queer boy in a society that had no space for me.

I don't have any doubt that Derek is a great leader.

I do admire his community leadership and all he's done.

But I'm saying it's not the time.

It's not the time right now to appoint someone who has promoted homophobia in the community.

At the workplace, sending, courting a homophobic pastor, working with homophobic organizations.

It's not the time when we have a large wave of anti-LGBTQ bills all over the state.

Not the time when Uganda just passed an anti-LGBT bill, killing death penalty as a sentence for people who aren't straight.

I just want to challenge the city council members to think, what message are we going to send to Black queer children, Black disabled children?

Are we going to tell them that their rights and their safety is not important to us?

It's a very important decision you're making today.

I think Derek would make a great leader, but first of all, let him take time to unlearn the harm that has been done.

Let him take time to come and sit down with us in the community to talk about the way forward.

And then later we can appoint him as the leader.

Well, please not now.

Not now when we're still grieving, when we're in pain about what is happening in our nation.

Our black trans siblings are being executed and killed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I will try Willard Jemerson one more time.

Willard.

Oh, I see Willard.

Oh, there you are.

Hello?

Yep, we hear you now.

Yes, my apologies.

I am here at my newborn son's doctor's visit.

And I just announced that just to make it clear, this is how important it is for myself and my family to be present for this call in appointing Derrick Wheeler-Smith in this position.

These are the similar aspects that Derrick has displayed and shown.

I just want to announce that Derrick is an outstanding leader.

I've worked with him.

He was the director for the King County Public Health Bureau of Detention.

He brought me on as the community facilitator, and he's a lifelong Seattleite, someone who cares tremendously for the community, folks in Seattle and throughout King County.

And even looking at some of the most underprivileged folks as a resource to bring to the table, including myself, who I went to prison at 13 and came home at 33, and he found space at a table to include the voices of folks like myself who has been impacted, as you've heard today.

Derek has the ability to work across various community assistance stakeholders.

He's truly exceptional in that regard.

He has a keen eye for locating resources that can be used to address some of the most significant issues facing our community, including racial disparities, mass incarceration, gun violence, et cetera.

Derek is also a thought-provoking leader who is resourceful and can take a process from aspiration and into a space of information to operation, where he has led the transformation to the benefit of many residents who live in Seattle throughout King County.

I also want to note that Derek is an outside-of-the-box thinker.

His leadership, he has displayed the ability to work collaboratively to locate resources to address the needs of his team and the broader community.

In my experience working with him, he has always been attentive to the needs of those around him and is someone who can bring people together towards a common goal.

Derek's contributions have also provided a significant impact on my growth as a leader.

He has helped me to gain a better understanding of systems and structural dynamics and how to move processes from talk to action.

I'm sorry, we had to, two minutes were up, sir.

That concludes our public commenters today.

Thank you.

So I always caution people when you call in, please listen for that chime.

I just hate it when we have to cut people off.

Okay, so we are done.

My understanding, Madam Clerk, we have the callers online and the folks that were in chambers that we are now done with public comment, correct?

Correct.

Thank you.

So that is the end of public comment and we will move on in our agenda.

I want to thank those that called in and those that appeared in person to speak to today's appointment.

I'm gonna move to adoption of the introduction referral calendar.

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

Not seeing an objection, it is adopted.

Moving on to adoption of the agenda.

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

Not seeing any objection, the agenda is adopted.

I'm gonna move to the consent calendar.

Excuse me, sorry about that.

Items on the consent calendar include the minutes of March 28th, payroll bill, Council Bill 120540. We have one clerk file, City Council modifying the Office of Inspector General Surveillance Usage Review Schedule.

And coming out of Council Member Morales' committee, we have 15 appointments to the neighbor, 15 appointments I'm not sure of each appointment that's not listed for me.

I just know that the committee neighborhoods, education, civil rights and culture committee appointments that there were 15 of them.

I apologize for not being able to articulate where those appointments are too.

And we also have two appointments coming out of council member hurls committee, public safety, human services committee appointments.

Are there any council members that would like to adopt?

I'm sorry.

Are they counselors like to remove anything from today's consent calendar?

Not seeing any, I move to adopt a consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to adopt a 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 Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The consent calendar is adopted.

Madam Clerk, please fix my signature to the minutes and legislation or the appointments on the consent calendar on my behalf.

So let's move into our committee reports.

Today we have, as you know, one item from the neighborhoods, education, civil rights and culture committee.

And before we begin, Councilor Morales was excused today and Council Member Lewis will be stepping in to offer up the information on this appointment of Mr. Derek Wheeler-Smith.

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

Agenda item one, the Neighborhoods, Education, Civil Rights, and Culture Committee Report.

Appointment 02497, the appointment of Derek D. Wheeler-Smith as Director, Office for Civil Rights, for a term to the mayor's discretion.

The committee recommends the council confirm the appointment.

Thank you.

And with that, as I shared Council Member Ellis' excuse for today, so I'm gonna hand it over to Council Member Lewis Then I'm going to open the floor for other council members to make comments.

Then I will move to suspend the rules so our guest, the appointee, can have the floor.

So with that, Council Member Lewis.

Thank you so much, Madam President.

I could not be more pleased to move the unanimous confirmation recommendation from the committee to confirm Interim Director Derek Wheeler-Smith to be our permanent director of the Seattle Office of Civil Rights.

The Neighborhoods, Education, Civil Rights, and Culture Committee considered Interim Director Wheeler-Smith's nomination after hearing strong public testimony in favor of his confirmation at our meeting last week.

Colleagues in the public know that extensive public comment attesting to the depth of community commitment and strength of character is rare in confirmation hearings and speaks to the uniqueness of Derek Wheeler-Smith as a nominee for our consideration today.

And it was very moving to hear extensive testimony, not only today, but also during the committee meeting.

really showing how much of an exceptional nominee we have before us to lead this important department.

Interim Director Wheeler-Smith is the former head of Zero Youth Detention for King County, and during that time has led the efforts in King County government to implement the Road to Zero Youth Detention in collaboration also with city leadership and a regional plan to address gun violence, particularly gun violence among young people.

The previous service for Director Reeler-Smith was as the Federal Way School District's lead on equity and social justice, advocating for opportunities for students and facilitating racial equity training for faculty to make sure that the Federal Way School District was achieving its goals on race and equity.

In its curriculum, Interim Director Wheeler-Smith joined the Seattle Office of Civil Rights at an extremely challenging time at the height of the pandemic with a depleted and exhausted workforce, a 35% vacancy rate at one point in the workforce of the Office of Civil Rights.

Through his leadership, staffing and morale have greatly improved at the Office of Civil Rights.

There are only two posted vacancies at this point, a considerable recovery and a much needed boost of confidence in the work and ability of that critical office.

I know as Council Member Morales also knows, as former members of the Seattle Human Rights Commission, how important it is to have that office fully staffed for its important oversight and equity roles that it has in the city of Seattle.

Interim Director Wheeler-Smith has been a fixture here on the second floor working with Mayor Bruce Harrell and the Seattle City Council on crafting an ordinance to codify a lot of our policies in the Race and Social Justice Initiative, a long overdue legislative effort that has advanced considerably further than ever has in the past and we expect to have a ordinance for full council consideration in short order due in no small part to the attention and focus Director Wheeler-Smith has put into that effort.

And having reviewed and evaluated his record, having assessed his commitment to the community and his ambitions for this office, the committee unanimously recommended confirmation of Derek Wheeler-Smith.

And I do so here ask that colleagues follow that recommendation and that we confirm Interim Director Wheeler-Smith to be our permanent leader of the Seattle Office of Civil Rights.

Thank you, Council Member Lewis.

Are there any other comments from our colleagues in regards to this Mr. Wheeler-Smith before we go to a vote?

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you so much.

As prior chair for four years of the Council Committee with oversight of the Seattle Office for Civil Rights, I really want to thank you, Director Willer-Smith, for your willingness to serve in this very important position at this very important time and for your participation in the Council's confirmation process.

I appreciate that you have served in an interim role again at a very important time filling the position previously held by Mariko Lockhart.

I want to recognize the testimony of everyone who contacted the council and testified about your confirmation.

You've been hailed as a brilliant intellectual and a compassionate human being, trustworthy, reliable, and with a wise and strategic innovation and excellence imbued with trust and integrity.

You've also hailed having an ability to build healthy and respectful partnerships.

I'm quoting from emails received.

I also received outreach from some members of the Seattle Office of Civil Rights supported commissions.

And I recently met with members from each the Seattle Women's Commission, LDB.

the LGBTQ Commission and the Disabilities Commission, we heard from some of them today.

I trust that Director Wheeler-Smith will lead the way for healing relationships with commissioners and take concrete steps to build those relationships and actively collaborate with commissioners in their efforts to fully fulfill their roles to our city.

If there's anything at all I can do, insist in that endeavor, please don't hesitate to call me.

Thank you, and thank you for your willingness to continue to serve.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold, for those words.

And I know you have some institutional history here.

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

And then I'm going to hand over the floor to Mr. Wheeler-Smith.

All right, I do not see any of my colleagues, any other comments.

Council Member Lewis, is there anything that you wanna close us with before we go to a vote?

No, Madam President, very excited to confirm Interim Director Wheeler-Smith in this position and look forward to hearing directly post-confirmation when we suspend the rules from the nominee.

Thank you, Council Member Lewis.

With that, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

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 President Juarez?

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The appointment of Mr. Derek Wheeler-Smith passes.

Madam Clerk, will you please affix my signature?

to the appointment on my behalf.

And so what I'm going to do now that we, congratulations, I'm going to move to suspend the rules.

Seeing no objection, the rules are suspended.

And to allow our guests, now the director, new director, acting director, now new director of Derrick Wheeler-Smith for the Office of Civil Rights.

Mr. Wheeler-Smith, the floor is yours.

Council Chair Morales and to the entire council.

Today, I want to thank you for this opportunity and confirming me as the next director of the Office for Civil Rights.

Today, I stand on the shoulders of strong, committed visionaries and ancestors who toiled and struggled, people who really pioneered and folks who died that I could be present for this opportunity in this moment.

55 years ago today, I don't know how many of us are aware of this, April 4th, Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated.

Before he was assassinated, he was intently focused on creative maladjustment.

This idea that people should refuse to normalize inequality and work continuously to expose injustice so that we can emerge from the bleak and desolate midnight of man's inhumanity to man. into the bright and glittering daybreak of freedom and justice.

I believe that to truly honor Dr. King's legacy would mean expanding those ideals to include the incredible leadership of incredible folks.

In October, I had the opportunity to participate in a civil rights learning lab led by Ben McBride there in Alabama.

And it was there that I learned about powerful things.

One of the most powerful movements we've seen from civil rights in this country was led by women.

There were men who got the credit for it.

But that movement happened because of the incredible leadership of black women who produced civil rights fruit in the shade, organizing one of the most significant movements of our time in the bus boycott.

Joanne Robinson, Cora McHaney, Lottie Green.

And then there are folks like Bayard Rustin, a gay man who, due to criticism over his sexuality, had to act as an influential advisor but had to do that behind scenes to civil rights leaders like Dr. King.

Freedom, ultimately, at the end of the day, continues to be a constant struggle, and that struggle requires all of us to commit daily to bridge across differences so that we build systems and structures of belonging for everyone, especially the persecuted and prevented citizens of the city of Seattle.

I'm honored today for the confidence of Mayor Harrell to appoint me to this post and to your votes.

of confidence to be the next director of this great office.

I'm grateful for the remarkable staff that I get to work with every single day, and our beloved community, my beautiful family, and as I said earlier, all the shoulders that I stand on today.

I'm not self-made, I'm land made, I'm ancestor made, I'm family made, I'm Yahweh made, I'm community made, and I commit to continuing to build bridges of power, justice, and love as we carry King's legacy of creating an economy where everyone belongs, and can ensure dignity and security so that all our families can thrive.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve our great city and to do so in this capacity as the next Director of the Office for Civil Rights.

Thank you, now Director Wheeler-Smith, and congratulations.

Is there anything else?

You know what?

I'm really glad you brought up Baynard Rustin because I remember reading Lost Prophet Probably 15 years ago.

The second book has come out which I own but I have not read it.

I hope that some of our young and young folks out there, get an opportunity to see who bear arrest and was.

And when you read last profit in the whole history of the March on Washington was really about economic sovereignty.

And it's just it's just a powerful book.

And so, very few people know that about him, and it's a great book to read about history.

So I'm glad you brought that up, director, and you heard public comment.

You heard the great things from some of our colleagues.

I know certainly know your history with the county in the city.

And I'm happy that you got this appointment today.

Is there any other comments before I move on into the agenda?

I know that I have asked earlier before the vote, but is there anything else?

All right, well, with that, Mr. Wheeler, our now director, Wheeler-Smith, congratulations, and thank you for being here today.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you.

All right.

Madam Clerk, if we move on on the agenda, There were no items that were removed from the consent calendar.

Regarding adoption of other resolutions, there were no other resolutions to adopt other business.

Is there any other business to come before council?

OK, I do not see any hands up.

So with that, colleagues, this does conclude the items of business on today's agenda.

The next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be held, April 11. And with that, we are adjourned.

Thank you everybody.

Recording stopped by Councilmember Nelson.