Thank you, Son.
Thank you, Madam Clerk.
Good afternoon, everybody.
Today is Tuesday, June 13th, the meeting of the Seattle City Council.
I am now calling it to order.
The time is now 2.02 and I am Deborah Juarez.
Will the clerk please call the roll?
Council Member Sawant?
Present.
Council Member Strauss?
Present.
Council Member Herbold?
Here.
Council Member Lewis?
Present.
Council Member Morales?
Here.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Present.
Council Member Nelson.
Present.
Council Member Peterson.
Here.
Council President Juarez.
Present.
Nine present.
Thank you, Madam Clerk.
There are no presentations today.
So moving along on today's agenda, before we move into public comment, we do have four items on today's council agenda.
I'm going to just briefly go over that before we go to the consent and public comment.
The first bill is from customer stress regarding as a moratorium regarding floating residents and I understand that STC is on standby as well as central staff.
And customer skater chair of the select committee of the housing levy has two matters a resolution and an ordinance.
And finally there's customer Peterson as chair of transportation, as a matter as well so there are four items on today's public comment or today's agenda so I'm asking the speakers to speak please speak to the items on today's agenda.
So with that, Madam Clerk, we will open it up to public comment.
And let's start with the remote speakers.
And again, you have two minutes.
And for the person calling in, please pay attention to the chime.
I hate to cut you off at two minutes.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I got to hand it over to the clerk to do the instructions.
I'm sorry.
Got ahead of myself.
Hello, this is Jonathan Froege, and I'm speaking in support of CB120588, which would establish a six-month moratorium.
Sorry, sorry.
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.
Our first remote speaker is Dr. Jonathan Fraj.
Jonathan.
Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off last time, but I jumped the gun on public comment.
Hold off on the timer.
So now you can start your public comment.
All right.
My name is Jonathan Froege.
I'm speaking in support of CB one two zero five eight H, which would create a six month moratorium On floating over water residences, or flowers, as they're referred to, these are not houseboats.
Houseboats are connected to the sanitary sewer.
These only have pump out for black water.
Their gray water discharge goes directly into our waters.
The designation by the state of flowers created a loophole in our local ability to regulate and protect the water quality and aquatic habitat of Seattle waters.
The direct discharge of gray water creates a problem for migrating salmonids.
I've studied this as a stormwater scientist for SPU, as a limnologist for King County Department of Natural Resources, and as a water quality expert at Metro.
This is an excellent first step and I laud the Council for putting this forward and ask for their support in voting for this first step regulation.
Thank you.
We will now transition into in-person public comment.
The first speaker is Alex Zimmerman.
Please start the timer.
Die Heil!
Dirty damn Nazi fascist and mafioso.
My name Alex Zimmerman.
I live in Bellevue for 30 plus, 35 plus year.
And I come here with my red sign and yellow David star.
Yeah.
So everybody know nothing change and nothing change for last many years here.
They only don't show my face.
They don't show nobody face for last year.
It's never happened before in America.
But I want to speak about gen number two.
It's very important, low income.
I'm a low income too, disabled senior citizen, very low income.
So for me, very interesting because I come here every meeting for many years, you know what does it mean?
And right now, sponsor about this low income is Consul Mosqueda, you know what does it mean?
So I try understand why she talking and talking and talking and talking for this for many years, it's a pure masturbation and nothing change.
Condition go worse and worse, price go up and up.
Every poor people from Seattle moving, no black community, no poor community, no disabled community, thousand homeless.
My understanding why council mosquito for many years don't change nothing.
I don't understand this.
By the age, she change her rules, you know what is mean?
By her rules, what is, she change, you know what is mean?
You give me 15 trespassers for 1,200 day.
You change constitution.
You change constitution because you protect your right for re-election.
She doing this for many year.
She was worst council what is I have.
No, no, no, one was out.
Another two.
So stand up America.
We need clean this dirty chamber from this bandita.
Thank you very much.
Okay.
For that, Mr Zimmerman, you are now, um, I'd like Mr Zimmerman to be removed.
We are not going to call people names based on their race.
We've been warned two times, Mr Zimmerman.
So for the record, this is the third time you will be receiving notice from us regarding you not being able to participate in Seattle City Council public comment because you cannot come here and call and attack the integrity or the ethnicity of council members.
So with that, unfortunately, let's move on.
Our next speaker is William H.
My name is William Harmon and I'm here because the city council voted not to have people arrested that are using drugs in public.
And I want to amend them on that decision.
The people that need to be arrested are the people that are selling this crap in our communities.
They say every day on the news that we don't have enough cops.
And then you're gonna add that burden to the cops.
I think that you made the right decision.
And I think that you need to continue to look at this and figure out how you can solve the problems.
And because I don't have any solution to the problem, but I know that if we put our minds to it, we can solve the problem.
as long as you don't make the victims more victimized.
Because you can't arrest all these people and then the prosecutors and all that.
You know, that's ridiculous.
The people that need to be arrested are the people that are selling this drug in our communities.
Our next speaker is Nicole Grant.
Good afternoon, Nicole grant, I'm with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local 46, and I'm here to speak on the Seattle housing levy vote today.
I'm hoping everybody will vote and support, but mostly just here to give gratitude.
To the council for all the hours you put in on this and to the city as a whole.
A lot of unions came together to support this proposal, we feel like it's very good for working class people, both the people that need a home.
that they can afford and the people that would build and service housing.
So looking forward to a good vote.
And as a Seattle voter, I'm looking forward to voting for the levy in November.
Thank you.
Council President, that concludes the in-person public comment.
Thank you.
Thank you, clerks.
Thank you.
Those who spoke.
So let's move along on our agenda today.
I will now close public comment.
If there's no objection, the introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.
Not seen or hearing an objection.
The introduction and referral calendar is adopted.
If there's no objection, today's agenda will be adopted.
And again, not seen or hearing an objection.
Today's agenda will be adopted.
Moving on to the consent calendar, we will my understanding on the consent calendar today, we have the minutes from June 6th.
We have council bill, payroll bill, council bill one two zero five nine three.
Are there any council members that would like to remove anything from today's consent calendar?
Also, there are no appointments on today's consent calendar.
I'm guessing Councilor Morales is happy about that.
Okay, so with that, I do not see anyone asking to remove anything from the consent calendar.
Hearing none, I move to adopt today's consent calendar.
Can I get 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 Sawant?
Yes.
Council Member Strauss?
Yes.
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Council Member Lewis?
Yes.
Council Member Morales?
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda?
Aye.
Council Member Nelson?
Aye.
Council Member Peterson?
Yes.
Council President Juarez?
Aye.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
Thank you, Madam Clerk.
The consent calendar is adopted and will the clerk please fix my signature to the minutes and the legislation that is on the consent calendar on my behalf.
So moving on in our agenda, as I shared to committee reports, we have four today.
So we have item number one that's coming out of council member Strauss's committee.
Will the clerk please read item number one into the record?
Thank you.
I move to pass Council Bill 120588. Is there a second?
Second.
It's been moved and seconded to pass the bill.
Council Member Strauss.
Thank you, Council President.
Colleagues, we're going to go into a little bit of a wonky bill here.
We do have SDCI within the Zoom chambers here, if you have any direct questions from them.
This is executive requested legislation with the support of SDCI.
And I know that Mr. Dan Nolte from the mayor's office wrote and attended meetings with almost all of you.
And so in short and in summary, this legislation protects our waterways from a threat that requires from pollution.
It's wastewater coming out of our gray water.
I'm going to give you a little bit of the overall picture, and then we're going to go into detail here, which is that currently under our code, somebody can purchase a sailboat, get a floating on water residence permit, get rid of the sailboat, keep the permit, and put that on a floating house.
So that is what we are trying to solve here by creating actual Seattle Municipal Code that addresses this issue rather than allowing this loophole.
So as we all know sound policy development requires a robust and inclusive public engagement process and time.
This moratorium would take limited but meaningful action to protect our environment, while permanent policies to develop, so we can protect our salmon protector, the health of our water.
and to make sure that our policy is right size so just a little bit of background on this issue.
City of Seattle has a shoreline master program which regulates development within the city's shoreline district to protect shoreline ecosystems, encourage water dependent uses and provide public access of the shorelines.
Floating residents are regulated under this Shoreline Master Program.
We're all familiar with floating homes, think Sleepless in Seattle.
Other floating residences include house barges, vessels, and the newest type of residence created in 2014 by state law is called floating on water residence.
These floating on water residences are not required to be connected to sewer or water utilities.
Thus, this is the issue that they can dump black water directly into Lake Union, which is not good for anyone who likes to swim, boat, recreate, or any type of species that lives in the water.
And so we have a moratorium today A little bit more background about black water.
It's toilet output, but there's no requirement to contain their gray water which is discharged from dishwashers, washing machines, showers, jacuzzis, this gray water instead drains directly into our waterways.
excuse me, let me correct a mistake there.
They must have a containment system for their black water, the toilet output, but there are concerns that it's not fully utilized.
They do not have any requirements about containing their gray water.
There are 222 verified floating on water residences in our water and 2020 SDCI director's rule capped the number of these by halting any further verification after September 30, 2020. In 2021 state law changed opening the door for a vessel to be verified as a floating on water residence.
a sailboat.
As a result, SDCI is now required to accept applications for vessels like sailboats or yachts to be verified as floating on water residences, which are essentially permanent non-mobile floating structures.
And an increase of the number of these residences in our waters is an indirect conflict with the guiding principles of the Shoreline Management Act.
Additional floating on water residences would increase the amount of gray water that drains into our waterways, endangering our already fragile salmon habitat in part by increasing nutrients that lead to algae booms and causing low oxygen levels.
Let me put it simply, whatever is in your dishwasher from soap to grease to I don't know what you all eat, everything I eat is organic.
But all I'm saying is all of that goes directly into our waterway.
And that's the importance of making these changes today.
So these concerns, coupled with the fact that SDCI has already begun verification requests for these floating on water resident vessels, and there are no current standards in our Shoreline Master Program, Outlining these regulations for these new types of residences.
This is why I'm here with you today I'm asking for you to support moratorium just on the replacement of these residences so again just replacing a sailboat with a house.
using that permit.
Let's have the permit designed for what it is applied to.
This work, like any good policy, requires a robust and inclusive stakeholder outreach process and the time to develop a shoreline master program that works for everyone who live, work, recreate, and enjoy the finite resources that are our water.
So with that, Colleagues, if you have any questions, I'm happy to do my best or suspend the rules if needed for SDCI to answer your questions.
This will be a temporary moratorium while final legislation is drafted and outreach is concluded.
And then we will come back to you with permanent legislation at a future date.
Council Member Morales.
Thank you, Council President, and thank you, Council Member Strauss.
I don't have questions, but I do want to thank the SDCI team for the briefings that they had.
It was very helpful to understand what's at stake here and to get a better sense of what we're trying to do to make sure that we're creating a shoreline master plan program that addresses the issue and will help us keep our waterways clean later.
So thanks very much.
Appreciate it.
Thank you, Council Member Morales.
Is there anyone else?
Council Member Struss, I just want to thank you and your leadership in working with the mayor's office and S.D.C.I. that provided us with a briefing and a summary and fiscal note, as well as the S.D.C.I. work plan regarding this issue of the moratorium.
So with that, I know that you have S.D.C.I. on standby as well as Ketil from central staff.
I am not seeing any questions.
So with that, is there any closing remarks that you would like to add, Council Member Strauss, before we go to a vote?
Thank you to the mayor's office and SDCI for your work bringing this forward.
Happy to shepherd it along.
Thank you.
All right.
With that, we're going to go to a vote.
Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the passage of the bill?
Council Member Salant?
Yes.
Council Member Strauss?
Yes.
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Council Member Lewis?
Yes.
Council Member Morales.
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Aye.
Council Member Nelson.
Aye.
Council Member Peterson.
Yes.
Council President Juarez.
Aye.
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 let's move on to items two and three, and Council Member Mosqueda, the clerk is gonna read item two and three into the record at the same time, and then I will hand it over to you.
So with that, Madam Clerk, go ahead.
The report of the Select Committee on the 2023 Housing Levy, agenda item number two, Council Bill 120584, relating to low-income housing, requesting that a special election be held concurrent with the November 7th, 2023 general election for submission to the qualified electors of the city of a proposition to lift the limit on regular property taxes under Chapter 84.55 RCW in order to authorize the city to levy additional taxes for low-income housing for up to seven years.
The committee recommends that they'll pass Agenda Item 3, Resolution 32093 relating to low-income housing, accompanying an ordinance requesting the 2023 housing levy renewal and providing further direction regarding reporting and implementation of the programs to be funded by which such levy and other housing funds.
The committee recommends the resolution be adopted as amended.
Jean Gatza, COB Host, she or her, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg, OSBT-Karen Hollweg,
my colleague, Council Member Strauss, who loves a good joke and pun.
I hope you'll appreciate this.
Let's move from crappy legislation to happy legislation.
Happy Housing Levy Day to everyone.
This is a really exciting opportunity for us to talk about the most important issue in our region, the most pressing crisis that Seattle and our city, and frankly, our country is facing.
And that is lack of access to affordable housing, lack of access to sufficient housing stock across our city, and importantly, the housing that working families, small businesses, and our residents at large need.
This is our opportunity to invest in that most pressing crisis by allowing the council to pass the Seattle Housing Levy legislation today.
Once we pass this, this will go to a vote of the people in November.
The opportunity here for us is to build on the work that has taken place over the course of a year plus to get to today.
Colleagues, this vote on the housing levy legislation renewal package is the culmination of over a year's worth of work and conversation led by the Mayor's Office and the Office of Housing, who is with us in the audience today, engaged with the community through the Technical Advisory Board.
who work together to identify priorities and commitments that we would like to see embedded into statute going forward in the housing levy.
There's been three months of direct conversation that my office and I have had with the mayor's office with Brianna Thomas who's here with us and the Office of Housing before the legislation was transmitted to try to get as many issues ironed out before it came to council.
And over the last near three months, colleagues, you all have had the chance to work with our office and central staff in deep collaboration with a commitment to put forward the most robust, comprehensive approach that we could collectively generate to offer to the voters of Seattle to address this housing crisis.
Thank you for your near three months of engagement with us on this select housing levy committee.
This legislation affirms the hard work of the mayor's office and the proposal that was transmitted to council.
It does not change the commitment to invest over $970 million over the next seven years to building affordable housing.
This housing levy legislation invests in deeply affordable permanent supportive housing.
It expands home ownership investments.
It invests into stabilizing our permanent supportive housing workforce and investing in the workers who build that housing as much as it invests into homelessness prevention strategies.
It includes many of the council member priorities that enhance the package and strengthen our effort to serve communities most impacted by displacement, by the cost of housing in our region, by the pressures of the housing crisis that lead to more folks falling into homelessness.
This is the antidote to the housing crisis that we see, and it is one of many solutions that we must continue to advance to address the housing crisis.
I want to thank community members again, and some folks are walking in.
So thank you again to our Office of Housing Leaders, especially led by Michael Winkler-Chin.
Thank you as well again to the Mayor's Office and the Liaison with Labor and Housing, Breonna Thomas, and the incredible team of housing partners that are within the city especially Aaron House who is within my office and lead for a long time on housing priorities.
It's an exciting opportunity for us to be able to bring to council with this council's input and the mayor's support the ideas that have come from community.
This has ideas directly offered to us from organizations like Chief Seattle Club.
El Centro de la Raza, Filipino Community Center, Africatown Community Land Trust, and many more who joined us at a press conference announcing the introduction of this legislation officially to council just two weeks ago.
Those communities The organization stood side-by-side with labor, including MLK Labor, SEIU 925, who offer many services within the buildings, just like Seattle Building and Construction Trades, Local 242, Northwest Carpenters, IBEW 46, and so many additional partners who build the buildings outside, and OPEIU Local 8, my union, who also provide services inside.
workers who build the buildings on the outside, workers who serve folks on the inside, community organizations who've been calling for solutions to addressing affordable housing, standing next to housing development leaders like the Housing Development Consortium, Africatown Land Trust, Habitat for Humanity, and frontline workers who were there to celebrate what this levy promises and the opportunity to see more of the investments led by a community being at the front of the line for what gets funding and thus solutions.
Colleagues, I'd like to save some of my closing comments for the end.
And Madam President, you can imagine I have a ton more thank yous to give.
So I'll hold off perhaps on my second part here until the last comments are made.
That's right, we were watching the clock on that one.
But I thank you.
So you address items two and three.
So I'm going to open the floor for our colleagues to address items two and three as well.
And then let Council Member Mosqueda take us out.
Council Member Herbold.
Thanks so much.
I'm really excited to be at this point of voting to approve this housing levy package.
Many thanks to you, Chair Mosqueda, for bringing us to this important point so swiftly and so collaboratively.
The package would represent a historic investment in desperately needed affordable housing for Seattle residents struggling to survive in our very expensive city on the very smallest of incomes.
The housing market simply does not produce housing that is affordable to many and many Seattle residents suffer.
If the city does not build this housing, no one will.
And more Seattle residents will be pushed out of the city or just outside onto the streets.
To be clear, the proposed package sent by the mayor had a whole lot to recommend it in the first place.
I thank the mayor for overseeing a stakeholder process that was comprehensive and yielded many insights that were woven into this package, including increasing its size to meet the pent-up demand for affordable homes.
I appreciate the chance to work collaboratively with you, Chair Mosqueda, to incorporate these additions from targeting homeownership investments towards folks at the highest risk of displacement and those impacted by the city's previous discriminatory practices, we know that homeownership is the best way to build generational wealth and directly reduce the racial wealth gap, including helping residents stay in their communities by bringing affordable homes to more neighborhoods, robust reporting on the impacts of funding resident services, establishing a formal program to preserve affordability of homes on the Office of Housing's existing portfolio whenever possible, and also setting a clear goal for the number of affordable homes to acquire from the speculative market.
This revised housing levy package rises to meet the size of our need for affordable housing at a really crucial moment.
It will provide the Office of Housing with new tools to preserve and acquire affordable housing and more robustly address our crisis of displacement by providing targeted support for residents to stay in their neighborhoods, build generational wealth that they were previously locked out of.
I really strongly support this package with great enthusiasm, and I'm so proud to cast my vote today to approve the proposed housing levy package.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Herbold.
And as you know, you and I have been around, we voted on the first one, so We know it's a lot of work, so thank you.
I see that Council Member Morales has her hand up.
Council Member Morales.
Thank you so much, Council President.
I will be, I'll say relatively brief.
I do wanna thank Council Member Mosqueda for leading the charge on this.
This is such an important piece of legislation that we are voting on and will have huge impacts, longstanding generational impacts for our community.
I want to thank Erin on her staff as well, Tracy Ratzliff, as well as Maiko and her team at the Office of Housing.
This is going to provide important funding for operations and maintenance for permanent supportive housing.
And as we all know, the housing crisis requires not just that we build more units, which is absolutely needed, but that we ensure the sustainability of those buildings as well.
And so the O&M funding will do that.
I want to highlight the focus on homeownership, and I know Councilmember Hermold just did that, but as we think about what it means to build generational wealth, to build community wealth, and help particularly our communities of color stay rooted in Seattle and stop getting displaced, this is going to be an essential piece of that puzzle.
So we know that that has to come, that generational wealth building has to come from ownership, and this levy will create that opportunity for almost 300 families in the city.
When we started this discussion.
My primary concern really was about finding a way to increase the number of family size units.
I know that a priority for the levy really is to focus on seniors and to make sure that there are good transition options for people who are experiencing homelessness and who are moving out of homelessness.
And in the south end in District 2, we have a lot of multi-generational families.
We have a lot of families with, you know, large families with lots of kids.
And so it's really important that they have access to affordable three and four bedroom units.
So I'm proud of the conversations that we had and the work that we did and that Council Member Mosqueda was sort of leading the charge on figuring out how we braid funding that is available in the city so that we can increase the larger size units that we have available to family members in the city.
And I want to also thank my colleagues for supporting an amendment that I had and Councilmember Humboldt for co sponsoring that with me. that really follows the 15-minute city philosophy of proximity and community abundance.
We incorporated this into the language of the resolution to specify services that meet residents' everyday needs.
So it includes commercial or nonprofit groceries, childcare, health services, fresh food, fresh healthy food merchants, home goods and cultural anchors.
I hear a lot from folks in the South End that their communities might be getting displaced, but their cultural anchors are still in our neighborhoods.
And so there's a lot of people coming back.
This is going to help us prevent the displacement in the first place and also support the preservation of those anchors.
This language outlines for the city a way to both create continuity among our different community development and land use ordinances and center the need and the desire and the right that our neighbors have to be able to access essential goods and services within reach of a home that they can afford.
So I'm excited about this entire package.
I again wanna thank Council Member Herbold for her support of that amendment and co-sponsorship of that amendment.
And I'm excited to be moving forward with this legislation and getting it in front of the voters.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councillor Morales.
So we had read into the record the ordinance and the resolution and Councillor Mosqueda spoke to both of them.
I'm guessing.
Are there any more comments regarding the ordinance and the resolution, which are items two and three from our colleagues?
So Councillor Peterson, go ahead.
Thank you, Council President.
I appreciate all the hard work by the Chair, Council Member Mosqueda, and her office, by our City Council Central staff, the Office of Housing, the Mayor's Office, all in crafting this ambitious package to create more low-income housing throughout Seattle.
Having spent nearly two decades of my career financing the construction and preservation of 30,000 low income units across the country, and having served on the Seattle Advisory Committee seven years ago for the current housing levy.
I'm a big supporter of the work accomplished thus far to produce low income housing and I agree we need to do more.
I know a top priority for all of us is to reduce homelessness, so I'm grateful for the incorporation of my revision that allows for more frequent data collection on vacant residential units and the revision that encourages stronger official collaboration between our city's Office of Housing and the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.
More frequent data on residential unit vacancies and ongoing cooperation with KCRHA will help to get people into all types of city funded housing units faster.
And while we need additional low income housing in Seattle and the costs to subsidize that housing have legitimately increased, many of my constituents continue to raise their concerns about sticker shock and how the city proposes to pay for this growing program.
I hear their concerns.
City Hall is getting a reputation as a one-trick pony that repeatedly decides to double or triple a property tax as if that were the only source of funding.
This is another reason why Seattle is long overdue for tax reform to increase the diversity and fairness of its revenue sources, and that should include repealing some aggressive taxes.
But today's vote is not technically on enacting the city's larger program to boost low-income housing in Seattle, but on whether to place this property tax proposal onto the ballot for voters to decide.
I realize this will be a big decision for people to make in November, but it is their decision.
To place the mayor's housing proposal onto the November ballot, I will be voting yes today so that voters can make the decision which is theirs to make.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Peterson.
Are there any other comments regarding the ordinance and the accompanying resolution?
Council Member Nelson.
Thank you very much.
First of all, I would like to thank Chair Mosqueda for including two changes that I requested.
One to extend the length of rental assistance for tenants of privately owned units and the other requesting that the Office of Housing develop specific reporting and performance measures for the $34 million of workforce stabilization funding included in the mayor's package.
And I also thank my colleagues for supporting an amendment requesting that the Office of Housing explore the need for Susan Nemitz, COB Staff, Shelley Cobhart & Goldfield, COB.: : Housing specifically for those recovering from substance use disorders.
Susan Nemitz, COB Staff, Shelley Cobhart & Goldfield, COB.: : So I support the housing levy is a critical tool to address our housing affordability crisis, but I also have a responsibility to consider the role that all property tax measures.
Susan Nemitz, COB Staff, Shelley Cobhart & Goldfield, COB.: : play in driving up the cost of housing for homeowners and renters alike, especially for those on.
low or fixed incomes.
Last year, since I've been on office in office council doubled the size of the Metropolitan Park District property tax, and this proposal doubles will cost the owners of a medium value home in Seattle, an additional $270 a year which does not sound like very much but it is in this package is triple what the current levy is that was passed in 2016. And since then, the payroll excise tax and the mandatory affordable housing affordability programs have come online.
And those are two additional sources of revenue for affordable housing.
So I do think that we have to be mindful of, of the, the accumulation of additional costs that we're adding to folks who are struggling to pay for housing whether or not their renters or Homer homeowners in Seattle but.
Ultimately, the need is great.
The need is great.
And the housing levy has always been an important tool to ensure that people that cannot afford to live here can.
So I will be voting for this today.
And ultimately, it's up to the voters to decide.
I also want to just note that we One of the commenters, Nicole Grant, did thank us for doing this work, and I think that we should also thank the people that will be contributing to the resources that we'll be voting on today.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Council Member Nelson.
Let's see.
Well, before we go to a vote, Councilor Muscat, I want to thank you for your leadership on this and the mayor's office.
Those of us that were here in 2016 voted yes to put it on the ballot.
I will be voting yes on both the ordinance and the resolution and on the ordinance in particular that it is on the November 7th ballot.
I'm kind of echoing what Councilor Peterson said.
I believe this should go to the voters and they should determine how to tax themselves.
This is housing issue is never going to go away.
And we've heard it many times.
I don't think it's hyperbole that housing is a human right.
And this is our one way that government can address that.
In regards to the resolution, I want to thank you for opening up and allowing the amendments and also furthering the directing on the reporting requirements.
So that's going to be a lot more helpful for us to know on the city side what was actually happening with the money and also in conjunction with our partnership well, more than a partnership with the King County Regional Housing Authority.
So hopefully this will go on the ballot and we will find ourselves in a position to be able to build housing because those of us that have lived here in our whole lives know that it has become incredibly, incredibly difficult to rent, let alone own a home within the city of Seattle.
So with that, I'm going to I do not see any more hands up.
So I'm going to let Council Member Mosqueda We'll close this out on the ordinance and the legislation.
And then Madam Clerk, we can go to a vote on each.
Council Member Scada.
Thank you very much, Madam President.
Colleagues, again, I want to thank you for your participation in this effort.
To my colleagues who spoke today, but the ones who also haven't spoke, you have all been present at each one of our select housing levy committee meetings over the last two and a half months.
Your ideas and amendments that you put forward from community members help to strengthen an already strong proposal that was transmitted from the mayor's office.
And the Office of Housing and their deep commitment to community engagement, policy development, and really learning from past experiences helped to provide a very strong foundation for us to build upon and now offer to the voters.
I want to thank the members of the Technical Advisory Committee made up of 20 committee members representing a broad cross section of community, not just affordable housing, but deep, broad community touch points that provided feedback on the housing levy.
They offer their expertise and their perspectives, including from the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, Catholic Community Services, DESC, Homesite, U.S. Bank, Cannon-Taylor, Plymouth Housing, Chief Seattle, Enterprise Community Partners, GMD, We Are In, United Way of King County, University of Washington, SCIPTA PDA, SEIU 1199 Healthcare Northwest, King County Regional Homelessness Authority, Seattle Foundation, Housing Development Consortium, Seattle Housing Authority.
The 36 organizations who focused in the equity, home ownership, rental housing focus groups led by the Office of Housing.
Council Member Mosqueda, you're cutting out, so.
I talk like this, is that better?
bit slower, a little slower.
Yeah.
Okay, let me try that again.
I'm too excited.
That's so much pep because, you know, you don't want to try, but as I said, this is happy housing levy day.
So, um, the, the entities who provided this feedback offered bold investments that met this moment and the mayor's office, including deputy mayor Washington and Brianna Thomas helped to shepherd this to the council and to help strengthen the legislation.
I want to thank director broad Brandon from the Seattle housing authority and their team.
Not only have they been working with us, to provide affordable housing options for residents around Seattle, they often don't get the credit they deserve.
In last levy, they provided housing vouchers and in this levy they came forward with 300 rental housing vouchers and they upped the ante in the middle of our discussions and now are contributing 400 rental housing vouchers to bolster this package to ensure that we're serving as many households as possible.
That is additive to the vouchers that they had already been providing in last year's levy.
I want to thank Tracy Ratzcliff and Jen Labreck on central staff as you saw every committee meeting they were at They lended their expertise and tireless work to help shape this final proposal before it was introduced to council and in the final efforts here to refine amendments with your feedback and to usher this legislation through with a very smooth process.
You know, we have a smooth process when nobody called in on our last committee meeting because everything had already been included.
So I'm just saying.
It was a great way to work in partnership with all of my colleagues and community partners and central staff was at the helm.
And they really pointed to the support that we've received from the law department.
So I want to specifically thank Eddie Lynn from the law department for being on call for legal review on this legislation.
to our communications team and our clerks team for supporting us every committee meeting and with getting information out to the broader public so that there was public awareness of the community engagement opportunities that the council was deliberating because ultimately it will be up to the voters to make the final decision.
This legislation builds on already incredible statistics that are being reported regularly to the Office of Housing.
And we can go to the Seattle voters now with this package in front of us and be able to tell people that we are exceeding our expectations with the First Lady levy.
We just need to do more for a growing population and for growing needs within our housing, within our population across Seattle to make sure people stay housed and get housed.
I say exceeding expectations because we are exceeding rental production expectations, exceeding home ownership standards that we set for ourself.
Rental production, we are exceeding by 27 percent.
We are exceeding home ownership opportunities in the current levy by 32 percent.
And we are exceeding our preservation goals by 51 percent.
We are exceeding in every one of these categories and yet we know we need to do more.
That is why the housing levy is up for renewal and your consideration.
And that is why you are seeing, I believe, unanimous consent coming out from this council support for this housing levy legislation.
This levy combined with jumpstart is going to allow for us to.
expedite our commitments to stabilizing the workforce through stable wages for people doing work inside the affordable housing units.
It is also helping us to make sure that we are building with jumpstart funding combined with housing levy funding.
We're going to be building more family size units, three and four bedroom.
This housing levy renewal package is an investment, a smart investment with high return on our investment into the health and resilience of our entire community.
The workers who build these homes from the ground up now have additional support.
The frontline service providers and care providers will have additional stability to help Our communities stay healthy, safe, and housed.
The community organizations who transform these buildings into homes and cultural community hubs now have additional support with this housing levy.
Our community, families, seniors, individuals, our neighbors will have access to the foundational support they need to have access to housing and new homes.
I want to summarize Madam President with some quotes from community members.
Patience Malaba from the Executive Director of Housing Development Consortium said, this is truly a generational investment in affordable homes in our community and in the workers who build homes.
This legislation rises to the moment and will build on the record of past successes in our past levy that have consistently created affordable housing.
Katie Garrow from MLK Labor says, the levy legislation includes improvements to wages and working conditions for people who work in permanent supportive housing and build those housing units.
We applaud this.
Naomi Morris, RN from DESC, a nurse with Inside Affordable Housing said, our calling is to help those stay housed and stay, get housed and stay housed.
We don't do this to get rich.
We do this because it's the right thing to do.
We belong here and this legislation and levy invests, finally invests in the support of work that helps people stay stably housed.
Derek Belgrade, Executive Director of Chief Seattle Club, said, This housing levy legislation is more than just a commitment to much-needed brick-and-mortar developments.
It's a commitment to housing our people with the kind of love, compassion, and dedication that will transform lives and begin repairing the traumas of previous generations.
Ryan Donohue from Habitat for Humanity said, Not only will it create more homeownership opportunities for people, but this levy will help us create more homeowners as well.
Monty Anderson, Building Trades Executive Secretary, said this is a historic levy proposal because it also includes community workforce agreements and the commitment to increase equity and economic opportunity for workers through apprenticeship and priority hire.
And finally, Kay Wiking Garrett from Africatown Community Land Trust said, the Central District has been a thriving black community since 1882, a community that has been systematically dismantled by policies and practices from urban renewal, redlining, and much more.
But this levy, offering affordable housing, provides an opportunity not only for people to stay in community, to come back to community, but to be included in the economics that are developing in Seattle.
So in summary, let's remind ourselves what we're asking voters after today's vote to consider.
In this levy, we are creating thousands of deeply affordable housing and permanent supportive homes across our cities.
We are investing in preventing and reducing homelessness through increased investments in rental assistance and homeless prevention supports.
We're increasing permanent affordable, housing, home ownership opportunities focused on communities most at risk of displacement to help right historic wrongs.
We are investing in three and four bedroom rental and home ownership opportunities to support multi-generational housing across our city.
We are investing in providing support for smaller nonprofit community-based developers so that they can create affordable housing through the lens of what community is asking for, housing paired with childcare, community, and cultural space, along with small business opportunity, and much more.
It is investing in the stability of our housing workforce, providing resident services, investing in resident service providers, and those who are building the homes.
This is our offer to the voters of Seattle, a chance to continue on the historic investments that we've made in housing and to step up and meet this moment with investments to serve our community, our growing population, and the growing needs that they have, which all starts with having access to a home.
Thank you so much, Seattle voters, for considering this.
We hand it off to you now with the vote today.
All right.
Thank you, Councilor Mosqueda.
And with that, Madam Clerk, Can we go to the vote on the ordinance obviously first?
And will you please call a roll on the passage of the bill?
Council Member Sawant?
Yes.
Council Member Strauss?
Yes.
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Council Member Lewis?
Yes.
Council Member Morales?
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda?
Aye.
Council Member Nelson.
Aye.
Council Member Peterson.
Yes.
Council President Moraes.
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.
Now let's move to item number three.
Madam Clerk, can you call the roll?
Council Member Sawant.
Yes.
Council Member Strauss.
Yes.
Council Member Herbold.
Yes.
Council Member Lewis.
Yes.
Council Member Morales.
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Aye.
Council Member Nelson.
Aye.
Council Member Peterson.
Yes.
Council President Ores.
Aye.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
Thank you, Madam Clerk.
The resolution is adopted and the chair will sign it.
And Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.
We've been on in our agenda.
Let's move on to item number four.
This is out of Councilor Peterson's committee.
Madam Clerk, can you please read item four into the record?
The report of the Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities Committee agenda item four, Council Bill 120585, granting King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks Wastewater Treatment Division permission to construct, maintain, and operate a transformer and retaining wall at 63rd Avenue Southwest.
The committee recommends the bill pass.
Thank you, Madam Clerk.
Council Member Peterson.
Thank you, Council President.
Where'd everybody go?
This is just as exciting.
That's what I was thinking.
This is like, wow.
Colleagues, Council 120585 grants permission to King County's Wastewater Treatment Division to construct, maintain, and operate a power transformer and retaining wall at 63rd Avenue, sorry, at 63rd Avenue Southwest, intersecting with Beach Drive Southwest and Southwest Spokane Street for an unlimited term.
This legislation specifies the condition under which this permit is granted.
Big picture of this term permit will support the operation of the Alki wet weather treatment station facility and 63rd Avenue pump station facility in West Seattle.
Our city council already granted conceptual approval via Resolution 32079 on February 14th of this year.
And this Council Bill 120585 would finalize our permission with a term permit as crafted by our Seattle Department of Transportation.
Our committee voted unanimously to recommend passage of this council bill.
Thank you.
Councilor Peterson, I was prepared to vote no, but after that riveting introduction, you switched my vote.
So thank you for that.
Council Member Herbold.
Thank you, Councilmember Peterson, you're right.
This is almost as exciting.
Appreciate the shout out for the importance of this legislation.
And I just want to take this opportunity to thank King County staff for meeting with my office and answering questions, as well as their outreach to neighbors and working with SDOT about the healthy street plans.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Herbold, because this all happens in your district.
All right.
With that, I'm guessing, Councilor Peterson, you've said your piece, or is there anything else you want to add?
Thank you.
I'm done.
Clerk, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.
Council Member Sawant?
Yes.
Council Member Strauss?
Yes.
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Council Member Lewis.
Yes.
Council Member Morales.
Yes.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Aye.
Council Member Nelson.
Aye.
Council Member Peterson.
Yes.
Thank you.
Council President Ores.
Aye.
Nine in favor, nine opposed.
Thank you.
The bill passes, the chair will sign it.
And Madam Clerk, please fix my signature to the legislation.
Well, that ends our committee reports.
So on our agenda, let's go to there were no items removed from the consent calendar.
My understanding is there are no other resolutions for introduction and adoption today.
Councilor Muscatia, you got your hand up for other business.
You're ahead of me on this.
I am all right, so let me say it and then I will call on you.
Are there any other business before before to come before Council and customer mosquito.
Thank you, Council President.
So previously, I have requested to be excused from full council on Tuesday, June 27th.
I will be out of town if I'm needed.
I can dial in, but I will be visiting my grandma.
And then I would like to ask for the opportunity to be excused from council on the 20th.
I'll be at the Association of Washington Cities Conference in Spokane.
and would appreciate being excused from full council on June 20th.
All right, if there's an objection, Councilor Mosqueda will be excused from the June 20th, correct?
Correct.
All right.
Not hearing an objection, Council Member Mosqueda is indeed excused on that date.
Thank you.
Yes, you're welcome.
So before we move on to executive session, Counsel, let me go ahead and read into the record, but we have a separate call in line.
So those of you out on the dais need to.
Go into your offices and get into the zoom call for the executive session.
So, if there's no further business, we will move into executive session.
hearing no further business.
I will now move us into executive session.
And as I've shared before, as presiding officer, I'm announcing that the Seattle City Council will now convene into executive session.
The purpose of the executive session is to discuss pending potential or actual litigation.
The council's executive session is an opportunity for council to discuss confidential legal matters with the city attorney's office as authorized by law.
A legal monitor from the city's attorney's office is always present to ensure the council reserves questions of policy for open session.
I expect the time of the executive session to end within a half an hour.
We're giving it 30 minutes.
I'll come back to the actual time with the clerk in a moment.
If the executive session is to be extended beyond that time, I will announce the extension and expected duration.
At the conclusion of this executive session, this city council meeting will automatically adjourn.
The Seattle City Council's next regularly scheduled meeting is on June 20th at two o'clock, which is a Tuesday.
The council is now in executive session.
Council members, please log off this meeting and log in to the other executive session Zoom meeting.
Recording stopped.