Seattle City Council 7/12/21

on the July 12th, 2021 meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It's 2, 2.02 PM.

I'm Lorena Gonzalez, President of the Council.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Salant.

Present.

Strauss.

Present.

Herbold.

Here.

Juarez.

Here.

Lewis.

Present.

Morales.

Here.

Mosqueda.

Present.

Peterson.

here.

Council President Gonzalez.

Here.

Nine present.

Thank you so much.

Presentations.

I'm not aware of any presentations, so we'll move to approval of the minutes.

The minutes of the city council meeting of July 6th, 2021 have been reviewed.

If there's no objection, the minutes will be signed.

Hearing no objection, the minutes are being signed.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes?

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

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

If there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Colleagues at this time we will open the remote public comment period for items on the City Council agenda introduction and referral calendar and the Council's work program.

I thank everyone for their ongoing patience and cooperation as we continue to operate this remote public comment system.

It remains the strong intent of the City Council to have remote public comment regularly included on meeting agendas.

However, as a reminder, the city council reserves the right to end or eliminate these public comment periods at any point if we deem that the system is being abused or is no longer suitable for allowing our meetings to be conducted efficiently and effectively.

So as usual, public comment period for this meeting is 20 minutes, and each speaker ordinarily has two minutes to address the city council.

We do have quite a few people signed up for public comment today, so we're gonna reduce the time allotted to each speaker to one minute, and we will have, if there is no objection, we will extend public comment period to a total of 30 minutes.

Hearing no objection, the public comment period is extended to 30 minutes, again, at one minute for each speaker.

Speakers will be called upon in the order in which you registered to provide public comment on the council's website, Each speaker must call in from the phone number used for this registration and using the meeting phone number, ID, and passcode that was emailed to you upon confirmation.

Please keep in mind that this number is different than the general meeting listen line call-in information.

If you show up on my end on the public comment sheet as not present, I will make sure to announce that publicly so that you have an opportunity to go back and look at your registration information and correct any issues that might exist with how you called in and from where you called in.

Again, I'll call on each speaker by name and in the order in which you registered on the council's website.

If you've not yet registered to speak but would like to, you can sign up before the end of public comment by going to the council's website at seattle.gov forward slash council.

The public comment link is also listed on today's agenda.

Once I call your name, staff will unmute your microphone and you are going to hear the automatic prompt of you have been unmuted.

That's your cue to press star six before you begin speaking.

Please begin by stating your name, the item that you are addressing, and as a reminder, your comment should relate to an item on today's agenda, the introduction referral calendar, or the council's work program.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of your allotted time.

Once you hear the chime please begin wrapping up your public comments so we can move on to the next speaker.

If you do not end your comments within the allotted time provided your microphone will be muted to allow us to call on the next speaker.

Once you've completed your public comment please disconnect from the line and you can continue to follow this meeting on Seattle Channel or one of the listening options.

Okay, public comment period is now open, it's 2.06pm, so we'll go until about 2.36pm.

Again, please remember to press star six after you hear the prompt, you have been unmuted.

First is Howard Gale, followed by Daniel Kavanaugh.

Howard, welcome.

Good afternoon.

Howard Gale, District 7. OPA Director Meyerberg said last week that disciplining the four officers that did not enter restricted areas during the January 6th insurrection would, quote, serve to speed up the current decline of reason, objectivity, and fundamental fairness that plagues America.

This is contrary to reason, in fact.

Many African-American SPD officers and hundreds of Seattleites have expressed fear and discomfort regarding SPD officers who attended the January 6th insurrection having power over their safety and lives.

this is so because of the undeniably high overlap between attending an event like that and harboring racial animosity or at the very least a high degree of racial insensitivity sbd policy manual five dot oh one actually provides for sanctions against officers who engage in behavior even off-duty that undermines public trust in the department hence my bird did have a basis for finding that all officers violated powell His office failed to investigate these complaints over the last four years, not just regarding January 6th, but other disparate treatment that SPD officers have meted out to right-wing versus progressive demonstrators.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Daniel Kavanaugh, followed by Randy Kessler.

uh...

hi my name's dan i'm a member of socialist alternative and a renter in the central district and i'm calling to demand that seattle police be banned from training or having any exchange with the military or police of any nation violating international human rights and it's been of course i would apply to f p engaging in training with israeli state forces which are they've done in the past uh...

but you know it doesn't just single out israel as opponents of claims and council member so what has reported that the community petition her office circulated last week now has nearly a thousand signatures and I think that shows the really broad support for this and especially with the new revelations about SPV officers participating in the January 6th far-right pro-Trump riots.

Community members are really upset about this and really expect the council to hold SPV accountable.

I also urge all council members to support the two upcoming renters' rights bills from council members who want and also support Council Member Swann's proposed resolution to return the land that was taken from New Hope Missionary Baptist Church as part of the racist gentrification we've been seeing in the central area.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Randy Kessler followed by Logan Swann.

Hi.

Good afternoon.

My name is Randy Kessler and I work in District 3. I'm calling in regarding the proposed ordinance by Council Member Sawant regarding the Seattle Police Department training with police forces of other countries.

And I would like to ask the council to please reject this bill and condemn it as being anti-Semitic when it comes up for consideration.

This proposed legislation relies on an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory called Stop the Deadly Exchange.

Now, this theory tries to blame Israel for the most horrible instances of excessive use of force by police in the United States.

And they really try to convince you that it's the Israelis who have taught United States law enforcement how to oppress black and brown people.

Now, this is an absurd fabrication, but these lies have consequences for your Jewish constituents in Seattle, the vast majority of whom are supportive of Israel.

Sixty percent of Jews in America who were surveyed last month personally witnessed anti-Semitic behavior.

In short, I'd like to ask you to reject this as bad policy that has the city of Seattle lose control over important decisions about public safety.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Logan Swan, followed by Jack Francis.

Hi, my name is Logan Swan.

I'm a renter in District 2 and a union iron worker.

Yeah, as a building trades worker, I'm an actual housing provider.

And yeah, I want to call in support of Council Member Shama Sawant's two upcoming renters' rights bills.

Rents have gone up nearly 20% between January and June of 2021, which is double the average rate of increase nationally.

And yeah, she reported in the council briefing These 2021 rent hikes will cost a typical Seattle renter like myself an additional $3,300 a year in increased rents.

And yeah, these shocking 2021 rent increases are precisely why we need to ban rent increases without six months notice and require landlords to pick up the cost of dislocation that they cause when they make tenants to rent increases.

And it's precisely why the city needs rent control without corporate loopholes.

So I urge renters to join us September 18th at 4 p.m.

in Cal Anderson Park for our Rent Control Now rally.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Jack Francis, followed by Margo Stewart.

Jack, if you're with us, make sure you press star six so we can hear you.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yep.

Go ahead.

Hi, I'm Jack Francis.

I live in the U District.

I'm 23. I'm LGBTQ.

I'm Armenian as well, and I'm calling in today to ask my city council to not allow SPD to train with paramilitary forces such as those in Israel.

I was a protester last year during a Black Lives Matter protest, and I was brutalized by the police.

I, in my opinion, more importantly, saw countless others, women, people younger than me, people smaller than me, children being caught, collateral damage, as some people would want to call it, being caught in the crossfire and stuff like that.

So I really just want to not allow people who are supposed to police and control us and watch over us to have that type of experience.

I don't want them to have that type of experience and that type of know-how.

As a community, as LGBTQ, I feel safer not having white supremacists govern over me.

I feel safer with a community center, places where I can learn how to sew and do makeup, because that's ideally what I want to do.

I'm an artist.

There are other people in this city.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Margo Stewart, followed by Curtis Riggins.

Hi, my name is Margo.

I work in rent in the Central District, and I'm also calling in favor of measures proposed by Councilmember Sawant to stop the training of the SPD with any nation that has violated the Geneva Convention, human rights, as well as expanding renters protections and embeds in affordable housing and the CD.

I think especially in the context of last summer's police brutality, which the last speaker just spoke to, you know, we can't have our police force being trained in ways that make them more lethal.

and by extent make our city less safe for working and marginalized people.

So I stand with the over 1,000 people who signed the petition in support of that.

And this includes any country with a history of human rights violations.

I mean, that includes the Israeli Defense Force who brutalized Palestinian people over the past few months.

But it goes beyond that.

And I think it includes accountability for the officers who went to the white supremacist rally on the 6th.

You know, that's the only way we're going to also fight against anti-Semitism.

And we need real democratic community control over the police force, like working people are fighting for in cities like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

I don't have much time, but we need rent control, and we need more affordable housing by expanding the Amazon PAC.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up is Curtis Riggins, followed by Cassandra Oaks.

Do we have Curtis Riggins?

Remember to hit star six so we can hear you.

Star six one more time.

Hello.

Oh, there you go.

We can hear you, Curtis.

Go ahead.

All right, my name's Curtis Riggins from the faith community.

I'm speaking in support of Councilman Swa's proposed resolution to amend the fully funded available housing project by supporting New Hope Baptist Church from the property that was taken from us 50 years ago.

We want to get that back so we're able to build homes and bring back the people in the black community.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Cassandra Oaks, followed by Sonia Ponath.

Cassandra, just press star six so we can hear you.

I had you, and then I lost you.

Star six, one more time.

There we go.

Hello, my name is Cassandra Oaks and I'm with the faith community and I'm calling in support of Siwan's efforts to return New Hope, the land that was taken so they can build affordable housing.

The gentrification that was happening in the black community, there's absolutely no place for the black community to socialize together.

except for the churches in the Central District.

Everything, everything for the Black community has been, is gone.

We have our churches left, and now we need to support our church effort, New Hope, to get the land back so they can buy affordable housing.

We have, there's hardly any African American Black living in the Central District anymore and we need that affordable housing so we can return to our community.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Sonia Ponath followed by Valerie Schloretz.

Hi this is Sonya Ponaf.

I'm a working mom and also a landlord and I'm supporting this new legislation that bans the SPD training with the military or police of any nation state that's been found in violation of these basic international human rights standards like the Geneva Conventions.

Even before last summer's violent repression of the BLM protests with weapons like tear gas and rubber bullets.

We know that the Seattle Police Department has had a history of excessive force especially against black and brown communities and poor people.

We've had 11 people killed by the police since 2017 while Democrat Jenny Durkan has been mayor.

The Democratic establishment has absolutely failed to hold the Seattle Police accountable.

We need an elected community oversight board with full powers over the police.

And that means a say for us over the budgeting hiring firing and subpoena power.

I also urge all members, all council members to support the two upcoming renters' rights bills, and I also urge renters to join us in Cal Anderson Park, September 18th at 4 o'clock for our Rent Control Now Rally.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Valerie Schloretz, followed by Jordan Quinn.

Hi.

Hi, this is Valerie Floret from District 2. OPA Director Meyerberg wrote that his investigation decision defended the free speech rights of three of the police officers who attended the insurrection rally in D.C.

That was ironic, given that the OPA did not defend the free speech rights of protesters who were beaten up on video by SPD last summer, including life-threatening attacks with tear gas and blast balls.

Given that the OPA did not champion the free speech rights of those people protesting police racism and violence, why would anyone trust the OPA to do a fair investigation of police at the insurrection?

Take a look at the Emerald article from June 30th.

It's headlined, OIG Memo Reveals Serious Deficiencies in OPA Protest Investigation That Cannot Be Remedied.

Let's replace the OPA with a 100% civilian accountability board It has the power to discipline officers.

See seattlestop.org.

Next up is Jordan Quinn followed by Robert Jeffrey.

Hi can you hear me.

We can go ahead.

Great.

Hi, my name is Jordan.

I'm a member of Socialist Alternative and a renter in District 2, calling to thank Council Member Sawant for and to urge the rest of the Council to support the July Supplemental Budget Amendment.

Council Member Sawant announced that she's going to be bringing forward $500,000 of the $5.4 million that the Council already voted.

to take out of the Seattle Police Department budget and invest in the Garfield Superblock project.

This is a concrete demand by the community and by the people's budget movement to shift funds from the police into urgently needed community projects like the Black Lives Matter movement was fighting for last year.

This Garfield Superblock coalition is a grassroots effort.

in the Central District to create a vital civic space that honors and tells the story through art and cultural presentation of the people who have lived here over the millennia, from Duwamish people to Black Americans today.

And it's vital that the council stand with the oppressed peoples, you know, in their fight for an affordable place to live.

Also want to speak in support of...

Next up is Robert Jeffrey followed by Dorian McDade.

Robert, if you can remember to press star six on your end so we can hear you.

My name is Robert Jeffrey.

I want to call in support of Councilwoman Sawant's proposed resolution and a supplemental budget amendment to fully fund affordable housing project proposed by the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church.

I'm also calling to talk about the restoration of land that was taken from the church.

in a racist manner in 1969. As has been stated before, we need the community to have more low-income housing, and we need to support the supplemental bill to fund our church for 10.7 million in affordable, so we can build affordable housing in the central area.

We're working in conjunction with Lehigh.

This money and these efforts have to be done now because the church community really needs this support.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Dorian McDade followed by Brionne Scott.

Dorian, just make sure you press star six.

One more time, you can try star six.

Okay, I am not hearing Dorian McDade.

Do we still have Dorian on the line?

Star six, so we can hear you.

I see your tile, but I see that you're still muted.

So if you can try one more time, star six.

We are going to have to come back to Dorian.

Let's go ahead and hear from Brianna Scott and then we will hear from Blythe Serrano.

Hello, can you hear me?

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Hi.

Okay.

Hi, my name is Brianne Scott.

I am a member of New Hope Baptist Church, and I'm calling in in support of Fawant's proposed resolution and supplemental budget.

I am a community member of Seattle, and I am seeing families like myself being pushed out of Seattle with the rise in rent and giving back this land to New Hope Baptist Church and reparations, it will help build affordable housing for all, and I am here calling for support.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Blythe Serrano, and then we will try Dorian one more time.

Looks like Blythe is no longer with us.

Blythe is showing up as not present.

Janet White, also registered but showing up as not present.

And Matt Smith, registered but also showing up as not present.

Let's go back to Dorian McDade and see if we can, if we have solved our technology issues.

Star six.

Hello, can you hear me?

We can hear you, go ahead.

Great.

My name is Dorian McDade and I am calling in to support Councilmember Sawant's proposal in regards to New Hope Baptist Church.

About 50 years ago, their land was taken from them under the threat of immigrant domain, which we believe was illegal.

And also, this particular church has been helping and assisting the neighborhood, which is a central area, for over 40 years, and trying to get other people up out of the gutter, as myself.

I live in one of their tiny houses, and they funded and helped that project to grow so that people that were like myself used to work at Boeing, did great things, had a family, but feel on hard times.

And I got myself back up because of places like them that were able to help somebody like me that was in need, and was able to push me back to where I'm at.

So I'm back into the working field and doing things because of the help with organizations like them that are pushing to help the community, not just talking about it, but being about it.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for calling in today.

Glad we were able to hear from you today.

Next up is Matthew Wilder followed by Madeline Olson.

Hi, my name is Matt.

I'm a renter in district three.

Yeah, I'm calling in support of the ban on the training with the military of police forces or military nation state that violated the Geneva Conventions.

And this isn't just singling out Israel.

This is any nation that violates the Geneva Convention.

Right.

Last year, the Black Lives Matter movement for the spotlight.

on the role that police play in society, and the situation in Israel a few months ago, too, shows that these two forces, I don't think we should be having them train with each other.

And police across the country in democratic cities brutally repressed the movement with blast balls, tear gas, and rubber bullets last year.

We've seen horrible things taking place in Palestine earlier this year.

I think To anyone in opposition to this, I would raise the question, do you agree with the Geneva Conventions, which are our basic human rights, to find war crimes and so on?

But also, we need a democratically elected police oversight board with full power to hire and fire police and the ability to set training policy as well.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Madeline Olson, followed by Julianne Scott.

Hi there, can you hear me?

We can.

Great.

I'm calling in to urge counsel to end the deadly exchange.

SPD should under no circumstances be training with human rights violators.

I just want to respond to some of the criticisms I've been hearing.

I've heard that it's been unfairly singling out Israel.

But when you read the bill, it's very clear.

This ban applies to any nation state that has a human rights violator.

The reason that Israel in particular is important at this exact moment is because we know there are records of SPD training with the Israeli police and Israel has repeated violations of the Geneva Convention.

Condemning Israel for violating human rights is in no way endorsing anti-Semitism.

My partner, who is Jewish, who can't be on the call today, is also in support of this bill.

Even if you deny the connection between violence of police in one state being used in another state when they train together, why should we allow our police to train with human rights violators in any circumstance?

Beyond this legislation, we need to continue for real accountability for the police when elected community board with full powers to hire and fire.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Julian Scott, followed by Matt Smith.

Hello.

Can you hear me?

We can.

Go ahead.

All right.

Hi, my name is Julian Scott.

I am with the New Hope Baptist Church.

I'm a member there, and I am speaking in support of Council Member Sawant's proposed resolution and supplemental budget amendment to fully fund the affordable housing project proposed by New Hope Baptist Church.

District 3, Council Member Sawant, and Black the Black clergy are together working on a resolution recognizing the historical wrongs and the need to compensate the Black churches so that they can build affordable housing for community community members.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Matt Smith and then we will hear from Sarah Champernow.

Hi my name is Matt Smith.

I'm a renter in District 2 in Beacon Hill.

I used to be a renter in the Central District but like thousands of Seattleites I was displaced from the district because my home was demolished to build luxury housing.

I am not alone.

We've heard from a number of people on this call talking about the proposal from Council Member Sawant to give this land back to New Hope Missionary Baptist Church.

Thousands of people have been displaced from the Central District.

as well as other parts of the city, rising housing costs have been particularly destructive for families and communities of color.

And we've already heard 50 years ago, Seattle's Democratic Party establishment forced New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, a historically black church, to give up part of their land.

A number of working class black families were forced to sell their land under threat of eminent domain.

The council needs to pass this legislation from Council Member Sawant, give that stolen land back.

New Hope has developed a plan to build affordable housing for 87 households, with preference for people who have been displaced We need to pass this legislation along with the other renters' rights legislation that Councilmember Sawant has put forward, so please pass it urgently without delay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up is Sarah Champernowne followed by Jonah Silverstein.

Sarah, try star six one more time.

Try one more time.

Star six.

Hi.

There you go.

Go ahead.

Pressed it a couple of times.

Anyway, my name is Sarah Champernown, and I would also like to call in in favor of the renter's rights legislation, especially getting some control over the huge rent hikes after COVID.

I'd like to see more urgency on this issue.

Landlords are literally chomping at the bit to raise rent in Seattle.

And rent increases in less than a year have beaten just under 20% on average, which to me constitutes an absolute emergency.

A lot of people are just getting back on their feet and creating housing instability in the wake of COVID-19, which is a mental health crisis and an economic crisis, is just totally inhumane to me.

And I'm sick of the human need for housing being the main cash cow for the wealthy in Seattle.

The disastrous effects of COVID-19 have been quite unequal.

So a lot of people have saved money, but a lot of people are more in debt.

And I think we need to, you know, we demanded a lot of sacrifice from working people over the COVID-19 crisis, and just immediately getting back to squeezing us for everything we have.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Jonah Silverstein, followed by Raghav Kaushik.

Jonah, welcome.

Hi there.

My name is Jonah.

I'm calling in support of Council Member Sawant's resolution or ordinance to ban SPD from training with any countries that violate human rights.

I am a student at UW and I'm a Jewish community member in Seattle.

It's important to recognize that Jewish safety won't be secure until all communities all Pest communities are safe which means defunding the police and reinvesting in community safety.

I completely reject any insinuation that this resolution is anti-Semitic in any way.

All it does is make sure that the police are training in line with our values as a city and as a Jewish community.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Raghav Kaushik followed by David Haynes.

Hi.

I'm calling in support of the Stop the Deadly Exchange movement and the proposed legislation led by Council Member Shama Sawant.

We are having this discussion in the United States, which is not a neutral party to the Israel-Palestine issue.

It provides active military and diplomatic cover to Israel, which, let's be clear, is a violator of the Geneva Conventions.

I don't want SPD which is funded through our taxpayer money to be training with the Israeli military or the military of any other nation-state that has violated the Geneva Conventions.

We need to stop the trade exchange.

This would be a powerful way for us to show solidarity with the Palestinians.

Thank you.

MODERATOR Thank you for calling in.

Next up is David Haines, followed by Jason Sykes.

David, just press star six so we can hear you.

David, you are still showing up as muted.

Try one more time.

Star six, one more time.

Okay, I still cannot hear David Haynes.

Let's try Jason Sykes first and then Marie Edwards and we'll see if we can circle back to David.

Jason Sykes is now showing up as not present on my end.

So let's try Marie Edwards followed by Cody Zaleski.

Hi, my name is Murray Edwards.

I'm calling in support of Councilwoman Sawant's proposal, again, on CD 120114. And I also want to support the efforts that New Hope Baptist Church has put forward to develop affordable housing in the community, which is very much needed, particularly for black and brown communities.

As you know, the black community has lost a lot in the Central District.

And this is an effort I think that we all should be a part of.

Particularly the city, when you read documents, looking back, the city was a part of the problem.

And so now they need to be a part of the solution.

I think this is an effort for all of us to come together.

We can support our local businesses.

We can support training opportunities for our young people.

But more importantly, we will be able to do the right thing by giving the land back and developing it in a way that's very much needed today in affordable housing that will help all that's involved.

Well, I appreciate your support.

Thank you for calling in.

OK, next up is Cody Zaleski, and then we will try David Haynes again.

And we do have Jason Sykes back.

Cody.

Can you hear me?

Yep, go ahead.

OK.

Hello Seattle City Council members.

My name is Cody Zaleski District 4 and I'm one of the co-directors of Decriminalize Nature Seattle.

It seems like there was some confusion over the entheogenic decriminalization ordinance before the council from earlier earlier today at the council briefing.

We appreciate the support we have received from several council members and we hope to continue this collaboration through the summer.

We fully believe that decriminalization is a timely and effective first step to mitigating the harms imposed on Seattle residents by the punitive war on drugs.

Our advocacy is keenly focused on creating equitable access to psychedelics for all through the gift-gather-grow model of decriminalization.

We trust that through the Overdose Emergency and Innovative Recovery Task Force process as a community of medical experts concerned citizens healers and therapeutic professionals can create policies best practice and a supportive culture around how psychedelics can be further utilized to help residents heal from trauma and problem access.

We do believe that the current scientific literature is overwhelmingly supportive.

We would also sincerely encourage Seattle City Council to take up the issue and move it to the appropriate committees in the narrow window of time before budget debate begins at the end of September.

Thank you for calling in today.

Let's double back to David Haynes and then Jason Sykes.

Okay, David, just press star six on your phone so you can unmute yourself.

Still seeing David Haynes.

It's muted.

One more time, David, star six.

I still am not hearing David, so let's go ahead and move over to Jason Sykes.

Hi.

Hello, my name is Jason Sykes.

I live in District 4, and I'm calling today to urge the City Council to take action to alter and improve our method of holding police accountable to the community in Seattle.

Specifically, we need to have a fully civilianized police oversight body, and it should be condensed into one body to allow the community better access to it and bear transparency into what it does.

At minimum, it needs to be fully staffed with civilian investigators, as well as civilian executives, which I know we already have, so that police are not asked to investigate other police, particularly Seattle police should not be investigating other Seattle police.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Sylvie Reynolds.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes.

Hi, this is Sylvie Reynolds, and I live in Green Lake.

I'm calling to advocate for the complete opening of West Green Lake Way North.

Previously, it was a stay healthy street, and now we are hearing that it's being considered to be permanent.

This road has over 10,000 people driving on it pre-pandemic.

This road is more than able to provide access to cars in both directions and a two-way bike lane.

And we are wondering who wants this permanent and why.

And it worked really well before the pandemic.

We would hope for the road to be opened immediately.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in.

OK.

Let's try.

OK.

We are a few minutes over the allotted 30 minutes for public comment today.

We have two speakers left, one of which had technology issues.

So I'm going to go back to Blythe Serrano and then we're going to try David Haynes one last time and hopefully our technology issues will have been solved.

Hi, sorry for those technical difficulties.

My name's Blythe.

I'm a worker and renter in the Central District, and I'm calling in to urge the Council to support two of Council Member Sawant's upcoming pieces of legislation on renters' rights.

One of these bills would require landlords to provide six months of notice before any rent increases, and the other would mandate that landlords provide relocation assistance when they displace their tenants with outrageous rent increases.

You know, given that Seattle landlords have raised rents an average of 18.7% between January and June of 2021, you know, an absolutely ridiculous number, which is double the average rate of increase nationally.

And that these 2021 rent hikes will cost a typical Seattle renter an additional $3,300 a year in increased rent.

It's really critical that we pass this legislation now and continue fighting for more renters protections, including rent control with no corporate loopholes.

So I urge any renters, small business owners, and actual small landlords to agree with us to join us on September 18th at 4 p.m.

in Kyle Anderson Park for our Rent Control Now Rally.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And let's try David Haynes one more time.

Maybe third time will be the charm.

Do we have David Haynes on the line?

I'm not seeing or hearing David Haynes, star six.

Okay, seems like we have not resolved the technology issue.

So I'm gonna go ahead and close out the public comment period.

And we're gonna move to other items of business on this afternoon's agenda.

So next up is payment of the bills.

Will the clerk please read the title?

Council Bill 120122, appropriating money to pay started claims through the week of June 28th, 2021 through July 2nd, 2021, and ordering the payment thereof.

I move to pass Council Bill 120122. Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded that the bill pass.

Are there any comments?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

So moved.

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson?

Aye.

Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Nine in favor, nine opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Will the clerk please read item one into the record?

The report of the Transportation and Utilities Committee, agenda item one, resolution 32009, providing an honorary designation of South Hill Street between 21st and 22nd Avenue South as Clarence Acocks Jr.

Way.

The committee recommends the resolution be adopted.

Thank you so much, Council Member Peterson.

As chair of the committee, you are recognized in order to provide the committee report.

Thank you, Council President.

I would be interested in turning this over to one of the sponsors if they would like.

I know Council Member Morales spoke to it this morning, if that would be okay with you, Council President.

If that is your preference as chair, I'm happy to call on Council Member Morales.

Yes, and I'm happy to speak to it as well if they're not available.

Go ahead, Council Member Morales.

Fine.

Thank you, Chair Peterson.

So as we discussed in the Transportation Committee, this resolution is to honor Clarence Acocks, Jr.

For nearly 50 years, since 1971, he's helped develop the talents of hundreds of young people, young Seattle musicians, as director of the Garfield High School's internationally renowned jazz ensemble.

He's been director of all band programs at Garfield and more recently was the founding educator at Seattle's Jazz Ed program.

Under Mr. Acox's direction, the Garfield Jazz Ensemble took first place in 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, at New York's, essentially, Ellington National Jazz Band Competition and Festival at New York City's Lincoln Center, where they swept every major competition on the West Coast, including the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Moscow, Idaho, and Oregon's Mount Hood Jazz Festival.

And I believe we have the Director of Jazz Ed here with us today as well.

Yes.

Hello, everybody.

Hello, President Gonzalez and council members.

Thank you so much to Council Member Morales and her staff for helping us shepherd this through.

My name is Lori DeCook, and I am the executive director and co-founder with Clarence A. Cox of Seattle Jazz Ed.

And I just want to thank all of you for giving us the opportunity to do this meaningful honoring of Clarence A. Cox with the street naming in front of the future location of Seattle Jazz Ed's new home in the Rainier Valley.

Council Member Morales gave such a nice introduction.

I don't have much more to add except that with all the incredible work that Clarence A. Cox did at Garfield High School, you'd think that would be enough.

But instead, in 2010, he went on to launch JazzEd with me and our co-founder, Sharish Mulherker, to ensure that all students had access to the life-transforming opportunity of music education at Garfield High School, despite the diversity of the student population, if you're familiar with the program, the bands themselves do not reflect the population of the school.

And his goal was to ensure that students across the city had access to music education.

And so Jazz Ed was launched in 2010, and now we serve over 1,000 students with significant financial aid to a very diverse population of kids.

And we are so excited by the opportunity to be able to honor Clarence in this very meaningful way when we open our new building at the corner of Clarence A. Cox Wade and 22nd Avenue South.

So I just want to thank you all for considering this opportunity.

We're very excited about it.

And again, a special thank you to Council Member Morales and her staff for shepherding this through.

Thank you so much, Council Member Morales and Lori for being with us.

My apologies, colleagues.

I should have actually moved to suspend the rules to allow Lori to actually address the council during the full council meeting.

And my apologies that I did not do that in advance of hearing from Lori, but we're all, we've got that all done.

And I didn't hear any objection to allowing Lori to speak.

So retroactively, the rules are suspended.

Sorry.

No, that's okay.

Lori, don't worry about it.

I should have, I should have managed this process a little bit, a little bit more.

And I am sorry that I did not do that.

Don't worry about it.

So colleagues, we are going to go ahead and hear any additional comments on the resolution from any other council members who may want to speak to it.

Looking for raised hands.

Any additional comments?

Council Member Peterson, is there anything else you'd want to add as the chair?

Thank you, Council President.

This resolution was recommended unanimously by our committee.

Great.

Okay, so I think we're going to take a vote now.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the resolution?

Sawant?

Yes.

Sprouse?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson?

Aye.

Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Eight, nine in favor, none opposed.

The resolution is adopted and the chair will sign it.

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

Congratulations.

Thank you so much, Lori, for being with us.

And again, thanks so much for your remarks and your support of the resolution as well.

Thank you so much.

Have a great day.

You too.

Thanks, Lori.

Bye-bye.

Okay, item two.

Will the clerk please read the short title of item two into the record?

Agenda Item 2, Council Bill 120103, relating to the City Light Department authorizing the Chief Executive Officer and General Manager to execute a long-term lease and operating agreement with the Georgetown Steam Plant Community Development Authority for the use and occupancy of the city's Georgetown Steam Plant property in National Historic Landmark.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you so much, Council Member Peterson.

You are the chair of the committee, so I'm going to hand it over to you to provide the report.

Thank you, Council President.

As we discussed at Council briefing this morning, Council Bill 120103 authorizes Seattle City Light to enter into a long-term lease with the nonprofit Community Development Authority to take care of this 115-year-old Georgetown steam plant originally built to supply power to the city's streetcar lines.

City Light owned the plant since 1954, using it to provide standby power until 1977. Since that time, the Georgetown Steam Plant has been entered into both the National Register of Historic Places and the city's list of historic landmarks.

Under the ordinance, the nonprofit will enter into a 30-year lease with two possible extensions to manage the site as the historical traction it has become and will indemnify the city.

The lease by City Light and the Community Development Authority implements the work of an advisory committee that concluded it's in the city's best interest to have this historic property managed by a mission-driven nonprofit.

Council Bill 120103 accomplishes this goal.

It was recommended unanimously by our committee.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Chair Peterson.

Are there any additional comments on the bill?

I am not seeing any raised hands, so will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Salant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

Herbold.

Yes.

Juarez.

Aye.

Lewis.

Yes.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Council President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Nine in favor, nine opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Will the clerk please read item three into the record.

Agenda Item 3, Resolution 32007 relating to the City Light Department adopting a 2022 through 2026 strategic plan for the City Light Department and endorsing the associated five-year rate pass.

The committee recommends the resolution be adopted.

I'm going to hand this back over to Council Member Peterson as chair of the committee.

Thank you, Council President.

Our Transportation and Utilities Committee unanimously recommended adoption of Resolution 32007, which is the updated strategic plan for Seattle City Light.

On June 16, the utility presented the plan to our committee.

Then on July 7, our committee heard from the Seattle City Light Review Panel about why they fully endorse City Light's strategic plan.

It's a multi-year plan for implementing the mission of this $1 billion city-owned utility enterprise, which provides affordable, reliable, and environmentally responsible electricity to over 900,000 people in Seattle and surrounding areas.

Despite several cost pressures, including the COVID pandemic, Seattle City Light has surpassed expectations in keeping their rate increases under control.

City Light also succeeded in not increasing the net utility bills of electricity customers this year when its customers were the most vulnerable.

Moreover, City Light's proposed rate path will also have a lower than expected rate increase in the future as compared to their previous strategic plan.

And that result is the six-year average annual increase will be less than 3.5% instead of the original 4.5%.

On June 16, our committee, oh, I already said this.

So our committee unanimously endorsed this plan as did the review panel, and so we recommend passage today.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Chair Peterson.

Are there any additional comments on the resolution?

Council Member Sawant, please.

Thank you.

As I have done in the past, I will vote yes on the strategic plan because it accurately reflects City Light's projected costs.

However, when it lists a projection of the rate increases over the next six years, it does not say who should pay those rate increases.

Since taking office, including as a previous chair of the City Council Energy Committee, I have consistently argued that the way City Light divides up costs between big business and regular Seattle residents is very regressive.

City Light's formula effectively charges Seattle residents almost twice as much per unit of electricity as it charges big business.

Several years ago, my office proposed legislation to change that, but no other council member agreed.

The utility does have a utility discount program for low-income Seattle residents.

but like all means-tested programs that you need to apply for, less than half of eligible people in Seattle are actually on the utility discount program.

So I'm voting yes on this city-wide strategic plan, but I intend to vote no when there's legislation to actually raise rates, unless those rate increases are paid by big business instead of regular working-class Seattleites.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

Any other comments on the resolution?

Okay, I'm not hearing any other comments on the resolution.

So will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the resolution?

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Yes.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson?

Aye.

Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Nine in favor, nine opposed.

The resolution is adopted and the chair will sign it.

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

Will the clerk please read the short title of item four into the record?

Agenda item four, Council Bill 120117 relating to city finances, creating and changing the names of funds in the city treasury.

Thank you so much.

I move to pass Council Bill 120117. Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded to pass the bill.

Council Member Mosqueda, you are the sponsor of this bill, so I'm gonna hand it over to you to address this item.

Thank you very much, Council President.

Colleagues, thank you for considering this legislation.

This legislation is related to last year's past legislation, Ordinance 126161, which created the 2021 LTGO Taxable Bond Fund and authorized an Interfund Loan to support spending on the West Seattle Bridge in anticipation of the 2021 bond proceeds.

This was before the 2021 adopted budget was presented and before the decision between whether or not to repair or replace the West Seattle Bridge.

The 2021 adopted budget anticipated additional taxable bond sales for the Overlook Walk and Aquarium Expansion Projects and directed those proceeds to the same fund.

Now, Finance and Administrative Services, the department, has since determined that we can sell non-taxable bonds for the West Seattle Bridge repair, but that those bond proceeds will need to be held in a separate fund from the taxable bonds.

This legislation does just that.

This legislation accordingly offers several technical corrections to the bond funds associated with the West Seattle Bridge repair work.

And I hope the council will consider this passage today.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

Are there any additional comments on the bill?

Looking for hands.

Oh, Council Member Herbold, please.

Thank you so much.

Just very quickly, I want to thank Chair Mosqueda for her quick action on this.

I appreciate that this is being referred directly to full council, and this technical change is very welcome to address the needs associated with the bond fund requirements.

So thanks again.

All right, any additional comments on this particular piece of legislation?

Looking for other hands raised.

Okay, I am not seeing any additional hands raised, so will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Sawant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

Herbold.

Yes.

Juarez.

Aye.

Lewis.

Yes.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Council President Gonzalez.

Aye.

None in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Will the clerk please read item five into the record.

Agenda item 5, appointment 1964, appointment of Georgio Brown as member of Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council for term to November 30, 2024. Thank you so much.

I move to confirm appointment 1964. Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded to confirm the appointment.

I'm going to hand it over to Council Member Strauss, who is the sponsor of this appointment, in order to address the item.

Thank you, Council President.

1-964 of Giorgio Brown is a member of Historic Seattle Public Development Authority Governing Council.

Historic Seattle is a public development authority and nonprofit dedicated to education and preservation of history and architecture in Seattle and King County.

Giorgio Brown is being appointed to serve in position seven on the PDA Governing Council, which is appointed by other members of that council.

And Mr. Brown, brings extensive experience in video production, multimedia, and marketing to the Governing Council, and currently works at Holland American Wine.

We reviewed his application and find that he's going to be a great fit.

So I urge a yay vote.

Thank you so much.

Are there any additional comments on this appointment?

I don't see any hands raised, so will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointment?

Salant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Yes.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson?

Aye.

Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

None in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries.

Any appointment is confirmed.

Will the clerk please read item six into the record.

Agenda Item 6, Appointment 1965, Appointment of Elizabeth Baskerville as Member, International Special Review District Board for Term 2, December 31, 2022.

Thank you.

I move to confirm Appointment 1965. Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded to confirm the appointment.

I'm going to hand it back over to Council Member Strauss as the sponsor of this appointment.

Thank you, Council President.

The International Special Review District Board reviews development projects to work with and to preserve the character and heritage of the ISRD, one of Seattle's eight historic districts.

Elizabeth Bakersville is a mayoral appointee to the ISRD and is the principal owner of a landscape and environmental design firm.

Elizabeth resides in the CID and previously served as the garden manager for the Danny Rue Community Garden with interim CDA We reviewed her application, and she's going to be a great fit.

Again, recommend an aye vote.

Thank you so much.

Are there any additional comments on the appointment?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointment?

Salant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Grabold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Yes.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Council President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Nine in favor, nine opposed.

Motion carries and the appointment is confirmed.

Will the clerk please read the short title of item seven into the record.

The report of the Finance and Housing Committee, agenda item seven, Council Bill 120114 relating to the Office of Housing, Authorize and Acquisition of two parcels in South Park for the purpose of development of affordable housing and community ground floor space.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you so much.

Council Member Mosqueda, you are the chair of the committee and are recognized to provide the committee's report.

Excellent.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, as I mentioned this morning, I'm really excited about the legislation in front of us.

Council Bill 121104 is an opportunity for us to move forward on developing affordable housing in a critical area of our city that has seen high risk of displacement.

This legislation also represents the first time the Office of Housing is utilizing the acquisition authority that I sponsored via an amendment to the administration and finance plan update in 2019. We as a council made the decision to adopt the amendment so that we could increase the Office of Housing authority to quickly act and move forward on purchasing lands of exactly this type for acquisition.

Again, in this year, in our acquisition and finance plan update in June, we now have not only increased the amount of funding the Office of Housing had, bringing that amount previously to $30 million, now the Office of Housing also has more ability to purchase properties like this in the future because we removed the cap.

So this is a really great example of that good work that this council did being put into action and examples of the type of future purchases that we will now be able to see via the Office of Housing given this council's authority to remove the cap on acquisition authority.

This property specifically, and I see Council Member Herbold teeing up ready to speak about it in District 1, this is specific to South Park and the South Park Community Center, a community who has been working in collaboration with the Duwamish Valley Affordable Housing Coalition and Duwamish Valley Cleanup Coalition Office of Housing and the Office of Sustainability and Environment.

That is going to be working to create more affordable housing in South Park, using community preference strategies to help save off and even reverse some of the effects of displacement specifically in the South Park community.

This piece of the legislation also works towards addressing climate resilience in the neighborhood.

South Park is a neighborhood that is experiencing a high risk of displacement, and it also is an area, as we discussed in our committee, that is experiencing a disproportionate impact of environmental injustice in the community.

This project and the legislation in front of us is responsive to those concerns and will help tremendously add value to the neighborhood at a site previously occupied by just a garage.

So let's turn that space into housing and more community assets.

The timing of this legislation is also reflective of the urgency expressed within the community and an agreement the Office of Housing has begun to enter into with the community and the seller so we can be competitive in the purchasing of this property.

I wanna note that acquisitions like this, in addition to the legislation that we passed in 2018, that prevents the city from selling off public land and underutilized land to the highest bidder, both of these strategies help bring in more public assets to the city, allow us to acquire and retain more public property that can be used for the public's good, like housing and community sites.

that is being considered here at South Park.

Housing coupled with community space on the ground level so that we can truly create homes and a place for folks to continue to live, thrive, and enjoy in our city.

So colleagues, I am hopeful that you will consider passing this legislation today.

Again, it passed out of the Finance and Housing Committee with a do pass recommendation unanimously as this legislation allows the Office of Housing to acquire two parcels in South Park for affordable housing development along with ground floor space.

Again, this is a community-supported project that will utilize these properties to create up to 100 family-sized affordable housing units and affordable being defined at 60 percent of the area median income along with that critical community space on the first floor.

The community has asked the city to acquire the site and do an RFP for affordable housing development with community priorities in mind, which can commence as soon as we pass this.

So looking forward to passing this today and thank you for your support.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda, for that report.

Are there any additional comments on the bill?

Council Member Herbold, please.

Thank you so much.

I want to just I'm going to lift up the fact that affordable housing was one of seven priority areas identified in the Duwamish Valley action plan.

And this was a plan that was passed a couple years ago.

I think our action on the action plan is good evidence that with community support and community mobilization, the plans that are developed by community won't just sit on a shelf someplace gathering dust, but that they can actually translate into concrete action.

The specific goal that this addresses is pursuing additional opportunities for permanent affordable housing for low-income households in the Duwamish Valley.

South Park is such a small, close-knit community that they often say that they can literally put together a by-name list of folks at risk of displacement.

With the inclusion of the community preference policy embedded in the request for proposals that will be developed with the community involvement.

This acquisition can go a long way towards beginning to address displacement for that list of community members.

I wanna also give a shout out to the Duwamish Valley Affordable Housing Coalition for their long track record on developing community vision and for organizing affordable housing in South Park, Georgetown, and the communities of the Duwamish Valley.

This is part of a three-pronged approach that we've done a lot of work on.

I've gone to a lot of meetings about this approach, and it is specifically focused on addressing displacement with the development of new affordable housing.

They state, in partnership with a non-profit developer, build new affordable housing for families, including displaced households from the Duwamish Valley.

Second prong is a multi-purpose building, a one-stop cultural anchor where local families can access opportunities and resources, open space for gatherings and pop-ups, multi-generational space for learning, retail, affordable childcare, and low-income housing units.

and the third prong is the preservation of naturally existing affordable housing.

They write in the next two to three years with the help of public and private partners orchestrate the acquisition of enough units to impact the immediate rental area.

The goal is to acquire 100 units in the Duwamish Valley and there has been some work on that third prong, partnering specifically with Habitat for Humanity on some preservation work there.

I wanna just also, in closing, thank the Office of Housing for pioneering this innovative approach to addressing displacement.

And of course, thank Chair Mosqueda for her leadership in sponsoring the legislation that allows for the lifting of the cap for acquisition.

Thank you so much.

Are there any additional comments on the bill?

Right, I don't see any other council members with their hands up.

So Council Member Skiddow, you can close out this discussion and then we will take a vote.

Thank you so much.

I just want to echo Council Member Herbold's comments and appreciation from the Vice Chair for Office of Housing for the community coalition that has brought this legislation forward.

Very excited to follow their lead on what they'd like to see there, and wanted to take this chance to thank Erin House in my office, along with Tracey Rexcliffe from Central Staff for their work on this as well.

Appreciate it.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Uh, okay.

So debate on the bill is now closed.

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

So want, yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

Herbold.

All right.

Yes.

Thank you.

Whereas yes.

Lewis.

Yes.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Council President Gonzalez.

Aye.

None in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Is there any further business to come before the council?

Hearing none, this does conclude the items of business on today's agenda.

Our next regularly scheduled city council meeting is on July 19th, 2021 at two o'clock PM.

I hope that you all have a wonderful afternoon.

We are adjourned.

Thank you.

Bye.

Bye.