Seattle City Council Briefing 5/2/2022

Thank you, son.

Good afternoon, everybody.

The May 2nd 2022 Council briefing meeting will come to order.

I'm Andrew Lewis, Council President Pro Tem.

The time is 2.01 p.m.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Liu.

Nelson.

Present.

Council Member Peterson.

Present.

Council Member Salant.

Present.

Council Member Strauss.

Present.

Council Member Herbold.

Here.

Councilmember Morales?

Council President Pro Tem Lewis?

Present.

Six present.

Thank you.

We'll move on to approval of the minutes.

If there's no objection, the minutes of May 2nd, 2022 will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the minutes are adopted.

President's report.

I am filling in as folks may be aware for Council President Juarez.

I do not have any reports at the top of the meeting except to give a brief preview of the full council agenda that we will be considering as a council tomorrow.

And that is going to be several appointments to a number of different boards and commissions as well as the appointment of Gail Tarleton as director of the Office of Intergovernmental Relations.

We're also going to be reviewing several ordinances that have been recommended from committees, including CB 120310 related to historic preservation of the Center for Wooden Boats.

as well as Council Bill 120311, an ordinance relating, again, to the Wagner Floating Home at the Center for Wooden Boats.

So that's gonna be the agenda for tomorrow's full council meeting.

And otherwise, I'm happy to jump in to our agenda item.

to our reports from council members today.

Although I do believe we have a proclamation from Council Member Nelson for our consideration to consider at the top proclaiming May 1st through May 7th to be National Small Business Week.

So I'll turn it over to Council Member Nelson to lead the discussion on the proclamation and solicit feedback, and we will then consider the proclamation for signatures.

So Council Member Nelson, you are recognized.

Thank you very much, Council.

Council Pro Tem Lewis and also Mayor Pro Tem Lewis.

So I'm pleased to be presenting a resolution in partnership with the mayor's office commemorating National Small Business Week.

Every year since 1963, the US president has announced this week by proclamation.

And as the first small business owner on the council in over 10 years, I am excited and proud to celebrate the over 100,000 small businesses that call Seattle home.

The Seattle metro area has the seventh most small businesses per capita among large metro areas in the U.S.

So whether it's the iconic fish stand at Pike Place Market or the BIPOC-domed businesses activating vacant storefronts through Seattle Restored, we know that small businesses are the lifeblood of our neighborhoods and our economy.

So as such, I am asking for your signatures and support for today's proclamation, in lieu of presenting the presenting at tomorrow's full council meeting, the proclamation will be presented by Mayor Harrell, myself and OED Interim Director Mark McIntyre to Mike Fong, our own Mike Fong, who is the Regional Director of the Small Business Association.

So his title is the Regional Administrator for the US Small Business Administration, excuse me.

So he'll be on hand to accept the proclamation and we'll be celebrating at Boon Boon Coffee, Washington State's Small Business of the Year Award winner.

So I'm happy to answer any questions from my colleagues or entertain any comments.

And I am seeing none.

So I'll handle it back over to Council President Pro Tem Lewis for the roll call.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Nelson, for bringing this to us this afternoon.

Seeing no further discussion on the proclamation, will the clerk please call the roll to determine which council members would like their signatures affixed to the proclamation proclaiming May 1st through May 7th of 2022 to be National Small Business Week?

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Aye.

Council Member Solant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

I will now move on to the next proclamation.

Thank you, President Prudhomme-Lewis.

I am circulating this proclamation honoring the life and legacy of Scott Morrow, who tragically passed away on April 19th.

Scott was an activist and organizer in Seattle, working for decades to help our homeless neighbors organize to fight for shelter, housing, and for their community.

He helped found SHARE in 1990 and Nicholsville in 2008, organizations that operate tent cities, tiny house villages, and indoor shelters across King County and are democratically self-run by their residents.

Rich Campbell at the Keystone United Church of Christ in Seattle wrote a moving recollection of Scott's impact that has been distributed on social media.

He said, quote, the life of a community organizer is difficult and demanding, even more so when those being organized are in crisis.

Somehow, Scott did this work for most of his life.

The fact that tent cities are part of the landscape of Seattle can largely be attributed to Scott's ability to empower homeless people and his ability to live up to his commitments.

Scott called me one Saturday and said that the Nicholsville community needed a place to stay and asked if they could stay at Keystone United Church of Christ, my church, another place had fallen through at the last minute, and this community of homeless people needed some place to stay in two days.

On Sunday, Scott came with a group from Nicholsville.

They made their presentation.

Scott was largely silent.

When church leaders gathered to decide whether to open our sanctuary as an emergency site for Nicholsville, I told them that I had complete faith in Scott.

If a group he worked with made a commitment, they would live up to that commitment.

On that Monday, Nicholsville moved in and in their time with us, they left Keystone better than they found it." I'll have more to say about Scott's work and the legacy he leaves behind when the proclamation is presented at the city council meeting tomorrow to our community members.

Thank you so much, Council Member Sawant.

Are there any questions or comments from councilmembers before we do the roll call.

Councilmember Herbold.

Thank you so much.

I will save my comments for tomorrow afternoon's meeting, but I do want to thank Councilmember Samantha for bringing this forward and honoring Scott's contribution to our city and to the lives of so many.

I really appreciate it.

Thank you, Councilmember Herbold.

Are there any other comments or questions Seeing none, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll to determine which council members would like to affix their signature to making Sunday, May 14th, 2022, Scott Morro Day?

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Aye.

Council Member Swant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council President Pro Tem Lewis.

Yes.

Seven signatures will be affixed to the proclamation.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

And with that, we don't have any additional proclamations for our consideration today.

So we will move on to the preview of city council actions and council and regional committees.

Excuse me, Council President Pro Tem Lewis.

Can I get you to revisit the approval of the minutes?

That's item one on your script.

I did read approval of the minutes, but I'm happy to read it again if you didn't.

I apologize.

I didn't catch it.

If you already said if there's no objections, the minutes are adopted.

I didn't hear it.

I apologize.

Oh, no.

No worries.

For good measure, should I just do it one more time?

No, we trust you.

OK.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

OK.

Thanks for jumping in there to make sure that we did that.

So moving on to the preview of City Council Actions, Council, and Regional Committees, we will begin that discussion as per our well-established tradition now of a rotating roll call, which is designated alphabetically by last name and with the Council President called last.

This week's call rotation begins with Council Member Nelson.

I would note that Council President Juarez and Council Member Mosqueda are excused from today's meeting.

So just remember that in terms of where you are in the alphabetical order.

The roll call today order will be Councilmember Nelson, Councilmember Peterson, Councilmember Sawant, Councilmember Strauss, Councilmember Herbold, Councilmember Morales, and then finally myself, Council Pro Tem Lewis.

So Councilmember Nelson, you are recognized.

Thank you, Council President Pro Tem Lewis.

There are no items on tomorrow's agenda from the Economic Development Technology and City Light Committee, so I'll just move into my report from last week.

My resolution 32050 to address SPD's increasingly dire staffing shortage was briefly discussed at the April 26th Public Safety and Human Services Committee.

And I've spoken many times about the public safety crisis that led me to put forward this resolution.

So now I'd like to explain why I'm doing a resolution instead of an ordinance.

And I'm responding here to a question Council Member Herbold asked in committee.

Referencing her draft proposal, she said, this is a council bill, so it would be implemented in contrast to a resolution that states intent.

So why not vote to act rather than voting on intent?

Well, so here's why.

Resolutions are statements of council's policy intent, often on complex issues that we plan to take up by separate ordinance at a later date, just like Resolution 31999 that established council's priorities for allocating federal COVID relief funding from the ARPA last year.

More importantly, maybe council resolutions provide a venue for articulating and debating our policy positions in the public eye, which is especially valuable on controversial issues and or when the time frame for deliberating on the future ordinance will be determined by a separate legislative process.

And I'm not budget chair, and I assume that lifting the budget proviso prohibiting the use of SPD salary savings to pay for incentives would be a budget action that had to take place during the process where we adjust our adopted 2022 budget, which back in the day happened in May, which was a long way off when I started thinking about this in February.

So in short, passing this resolution is the best way to have an impact on our public safety crisis while still respecting council's procedures.

Now, I knew this would be controversial given council's past actions, But I thought that maybe the alarm we were hearing from our constituents and the barrage of media reports on repeated shootings might have caused a change of mind.

And last year's elections were proof that voters could support a change in direction on public policy on public safety.

And I felt strongly, most of all, that we had to answer to our constituents and show that we were doing something.

and to signal also to the people that might be interested in a career in law enforcement at Seattle would find this a welcoming environment to apply.

I didn't see our finance chair or our public safety chair addressing or indicating future work on addressing the SPD staffing shortage.

So I was advised to put forward a resolution stating our support for incentives, which was the first step, because we had to get we had to get there first and then stating our intent to lift the budget proviso by separate ordinance, because that would set the stage for a rich policy discussion over the course of several weeks once it went on the public pre-introduction calendar.

Now, we could talk about our differences of opinion and allow constituents to weigh in, and I thought that was important.

Erring on the side of transparency was the right thing to do.

So in bottom line, if council passed my resolution, then we could move fairly quickly on to lifting or modifying the budget proviso.

And we'd approve the specifics of the incentive program.

I mean, the incentive program by a separate ordinance as well, pretty much in tandem with that action.

So, and if council rejected the resolution, then fine, no need to spend time lifting the budget proviso and debating whether or not, what would be the specifics of the incentive program.

So I wanted this resolution in my committee because I knew that public safety committee would be full with pay up legislation and related pieces of legislation for a couple months.

And so I released it, but before doing so, I, in a spirit of collaboration, asked Council Member Herbold to co-sponsor the bill.

And I also told Council Member Mosqueda that I was planning on doing this and that I would respect her work in the budget process when the time came.

So that is pretty much, that was the thinking behind what I was doing.

And for the record, I want everyone to know that I didn't do any of this before getting the green light from the executive.

First, I asked Mayor Harrell if he thought this would be a good idea and got the thumbs up.

Then I called Chief Diaz to confirm that incentives would be helpful, and he said yes.

He was at a major disadvantage with other cities that were using incentives to recruit.

And about that time, Tacoma announced a $25,000 hiring bonus for lateral hires.

So I had a long talk also with Senior Deputy Mayor Harrell and said that if they didn't have a plan to issue another executive order or legislation to establish a staffing incentive program, that I would take the lead on it.

And I got her permission to go forward and lead on this process.

And I did all this because the way I saw it, SPD is their department, but it's our checkbook.

And I wouldn't bother trying to make these funds available for incentives if they didn't want it.

So that is what was in my mind.

I hope that this answers questions about why I'm doing this by resolution.

And I'm looking forward to our second discussion in the May 10th Public Safety Committee and possible vote out of committee and then welcoming my colleagues, formally into the broader conversation when we voted out of full council.

So that is that.

And I'd like to talk about some of the things that happened last week.

I participated in the West Seattle Chamber's Public Safety Forum alongside Council Member Herbold and Captain Martin Rivera.

We heard the same concerns about our public safety emergency in District one.

And as we hear in every district that when I attend meetings elsewhere, So we need action and more officers right now was the message that we were hearing.

I participated in the Coalition to End Gendered Violence fundraiser on Thursday night and the Vietnamese community's 47th commemoration of April 30th day event at the West Seattle Vietnamese Cultural Center.

So looking into next week, which is, it's mind boggling, it's already May, my staff will be attending the Central Puget Sound Economic Board meeting on my behalf, as that's one of my external committees that will also take place during the Housing and Finance Committee, of which I'm a member.

Fun things, I get to tour two Seattle icons next week, the Seattle Monorail and the Woodland Park Zoo, where I've been promised I get to see some baby animals.

While these tours are, to be honest, a lot of fun, as Economic Development Chair, it is also critical to engage with our partners who contribute to bringing tourism to this region, and the monorail and the zoo do draw a lot of visitors regionally, statewide, and from other countries.

I'll also be attending the Top of the Town Community Roots Housing event in addition to the 13th annual Cinco de Mayo reception.

And I'm very excited that the National Small Business Week is now currently upon us and that our proclamation will be formally passed tomorrow.

Um, and as I said, there will be an event later in the week where the proclamation will be, um, presented to Michael Fong and, uh, and there will be opportunities for speeches from the mayor and also interim director of OED, Markham McIntyre.

So that is my report.

Thank you very much.

And I will now, uh, ask for any questions or comments.

Okay, seeing none, I will now pass it on to Councilmember Peterson.

Thank you, Councilmember Nelson.

Colleagues, good afternoon.

On tomorrow's full City Council agenda, there are no items from our Committee on Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities.

Tomorrow's introduction and referral calendar will include Mayor Harrell's nomination of Andrew Lee to be the permanent general manager and CEO of Seattle Public Utilities.

As we know, Andrew Lee has already been serving as the interim general manager and CEO of SPU.

As the relevant committee chair, I will conduct a process pursuant to Council Resolution 31868. This will be similar to the confirmation process we've already undergone for City Budget Office Director Julie Dingley and OIR Director Gail Tarleton.

I expect to vote on the nomination of Andrew Lee at our Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities Committee on Tuesday, June 7, at 9.30 a.m.

Later this week, my office will circulate the appointment file, which will already be online as part of the IRC, and we will solicit interview questions from your offices for interim general manager Lee to answer.

I will then circulate his answers for your review two weeks prior to the committee meeting.

All council members are invited to attend the June 7th committee meeting.

Our next committee meeting of Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities is scheduled for Tuesday, May 17 at 9 30 a.m.

Tomorrow's May 3rd committee was already canceled.

At our May 17 committee we're likely to consider six items which would include the renewal of term permits for two existing pedestrian tunnels and one existing skybridge downtown, the Seattle Department of Transportation's RSGI report, the annual financial audit of Seattle Public Utilities, which, as we know, is a $1 billion enterprise for at least four lines of business, solid waste, drinking water, wastewater, drainage, And as a follow-up to our April 19 committee meeting when we heard from Sound Transit staff, our City Council Central staff, SDOT, and our city's designated representative for the Sound Transit 3 expansion, we will consider a joint Mayor-Council resolution.

The resolution will be a vehicle to try to forge Seattle City Hall consensus on some options for the new light rail routes and station locations in Seattle.

as we know, this Sound Transit 3 expansion in Seattle is referred to as the West Seattle and Ballard Link extensions, and it will also impact the International District, Soto, South Lake Union, Interbay, and much of downtown.

We'll discuss such a resolution both at the May 17 committee and the June 7 committee.

All council members are invited to attend for that resolution.

If you have any questions about that process, please reach out to our central staff lead on transportation, Calvin Chow, and or to our city's designated representative, Marshall Foster.

City of Seattle is, of course, ably represented already on Sound Transit's 19-member board by our own city council president, Deborah Horace, and Mayor Bruce Harrell.

And it is that board that will make the ultimate decisions.

In District 4 this past week, I participated in the East Lake Community Council meeting and we discussed transportation issues impacting both small businesses and residents of East Lake neighborhood, which, as we know, is nestled between I-5 and Lake Union.

And that concludes my report.

Any questions before we hear from Council Member Szilard?

Okay, we'll turn it over to Council Member Szilard.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Peterson.

Good afternoon, everyone.

There are no items on tomorrow's City Council agenda from the Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee.

The regularly scheduled committee meeting this Friday will be canceled, and so the next meeting of the committee will be May 20th at 9.30 a.m.

At that meeting, we expect to hear the RSGI report from the Office of Sustainability and Environment, including their pilot project, electrifying the drayage trucks that haul in and out of the Port of Seattle.

We may also vote on the legislation from Councilmember Peterson's office to include rent information in the information landlord disclosed as part of the rental registration and inspections ordinance.

If that legislation is ready at that time, which of course will be updated on that from Councilmember Peterson's office by then.

That's the report from my office.

Do council members have any questions before I end this?

I don't see any hands being raised, so if there are no questions or comments, that is the end of the report from my office.

Council Member Strauss is next in rotation.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member.

Thank you, colleagues.

Great to see you.

Good afternoon.

Last week in District 6, I attended a meeting with North Seattle Industrial Association where we discussed the future of the Seattle Maritime Academy, which is part of the Seattle Central College community that is part of the Seattle Center, Seattle Central College, as part of the Seattle colleges.

We need to make sure that if you know anyone that may be interested in enrolling in the Maritime Academy.

Now is the time to enroll.

There are a few open seats during the pandemic.

There has been a disruption in our recruitment efforts for the next cohort.

And so if you know anyone that wants to work on our waterways with a good family wage job that you don't have to take debt to go to college for, now's the time to apply at the Seattle Maritime Academy.

Last week in District 6, I also had the opportunity to speak at the Green Lake Chamber of Commerce's monthly meeting.

My staff and I, in coordination with the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections, helped preserve a residential tree that was being threatened by developers to be cut down unnecessarily and potentially illegally.

This is one of those times where if you have a problem, please do email my office and my district director, Amy Embisk, because we've got your back and this is just an example of how we saved a tree.

I do continue my work with the mayor's office, special events office, Council Member Nelson, and parade organizers regarding the public safety and traffic control staffing for the Fremont Solstice Parade and Fair.

And I continue to hold my operational meetings weekly, both last week and this coming week, coordinating with community leaders, governmental entities, and non-governmental entities to make meaningful interventions to address homelessness in specific places in District 6. One of those places is Woodland Park.

And the most recent Woodland Park update is as we have been currently in phase three, phase three of three.

And as of April 21st, we've moved at least 30 people inside and we are still actively moving people inside.

At this point, nearly everyone on the by name list has been offered their preferred shelter option and everyone has been offered 24 seven enhanced shelter.

Our goal is to ensure as many people as possible are able to move inside to shelter or housing with the services matched to their specific needs, whether that's that they've got a pet, whether that they're a partner whether they need to be moved with a group of people or separated from others.

We have at this time gone back to double check with the folks on the by name list to ensure that there was an authentic offer of shelter.

Some people, since the by name list was set, some people have moved into the park.

And while we focus our offers of shelter to the people on our by name list, the census that was created at the start of this program, we have also moved people inside who are not on the by name list.

And so we've had 17 people move it from the by name list move into tiny house villages, nine to enhance shelters, one individual relocated with a housing solution to households relocated with emergency housing vouchers, and one person is currently approved for permanent supportive housing for the folks that were not on the by name list, we have been able to move one person into enhanced shelter and for into tiny house villages.

This encampment removals timeline has been dictated by shelter and housing availability, and we continue to work as fast as possible to get people inside and return to the park, the park to its intended use.

Our goal is to ensure that everyone receives an offer of shelter and that as many people as possible are connected with the shelter housing and services that address their specific needs.

From the outside, the conditions of the park may not look different until phase three is complete, and when phase three is completed specific areas of the park will be temporarily closed for mediation and I'll keep you updated as this process continues.

I also continue my weekly public safety meetings with.

case conferencing with the county and city prosecutor's office.

We are taking a moment to reset these meetings, including other outside non-governmental entities to make stronger interventions into these public safety issues.

And I want to thank Public Safety Director Myerberg from Mayor Harrell's office for his partnership in this work.

This week in District 6, I'll be attending a meeting with Tom Fain and Rick Sheridan about the Ballard Library activation planning.

I'll be hosting a meeting with the managers of two Safeways in D6, the Crown Hill and Market Street Safeways, and the district manager.

My staff will attend the Ballard Avenue Historic Commission meeting to discuss the improvements to the Ballard Avenue Street Cafe.

And my staff will be attending the Finney Ridge Neighborhood Council, the North Precinct Advisory Council, and the Wallingford Community Council all of which I haven't presented at the North Precinct in a couple months, but the other two I have been able to present at in the last month.

I will also be hosting my weekly office hours with D6 residents this Thursday from 2 p.m.

to 6 30 p.m.

and separately I want to give a special thanks to Julie in our archive department.

She sent out the Seattle's May historical find of the month, remembering that in 1896, the mayor of Ballard attempted to override a curfew ordinance passed by the Ballard City Council.

In summary, a letter dated February 4th, 1896, Ballard Mayor Startup explained his reasons for vetoing an ordinance recently passed by the Ballard City Council referred to as the Curfew Ordinance.

The measure made it a misdemeanor for boys and girls under 16 years old to be on the streets, alleys, or public grounds of the city of Ballard after 9 p.m.

during the months of April through August and after 8 p.m.

the rest of the year.

Exceptions were made if they were with a parent or guardian or had written permission.

Children found in violation could be fined up to $5 or jailed for up to two days.

The town marshal was to ring the fire bell each night to signal the start of this curfew.

The mayor had concerns about the imprisonment of children under 16 and how it could affect their well-being, as well as concerns about how it would affect Ballard's reputation to the rest of the country, as we were the seventh largest city in the state and second largest in King County.

Despite the mayor's concerns, his veto of this curfew ordinance was overridden by the Ballard City Council.

I share this with you because 118 years ago, annexation was brought to a vote and failed by Ballardites, and this month marks the 115th anniversary of the eventual annexation.

on May 29th, 1907 with 996 votes in favor and 874 votes opposed to annexation.

With that, my week here at Seattle City Hall last week, I want to thank you colleagues for your support of the passage of Council Bill 120305 last Tuesday, which ensures that tenants with unpaid rental debt from the COVID-19 civil emergency have a reasonable amount of time to repay their debt.

I also met with former Mayor Tim Burgess and OPCD Director Rico Quirondongo to discuss the maritime and industrial strategy process.

I also met with Director Quirondongo and Councilmember Vice Chair Morales of the Land Use Committee, SDCDI Director Nathan Torgelson as part of my monthly Land Use Committee check-in.

This coming weekend, Seattle City Hall, I'll be attending my monthly meeting with Deputy Mayor Kendi Yamaguchi and I'll be meeting with Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections to discuss further land use issues.

If you ever want to meet with me in my Ballard district office, you can do so by signing up on my website.

I do meet with Ballard with D6 residents every week and I look forward to meeting with you.

In the Land Use Committee here at Seattle City Hall, the next committee of the Land Use Committee will be Wednesday, May 11th, we are planning to have five agenda items, a vote on Council Bill 120287, which updates regulations to rooftop features on new buildings, a briefing on OPCD's community engagement efforts around the Comprehensive Major Update, Comprehensive Plan Major Update, and appointments to the Urban Forestry Commission, Design Commission, and Design Review Boards.

With that, I want to thank you, Council President Pro Tem, colleagues.

That is my report.

And Council President Pro Tem, colleagues, do you have any questions?

Seeing no questions, I'd like to now pass it on to Council Member Herbold.

Council Member Herbold, take it away.

Thank you so much.

Council Member Strauss, much appreciated.

So let's see here.

Items on the full council agenda for tomorrow include an appointment to the Community Police Commission.

This is a council appointment that comes recommended by the Community Police Commission themselves.

So that will be on the full council agenda tomorrow afternoon from the Public Safety and Human Services Committee.

We have no Public Safety and Human Services Committee regular meeting this week, but we do have a special meeting scheduled for Thursday at 3 p.m., and this special committee meeting is a public hearing for Council Bill 120294, otherwise known as the Payup Legislation on Minimum Compensation, Transparency, and Flexibility.

Other items, want to just flag folks that tomorrow at the full council meeting, I will be walking on for introduction and referral, the bill that was introduced on the April 26th agenda of the Public Safety and Human Services Committee.

I think folks understand that Tuesday meetings, Tuesday morning meetings, committee meetings, including the Public Safety and Human Services Committee, has an unusual mismatch between the timing of the full council and the meeting of committees.

This means that the introduction and referral calendar is voted on at the Tuesday afternoon meeting that, the Tuesday afternoon full council meeting actually follows our committee meeting.

So there's a one-week delay between introduction and referral and committee consideration.

Other committees that, again, that meet on Wednesday or Thursday can consider legislation referred on Tuesday's committee meeting.

So with meeting, moving full council meetings on Tuesdays, it's easier in a number of ways.

It does create some unique logistical challenges for the Tuesday meeting.

So I just want to flag that for the IRC coming up.

What else?

Some updates from the Human Services Department.

I want to thank my colleagues for joining me last week in the proclamation declaring May to be Older Americans Month.

This year's theme is Age My Way, which highlights healthy, active aging, and aging in place.

AARP research tells us that 77% of older people who want to live independently as possible can grow old in the home or community of their choice.

In King County, Black adult life expectancy is 78 years, four years less than white adult life expectancy of 82 years.

That's even greater when you consider race and gender.

Life expectancy for a Black male is nine years less than for a White female.

You can point to disparate outcomes also by race, infant mortality, food security, educational attainment, health insurance coverage, median household income, poverty, and employment.

All of these contribute to a shorter lifespan, and we can influence outcomes in these areas.

The city has provided support for efforts that help seniors meet that goal, including affordable housing, utility discounts, accessibility, transportation options, health care access, lifelong recreation, lifelong learning, and caregiver support.

So Older Americans Month encourages us to stretch, not rest on our laurels.

We honor our elders and their positive contributions.

For me, this also means recommitting to the overarching goal of an age-friendly Seattle to enable all people, all ages and abilities to achieve their potential and make the city a great place to grow up and grow old.

other updates, I just want to highlight that on the public safety side, folks may have noticed that on Wednesday, the police department announced an organized retail theft investigation arrest of 13 individuals.

I know that the work that they did include working with loss prevention staff at two large retailers in the Northgate neighborhood, and as a result, some individuals were booked one for burglary after previously being trespassed from one of the retail operations.

I think this is another sort of important way to underscore the importance of using the Retail Theft Program that we heard from SPD to present on that program and how that works in our committee a couple months ago.

And again, part of that program, part of the retail theft program that SPD runs and operates, it also includes this trespass program, as we can see in this instance, was helpful in addressing the investigation outcomes.

other events, just want to talk a little bit about some things I did last week.

Last week on Wednesday, I was a little late to Council Member Nelson's committee because I was giving testimony at the King County Council's Budget and Fiscal Management Committee.

And I was at that committee meeting to testify in support of a new facility and behavioral health crisis.

You may recall that council provided the county with $5 million towards this new much needed and life saving facility.

I think we're all keenly aware of the county's leadership role in addressing behavioral health.

And as chair of the committee with oversight of human services and public health, I did want to be vocal in pledging to continue to partner with the county and expansion of these services.

The legislation passed the committee without amendments and several county council members spoke in favor.

The legislation will be expedited and considered tomorrow.

also, as Councilmember Nelson mentioned, we had the privilege of addressing the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce together with Southwest Precinct Captain Rivera, and that happened Thursday at their virtual luncheon.

On Friday, I had the honor of participating in the search committee meeting for the new OPA director.

This is the first of several meetings And on Monday, I had regular meetings with both the CPC, the Community Police Commission, as well as a separate meeting with Southwest Precinct Captain Rivera.

This week, I'll be joining an Energy, Environment, and Land Use Caucus of the 34th and 33rd Democrats, and I'll also be attending on Wednesday, Novice's Changing Minds event, which raises awareness and expands critical treatment and support for children, youth, and adults with mental illness and substance use disorders.

Novice does a lot of great work in District 1, and happy to have a chance to honor that work.

And then on Wednesday, there'll be a reception for the Atlantic Street Center that I'll be attending.

That is all I have for today.

Any questions or comments from my colleagues?

Council Member Nelson.

So I believe that we need to play by the rules.

And I'd like to hear your reasons for what I see as disrespecting our council president by walking on your council bill tomorrow.

Because under normal procedure, and I have a a map of the legislation intake and review calendar.

It's about three weeks long and under normal procedure.

In this case, the earliest date for the inclusion of either one of our council bills on the introduction and referral calendar would be at the full council meeting on May 10th.

And that gives the and there is that that gap of time because it gives the president time to think about what committee the legislation should be referred to and also ideally work out any potential conflicts with potentially dueling or competing pieces of legislation.

So I understand that you asked Council President Juarez to expedite getting your bill onto this week's IRC and she declined.

So now you're making us vote on doing an end run around Council President when she's not even here to vote on it herself.

So why would we do that?

So I'm asking- I think I explained pretty thoroughly the gap that makes it impossible for anybody having a Tuesday meeting to hear legislation.

We essentially have an extra week from our colleagues, those of us who have meetings on Tuesday mornings.

Well, um...

Because she declined, out of respect for Council President Juarez, can we wait until she returns to clear up this confusion?

Because rushing this legislation through without going through the proper channels, I believe, is bad governance.

In good governance, process matters.

And scheduling your bill for a single discussion and vote out of committee doesn't allow for the most robust discussion on this issue that merits debate and discussion.

especially because May 10th will be a packed agenda with pay up.

And when I first saw your council bill, I had serious concerns.

So I put forward an alternative proviso lift that provides flexibility.

for the kinds of incentives SPD can offer and the amount of money out of $4.1 million that can be spent on them.

But you did not allow me to talk about my bill in your committee.

And ideally, we would follow our procedures to allow the time pre-introduction to maybe work together, along with the executive, to find a compromise so that we can avoid the confusing situation of dueling bills doing the same thing or better yet allow for discussion over the course of two council meetings to debate possible amendments to your bill.

Now, I'm not wed to having my name on a piece of legislation as a primary sponsor.

I just want to make sure that we do this right so that we end up with the most competitive incentive program possible to attract qualified candidates and recruits to apply for a job in our police department.

So in case you're wondering, I am not planning on walking on my council bill.

Ultimately, we need to get this right.

And I'm worried about inconsistencies here.

So that is why I put forward an alternative piece of legislation.

and you didn't allow me to talk about it, and so...

I didn't learn about it until we were 45 minutes into a 60-minute discussion that was scheduled for 30 minutes.

The only bill of yours I was aware of was the resolution.

I learned that you also had a council bill, again, 45 minutes into the 60-minute discussion in committee.

All right, in response to that, I was surprised.

Just to, Council Member Nelson, just for a moment, since this will be something that will be procedurally discussed tomorrow, I would rather we not have a debate right now in council briefing about this matter, which will be on the agenda tomorrow.

Council members, of course, are always fully empowered to vote for or against a procedural, thing for any reason that they see prudent and share with colleagues why that is.

And everyone should certainly do that tomorrow when this matter comes up for consideration.

So I would just like to, rather than start debating that matter now, maybe see if there's any final points of clarification or procedural questions about I would like to hear from the council on how that will be queued up tomorrow for Councilmember Herbold and leave the arguments about the merits of walking it on for that agenda item on Tuesday.

I'm not seeing any further questions.

I can see Council Member Nelson's hand is still up.

I'm assuming that's a carryover?

Yes, that's a carryover.

All right.

So with that, I'll pass it on to Council Member Morales.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Let's see, at the last meeting of the Neighborhood Education, Arts, and Civil Rights Committee on April 22nd, we approved two appointments for the Seattle Arts Commission, two for the FEPP Levy Oversight Committee, and one for the International Special Review District Board.

These will all be on the consent agenda for tomorrow's full council meeting.

We also passed to landmark preservation ordinances, one was for the Center for wooden boats, and the other for the Wagner floating home historic houseboat on Lake Union.

These will also be on the council agenda for tomorrow.

At the last committee meeting, we also did have a preservation request for controls and incentives requests for the Seattle First National Bank.

I did request that we hold that piece of legislation because I needed to get more information on the controls and incentives.

I will be bringing that back to the May 13th meeting, which is my next meeting.

Also on the 13th, we'll have the first of two confirmation discussions for the appointment of Director Hamdi Mohamed for the Office of Immigration – Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.

The second meeting and possible vote is scheduled for my May 27th committee meeting.

In advance of those meetings, I will be asking Interim Director Mohammed to respond to written questions from the Council.

My office did send our draft questions to each of you this morning, and my request is that you provide either revisions or if there are any additional questions that you have, please provide those to my office by this Wednesday at noon.

We will make sure that those get out to the appointee and that we have the opportunity to get her answers back in time to review before the May 13th committee meeting.

Also at the May 13th meeting, we'll be discussing and voting on two appointments from the Pike Place Market Historical Commission and from the Pike Place Market PDA Council.

So that is committee stuff.

Last week, in terms of external committees, I attended the King County Growth Management Planning Council for your information.

Later this year, the affordable housing committee of that Council, which does include Councilmember Mosqueda and our Office of Housing Director, Michael Winkler-Chin, that committee will be recommending to the Growth Management Planning Council on accountability measures and implementation framework for local plans around the county related to affordable housing and how each other municipalities are meeting their targets.

The City of Seattle has been supportive of these efforts to increase local accountability in planning for and achieving affordable housing outcomes in jurisdictions across the county.

And so PSRC staff will continue to monitor that and to support this process for developing this framework.

And then later this year, the Growth Management Planning Council will be asked to vote on that accountability framework.

So more on that to come.

I also attended the PSRC executive board where we approved the regional transportation plan.

And I'm excited to share that that did include using, again, asking our local jurisdictions to use plans that they've developed around safety and active transportation to inform the projects that will be funded and built through our regional transportation plan.

Moving to district issues, last week we hosted our regular biweekly meeting with the Friends of Little Saigon regarding public safety in the neighborhood.

We heard a presentation from Reach about their neighborhood outreach model and had a really fruitful community discussion about the possibility of implementing this in the CID in Little Saigon.

I will say that small business owners, nonprofits, residents of the area are are very interested to learn more about the outreach and the service provision in that neighborhood and are really interested in trying to find solutions to fund just care, to fund more reach and lead programming, and are very interested in making sure that our neighbors that are there get served.

So those meetings are proving really productive.

I also attended the Coalition to End Gender-Based Violence celebration at the Rainier Arts Center.

This is the second event I've been to at Rainier Arts Center in the last few months.

So I'm really happy that that venue, which is in my district, is getting tapped to provide space for community organizations that are doing really important work and really highlighting our local artists at the same time.

So I'm glad to have been able to participate in that.

This week, I'll be hosting my regular monthly Mount Baker community meeting on Wednesday.

I'll also be attending the Columbia City Farmers Market.

It is that time, despite the cold rain.

Farmers markets, well, some of you get to enjoy them year round.

The Columbia City Farmers Market is starting this week, and I'm excited to be there.

I will be holding office hours there.

I think I'm going to be doing once a month this year, but excited to be there to meet with neighbors and to get to enjoy the fresh local produce.

Also this week, my staff will attend an open house for Lehigh's South End Tiny House Village on Thursday.

We all know that this is 40 units that are available to help move our neighbors into more stability.

All the other issues aside, I am really happy to know that this is opening and look forward to being able to provide some more security for some of our neighbors.

On Saturday, my staff and I will be present and attending the National African-American Reparations Commission meeting.

I want to thank former council member, King County Council Member Larry Gossett for the invitation and look forward to seeing him and to hearing what folks have to say about how we might as a city start moving in this direction.

And then lastly, I'm excited to say that along with the coalition of about 30 community partners, this week my office will be submitting an application for a package of comprehensive plan amendments.

I want to thank Council Central staff and the Seattle Within Reach Coalition for all of their help as we're looking to craft these amendments and there will be more to come on all of that in the weeks to come.

That is all I have this afternoon, colleagues.

I'm happy to take questions if anybody has any.

I don't see any.

I think I'm handing it back to you then, Council President Pro Tem.

Thank you so much, Council Member Morales.

I think you are excellent.

OK, I will now do my report.

I will be council president pro tem today and for next week's committee, or full council in briefing, I believe as well.

I believe today I am also mayor pro tem, which might make me the youngest mayor ever in city history.

I think Wes Ullman was 34. So that's kind of exciting.

Hopefully Bruce gets back to the city as soon as possible.

But in the meantime, I guess I'm serving as mayor pro tem.

For committee this week, so there are no items from the Public Assets and Homelessness Committee on tomorrow's council agenda, but we do have a meeting on Wednesday, May 4th of the committee, where we will be hearing from the King County Regional Homelessness Authority for an update on all of the programming that that agency is currently undergoing.

including the peer navigation initiative, as well as the shelter assets funded by this council and King County for 2022. Jeff Sims has circulated a helpful memo to remind council colleagues on those assets and what we did fund.

We'll also be able to get an update from some of the outstanding RFPs, including, I'm sure, conversations about the South End Village that Council Member Morales just alluded to.

I'm very much looking forward to that committee conversation and really appreciate the authority making themselves available to give us a comprehensive update and move forward in partnership.

Clean City Initiative.

Between April 18th and April 22nd, the Clean City Initiative collected 557 needles, 114,980 pounds of trash from 15 pickup locations.

Seward Park received a focused treatment from the Clean City Initiative during that timeframe.

So it is good to see that program continue along and work to make our green spaces and public spaces clean.

Updates from the library.

The spiral at the Central Library is now open to the public on Tuesdays, in addition to Wednesdays.

Also today, Chocolati reopens to the public at the Central Library from 10 a.m.

to 3 p.m.

on Monday through Saturday, so a good bit of continuity returning to the Central Library.

Also today, as I indicated at briefing I believe last week, that it was going to begin this week, but just as a reminder, public meeting rooms in libraries officially today begin usage.

So organizations, neighborhood groups who want to take advantage of the opportunity to meet at a library public meeting room can now do so again.

Not all public meeting and study rooms are going to be immediately open as Seattle Public Libraries continues to transition back to making them available.

But it is nice to see that service finally return from the Seattle Public Library and have a roadmap to returning in its entirety.

This week I will be attending the Puget Sound Regional Council's Growth Management Board.

I will also be attending with Councilmember Morales on May 5th the South End Village open house and look forward to continuing to work with partners to get that South End Village open and get people experiencing homelessness into shelter and into a place where they can be warm and live with dignity.

We will continue to do that work and hopefully the next steps will be made apparent at the open house on May On May 6, in the spirit, Council Member Nelson, of Small Business Week, my staff and I are going to be visiting Noir Lux Candle Company in Belltown.

Very much looking forward to that in-district visit of a small business.

I'm also going to be visiting a new social justice incubator in the Melbourne Tower downtown, 360 Social Ventures, for a site visit.

I think it's a good idea to have a meeting on May 6th, which is the afternoon of that same day.

May 6 will be a good out in the community small business week time for the office.

Finally, Councilmember last week before the deadline for the comments.

Very much appreciate the invitation to be part of that discussion in your committee and look forward to bringing some of those same areas of interest as part of the resolution process if you will have me as part of that.

But just wanted to recognize your leadership on that and really appreciate the strategy of compiling a resolution of some of the areas where we as a city would like to see some potential changes or endorse some decisions that are already being made.

So thank you so much.

Otherwise, colleagues, I don't have any additional updates.

So why don't I just go ahead and leave a moment if people have comments on my updates.

Not seeing anybody.

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

Our next regularly scheduled council briefing is going to be on May 9th, 2022 at 2 p.m.

And we are adjourned.