Seattle City Council Special Meeting 1/17/2025

Good afternoon, everybody.

The January 17th, 2025 special meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It is 2.03 p.m.

I'm Sarah Nelson, president of the council.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Rivera.

Present.

Councilmember Saka.

Here.

Councilmember Strauss.

Present.

Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Here.

Councilmember Kettle.

Here.

Council Member Rink.

Here.

Council President Nelson.

Present.

Seven present.

Thank you very much.

If there is no objection, the council rules will be suspended to allow public comment at today's special council meeting.

Hearing no objection, the council rules are suspended and will proceed with public comment.

Colleagues at this time, we'll open the hybrid public comment period, and please note that because this is a special meeting of the Seattle City Council, speakers' comments should only relate to the items on today's agenda.

Clerk, how many people do we have signed up today?

We have three in person and five remote.

All right, everybody will get two minutes, and you may proceed with the in-person commenters, please.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they're registered.

We will alternate between sets of in-person speakers and remote speakers until the public comment has ended.

And speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of their time.

Speakers' mics will be muted if they do not end their comments within the allotted time to allow us to call on the next speaker.

Our first speaker is Alex Zimmerman, followed by Eric, and then Henry.

Thank you very much.

My lovely Seattle.

fascist, stupid face.

Please refrain from further abusive language.

You don't want what as I speak English?

You want what as I speak different language?

German, Russian, what does you want?

Let me know.

This circus I love, 20 people go for election, it's very nice.

But for last 25 years, I think last time I see Seattle is a real city, American citizen, in 99. I remember when 500 people arrested.

I see it's a real city, a real America.

Right now, they're all identical.

For the last 25 years, the city has 75 colleges.

People, you know what it means.

They're like a slave, like cockroaches.

They're scared to have different opinions.

They're scared.

Yeah, I understand.

This exactly happened with German Nazi.

People scared go have different opinion.

If you're communist in Soviet Union, because you can be in jail, you can be dead, and you can lose jobs.

It's exactly what this 700,000 cockroaches slept very quiet.

20 people, what does you have?

It's not matter who will be elected, it will be absolutely identical like you.

And nothing will be changed for 25 years.

It's very interesting city, city of idiot, is exactly my opinion.

So right now, my opinion simple.

Viva Donald Trump.

Viva new American revolution.

Viva 100 million Americans who stand up and want real changes.

And stopping this dirty government, what does we have?

This Nazi Gestapo fascist government.

We need clean totally.

Stand up America, it's my opinion, for 25 years.

Next speaker is Eric Nielsen, if you'd like to stick in.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Eric Nielsen.

I come before you today asking for your consideration to become a finalist for the District 2 vacancy.

Through my leadership of Seattle New Liberals and my position on the Seattle Free Advisory Board, among many other community activist involvements over my life, I've proven my ability to build compromise and to try for pragmatic and data-driven solutions.

As a contracts negotiator at Boeing, I've developed the essential skills that translate directly into the job.

which is careful listening, balancing differing opinions, and finding common ground to deliver results.

My candidacy is rooted in deep connection to District 2 and their diverse communities.

I'm married into a Vietnamese immigrant family who has called the district home since the 1990s.

I've witnessed firsthand how public safety challenges and rising costs are impacting residents and businesses alike, especially those in Little Saigon and the CID.

I understand my role be to amplify these voices, not to speak for them.

I've learned through my in-laws what it means to be an immigrant in this community, what it means to be a person of color.

And although I don't have those personally, I do have 25 years of lived experience within the city of Seattle that stretches well beyond that with my parents and grandparents.

This is my personal connection that drives my deep commitment to the people of Seattle and our district.

As a renter in Mount Baker and the youngest of 20 candidates applying for the position, I am focused with energetic passion and focused on urgent action.

My vision for District 2 matches many of your priorities, expanding community-based policing, implementing automated traffic enforcement, investing in mental health services, especially for those on our streets, and ensuring density is shared equitably across all neighborhoods.

The challenges facing District 2 demand fresh energy and deep community understanding.

I am prepared to bring you both, and I thank you for your consideration.

Next speaker is Henry Namaxa.

This one?

Is it this one?

That one's probably better.

All right.

Hello, council.

I am Henry Armas Amaya, applicant for the current council vacancy and native resident of District 2. I grew up in the Chinatown International District all my life.

I have witnessed how change has manifested itself through different generations of people, businesses, and organizations appearing and disappearing, as well as communal problems that come, go, and come back.

Not only within the area I grew up in, but also within those communities around it where I have attended school, have been able to purchase goods and services, received medical treatment, and made friends.

And for all that, I'm grateful.

While I advocate for safety, respect, inclusivity, justice, and for the general welfare of people of all races, ethnicities, cultures, and backgrounds, ultimately, I hope that whoever's chosen for the current council vacancy is somebody with an empathy, that encourages the understanding of both the struggles and needs of all people and with a willingness to be open, to learn, and to adapt, to attempt to accommodate the differences within all of us as individuals.

Someone with a plan or at least ideas that aim to look for solutions to unite and integrate people of all types of categories, whether they are a blue collar worker or a business owner, whether they are homeless or not, whether they are from one culture and religion or another, whether they are from the area or a tourist, to create and build an environment that ensures domestic tranquility and enforces the unalienable rights of the people among those life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

I thank the council and everyone around me for allowing me to share such words.

Thank you.

We will now move into remote speakers and a reminder to our remote speakers, please press star six after you have heard the message that you have been unmuted.

Our first remote speaker.

Yes.

My apologies.

We have one last in-person speaker and then we can move into remote speakers.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Please proceed.

Yeah, my name is Steve Zemke.

My thought was that I wanted to leave with the consuls.

This person will be filling a vacant seat, and then he'll stand for election in November.

She will be taking the positions that Morales had, as I understand it.

And that would mean she or he would chair the Land Use Committee, the Housing, and Vice Chair of the Housing and Human Services.

And I would look at that as areas of expertise that whoever you decide to appoint would be someone that would already have knowledge and ability to move forward in those areas.

Also would be a member of the Finance Native Communities and Tribal Governments Committee, Libraries, Education and Neighborhoods, and Sustainability, City Lights, Arts and Culture.

But my priority just remains in stating Chair of the Land Use Committee, Housing and Human Services, look at someone that has area of expertise in that area that will help you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We can now proceed to remote speakers.

For our remote speakers, a reminder to please press star six after you've heard the message that you have been unmuted.

Our first remote speaker is Michael Tuhi, followed by David Haynes.

Go ahead, Michael.

Hello, my name is Michael Tui.

I'm calling in today to advocate for Adonis Duxworth for the vacant seat in District 2. I had the pleasure of meeting Adonis two years ago at a community snowboarding event at Mission Ridge Ski Area in Wenatchee, Washington.

As a leader and mentor within my own community, I immediately recognized the like-minded, focused, empathetic father and community leader in Adonis.

Now, having had the opportunity to know him better, I'm proud and excited to support his efforts to join the Seattle City Council.

Through his hard work and dedication, Adonis has showed me that nothing is more important than community and bringing that community together to draw out the immense positivity and beauty that is only possible when people are united.

As a skateboarder and snowboarder, I've learned that the most effective way to change the world is to start by inspiring change within the people that we already influence within our own communities.

Adonis represents a fresh perspective on how to improve life within our city for so many.

By looking at the world through his lens, I believe he will cast a positive and supportive light on bringing vibrancy and excitement to the communities that stand to gain from action and engagement.

As the Assistant Manager of Tactics Board Shop at Ballard, I stand with Adonis Duxworth and implore City Council to vote in support of Adonis' ascension to the City Council for District 2. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Our next remote speaker will be David Haynes followed by Myra Letozek.

Go ahead, David.

Hi, thank you, David Haynes.

Thank you council for having this meeting.

I think that Thaddeus Gregory should be city council's number one consideration because his resume and experience is what council needs to help the land use committee and the comprehensive plan get it right.

His insight would help council hit the ground running when it comes to expediting the desperate needs for housing, and would provide the leadership needed to handle the developers and the red tape delays in processing and bring creative solutions.

We need a 21st century, first world quality, great American housing build out.

And the only person to truly be prepared to lead on day one is Thaddeus Gregory.

No offense to the others.

His career has prepared him for this one year term that would benefit the entire community with a trusting, knowledgeable land use expert.

If council wants to prove they are serious about developing homes, Thaddeus Gregory would be the best choice as a caretaker.

He knows all the nuances of land use.

He understands what it takes to develop.

He would get through all the red tape delays.

He would be a shining light of brilliance to help this city finally get it right on housing.

I urge the city council to seriously consider and vote to approve Thaddeus Gregory for the city council special election.

I think he would make Seattle a better place to live with his decision-making on the land use committee and no offense, but separately, The temperatures are going down to freezing this weekend.

I'm wondering, is King County Regional Homeless Authority going to make it an effort to open up the shelters, or do they got better things to do with their six-figure salaries?

Thank you.

I yield the remaining time.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Myra Letozek, followed by June Blue Spruce.

Go ahead, Myra.

And Myra, you may, there you go.

Good afternoon, Council.

My name is Myra Letozik.

I'm calling in.

I would like to be there in person, but I'm calling in to speak for Mark Solomon to fill the vacancy for District 2. I've known Mark Solomon for many years.

Our paths have crossed on various projects.

We both served on the Beacon Hill Council of Seattle for a time.

I've worked with him on parks issues.

When we were designing Jefferson Park, I served on the project advisory team.

Mark was instrumental in providing information about maintaining line of sight within the park in the design so that Jefferson Park would be a safe place.

And so as a result, Jefferson Park is both a beautiful place and it's a safe space for people from all over the city and all over the region.

And it is used by hundreds of people every day, thousands of people over the course of time.

I've gone there and met people from West Seattle, from all over Puget Sound.

Most recently, Mark has worked with a team of community members to rename the golf course complex at Jefferson Park to honor Bill Wright Jr.

He has put together a team and led a team to change his name to honor Mr. Wright and Mr. Wright's family because they fought against discrimination of golfers of color in Seattle.

And it's his leadership that brought us to a point where the golf complex was renamed.

Mark has the character and the experience to serve as a great city council member.

I hope you consider putting...

Thank you.

Our next speaker is June Blue Spruce, followed by Mark Rose.

Go ahead, June.

Hello, my name is June Blue Spruce.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

I'm a longtime resident of District 2, and I would like to speak on behalf of Chakundee Salisbury as the replacement for the outgoing Councilperson Tammy Morales for my district's Councilperson.

Mr. Salisbury has a long history of service to the City of Seattle through the Parks Department.

He has a deep understanding of environmental equity and environmental protection.

He also really has worked tirelessly to plan to change current patterns of displacement in vulnerable communities.

And this is a critical issue coming up for the council this year.

The comprehensive plan, I believe, does not have an adequate foundation in an anti-displacement plan.

And I think Chikundi Salisbury could be a very important voice for my community and for the whole of Seattle around preventing further displacement as, as we try to increase housing stock.

He also really understands the connection between the environment and health.

You know, he's, um, He's someone who really understands the importance of health for communities and how that's a multifactorial.

It's not just an individual issue.

It's a public issue.

I have a strong background in public health, and I think that he would bring that important voice to the council.

I really strongly encourage you to support him in this process.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Our last remote speaker will be Mark Rose.

Go ahead, Mark.

So my name is Mark Rose, and I'm here to speak on behalf and in support of Adonis Duxworth to fill the open position.

I've known Adonis for years, and I can't speak to the motivation of the qualifications for the other candidates.

I can simply tell you that I know that Adonis has one motivation for wanting to be part of the council, and that's to make the city a better place to live for him and his family and a better place to raise his daughters.

You know, one of the things that I think is a great indication of the type of person Adonis is, is the one endorsement that he has that he's sought out for this is from Skate Like a Girl, which is an organization that helps promote skating and skateboarding among women.

I've had the opportunity to, you know, to spend time with Adonis, to ski with Adonis, and get to know him better and about what motivates him.

And I can simply tell you that, you know, as we sit and talk about what it's like to live in this city and to own a home, and at times to not feel safe in your own home because of crime, what it's like to try to raise a family and not know that you can be able to keep them safe and what it's like to have a passion for trying to work with people with addiction and try to do something about the housing problem that we face and looking for a way and an outlet to try to do that.

I've heard a couple people talk about how we need to look at somebody who's electable or that was ready to run for election uh at the next open election and i can tell you with you know certainty that that's not adonis's focus uh i can tell you that his focus is simply trying to do what he can in the time that he would have to make our city a better place for him you me and our families uh and i would also caution the council on getting too myopic thank you that was our last remote speaker and we have one last in-person speaker jared

Good afternoon.

I would like to recommend for any place that has changing rooms, such as public pools, large gyms and things, for the King County to make three restrooms going forward, men, women, and one for the LGBTQ community.

I think that way people will feel a lot more comfortable changing and all parties would benefit.

Also.

I would ask that you speak to an item on the agenda.

What does that mean?

We are nominating.

Go ahead and finish your comments, please.

Also.

I just want the city to do something about the homeless epidemic.

I've lived here for eight years, and the tourism economy in the city is probably hurting.

because I don't know too many people that would want to travel to Seattle to view our fentanyl and methamphetamine epidemic and the vans that are parked everywhere in Ballard and the litter.

And I believe that every homeless person falls into the category of needing either rehab, mental health services, a halfway house or jail.

And I think that we have enough skilled Seattle residents to help and we can tackle this problem together.

We have one remote speaker who registered and now has joined us.

Mike Mullen.

Sorry, I'm Mike Mullen.

I had dialed into the listen only.

I apologize.

I'm calling in support of Adonis.

I grew up in the Seattle area.

I was born and raised here, attended public school here, went to college here, and started a business in the community about 20 years ago.

So I'm deeply there about Seattle.

You know, it's been a pleasure to have Adonis, to call him as a friend for For over five years, I've spent a lot of time with him and his family, both on a personal level and volunteering in various community projects.

And I just want to say Adonis has my full support because I fully believe in his truly altruistic and deep commitment to Seattle, its neighborhoods, and its people.

My experience with Adonis, he's very thoughtful, educated, and most importantly, he cares about Seattle and its people, and I strongly recommend him for your consideration and support for his application.

Thank you for allowing me to speak and to share my support.

Okay, we have reached the end of our allotted time for the public comment period for today, so public comment is now closed.

Thank you all for your comments and for engaging in this process.

Before we move on to our one item of business, City Clerk Shireen Dedman has an announcement.

So could you go ahead?

Thank you.

Yes, hi, thank you.

Council and to the public, I just wanted to make an announcement of an email I received at 1 59 PM.

So the information could not have gone out before this meeting.

The candidate for the district two vacancy named Nikita Venus submitted an email withdrawing the application, sorry, I'm not sure which pronouns to use.

So we're withdrawing their application from the process.

So just wanted everyone to know before they started voting that Nikita Venus is no longer a viable applicant.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Will the clerk please read item one into the record.

Agenda item one, selection of city council vacancy position district two finalists.

So this is, thank you very much, folks.

We have, this will come in two parts.

I move, first we're going to agree on the procedure and then make nominations.

So I move to adopt a voting procedure to select City Council Position District 2 finalists to be follows, as follows.

As president, I'll open the nominations to select City Council Position District 2 finalists.

Council members will be called on in the order of this week's roll call and will have the opportunity to nominate one applicant and provide comments, and then seconds are not required for the nominations.

an applicant will need to be nominated by a council member for them to move forward in the council vacancy appointment process.

And last year during the nomination process, council member Strauss offered a motion to allow council members the ability to change their votes.

So as a matter of consistency, we'll follow that practice again.

And then after nominations are closed, those finalists will move forward in the council vacancy appointment process.

So is there a second to the voting procedure?

Second.

Thank you very much.

Are there any questions about the procedure going forward?

Council President, could you confirm the roll call order?

What we have up here, I think, is different than what we were told regarding roll call.

Sure.

My roll call order says Rivera, Saka, Strauss, Kettle, Hollingsworth, Moore, Rink, and me.

Ah.

Okay.

Let me follow.

Yep.

Somebody learned their ABCs.

Okay.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Just wanted clarity.

Thank you.

Yep.

Cause H comes before K in the alphabet.

All right.

Okay.

Any further questions or comments or corrections?

All right.

Thank you very much.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the procedure to nominate finalists for the city council district two position.

Council member Rivera.

Aye.

Council member Saka.

Aye.

Councilmember Strauss.

Yes.

Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Yes.

Councilmember Kettle.

Aye.

Councilmember Rink.

Aye.

Council President Nelson.

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

All right, we will now proceed to the selection of the City Council.

The motion carries and the procedure is adopted.

We'll now proceed to the selection of the finalists themselves.

As I said, I already said the roll call order which starts with Council Member Rivera and we'll proceed from there.

So council member Rivera, you are recognized to make a nomination and provide comments if you want.

And by the way, if you, council members do not have to put forward a name either if you don't want to, or if somebody has already said your name, go ahead, please.

Thank you, Council President.

All right, out of the gate.

I get to go.

First, I want to thank all 19 candidates for their willingness to serve.

I recognize these are hard jobs that require a huge commitment, and I appreciate their interest in ensuring that their district, District 2, is well represented on the council.

I know that the needs of the D2 are many, and like many of the districts that those of us here serve, constituents want to feel heard and supported.

This is a very interesting slate of candidates with diverse and important skill sets, making this a very tough choice.

I like many of the candidates for different reasons and skill sets, and hope they will consider running for the position this fall if not selected.

I wish you all luck in this process, and whether or not you are selected, please know that I will look forward to working together in whatever capacity and opportunities are available on behalf of the city.

Today, I will be nominating Mark Solomon for consideration.

Thank you.

Councilmember Saka.

Thank you, Madam Council President.

And I too wanna express my gratitude and sincere thanks to everyone, all 19, 20 people who signed up, put their name on the line.

And this is an incredibly tough job.

It's an incredibly rewarding one as well, but service requires some sacrifice and it's challenging.

But the opportunity that we all have collectively to shape a better future for our city and our kids, is one that I'm committed to.

It's a commitment that I'm committed to.

And I know the 20 people who signed up are as well.

And so I just wanna emphasize thank you to everyone who stepped up to lead and serve your community and serve your city in such a profound and impactful way.

In terms of some things that I was looking for and will continue to look for throughout this process as it plays out, I'm looking for a servant leader.

Someone who understands day one the awesome responsibility that this job entails.

Someone who understands that they are at our very core, we are servants of people.

And putting people first.

And someone who has been involved in community, for a while, a long time, in various facets and various dimensions and didn't just start showing up yesterday when they learned about this appointment.

I'm also seeking someone, another criteria that I'm using that's guiding my decision making is someone who's gonna be communicative and collaborative.

Tough job, but we can accomplish more when we communicate with each other, we're collaborative, And that's the essence of the approach that I think we all, on this day, aspire to achieve.

And so I'm looking for that.

I'm also looking for someone who is going to truly prioritize constituent needs in their district, District 2. Many diverse, rich communities there.

Oftentimes those interests and needs overlap and sometimes they don't.

But someone who's gonna focus on all the constituents in District 2 and focus on serving all constituents and not pander or placate to any particular one group, that includes serving and focusing on residents of the Chinatown International District.

I'm also seeking someone who is, so that's constituent work.

I think our constituent work should inform our policy work, not the other way around.

But in terms of the substantive policy, I'm seeking someone who is going to truly prioritize public safety.

I'm also ideally looking for someone with land use experience or just broader city planning expertise.

And finally, I will note, I am seeking and reemphasize my position on this, been clear the whole time.

I am personally, and we have varying views, but I am personally seeking someone who is interested in being a caretaker only for this position.

Someone who is interested in doing the job the best they can for these 10 months in this and only this job and has specifically committed to me or through their applicant materials or other colleagues that they will not run in parallel.

So that means that their number one focus is on serving.

Their number one focus is on governing.

Why?

Because this is a tough job.

This year we have extra demands.

The hours are challenging at a bare minimum.

I always tell people it's a 60 hour plus work week if you're doing the bare minimum.

And then running a campaign on top of that.

And then we haven't even talked about family or personal time.

This year, we're also gonna be doing the comp plan and considering a proposed renewal of the education levy that Council Member Rivera is gonna help lead and shepherd through our body here.

That's on top of the other legislation, both executive proposed, council proposed, city attorney proposed, that will invariably come up on top of budget, numerous department head confirmations, I'm just seeking someone who's gonna just focus on governing.

That's it, not campaigning.

That should be the number one focus from my perspective.

I don't think we're setting this person up for success, their district two constituents up for success, nor the broader city of Seattle for success if this person knows immediately that they could potentially and would run in parallel.

The learning curve is too steep.

So I trust the voters and I want them to decide in November after a robust conversation.

As one candidate put out or specifically mentioned, Mona Smith, the people of District 2 will benefit from a robust incumbent-less primary debate in advance of the next election.

I couldn't agree more, Mona.

So there were some very well-qualified people, interesting group, and some exceptionally well-qualified individuals in this group, in this cohort as well.

Adonis, Thaddeus, Nimco, Eddie, Eddie Lynn, Chikundi, Mark Solomon, who's off the board now.

Thank you for your commitment to serve as a caretaker only.

And Bishop Ray Rogers, Some exceptionally well-qualified people here.

And this is tough.

But I'm going to go ahead and nominate Chikundi Salisbury.

Councilmember Strauss.

Thank you.

Hard to act to follow there.

I'll just as well, along with my colleagues, wanna thank everyone that's applied, everyone that reached out that was interested.

This is a, and I wanna thank you in particular for making this a difficult choice because we have a lot of really qualified candidates here.

For the people listening or in the room, many of you have already told you that you should just run for the office, skip the appointment and just run.

That sentiment still holds true today.

The exercise that we are going through today is selecting the eight finalists to have the community forum to come before us and interview with council.

And so I'll be making a choice of who to put forward today.

And it is a hard choice that I didn't come to until a couple minutes ago because I've been wrestling with it.

And so I just want the public to know that I haven't made a final decision for who I will be voting for on the 27th because this next period of community forums and interviews is how I will come to that determination.

And today I'm excited to put forward Adonis Duxworth.

Thank you.

Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Thank you, Council President, and thank you for those words, Councilmember Strauss.

I would like to repeat those and double down on those that the nomination that I'm putting for today and making those final decisions will be as we're going through the process, which I think is incredibly important.

What I was looking for for District 2 is a servant, someone who's passionate They have energy.

They love to serve.

I think everybody on this list loves to serve.

They know the diversity of the 98118 zip code in District 2 and also know that the District 2 has been, over the years, has been under-resourced and understand that there are different neighborhoods in District 2 that are very unique.

that have different needs from Columbia City to Beacon Hill, Seward Park, Rainier Beach, Rainier Valley, all the different neighborhoods are very different and unique and I think that's why we all love District 2. And so the name I'll be putting for today is nominating Thaddeus Gregory.

Thank you very much.

Councilmember Kettle.

Thank you, Council President.

First, I want to thank everyone who's applied.

I think it's really important to show this desire to serve community, to be willing to put yourself out there on behalf of your neighbors, your community members, whether it's business, the residents, nonprofits, church groups, all the above.

And I think it's fantastic.

And I really appreciate those who also have shown in their packages of desire and shown that they do community service, that volunteerism piece, it's so important.

It reflects your desire to participate for the betterment of your community.

Last year's experience, I keep in mind, and last year we had eight candidates.

I think it was an interesting process to go through.

That was a large group.

And considering that it was a citywide, considering that we hadn't done it in a while, and we wanted to afford the opportunity to as many people as possible, I think it was great that we had eight nominees representing from each of us.

This year for District 2, I think it's better for the process to have less.

And with that, Council President, I am, particularly given those that have already been selected, I'm going to pass in terms of the idea of keeping the numbers smaller so then we can have better engagement next week and then through the process overall.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Council Member Rink.

Thank you.

Well, unlike my colleagues, this is my first time doing this.

And to that end, again, I want to thank everyone who has applied for this position.

It is a brave decision to step up and raise your hand, especially to lead during such challenging times ahead of us.

And we have a large body of work ahead of us as a council this year and are certainly looking for a partner that can truly represent the critical needs within D2.

And I know when I was thinking about my decision of who to put forward today, I was thinking about the number one issue I heard at the doors was housing, but also hearing a real need for investments in our young people and education.

And so wanting someone who is joining us on council who has expertise and knowledge in those areas.

And for that reason, I'm putting forward Edward Lynn today.

Thank you very much everybody for your consideration.

I am looking at this, I came at this thinking that I very much wanted someone who would be willing to be at it for the long haul because this is a, because I, because the decisions that they make during the short time during the appointment will resonate throughout the community in D2 because we are doing the comprehensive plan and that will generate a lot of strong feelings and also And it makes sense for that person to know that they have to face the voters in the future in order to make sure that they go out and talk to as many people as possible in the district.

That was one of the things that was framing my thinking.

I was also thinking about the fact that it would be really, it would be advantageous to have somebody up here who knows about land use and who is familiar with our land use code and who knows how the city works, et cetera.

And so that was part of my thinking as well.

And then finally, I was really considering the diversity of the community and thinking about what I hear most often from people of District 2. And I am now going to refer to Last summer, Danny Westmeat wrote an article about the the challenges that the CID are facing and talked about the problems in the CID and particularly Little Saigon.

And so I do believe that there needs to be representation from Little Saigon and that we do have one person who is the, who serves on the board of the Friends of Little Saigon.

I am very pained to have to make this decision because I do feel that there are many people in the pot that would be great at this position.

I feel strongly that there would be representation from that community going forward.

So I am going to nominate Hong Chua for my choice.

Public safety being the issue that I am hearing most, that is most urgent in that district.

Are there any questions or comments or changes that people would like to make to their nominations?

Council President.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Since I went first and then I had the opportunity to listen to all my colleagues, I'm not changing my nomination, but I do want to underscore something that Council Member Strauss said, and thank you for bringing that up, Council Member Strauss, that this is the slate of finalists.

We will have a process next week for going through the finalists.

Our nominations do not indicate necessarily that that is who we are going to select.

So I want to underscore that.

We want to make sure that was to Council President's point, you know, there's a robust set of folks on here.

And it will give us an opportunity to really, and Councilmember Kettle, I want to thank you for saying your words as well, is that with less folks in the pot now, we can have more robust review and conversation.

And so I look forward to the process next week and did want to underscore that for the candidates.

Um, so folks aren't, aren't feeling, uh, I'm sure they're feeling a certain way, but just please know that this is now the slate and it doesn't mean that we've all already made up our minds.

Thank you.

Are there any other comments?

Okay.

Hearing no changes or additional nominations to the list of City Council District 2 finalists, nominations are closed.

Congratulations to the finalists.

Pursuant to Seattle Municipal Code 390010, a finalist is required to participate in the Community Organized Public Forum and the upcoming January 23rd City Council meeting to be eligible for appointment to the City Council District 2 position.

The public forum is scheduled on Tuesday, January 21st at Columbia City Theater from 5.30 to 7.30 p.m.

The vacancy webpage has been updated to include these details.

A recap of the next steps for the City Council District 2 vacancy process are as follows.

Finalists are required to participate at the public forum hosted on January 21st in order to be considered for appointment.

On January 23rd at 1 p.m., the Council will hold a special meeting to further interview finalists who attended the public forum.

And on January 27th at 9.30 a.m., the Council will hold another special meeting to appoint an eligible finalist to fill the City Council District 2 position.

Before I ask if there is further business, I want to recognize, I want to take this moment of privilege to thank Bishop Ray Rogers for throwing his name into the rink.

If I am seeming emotional and it's because it really did come, it's because it came down to a decision, a hard decision for me at the last minute and I want to recognize that we talk a lot about lived experience and wanting to influence community and young people away from gun violence, from, we have a whole section in the Human Services Department contract division, which addresses violence prevention, et cetera.

And I just want to say that Bishop Ray Rogers, I recognize you in the room today and I learned so much from you.

I learned so much from you as I was learning about the city and I respect the input that you have had on council members as I know that you've been talking to people.

In any case, thank you very much, colleagues, for allowing me to say those words.

Is there any further business to come before us right now?

Madam Council President?

Yes.

Thank you for sharing that.

I too wanted to echo the sentiment of what you just said and express my deep appreciation and thanks to Bishop Ray Rogers.

I'll share here and this is all I'll talk about.

It was a very close case for me and it was a very difficult decision, but you were my next choice.

But I wanna thank you for stepping up and all the great work you've already done in District 2 and the city and all the work that you will continue to do.

Look forward to cheering you on and supporting you and continuing to partner together.

So thank you.

Any further business?

We have reached the end of today's agenda.

Our next regularly scheduled City Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 21st at 2 p.m.

Hearing no further business, we are adjourned.