Seattle City Council 2/25/25

Good afternoon, everybody.

The February 25th, 2025 meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It is 201. I'm Sarah Nelson, council president.

Will the clerk please call the roll.

Council member Rivera.

Present.

Council member Saka.

Council member Solomon.

Here.

Council member Strauss.

Present.

Council member Hollingsworth.

Here.

Council member Kettle.

Here.

Council member Moore.

Present.

Council member Rink.

Present.

Council president Nelson.

Present.

Eight present.

And council member Saka.

Nine present.

Here.

There we go.

Thank you.

Okay.

I am not aware of any presentation for today.

So colleagues at this time will open the hybrid public comment period.

Public comment is limited to items on today's agenda, the introduction and referral calendar and the council work program.

Clerk, how many speakers are signed up today?

We have three remote and three in-person.

Thank you very much.

Let's go with the in-person and give everybody two minutes.

Thank you.

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

The in-person speakers will be called first.

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

Speaker's mics will be muted if they do not end their comments within the allotted time.

This will allow us to call on the next speaker.

We'll begin with the in-person speakers.

I believe it's Siler Farris and then Ariana Riley.

Excuse me.

You want to pick up the mic so it's close to you.

I am here because I am concerned about whether we are maintaining a democracy or sliding into something more dangerous.

Seattle is in King County, the only county in the country which is named for the good reverence Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In his now famous speech, The Other America, he discussed how in his time there were riots.

And the reason that there were riots was because the legislatures were failing to pass legislation that ensured equity.

And the executive and the judiciary were not fully enforcing what the legislatures did pass.

He also was clear that he condemned violence.

He was not supporting riots.

The best way to deal with protests that might grow out of control in a democracy is to address the underlying problems that lead to the protests to begin with and not to suppress them violently.

Arianna Riley and then Alex Zimmerman.

Hello, my name is Ariana Riley.

I'm a delivery driver in Seattle.

And given some recent comments that were made, I found it important to show back up here.

Some of you here that look like me may have guessed, but for those that don't know, I'm mixed.

My dad is black.

So when I hear comments talking about how to help black families in Seattle, and one suggestion being to mess with gig worker pay, that specifically applies to me.

Pay up has been a lifesaver.

I have found myself suddenly in charge of financially providing for not just myself, but two other elderly family members that are ill and cannot work.

and PayUp allows me to do that.

My first priority right now is making sure my family doesn't end up on the streets because we lose the ability to keep the bills paid.

Anyways, here we are one year later, and the dire predictions have not come true.

Restaurants are doing fine.

Drivers are doing fine.

The only restaurants that closed in the immediate aftermath of PayUp were a couple that had been complaining daily to the media, not because of PayUp, but because nobody likes a complainer.

I addressed this at the time.

The market is doing well.

And a suggestion of the way to help black families being to lower wages is insulting, and frankly, a direct threat to me and my family.

The way to help black people get ahead will never be to lower living standards for the lowest paying jobs, since those are jobs that tend to be filled with people of color, including black people, many of whom are providing for our elders, not just me.

Once again, I will repeat here, a rising tide lifts all boats.

That's what PayUp has done.

Leave it alone.

Thank you.

Oh, you mind?

You post a bit.

Talk a little bit loud because I'm old man.

I'm so sorry.

Yeah.

Zeheil.

a thief, bandita, and killer.

My name is Alex Zimmerman.

I once speak about executive order that has made Trump about freedom of speech.

Why President Trump made executive order two weeks ago about freedom of speech?

We have freedom of speech for 250 years.

Why he did this?

Because we don't have freedom of speech.

It's a problem what we have.

And I see this in this chamber for many years.

Include my 18 trespasses for 1,500 days.

Don't worry, you're not alone.

I have totally 4,000 days of trespasses.

So, but right now, because we have an executive order, when you don't do it like a post to be by law in executive order, the freedom of speech, two minute, or probably three minute in birth room, one type per week, you know what is mean, what is stopping your controlling totally, you know what is mean, you start acting like a criminal.

Executive order cannot be broken like you broke before and doing everything that you want, because by definition, you are Nazi bandita.

That's exactly who you are.

So right now, when you start doing this, one minute or another situation like this, you know what this means.

You don't open better room in city hall one day per week for free conversation for three minutes, like every civilized city hall, you know what this means.

Sorry guys, we will go to policemen.

You complain about this because you are criminal right now.

So remember this, it's executive order, what is you cannot broken because executive order dominates every government point in this country, totally.

Viva Trump.

Viva new American Revolution.

This very important right now.

What is we together will bring back us government who steal a billion, trillion from us.

And I move into our remote speakers.

As 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 is Alberto Alvarez, and he will be followed by Maya Kelly.

Go ahead, Alberto.

Alberto, are you there?

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

Thank you.

Every mile, every minute, delivery drivers provide round-the-clock service to hundreds of thousands of Seattle area residents, 24-7, 365. Every day, we endure hours of gridlock from the return to office traffic, as well as the dangers of driving during extreme weather and power outages.

Recently, during the night for the comp plan hearing, roads were covered in sleet and snow.

We were still out here delivering hot meals, medications, emergency supplies, and more.

Real information and data for all orders that several thousand of us drivers are taking is now coming into the Office of Labor Standards, a public report likely to be released in the next few months.

If you're good at something, you never do it for free.

Seattle's pay-up law ensures every order has fair pay for the time and mileage, as well as protections from companies like DoorDash that is currently being sued for anti-competitive practices.

We are the David to the Goliath, and we demand that our wages are fair and our rights are protected.

Thank you, and have a good day.

Thank you.

Our next signed up speaker is not yet present, so we will move on to Michelle Balzer.

And Michelle, a reminder to please press star six and go ahead.

Hi, I just wanted to say Council Member Solomon, welcome to the Council.

I wanted to address some statements that you made on this month's edition and about maybe tweaking the gig law and I'm not sure where or when you heard that the revenue was down and, you know, people were losing money because that just isn't true.

You know, I'm a gig worker.

All my friends do gig work and they are making better money than they ever were.

And restaurants and stores definitely are not, you know, hurting for business.

If anything, inflation is probably the cause for, you know, people kind of reining in their spending.

But, This law, I mean, we spent years in the making to get it right.

All sides spoke and, you know, came together on this.

And obviously the last year we've had to fight to make sure that it stayed intact.

And despite the company spending millions to fight it, it stayed.

And I think that that is, you know, pretty remarkable and obviously shows that this law is needed.

These companies will bulldoze over everybody.

And, you know, if you want to address, like, the problems with the gig economy, it's to start making more laws so that these companies have to actually be transparent and ethical in their business dealings.

So let's just leave it where it is, please.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's our last remote speaker that's signed up and present.

Thank you very much.

We've reached the end of our allotted time for public comment for today, so the public comment period is now closed.

And then moving on, I'm not aware of any presentations, so let's see.

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

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

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

Hearing none, the agenda is adopted.

And now finally, we'll consider the proposed consent calendar.

And the items on the consent calendar are the minutes of February 11th and 18th, 2025, and Council Bill 120941, payment of the bills.

Any items anybody wishes to be removed?

Okay.

Hearing none, I move to adopt the consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Thank you, it's moved and seconded to adopt the consent calendar.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the consent calendar?

Council member Rivera?

Aye.

Council member Sacca?

Aye.

Council member Solomon?

Aye.

Council member Strauss?

Yes.

Council member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council member Kettle?

Aye.

Council member Moore?

Sorry, aye.

Council Member Rink?

Yes.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

The consent calendar items are adopted.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes in legislation on the consent calendar on my behalf?

Okay, there is not a committee report for us to consider today and there were no items removed from the consent calendar.

Nor is there a resolution for introduction and adoption today.

So we do have an executive session.

Is there any further business to come before the council?

All right, seeing none.

There is no further business.

We'll now move into the executive session.

And as, let's see, it's 2.14.

As presiding officer, I'm announcing that the Seattle City Council will now convene into an executive session, which is to discuss pending potential or actual litigation.

So the consent calendar, I mean, the executive session is usually slated for about an hour.

So I will say that the, what?

3.30, that is the time that, so the executive session will go until 3.30, but if it is extended, I will come back on and give the approximate time that we need to finish the executive session.

And if the executive and the council meeting will, and on its own when we are finished with the executive session.

So with that, I will say the executive session is now, we're now closing for the executive session.

I'll see you back in our offices for the beginning of that.

Okay, hearing once, hearing twice.

Okay, let's go ahead and continue.