Greetings and welcome to the June 4th meeting of the Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development and Arts Committee.
It is now 5.34 a.m.
and I'm calling the meeting to order.
I am Lisa Herbold.
I'm the chair of the committee as well as the council member that represents West Seattle and South Park.
I'd like to thank my co-committee members for joining us today, Council Member Sawant, Council Member O'Brien, and thank you as well to Council Member Pacheco for joining us.
Before we begin the public hearing, we are going to start with an overview from Council Central staff, Cliff Schwitzen, and he will present a brief summary of the legislation, which extends Ordinance 126560 by six months.
He will present the map of the interim boundaries and the study area on the map.
Just as a little bit of background, the Department of Neighborhoods is doing work to implement Ordinance 126560, which called specifically to review the historic significance of the Showbox Theater, study the relationship between the Showbox Theater and the Pike Place Market, consider amendments to the historic district designation or design guidelines related to the Showbox Theater, draft legislation, conduct outreach to stakeholders, and conduct a State Environmental Policy Act review on the permanent expansion of the historical district as appropriate.
A number of people have been writing to me today and other council members about the work that the executive is doing to look at the permanent expansion of the historic district.
We today are only here to review an extension of the temporary expansion.
And the reason why that's important is that a number of people are writing concerned about the proposed permanent expansion because the executive is looking at other properties as well and will at some point in the next couple months make a recommendation to us, but we are not doing that today.
We are only looking at an extension of the temporary expansion to only include the show box property within the historic district.
So, you know, again, the Department of Neighborhoods consultant is looking at the stretch along First Avenue that was originally proposed but not included in this legislation.
After completing the review, the executive will publish a SEPA threshold determination and then the next step would be for the mayor to transmit the proposed legislation to the council.
So I just wanted to clarify that because we're getting lots of emails today with some confusion about what this particular piece of legislation would do.
With that, I turn it over to Liz Schwitzen.
Nope.
Can you hear me?
Now we can.
Great.
So the legislation is fairly simple.
It extends by six months.
Ordinance 125650. That ordinance included one parcel shown here on the map.
which is the parcel on which the Showbox Theater exists, to the Pike Place Market Historical District.
The effect is that any changes to that building while the legislation is in effect would need to go in front of the Pike Place Market Historical Commission for review and approval.
That legislation was adopted last August, went into effect last September, and lasts 10 months, so it will expire in July of this year.
The legislation in front of you would extend that time until January of 2020.
Great, thank you.
Well, if there are no questions from council members, I think we will open up the public hearing.
We have about, oh, Council Member Pacheco.
Can you just outline what would occur if we do not renew the extension?
Yeah, a developer could apply for, well, The site will be considered for nomination as a landmark tomorrow at the Landmarks Preservation Commission meeting.
And so depending on the outcome of that, things could go in two different ways.
If the Landmarks Preservation Commission decides that Merritt's designation is a landmark, then any future changes to the site would need to go in front of the Landmarks Preservation Commission for review.
prior to any changes to the building.
If the Landmarks Preservation Commission decides it's not worthy of being nominated as a landmark, then a developer could go to the Seattle Department of Construction Inspections and apply for a development permit that could include demolition of the structure.
And I think another maybe more I think, straightforward result of not passing this extension is simply that the council's intent, when we passed the law in August of last year under Ordinance 126560, the council's intent of the work that the Department of Neighborhoods is doing right now would not be able to take place if all of those things happened outside of the expansion of the temporary boundaries for the market.
Council Member O'Brien.
Thank you.
Chair, I just want to let you and the public know, I'm unfortunately, I'm also supposed to be in a meeting upstairs, Move Seattle Levy Oversight Committee meeting.
And so I'm going to stick around here for just a couple more minutes and then I'm going to need to scoot off to that.
I hope to come back by the end of this meeting too.
So I apologize that I'm double booked at the moment.
Appreciate that and apologies for double booking you.
Council Member Sawant.
Thank you, Chair Herbold.
Yes, I really wanted to echo what Councilmember Herbold just said, that there was a commitment and a mandate in the ordinance that the Council passed last August to do the work plan that would even, I mean, the whole purpose of the work plan was to go towards a temporary, I mean, a permanent expansion of the Pike Place Market to include the showbox, and I genuinely believe that the council needs to fulfill that commitment, and those studies are happening as we speak, and we're supposed to get results very soon.
And I also wanted to take this moment to thank the hundreds of people, some of whom are here today, but many, many more people who helped fight to bring us to this point, and so let's keep building the movement.
All right, great.
With that, we'll open up the public hearing.
The public comment period is two minutes for individual speakers, but if people wish to represent a group of speakers, your time will be, again, as a group, extended to five minutes.
Newell Aldrich will be keeping time.
He will lift a sign to let you know when you have one minute, when you have 30 seconds, and when your time is up.
And then there's also the timer that keeps time as well to help you follow along.
With that, I'm going to call the first two speakers up to the mics.
If people could, when you hear your name, don't wait until it's your turn, but when you hear your name, come up to one of the two mics.
That will help us move things more quickly.
Eugenia Wu will be followed by Naomi West.
Hi.
We're representing Historic Seattle, so we're going to split our time.
Fantastic.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, council members.
My name's Eugenia Wu, and this is Naomi West from Historic Seattle.
We represent many voices in the historic preservation community.
I want to thank the council members for your time and service to the city.
Last August, the city council made a bold decision to temporarily expand the Pike Place Market Historic District to include the Showbox property.
We support exploring expanding the district beyond the show bus to consider more properties on the east side of First Avenue.
We understand that this is specifically about the extension today.
The market does not exist as an island.
It is part of a larger neighborhood.
The show bus is part of that community.
As the organization that submitted the landmark nomination application with our co-nominators, Vanishing Seattle, and Friends of Historic Belltown, we researched the history of the showbox, which was originally known as the Central Public Market, built in 1917, 10 years after the market was established in 1907. It made sense that after 10 years of existence, that market uses would expand across the street.
In 1939, the building transformed into the showbox ballroom.
We fully concur with the comment letter from Friends of the Market regarding this issue.
The city needs more time to conduct its due diligence in this process.
Historic Seattle supports a six-month extension of the temporary district expansion in order for the study to occur properly.
We hope the city's consultant hired to study the expansion will contact us because we believe we can provide valuable input in this process.
To date, we have not been contacted.
And since we are the ones who did the research on the historic research, we think we can provide some really valuable information to the consultant.
And here's Naomi, who will speak to other aspects of the show box and its connection to the market.
Thank you.
Yay.
I'm Naomi West.
I'm asking you as City Council members to extend the temporary expansion of the Pike Place Market Historic District in order to allow the City's consultants more time to study the feasibility and value of permanently including the showbox and perhaps other buildings along the east side of First Avenue.
Over the past several months here's what Historic Seattle has learned through our outreach.
All of the Pike Place market directly benefits from the Showbox.
Because of proximity, a thriving Showbox is inextricably linked to a thriving market.
422 artists performed at the Showbox last year alone, and those bands love to head to the market to explore upon arriving in Seattle.
Bars, restaurants, retail spaces, hotels, and coffee shops all benefit from Showbox visitors who like to go out in the neighborhood before they attend a show.
Annually, the Showbox brings 1,000 people to the area approximately 200 nights.
That's 200,000 people who are spending their hard-earned dollars in and around the market each year.
These data points aren't new.
There's an 80-year history filled with local impact.
The venue also provides 200 people with employment.
As a wise man named Ben Haggerty, aka Macklemore, told us in his statement on this issue, the Showbox is also a venue that is critical in attracting many national acts throughout their tours through Seattle.
Losing it would mean fewer shows and lost revenue for our city.
Macklemore went on to say, as our city continues to grow in density, it's imperative that we protect the spaces that give Seattle its cultural identity.
This is true of the Showbox, and it's true of other important places in the city, especially in communities where displacement and gentrification are dramatically reshaping neighborhoods.
If we value our musical heritage and we want to leave the next generation with a piece of authentic Seattle, this is our fight.
We couldn't agree more with Macklemore, and we urge you to vote in favor of this needed extension.
Thank you all for your time and for your service.
Kate Craft will be followed by Shannon Wells.
Hello, I'm Kate Craft.
I'm the president of the Friends of the Market, and we submitted a letter to you earlier last week, and I trust you've had an opportunity to read it.
I'm here to again convey our strong support for the proposed six-month extension of the interim expansion of the Pike Place Market Historic District to include the Showbox Theatre.
I assume you do know who the Friends of the Market is, but I'll just remind you.
We were established in 1964 and we spent seven years fighting to preserve the Pike Place Market from downtown business interests and city-supported urban renewal proposals.
We spearheaded the passage of the public initiative in 1971 that now preserves and sustains the community in the Pike Place Market.
We continue to serve an important role in the ongoing rehabilitation and the preservation of this extraordinary historic district.
The friends of the market believe it is feasible and appropriate to seriously consider the expansion of the historic district to include the show box, but to also include other historic properties along the eastern boundary of the existing district.
I was surprised just now to hear the distinction between the work of the executive and DON, and what I thought was council funding for a $120,000 study for the expansion of the district.
So some of what I'm saying may not be entirely appropriate.
I want to be clear.
The Friends of the Market believe that the district should be expanded beyond this simple addition of the show box.
This concept deserves serious professional study, not just a public relations effort, An in-depth analysis.
Neither of these things seem to have taken place.
The friends of the market have not been contacted by D.O.N. or by the exec.
And we believe that this six-month extension for at least the show box is absolutely necessary and essential.
Thank you.
Your time is up.
Thanks.
And just, Shannon, before you go, maybe I wasn't clear in my opening comments.
We are receiving testimony, written testimony from people opposing expansion of the market beyond the single piece of property that this current temporary expansion incorporates.
We are going, we have legislation before us now that only expands the boundary on a temporary basis for one piece of property.
The work that the executive is doing is not inconsistent with the ordinance that was passed last August.
I just want to be clear because people are contacting us worried that the vote that we are about to take is a vote to expand the market to include properties other than the show box.
That is something that we will be considering later after the executive continues to support.
I just want to be clear.
The Friends of the Market supports serious examination of all of the historic properties and parcels between Union and Stewart, and we expect a professional, thorough examination and study, and the friends are ready and willing and eager to assist.
We have members who are very knowledgeable.
And we're hearing loud and clear that people haven't been contacted, so we'll work on trying to close that loop.
And Shannon Wells will be followed by Evan Cliffhorn.
Good evening.
My name is Shannon Wells, and I'm a longtime employee of the Showbox.
I'm also speaking today on behalf of Friends of the Showbox, which is a grassroots community coalition dedicated to saving the Showbox.
And I also would like to thank council members Herbold and Swant for your continuous support on this issue.
The Friends of the Showbox strongly supports the six-month extension of the ordinance that places the venue in the Pike Place Market Historic District.
The ordinance laid out a plan for the Department of Neighborhoods to study the historic significance of the Showbox and its relationship to the market.
The city was to have conducted outreach to stakeholders by April of this year.
So I'm also going to say the same thing is that we have not been talked to.
When the city hired the consultant to do the work, does not appear that much work is actually being done.
The original meeting that was scheduled on May 1st with some of the stakeholders was canceled and it has not been rescheduled.
So no stakeholder outreach has occurred at this point.
It is unacceptable for the ordinance to expire without the study or for a rush study to commence just weeks before the deadline.
We want a professional in-depth analysis that was laid forth in the original ordinance.
We understand this takes time.
For this reason, we urge City Council to approve the six-month extension to ensure the matter gets the proper analysis.
Over the past nine months, the community has been organizing in the absence of city action on this.
We stand ready to engage in the process with our historical knowledge and expertise and with our lived experience in the market neighborhood.
Over 118,000 people have now signed the petition to save the showbox.
It is an icon of Seattle and an important player in Seattle's music ecosystem and in the market's business today.
Our relationship extends back 80 years.
Please let's take this seriously and extend the ordinance so that we can study the matter fully.
Thank you.
Following Evan Clefthorne is Dr. Robert Walsh.
Hello, my name is Evan Clifthorn.
I'm here on behalf of Rise Up Belltown, but two minutes is fine.
I am here to speak in support of the ordinance to extend, the proposal to extend this ordinance by six months.
I also want to say I am expecting my first child literally any moment.
And my wife and I, she's six months, sorry, excuse me, six days overdue at this point.
We find ourselves thinking a lot about what type of city we want our child to grow up in.
We think a lot about what it means to grow up in a city that's committed to progress versus a city that's committed to culture and how we find the balance in between.
As you consider this ordinance, I would ask that you think about what the very basic non-jargon political request is that you're being asked.
And that is for time.
Time for people in the city of Seattle who want to think about how that balance plays out in their own lives and how it's gonna play out in the lives of their children.
can talk.
It's time for us to talk to each other.
We've written you a letter, several organizations connected with the market and with nearby neighboring organizations, and in that letter we try to make clear that what we need as a community is this time.
And there are a lot of considerations at play.
You'll hear from a lot of folks that are concerned about, I think today, about whether the show box should be saved or whether the show box should not be saved.
And ultimately, that's not what you're asking.
That's not what we're asking you for today.
We're not asking you to do sort of the deep thinking about what the final solution is.
What we're asking for is another six months because the work hasn't been done yet.
So I appreciate your time.
I appreciate you being here.
Thank you for giving us your consideration.
Following Dr. Walsh is Emily MacArthur.
Hi.
My name is Dr. Robert Wexler, actually.
Oh, sorry.
And I apologize.
I want to thank the council for letting me talk.
And I want to apologize because actually this talk was designed for the summer.
I didn't really know what today was about.
Anyway, so this is whittled down to a minute.
I should be able to get it in.
I've lived in Seattle for about 32 years.
I've lived in Seattle for about six years.
One of my passions is music, and I first started going to the Showbox roughly 20 years ago when a friend of mine, a surgeon, Dr. Dan Marcus, introduced me to it, and I fell in love.
It is a landmark whether it gets designated or not, its location in the market, its classic marquee, its guts, and its history.
No venue in this city compares, and I've been to most of the venues in the city, if not all of them.
This weekend I saw Puddles, wonderful pity party.
Puddles had everyone leaving the venue with smiles.
Where will Puddles and all the other talent, which is actually unique to this, venue performed next year.
The venue allows entertainers worldwide to enter the Seattle market at its size.
All this will be lost Seattle memories.
Once gone, there will never be another Showbox.
The rent is just too high.
Highway 99, Seattle's only blues club, unbelievably the only blues club in our city, another casualty of this city's growth.
I hope the City Council can find a way to keep this special venue and all that it brings to our city.
Thank you.
My name is Emily MacArthur, and I'm a member of Socialist Alternative.
And yeah, I just want to stand in solidarity with the people who are fighting to be part of the movement, to save the show box, and to very much clarify that this is not a fight of housing versus music, that this is a fight for the cultural heart of our city against profits.
Just the other night, I went to see a show at the Showbox with five of my friends.
And as we left, we realized it was the first time that any of us had all hung out together outside of a work issue.
And I think that's the power of a cultural landmark in the city, right?
As a working class person, a night out is precious, few and far between.
And seeing a band that's traveling in a space that actually sounds good, shockingly, is rare.
Yeah, I think we just need to fight for the right for working class people to not just exist and work in this city, but to actually thrive and be dynamic and enjoy the place that they live.
You know, how many people I talked to, a union member in the audience before we started today, and we talked about how the majority of the people who set up the stage, the majority of people who work the doors, at all these venues and places in Seattle can't actually afford to live in this city.
So like, of course, that's also an issue where we need to be fighting for housing alongside the preservation of our cultural landmarks.
But it's a very basic duty today to vote to extend this, the time on this ordinance.
We haven't even accomplished the promised goals of proving what an awesome city we are.
I don't even know the word that I'm looking for, just peace and heart and soul of this city, this landmark is.
And so do your basic duties, stand with working class people and not with corporate developers and don't be shaken down by a multimillion dollar lawsuit from a billionaire.
Following Misha Demois is Emerson Johnson.
Hi, my name is Misha.
I'm a local artist and have been a theater and venue employee in this Seattle for nearly 20 years.
That includes venues such as McCall Hall, Benareo Hall, Fifth Avenue Theater, and of course, the Showbox.
First off, thank you for your efforts so far to save the Showbox.
Your continued efforts are sending a message to Seattle and the rest of the country that we are more than a corporate wealth, a city of corporate wealth.
You're saying we are strong, creative, and courageous people, and that our entertainment history matters.
History filled with jazz, vaudeville, burlesque, and of course grunge in all its Seattle working-class no-frills glory.
All of these things have happened at the Showbox, by the way.
So let's extend that protection, and let's extend that protection, save the Showbox, and show everyone we're about so much more than luxury apartments, and we've earned the title of City of Music.
Thank you.
Following Emerson Johnson is Ernie Ashwood.
Hi there, my name's Emerson, I'm a member of Socialist Alternative, and I wanna thank the movement who is here, who has stood by to save the show box, as well as Council Member Shama Sawant and Michael Bryan for taking leadership on preserving the cultural diversity of our city.
I want to call on the council today to pass the six-month extension and stand with our movement, demanding that our city put culture and people and art over the profits of a developer.
I think the reason that we see such huge support for Save the Showbox, 118,000 signatures worth of support for Saving the Showbox and multiple times attacking city council is because working people in Seattle are sick and tired of seeing the city prioritize the profits and wealth of a very small margin of people over, you know, our lives and almost every single sphere of our lives.
And I think this movement is part of a growing fight back of people demanding that the city and our city council make Seattle affordable for all.
Which is why I think that we need to link our fight to save the show box to the fight for rent control and a tax on the wealthy to massively expand the amount of permanently owned, deeply affordable public housing that we have.
Because it's not enough just for our artists to have somewhere to perform, we need somewhere for them to live.
We have so many young artists in this city who want the ability to someday go to the Showbox and have their name on the marquee, but we can't do that if there's not housing for them.
So I want to call on us, not just for our movement to move forward on saving the Showbox, but to join with so many other activists in this city who are fighting for affordable housing to come out on July 20th for our rent control rally and save the Showbox to make Seattle affordable for all.
following Ernie Ashwood, we have Megan Murphy.
Thank you very much for your time.
We really...
Hi.
Whichever you prefer.
Can you hear me now?
Yes.
Awesome.
Thank you very much for your time.
We really appreciate you guys taking the time out to really listen to us.
I really haven't had that much of an opportunity to engage with City Council before this issue, so you guys giving us this time to really hear us out is really, really important to us.
I'm not here to ask you to make a decision right now regarding saving the showbox.
That's not what this is about.
This is about the concept of making an informed decision.
Let me repeat that.
This is about making an informed decision.
And it's been made extremely clear today through people that I've had the privilege of working with that there is a lot of resources that have yet to be tapped for information, including the showbox itself.
It is hard.
I believe right now that if you guys were to go into making this decision at the end of July, it would be an uninformed decision.
And we all know an informed decision is the best decision.
I'm asking you to please give us exactly what's been asked from multiple people that have stood in front of you.
We just need more time.
We're not talking about time to procrastinate.
We're talking about time to learn.
We're talking about time to really establish what's the right course of action to make moving forward.
But we can't do that under a crunch period.
Not only am I asking for time, I'm asking for more support to really, really stand up to the mayor's office and asking them for their real support, to really stand behind us and really provide more information.
Again, I'm not asking you to make decisions today about saving the show box.
I'm asking you to make the decision to increase your time to gather more information.
Under more information, I think we can decide what's the right thing for the future of the city.
Thank you very much for your time.
And following Megan Murphy, we have Nick, I think it's hard to tell, Falhut.
Thanks for letting me talk.
We're standing on indigenous land as I speak.
We drew boundaries, and these boundaries developed into cultural spaces where people can perform.
As I was working towards my studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I lived at the Three Arts Club.
For women, that was considered a cultural landmark on 1300 North Dearborn, founded in 1906. for emerging women artists, and men were allowed to come in the summers, and most of them were from Europe.
And they gave me a job at the front desk right before September 11, 2001. And I admitted ballet dancers, composers, painters, hard rock performers, all women, and like, I gotta check them in and give them their mail.
And it was awesome.
I heard these voices that were maybe considered mainstream fringe.
They didn't like Broadway productions.
Some of them, some of them were in Broadway productions.
Some of them were mainstream and some of them weren't.
And as I worked there for a year, everyone's like, oh, Wicker Park's getting gentrified.
Wicker Park's getting gentrified and there's a scare.
So they closed the Jane Addams house down the street and then these like bank people moved into the three arts club and they made a woman who was like in her 60s with cancer leave.
And she was this phenomenal New York artist.
And then they said, well, we're no longer for emerging artists, we're for mid-level.
And like it became more exclusive.
And my awesome sweet deal which helped me graduate was gone, my housing.
So we were scattered.
But while our voices had a boundary, The art scene was rich and pluralistic, and we had multidimensional, and as I understand, the show box is affordable, has a wide plethora of voices and of music and art, and it's a landmark.
It is a cultural landmark, and I hope, just like the Three Arts Club, it stays preserved.
Following Nick, we have Lauren Rice.
I thank you very much for your time.
I'm here speaking on behalf of Friends of the Showbox as a long-term Showbox employee coming up on nine years this September.
We're here to show you that we're here doing the work.
The employees have been organizing.
We've been showing up, trying to keep the motivation up.
Everyone knows what needs to happen with the Showbox.
We're just trying to find the path that works.
We need the city to do the work as well.
That's why we're here, just keeping everyone honest.
And we look forward to extending the ordinance so that we can have another six months to determine what we already know, how Showbox Market fits into the market, but we need to put the facts to that.
We're at the quantitative part of a process that everyone can recognize as qualitative the whole way.
It's the cultural significance of the building that really drives home why we need to save it.
And picking up on the last speaker's point, thinking about how to describe this in those terms, Seattle is the city that has this story of dispossession, of being on Coast Salish land and still draping itself in that identity, while at the same time, those people have fallen by the wayside The city just turning a blind eye over and over again You know letting the draining the lake letting little crossing over place go dry The eel beds the old grass beds the muscle beds that have long been forgotten in Seattle.
We ended up Taking what made this city?
so habitable and letting it all just disappear in the name of progress.
And there's a parallel to that now.
The city once again has draped itself in this identity, this culture of musicians and artists and being welcoming, and you just hear over and over again what an impossibility that can be for so many people.
But we still have hope and we still have a few safe spaces for those people that are dispossessed of their art and their culture.
And Showbox really is the crown jewel of that in Seattle.
Thank you.
Following Lauren Rice is Nate Omdahl.
Hello, my name's Lauren and I'm a Showbox employee.
I'm gonna keep this nice and short because I do have to go ahead to the Showbox market for work here in a moment.
I'd like to ask you to please consider a six months extension of the ordinance that places the Showbox in the Pike Place Historical District.
As Ernie said, we do need more time to look into the best possible solution to keep the building and preserve it for its use for shows for generations, for many more generations to come.
I would love to have kids, you know, more kids one day to see shows there.
And the Showbox and the market have been intertwined forever since the Showbox was built in 1979, 1917 as the central market and later on became a ballroom.
We bring, there was last year in 2018, we had 422 shows there and they bring, roughly maybe about 1,200 to 1,000 people per show, and they bring business to all the business for the market.
And us employees also enjoy the market and going to the alibi room for drinks many times after show.
So please consider the extension and so we can find the best possible path moving forward.
Thank you.
Following Nate is Shua Sanchez.
My name is Nate Omdahl.
I'm the lead organizer with the Musicians Association, local 76493. And I'm here to encourage council to adopt the six-month proposal.
In my line of work, I hear an awful lot about how difficult it is for musicians and performers in this community to keep up with inflation and displacement and just all of the rising costs associated with living in the city and the thought of having one of our main venues in the heart of the city be replaced by something that's not a performance space would be very, very dangerous for a very fragile performing community as it is.
And I would just urge council to remember that this is a very direct way to send a message back to the performing community that this is indeed the city of music and that you will fight for it to remain so.
Thank you.
Following Shua Sanchez is Leslie Bucher.
Hey, Abel.
Hi, Lisa.
I don't think we know each other very well.
I'm Shua Sanchez.
I'm an organizer with UAW 4121. Yep, yeah, so I'm here, I suppose, representing the 6,000 people in my union that are scientists, academics, researchers, educators at the University of Washington.
And these people, they are, for the most part, not from Washington.
They could do their research anywhere in the country, but they choose to come to Seattle to do their work and to do their studies here and to teach.
And you know why?
Why do you think, Lisa?
because it's part of the economic vitality of the city?
Because it's a beautiful city, right?
And it's a cultural city.
It's a city with a really deep culture.
In particular, the music culture.
That's a big part of why I wanted to come here, right?
So when we think about these people that are moving here, they finish They're schooling at UW and they start, a friend of mine started a biotech company that now has over 100 employees at it, right?
I mean, they're building the local economy, but they have to get here first and they have to want to come here first.
And this is true of the tech workers.
This is true of lots of the different types of people that are moving to the city right now.
So this needs to continue to be the kind of city that people want to move to for us to continue to grow our economy here and grow our city here.
And I know that this whole fight, it's being framed around this issue of we need more housing, right?
Like the proposal is to destroy the show box and then build some condos, right?
Well, the kinds of housing that we need, and I know that you know this very well, the kind of housing that we need are for people that are making under $100,000 or under $50,000.
This is not housing that would support people like that.
So we're losing something that draws people to the city.
I'm exchanging it for housing that we don't, need right now for that kind of upper income level.
And I've got a few seconds left.
Have you seen Taco Cap before?
Have I seen Taco Cat, what?
Do you know who Taco Cat is?
I know the band Taco Cat.
Have you seen them before?
This is a little, we don't usually have a back and forth Q&A.
I have seen Taco Cat before.
Okay.
What is your question about Taco Cat?
They're playing at the Showbox on Saturday.
Okay.
Yeah, so I got you for a ticket if you'd like to go.
I have a lot of extracurricular activities that I'm engaged in through November this year, but Perhaps.
Thank you.
All right.
Thank you.
All right.
And I just want to add, I moved here in 1992 with musicians.
I am part of the exodus of folks who have come here to the city for its music scene.
Leslie Buecher.
will be followed by John Brister.
Go Taco Cat.
My name is Leslie Bucher.
I'm here from the Fisher Studios building, a historic registered landmark in downtown Seattle on 3rd between Pike and Pine.
And I'm here to lend our support in the extension of the protection of the showbox so that we can spend more time determining if the showbox is a significant cultural site.
So I want to ask you, what is a significant cultural site?
Is it full of right and light and sights?
Is it a place for generations and presentations that make us who we are?
Will we go there to see a star or visit a bar?
Will we tell our friends and our kids and our neighbors to go there and share in all that it is?
When newcomers come into our city looking for all the things that are pretty, will they go to that site and say, wow, holy cow, look at that, what a thing, bling, bling, bling?
That's the Showbox, our significant cultural site full of right and lights and sights.
It's who we are.
It's who we want to be.
So say it with me.
Save the showbox.
Save the showbox.
Save the showbox.
A significant cultural site.
Thank you.
Following John Brister is Jeremy Oden.
Hello.
I don't know where I'm going to go with this, but we do need to expand the, or at least get the six months going.
And as far as the consultation or whatever the study you guys are doing, since we're doing a little back and forth, do you guys have a budget on that?
The study was funded in the 2019 budget.
Okay, so I can look that up myself?
You can, or my staff member, Noel Aldrich, can give you some more information.
Okay, great.
So, but you know, have you guys considered maybe Feng Shui Master?
You know, Seattle's only bad, the white man here, 160 years.
Hong Kong, I don't know how long they've been going on, but they use Feng Shui Master.
Give you an idea.
Might be cheaper in the long run.
Back to the natives.
You know, I don't know if this is relevant, but I'm starting to feel a little bit maybe like a native.
You know, it's just all the people coming here, moving me away, moving my people away.
I grew up with, most of my friends had people that were here from the early 1900s.
My grandfather started a church in New Orleans in 1920. And, you know, in the last small amount of time, this city's changed a lot.
And I don't know if there's been a lot of consideration for the feng shui, the groove of how it is.
If you put that building there, you can hire me for five bucks, I'll tell you, the market's going to look like crap.
Yeah.
So, um, I don't know.
I don't even know why we're even having to have this discussion.
It's really not, it's a moot point.
I don't know.
Go ahead and build it.
If they build that, might as well tear down the market and build right in front of them and call it a day.
As far as the natives, I just came from the Lummi Reservation today to come down here and talk.
I was up there for a death.
And it's a beautiful thing up there.
Everybody gets together.
They're not afraid.
They all come together for these deaths.
I'm going to be back up there on Wednesday and Thursday.
or not, Thursday, Friday, I'll be up two weeks later for the burning.
Send possessions with it.
And they have community there.
They have their reservation.
Maybe you could call the showbox my reservation and save it for me.
Okay.
Following Jeremy Oden is Amanda Parsons.
Hello, my name is Jeremy Oden.
I am a union stagehand, though I am here to share my personal opinions.
I'm not here as a representative of IATSC.
I absolutely support this ordinance because I support the showbox.
Not only because it's an amazing historic institution, but because the loss of any performance venue is a loss to our community as a whole.
As someone said earlier, there are 200-ish people employed at the showbox, some of which are stagehands, and all of which are my brothers and sisters, regardless of whether or not they're in the union.
And they would all be out of work if the showbox closed.
I mention this here not because of this ordinance per se, but because of what may come farther down the road.
According to the summary and fiscal note, there's no financial implications currently.
But if upon the completion of this study, it turns out that there are financial implications, I strongly urge the city to require a labor harmony agreement to protect my brothers and sisters employed at the Showbox from the employers managing the space.
AEG is an international company that may not have their best interests in mind.
Their interests may be more in line with the sons and daughters of the prophets that built our city.
And while we all love Seattle, I think everyone agrees that it was a bit of a bumpy ride to get here.
Seattle is the people in it, and we can't allow large companies with no vested interest in the people of Seattle free reign, whether that be AEG or a land developer.
Requiring a labor harmony agreement ensures that companies like AEG that may be receiving city funds, either directly or indirectly, are required to negotiate in good faith and provide their employees fair wages and safe working conditions to continue bringing amazing music and performances to the people of Seattle.
Thank you for your time and your service.
Amanda Parsons will be followed by David Price.
Amanda?
Okay, so Amanda Parsons doesn't seem to be here.
So David Price will be followed by Heidi DeAndrade.
David's already signed up.
I'm sorry, it's two minutes per individual.
I don't even need two minutes.
Thank you council for the work you're doing and considering what's before us today.
I'm fortunate to have a job and I'm independent.
And the reason why I'm independent is because of the art community that supports what I do.
I've worked at all, a lot of the venues in town, and just a little brief history about a couple of observations I've had.
When I first moved here, I watched the showboat theater on the canal, on the cut, like the UW had in their possession, and it was a WPA building built, you know, back in the 20s and 30s, I think some 20s, I believe.
Lillian Gish performed there.
There were, you know, I'm sure all kinds of amazing things that happened in that building.
Probably most of the people here, hopefully somebody can remember that building, but that building's long gone because of the short-sightedness of the UW.
And it was probably the most beautiful theater I'd ever seen.
I actually broke into it because it was boarded up.
I wanted to see what was inside.
I crawled in there and I couldn't believe my eyes.
revolving stage, quarters for the production folks, for the stage manager, just beautiful woodwork throughout.
And they had, I don't know, maybe $300,000 to do something with it.
And instead of using that money to, ultimately, they took that money and demolished it.
That's a piece of history.
very incredible piece of history that's gone.
We can't do that to the show box.
We need the extra time to consider this landmark.
So please vote because these little jewels that we have are what make this city.
And if we keep losing them, then the city is just going to be sterile and it feels incredibly sterile right now and vacuous.
And when I walk down Belltown, it's dark and there's no sunlight coming in because all the buildings are all, everything's pushed to the limit.
So that kind of mentality will just destroy this town.
Thank you for your time.
So, Heidi, are you not intending to speak?
Okay.
Okay.
Vern DeRoche will be followed by Tiffany Jorgensen.
Is Vern here?
Okay.
How about Tiffany?
Is Tiffany here?
Thank you.
Tiffany will be followed by Christoph Dahls.
Hi, my name is Stephanie Jorgensen.
I represent Friends of Historic Belltown.
We ask the City Council to extend the time that the Showbox is a part of the Historic District and the Bike Place Market.
I'm a third generation Seattleite.
I grew up here, going to shows at places like the Rock Candy, King Cat, Fun House, Off-Ramp, Graceland, DV8.
Most of these venues are gone, their buildings destroyed, their histories lost.
Who can imagine Seattle now without the Pike Place Market?
50 years ago, it was almost demolished, 60, sorry, to be replaced by a parking garage.
If it wasn't for grassroot groups like Friends of the Market, then it would not be here today.
Right now, you are surrounded by the same thing.
We have stepped out of our comfort zone to create a movement to protect something we believe is invaluable to Seattle's history.
We have one ask at the Council, but I have two.
to save the Showbox by protecting its use by a continued extension of the market line.
My other request is for the council to consider changing the zoning directly across from the market as well.
Changing the height allowance to a lower level not only protects the Showbox, but the integrity of the market.
Let the world know we welcome change, but love our history too.
Seattle's history is entrenched in music.
The Showbox is one of the last medium-sized venues left in the city.
please protect it for the future generations so that they, too, can be enriched by it, just as hundreds of thousands before them.
Thank you.
Christoph Dahls, we followed by Gene Bateman.
Thank you to the City Council for hearing us out today.
I'd like to speak my support for extending the show box for another six months to take a look at the study of expanding the district for another six months.
As a lifelong Seattle resident, I have many, many memories of the show box going back 20 years.
Me and my fiance always make it a point to celebrate our anniversary by going to shows there.
and some of our best memories of shows.
The Showbox importance doesn't just lie in arts and culture.
It lies in its unmistakable link in proximity to the Pike Place Market and its surrounding historical district.
These several blocks are some of the heaviest visited and biggest attractions to tourists and locals alike.
Tourists want to see the storied Showbox and not just another giant hotel that looks like everything else in our city.
In 2018 alone, more than 200 people, or 200,000 people saw 422 artists at the Showbox.
That's a lot of people spending a lot of money that equals a lot of tax revenue.
Just then add that to all the tax revenue of visitors in the Pike Place Market General Historical District.
In a city known for its lengthy and legendary musical landscape and history, we're slowly losing many of the places where this rich cultural heritage was established and what truly put us on the map and brought acclaim to Seattle.
If we don't stop to think and consider the culture and history it could be losing, we will surely regret it in the years to come and generations that follow.
In the case of the Showbox, we cannot simply afford to lose one of the shining beacons that has literally seen it all and still stands today.
As a vastly expanding and thriving city, we have to stand our ground and say what few unique cultural hubs we have left.
We must not let greed and constant redevelopment turn our beautiful, unique city into something we hardly recognize or want to visit or live in.
We have to work and save all the places that simply make us uniquely Seattle.
We did it with saving the Pike Place Market.
We can and must do it again with the Showbox.
And we just need the time to do it.
So please give us the time and due diligence.
Thank you.
And the final signed up speaker is Jean Bateman.
If there are other folks who would like to speak, I'd request that you line up at one of the mics.
Jean.
Thank you so much.
I wish to thank you for considering this extension.
We hope you will vote yes.
The show box is woven into the cultural and heritage tourism fabric of the historic four corner entrance to the Pike Place Market at First and Pike.
The Showbox, along with the Hahn Building, which is a working man's hotel, the Green Tortoise at 103 Pike, serve as historic market wayfinding buildings.
They're known by citizens and tourists from around the world.
Our region's citizens, employees, and visitors see that history doesn't stop at the clock.
These historic buildings, like the Showbox, encourage people to step across to the east side of First Avenue, and to continue on into our city.
They've been welcoming citizens and visitors for decades and decades.
Please protect these buildings, such as the Showbox, to allow for authentic and expanded cultural heritage tourism for the next 50 years in Seattle.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
We have Rico Cordongo.
I once knew how to say your last name.
It's been a while.
It's good to see you, Rico.
Followed by Sarah Patton.
Thank you, Lisa, and Abel, and Mike, and Shama.
Thank you for letting us speak today.
My name, again, is Rico Kidding-Dongo.
I am the Civic Design Lead.
for the architecture firm that I work for, DLR Group.
I sat on the Historic Seattle Council for six years, and I'm currently the chair for the Pike Place Market PDA Council, where this is a super important issue we're dealing with here today, and I know that you guys know that.
I also know that you know that the PDA is a very important stakeholder in this process.
You've all heard that the work hasn't been completed, that the study needs to be finished, and we are here to support that statement.
We believe the same.
I think that in addition to that, I would suggest two things.
We're talking about not only context, we're talking about history, and we're talking about zoning.
When the study is completed, I think that we do need to have, you know, I will go there.
SMC 2334.124B, which is boundaries criteria of the district.
We need to have a zoning consultant look at that criteria as we look at this conversation.
And it may be that we aren't just simply talking about that individual site that is the showbox.
So I would encourage that as we take the next step forward, moratorium extension or not.
So thank you for your support.
Thank you for all your work.
And we need to be a partner with, the PDA needs to be a partner with you in the process.
We would like to help.
So please reach out to us and we'll answer the call.
Thank you.
And Sarah Patton will be followed by Amber King.
Hi, I'm Sarah Patton.
I'm here today as the advocacy chair for the Friends of the Market.
Also, as a volunteer for Friends of the Market, I started when I was 15 in 1964 with that work.
So I've been doing this for a long time.
I served for 10 years on the Market Historical Commission.
So I really think that the possibility of extending this expansion is a good one.
It'll give the time to deal with the issues that are coming up.
It'll give the time for a real public process, which didn't get started during the previous six months, to find out what's going on.
And I also want to echo the comments of Kate Craft for Friends of the Market and say, yes, please extend this expansion.
Thank you.
Hi, welcome.
My name is Amber King.
I am chairwoman of Our Revolution King County.
I'm also a PCO in Shoreline.
My family has been in Seattle since the turn of the century, helping build this city from the ground up and many times over.
I also work in construction presently, and I grew up working in the Pike Place Market, going to school and the art school down the street that is now closed.
I've seen so many shows at the Showbox.
I've seen so many shows at all the other venues that have now closed.
And I really want to urge you to understand the importance of the arts in this city.
Without our art and music, this city dies.
We can build as many condos, as many apartments that nobody can afford, but without the vitality of the arts community, that is why we are here, that is why we've stayed here, that is why we're fighting for it, that is why my children are here, and that's why it's important to me.
So please extend this for six months.
Thank you.
Thank you all for joining us and testifying.
If there are no more testifiers, I'll close the public hearing and move on to discussion of the legislation itself.
Okay, well, we'll close the public hearing.
So before we go into deliberations around the legislation, I want to signal my hope that we can vote on Council Bill 119504 because we had a public hearing today and because the Council rules Specify that when we have a public hearing we don't vote on the legislation at that public hearing in this case with my colleagues support I would like to consider suspension of the rules given that I will make a a motion If there's no objection the council rule relating to voting on a final committee vote on the same day a public hearing is held Will be suspended to allow the committee to vote on council bill 11 9504 May have second second fantastic.
Thank you all those in favor on Suspending the rules vote aye aye None opposed, none abstaining.
Now, I would welcome discussion and comments on the legislation before us.
No?
I'm deferring to my colleagues on the council.
If there is no discussion, I have some comments, but I have a feeling there will be.
We're just maybe trying to figure out who's going first.
Council Member O'Brien.
I'm supportive.
Right.
An easy crowd to read.
My question is on the length of the extension at six months, confidence level that will be done, doing the math, that's early December, and are rules like that's what we can do right now and if we have to come back in December we'll do it again.
Under Washington state law, you can only extend it for six months after which time you'll have to have another public hearing to extend it further.
Okay.
Doing my math of my time and some of Chico's time in the council, so maybe we'll see you all again in six months, but hopefully...
Hopefully not.
Hopefully we get to a resolution and we have a long-term path that's going to save the show box.
That's my hope.
Lish, can you speak a little bit to the executives process and where they're at in it?
And also, what you know of who they've who the consultant has begun engaging with and what we can hope for in the future.
To just respond a little bit to what we've heard today about stakeholders who have not heard from the executive's consultant.
My understanding is that they are about to start their outreach process, including both online and in-person outreach.
I don't know who they've talked to so far, but I have a list of people that I will make sure that they are talking to in the future.
Thank you.
I have a feeling some of the people that they have reached out to are property owners in the broader area, because those are the people we're hearing from, and I'm imagining that we're hearing from them because they've received some sort of initial engagement.
But yes, we definitely want to make sure that that engagement goes beyond simply the property owners in the study area.
I just want to say a few words about cultural spaces in the city.
It is such a significant concern and issue that the Office of Arts and Culture a couple years ago put together something called the CAP Report for Creation, Activation, and Preservation of Existing Cultural Spaces, and that report made note of the fact that it is, and I'm going to quote from the report, I don't want to pretend these are my words, that it's a neighborhood's theaters, galleries, music halls, artist studios, community centers, museums, and cinemas that showcase vitality and reflect character, attracting residents, businesses, and visitors.
The value of cultural spaces and activities can be quantifiable, driving economic growth and urban development.
Blocks in Seattle with cultural spaces have significantly higher walk scores.
More businesses open at 10 p.m.
on Fridays, adding to the public safety of the community.
Twice as many outdoor cafe seating permits and three times as many photos uploaded to social media.
Despite cultural spaces' role in strengthening neighborhoods, creating and maintaining these spaces in strong real estate markets can be extremely difficult.
The older, More eccentric spaces that often house cultural uses and small businesses are particularly vulnerable to development-driven displacement.
The report goes on to identify the accolades that Seattle has received from our vibrant arts life.
Top US city for culture and business insider.
America's top 12 arts places.
world's five best cities for arts and culture, five best up-and-coming cities for art and culture, five top coolest cities, Forbes, greatest city in the US for starting a business, and several others.
These accolades reflect an active ecosystem of cultural life treasured locally and recognized nationwide.
Again, in a real estate market like we have right now, precisely what makes us so successful as an arts and culture city, and as a city generally, is also what makes these venues vulnerable.
And I wanna...
tip my hat to the work that the Office of Arts and Culture has been doing around preserving these spaces.
They are working at looking at creating potentially a PDA as a mechanism to preserve art spaces in the future, and that's great work, but I think the city needs to look at what we can do now.
And so, for that reason, I'm very supportive of this legislation extending the Pike Pace Market District, Historic District, to include this piece of property in the interim basis of the next six months.
Council Member Sawant.
I just wanted to also add that we actually wouldn't be here if it were not for several things, but one of them the fight that happened to save the Pike Place Market nearly 50 years ago.
And at that time, as some of you have said, and many of us have read, because of the Save the Showbox struggle, we've read the history of the Pike Place Market.
It's only here today because there was a movement at that time to save it from the same kinds of forces that we are talking about here.
The same question that came up then is coming up now, but except in a much bigger way.
What kind of city do we want?
What kind of vision do we have for our city?
Do we want it to be just a place where the wealthiest of the wealthy can live and a place that is slowly but surely becoming a devoid of the culture that we all are, you know, so greatly value?
Or do we want a city that has vibrant culture and has a space for everybody, regardless of our race, regardless of our income, and you don't have to be a six-figure salary earner to be able to live here?
As Shua said, we don't need more luxury units.
What we need is affordable housing.
So I really wanted to commend our movement, our collective effort, that has made it very clear that this is not a fight between music and housing.
It's a fight between everything that we all value as ordinary people, music, culture, housing, a city that we can call our own, versus the endless greed for corporate profits.
So I just want to do, in addition to complementing our movement, also, you know, Let's leave here tonight with the reminder to ourselves that we are not going to be able to win the permanent expansion of the Pike Place Market boundary to save the showbox unless we keep building our movement.
That is why we are here in the first place, thanks to all the 118,000 people who signed the petition.
We haven't seen all of those 118,000 people.
But we know that they care because I don't know the last time we had a petition that had so many signatures.
And so can I make an appeal that you all also sign the rent control petition?
You know, we are also fighting for rent control in this city.
So if you're here and you support music, I think you also support affordable housing.
I'm going to make a safe bet there.
So make sure you sign the rent control petition as well.
And I wanted to thank All the people who have fought for this, but I especially wanted to give a shout out to all the Showbox employees, Shannon, Ernie, Nick, Misha, who have done such incredible, incredible work.
And I wanted to echo something that Misha said really spoke to me.
She mentioned grunge and how it has roots in working class culture.
That really spoke to me because I'm not from Seattle, I'm an immigrant from Mumbai, and I've been here only 10 years.
And I feel such a strong connection with Seattle's culture because it is a culture that speaks to everybody in many different ways.
And grunge, you know, grunge is part of what I identify with.
So, you know, this is something that everybody feels a connection to regardless of how long you've lived here.
And that's why let's save the show box, not shave it.
Council Member Pacheco.
To Shaw's point, I thought everybody moved here for the weather.
Well, I just have a quick question, Lish.
A couple of questions.
One, what was the payment for affordable housing initially estimated?
There was never an application for a development on this site.
We don't have that information.
There was a proposal in the media that was about 440 units of housing on this site and the adjacent site.
And I saw estimates in the media up to $5 million of affordable housing, but the project never got to the point where there was an actual number.
And my follow-up to that, specifically, I guess I haven't received this in detail yet, but why is this delayed so long, specifically?
What's causing the delay?
I think the biggest part of the delay was that the Department of Neighborhoods didn't have funding to start the work until January of 2019. As council was adopting the legislation last year, we're aware that there wasn't funding available at that time for the work, and that additional funding might need to be identified.
That was identified in the fall budget process, and so that became available to the department about four months later than the original legislation expected.
So is the, can I just follow up?
Yeah, absolutely.
So is the backlog then, or is the delay, should the delay be, or the extension be three or four months to be consistent with what the delay is?
I think to be safe, setting it at six months would ensure that the work gets completed and that you don't have to come back during the budget process if they're not able to complete the work.
There is one step that could cause additional delays.
Environmental review would need to be undertaken.
And if that environmental review is appealed, it will further delay any legislation getting to council.
As a new member of the council, I just want to share with everyone how important, how difficult these decisions of a council member are and just how they come with trade-offs.
The trade-offs are typically not easy choices.
I think today's discussion really highlights a need for additional tools to support the arts and culture as our city grows.
At this point, I do not have sufficient information to make an informed decision about moving forward, so I will abstain from this vote.
So I also want to, before calling for a vote, I want to thank the folks who have contacted our offices in support of Ordinance 12560. These organizations are organizations who did not take a position last year on the temporary expansion.
That's Friends of the Market, Pike Place Market Foundation, Historic Seattle, although Historic Seattle did definitely take a position this time last year.
Sorry about that.
Rise Up Belltown, Fisher Studio Building, HOA, and the Friends of Historic Belltown.
So thank you for weighing in on at least giving us the time to study this issue further and giving the executive the necessary time to make some recommendations back to the council.
If there are no further questions, I will move passage of Council Bill 119504. Second.
Thank you.
All those in favor of Council Bill 119504, vote aye.
Aye.
All those abstaining?
Aye.
And none opposed?
And the vote passes three to one abstaining.
Thank you.
And if there is no further business to come before the committee, I will adjourn the committee.
It is 6.47 p.m.
Thank you all.