Seattle City Council 10/21/19

Good afternoon everybody.

Thank you for being here for our October 21st 2019 full City Council meeting.

It will now come to order.

It's 2 o'clock p.m.

I'm Bruce Harreld, President of the Council.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Bagshaw, here.

Gonzales, here.

Herbold, here.

Juarez, here.

O'Brien, here.

Pacheco, here.

Sawant, here.

President Harrell, here.

Seven present.

Thank you very much.

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

Hearing no objection, today's introduction and referral calendar is adopted.

And hearing no objection, today's agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, today's agenda is adopted.

I'll say for the viewing audience and for the beautiful audience we see this afternoon.

We are in the middle of budget and so we have one agenda item today and oh indeed what it is an important agenda item and so we look forward to that agenda item.

The minutes of the September 30th 2019 City Council meeting have been reviewed and if there's no objection the minutes will be signed.

Hearing no objection the minutes are signed.

There you go Madam Clerk.

presentations.

We have one presentation this afternoon in the presentation section and I'll turn the floor over to Council Member Herbold.

Thank you so much.

I have a proclamation honoring today as World Toilet Day.

This proclamation honors World Toilet Day which is an internationally recognized day in order to raise awareness and making toilets and hygiene services available and accessible as a human rights issue.

World Toilet Day is officially November 19th.

I'm sponsoring and presenting today, in partnership with Real Change, and several budget items intended to increase greater access to hygiene facilities and bathrooms.

Specifically, proposals both myself and Council Member Sawant have provided to adopt five mobile pit stops.

San Francisco has had success in adopting the mobile pit stop model and this week somebody from France wrote about the public health importance of this model.

Several of my colleagues have worked for years in order to increase access to our public bathroom facilities for the benefits it can provide.

to people living unsheltered, patrons and businesses in our urban villages and commercial district, as well as tourists.

I'm proud to sponsor this proclamation and the mobile pit stop proposal specifically because creating greater access to restrooms and hygiene services is a top recommendation from the navigation team audit done by the city auditor to manage the public health impacts of the homelessness crisis.

The city auditor found that there are only six 24-7 city-operated public toilets in the city, and that not only do bathroom facilities help keep our communities clean and mitigate the impact of communicable disease like Hep A, the auditor's report also notes that hygiene facilities can serve as a connection point to share resources for people experiencing homelessness.

If I may, I'd like to just read a couple highlights from the proclamation.

Please do.

If there's no objection, the rules will be suspended as well.

Please proceed.

Thank you.

According to the World Health Organization, today 4.2 billion people worldwide still live without a safe toilet and 673 million people still practice open defecation, whereas inadequate sanitation is estimated to cause 432,000 diarrheal deaths every year and is a major factor in diseases such as intestinal diseases and trachoma.

And dried feces can release dangerous viruses, such as rotavirus, which is the most common cause of diarrhea in infants and children worldwide.

80% of the wastewater generated by society flows back into the environment without being treated or reused.

And 1.8 billion people worldwide use an unimproved source of drinking water with no protection against contamination from human feces.

It goes on.

I encourage folks to review the citations about this crisis in the proclamation.

And I would love the opportunity to present the proclamation to the folks.

Please do.

We'd love to hear from our guests if they'd like to say a few words.

We need the toilets because I'm homeless, and it's hard to use the bathroom out here.

We don't have no place to go.

We got the library mainly, you know, and you can't make it to the library all the time if you cross town, you know, so we use that alley.

You know, I don't like going out in the public.

It's embarrassing, you know, so we need these toilets, you know, and it'll provide jobs, too.

You know, one of us could even get a job out there maybe working on them and help keep them clean.

Thank you, sir.

Hi, city council members.

My name is Lisa Sawyer.

I'm with Rail Change and part of the Resident Action Project with the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance.

As you guys know, we do need public toilets.

As you guys know, several years back, we had a public toilet in the Pike Place Market.

That didn't work out so well because of prostitution, drugs, and everything else on top of it.

With this model, it actually helps out because this one's being supervised, but not by just people that just work every day-to-day jobs, but people that actually have convicted felonies of actually trying to get a shot.

It helps them to get income, and we always want to get more jobs out there.

So this is a perfect opportunity to look at it like that as well.

It's more sanitary.

There's toilets inside, of course.

There's faucets.

There's a place where you can put your poop for the dogs, your pets, right outside.

There's also going to be a sink outside.

It's a great model.

I hope you guys have a chance to look at it.

I've been outside for the past, off and on, within seven years, and I always wanted to use the restroom, although I have to pay for it every time I went in.

And, of course, there's times it's so embarrassing to go in the alley, especially covering your mouth or covering your nose and everything else.

because it stinks.

That is not really sanitary and it's not really good reputation.

What we like to give people that come visit our city is seeing that we have a problem.

Most basically we do as a health issue.

So please put this under consideration and keep it in mind.

Everybody poos, even you guys do.

Have a good one.

I guess just it would be nice not to have to see the attack of the turd so frequently in the city.

And yeah, more businesses are encoding their bathrooms for customers only.

So I don't know.

France was, for tourism, they were charging people to use toilets last time I knew.

That might work, but this sounds like it'll work as far as limiting the amount of time and activities that might potentially go on in the rest of them.

It's too bad that for 10% of the time things go wrong, the other 90% of us end up paying for it.

Yeah, I just think it sounds like a good overall hopefully fix and convenient locations will be key too.

Thank you all.

Thank you for highlighting this issue.

Yes, it's something we're working for in the budget, but I also want to say solidarity to the folks here for Yes on I-1000.

And I want to just talk about how we are setting up people for failure outside to have to go to the bathroom.

It is a criminal offense.

You can become a sex offender if you are found to be going to the bathroom outside.

So this is also an issue of decriminalizing homelessness.

and making sure that everyone has a place to go outside.

And secondly, we also just really set people up for failure based on the color of their skin or whether or not they're taking a bunch of bags inside to a place, whether or not someone will subjectively decide that they're acceptable enough to use the bathroom.

Let's stop having people have to go through that outward discrimination and fund this program in the budget this year.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much.

I think that'll conclude our remarks from our presenters.

Councilman Herbold, are you on this?

This is not public comment.

This is on the resolution, on the proclamation for public toilets.

Are you, you're on the, I think you have a, I think you're gonna be on general comment, sir.

General comment, we'll give you some.

Okay, you can speak to that on general comment.

Councilman Herbold, I wanna thank you for bringing this.

to our attention, and for those that spoke, while it seems like perhaps an odd thing to talk about, this is a very serious subject, and one of which we are considering a very novel approach in our budget this year.

And under some leadership of a few of my colleagues, we're looking at some creative ideas on how to solve this issue.

So, Council Member Herbold, thanks for setting us up for those discussions we're having during our budget discussions.

Okay.

If there's any other comments that are needed, Council Member Gonzalez, you have the floor.

Just really quickly, I wanted to thank Council Member Herbold for her leadership in this space.

This really flows from an otherwise obvious need and gap in the hygiene systems across our city, but I want to commend you, Council Member Herbold, for your thoughtful approach in queuing up a data-driven, evidence-based pathway for us to consider your budget request in this budget cycle.

This really was something that was highlighted in the city auditor's report in the context of evaluating some of the issues related to the navigation team.

I think it's absolutely critical that we address this issue.

It's one of the concerns that we hear from both housed folks and people experiencing homelessness.

and really supportive of your approach to making sure that we're advancing this in a way that is really going to be truly supportive and successful.

So looking forward to working with you in these deliberations and really appreciate all the folks who came to give public testimony.

It's not easy to talk about these issues and really do appreciate your willingness to share with us your human experience and to remind us why we're sitting up here, which is to really address the most important and critical needs, the critical basic services and needs of the people living in our city.

And that, of course, includes those who need our services the most.

So thank you so much.

Thank you, Council Member Gonzalez.

Thank you.

All right.

Very good.

So this time we'll take public comment on items that appear on today's agenda or our introduction or referral calendar or our 2019 work program.

Public comment will be accepted for 20 minutes, giving speakers two minutes each for public comment.

Let me explain something that we're also doing when we have, when we are required to support something that is on the ballot.

There's actually two public comment sessions, and so you might have mistakenly signed up for general public comment, which is what we're doing now.

After general public comment, we'll introduce the legislation.

We'll have a separate public comment section on the resolution.

31913, which is dealing with the I-1000.

So, if you are for general comment, I'll call you out on the items.

But if you thought you wanted to speak on the other matter, just signal to me and we'll make sure you're on the other list.

And so, I have two lists.

So, we're on general public comment section and we'll lead with Eddie Rye followed by Leah Robbins.

I should be on another list, Mr. Chairman, to speak in favor of I-1000.

But I thought since the mayor had signed an executive order about three weeks ago for equity and inclusion, that I thought it'd just be good to remind everybody that she's taking that step.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

And Mr. Rye, would you still like to speak when the resolution comes up as well?

Yes, yes, I would.

As a matter of fact, Hayward Evans, the co-convener of the Washington State Civil Rights Coalition, I think he said something to all of your email addresses already.

So actually, I can pass my turn on to someone else.

Thank you.

Okay, so what we're going to do just to, thank you, Mr. Rye.

So I'm going to, Just take that as a signal that Mr. Rice is going to speak on 31913. And I want to make it something very clear that according to the rules in this state, that the testimony we allow for the resolution 31913, we have to extend opponents the same amount of time.

So I don't want to mix the two public comment sections.

It's very important for me to keep those separate.

So again, if you are on the list for general public comment, but speaking on that matter, just flag it and we'll transfer your name to the other public comment section.

We have Leah Robbins followed by Mark Oldridge.

It's no surprise that the homeless community are struggling.

We're worrying about where we will sleep and how we will stay out of the cold and how to stop our few belongings that we have from being stolen.

Worrying about our next meal and even if there is one.

How to stay safe from those who want to harm us.

Life is hard on the streets.

That is why we are so thankful for the generosity of our fellow Seattleites who have shown through the city's efforts to help provide housing.

It's not often the homeless feel valued and it means so much.

But the citizens of Seattle rightfully don't want homeless encampments and permanent fixtures in the city.

They want what we want, solutions, to help people break free from homelessness and get back on our feet.

Sometimes what feels like helping is actually making a problem worse.

We believe the current focus on temporary encampments and a few, if any, rehabilitation services are doing just that.

Shack encampments and advertised and tiny houses complete with shared spaces and communities of like-minded individuals all working together for happier lives.

However, this is anything but the truth.

The shack villages harbor awful conditions, no better than the dirty streets we came from.

Rats contaminate our spaces, bringing disease and filth.

The community rules and rarely enforces so many of the common spaces of piled trash, drug use with widespread of both shack and tent encampments, making them nearly impossible place for recovery from addiction.

Many of Seattle's homeless wound up on the streets because they suffer from addiction or mental health issues that require intense treatment to overcome.

Drug-infested temporary encampments that offer very little, if any, counseling addiction services, mental health treatment, and job training won't help people beat these problems.

They just leave people stuck on the streets permanently with no way to leave the city paying more and more for increasing problems.

We beg you to focus more of your time and money on things like provide actual solutions, real structures with real mental health services, real drug addiction treatment, recovery programs, real job training, and real security.

Thank you.

Thank you.

For many of us...

Let me ask you a question, Ms. Robbins.

Are you speaking as a group?

I see three people there are...

I'm speaking as part of the homeless, yes.

I am homeless.

So your time is run out.

We're all together.

Your time is run out.

So are you speaking as a group?

We'll allow five minutes if you're going to speak as a group.

Yes, we're speaking as a group.

Okay.

Go ahead.

For many of us, city services are our last hope.

We need solutions.

We want lasting change.

Please help us get that.

Thank you.

Oh, I wouldn't have interrupted you.

I know you're just that much left.

Thank you very much for your comments.

Mark, followed by Daniel Long.

Hello.

Should I talk now?

Yes, you're on, sir.

My name is Mark Oldridge.

I've been a lifelong Seattleite.

Can you raise the microphone a little bit?

Yeah, so we can hear you.

Hi.

My name is Mark Ulrich.

I'm a lifelong resident of Seattle.

I'm 59 years old.

I've been homeless in every single decade of my life here in Seattle.

I have, with the exception of the last 13 years, been involved in the criminal justice system here in Seattle.

I have cost the taxpayer millions of dollars alone in recidivism costs, homeless costs.

And it wasn't until recently that I got services and drug treatment and the things that help.

And I'm six months clean and sober.

I'm getting a job.

I'm ready to get back up on my feet.

But the low-bury homeless encampments you got, I use them as a criminal base of operations.

when I was using and selling.

That's what they're for.

If you got drugs but you don't have customers, you go to the homeless encampments and the needle exchanges.

If you need drugs, you go to the homeless encampments and the needle exchanges.

It is a magnet for criminal activity, not a magnet for services.

That's what we need.

Unless you're willing to write off a whole section of your population, you know, all the kids that you wash out of foster care, unless you want to write them off, then you need to look at that low barrier stuff.

It causes more many problems than it solves.

That's all I got.

Thank you, sir.

Daniel Long followed by John.

Is Daniel Long here?

No.

Going once, twice, okay.

John, no last name, just John.

There's a very John here.

I think, oh, John Tiffany, I think they spoke on the telecoms.

I'm just going to read off the names.

John Tiffany McCoy, Lisa Sawyer, and then David Haynes.

Where'd David go?

You're up, David.

Yeah, right.

Can I be on the other comment list as well?

I just wanted to say, for what has already been spoken, that, first of all, tax breaks are supposed to benefit the local community, not oppress the civilized needs of bathroom use.

That's it, Mr. Haynes?

Oh, no.

Believe me, I wasn't trying to solicit more.

I just was...

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

Be my guest.

Oh, you want to speak on the hearing the affirmative action here?

Yes, okay, we'll we'll We'll put you up for that one.

You got it.

Okay, if that's all for public comment on regular public comment I'm gonna close the public comment section Thank you And we're gonna move to the payment of the bills, so please read the title I

Council Bill 119666, appropriating money to pay for auditing claims for the week of October 7th, 2019 through October 11th, 2019 and ordering the payment thereof.

I'll move to pass Council Bill 119666. It's been moved and seconded.

The bill passed.

Any questions or comments?

If not, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Beg Shah.

Aye.

Gonzales.

Aye.

Herbold.

Aye.

Juarez.

Aye.

O'Brien.

Aye.

Jaco.

Aye.

Zawad.

Aye.

President Harrell.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Bill passed and the Chair will sign it.

Okay, as provided under RCW 42.17A.555, the city council will now consider the adoption of Resolution 31913. And at the conclusion of our comments, council members' comments, the council will hear comments from the members of the public who wish to speak on the resolution.

And an approximate equal opportunity will be given to speak to members of the public.

And will the clerk, with that admonition, please read agenda item number one into the record.

The report of the City Council Agenda Item 1, Resolution 31913, concerning Washington Referendum Measure Number 88, proposing voter approval of Initiative Measure Number 1000, and urging Seattle voters to vote approved on Referendum 88 on the November 5th, 2019 general election ballot.

Okay, to put the matter into the record, I will move to adopt Resolution 31913. moved and seconded to adopt the resolution.

We'll now hear from council members on the resolution.

I'll begin the discussion and if any other council members would like to say a few words, feel free to.

On the outset, there's been some confusion regarding Washington State Referendum Measure 88 that's in front of us now regarding Initiative 1000. For that reason, I want to make it very clear that 31913, this resolution proposes voter approval and urging voters to vote approved on Initiative 1000 that will be found on the ballot under Washington Referendum Measure 88. We're hoping that that word gets out and that there's very clear because when an initiative 200 was initially passed in 1988 I personally believe there were many voters that were confused on what the heck they were voting on during that time in 1998 I'll say a few words about the resolution and about the the I1000, I hope to not steal the thunder from some of our greater speakers in the audience, but I would like to sort of lay the groundwork.

First of all, with the support of the voters on the November 5th, 2019 general election ballot initiative, I-1000 would affirm a new law from our Washington state legislature was passed this last past spring that would guarantee equal opportunity and access to public institution and businesses without discrimination based on race, or sex, or color, or ethnicity, or national origin.

or age, or sexual orientation, or disability, or military status.

The new law reverses a 20-year-old ban on affirmative action policies while ensuring fairness by specifically forbidding quotas and preferential treatment based solely on the listed characteristics.

And this law adds accountability by establishing a governor's commission on diversity, equity, and inclusion to monitor the state agency's compliance with this legislation.

Last spring, I attended a hearing on I-1000, and I was very glad to see many of the people in the audience today.

And at that public hearing, former Governor Dan Evans, the Republican who created the State Commission on Civil Rights in 1965, testified before the state legislators.

And he said, the door of opportunity is still just ajar and not fully open.

We can do better than that, and I believe that Initiative 1000 is a responsible measure that will help us throw the doors of opportunity wide open.

And that's coming from a Republican.

So I understand that embracing change for some voters may be hard, but we are faced with, I think, insurmountable data that reflects an unfair burden on societal inequality.

We can't just rely on good intentions of government or people.

We must be very intentional about the decisions and the choices we make as a legislative body.

According to state data, when I-2000 was passed in 1988, 13.31% of expenditures by state agencies and educational institutions went towards certified minority and women-owned businesses.

However, in fiscal year 2000, that figure, 13.31, declined to 3.6 of expenditures.

From 1998 to 2019, the number of certified women and minority-owned businesses has fallen 45 percent from 4,917 to 2,700.

This is according to the Office of Minority and Women's Businesses Enterprises.

In 2018, Washington veteran unemployment rate was nearly 25 percent higher than the national average.

Washington is only one of eight states that are restricted affirmative action.

Like I said, good intentions are not enough.

So I'm asking each council member and each voter to really show, I believe, what their true values are so that we can respond to this new data and see the return to justice that we'd like to see.

So with that, I'm asking our council to adopt Resolution 31913. Would any of my colleagues like to say any remarks on Resolution 31913?

This would be the time.

Council Member O'Brien?

Yeah, thanks for those words, Council President Harrell, and thanks for the advocates.

It's been my 10 years in office here.

The city's had to get creative to figure out how to advance our values and agenda under the constraints of I-200, and it's great that we're at a point where the legislature has moved to reverse that.

Unfortunately, we have to go to the vote for this, but I'm thrilled for the opportunity to be Recommending to the voters of Seattle and anyone else who's listening to us that we should all vote yes on initiative 1,000.

Thank you Councilmember O'Brien.

Any comments from any of my colleagues?

Yes?

Councilmember Juarez, you have the floor ma'am.

I'll be brief.

Council President, I believe it was passed in 1998. Correct.

Did I misstate that one?

I said 88. Did I say 88?

Yeah, but that's okay.

You're the only one who heard me say 1980. I said 1990. My apologies.

This is the time where I enjoy now being 60 years old and I was in Olympia working for a governor when this went down.

And I remember how volatile and how difficult it was.

And some of the most racist and vile things were said about those of us, affirmative action, not being qualified.

being led into the door of college and law school, and we didn't belong there.

And I had hoped that we would never return to those kind of conversations again.

I say this as a person who grew up on the Puyallup Reservation, put myself through college and law school with help from my tribe, but more importantly, for other people of color behind me to be a mentor and keep that door open.

And there's a reason why this law is focused on, and this is why I'm so supportive of it, is public education and employment is the equalizer in our society to justice.

If we don't have that equalizer, if we don't have this world and this country valuing our minds and our integrity into these institutions, then we will never be there.

Because of this, I sit here today.

I got into college and law school not because I was Native American and Latina.

I got in there because I was qualified.

And the recent issues that we've seen with some people buying their ways through legacy into institutions and going to prison sickens me.

We have watched the legacy.

The only difference between affirmative action and a legacy of people with rich is they have institutionalized that and they made it okay.

I've watched it my whole life.

So I have one more note before I will get off my soapbox.

As some of you know, I don't always talk a lot.

But we are one of 21 states in this country where we have a case pending in the United States Supreme Court where we recognize and protect the transgender community.

One of 21 states.

This case is now pending in the United States Supreme Court to whether or not if you're LGBTQ and transgender, that whether or not that's a constitutional right to be protected for health care, for education.

So only 21 states in our country recognize that right.

So we have gone back into time.

I feel like it's 1980 again.

1970 again.

I feel like this is a time where young folks, particularly people of color, are being told that their mind and their value and their future isn't being valued.

that they belong in these higher institutions.

And so as a mother with two daughters, 28 and 25, they've had the blessing and the legacy of me being able to go to law school and have it provide for them, but not everyone does.

And so I'm hoping that those of you here today, and thank you.

And I'm hoping that those who are out there watching, support and vote yes, and vote to approve initiative 1000. So thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Juarez for those comments.

Comments from the dais, from any of my colleagues?

I don't wanna pressure you, but I'll make sure you have the opportunity, okay.

Having said that, we will now have a lot of time for comments from the public, either in support of or in opposition to.

And I will start with the in support of, since we have an overwhelming amount of signatures there.

As is our historical practices, we'd like to recognize current or former elected representatives.

And in this case, we have an organizer, Mr. Jesse Wineberry, who's the chair and former state representative with Mr. Nathaniel Jackson, the I-1000 sponsor, who signed up first.

So please come forward and address some comments.

You've identified yourself as being part of a group, so we'll allow five minutes.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I need to apologize for Mr. Nathaniel Jackson, who is the sponsor of I-1000.

He had a medical issue that kept him in Olympia.

He lives in Lacey, and so he's not able to be here with us.

But he's asked that I present these remarks on behalf of the entire committee.

So first of all, good afternoon, Council President Harrell and all council members.

I'm an attorney and former State Representative Jesse Weinberg, Chair of the One Washington Equality Campaign Committee, the authors of Initiative 1000 and organizers of the Approve I-1000 campaign.

Before I go any further, I want to give honor on behalf of the One Washington Equality Campaign and acknowledge that we are on indigenous land, the unceded ancestral lands of the Duwamish people, Seattle's host tribe.

a people that has occupied this land since time immemorial, a people who are still living right here today, fighting for Federal recognition and bringing to light the Duwamish Tribe's rich heritage.

On this land, we come today to urge your passage of Seattle City Council Resolution 31913. We enthusiastically support this resolution, which encourages all Seattle voters to approve I-1000, the Washington State Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Act on Referendum 88. It's really quite fitting that the City of Seattle or for the City of Seattle to make its voice heard on this Diversity Act because Seattle symbolizes the birthplace of diversity in our state.

Over 170 years ago, one of the first acts of diversity was not by a member of the majority white community seeking to include people of color.

It was an act of diversity by Chief Sealth, a native man of color and chief of the majority Duwamish and Suquamish tribes, when he extended his hand of welcome to minority white settlers onto the land which would one day become the city of Seattle.

Today's I-1000 is the people's initiative to the Washington State Legislature, but it started over one year ago right here in Seattle.

It was drafted in Seattle, and the first people to sign on I-1000 were Seattle residents of all races, ages, and cultures at Mount Zion Baptist Church.

A movement which started in Seattle ultimately spread throughout the entire state.

And when it was all said and done, more than 395,000 Washington voters had signed I-1000, the most signatures for any initiative to the legislature in Washington state history.

We bring you now a people's representative which has been thoroughly vetted.

Unlike Initiative 200, which killed affirmative action for women and people of color in 1998, I-1000 has been passed by the Washington State Legislature, approved by the King County Council, upheld by the Washington State Courts, endorsed by not only Governor Jay Inslee, but every living former Democrat and Republican Washington State Governor.

I-1000 bans discrimination today and creates the state's first Governor's Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to monitor all discrimination in the future.

That is one of the reasons why I-1000 has been endorsed by the Seattle Times, the Stranger, the News Tribune, the Olympian, and the Vancouver Columbia newspapers.

I-1000 replaces I-200's old racially blind policy with a new racially conscious policy, which was recently upheld by the Federal District Court Judge Alison Burroughs in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University.

So the courts, State and Federal, have spoken.

The Legislature has spoken.

The State's largest county, named for Dr. King himself, has spoken.

So now we are asking the Seattle City Council to speak loudly and proudly on I-1000 by urging the State's largest city to approve I-1000 on Referendum 88. And once I-1000 is law, we will be back to ask the City Council to pass an ordinance requiring every city agency to implement I-1000.

Because as we all know, the only thing worse than a bad law is a good law that's never implemented.

So thank you for allowing public testimony on Resolution 31913. We urge your unanimous yes vote.

Thank you, Mr. Weinberg.

Thank you.

Thank you much.

We have the Honorable Representative Sharon Tomiko Santos here in our house today.

Nice to have you here.

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, Council President Harrell and members of the Seattle City Council.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to you today in favor of Resolution 31913. My name is Sharon Tomiko Santos.

I am a state representative, proudly representing the 37th Legislative District, the most diverse legislative district in the state of Washington.

I am here both on behalf of the residents of the 37th District, but as a private citizen as well.

I am here because when I was elected 21 years ago, I-200 was also on the ballot.

I can tell you that I 200 purported to level the playing field for all persons.

I 200 purported to end discrimination.

I'm here to tell you that that was a false promise.

As both the council president and former representative Wineberry have spoken, the numbers tell the tale.

In 1998 to 2016, I have a little outdated numbers, the state's investments in women and minority owned businesses plummeted 23.3%.

from $227 million to $174.6 million.

The investments overall increased $1.7 billion to $6.1 billion.

I could go on about subpopulations of our Seattleites who are not represented in higher education and employees who have met the glass ceiling.

I am wanting to tell you that since this measure was enacted, I have led efforts in the legislature to repeal I-200, including and up to unsigned voting on I-1000.

Mr. Council President, members of the Council, I want you to know that every single member of the Seattle delegation voted for I-1000.

And so I ask you, too, to join with us in voting for this resolution and urging the citizens of Seattle to support Referendum 88 and I-1000.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Representative Tomiko Santos.

Thank you very much.

I'm going to go on the other list in Opposition 2. And we'll draw from Mr. David Haynes who will speak in opposition of Resolution 31913.

racist disgraces all over the places.

This city is the most reverse racist city in America's 21st century.

One of my heroes, Martin Luther King Jr. said, judge a man by the content of his character, not the color of his skin.

Yet city council is financing a racist budget that smudges on data as lives go splatter.

In fact the sponsor of this referendum is in violation of the U.S.

Constitution's separation of church and state.

The church in question that hosted a city council meeting who created this ugly racist referendum used 1.5 million dollars of church money to finance the petition drive and now city council is going to allow them to make that money back by shaking down taxpayers, charging social welfare budgets to finance homeless encampments, on toxic unsafe soil at the church as city council circumvents every first world zoning and soil and environmental law proving they really hate the poor and are okay with subhuman mistreating the homeless and trading the integrity of council for more re-election support at expense of health of homeless and taxpayers fed up with liberals who have imploded our society.

Perhaps City Council should create a declaration of solidarity with the oppressed people of Catalonia and come out against the evil empire of Spain.

Supporting Referendum 88 is proof Seattle is the most racist city in America and should be boycotted out of principle.

Shame on City Council's race-baiting and class war-hating accommodation of hypocrites who base their judgments on the past already overthrown but for the educations of hate who feed off negativity and blame games.

Thank you Mr. Haynes.

Now we'll go back to the support of the resolution and we'll hear from Mr. Haywood Evans to be followed by Mr. Eddie Rye.

Haywood Evans is not here.

I am Eddie Rye Jr. and I'm here in support of the resolution.

You know, we talk about what the state has lost in terms of activity and opportunities for people of color and women, and it was like calculated to be $3 billion at the state.

Representative Santos already has submitted legislation in 2012. Unfortunately, it was never used.

Her legislation, Substitute Bill 1328, would allow municipalities to restrict bidding to three firms.

If the firm was doing under $250,000 a year and the contract was for $30,000 or $40,000, You would select three firms, regardless of color or gender, and those three firms, those small firms would bid for that contract.

It could also go another step, contracts up to $250,000, firms that's doing under a million dollars a year could bid pettitively for those contracts.

Unfortunately, that law was never used.

And after eight, nine years, it could have made a huge difference with a lot of our firms.

And we also have to look at the fact, the economic impact it has.

Right now, the city of Seattle is 4% African-American or descended of United States slaves, 4%.

And all that has to do with economic inequality.

So I'm proud to hear that the city council is intending on supporting this resolution.

And I hope that the mayor and everybody else does the same thing.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Wright.

Our next two speakers will be Royal Alley Barnes followed by Barakay Kairos.

Good afternoon, Mr. Council President and Council Members.

This is a true story.

My name is Royal Alley Barnes, Royal Alley Barnes Consultants.

In 2016, Washington State was home to 19 Squaws, 6 Coons, 5 Negroes, 3 Jim Crows, 2 Redmen, and a Chinaman as names on Washington State maps.

Academics have said, and I quote, these names were a product of a white supremist society that sought to naturalize its racist and sexist ideology by inscribing it, the ideology, into the symbolic fabric of the cultural landscape.

Electric officials have since coordinated efforts to scrub these racist references from our natural landscapes.

In 2019, economic and education opportunity losses have been designed by similar white supremacists and their collaborators.

They have woven new patterns of economic and education inequity into the core fabrics of brown and black communities.

This must stop.

We urge the City Council to shred these oppressive fabrics of economic and education inequities that are currently suffocating our communities.

Support Initiative 1000. Thank you, Ms.

Barnes.

Mr. President and esteemed members of City Council, my name is Barakat Kiros, and I am the co-chair of CIRC Coalition of Immigrant, Refugee, and Communities of Color.

The Approval Initiative Affirmative Action is necessary and argues that discrimination in the past has a profound impact on the future.

and the generation of poverty and inequality leave minorities disadvantaged even when society attitudes change.

I argue that diversity is good for educational institutions and workplaces, that decades of discrimination result in less diversity at school and work, which in turn reinforces poverty and inequality among minorities.

The passage of Initiative 1000 Affirmative Action Policy helps in which historical unprivileged minorities are given preference during hiring or university admission.

It's no time to oppose Initiative 1000 Affirmative Action, given the history of slavery and its continued pervasive racial discrimination.

To think otherwise is a selective loss of memory.

The continuing failure to significantly reduce de facto discrimination prevents many from perceiving equal opportunity today.

Black unemployment, poverty, homelessness are twice that of white, where the accumulation for blacks is one-twentieth of what it is for whites.

Similar disparities also for Hispanics.

Racial profiling in the criminal justice system is rampant.

To prohibit affirmative action in admission to state college and university has flawed.

Affirmative action characterized unfair preference rather than a justified remedy.

It is a travesty of justice.

Especially in the age of Donald Trump, when our nation is deeply divided, but there is a better, less divisive way to achieve the goal of opening doors to elite universities to disadvantaged students of all races who are now largely shut off higher education.

The United States, most people associate affirmative action with the preference hiring or admitting African-Americans.

However, federal affirmative action laws are also in place for women, veterans, and people with disability.

Furthermore, local government also enacted different affirmative action laws.

However, while some argue that affirmative action is still necessary, others argue that it is not an end.

In fact, it worsens the racial tension.

It is now time for the City of Seattle to consider passing into the law to create economic and educational opportunity for a historically marginalized group of people.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Next two speakers, Tony Orange and Kibibi Monet.

Tony Orange and Khabibi.

And then Winona Hollingsworth-Hage will follow that.

One, two, three.

Sorry, I didn't give you much forewarning there, Tony.

Tony, Khabibi, and Winona.

Good afternoon.

My name is Tony Orange.

As a Seattle stakeholder and concerned citizen regarding everyday experiences of African-Americans in public education, employment, and contracting, I come today to share my strong support for Resolution 31913 concerning Initiative 1000 and Referendum 88. The studies are in.

The statistics are clear.

Twenty years and three billion dollars is enough Now is the time, this is the place, and we are the ones.

Last but not least, I want to publicly thank President Harrell and council members for your support of the Public Defenders Association.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Orange.

Ms. Kibibi, make sure we're here.

We're followed by Winona and then Jodi Olney, Director of the Indian Services Commission.

Good morning, Council.

Thank you very much for hearing our statements.

My name is Kibibi Monet and I'm the Executive Director of New Black Arts West Theater.

I'm here on behalf of my community.

The system needs to be repaired.

And these are some words from the last poet, and I hope it will touch your ears.

For the millions who were shot, hunt, beat to death, tar and feathered, boiled and oiled.

castrated, miseducated, segregated, for the millions who've been lied to, denied to, vampire-eyed to, misguided to, and not abided to.

So we decided.

We decided to get together and change the weather, not just for now, but forever.

We decided to love each other, stop the madness, and be real sisters and brothers.

Greatness is where we're coming from.

For the millions who marched, sang, prayed, sat, laid in, lived in, and jailed in, boycotted, picketed, spit at, cursed at, yelled at like blacks not where it's at, like we should be satisfied to ride in the back.

For the millions who know and those who have always known that no matter what, truth crushed to the earth shall rise again, no matter how many bullets and prisons, diseases and deaths, no matter how much liquor and crack.

Nothing can kill the fact that we are a divine creation, started civilization, built the pyramids and the sphinx, taught the world how to pray and think.

For the millions who are ready to turn this thing around, who are tired of being tired and crawling on the ground, it's time to turn this mess around.

And we say, for liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kibibi.

Winona will be followed by Jodi and then Sean.

Good afternoon.

My name is Winona Hollins-Hague.

I am a former commissioner for African American Affairs for the state of Washington, also former council member for the Healthcare Disparities Council.

I have for the last, I'm a native of Seattle.

And for the last 20 years, I actually have seen and felt the impact of discrimination that I-200 and Tim Eyman's initiative brought here to the citizens of Washington State.

I, being 66 years old now, I consider myself one of those older people that I used to think were the older people.

say that I-1000 prohibits age discrimination and I-1000 in prohibiting age discrimination realizes that some of us may have to go back to work with the current economy as it is.

So we are advocating that you look at I-1000 and and make sure that you know that it also helps to support the aged people with disabilities.

And also, it prevents gender discrimination.

It prohibits the LGBTQ discrimination.

And it strengthens our veterans.

And I'm a former U.S.

Public Health Service officer, so I'm always concerned about the way we can do things to help to affirm and create a better opportunity for our veterans.

Again, take this opportunity today to say no to the monies that are coming in with the big signs saying reject all over the place.

Say that because you know that that money is foreign money and those Chinese nationals that are against this are being funded by very highly political foreign entities.

We need to take control of this situation ourselves and say we affirm I-1000 because it's the right thing to do and it's the only thing to do.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Jody, Sean Bagsby, and then Pedro Espinosa.

Good afternoon.

Is this on?

Yes.

Can you hear me?

The green light should be on.

Is it on?

Okay.

Good afternoon.

My name is Jody Olney.

I work with the Seattle Indian Services Commission.

I want to thank Council President Harrell and the City Council for bringing this resolution.

And what I want to speak about is more of my lived experience and the impact of I-200, the expectation that communities of color, and folks who do get into various institutions in the city and in the state have the time and energy to continue to advocate for increased representation, increased access, and to find that people don't want to violate I-200.

They don't want to get in trouble.

They're well-intentioned.

And so I fully support Initiative 1000. And I'm encouraged that this might actually mean that the teeth that have been missing through so many initiatives in the past, so many task forces that set about righting these wrongs and bringing more equity might actually have the room to do that.

I think that individuals get hit up for these, you know, can you give this to your community?

Can you quietly tell people that we want people of color in these rooms even just to be heard?

And I guess it felt important to come and say that because it might be lost on institutions that this work is expected to come for free in addition to your day job, in addition to school.

And it's, you're supposed to be tireless.

And at the end of the day here, Sorry, I 200 blocks us from doing that.

So I just wanted to thank you all for your support, and I hope that Washington State gets some clarity from this and moves us in a positive direction.

Thank you, Judy.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, members of the City Council.

My name is Sean Bagsby.

My preferred pronouns are he and him, and I'm proud to serve as the Political Director of Membership Development Coordinator for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, IBEW Local 77. We represent over 8,400 electrical workers across the majority of Washington State, Northern Idaho, and Northwestern Montana.

I also serve as the National Board Member of the Electrical Workers Minority Caucus, and I'm going to speak on behalf of those two hats, then I'll transition to a third hat in a few moments.

The negative impacts of I-200 are well documented.

I thank you, Council President, for setting the groundwork and my other colleagues for speaking on that regard and also speaking about the battle that it took in order to pass I-1000 to the Washington State Legislature this year.

On behalf of all of our members, especially our veterans, our, they don't like to be called old, but our more seasoned members, our sisters, our people of color, our LGBTQIA plus community, that I urge you all to move forward and pass this resolution.

Seattle is a world-class city.

I was fortunate to be born and raised here in Seattle, right off of 26th and John in the old central district.

and Seattle is not dying and is a world-class city and it's up to us to make sure that it continues that to be that going forward not just for us but for our children and our children's children.

I'd like to start those two hats down for a moment and speak on behalf of Sean Bagsby, the son of a Boeing worker and a Seattle public school teacher, Velma Bagsby, for 29 years, and a black man here in the city of Seattle where I was born and raised.

This is larger than all of us, and not everyone in this room will benefit from this, but as I stated earlier, it's for our children's children and for those that go forward that this great city with all of the economic availability and opportunity, to make sure that all people, regardless of what they look like, where they come from, that are here can benefit from it.

That is why I-1000 is extremely important.

So I encourage you to please adopt this resolution.

Thank you for all your hard work.

Thank you, Sean.

Pedro, before you begin, let me read off the next three names.

Following Pedro will be Kevin Washington, Nate Miles, and Rhea Johnson Covington.

Kevin, Nate, and Rhea will follow Pedro.

You have the floor, sir.

Thank you Seattle City Council for the invite.

My name is Pedro Espinoza.

I represent the Carpenters Union and I am here on behalf of the Carpenters Union to support the initiative 1000 and referendum 88. As a UN member, we represent about 29,000 members through six states.

A majority of those members are here in Washington State.

And we are advocating for them to support and pass Referendum 88 and support I-1000.

As an organization we see it as a huge huge step for our communities to come up and be part of a society and not being left behind.

You know the government always says communities always follow we can't leave some people behind well our communities of color have been suffering and it always seems that we're always left behind.

With that hat being said I want to speak on my behalf and I think coming from a a sector of people that have always been stepped on, especially now in this termulous government that we have in office where they tend to criminalize, demonize for who we are because I was born with this skin color.

And it hurts me when I hear that because my kids, I have two beautiful daughters that are part of the system.

And for them to go through this, because they have to fight just a little more, and I'm sorry for being emotional, but man, it's time for this country to pull together.

A lot of our communities are left behind.

We're being oppressed.

And I don't want people to think that it is the white people that are supporting this, that it's their fault.

It's not.

It's a system that's been catered by the rich to keep these communities down.

We see this system on and on, going where they buy their kids to go to school when they have no reason of being there, but because of the privilege, and I call it a privilege, because of what they are, they're white.

And because I did not choose to be born this way, but I am proud of being a Mexican, and I am proud to be here to support Referendum 88, and hopefully you guys will support it too.

Thank you.

First, giving honor to God, who's the head of my life.

Council, I want to thank you for this resolution.

And I also want to give real some praise to Representative Santos and to former Representative Wineberry, who, without them, we would not be here in the hard work that they've done.

And I also want to thank some of the other people who are nameless, people like my father, Booker T. Miles.

I have to call his name, Mr. President.

He and other contractors who put everything on the line and risk it all, mortgage houses to start before they could get jobs in the union to really start businesses and put them on the line and start the small businesses.

And they were the ones who really made this day possible today.

And I want to thank them for that.

I want to thank people on the education front that went out and took over the president's office at the University of Washington and kicked those doors open and made sure that we had an opportunity to go to that school there.

And so, which is why it makes me so mad when I hear the opposition say they're not qualified and what have they done?

They don't understand the fact that I've watched a mother like Elyse Miles, my mom, who was a part-time domestic and a part-time bus driver, get up on a bus when it was icy and fall off that bus, getting arthritis in her knees.

Every day though, making sure, getting back up there when she didn't have insurance, making sure that she worked her butt off to get us to school, making sure that she went without that insurance because she wasn't covered.

every day, making sure when she would go and scrub those people's floor with those arthritic knees and that diabetes in her system, but made sure that we would work hard.

So don't tell us that we don't work hard and we're unqualified.

She told us to go to school and we have just as much right to that university as anyone else.

And so the fact that you guys are doing this, saying there's going to be some fairness in this system and that this city council believes in fairness, We want to, and on behalf of Elise Miles and on behalf of Booker T. Miles, I want to thank each and every one of you for taking a brave stand to do so.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mr. Miles.

You're up there.

Kevin?

Good afternoon.

My name is Kevin Washington, and I'm a board member of Table 100. I'm also the education chair.

I'm representing that organization today.

That's the hat that I'm I'd like to ask any of the Tabor 100 members who are here to please stand.

Tabor 100 was founded right after I-200 passed.

It was named after Langston Tabor.

It's an organization of largely but not exclusively black and African American business people.

In the 20 years since I-200 was passed, the minority business community has been decimated.

The number of contracts awarded A low percentage of dollars of spend by the state, county, port, and the city are not what they could have been and not what they should have been if I-200 had not passed.

While I-1000 does not repeal I-200, it is a solid step in strengthening positive actions towards seeking and awarding of contracts within the minority business community.

It also stands to impact admissions to the University of Washington and other public institutions.

No more should city, county, port, and state employees, people who award contracts, people who hire, hide behind I-200, claiming that they cannot find a way, they cannot find the people, there aren't qualified blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

No more of that.

I'm urging you to support your resolution, I-1000, and Referendum 88. This is long overdue.

You now have a place to stand and a role to play.

I urge you to support I-1000, Referendum 88. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Washington.

The last two speakers I have just been following Ms. Johnson-Covington will be then Robert Stevens.

Those are the last two I have.

Greeting President and Honor Roll Council, my name is Rhea Johnson Covington.

I'm your neighbor from Pierce County.

I've come to stand in support of 31913 Initiative I-1000 and Referendum 88. As a leading member on a corporate D&I committee, We recognize the importance of having intentional conversations that surround sensitive and emotionally charged topics to create process and procedures fairly.

So I'm asking you here today, the citizens of Washington State, not only to set aside your opposition, but let's reconcile our party differences, join together to ensure all the concerns are heard, each of us are accountable, and lead in the development and implementation of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee on behalf of Washington State.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Rhea.

Amherst Students.

Good evening or good afternoon to all of you.

My name is Robert Stevens, Jr.

I'm one of those 19-year-olds that got drafted in 1965 and went away with honors in serving my country and came back to give to my community.

I was able to go to school through University of Washington for BA and to graduate school because those elements that are in this 1,000 was in place at that particular time.

I went to fought for my country so all of us can enjoy the bounties of this country.

So I encourage you to support 1,000 and to pass the resolution.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Stevens.

So a few housekeeping items.

Those are the speakers that I have signed up for.

I also want to go back to the in opposition to and a lot, an opportunity for the in opposition to once again to speak in opposition to resolution 31913. Holding the motion open.

That opportunity is closed.

Judge Shadid, I don't wanna put you on the spot, but I assume you're here for the budget matter, not for this matter, because I would have afforded you some opportunities to speak if you'd like to, but I'm not sure.

Okay, yeah, I think there might even be some rules associated with you providing public testimony, something going on in the ballot, but I didn't want to, yeah, I didn't want you to be unethical.

A few things, and before we cast vote, and I'll give my colleagues another opportunity to speak if you'd like.

This has gotten very personal for many in this room.

You've put your heart and your souls and your time and your money and your resources into this effort, and it's a beautiful thing to watch.

It's one of the most well-organized and committed movements I've seen in political history, overcoming odds, overcoming anger and hatred, even politics.

And so, just kudos to you, and I think you know who you are.

I've worked with you in the field and many of you I've known for 40 50 years I've shown my age here But as councilmember where I said some of us are direct beneficiaries of the work you've done so thank you for that and it's certainly my honor to to support this resolution a Housekeeping item and some good news here and an hour lecture for before we vote on it.

I got hot pressing news that the Mayor will be holding a on Wednesday, a signing ceremony of this resolution, assuming that it successfully passes at 5.15 in Norman B. Rice room at Wednesday at 5.15, there'll be a signing ceremony.

So put that on your calendars.

Before we vote on this exciting resolution, does any of my colleagues, would they like to say any words before we close the comment section?

Are we okay?

Are we good?

Everybody's happy, okay.

Those in favor of adopting Resolution 31913, please vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed vote no.

The motion carries and the resolution is adopted and the Chair will sign it.

Thank you.

You all deserve the applause.

That is our last agenda item.

Is there any further business to come before the Council today?

I have one, and that will be...

I ask to be excused on November 4th from the City Council meeting.

It's been moved and seconded that I be excused from November 4th on the City Council meeting.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

And is there any further business coming for the Council?

If not, everyone have a great day and we stand adjourned.

And we are coming back for our budget hearings.

3.20.

3.20 we will be back.

Yes, Mr. Raab.