Seattle City Full Council 2/4/19

Good morning, thank you for being here.

The very chilly February 4th, 2019 City Council meeting of the full City Council counter order.

It's 2 o'clock p.m.

I'm Bruce Harreld, President of the Council.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Johnson.

Here.

Plattis.

Mosqueda.

O'Brien.

Here.

Sawant.

Here.

Bagshaw.

Here.

Gonzalez.

Here.

Herbold.

And President Harreld.

Here.

Six present.

Bethe.

record reflect the fact that Council Member Mosqueda is here.

I do have some peripheral vision and if there's no objection, Council Member Herbold will be excused from today's meeting.

Hearing no objection, Council Member Herbold is excused from today's meeting.

And I'll say before we move on to the IRC, I appreciate all of you that could make it here for a public comment to be here.

We realize this has been a huge inconvenience for both council members, staff, community members, and a lot of people to be here.

We chose to keep the meeting moving because we did have a quorum.

But again, I want to acknowledge the fact that it's been more difficult for some than others to get here.

And so I appreciate everyone that is here.

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

Hearing no objection, the introduction referral calendar is adopted.

If there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Presentations, I don't believe we have any presentations this afternoon.

And so we will proceed with public comment.

An item that appears on today's agenda or our introduction referral calendar or our city council's work program and generally public comment is Extended for 12 20 minutes according to our rules.

And so we will try to stick with that.

We have a few people signed up here We ask that you speak in two minutes and I'll call out two people and use the middle mic and this mic to my right your left, so we'll start off with Alex Finch and Followed by Alex will be Ms. Mikevich.

Please proceed.

Good morning.

Good afternoon.

My name is Alex Finch and I'm a member of the SHARE Board of Directors and also live at Tent City 3. I am here representing my brothers and sisters in the SHARE Shelter Network who were unable to attend due to the massive amount of snow, I mean really.

Our history with the mayor's nominee to be the director of the Human Services Department, Jason Johnson, is that he has made our work sheltering people, empowering them, and keeping them alive much harder than it needs to be.

In the past five years, Mr. Johnson has sought to defund our organization not once, but twice.

He has tried to put unqualified organizations with no encampment operation experience in charge of two of the city's authorized encampments that we, Share Wheel, ran well.

Our organization has repeatedly reached out to HSD and Mr. Johnson for help during our hard times.

Instead of help, we've heard silence and then experienced his undercutting our good encampment operations, even after it was made known that serious safety issues were at stake.

Do we as a community really want to appoint someone who refuses to work in good faith with groups who practically wrote the book on surviving homelessness in Seattle?

This director position requires compassion and a willingness to work with people regardless of who they are or their honest criticisms.

Please pass the resolution to send this nomination back to the mayor so that we can start over and have an open, transparent, honest, real search for the right person for this position.

Homeless people and programs and HST staff too should have to say who gets nominated.

Thank you.

Thank you.

be next on the middle mic.

Hi my name is Sochi Makevich and I'm with Washington Community Action Network and we're here to urge the council, I say we but I mean I, everyone else is stuck in the snow, but I'm here to urge the council to pass the eviction reform resolution.

Most of the country has a longer notice period than Washington.

Evictions are the leading cause of homelessness, not just, there's multiple research that shows this, right?

This is not like unique to Washington, but across the state.

And in December, I was watching an eviction in South Carolina, and this judge gave the tenant a month to go find an attorney, because she was in the hospital.

Her family had been there.

And he didn't go through with the eviction then.

If that would have happened here, just across the street, that person who was hospitalized would have been evicted.

like that, that day, and would have not only been evicted, would have had attorney's fees and court costs put on them with a judgment that had 12% interest.

If in South Carolina that doesn't happen, if in Tennessee that doesn't happen, I'm not sure why it happens in Washington.

And so I urge you all to take, to pass this resolution so that we can start taking concrete steps to reform our eviction process to stop people from falling into homelessness in the first place.

And that's it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Just one second, let me call the next person if I may.

Cody Funderbark?

Okay, thank you.

You take this mic over here if you don't mind.

Okay, so I had you sign up.

Would you like to?

Okay, got it.

A lot of people make that mistake, not a problem.

So following then S.

N. Finkelstein will be next after this gentleman.

It's an outrage the mayor continues to war on the poor while promoting a loyalist to manipulate the data and the media about last year's homeless count by warehousing people in shelters with no food, no shower, no laundry, no bus tickets, nowhere to go, no hot meal, and no housing outreach ever shows up at the city hall or the administrative building or the Seattle center area.

It's like we need an investigation of the six-figure salaries in the nonprofit social welfare industry that are politically connected and paying people to show up to play the race card, the class card, and be trading the accountability of these social welfare industry hypocrites and subhuman welfare mistreaters instead of acting like we need to blame white people and play the race card continuously with certain council members who are trading their political placards to not hold the social welfare industry accountable.

because they want to promote certain re-election campaigns that are failing to hold accountable the six-figure salaries.

But you got to get rid of some guy who wants to continually offer shelters that are warehousing people with subhuman offerings.

There's absolutely no offering at City Hall except stink.

S.N. Ficklestein will be followed by Mary Flowers.

Hi, my name is Naomi Finkelstein, and I'm here to speak on the I don't know what the non-transparent process that the HSD nominee was put forward with.

In my understanding, there wasn't even a open job search.

They just put this person up for nomination.

In the disability rights community, we have a saying, nothing about us without us.

You can't possibly be honestly thinking of okaying a prospect where the communities involved in this person's purview do not get a say in whether this person is a good candidate or not.

I have no confidence in the mayor to have the best interests of disabled people, poor people, homeless people.

I don't know who else is under the purview of the HSD department, but at least those people, no confidence whatsoever.

She time and again has thrown us under the bus.

So I am asking, that you think about that and support the resolution that this go back and that our communities, the communities that are directly impacted by this, the most vulnerable and marginalized of this city have a say in, because we know what's gonna work for us.

You have to know that we know that, right?

In this process.

So thank you.

I also think that this candidate is enormously, well, is just not the right person, has time and again shown us that they're not the right person.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Following Mary Flowers will be Jamie Allison.

Good afternoon.

My name is Mary Flowers.

I'm an employee at the Human Services Department for many, many years.

And I'm here today to really request that we seriously consider a process for the selection of the department director.

We are well aware that the mayor is well within her rights and within her duties to make an appointment.

But I think we are also, those of us who are concerned about racial justice and social justice, we are well within our responsibility to call for a process.

and we know that HSD is moving at least the homeless portion is moving to a model of governance which many of us who are employees are very excited particularly those who work in in homelessness at the prospect of doing something different something meaningful but when we've heard the recommendations We heard that community engagement is critical.

And so if we proceed at this juncture with the appointment, kind of business as usual, as we've done before at this critical time, and don't make every effort to really engage the community in this process, it will really, it really speaks to how the process will go forward in terms of governance.

A process enables people from the community to actually ask the questions, look in the face of the people who are being considered, and establish a different kind of engagement and accountability.

So the accountability is not just coming from the person who appoints, but that the stakeholders, particularly the people who are going to be served by us, really have the opportunity to be well informed, to be able to ask the questions and to be able to call for a different kind of accountability.

It doesn't make any difference who is selected.

If we are really serious about racial justice, racial equity, we have to have different kinds of processes.

And so I love working for HSD.

Sometimes I don't like working for HSD.

This issue and the way that we're talking about it is divisive for us.

There are some people who are very supportive of the mayor's decision.

And so we don't want it to split our department because we have very dedicated people there.

Thank you, Ms. Flowers.

We're at three minutes?

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you for your consideration.

Just one last thing.

Please consider a process that's equitable for our community.

Thank you.

Jamie will be followed by Emerson Johnson.

Hello, City Council.

My name is Jamie Helgeson.

I work with Aging and Disability Services.

I am also here to ask that you, the City Council, would listen to the voices that are calling for an open and transparent process for the nomination of Human Services Director.

I also would urge you all, if you haven't already, to watch the testimony that was from the other night on Thursday night or Friday night for this city council meeting where about 40 different people testified as to the kind of community involvement they would like to have.

And so this is just, I'm just asking for you all to listen and to consider the words of your constituents.

One of the things that got me involved in this personally was having different people in my department having pretty low morale about hiring practices for people of color.

And we brought some of those concerns forward in executive team meetings with Jason Johnson.

And time and time again, he had chosen to not listen to the those of us that had concerns and even walked out of at least two meetings saying that he was current and did not display any curiosity about what his employees were going through.

And I would like you guys to consider that behavior as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi there.

My name is Emerson Johnson.

I'm a member of Socialist Alternative and a lifelong resident of Seattle.

I'm here to stand in solidarity with the HSD employees and community members who are calling for a democratic and transparent appointment process to the director of HSD.

I want to thank Councilmember Sawant for standing in solidarity with these workers and community members and putting forward this resolution.

I also want to thank the very brave HSD workers who spoke out against the appointment process and who helped bring to light the lack of transparency in the nomination.

We are all deeply aware of the housing crisis we currently face in Seattle and have time and time again have heard platitudes from Mayor Durkin and many on the Council about how they are working tirelessly to resolve this issue.

So it's incredibly surprising to me that when the appointment came, that the head of HSD, there was no serious search that was conducted.

And I think this is very illustrative of the failed approach that the city is taking countless times.

in the past toward the housing crisis, to ignore the outcry and solutions presented by those facing the crisis, and to instead push forward their own agenda, which has ultimately failed to provide a solution.

Jenny Durkan's failed approach to housing in Seattle does not give me faith in her nomination.

We need an honest and transparent search for this position, but we also need a director who will boldly fight to tax big business, to build more housing, who will actively work with community members and actually work to fully fund the services that homeless residents need in Seattle.

Please, please support the resolution to send the appointment back to the mayor's office and find us an HSD director who will actually work to solve the housing crisis.

People should also come out on February 12th at 6 p.m.

for a Councilmember Sawant's committee meeting where this will continue to be discussed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Rick Dirksen and Gretchen Waschke.

Rick and Gretchen, one and two.

Good afternoon.

My name is Rick Dirksen.

I'm here today as a concerned community member.

I live in District 3, which is Councilmember Solan's district.

And I'm here also as a person of faith.

I'm involved at Madrona Grace Presbyterian.

I also happen to be an ordained minister in the Mennonite tradition.

So I'm very committed to doing work ecumenically and across faith boundaries.

I'm also here as a parent and grandparent.

I moved to Seattle almost eight years ago, and I can remember very clearly moving here and feeling some pride about moving to a city that had something called the Race and Social Justice Initiative.

And what I've learned since then is that the city's commitment to race and social justice has been somewhat spotty.

There are times when when people seem to take that seriously and there are other times when people don't seem to take that seriously.

And today I want to honor the moral courage and leadership of the change team at the Human Services Department.

We as a city are fortunate to have people like that change team as part of our city government.

And I would like to be a part of a city.

I moved here partly because of what the city stood for.

And I just want to be a part of a city that is truly committed in concrete ways to racial justice, to racial equity, to anti-racist work in the city and beyond.

And so I'm here to support the request of the Human Services Department change team for an accountable and transparent process.

And I really hope that the council will take this seriously and will listen to people like the change team who are holding the city accountable to the commitments that we've already said we are, represent us as a city.

So thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Gretchen will be followed by Ellen Anderson My name is Gretchen was key I am a citizen of Seattle and an employee of the Human Services Department I actually would like to call attention to an email that mayor Durkin sent out on Tuesday January 29th regarding our city values This is an email that it would assume went citywide to all employees Highlights Our city values start with racial equity and social justice.

To help break down the systemic barriers, city employees prioritize racial equity when creating policies, making decisions, and in our daily work and interactions.

In addition to leading with racial equity, city employees recognize inequities based on gender, sexual orientation, ability, age, citizenship status, and other ways people are marginalized.

We acknowledge historical truths that have led to unequal outcomes for communities of color.

We involve individuals and communities most impacted by racial and social inequity in the development of policies and practices, both within our workforce and throughout Seattle.

These are the mayor's words to her employees.

Inclusion is another value that's listed.

Learning, accountability, and stewardship.

I would like to see the city council hold the mayor accountable to what she has professed are our city values.

Engage in the resolution, bring it forward, look at it, consider it, and understand that HSD is asking for something that is a fair, open, and equal process, something that has happened in this city before.

will be Megan Murphy.

Sweet.

I just want to start out by thanking Sean Swann for bringing forward this resolution.

I think that especially more than ever today the weather outside shows that the housing crisis in Seattle is becoming more urgent than ever.

It's terrifyingly cold outside and it's putting a lot of our houseless neighbors in danger and at serious risk.

And we've heard from so many houseless communities, service providers, and employees of HSD that the current proposed director is just not going to be an effective fit for this role.

And not just that, but also the process.

I think that many expected more thought and consideration for this role of human services director.

This position is going to have a massive impact on the effectiveness of Seattle's ability to deal with the housing crisis that we face, that we hear time and time again that the city, that the mayor is actively trying to work on as much as possible.

And to see that there has been very little open consideration about this role seems like disproving of those statements.

Yeah, and without an open job search, it also really feels like we're getting more of the same.

And we have seen that that is not effective.

What we have seen in the past has not worked.

Otherwise, there would not be this many people in this room trying to fight for housing services.

So we need a change from business as usual and a serious change to make as much of a need as what that we see in the city.

And I think having the input of many organizers and service providers about what is actually needed and getting their input into who they think would be most effective for that role is fundamental for making our city affordable and available to all.

Thank you.

Megan, before, Ms. Murphy, before you start, just let me make a brief announcement.

We're a little short-staffed today, and I want to thank Emilia Sanchez, our senior deputy clerk, for stepping in.

There are some documents that I need for the minutes, and I'm hoping, can you put the, we have three more speakers on, can you put it on six minutes?

We're going to sort of self-regulate here if we can.

Then that'll give you time to get the additional minutes.

We could sign into the record that work madam clerk Okay, so put it at six and miss Murphy when it goes down to four that would be two two minutes for you It's gonna be a little sloppy because there's walk time, but we're gonna do the best we could and Okay Just one second me sorry to put you on the spot here Okay, miss Murphy the floor is all yours

OK, thanks for letting me speak.

My aunt in Iowa flew to Germany and Israel about, oh, maybe 10 years ago because she's from Sioux City, Iowa, and she taught classes about the Holocaust.

and my grandma was a civil rights activist in this small little Iowa town.

Well, I was erupted with shock when I read in the New York Times, I heard Stephen King was bad in our district.

I read he was meeting, he was also flying over to Germany, and he's a public servant, and he was meeting with neo-Nazi groups, and that's who Trump has modeled his policies after I read in the New York Times.

And nobody in my town is calling for him to resign.

Even the Governor Reynolds is not calling for him to resign.

And it just really floored me, because I had a really hard time making friendships in that town.

And it just, you know, I don't know.

So I came here to Seattle, and I am so grateful for the community I found here.

I'm just taking it and running, because it feels like I'm with my grandma, even though she passed away.

in this Johnson process, it's not quite as severe as Stephen King, and if I would, I'd organize people here to urge King to resign.

I'm left with, you know, as a person who relies on help from the government to survive, I think people with disabilities and elderly people actually know a lot more.

and are very cognizant of who treats them good and who treats them bad.

And I think the process of Johnson needs to be reconsidered because there's too many complaints.

I know Carmen Best wasn't even a runner-up and then the community spoke out and everybody's so happy because she's right here with us, her ear, I call it ear to the ground, she's right among us at the table, whereas some people seem a little bit separated by us.

by some sort of, they say big business, well the only way we can get big business to work with us is if we make them mad, then they'll sit at the table, because maybe they like that excitement, I don't know, thank you.

Thank you very much.

Audrey Butering will be followed by Mike McQuaid, Audrey and Mike.

Hi, I'm Audrey Buehring.

I am a Seattle resident and I'm also the Deputy Director of the Human Services Department.

In those two roles, I care deeply about the people of Seattle and the employees of the Human Services Department.

When the mayor appointed Jason Johnson, our senior leadership team sent an email to the mayor, and I'd like to get that on the public record today.

We wholeheartedly support the appointment, and our voices should matter to you, because we are the people who know Jason best in the workplace.

We work with him and for him every single day, and we believe in the vision that he has for the department.

I understand that some people are requesting an open, transparent, and inclusive process for the appointment of the department director.

For me, that's what the last eight months have been.

I can't think of a more thorough interview process than one in which someone got to perform in the actual position in the public eye for eight months before getting the job.

Under his leadership, we've put out more money than ever to organizations who serve people of color.

We've shifted to be more customer focused, whether that means paying more providers on time, making it easier for them to get funding, or getting better outcomes for the people of Seattle.

I've personally seen the data that supports this, and I know that some of you have seen a lot of that data, too.

Most importantly, the appointment means stability for an organization that has been in constant crisis mode because of the growing needs of our community.

Jason has pushed us to think more upstream so that we won't be having the same tired discussions about the same old issues in five years from now.

Council members, I urge you to move forward quickly with the confirmation of Jason Johnson.

We cannot spend another minute in transition and uncertainty.

It is fracturing our department.

We need to do better for our people.

Thank you.

Mike McQuaid will be followed by Kathy Knight.

Mike and Kathy.

President Harrell, Honorable Council Members, my name is Mike McQuaid.

I'm the Transportation Chair of the South Lake Union Community Council.

I'm also a fourth-generation Seattleite.

I'm here to support the rename of the tail end of Aurora Avenue North and its realignment with the downtown street grid.

I'd like to thank Council Members O'Brien, Johnson, Sawant, and Bagshaw for your unanimous support in the Transportation and Sustainability Committee in moving it forward to the full council.

This ordinance is a culmination of a six year long community effort led by our late colleague John Coney, who we all know.

John foresaw that today's opening the SR 99 tunnel and would drive Highway 99 traffic essentially into the tunnel and orphan this segment of highway.

Renaming the segment to 7th Avenue North realigns to the original downtown street grid prior to building.

of the new downtown tunnel prior to the decommissioning of Viaduct Tunnel and the Batter Street Tunnel and the decommissioning of Viaduct.

The restoration of the name 7th Avenue North was a community-driven and supported unanimously by businesses and property owners along the segment.

It's a wonderful example of how communities through their community council and elected officials can work hand-in-hand with SDOT to improve our neighborhoods.

I'd like to thank you for your work.

and support this unanimous recommendation of the committee and please vote yes on CB 119455 today.

Thank you.

And our last speaker to sign up is Kathy Knight.

Thank you Council President Harreld and Council Members.

My name is Kathy Knight.

I'm the Director of the Aging and Disability Services Division in the Department of Human Services.

I'm here today speaking on behalf of our role as the Area Agency on Aging for Seattle and King County.

I bring with me a letter of support from our Advisory Council.

for the appointment of Jason Johnson.

I just want to make a few comments about how difficult our work is and how important it is to have a champion for the work we do.

I don't think we always want to give the attention to older adults that it's important to recognize.

In fact, today we have examples of the important work we do in this weather.

We have folks who are homebound.

We serve about over 11,000 people around the county.

There was a person who could not get to their appointment today for their dialysis because the vehicle that was supposed to pick them up could not get there.

And because of our work and our network of providers, that person was able to get to that appointment.

We're currently checking in on almost 100 of our folks who are homebound, without power, who are on our high-risk list to make sure that they're doing okay.

So it's important work and it's important to have an ally and a supporter and Jason has always supported the work and understood the important work that we do as the Area Agency on Aging and as the Aging and Disability Services Division.

So I'm here today to bring this letter of support and ask that you put it in the public record.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you all for your comments.

That will conclude public comment.

I want to go back to the Approval of the minutes the minutes of the January 22nd City Council meetings have been reviewed, and if there's no objection the minutes will be signed Hearing no objection the minutes are being signed Thank you clerk for that quick for having quick feet Payment of bills, please read the title Council bill one one nine four fifty eight approving money to pay certain claims and ordering payment thereof I move to pass council bill one one nine four five eight Moved and seconded the bill pass.

Are there any comments?

Please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Johnson.

Aye.

Juarez.

Aye.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

O'Brien.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

Baxhaw.

Aye.

Gonzalez.

Aye.

And President Harrell.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Again, I'll slow my pace down for my regular pace.

I know you're doing it by yourself.

When you're ready, please call the first agenda item.

The report of the City Council agenda item 1, Council Bill 119453 relating to land use and zoning amending ordinance 125733 to correct a clerical error regarding condition of approval of the University of Washington's 2018 Seattle Campus Master Plan.

Council Member Johnson.

Thanks.

As my colleagues undoubtedly remember, last December we passed Ordinance 125733, which granted conditional approval to the University of Washington's major institution master plan.

The ordinance included two different sets of language amending the same condition in the master plan related to parking, but one set included all of Council's intended amendments and one included only one intended amendment.

So this strikes the language that only included one amendment to remove that contradiction and reflect the intent of the council.

This is still a quasi-judicial process.

Upon action today, it is my understanding that the University of Washington Board of Regents intends to take up this matter.

Sometime in February which would then be nearly the end of the process because at that point we we then enter into the appeal process and ideally Then that matter is resolved and we can all start talking to people about it again But for the time being this remains a quasi judicial process and a small technical fix this afternoon that I hope I can count on your support for Thank you.

Councilman Johnson any comments?

I will move to pass council bill one one nine four five three second Okay, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Johnson.

Aye.

Juarez.

Aye.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

O'Brien.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

Baxhaw.

Aye.

Gonzalez.

Aye.

Herbold.

Excuse me.

President Harrell.

Aye.

Eight in favor.

None opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Please read the report of the Civil Rights Utilities Economic Development and Arts Committee.

The report of the Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development and Arts Committee, agenda item two, resolution 31861, recognizing the harms that evictions from housing have on tenants and marginalized communities, and describing the city council's plan to help avoid and mitigate those harms.

The committee recommends the resolution be adopted.

In Councilmember Herbold's absence, Councilmember O'Brien, you have the floor.

Thank you.

Colleagues, I'm going to take a few minutes to walk through some of the background here of the work on this resolution and also highlight what work comes next.

I want to start by thanking Councilmember Herbold for her leadership on working on this through the Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development, and Arts Committee.

Back in September, we heard a report from the Seattle Women's Commission entitled Losing Home.

Folks in the public are probably familiar with that.

It's been reported on numerous times.

The report included a review of all 1,218 evictions, residential eviction actions filed in Seattle in the year 2017. In addition, it did some studies, also surveyed and interviewed tenants, and interviewed homeless prevention providers, cross-referenced evictions with medical examiner records, and also cross-referenced with housing code violations.

There are a number of findings in this report, and I want to touch on just a few of these findings.

One of them was that single tenant households that faced eviction for $100 or less in back rent, of those, 81% of those single households were women.

If you're black, there was a 4.5% sorry, 4.5 times likelihood that you would face eviction than if you were white.

People of color were more likely to be evicted for smaller amounts of money than white households.

Of the over 1,000 evictions, 86% were for non-payment of rent, 52% of those were for less than one month's worth of rent.

Attorney's fees were charged to tenants in 90% of the cases and court costs were charged in over 92% of the cases.

Those charges averaged just over $400 for attorney's fees and just under $400 for court costs.

A Federal Reserve report found that 40% of Americans could not come up with $400 in the event of an emergency.

When you list just these facts, and there's a number of other findings, it should come as no surprise that the burden of evictions, often for very small amounts, and we didn't even go into some of the details of the reasons that these were put forward, and the financial reality that so many folks face, that it's clear that the eviction process in our city is broken, and it leads to a significant number of folks who go through eviction facing homelessness.

Up post eviction, only 12.5% of evicted respondents found another rental.

Over 37% were completely unsheltered, 25% were living in a shelter or transitional housing, and 25% ended up staying with family or friends.

If we want to address our homeless crisis, there's really no way we can do that without also addressing the eviction crisis we're facing.

This is not the first time that this council has taken up issues around eviction.

I want to touch on a few of those.

There was a number of statement of legislative attempts and green sheets that we've passed in the past few years.

Example, preventing evictions for substandard properties and creating a legal path for tenants to enforce their rights in court.

We've passed green sheets increasing coordinated funds for legal defense and tenant outreach funds.

Recommended process for centralizing for obtaining assistance in one place.

But without fundamental reform to the eviction process, we'll continue to see some of the challenges we're facing.

This resolution alone is not going to solve this crisis, but it lays out a path and a framework following on recommendations from the Women's Commission report that the city can take if we want to reduce this crisis.

I'm going to touch on a couple of the next steps that we believe we can accomplish in the relatively near term, and that this resolution lays out the groundwork for us to move forward on some of those.

One is to address financial hardship for tenants experiencing domestic violence, who often are held liable for damages caused by the perpetrator.

We can address the lack of flexibility to avoid eviction when faced with emergencies.

Hope to address high default rates for evictions arising from not understanding the eviction process or mutual termination agreements, which are often entered into in a one-sided nature where the tenant doesn't understand their rights and responsibilities and what resources may be available to avoid eviction.

Hardship for paying rent from An additional burden on top of late payments for rent, the late fees, court costs, and attorney's fees compound and make it almost impossible for many folks to recover from a late payment.

Also, the courts generally have not had the flexibility to exercise judicial discretion to prevent evictions.

We heard in public testimony today of a woman in, I believe it was South Carolina, who was in the hospital and so was unable to make payment.

In our state, she would have three days to pay her vacate and the reality that someone who was in a hospital would be able to respond to that in any meaningful way is almost nil.

likely resulting in our system in an eviction.

Whereas in other jurisdictions, there's at least a path where family members or advocates can show up in court, explain the circumstances to a judge, and a judge could say, under these circumstances, I'm not going to proceed with this.

Rarely do we see that flexibility in our system.

Colleagues, I ask for your support on this resolution.

I want to thank the Seattle Women's Commission for their work on making this happen, bringing forward and highlighting this, and recognize that there's a lot of work in front of us.

And I want to thank folks in Olympia who are also taking this seriously, in large part because of the work that the Seattle Women's Commission did to highlight some of the the circumstances that we face.

This is not just, of course, in Seattle, but it's happening throughout the region.

I believe Pierce, King, and so much county account for about half of the evictions in Washington State.

And so if we were able to address this just in the central Puget Sound region, it would go a long ways to helping the people of the entire state.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember O'Brien.

Councilmember Bagshaw.

Thank you.

Council Member O'Brien, I certainly support your work here.

Thank you for you and Council Member Herbold and so on for the work you've done in your committee.

Can you tell me when you said that you're working with Olympia, what actions are being taken?

Is there legislation that's introduced now and who are the key sponsors?

There are multiple pieces of legislation that are in play in Olympia right now.

And I am not going to be able to speak at length to the details of them.

The current state law has a three day pay or vacate notice.

There are bills that would both allow 14 or 21 days.

I believe Representative Macri is supporting legislation that would extend it to 21 days, but there's a Republican sponsored bill that would be 14 days.

But I would suggest that at our next briefing when we have our Office of Immigrant Relations for them to speak to the variety of bills that are down there.

Senator Carter is also working on a series of bills about eviction.

I think what I will say at the high level, Council Member Bagshaw, is what's really apparent in Olympia this year is there's bipartisan support to address this crisis around evictions.

And so regardless of what community you're coming from, people are seeing this as a real problem.

And while I know advocates have been working on this for years, it appears that there's a higher likelihood this session that we might see some traction on it.

That doesn't relieve the city from doing some work, too, because there's a role for us to play and the legislation that Councilmember Herbold has led on, or this resolution, I think helps lay out those next steps, too.

Very good.

Any further comments?

Councilmember Mosqueda.

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

I just wanted to take a quick second to thank Councilmember Herbold and Swan O'Brien, everybody who's had a hand in this legislation, Washington can.

Sochi's right, we here in Seattle are embarrassingly behind where other cities and states are in terms of eviction policy.

I also wanted to take a quick second to thank the Seattle Women's Commission, the Housing Justice Project, for all of the work that they put into the Losing Home Report.

The eviction process in the landlord tenant law here is at best complex and I think as we've heard today as truly unjust.

In terms of clarity we lack clarity for landlords we also lack clarity for tenants and having the opportunity to clarify this to create a more just system to work with tenants and advocates in the courts to find the path forward not only is the process that will result for better clarification for all parties but will help us continue the work of what we heard just two weeks ago in the select committee that we need to do a much better job to provide easier and quicker assistance to prevent individuals from being evicted.

If an individual calls and they said they need $200 and they need $400 just to get through the next few months, don't make them go through a rigorous process.

Just allow them to be the best managers of their situation and help them get through that tough period so that they don't get evicted.

This is what the experts are telling us from across the country and it's what the experts on the ground level have been saying for so long.

I'm really excited to work on this.

We also know that this in conjunction with additional tenant protections and building housing is really the solution that goes hand in hand.

We know that housing discrimination and risk of eviction increases when there is not enough affordable housing, when there is low vacancies, and when we don't have enough affordable units for those in need.

So as we work to build additional housing, I'm really excited that we are going to be able to begin the process of legislating this intentional work around protecting our tenants.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

Council Member Sawant.

Thank you, President Harrell.

I would urge those of us who haven't been able to look at it yet to watch the really important testimony that was given during the public comment section of the committee last week when Council Members Herbold, O'Brien and I, when we voted this resolution out of the committee and I really hope everybody will be voting yes on this resolution in preparation for the ordinances that need to come following this.

Some of you may have also read the study conducted by a commission by the Seattle Women's Commission with the support of tenants rights activists from the Washington Community Action Network.

And of course, most importantly, the housing justice project.

This is, you know, I don't often recommend, you know, that people read big readings, but this is actually very, very useful because it has statistical information on how bad the crisis is.

And it is not a small thing.

It is, and it is something that is happening citywide.

And we know that most people who are evicted in Seattle do not even have a lawyer present.

And in fact these numbers are based on people who went to court.

We know that statistically speaking there are a lot more who didn't go to court because they don't have the resources or the time or the support, social support structure to go and challenge this in court.

So clearly this is a very important issue.

I'm really happy that through the people's budget movement last year we were able to win city funding for the first first ever city funding for uh eviction you know for for attorneys to help with renters who are facing eviction but that is far from enough we need much more than that and we know also uh the terrible impacts of evictions of renters and that's where this report is also very useful Not only do evictions affect people's health stress, I mean people have, you know, really compelling stories of how it affects their lifelong health because of the stress that they go through, how it affects their children and their future housing prospects because it follows you everywhere you go.

And we also know the deadly connection now that has been established between evictions and homelessness and even death in some cases.

And last but not least, the connection between race and other issues that people face, other oppressions that people face, and the likelihood of being evicted, likelihood of facing homelessness.

And just to look at the numbers, on average, and this study shows us this, in 2017, there were almost three evictions every day in Seattle.

And in District 3, which has Capitol Hill, the Central District, many working people living in the district.

evictions happen more than once every two days.

So these are just stark numbers we're looking at for a city like Seattle.

And as was stated by other, you know, renters in other states actually have many rights in eviction court, and Washington state is lagging like far, far behind.

So obviously I'll be supporting this resolution, but most importantly, I think renters need to continue to get organized to make sure the ordinances that are developed following the resolution also get passed.

And as part of organizing, I would really urge everybody who's watching this to join my office, be Seattle and Tenants Union of Washington State in the number of boot camps, renters rights boot camps that we're having.

Just this past Saturday, we had a boot camp at Vermillion on Capitol Hill, and we had a number of renters come there, not only to learn about their rights and the specific questions they had, and they had some horror stories with corporate landlords, but also how to get organized.

In fact, there was a point where one of the people who was attending there said hey when are we going to talk about organizing which is you know very very it's really it's really gratifying to see that renters are realizing that they this is something that they need to get organized around.

So just very quickly I wanted to say that in the central district we'll be having another renters rights boot camp on Thursday, February 7th at 630 at the Garfield Community Center.

We're having two renters' rights boot camps in the University District, one on February 9th, which is a Saturday at 10 a.m., and on February 13th at 6 p.m., which is a weekday, and you can find all this information by contacting my office.

And we're also hosting a special renters' rights boot camp that will focus on LGBTQ questions and how LGBTQ renters can get organized.

That will be on Capitol Hill on March 6th, I think.

I might be getting that date wrong, but it will be at the Wild Rose Bar on Capitol Hill.

So please join us and let's get organized.

Thank you, Council Member Swann.

Okay, any further comments or questions?

Okay, let's take to a vote.

Those in favor of adopting the resolution, please vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed vote no.

The motion carries.

The resolution is adopted.

Chair will sign it.

If you're watching, that applause is for you too, particularly for you.

Please read the next agenda item into the record.

The report of the Sustainability and Transportation Committee Agenda Item 3, Council Bill 119455 relating to city streets changing the name of the portion of Orr Avenue North between Denny Way and Harrison Street to 7th Avenue North and changing the name of the portions of Orr Avenue between Battery Street and Denny Way to Borealis Avenue and superseding prior ordinances to the extent inconsistent.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you very much.

Council Member O'Brien.

So this is an exciting step for folks in the community around the new tunnel opening.

Probably more exciting than the tunnel, in fact, the fact that we get to rename these three, four blocks.

Pretty exciting.

So between, there's three blocks between Harrison and Denny that are currently Aurora Avenue.

This is as you're heading southbound on Aurora, it's the three blocks as you're exiting around the Battery Street Tunnel, which is to be decommissioned.

That would be renamed as 7th Avenue, which then continue on a diagonal once it crosses Denny and heads kind of between where some of Amazon's construction is going.

There's another block of Aurora Avenue that extends on the south side of Denny, and that's the block that kind of goes between two kind of triangle parcels where the Peak Elephant Car Wash is, and there's a major bus stop there.

If we were to rename that also Seventh Avenue, that would provide some confusion because it would be two Seventh Avenues next to each other.

And so this proposal would name that Borealis.

And we heard a lot of support from community members who've been working on this for years.

Adjacent property owners are supportive.

Also desire to do this in advance of what is expected to be some redevelopment happening in the neighborhood so that folks move in will inherit the new address as opposed to go through an address change.

Quick thanks.

Mike McQuaid, thank you to you and the South Lake Union Community Council, everybody who's been working on this for years.

I know it's a small thing, but the name Borealis is, first of all, I love it.

But secondly, just clarifying for people where they're going after the tunnel opens, really appreciate your help.

Very good.

Any further questions?

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

Johnson?

Aye.

Juarez?

Mosqueda.

Aye.

O'Brien.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

Baxhaw.

Aye.

Gonzalez.

Aye.

And President Harrell.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Please read the next agenda item.

Agenda item four, Council Bill 119456, granting National Railroad Passenger Corporation permission to construct, maintain, and operate below-grade utility lines under and across South Walgate Street, east to Occidental Avenue South, and west of 3rd Avenue South, specifying the conditions under which the permit is granted and providing for the acceptance of the permit and conditions.

Committee recommends the bill pass.

Council Member Bryant.

Thank you.

So, that organization is also known as Amtrak.

And they are going to have three conduits that pass under Holgate.

This is for both stormwater sewer, I should say, and electrical.

It'll allow their facility there to use more electric power for the engines when they're idling as opposed to Using their diesel engines and also better treatment of stormwater and wastewater off the site the the council passed a conceptual Approval of this a few months ago.

It has now been through a more thorough review with the departments and there are no Conflicts so they're back with this final action the permit fee there will be an annual permit fee for 2019. It's a little over $1,000

Thank You councillor Brian any further comments or questions Hearing none, please call the roll on the passage of the bill Johnson what is Mosqueda O'Brien I so want a bagshot Gonzales I am president Harrell I ate in favor none opposed bill passed and sheriff sign it That concludes our agenda.

Is there any further business coming for the council I?

Saw two hands customers Mosqueda and then comes Marcia one I

Thank you, Mr. President.

I have some handouts, too.

So I would like to pass out for my colleagues, if I might, Mr. President.

I know this is a little unusual, but I wanted to make sure that folks had on the record and in hand the opportunity to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the Seattle General Strike.

We have also our archivist from Seattle City Council and the Ledge Department has brought down the archived materials that are outside in the lobby here for folks to take a look at.

This is celebrating this week, 100 years ago, began the Seattle General Strike, where for multiple days people came together across sectors and across industries to stand in solidarity.

We have the opportunity this week to highlight not only labor history, but everything that labor continues to do to stand up for working families.

to organize new unions and new sectors and to make sure that more working families have the opportunity to help provide for their families even if they're not in union jobs and the unions have been fighting for paid family leave, paid sick leave, raising the minimum wage, doing things that support not just union workers but also the workers at large.

So as we celebrate this year and 100 years anniversary celebration of the Seattle General Strike, I wanted to make sure that folks knew that in our committee this Thursday we will have the opportunity to hear from the University of Washington labor professors and a report on the state of labor from the new Washington State Labor Council AFL-CIO President Brown and Executive Secretary from the Martin Luther King County Central Labor Council, Nicole Grant.

This continues the tradition in my committee of having a state of labor presentation at the beginning of every month So we encourage folks to come if they can on Thursday and 930 in the committee housing health energy and workers rights I've also just mailed to the full council and we'll make available online as well the full list of activities happening throughout the week For example, there's a presentation tonight on the Seattle general strike on from James Gregory who provided a literature review of the Seattle General Strike.

Tomorrow, Wednesday the 6th, there's a 1919 Seattle General Strike discussion group.

We will also have the opportunity to On Thursday, not only my committee, but to participate in the Witness to Revolution, the story of Anna Louise Strong, a film that presents at 6 p.m.

at the Museum of History and Industry.

And lastly, there will be a Seattle General Strike bus tour that I will be on and would love to see any of my colleagues or friends of the community there that begins at the Seattle Labor Temple at 9.30 and will take us around the community.

and it will end with an event and celebration.

Additional history and more information.

We can't get enough of our history as we think about organizing for the future on Saturday at 1 p.m.

at the Seattle Labor Temple on First Avenue.

So I wanted to make sure folks had that.

Mr. President, I'm sorry I would have shared that this morning.

I know we were all on our way into work.

various times due to the snow, but it's a really exciting week, and I also want to thank the archivist and Monica's team who brought down the materials for us to take a look at.

Please do check it out when you have the chance.

Thank you, Councilmember Muscata.

Councilmember Juarez.

I just remembered I need to be excused for this coming Monday, February 11th.

Okay, before I

Before I move that, were there any comments on Councilmember Esqueda's information she shared?

I want to make sure we close the loop.

Thank you Councilmember Esqueda for that.

February 7th, 930 Seattle City Hall.

Got it.

So Councilmember Juarez has moved to be excused for February 11th.

Is there a second?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

Thank you.

Councilmember Juarez.

Councilmember Swann.

Thank you.

I have two things to bring up.

One is the next meeting of the Human Services Renters Rights and Equitable Development Committee will be held on Tuesday at 6 p.m., that is February 12th.

And that is the meeting at which we will take up the resolution that is recommending an inclusive and transparent approach for the appointment of the Director of the Human Services Department.

So that's Tuesday, February 12th at 6 p.m.

And if I might go ahead.

That's a special meeting at 6 p.m.

It is.

Yeah.

I mean, it was the regular day, but we're just moving the time because we've heard repeated from community members that the after hours.

Got it.

And then if I might move to the next item, I would like to be excused from the city council meeting on Monday, February 18th.

It's been moved a second the council members want be excused on February 18th Tuesday because of the three-day weekend.

So it's 18th right number.

It'll be 19. Okay.

Oh, then I don't need to be excused Okay, so sure with well, we didn't move it.

So okay, so 18th is good Okay, any further business come for the council?

If not, we stand adjourned and everyone try to have a great rest the afternoon with this weather