City Council - Special Meeting 10/26/2026

Hey, good afternoon.

The October 26th special meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It is 2.02 PM.

I'm Joy Hollingsworth, Council President.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Saka.

Here.

Councilmember Strauss.

Here.

Councilmember Foster.

Here.

Councilmember Juarez.

Here.

Councilmember Kettle.

Here.

Councilmember Lynn.

Council Member Rink?

Here.

Thank you.

Council Member Rink?

Here.

Council Member Rivera?

Council President Hollingsworth?

Here.

Seven presents.

Council Member Foster and Council Member Rivera are excused.

Colleagues, first, I want to acknowledge we lost a big time member of our community, Ms. Elma Horton.

She was a community pillar in our community.

dedicated to community and education, receiving numerous awards for her leadership, known for her selflessness and her service to others.

Through personal feeding ministry, she was a member of Mount Zion Baptist Church, founded its feeding ministry.

She was alumni of Delta Sigma Theta sorority in the National Council of Negro Women.

She was 90 years old and she passed away last week.

People had just seen her and so it was a shock to the community.

We are very grateful for her service and she was a phenomenal elementary teacher as well in our Seattle Public School.

So very grateful for her.

And for the record, Councilmember Foster is with us as well.

Thank you.

And I also, before we open the public comment period, we need to suspend the rules because we are holding a special meeting.

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

No objection, the council rules are suspended and will now move into public comment period.

Colleagues, I also wanna say a thank you to Council Member Saka.

The stuff that's on the agenda for today was supposed to be on the agenda for last week, October 20th.

and as you all know, as council president, it's my job to help control a lot of the, facilitate, not control, facilitate a lot of the legislation that's coming through council, making sure that people have enough time to get information, that central staff have enough time to analyze it and there's a lot of logistics that go on.

We also have a full budget full budget process as well with our budget chair, Councilmember Strauss as well.

And so I asked the council member if this was something that he'd be open to for us as we are flowing information for us to have a special meeting for it because of the amount of legislation that we have.

And he was so graciously said yes to that.

So I really just wanted to acknowledge that.

That's why we're here on a Monday.

and getting legislation through.

And so really thank you to Council Member Sokka for that as well.

So just wanted to say that for the record, because people usually, when you have a special meeting, it's for an emergency.

This is not an emergency.

This is for us to continue the flow of legislation.

And for people who don't know, there's a lot of legislation that happened at the beginning of the year, whether it's from the executive or departments.

And so council members still have their priorities as well.

So thank you Councilmember Saka for that.

And I just wanted to open with that as well.

And so now the public comment period is now open.

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

The council cannot accept comments on quasi-judicial items or campaign related matters.

Clerk, how many speakers do we have signed up?

I believe we still have nine in person and two remote.

and I believe a couple people signed up as well, but it is under 30, so we're gonna give people two minutes to speak.

Will the clerk please read the rules to the public comment period?

Speakers will be called in the order in which they are registered.

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

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

Okay, awesome, we'll start with in-person speakers first, and if you are online, we have about 12 to 13 in-person speakers.

Right now I have nine in front of me, and so we will go ahead and get started.

We have a person signed up entitled VHS System.

We have Midge, we also have Erin, we have Magnum, we have Johnny, we have Ed, we have Gwendolyn, we have Laurel, and we have Hannah.

So VHS system, Midge, Aaron, Magnum, Johnny, Ed, Gwendolyn, Laurel, Hannah.

Is VHS system here?

Please, welcome.

Sports writer John Boyes once said that a weak expression of pity is the deepest act of cruelty.

Over 2% of Seattle's total population is trans.

Over 3.5% of Seattle's homeless population is trans.

That's over 400 homeless trans people.

The city has passed $300,000 for our community, of which we have not seen a single cent.

And even if we had, the combined yearly salary of exactly three average Seattleites is expected to be divided among several hundred trans people.

Even if this money only needed to be shared between just 50 trans people, it wouldn't even buy two months of rent each.

That's not counting food or medicine or transport or clothing.

And it's not as if you don't have the money.

300,000 is less than 0.1% of the Seattle Police Department's annual budget.

Even if you tripled the amount you're supposedly giving us, it wouldn't even be 1% of the annual budget you're paying the police to harass homeless trans people, and that is what you're paying them to do.

On the 22nd, less than a week ago, The transgender refugees at Cal Anderson were swept by SPD and UCT, who told one member of a trans mutual aid group unequivocally that Katie Wilson has said she was upset by trans mutual aid and that sweeping trans refugees was her agenda.

My friends and family are freezing on the street.

they are begging for food, and the ones who have housing are sleeping in shifts because they share a studio apartment with four other people, and you have the gall to not even pay us the meager relief funds that you have set aside before you start wrestling, muscling us out of these refugee camps.

Shame on all of you.

You will not serve your most vulnerable constituents.

You will not serve any of your constituents.

Thank you.

Next we have Midge, followed by Erin and Magnum.

And for the record, Councilmember Rivera was here.

I missed her, so she is online and she is here at the start of public comment.

Welcome.

Lift it up a little bit, Midge.

Right there.

You can lift it up farther.

I did not come prepared today with a list of numbers or facts for you.

I believe you have everything that you need to make the decisions that you need to make.

What I can tell you is, from my experience in trying to help as many people move to the area, because we have the resources, we have the laws to protect them, we have what we need to make a safe environment for these people.

I plead that you make your decisions quickly in a way that will help those who need it.

We need it faster than we are currently going, and I can promise you that.

You will hear from many today just how much pain there is.

It is bad, and it's worse than they are telling you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Midge.

Next, we have Aaron followed by Magnum.

Welcome, Aaron.

Then we have Magnum.

From a disturbingly large part of the country, we've seen since the 2024 election an increasingly genocidal campaign waged against millions of trans people just like the one before you.

It is imperative that in order to expediently, effectively serve the many likely refugees coming to the city now and in the future, I believe it's completely necessary to enable the emergency measure of funding to to make sure that we're able to effectively serve all of these refugees, that we won't freeze or be homeless.

Thank you.

Thank you, Aaron.

Next, we have Magnum, followed by Johnny, and then Ed.

Welcome.

I also have nothing compared.

I have been living here for a few years, and I've seen almost every person that I know who is trans is homeless and taking place in Cal Anderson, and it's so hard to get ahold of them.

They are constantly moving around because they are so unsafe there.

I am scared for my homeless family.

I'm scared for my trans family.

People are not doing enough for them.

Please do better.

Thank you.

Thank you, Magnum.

Next we have Johnny.

Followed by Johnny is Ed and then Gwendolyn.

Welcome, Johnny.

On a completely different subject, my name is Johnny Han.

I've been a full-time street performer at the Pike Place Public Market for 40 plus years.

I believe that I qualify as a keen observer of the pulse of activity on Pike Place to the extent that any one individual could make such a claim.

On the subject of vehicle restrictions on Pike Place, I strongly support the notion of market PDA administration having the discretion as to when to close the street off to vehicle traffic as conditions merit, i.e., the summer and holiday season crowds or crowded weekend days.

And I support this on a year-round basis.

Closing the street off and or limiting hours of vehicle access has had an adverse effect on market businesses, both in terms of loading and unloading and in customers' ability to drive to the market.

I specifically oppose the efforts by some advocates, particularly members of the Seattle Streets Alliance, to impose a seven-day-a-week year-round street closure.

The position of these folks have been taken with barely cursory regard to the livelihoods of many people working in the market.

They lobby hard and unrelentingly.

It almost feels like an offshoot of Elon Musk's Doge Agency, which so ruthlessly deconstructed and or destroyed dozens of essential US government agencies has now descended on the market.

They have no skin in the game.

Their blood, sweat, and tears is not part and parcel of the cobblestones on Pike Place, which is the case for market workers.

The street closure crowd has not lived through the 2008 economic downturn, the weeks of earthquake retrofitting of market buildings, the street rerouting during the cobblestone restoration work, the pandemic and social distancing, the winter days of bitter cold and horizontal rain, the clouds of forest fire smoke in recent summers, the innumerable public meetings over every subject under the sun, the ever-present concern over petty theft.

I urge SDOT and city council members to come to the market and speak with the business owners to learn firsthand their perspective on the vehicle restrictions and also to visit the market on weekdays when most of the year, even on sunny days in June and May, there's almost no cars in the market.

Thank you.

Thank you, Johnny.

Next we have Ed's son followed by Gwendolyn, Laurel, and Hannah.

Welcome, Ed.

I'd like to say, in contrast to the previous speaker, these aren't exactly unrelated issues.

They're just not clearly or directly connected.

I'd just like to add my voice to say that the funds for the trans community, along with the sweeps and along with things like the progress of the affected persons program through this body, as well as these broader Well, let me put it bluntly.

You're looking at this strictly as a revenue and finance problem.

It doesn't have to be.

You could tax vacancies to make life easier for small businesses, if not encourage landlords to lower rent.

You could do the same for housing.

Not only does this raise funds, it builds community spaces.

It reduces the need for specific city projects to do things.

But altogether, all this, along with things going on in other cities in Washington, other states in this country, it suggests a certain institutional, if not cultural, perspective.

And I think we can all see what that's indicating.

This weekend, I don't remember who it was, but heard someone refer to political candidates and elected leaders and elected politicians as leaders in the fight to resist Trump's fascism.

Well, if y'all are going to lead the fight, let's see some fighting.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Ed.

Next, we have Gwendolyn, followed by Laurel, and then Hannah.

Yeah, I'm Gwendolyn.

I'm from the United Front for Workers' Party.

So let's just put this $300,000 in perspective compared to the mayor's proposed budget cuts.

That's compared to $30 million taken from the Amazon tax funds, earmarked for affordable housing, gone.

$30 million frozen for the Department of Housing, each of those 100 times bigger than this amount of money.

So now the city council has members who are proposing a ban on RV housing to make our homes problem even worse, our trans homes problem even worse.

Let's be clear what this actually is in context.

This $300,000 was a bribe after the summer to make us shut up and go away.

So why don't you just give us the damn money if you're so tired of hearing from us?

Right now we're working on building United Front to fight against these cuts.

We have different social groups involved, including the DSA, including Solidarity Budget, including union members from ProTech and the firefighters.

We can't rely on these people's sympathy to get what we want.

You think these people are going to give us this money?

You think they see any kind of urgency here?

We have to actually fight them to get the things we need to live.

We'll be a lot stronger if you guys join our United Front.

We want you there.

We want you there to speak for the trans community, speak for our needs, because Yeah, we're not gonna win unless we actually beat these people, unless we make them scared of us.

Some of them are up for election next year.

They're not gonna bend unless they think we're not gonna re-elect them, unless they're scared for their cozy positions, because if they think they'll come back and collect their salaries, which are more than 50% of this $300,000 each, they're not gonna bend to us.

We have to go out there and fight them and build a united front and build a socialist party in this goddamn city because they're not going to let us actually survive.

They're going to kill us on behalf of Amazon.

These cuts to firefighters will kill us.

These cuts to housing will kill us.

Withholding this $300,000 is killing us.

We need to fight back.

Thank you, Gwendolyn.

Next we have Laurel followed by Hannah.

Welcome.

Hello, like others here today, I didn't come planning to speak.

I just came to support my trans siblings, but I wanted to introduce myself.

I'm Laurel, I'm trans, and I am confused about where the $300,000 earmarked for trans refugees went.

I read about the planning committee, but I think what we really want to hear is concrete, action that will be taken, plans that will be taken, LGBTQ organizations that have a short list of organizations that will be given this money, instead of just talking about what to do with it, actually doing something with it.

As others have said, this is extremely urgent.

trans people know Seattle is a safe place to be.

And we are putting our trust in you to make that true instead of just a place where trans people flee only to be homeless, only to be able to be trans but not able to live.

Thank you.

Thank you, Laurel.

Next, we have Hannah.

Followed by Hannah, we have Guinevere and then Lydia, and I know we have someone else that signed up as well.

Welcome, Hannah.

Hi, I'm Hannah from Pioneer Square, about a 10 minute walk away from here.

And I'm here to discuss what's on the agenda, which is transportation.

And I stand in solidarity with the rest of the commenters I've heard here today.

I just want to urge Seattle City Council, what I always do, which is to make this place a great place for walking around for the people who actually live here.

It also has to do with the first time I came in talking about lobbying for exit signs, like my great grandfather did, and kind of making a parallel between making the streets wider.

So just as we want to give more power to making it a safe place, we also want to use caution to make sure we're not making it a place for just trucking in the industrial sector.

I know that the industrial sector can also promote really good zoning in very surprising ways and protecting against excess, like when there are almost three arenas in a row.

And with the safety equipment for the trucks, I also want to say what I always say, which is to try to make revenue for the city, maybe promoting if we can do deals within the city and doing tax refunds for that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Hannah.

And we are joined by Councilmember Rivera in person.

She was online for the start of the public comment.

Guinevere, welcome.

And next we have Lydia after Guinevere.

President Hollingsworth, counsel.

So as other people have said here today, we have not seen a single dollar of the funds that were promised to the trans community.

There are also illegal unannounced sweeps happening of trans people in the park.

As I understand it, SPD owes the city $13 million and the city has given SPD $66 million more, approximately.

That's my understanding.

There's a training bottleneck at SPD.

This is not a budgetary issue.

As I understand it, it's because other municipalities and counties in the region send us the worst of the worst.

People who are not fit for Snohomish County Police Department are sent to SPD, and they fail the ride-along test.

That's the training bottleneck.

A large proportion of SPD are DV perpetrators.

They have DV records.

And so the city is giving tens of millions of dollars to abusers while denying the meager funds that were promised to people who are being abused by the abusers.

That's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Thank you, Guinevere.

Next we have Lydia.

Welcome.

Hello.

For several weeks, the PD has engaged in politically retributive sweeping of Cal Anderson, coming as early as 7 a.m.

to destroy tents, but only selectively sweeping the Trans Park residents as punishment for our organizing against police violence and coming for their money.

Their sweeps cost taxpayer dollars and when they sweep, they bring trash trucks and destroy many homeless people's belongings.

Documents like ID or birth certificates, which cost money to acquire and are necessary for accessing legitimate services.

Tents, bedding and extra warm clothes as well.

Many of these items are bought by sympathetic city folks out of their own wallet, such as a blanket that was thrown on top of me when I slept outside.

But many more of these items are purchased and provided by homelessness response organizations funded by taxpayer contracts at varying city, county, and state levels.

When you sweep, you're destroying the proceeds of citizens' wallets and nonprofit or government agency tax dollars in an expensive cycle that maintains street-side homelessness rather than solves it.

300K granted by this city, which is far from enough and has not yet made it to any community organizations responding to the trans refugee crisis, would not survive these sweeps, which function as an economic attack as well as a physical attack.

And despite weeks of sweeping trans homeless people still count, and despite weeks of sweeping, trans homeless people still call Cal Anderson home, proving that no amount of money can outweigh the desire to live dignified lives and that no amount of PD LARPing can reproduce the outcome of mass housing, which is public safety.

Thank you.

Next we have Evie.

Is Evie here?

Welcome.

And then if you're online, we are gonna go online after Evie.

Hello.

Councilmember Hollingsworth, I'm sorry for what you had to go through at the last city council session and every other oppressed minority group on this council who had to respond to and see those words in front of them.

We have a duty to fight for our freedom.

We have a duty to win.

We must love and respect one another.

We have nothing to lose but our chains.

That's the words of Asada Shakur.

She's oppressed just like us, except our oppression looks a lot different than what you've seen in the past.

During the AIDS crisis, an administration was fighting against just recognizing a class of people who was dying by the millions Our reality is different and our struggles are different.

There's not going to be some count of us.

There's not going to be some number you can point to to say trans people are dying.

This is how many, this is where, because it's not going to happen because I don't know a single one of us who would willingly submit ourselves to another state surveillance system.

I also don't know a single 20 year old trans person who hasn't buried five of their twins.

These realities are held both at the same time and if you continue to wait, delay, twiddle your thumbs and count pennies while people are starving and dying, there won't be another microphone that a person can come to because they won't be here.

they'll come they'll tell your stories and then they'll die in the streets and my sisters and brothers will put their hands on them and take on that trauma take on that suffering like we do every day every week because no one's helping us we're alone we look like we're too scary to help but you have to reach your hand down the well to help a person to please recognize the moment and do more than you are, please.

Thank you.

Thank you, Evie.

Now we're gonna go online.

For the people online, we have Rose followed by Gina, Rose.

This morning at 7 a.m., I was at Cal Anderson making sure that there wasn't sweeps as there has been the last few weeks.

This last Thursday, we had the unified care team that not only gave people only five minutes of notice before sweeping, they also swept the park three hours later, taking people's things and throwing them into a city dumpster where they could not be retrieved.

Many of you received phone calls as a part of this, and there were people that showed up after this to make sure there was no more sweeps.

but people are losing things.

And as I was waiting to make sure the sweeps weren't happening, I met a girl who was from Utah who got kicked out of a place after she broke up with her partner and was living with very meager circumstances.

She didn't have shoes that fit her.

She didn't have clothes that she needed.

She is disabled and doesn't have a cane and she doesn't have the food that she needs.

And this is a story for so many people in the park.

So many people in our community We have organizations, organizations like KOIA and Stone Soup that have been doing wonderful work, but they need the resources to be allocated to them to help our community.

People are struggling and struggling in ways I have never seen before.

And it is heartbreaking to see individuals shaking underneath an emergency blanket under the rain that pours down outside.

These are individuals.

These are not just numbers.

These are not people you can just sweep away.

They are people with lives and stories and families and people that care about them.

And we have people that meet with them all the time to make sure that they are okay.

And we need more help for them.

And we need you all to be there to try and give us more help because we cannot do this alone.

We have tried.

Our community is pulling together the same $20 that we can to hand from one person to another and hoping that we can make this work.

but we're gonna need substantial help from the city in order to make sure that we don't have so many more ending up.

Thank you, Rose.

Next, I believe we have Gina.

Star six, unmute yourself.

Hello.

Hello.

Can you hear me?

Yes, welcome.

Hi.

My name is Gina Carrava.

I'm a 20-year veteran Pike Place market vendor.

I'm a democratically elected constituency representative for the Market Council.

I've served on the Waterfront Committee for Accessibility and regularly attend historic committee meetings, sorry, historic commission meetings.

I've served on stakeholder committee for waterfront expansion, engaged in 20 years of West Seattle light rail meetings with Pitten Point Council.

And I set up on the street at least 120 days a year right on the northern end of Pike Place.

and I see Western and Pike Place all year.

So I kind of see everything also that goes on in the middle of the street there.

I've learned a lot about what it takes to keep this market full and running smoothly and not modernize the wrong parts in order to maintain its term, authenticity and lore.

In the PDA we work incredibly hard to assess and meet the needs of our community of vendors, shoppers and residents.

I personally go to sometimes 13 meetings a month as a volunteer.

The market is incredibly complex and needs to be flexible and adaptive to changing seasonal and meteorological needs and to keep its historic character.

It's called the Soul of the Seattle for a reason.

We kept the lights running and people fed and working during the global pandemic while we grew our programs and tested new ideas for our streets and markets.

We reached out beyond our district and helped other neighborhoods with food accessibility during uncertain times.

The Council and Historic Commission is there to be responsive and supportive to ideas and businesses that fit the market's quirky character and function as a business incubator and service provider and a grocer to our city and enhances our city.

It seems to be working pretty well.

We have firmly laid out goals and designs in our 50-year plan that was five years in the making.

It's only had three pedestrian accidents, contrast to the absolute nightmare of injuries in Seattle from line scooters and line bikes.

I really think that We need to just keep the historic districts with the historic commissions running and no to the traffic taking over.

Thank you.

Thank you, and that looks like that's all online, in person.

Okay, public comment period is now closed.

I do wanna thank the people that came down here.

First of all, is there anyone else who did not speak who wanted to speak?

I'm looking at in the green.

I know you came in.

Did you wanna speak at all?

I know you didn't sign up, no?

Okay, no worries, you're all good.

I just wanted to make sure.

Did you wanna speak?

Okay, awesome.

before we close.

Okay.

We're gonna put the timer back on just before we close public comment period.

And then I'll address the people that came to council chambers today.

Thank you.

And all you have to do is just state your name for the record and you can go ahead and speak after the timer comes back on.

Give us one second.

Okay.

And that microphone might be better.

Perfect.

Give us one second.

So we get the timer on.

One second.

Sorry, I closed it and now I reopened it.

Just making sure everyone got the chance to speak for public comment, period.

Awesome.

Thank you, Jodi.

Go ahead and speak whenever you're ready.

Hi, everyone.

My name is Beatrice.

I recently moved up here to Seattle about a week and a half ago.

I was originally staying in Tacoma for the past six months, but like many people like me and like many of the stories you've heard today, I fled from not-so-friendly state, West Virginia.

So I came out here six months ago in search of a better life and while what I have now is much better than what I had back then, there's a lot of stuff that's missing in terms of resources and it's imperative.

It's very important that we have public transit that is accessible and open, especially to people who can't afford it or who don't have the privilege of or being able to walk around or be able-bodied or people who don't have a car.

Shelters are pretty full.

So any funding that could go towards shelters or something like that, especially for trans people, is absolutely critical recently.

Yeah, I know lots of people.

I can at least name a dozen myself who have gone to places like Seattle or Los Angeles.

Thousands of us are just fleeing where we came from and searching for better lives.

If there's anything that we need, I would say top three things would be transportation, queer-led mental health services, and public services like shelters and food banks and stuff like that.

Anyway, that'll conclude what I was trying to say.

Thank you.

And your name's Beatrice?

Yeah, my name's Beatrice.

Welcome to the 206. We're happy to have you here in the city.

And our public comment period is now closed.

Please continue to come down as well.

So really appreciate you being here.

I want to thank the folks that are here and also Also too, I know that Alex here in my office, raise your hand Alex, will be working with Council Member Rink's office who led the amendment on the funding for our trans community to provide emergency resources.

I'm not sure, there's a lot of bureaucracy that happens in government, but you have my word here that Alex will be working with Council Member Rink's office to find out where that funding is because I hear that there's a lot of stuff that takes place with departments to be able to distribute those funds.

and so I can't answer now where it is, but you have my word that we'll be able to find answers.

Council Member Rank.

Thank you, Council President Hollingsworth.

I want to echo the sentiments.

I want to thank everybody who came out today and for the folks who continue to show up to make themselves visible and seen here in this city.

I see you.

I'm glad you're here.

And I want to also affirm the frustration that folks are feeling about the funding and wanted to just explain to you one of the dynamics we face here on council is we can allocate money to a department, but as per the structure and relationship with the executive branch, it is incumbent on the department to spend it.

So we are working with the mayor's office to get updates.

I want to affirm that we've given an additional nudge in response to folks who turned out today.

to get an update on that funding.

When we put forward that amendment in the supplemental budget, the spirit was to get it out quickly, to be responsive to the need.

And so I just wanted to take that moment to explain that piece.

We're really looking for partnership from the executive to get funding out quickly, and you have my commitment that we're gonna be working to get an update out as soon as possible, and we've already sent that nudge upstairs.

So thank you for allowing me a moment to explain that, Council President Hollingsworth.

I appreciate your partnership on this.

Awesome, thank you Council Member Rink for that and for your leadership on that.

And thank you all for taking the time out of your day to come.

Thank you Evie for those comments as well.

And all of you all for being here and you have Council Member Rink's commitment about the nudge and then working together to make sure that we get those funds out.

The emergency funds, we know that's only a small bit as you all had talked about and building on that as well as we continue the process.

So just wanna acknowledge and thank you all as well.

and then with that, we're gonna transition into our agenda and our agenda item.

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

No objection, the agenda, hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Will the clerk please read item number one into the record?

The report of the Transportation, Waterfront and Seattle Center Committee, an ordinance relating to traffic management and public safety clarifying the authority of the city traffic engineer and amending sections 11.16.240 and 11.16.360 of the Seattle Municipal Code.

The committee recommends city council pass as amended the council bill.

Awesome.

Councilmember Saka, as chair of the committee, you are recognized in order to present the committee report.

Thank you, Madam Council President, and good afternoon, colleagues, members of the public.

And first off, I'll just acknowledge, thank you, Madam Council President, for your partnership in making sure we get through our respective pieces of legislation that come across all committees, including by sometimes holding special meetings to ensure as much.

You conveniently omitted the fact that right after this, we need to get through some critical executive sessions, but that's also a driver, but really do appreciate your partnership here.

When we established the STEPS Committee earlier this year in January, we deliberately put safety first.

We did that for a reason, because that whole STEPS branding was more than just a a questionable political brand or name, it did sincerely and truly reflect a commitment to make traffic safety a sustained priority of this council.

The Seattle Safer Streets Act is a three-bill legislative package designed to turn our Vision Zero commitments into more durable city practices.

Today, we're considering two pieces strengthening the authority of our city traffic engineer and establishing a defined path, defined timeline and process for developing truck side guard requirements for city contractors.

And the third bill addressing broader traffic safety policies, project per reviews and fatal crash response is currently planned for vote on November 10th.

We're working through legal and procedural questions involving historic districts and other things with the goal of respecting neighborhood character while addressing roadway safety in the urgent manner it deserves.

Today's vote represents an important milestone in that larger effort, the broader one.

On this first bill, it addresses something foundational and fundamental that is the authority of the professionals responsible for traffic safety.

Seattle has dedicated transportation engineers.

I know it firsthand because I've met many of them.

A lot of thoughtful engineers, planners, and public servants who understand where dangerous conditions exist and which specific engineering treatments may help best address those.

but expertise matters most when it is connected to clear responsibilities and the ability to act.

The city's 2023 Vision Zero top to bottom review identified elevating the city traffic engineer to a chief traffic or chief safety officer role as an important organizational step.

That dual role has since been established administratively.

and this bill builds upon that work by clarifying the traffic engineer's responsibilities into durable city law.

More specifically, this bill expressly recognizes the traffic engineer's role in reviewing roadway conditions and recommending safety improvements.

It reinforces responsibility for supporting SDOT's traffic safety programs, including Vision Zero.

It clarifies the authority to direct and expedite appropriate safety treatments on streets with histories of serious injuries and fatalities, including pilot projects and quick-build improvements, in addition to lower-cost operational changes.

Think about what it means in practical terms.

When a corridor has experienced repeated serious crashes, The city should have clear internal framework in place for evaluating and advancing appropriate safety improvements.

That might involve a targeted intersection change, a low-cost operational treatment, or a temporary pilot that helps us learn what works before making a larger investment.

Not every safety problem requires a multi-million dollar capital project.

And not every useful improvement requires rebuilding an entire street.

Sometimes the most important improvement is the one our engineers can identify and deliver using tools already available.

This legislation does not eliminate professional judgment, overriding engineering standards, or remove the transportation director's supervisory responsibilities or role.

Instead, it simply clarifies and strengthens the statutory foundation for safety-focused decision-making.

That's important because traffic safety involves both major long-term investments and smaller improvements that can be delivered through routine city operations.

A safer transportation system requires more than good intentions.

It requires clear responsibility for turning engineering expertise into action.

That is the purpose of this bill.

And it is the first component of safer streets before us today.

Pass out a committee unanimously and ask for your support.

Thank you.

Awesome, thank you Council Member Sokka.

And I forgot to remind folks that you did have three bills.

Two of them are here and one needs, one as we talked about has like more of a legal lens and some other stuff that needs to happen.

So I know that you're working hard on that which intends to come to full council as well, because there's some work that I know needs to be done legally.

So you're working on that.

So really appreciate you for these three bills.

but two are up for today.

Colleagues, are there any other comments regarding the bill before us?

Okay.

Well, Council Member Sokka, do you have any closing remarks?

No.

All right.

Awesome.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Councilmember Saka.

Aye.

Councilmember Strauss.

Aye.

Councilmember Foster.

Yes.

Councilmember Juarez.

Aye.

Councilmember Petal.

Aye.

Councilmember Lynn.

Aye.

Council Member Rink?

Yes.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Council President Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

So it passes.

Chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?

Will the clerk please read item number two into the record?

agenda item number two, council bill 121298, an ordinance relating to city contracts requesting the development of new recommended requirements for truck lateral protective devices that would be applicable to city contractors requesting consideration of recommendations for complementary safety equipment and describing specific dimensions for all requested recommended requirements.

The committee recommends city council pass as amended the council bill.

Councilmember Saka, Chair of the Committee, you are recognized to give the Committee a report.

Thank you, Madam Council President.

So, colleagues, the second bill addresses a different but equally aspect of traffic safety, the design and safety equipment of large trucks operating under city contracts, effectively leveraging the power or the city's purchasing power and contracting power to make the City of Seattle safer for all users, especially what the three-piece package codifies as its new term, vulnerable traveler.

So this addresses the design and safety equipment of large trucks operating again under city contracts.

Large trucks are essential to our city.

They deliver critical goods, they support construction, collect waste, and help maintain the infrastructure of our city that our city depends on.

Also true, at the same time, their size, blind spots, and turning movements can potentially create particularly severe risks for people walking, biking, and riding motorcycles.

One potential safeguard is truck side guards, also called a lateral protective device in technical terms.

These devices are designed to reduce the likelihood that a person struck along the side of a large truck is pulled underneath its rear wheels.

This isn't an entirely new concept.

Other jurisdictions, namely the City of Boston, have adopted robust side guard requirements for certain large trucks and municipal contractors.

Our legislation specifically identifies Boston's approach as a model for further consideration.

This bill establishes a defined process for re-evaluating how Seattle could adopt comparable requirements.

It calls for the Department of Finance and Administrative Services working collaboratively with SDOT and other departments to develop recommendations covering which specific trucks and contractors would be covered, appropriate equipment specifications, inspections and compliance requirements, complementary protections such as improved mirrors, cameras and blind spot awareness measures, and other implementation considerations such as contract terms, enforcement and stakeholder input.

The work will include engagement with the city's freight, and bicycle advisory boards and other affected stakeholders.

By May 1st of next year, 2027, the departments are asked to return with specific recommendations and proposed legislated language.

Today's bill does not immediately impose new equipment requirements on contractors.

This distinction matters.

We are establishing a statutorily defined and required pathway to evaluate technically feasible requirements, account for operational realities, and identify the legislative steps necessary to support implementation.

The work also complements the mayor's recent Vision Zero executive order, which took similar steps and addresses fleet safety and related equipment.

but our council legislation provides a specific framework for returning with contractor-focused recommendations.

The vehicles that help build and serve our city should also be a part of the conversation about how we make our streets safer.

That is the practical purpose of this bill.

and it reflects an important principle of the Safer Streets package.

Improving safety means examining the entire transportation system, including our infrastructure, our engineering best practices, and the vehicles operating on our roads.

Broadly, the three-piece package does a lot, including codifying three requirements that many of the transportation advocates have been calling for earlier this summer, daylighting at intersections, mandatory Vision Zero reviews, and truck side guard protections.

This bill addresses the truck side guard's protections component.

And ask for your support.

Pass out of committee unanimously.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you, Council Member Saka.

Are there any comments regarding the bill before us?

Just want to take this time to acknowledge all the hard work that you did on this in Transportation Committee and then obviously in the community and everything.

I know it was a heavy lift and a lot, so just wanted to acknowledge that.

I don't sit on the committee, but I saw all the work that you did legislatively and behind the scenes, and so just wanted to acknowledge that, Councilmember Saka.

Councilmember Rivera.

Thank you, Council President.

I too want to thank Councilmember Saka for keeping his eye on our Vision Zero goals.

I know we've been talking about this since you and I started the same year in 24, and it's something that all our constituents care deeply about.

So thank you for making these updates and really appreciate your work.

I don't sit on the committee either, but appreciate the committee's work on this.

Thank you.

Awesome, thank you, Council Member Rivera.

Any final comments before I kick it back to Council Member Saka for closing comments?

Council Member Saka, any closing comments?

I'll just say thank you, Madam Council President.

Appreciate you, and Councilmember Rivera, appreciate your comments there, your kind words.

As we prepare for this second and final vote for today, I also wanted to acknowledge everyone who helped bring this work forward.

From SDOT professionals and Council Central staff, especially Amanda and Ann, Jen, there are other folks, but worked hard on this legislation.

My own team, Brendan, Michael, Hadia, spent a lot of time on this at the staff level.

Really want to thank the community partners who were involved in this.

There's a lot, including Cascade, Streets Alliance, folks from Labor, MLK Labor, we saw, colleagues, the overwhelming endorsement of this package, the entire three-piece package, by the MLK Labor Council in a recent resolution that the entire council adopted earlier this summer.

Community members, again, families impacted by traffic tragedies, including Rita Holzman, who is the widow of Steve Holzman, who was tragically killed by traffic violence in West Seattle in December of 2023, a few short weeks before I took office.

She was very instrumental in working closely with me and my office on the entire package, and I'm thankful for her contributions and helpful suggestions to make this bill, this package, even better.

but this effort has benefited from substantial engagement from a lot of people.

So Seattle committed to Vision Zero more than a decade ago.

The challenge before us is how to make that commitment meaningful in the everyday operations of city government.

Today's two bills address two pieces of that challenge.

Clearer authority for our traffic safety professionals and a defined path toward evaluating and imposing additional protections for large trucks.

Our work is not finished and the broader third bill remains scheduled and the truck safety recommendations will return in 2027, as I mentioned earlier.

Seattle also has an opportunity to contribute to a growing national conversation about how cities translate Vision Zero goals into practical, lasting, good governance.

A safety commitment becomes more durable when it is reflected not only in what a city promises on a department website, but how the city actually operationalizes a particular commitment.

Thank you to my colleagues for your consideration and to everyone who has contributed to this work over many, many, many months and many more months to come.

Thank you.

Awesome, thank you, Councilmember Saka.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Saka.

Aye.

Councilmember Strauss.

Aye.

Councilmember Foster.

Yes.

Councilmember Juarez.

Aye.

Councilmember Kettle.

Aye.

Councilmember Lin.

Yes.

Rink?

Yes.

Councilmember Rivera?

Aye.

Council President Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Bill passes, the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature on the legislation on my behalf?

Congratulations Councilmember Saka, job well done.

Colleagues, is there any further business to come before the council?

All right, hearing no further business, we're gonna now move into executive session.

Also want to give a shout out, thank you for Kira for being our great security guard here.

As presiding officer, I'm announcing that the Seattle City Council will now convene into executive session.

The purpose of the executive session is to discuss pending potential or actual litigation.

The council executive session is an opportunity for the council to discuss confidential legal matters with the city attorneys, as authorized by law, a legal monitor from the city attorney's office is always present to ensure the council reserves questions for policy for open session.

I expect the time of the executive session to end by 4 p.m.

If the executive session is to be extended beyond that, I will announce the extension and the expected duration At the conclusion of this executive session, the city council meeting will automatically adjourn.

Right now, the next scheduled city council meeting that's tentative on the calendar is November 10th.

I canceled the November 3rd meeting because there's no business to come before the council.

If there's none, then we will cancel the November 10th meeting so we can focus on budget.

We are deep in budget session.

The council is now an executive session.

Council members, you're gonna log on to the executive session Zoom meeting and we will begin shortly.

Thank you.

you know.