Seattle City Council 3/11/19

Everybody, let's begin.

Call to order here.

So, oh, thank you, Councilmember Herbold.

So, call to order.

So, we'll do the roll call.

Sawant.

Here.

Bagshaw.

Here.

Gonzalez.

Here.

Herbold.

Here.

Johnson.

Here.

O'Brien.

Here.

Council President Pro Tem Juarez.

Here.

Seven present.

All right, let's begin.

Today is March 11th, City Council meeting of the City of Seattle Council will come to order.

It is 2.03 p.m.

I'm Deborah Juarez, Council President Pro Tem for the council.

We already did the roll, so now we'll move to adoption of introduction referral calendar.

If there are no objections, the introduction referral calendar will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the introduction referral calendar is adopted.

I'll move to approval of the agenda.

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

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Let's move to approval of the minutes or the journal.

Minutes of March 4th, 2019. City Council meetings have been reviewed.

If there is no objection, the minutes will be signed.

Hearing no objections, the minutes are being signed.

Presentations, there are no presentations today.

We will move to public comment.

At this time we will take public comment on the items that appear on today's agenda.

the Introduction Referral Calendar, and the 2019 City Council's Work Program.

My understanding that there are nine items on today's agenda, which also includes five appointments.

And can we go ahead and call four names to both microphones?

How many people do we have signed up?

I'm sorry.

All right.

Number one is Alex Zimmerman.

Number two is Richard Swartz.

Number three is Michael Fuller.

And number four is David Zietzeff.

Thank you, Honorable.

I'll let the record reflect the Honorable Mr. Fuller.

Thank you.

Let's go.

For many years I talking and surprised me why director never report to the people.

You are an employee.

If you pay $200,000 per year and I talk for 10 years about this, how is this possible?

So no one director report to the people.

So I talk many times, I repeat again and again.

Because you are employee, you supposed to be report to people.

Because you work for me, for people.

So every director supposed to be report this to the people.

I go right now to meeting what is the represent City Light and Director Schmidt, you know what is mean present?

So I can speak, it's better than nothing, but you need Q&A.

Why this happen?

Because right now everybody understands Seattle is the number one fascist city in America.

From Atlantic to The Stranger, for 300 million people, from east to coast, right now everybody understands Seattle is the number one fascist city in America.

This does not surprise me what has happened.

It's happening in this chamber right now.

All criminals, Gonzalez violated constitutional law five times.

Five times.

It's never happened before in human history.

She supposed to be move out together with all this crook who support her for many years.

So when you support criminal, you are a criminal.

So why she sit in this place?

Mr. Zimmerman, I'm going to stop you right now.

Shut off the mic.

Mr. Zimmerman, you will not impugn.

Councilor Gonzales, shut off the mic.

It's done.

Mr. Zimmerman.

Mr. Zimmerman, leave now or have you removed.

I would like him removed now.

You're removed now, Mr. Zimmerman.

You're no longer on TV.

You are removed.

Again, I'd ask that people just have decency and not impugn the members of Seattle City Council.

We're free to hear your opinion and your concerns, but we will not allow that type of behavior.

Let's call the next names or the individuals or their next Richard Richard Swartz.

Yes, sir, she's did you want did you want to wait?

Sure.

Yeah, we'll just skip to the next.

So he wants Council Member Bagshaw here.

All right.

The Honorable Michael Fuller.

The Honorable Michael Fuller.

I like what's going on, you know, and I've been in this business over two and a half decades.

And what I'm seeing here is organized crime control like October 15, 1917. that was signed by President Richard Nixon.

And the 18 U.S.

Code and 2441, war crimes.

Be mindful, September 11th, 2,996 deaths, 2,977 victims, 343 firefighter deaths, 19 hijacker deaths, Then 2010, $11.2 million, unauthorized, undocumented alien.

Then 2015, $42.1 million, unauthorized, undocumented alien.

And then now the taxpayers are paying $338.3 billion?

dollars on unauthorized undocumented aliens, and then you let our veterans sleep on the street?

Y'all the ones that came in and breached my daddy's contract when he served his country, two and a half decades during the Korean War and Vietnam War.

And then y'all sitting up here violating your RCW 2.48.210, your oath on admission RCW 2.24.020, your oath in RCW 2.04.

O-A-O, your oath of office.

And that malicious harassment of 98.36080 and 49.66030, freedom from discrimination, and 98.36080, malicious harassment, Black Lives Matter.

But this is not the changes or the dreams Black Lives Matter can believe in.

And I'm trying to put you in federal penitentiary.

Believe that.

Thank you, sir.

Next?

Next is Richard Schwartz.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Before you start the clock, could you stop it for a second?

It's real discouraging to come up here and see all the heads down.

It's like, you know.

Sir, you're on a two-minute timer here, so let's go.

I'm not following you.

You're on a two-minute timer.

Could you start it over, please?

No, we're not going to.

Just go ahead.

So it was unreasonable for you to ask that people look up and give me their attention?

Sir, you have two minutes.

We're all looking at you have two minutes.

Now you have a minute and 30 seconds.

OK, well, I guess I won't be able to say it.

Last week, you limited, this kind of goes to the heart of what I was going to talk about, which was the state of our democracy Last week, you limited speakers because of the number of speakers to one minute each, but you allowed Pamela Jayapal to speak as long as she wanted to.

It was four or five minutes.

And it reminded me of George Orwell's famous saying from Animal Farm about how all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

And that's how I feel like I'm being treated now, just because I was kind of asking for your attention.

Like, I noticed you all were very attentive to Ms. Jayapal last week.

And I just wanted to ask for your attention before I started, and I immediately got a hostile response back from you.

I don't understand that.

So you don't ever respond to citizens or what's?

I do, sir, but you have two minutes for public comment to the agenda items.

Well, it's all on tape, and I think it's a pretty sad commentary that you think that asking for you guys to look up offer your computers and give attention during this short period of time was an unreasonable thing.

I really feel bad about that.

Thank you.

Who's next?

Greetings.

This is David Zaitsev and I had a comment that doesn't relate to an agenda item but hopefully may be useful.

Obviously in Seattle some people are concerned on the topic of gun safety.

You're probably aware that a few months ago on New Year's Eve there was a shooting that's currently under investigation.

We don't necessarily know who was at fault, at least the investigation doesn't seem to be complete yet.

I actually tried to follow the investigation a little bit from the news and watched the video several times.

I'd had a negative interaction with the particular officer several months prior and so I've thought about it.

And I thought of two things that the council might wish to be aware of and think about for the general situation.

One is, unless I'm mistaken, I think that Seattle police officers tend to use Glocks as their primary sidearm, which have no safety, as a pull weight of about five and a half pounds.

Pull weight is what it requires to pull the trigger.

And in New York City, a few years ago, what they decided to do was to create a device to increase the pull weight of the trigger to reduce accidental discharges.

We normally wouldn't think that accidental discharges would happen with police officers.

We would normally think they've been well-trained, but they actually do.

In 2002, Seattle Police released a report about their use of force.

In their own report, they said, oh, within the past two years, we've had four accidental discharges, four accidental discharges of police officers, some at the range and some outside the range.

In Los Angeles County, a few years ago, the sheriff's deputies switched over from one kind of handgun to a different kind of handgun similar to the Glock.

And they found that their accidental discharges increased, basically doubled.

And so one thing that some of you should check on is the pull weight of our Glocks, because they can be modified, and it may make our police officers safer.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

The last speaker is Paul Novosuk, Kim Sung Ag.

Good afternoon.

Hello.

My name is Paul Novosuk, but I'm also Kim Sung Ag.

And the code for 1954 was socialism with communism.

Communism was not allowed in employees that are in the corporation, which is your corporation.

And Swann should really forfeit because she's not a monarchist socialist.

She's actually a communist socialist.

She should really look at it.

And I'm putting it into the FBI and also U.S.

Treasury.

My best friend is in the U.S.

Treasury.

And also the NSA for data collection in the beginning.

So as a student assistant, that wrecking all neutrality is true.

You have to really think about appropriating your ballot.

Thank you.

And the Metro thing, that was mine.

And yeah, it's a free metro passes corporation.

So if you really have to think about things, you really have to think about one thing.

I'm going and running against you.

I have the union, I have the international, I have the monarchy, and I also have other things.

So I am running against you.

I don't need no money, but thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you for running against.

Thank you.

You too.

Are we done with public comment?

All right.

So with that, we will close public comment.

So following down the agenda, we will go to payment of the bills.

Please read the title.

I move to pass Council Bill 119474. Second.

It's been moved and seconded.

Are there any comments?

Please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Sawant.

Aye.

Thaksa.

Aye.

Gonzales.

Aye.

Herbold.

Aye.

Johnson.

Aye.

O'Brien.

Aye.

President Ores.

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Bill passes and the chair will sign it.

All right.

Okay, so we'll move on to committee reports.

I think the first seven are mine, so go ahead.

Clerk, please read the report of the Civic Development, Public Assets, and Native Communities Committee.

The report of the Civic Development, Public Assets, and Native Communities Committee.

Agenda item one, appointment 1260, reappointment of Robert L. Nellums as Director of Seattle Center for term to January 1st, 2023. The committee recommends that the appointment be confirmed.

Thank you.

So, Mr. Nillums is here, and I'd like to make some comments.

I'm sure my colleagues do as well.

Mr. Nillums is, we're in committee, and he has been at Seattle Center for over 20 years.

He worked closely with this council and many other councils, but most recently in the revisioning and the remodeling and redevelopment of Seattle Center.

And we appreciate his wisdom, his leadership, and his intellect.

And more importantly, in the two decades that you've been at Seattle Center, you have proven and demonstrated excellence, proven results, and I want to thank you for your leadership and all the work that we've been doing at Seattle Center.

And so with that, I think my colleagues probably have a few comments to make, and then we'd like you to make a few comments.

She told me I had 20 seconds.

So I want to say thanks, Robert.

It's been a pleasure working with you for these 10 years.

We started off in a Parks and Seattle Center Committee together.

And just look at the things that have been accomplished in this last decade.

The Chihuly started off and people were angry about it.

We got public benefits.

The Artists at Play went up.

really grateful for the work you've done around the arts, too, whether it's Opera Center or the Playhouse, that great things are happening.

And I know the Seattle Science Center is going to have a facelift and be working on some great things there.

And then, of course, all the work that you did around the arena, you and Councilmember Juarez and the other people who are leading in this, it's going to really make Seattle Center, once again, the center of Seattle, And I think that nothing but fabulous news is going to come from there over the next few years.

So you certainly have my vote, my support, and I appreciate you very much.

Thank you.

I just want to sing your praises about an issue I just learned about last week, maybe something that hasn't gotten a lot of attention that I really think should, and our efforts to make sure that this city is a place that is, its public facilities, particularly our arts and culture facilities, are welcoming and provide access for all.

I was visited by a disabilities rights advocate who reached out to me about whether or not we should consider passing legislation that requires caregivers to receive a free entrance ticket to a venue.

in those instances where the person with the disability needs a caregiver and arguing that that is a Required public accommodation, and he told me that you took a lot of leadership On that issue as it relates specifically to the venues at Seattle Center, so I want to thank you for that Thank You councillor Herbold anyone else Okay with that mr. Nelms you want to come up and say a few words I

Oh, you're right.

I'm sorry.

Well, then sit back down.

I was just so ready to get you up here.

So if there are any more comments, then we will go forward with the confirmation.

Those in favor of confirming the appointment, vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, vote no.

The ayes have it.

The motion carries.

The appointment is confirmed now, Mr. Nellums.

Please come talk to us.

Brief remarks, just kidding.

Thank you.

My wife always tells me to be clear, be brief, be seated.

One, I would just like to thank you all for your continued confidence and support.

You all know that I love this job and I love the fact that we have a place and that reflects the values of our community where anyone can come, that it's accessible and inclusive of everyone.

And that I work with people that try their darndest to make it welcoming to everyone that shows up on our campus.

So I would love to say that I look forward to the next couple of years.

There'll be a lot of change coming to Seattle Center with the arena project and other things that are going to happen.

And I look forward to working with you to make sure that we do what you want us, the stewards of this public asset to do.

And I hope that we not only meet but exceed your expectations while we do that.

So thank you for your continued support.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

That was a close vote, buddy.

I'm just letting you know that.

So we will move to item number two.

You want to go ahead and read to the record?

Agenda item two, Council Bill 119460 will lead to the 2008 Parks and Green Spaces Levy.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

This comes out of our committee, and so let me give a little background information.

There are four funding categories, including acquisitions, environment, and the opportunity fund and development from the 2008 Park and Green Spaces Levy, and the levy provided inflation contingencies for projects in the acquisition, environment, and development categories, but not the opportunity fund.

Inflation categories in the acquisition and environment categories are fully spent, but they remain for projects in the development category.

Of the total, 14 million inflation contingency for the development category.

11.6 million has been spent.

This legislation appropriates 2.4 million in remaining contingency for the remaining active projects in the development category.

Example projects include Gasworks Park, the Gasworks Park play area, Nomara Desmond Park development, and the Magnuson Park building of the 406, Park building 406, I'm sorry, the roof.

So with that, are there any comments?

No.

All right.

Please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Swant.

Aye.

Bagshaw.

Aye.

Gonzalez.

Aye.

Herbold.

Aye.

Johnson.

Aye.

O'Brien.

Aye.

President Juarez.

Aye.

Seven in favor and none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes and the chair will sign.

Please read the third item into the record.

Agenda Item 3, Council Bill 119466 relating to the Department of Parks and Recreation authorizing the acceptance of a gift of a timber pavilion structure from the Seattle Parks Foundation to be installed in Occidental Square Park for public use.

Committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you.

So as you heard, Council Bill 119466 authorizes the acceptance of a gift of a timber pavilion structure from Seattle Parks Foundation to be installed in Occidental Square Park for public use.

Seattle Parks Foundation will be making the timber pavilion a gift at $2 million value to the City of Seattle and the Seattle Department of Parks and Rec.

The timber pavilion will replace the current kiosk building and function as an information and concierge station for Park and Pioneer Square visitors.

A large grass roof will, I love this, sit gracefully above the structure and extend into the park, providing opportunities for play, performance, and classes in a beautiful covered space.

The new pavilion will provide for enhanced park activation.

The Seattle Parks Foundation is working in partnership with the Alliance for Pioneer Square.

And I believe Friends of the Waterfront.

So with that, are there any comments?

No?

All right.

Please call roll on the passage of the bill.

Salant.

Aye.

Bagshaw.

Aye.

Gonzales.

Aye.

Herbold.

Aye.

Johnson.

Aye.

O'Brien.

Aye.

President Juarez.

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign.

So let's plea, we have four appointments.

You want to read items four through seven to the record?

Agenda items 4 through 7, appointments 1243, 1243. Appointment of Jenna Lamon as member of Sales Center Advisory Commission for term to September 28th, 2019. And appointments of Danielle Tam Claiborne, Eileen Fordella, and Raquel Russell as members of Sales Center Advisory Commission for term to September 20th, 2020. The committee recommends all these appointments be confirmed.

Thank you.

I'm going to briefly go through these four appointments.

We had an opportunity to meet with all four individuals, and it's a wonderful group for the Seattle Advisory Committee.

Oh, Mr. Nellum's already left.

I was going to say he really teed up some great candidates.

Let's see.

I'm just going to be briefly with Daniel Tam Claiborne, is an international development professional with a background of working in microfinance for social justice issues, including Africa and China.

Daniel published a book called What Never Leaves in 2012. Jana Lamon is a teacher at Adams Elementary and a Program Operations Specialist in the Robinson Center for Young Scholars at the University of Washington.

Elena Fardella is recently retired from her position as President and COO of the Seattle Times.

After 22 years of service there, is currently a Queen Anne resident.

And we have Raquel Russell.

She is the VP of Governmental Relations and Public Affairs at Zillow Group, and in that capacity oversees Zillow's community and civic engagement, housing, and economic policy.

She previously led the White House Office of Urban Affairs and Economic Mobility, serving as senior advisor to President Obama on issues including neighborhood revitalization, affordable housing, economic opportunity, nutrition policy, and women's health.

So, are there any questions or comments?

Okay, so we'll move forward.

All those in favor of confirming the appointments, vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, vote no.

The motion carries and the appointments are confirmed.

Thank you.

Let's read item number eight into the record.

The report of the Sustainability and Transportation Committee Agenda Item 8, Council Bill 1194-34 relating to appropriations to the Dilridge Multi-Module Corridor Project.

Committee recommends the bill passes as amended.

Council Member O'Brien.

Thank you.

This is fairly straightforward.

This is something we looked at in the budget last year and we placed a proviso on their continued design work beyond this 30% threshold until we heard back and we wanted to ensure that they were doing good work on community engagement.

We had a great report in committee, also heard in public comment from community members that they really appreciate the engagement and some of the design changes.

We still have a ways to go in design, but lifting the provisor will allow them to continue to the next phase.

Before we proceed to a vote, I know my colleague, Council Member Herbold, has an amendment to propose, which I support, so I'll hand it over.

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you so much.

I move to amend Council Bill 1194.34, Section 2, as presented on Version 2 of Amendment 1, which was distributed at this meeting.

Second.

Moved and seconded to amend Council Bill 119434 by amending Section 2. Just Section 2, correct?

Yes.

Are there any comments?

I'll let you go ahead.

Thank you.

I'd just like to speak to the amendment very quickly.

As Council Member O'Brien said, the public has been very complimentary of SDOT's efforts to do civic engagement and to address the issues, the multimodal issues surrounding this project.

This amendment adds that the council anticipates that SDOT will continue to evaluate issues identified by the community and notes in SDOT's presentation to the Sustainability and Transportation Committee last week as work SDOT is evaluating plus specifically improvements to the 26th Avenue Greenway.

It also references work that needs to be done with Seattle Public Utilities to ensure that the design complies with the stormwater code And finally, it references the need for a funding agreement with King County Metro in advance of seeking appropriations for project construction.

That's the final piece of legislation needed, and that will be coming to us during the budget process this year.

Thank you.

Any more comments?

All right.

Those in favor of the amendment, vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, no.

The ayes have it.

The motion carries, and the bill is amended.

And then I will move to pass Council Bill 119434 as amended.

It's been moved and seconded to pass Council Bill 119434 as amended.

Council Member O'Brien, do you wanna?

All good.

Okay, I like that, all good.

Okay, so, is that it?

Oh, thank you.

Oh, I was looking at the wrong note here.

All right, all those in favor?

Aye.

I already did that.

Call the roll.

Oh yeah, call the roll, thank you.

Yeah.

Swann.

Bagshaw.

Gonzales.

Herbold.

Johnson.

O'Brien.

President Juarez.

Seven in favor and none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Let's read item 9 into the record.

Agenda item 9, Council Bill 119473, granting the University of Washington permission to maintain and operate a pedestrian tunnel under and across Northeast Pacific Street west of Montlake Boulevard Northeast.

Committee recommends the bill pass.

So this is legislation that will allow the city to renew a permit for University of Washington to operate a tunnel connecting the parking garage under the triangle kind of between Montlake and Pacific, excuse me, across from University Hospital to the hospital.

The tunnel has been around over 30 years and the previous permit has expired.

This would give authority for a 10-year permit dating back starting to 2015, and then two more 10-year extensions that could be approved without council approval.

The permit fee for this is $1,680 for 2015. It gets adjusted based on property values going forward.

Any more comments?

All right, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Sawant.

Aye.

Bagshaw.

Aye.

Gonzales.

Aye.

Herbold.

Aye.

Johnson.

Aye.

O'Brien.

Aye.

President Juarez.

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Thank you, Council Member O'Brien.

You're welcome.

All right.

Let's make sure Councilmember Johnson can catch his bus.

Any other business before the council?

All right.

With that, we are adjourned.

Hearing no further business.