meeting started.
Good afternoon, everyone.
The February 8th, 2021 meeting of the Seattle City Council will now come to order.
It is 2.02 p.m.
I'm Lorena Gonzalez, president of the council.
Will the clerk please call the roll?
Councilmember Mosqueda?
Present.
Councilmember Peterson?
Here.
Councilmember Sawant?
Here.
Thank you.
Councilmember Strauss?
Present.
Council Member Herbold.
Here.
Council Member Juarez.
Here.
Council Member Lewis.
Present.
Council Member Morales.
Here.
Council President Gonzalez.
Present.
Nine present.
Thank you, Madam Clerk.
All right, folks, we're going to move right into presentations.
Councilmember Lewis has two presentations for members of the viewing public today.
The first presentation, again, is from Councilmember Lewis.
He has a proclamation honoring Tony Lee.
that he will present first, and then we will open up the floor to comments.
So Council Member Lewis, I'm gonna hand the floor over to you to walk us through the first proclamation.
Thank you so much, Madam President.
Today we honor the late Tony Lee.
Tony resolved himself the champion to the suffering and justice for over three decades.
And his staunch advocacy for the marginalized communities of the state as a former state house representative and lobbyist, one executive director at Solid Ground.
earned him the great respect of everybody that he worked with in the community, and at one time even the informal title of the Conscience of Washington.
Further than any accolades, formal or informal, Tony's work was marked too by official honors and awards.
And these included a Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Seattle Human Services Coalition in 2018 for his service on the steering committee for the organization's entire 30 year existence, as well as the Goldmark Award for exceptional leadership and social justice advocacy from the Washington Legal Foundation.
Tony's dedication to selfless advocacy has and will continue to earn his name and praise and respect across the state of Washington and the city of Seattle.
His legacy is a reminder to us here today of why we do this work and indeed why, as chair of the Select Committee of Homelessness Strategies and Investments, we follow in the footsteps of the path that Tony blazed in helping the people of the city of Seattle and the state of Washington live with dignity and live healthy lives.
And I'm humbled today to present this proclamation and even more to take up with you all, my fellow colleagues and council members, his eternal call to action.
So now I present in full a proclamation honoring the late Tony Lee for serving Seattle's most vulnerable communities.
Whereas Tony Lee dedicated his life and career to advocate for marginalized communities across Washington state.
And whereas he was a beloved champion for immigrant and low-income communities in the Washington state legislature.
And whereas his career is marked by countless awards and accolades, commending his work and leadership on social justice.
and whereas his kind-hearted and collaborative nature always showed the importance of humility and appreciation of others, and whereas Tony's work spanned from establishing protections for immigrant and low-income persons to expanding education, equity, creating jobs, fighting for equal housing opportunity, and much more.
And whereas Tony Lee passed away on November 12th of 2020, and whereas Tony Lee's work will live on and continue to be impactful due to his many years of serving as a strong mentor and inspiration and a model to current and future advocates, organizers, and especially people experiencing and directly impacted by poverty and racism, by encouraging all people to speak truth to power and share their stories to push for change.
Whereas we recognize that Tony Lee's accomplishments represent an exemplary model for work that must continue.
And whereas we are committed to carrying on that important work to create better futures for all communities.
And whereas we make this commitment with the endurance and urgency required to make meaningful progress for the people of Seattle.
And whereas we are proud to make the commitment in honor and memory of Tony Lee.
Now, therefore, the mayor and the Seattle City Council proclaim Friday, February 12th, 2021 to be Tony Lee Day.
I also want to thank Parker Dawson on my staff for helping assemble this proclamation, as well as a number of colleagues who submitted content in preparation for this.
And really happy to bring this forward and invite additional comments from colleagues.
So thank you so much.
Thank you, Council Member Lewis.
Are there any other comments on the proclamation?
Council Member Mosqueda, please.
Thank you very much, Madam President.
Thank you again, Council Member Lewis, for your office taking the helm in drafting this proclamation.
It has been an honor of mine to be able to have worked side by side with Tony in the years that I was in the state capitol, and not only work side by side with him, but learn from him as a mentor.
And as somebody who was working for the Children's Alliance at the time and then the State Labor Council, Tony constantly reminded us of how to do this work, to work within bellies of the beast and still remain committed to the same moral compass that drives us every single day to change policy and that you can work within these institutions to fight for change and have labels like lobbyists and do good things because we need folks who are bringing folks into those bellies of the beast to fight for equity and to make sure that generational poverty is never experienced.
Tony did it in a way that was not only passionate, but a way that was impactful.
He won so many policy changes and he made the lives better for so many people.
And I'm just incredibly honored that I had the chance to work with him and will always remember his laugh.
I also want to share a note of solidarity and both strength and condolences incredible appreciation from Euline Niao, who is working as an assemblywoman in New York's state legislature.
She is wishing that she could be here with us today and also celebrate, but wanted to just say from coast to coast, we are all incredibly honored, incredibly proud to have known Tony and his work continues on as the resolution says.
Tony Lee or proclamation says Tony Lee's work will live on and continue to be impactful due to as many years of serving as a strong mentor and inspiration and model to current and future advocates, organizers, and especially people experiencing directly and directly impacted by poverty and racism, by encouraging all people to speak truth to power and share their stories to push for change.
That's what Tony Lee did.
And we are incredibly honored to have learned from one of the greats.
Thank you very much for putting this forward and incredibly happy to be here.
and to be with all of you, especially Angela, with you as we celebrate Tony's life this week.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda for those comments.
Are there any additional comments?
Council Member Herbold, please.
Thank you.
I was really honored to be in the presence of Tony Lee when he was recognized at the OCA Golden Circle Awards a bit ago.
That's the Organization for Chinese Americans.
I will always hold that last hug.
with Tony and hold the roa legacy in my heart to remi Tony's boisterous laugh.
That is another really important reminder to do the work that we do with joy and with love.
And I will always think of Tony, not just about the 30-year legacy that he has created in the lives that he's changed, but his laugh and that reminder to do our work with joy and love.
Thank you.
Well said, Council Member Herbold.
Any other comments on the proclamation?
Well, thank you so much to Council Member Lewis for bringing this proclamation forward.
And I'll just sort of conclude by saying, you know, Tony, Tony is a legend and will always be one.
And we stand on great shoulders to have an opportunity to lead his amazing work forward, which was centered first and foremost on the people and on breaking the chains and the cycles of poverty, of our community members and we are a better city and a better state because we have the benefit of having the great Tony Lee be a member of our advocacy community and our community at large.
So much, much love to his family and friends and to all of us who are left with an empty space in our heart with the loss of Tony Lee.
Council Member Lewis, any other comments you'd like to make before I hand it back over to you?
Madam President, I do want to, at this point, now that we've all been able to comment on the proclamation, recognize Angela Bartels, who is present to accept the proclamation on Tony's behalf, and I appreciate her joining us today.
It's always awkward when we can't be in council chambers to physically hand the proclamation over, but I'm glad that even here we're able to invite community members in and make sure that we are properly recognizing this tradition.
And I'd like to now turn it over to Angela and give her an opportunity to accept the proclamation and appreciate her being here today.
Great.
Thank you, Council Member Lewis.
Before we hear from Angela, I got to do one little parliamentary procedure.
I'm so sorry.
If there is no objection, the council rules will be suspended to allow Angela Bartels to accept the proclamation and provide remarks.
Hearing no objection, the council rules are suspended, and we want to welcome you, Angela, to the city council meeting.
You are recognized in order to address members of the city council and the viewing public.
Welcome.
Thank you very much to the council members and to all of the staff who have helped to put the proclamation together and push it forward.
And I hereby accept the proclamation.
I would just like to say, thinking about what Tony would say upon acceptance of such a distinguished award as this, First of all, he would thank all of his team members who worked with him in order to achieve the many achievements that Tony was able to achieve, the policies and the legislation that affected hundreds of thousands of lives in the state of Washington.
And so first of all, Tony would say, thank you to my team members, because Tony recognized that big and small achievements alike require the work of many.
And so he would recognize his team members, and then he would thank his family, including his parents, Aksek, Ananyo, his brother Joe, his many sisters.
Tony came from a family of 10 children.
And he wouldn't even recognize me because Tony understood that in order to go out and do all of the great things that he did, he needed the love and support of his family and friends behind him.
So with those words, I thank you and I accept this very distinguished award on Tony's behalf.
Thank you, Angela.
Very, very well stated.
And thank you so much for being with us today.
I know you've got some things going on in the background there, and we're glad that we were able to get you just at the right time so you can make those remarks to us and the members of the viewing public.
So thank you again for being with us and for sharing those words with us and the viewing public.
We appreciate it.
Thank you.
Take care.
Lots of virtual applause over here on this end.
All right, folks, we're going to go ahead and move through the items of our agenda.
I'm sorry, Council Member Lewis, I got a little confused, and I said you had two proclamations, but in fact, you only have one, and I apologize for any unnecessary confusion I may have caused there.
So we're going to go ahead and move through.
The meeting agenda, next up is approval of the minutes.
There are no minutes for approval today.
So we'll move right into adoption of the referral calendar.
If there is no objection, the introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.
Hearing no objection, the introduction and referral calendar is adopted.
If there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.
Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.
We're going to now move into public comment.
So at this time, I'll go ahead and open the remote public comment period for items on the city council agenda, introduction and referral calendar, and the council's work program.
I want to thank everyone for their ongoing patience.
Sorry about that.
and cooperation as we continue to operate this remote public comment system.
It does remain the strong intent of the city council to have remote public comment regularly included on our meeting agendas.
However, as a reminder, the city council reserves the right to end or eliminate these public comment periods at any point if we deem that this system is being abused or is no longer suitable for allowing our meetings to be conducted efficiently and effectively.
I'll moderate the public comment period in the following manner.
We will have public comment for 20 minutes.
Each speaker will have two minutes.
I'll call on each speaker by name and in the order in which they register on the council's website.
If you haven't registered but would like to you can go to Seattle.gov forward slash council.
Public comment is also listed on today's agenda.
Once I call a speaker's name staff is going to unmute the appropriate microphone and you will hear a prompt of you have been unmuted.
When you hear that prompt it means it's your turn to press star six and then you can begin speaking.
Please begin by stating your name.
and list the item that you are addressing.
Again, as a reminder, public comment should relate to an item on today's agenda, the introduction referral calendar, or the council's work program.
At about 10 seconds, you're gonna hear a chime.
That means you have 10 seconds left to wrap up your comments before we mute your microphone and head on over to the next speaker.
Once you've completed your public comment, I'd ask that you please disconnect from the line.
And if you plan to continue following this meeting, you can do so on Seattle Channel or one of the listening options listed on the agenda.
Public comment is now open.
It is 2.20 p.m., so we will go until 2.40 p.m.
or until we run out of folks to call on.
We'll begin with the first speaker on the list.
Please remember to press star six after you hear the prompt if you have been unmuted.
First up is Howard Gale, followed by Joe Kunzler.
Howard, welcome.
Hi, good afternoon.
Howard Gale, District 7, commenting on police abuse and failed accountability.
There are currently a large number of bills on police reform and accountability before the state legislature.
In particular, I'll note two.
Substitute House Bill 1267, the result of the Governor's Task Force on Investigating Police Use of Force, provides that, quote, investigators should not be commissioned law enforcement officers, unquote, nor have been one in the prior two years, and that if an investigator was ever a law enforcement officer, quote, The director must conduct a review of prior disciplinary actions or complaints related to bias." Seattle's model is almost the complete opposite of that, requiring that SPD sergeants either exclusively investigate or serve as lead investigators on all serious misconduct cases. Substitute House Bill 1203 makes mandatory local civilian oversight boards, which, in complete contradistinction to Seattle's model, provides for full investigatory subpoena power and discipline. The bill also prevents any person currently employed by law enforcement from serving on the Community Oversight Board. Despite the progressive advances in the state legislature, the current city council appears determined to keep us mired in failed pseudo-accountability measures by demanding the legislature exempt Seattle police reform efforts from state legislation. Let's be clear, the council is currently demanding that accountability and justice be delayed. is way past time to advocate for a fully civilianized police accountability sub-system under true community control not a community commission without any power that spends too much time listening to itself and to experts and far too little time listening or giving voice to the community. Why does Seattle not deserve the police accountability system that the people of Newark, New Jersey, Nashville, Tennessee, San Diego, Portland, and London have chosen? A system that the legislature is now considering. Thank you.
Thank you.
Next up is Joe Kunzler.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Seattle.
First, after watching the Council President, Brandi Kruse, regarding police accountability, I'd like to say that the Council President has undergone realignment.
I appreciate it.
The same Council President who doesn't walk the talk, I thank you for watching.
With that at this hour, two bills are proceeding forth.
The first is HB 1329. That's B-I-T dot L-I slash W-A H-B 1329. A bill that within it will, among other things, allow a virtual option to publicly dispose of a weapon, denying Alex Newman a platform to spew hate ever again.
I ask Seattle City Government to weigh in favor, please.
We appreciate your defensiveness for a more inclusive, more deliberative Republican democracy, as your wonderful Council staff and President have done.
The second is HB 1304, regarding expediting Seattle's bill, to expedite white rail to only serve neighborhoods.
I ask the Seattle City Council to please help me help my Seattle siblings tomorrow.
Finally, I want to circle back to HB 1329, and the regathering of Stone, Rapets, Preston, and Gonzales crafts to get Seattle vaccinated, like the logical lioness she truly is.
In the event, this bill, HB 1329, or the remote oxygen exercise, Alex Newman will return.
I understand Seattle is having an election for mayor and San Francisco board member.
Let me paraphrase what's the truth of this book about 1939, right before World War II would break out.
Quote, at this moment in its long history, it would be the best.
And pathetic, it would be shameful if the Seattle City Council wrote itself off as an effective effect on the situation.
That's why Emily Gonzales is so worried for George Smith, for Southridge, board member, and mayor, and I encourage.
Thank you so much.
Okay, our last speaker is speaker number five on my list, and That is, I'm sorry, hold on just a minute.
Eternally 12, Treehugger, Maya, Carrie, Reincarnated, Butterfly, Album, Helmetless, Cyclist, Polyamorous, Encompassing Four Brother Husbands, Colonized Black, Indigenous, Hammer.
Speaker number five, welcome.
Hi, I'm Kai, begin speaking.
We can hear you.
Okay, good.
I'm calling because I haven't given public comment for quite a moment, but since I called a few months ago in 2020, another city has gone on board, Mount Rainier in Maryland, they have become the fifth city to lower the voting age to 16. But when I called into the public meeting a few months ago, I asked the council to consider lowering the voting age to 12 because the movement, the black power movement to end colonialism as usual has continued, and us activists on the streets are tired of the rent crisis that we continue to face.
the regular police terrorism that is instilled in our Constitution, and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Further, the state of Hawaii has introduced legislation to lower the voting age to 16, and so has the Congress.
So Seattle, you're supposed to be one of the most liberal, progressive cities in the nation, and yet you guys are still behind.
Those five mainland cities, you're still behind.
the state of Hawaii, you guys literally have a search list on the city council meeting because I guess I'm talking to you, darling.
Now, granted, I didn't vote for you because I didn't have my registration in a situation because I was a houseless person.
I'm still houseless now.
So and the situation of houselessness is something that addresses all ages from womb to tomb.
The situation of the pollution that plagues the air is something that addresses all areas from womb to tomb.
And with that said, my second point was rank choice voting.
Literally, I don't know if y'all are up for re-election, but even if you were not up for re-election, rank choice voting empowers people to choose more than just one.
I'm polyamorous.
And again, my other point is that y'all need to recognize polyamorous relationships.
We out here.
Is my time up?
You got about five seconds.
Go ahead.
Well, yes, y'all should recognize polyamorous relationships, and that's my last point.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
That is the last speaker we have signed up for public comment, so we're going to go ahead and close the public comment period out and begin on items of business, other items of business on our agenda.
First up is payment of the bills.
Will the clerk please read the title?
Council Bill 119995, a property of mine to place out in claims for the week of January 25th, 2021 through January 29th, 2021, and ordering the payment thereof.
I move to pass Council Bill 119995. Is there a second?
Second.
It's been moved and seconded that the bill pass.
Are there any additional comments?
Hearing no additional comments, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?
Mosqueda?
Aye.
Peterson?
Aye.
Sawant.
Yes.
Strauss.
Yes.
Herbold.
Yes.
Juarez.
Aye.
Lewis.
Yes.
Morales.
Council Member Morales.
President Gonzalez.
Aye.
Eight in favor, none opposed.
Thank you.
The bill passes and the chair will sign it.
Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?
Next up is the committee report of the Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee, item one.
Will the clerk please read item one into the record?
A report of the Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee, agenda item one.
Appointment 1783, appointment of Sharon E. Crawley as member of Seattle Renters' Commission for term to February 28th, 2022. The committee recommends the appointment be confirmed.
Thank you so much, Madam Clerk, Council Member Sawant, you are the chair of the committee and are recognized to walk us through this appointment.
Thank you, President Gonzalez.
Sharon Crowley is a new appointment to the City of Seattle Renters Commission.
She is an activist in her union, UAW 4121, the union that represents the graduate student workers and postdocs at the University of Washington.
And she organizes with the union's housing justice work group.
She has also been very active in the tax Amazon movement and members of the public and other activists will recognize her.
from the public comment in support of many renters' rights policies.
The Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee unanimously recommends the council conform her appointment.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Sawant.
Are there any additional comments on the appointment?
Hearing no additional comments, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointment?
Mosqueda?
Aye.
Peterson?
Aye.
Sawant.
Yes.
Strauss.
No.
Herbold.
Yes.
Juarez.
Aye.
Lewis.
Yes.
Morales.
Yes.
President Gonzalez.
Aye.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
The motion carries and the appointment is confirmed.
Item two, will the clerk please read the short title of item two into the record?
I report to the Transportation and Utilities Committee, agenda item two, Council Bill 119988, relating to the Your Voice, Your Choice program, authorizing the director of the Seattle Department of Transportation to acquire, accept and record on behalf of the city of Seattle an easement for street purposes from Seattle School District Number One.
The committee recommends the bill pass.
Thank you, Madam Clerk.
Council Member Peterson, I'm gonna hand it over to you to walk us through this committee report.
Thank you, Council President.
Colleagues, the goal of this legislation is to improve safety for cars, pedestrians, and bikes on the east side of Hazel Wolf School.
Specifically, this is a small easement from the Seattle School District to our Seattle Department of Transportation to enable street safety improvements at Pinehurst Way Northeast and Northeast 117th Street in District 5. Community members apply for street safety improvements at this intersection through the Your Voice, Your Choice program.
The bill passed unanimously through our committee last Wednesday.
Thank you.
Are there any additional comments on the bill?
Hearing no additional comments on the bill, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?
Mosqueda?
Aye.
Peterson?
Aye.
Sawant?
Yes.
Strauss?
Yes.
Herbold?
Council Member Herbold?
Yes.
Juarez?
Aye.
Lewis?
Yes.
Morales?
Yes.
President Gonzalez?
Aye.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
The bill passes and the chair will sign it.
Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.
Item three, will the clerk please read item three into the record?
And item three, appointment 1788, appointment Dennis Cathard as member levy to move Seattle Oversight Committee for term to December 31st, 2023. The committee recommends the appointment be confirmed.
Thank you, Madam Clerk.
Council Member Peterson, you are the chair of this committee and I'm going to hand it over to you to walk us through this appointment as well.
Thank you, Council President.
I'm looking forward to having Dennis Gathard appointed to fill the bridge engineering position on the Move Seattle Levy Oversight Committee.
The Oversight Committee requires a position for a licensed engineer with bridge and structures experience, and Dennis has been working in that field for decades.
He joined us at committee on Wednesday and spoke about how he plans to incorporate his background into the oversight work, and our committee unanimously recommended approval of his appointment.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councilmember Peterson.
Are there any additional comments on the appointment?
Hearing no additional comments on the appointment, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointment?
Mosqueda?
Aye.
Peterson?
Aye.
Sawant?
Yes.
Strauss?
Yes.
Herbold?
Yes.
Juarez?
Aye.
Lewis?
Yes.
Morales.
Yes.
President Gonzalez.
Aye.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
The motion carries, and the appointment is confirmed.
Other business.
Colleagues, is there any further business to come before the council?
Hearing none, this does conclude the items of business on today's agenda.
Our next regularly scheduled city council meeting is on Tuesday, February 16th, 2021 at two o'clock PM.
As a reminder to members of the viewing public, Monday, February 15th, 2021 is considered a holiday and council will be in recess on Monday.
And we will resume our normal Monday council briefing and full council activities on Tuesday, February 16th.
So again, colleagues, I will look forward to seeing you all Tuesday morning, and we will be back here for full council on Tuesday, February 16th, 2021 at 2 o'clock p.m.
I hope everyone has a wonderful afternoon.
Thank you.