Seattle City Council Briefing 5/10/21

Good morning, everyone.

The May 10th, 2021 council briefing meeting will now come to order.

The time is 936 AM.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Mosqueda.

Present.

Peterson.

Present.

Sawant.

Present.

Strauss.

Present.

Lewis.

Present.

Juarez.

Present.

Herbold.

Present.

Morales.

Here.

Council President Gonzalez.

Here.

Nine present.

Thank you so much.

If there's no objection, the minutes of May 3rd, 2021 will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the minutes are adopted.

All right, folks, President's Report.

Colleagues, I did want to just quickly as part of my President's Report at the top of today's agenda, I wanted to address a conversation that I had an opportunity to have with City Attorney Pete Holmes over the weekend.

I want to thank City Attorney Pete Holmes for reaching out to me directly this weekend as a follow-up to much of the information that we've seen over the last few days related to some whistleblower complaint related to public disclosure requests that were made to the current mayor's office.

In sort of follow up to that conversation with City Attorney Pete Holmes, I wanted to let you all know that today, together with City Attorney Pete Holmes, we are looking to launch a new effort to improve public trust and confidence in our city's government.

And so over the next several weeks, my office is going to work with the city attorney's office to develop some strategies and a work plan and a proposal for a potential new independent public disclosure entity that would be responsible for researching, reviewing, and releasing in a timely way information requested by the public, including members of the press regarding the mayor's office.

So, again, I'll be working with City Attorney Pete Holmes to ensure that whatever form this entity takes, that it does have the power and authority needed to quickly and in full compliance with the law respond to executive branch public disclosure requests.

Of course, for many of you, you're aware that I do chair as the Council President, the Council's Governance and Education Committee.

And so these issues related to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, as well as just governance issues in general, fall within the purview of and the scope of my Council Committee.

So I appreciate City Attorney Holmes reaching out to me directly through that lens and appreciate the opportunity to work with him.

As we know, public disclosure requests to council members for each of our offices is managed by the city clerk's office through our public disclosure officers, not our council staff or staff that report directly to elected council members.

So that is, of course, done in an effort to ensure transparency and independence and timely responses.

And I believe that it's important to ensure that all departments within the executive branch operate in that same manner.

So public disclosure requests for information from the mayor's office, I believe it is important to ensure that they are no longer controlled by those that directly report to to the mayor's office.

Of course, we know that Seattle's strict public disclosure requirements are sacred to our transparency in government, and that it's important for us to always remain compliant with those public disclosure requests and those public disclosure requirements.

And those requests should not be, in my view, difficult to answer, nor should they be made under pressure from inside any department, and that includes the mayor's office.

It's important for us all to comply and disclose responsibly to the public all information as required by law to make sure that we are keeping with and rebuilding public trust in our democratic government.

So I'm looking forward to working with all of you on this effort and of course with City Attorney Pete Holmes on this new effort.

So I wanted to make sure that you all were aware that that is something that I am in conversation with the city attorney's office about and look forward to answering any questions that any of you might have either here in council briefing or offline.

Always happy to have conversations about these governance and education committee related matters.

Any comments or questions?

All right, thanks colleagues.

We're gonna go ahead and move on in now to preview today's city council actions, council and regional committees.

We'll begin our next discussion of these items in the fashion of doing roll call rotation.

Today's roll call rotation will be Council Member Mosqueda, followed by Peterson, Solant, Strauss, Lewis, Herbold, Juarez, Morales, and then I will conclude.

this portion of the agenda.

So without further ado, I'm going to hand it over to Councilmember Mosqueda.

Good morning.

Good morning, Council President.

Thank you very much for those opening remarks, and I look forward to continuing to learn more from you about the process that you're setting up.

Colleagues, good morning.

I want to say happy Mother's Day.

I know many of us celebrated Mother's Day this weekend.

Happy Mother's Day to all who did celebrate I wanted to take a moment to honor the work and sacrifice that mothers make for families as caretakers, as providers, and also recognizing that mothers come in many forms.

Mothering comes in many forms.

And thank you to all those who provide care for kiddos throughout our community, whether they're their own children, stepping in when needed, and also taking over to provide care for our most vulnerable kiddos in our community.

Thank you to all who are care providers.

I also recognize that this day can come with a lot of pain for those who are still interested in becoming mothers or have had strained relationships with their own family members.

So honoring that pain as well as we honor the work of mothers is something that we want to do.

We also are excited about some of the legislation that passed in Olympia this year to help make sure that those who are becoming mothers as direct individuals who are birthing are not constantly at risk of either maternal death or postpartum deaths.

And I really appreciate the work that was done in Olympia this year to pass legislation related to making sure that parents who do give birth have at least a full year of postpartum Medicaid care, recognizing that After giving birth, there are increased rates of death and also suicide for mothers.

And it's important to have those individuals who are giving birth have at least a year of postpartum health care and not the 60 days that were previously offered.

Congratulations to all in Olympia who made that legislation possible.

Looking forward to continuing to honor the type of work that had passed in the halls of Olympia to make sure that our maternal mortality rates and postpartum mortality continues to decline in this wealthiest country in the world.

Council President and colleagues, I do want to note that there are 10 items from the Finance and Housing Committee on today's full Council meeting.

There are two Council Domestic Worker Standards Board appointments for our consideration, Emily Dill and Erika Dominguez, to serve on the Domestic Worker Standards Board.

Both of those full packets are in your materials for today.

There are five LSAC mayoral appointments, that's the Labor Standards Advisory Commission, And these appointments include Afeworki Gabrielsis, who was with us and had a chance to present.

Paola Ochoa, who is also, was also with us and able to present.

Alexis Rodich, who was not with us, but is a member of SEIU 775, and Karen from OLS presented on their behalf.

Tracy Taylor from Elliott Book Bay Company was also with us and Annie Wise from the Martin Luther King County Labor Council was with us in committee and presented all five of those mayoral appointments are on today's full council agenda.

In addition to those appointments, we have the sound transit property transfer ordinance.

This ordinance transfers 10 properties to the Office of Housing for development as home ownership opportunities.

I'm very excited about this child transit property transfer to OH as a continued example of where we are trying to look at using public property to the best public use and prioritizing housing, and in this case, creating additional opportunities for first-time home buyer options.

The second to last item is the annual action plan.

This is required each year to accept grants from the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The plan describes how the city will spend federal grants in four categories.

So this is an update to the expected dollars that we had previously accepted from the Community Development Block Grant, the Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS HOPWA Grant, the Emergency Solutions Grant, ESG Grant, and the Home Investment Partnership Program, the HOME Funds.

So this is basically an update now reflecting the actual dollar amounts, not the anticipated dollar amounts, the actual dollar amounts that our city is receiving.

Very small changes.

If I remember from memory, it was about a $6,000 difference.

So officially putting those total amounts in the books.

And the last item from Finance and Housing is the 2021 Carry Forward Ordinance.

This is an annual bill that allows the departments to continue programs from last year into this year with unspent dollars.

These dollars would typically be sent back to the overall budget if not otherwise appropriated.

The purpose of the bill is to consider these carrying into 2021 appropriations for discrete programs.

So again, not overspend, but underspend and wanting to have those dollars that were underspent continue to go to programs that they were already approved by the City Council for.

I'm going to come back to that item because I think we may have had a hold on that.

I apologize, colleagues.

So I'll send you an update before our council briefing ends today.

Just want to make sure I get that right.

The Finance and Housing Committee that will happen during our next meeting is May 18th.

We're going to have the Domestic Workers Standards Board recommendations, the Transparency Requirements for Contract Workers Bill discussion continuation, the ARPA Direct Aid Bill concept and continued discussion, and the 2020 Budget Exceptions Bill, possibly.

This meeting will be an opportunity for all to attend again.

If you are interested in attending and not usually part of our committee, please do let my office know.

Frida Cuevas can make sure that you get all the information.

Last week, I wanted to let folks know that I did have the chance to attend the Bloodworks Northwest donations and be able to participate in giving blood.

Folks, there is a code red issued by Bloodworks and all of the folks who are asking for blood right now, both in Oregon and Washington, we've seen a decrease in people Signing up to give blood, also an increase in the number of people who sign up but don't show up.

I think there's a lot of concern or potential hesitation or confusion around whether or not you can give blood in this moment of COVID or after receiving a COVID vaccine.

And you absolutely can.

There's a huge need to have diverse blood types and diversity in terms of who is donating.

So please do consider giving if you can.

And it was my first time giving blood.

I'm very scared of needles and also scared of giving blood.

I never watch when I get my blood drawn at the doctor.

So this was really me stepping out of my comfort zone and it didn't hurt.

I didn't get a bruise afterwards and it only took 10 minutes.

So if you have considered giving blood in the past and are eligible, please consider doing that now so we can address this code red issue.

I look forward to the ongoing conversations that we're going to have in the upcoming week and a half leading up to our initial discussion about ARPA.

And folks, again, as a reminder, we do have a calendar that has been sent around that gets us through June for the upcoming ARPA discussion.

So I look forward to having more of those discussions.

Council President, I will call it good there.

And if I do have any updates on that proclamation, I'll make sure to come back to you.

Apologies for any confusion there.

No worries.

We'll make sure to, if you do have an update for us, just make sure to raise your hand for me and let me know.

Happy to circle back.

Okay, next up is Council Member Peterson, and then we will hear from Council Member Swatt.

Good morning, Council Member Peterson.

Good morning, Council President.

Good morning, colleagues.

The Transportation and Utilities Committee has five items on this afternoon's full City Council agenda.

Two of the items are important steps forward for the Madison Street Bus Rapid Transit Rapid Ride G-Line project.

Council Bill 120062 enables our Seattle Department of Transportation to accept two small easements.

And Council Bill 120063 enables SDOT to accept two grants totaling $65 million, for which we had been expecting these from the U.S.

Department of Transportation, and they've come through and we're going to accept them today.

The capital improvements to that bus corridor for City Council Districts 3 and 7 include over $26 million of city government dollars that we have already approved, including an additional $5 million that we approved last fall.

The total project cost for this corridor is approximately $133 million.

This project is designed to improve speed and reliability of the bus system, and it will connect to a light rail station downtown as well.

The revised date for construction to start is this fall of 2021, hopes to complete the changes to the streets and sidewalks in 2024. Our committee unanimously recommended both council bills.

Council Bill 12045 is one more small property transaction needed to facilitate the extensive Georgetown to South Park Trail with its multiple benefits of environmentally friendly mobility, connectivity, and open space.

This council bill involves a temporary lease for a small triangle of land along the route.

Later this summer, we expect to see the final actions authorizing construction of the trail project.

total project cost for this trail between connecting districts one and two is approximately seven and a half million, which includes five million this council added to the project as part of our budget process a few months ago.

Our committee unanimously recommended this council bill.

Over three separate committee meetings, we discussed the strategic business plan and rate path for Seattle Public Utilities.

Before us today is that corresponding council resolution unanimously recommended by our committee.

Keeping utility rates low is important because rates are regressive with lower income households paying a larger percentage of their household income for utility bills.

Fortunately, the average SPU rate increases are expected to be lower than what was promised back in 2017. It's important to note that the strategic business plan and the rate path are endorsed by the customer review panel.

There was a thorough article in the Seattle Times about this strategic plan and rate path, which explores all the various cost drivers, including inflation, pass-through rates imposed by King County for wastewater, environmental protection projects required by state and federal governments, labor costs, and the utility taxes charged by our general fund.

The council examines and votes on this strategic plan every three years.

Again, our committee unanimously recommended this important resolution.

The last bill from our committee, last week our committee amended and then unanimously approved council bill 12042. This is the recommendation from the Seattle Department of Transportation on how to invest the additional $7 million each year that we expect from the new $20 vehicle license fee this council authorized as soon as we could a few months ago.

The Council will implement SDOT's recommendations for 2021 and then asks SDOT to return to Council at the start of our budget deliberations with information we would need to consider if we decide to go bigger and bolder with bonds to support Seattle's aging transportation infrastructure.

Thank you to Councilmember Strauss for refining the amendment so that we get the information we would need.

I want to thank SDOT and the stakeholders SDOT selected to participate in the four meetings to discuss how to divide the $7 million.

And I hope SDOT will be able to use that additional input, not just for the $7 million this year, but as it crafts its $700 million budget for 2022. the rest of that, but I'm happy to answer questions on that for those who are not on the Transportation and Utilities Committee.

At our full council meeting next Monday, May 17, we will vote on an update to our city's stormwater code.

Last week, our committee unanimously recommended the update to the stormwater code as provided by Seattle Public Utilities.

Due to the large amount of information, we delayed its arrival to the full city council until next week to provide additional review time for council members not fortunate enough to serve on the Transportation Utilities Committee.

We are required by our state government to have that updated code in place by July 1, and the ordinance needs 30 days to take effect.

So that makes the May 17 vote time-sensitive.

Our Transportation Utilities Committee meets on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 9.30 in the morning.

So our next committee meeting is Wednesday, May 19. At our committee, we will once again hear the three surveillance impact reports that we heard at committee last week.

Colleagues, as you may recall, we're working our way through several groups of surveillance impact reports as required by our city's thorough surveillance ordinance.

We recently amended and adopted the so-called Group 2 surveillance impact reports for some of the existing technologies already in use by Seattle City Light, the Fire Department, and the Police Department.

Last week, our committee discussed the Group 3 surveillance impact reports, which are three existing technologies from SPD.

We are going to move on to the next item on the agenda.

Our central staff analyst posted our memos on the committee agenda.

I'm glad to see the King County Council considering legislation that would ban facial recognition technology in most circumstances in the unincorporated areas of King County.

Here in Seattle, I'd be interested in exploring a similar ban of facial recognition technology for Seattle City Government.

So I look forward to examining the final version of the King County bill whenever it is adopted.

I think they're scheduled to adopt that on May 19. Other cities and states have imposed restrictions on facial recognition technology, and I believe we should consider similar restrictions here in our city.

In District 4, I joined the Seattle Fire Department, Mayor Durkin, and our University District small businesses in the heart of our district to tour the pop-up vaccine center.

It was located on North 43rd Street and the Ave, which is where the new light rail station is opening in just five months.

And that concludes my presentation.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

Any comments or questions on that report?

Okay, hearing none, we'll go ahead and go down the line.

Next up is Council Member Sawant, followed by Council Member Strauss.

Good morning.

Good morning, everyone.

Thank you, President Gonzalez.

There are no items on today's City Council agenda from the Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee.

The next meeting of the committee will be at a specially scheduled time this Wednesday, May 12th at 2 p.m.

That meeting will continue the discussion from our previous two committee meetings on closing the fixed-term lease loophole in Seattle's Just Cause eviction ordinance.

At this meeting, we will hear from another panel of renters' rights organizers and will review the legislation from Councilman Morales' office and my office to close the fixed-term lease loophole in Seattle's Just Cause Eviction Ordinance.

And I have, of course, co-sponsored the legislation from Councilwoman Morales' office with the hope that we can bring a unified bill.

And we will have more discussion there.

And we will welcome the Renter's Rights Panel as well.

We will also continue to discuss the legislation from my office to ban the eviction of schoolchildren, their families, and educators during the school year.

There will be no votes this Wednesday.

We intend to consider amendments and votes on these two bills at our following committee meeting on May 25th.

If committee members, that is council members on the committee have questions about any of the bills, I really urge and welcome you to ask those questions at Wednesday's committee meeting.

Alternately, please reach out to my office now heading into the committee or after the committee this week rather than waiting for the 25th that will give renters rights activists and community members the opportunity to respond to any questions or concerns that council members might have and I look forward to that discussion.

Last Wednesday my office held a press conference along with around 40 renters and renters rights organizers in the Central District outside the Squirrel Chops coffee shop in the heart of the Central District to announce a package of renters rights legislation that our movement will be fighting for this year.

The renters rights bills from my office that are currently in committee are to close the fixed-term lease loophole in the Just Cause Eviction Ordinance, as I just mentioned, and to ban evictions of school children and educators and public school staff during the school year.

My office has also now, through the press conference, unveiled drafts of three additional bills along with other renters' rights that we have described, but we're still working on the draft legislation for those.

The drafts that we unveiled from my office on Wednesday include Increasing the notice landlords need to give renters for rent increases to 180 days.

The current law is 60 days.

Requiring landlords to pay relocation assistance to their tenants if they economically displace their tenants by increasing the rent so much that their tenants have to move.

and residential rent control without corporate loopholes, limiting rent increases to the rate of inflation.

As landlords' costs increase and renters' wages increase, rents can increase under such a law, but no faster than that rate.

Rent increases of 10%, 20%, 50%, 100%, even over 100%, which is not unheard of, should be illegal, and that is what this bill would do.

Of course, The Democratic and Republican parties in Olympia have banned rent control for the last 41 years.

So our bill has an effective date that has rent control going to effect in the city the moment the state lifts the ban.

The reality is if the city council passes this legislation in Seattle, it will put enormous pressure on state legislators to lift the ban on residential rent control.

And so again, council members who support any of these issues or have questions and have insight on this, that we should please let my office know about this.

We're going to be happy to work with you on any of those drafts.

In addition to the legislation that my office unveiled on Wednesday, we're also going to be working on other renters' rights demands that our movement announced at the press conference.

One is commercial rent control without corporate loopholes because we know Seattle's struggling small businesses need commercial rent control and the city council can pass this law right now as there are no legal obstacles.

And obviously this is, it's also a lot of these renters rights also relate to the larger question of the debt that has been accumulated by working class renters and homeowners.

So many speakers at the press conference also highlighted the need to build a statewide movement to cancel COVID debt for renters and homeowners who are struggling under the effect of the pandemic and the recession that we had experienced all of last year, because big banks, corporate real estate, and big business should pay for this crisis, not working people.

We're also working on bringing legislation to stop default evictions to bolster the victory that our movement won in April for every renter facing eviction to have the right to a lawyer, because half of all evictions in Seattle, unfortunately happened by default, which means that the court automatically evict the renter because they were unable to fill out the paperwork to request a hearing, or did not attend the hearing.

And this is, as I said, it's unfortunately half of all evictions.

So we do need to bolster the right to counsel victory by also stopping default evictions.

We are also bringing a legislation to create standardized lease terms.

In other words, to create fair standardized terms for renter leases.

Many leases in Seattle currently use templates created by the landlord lobby and have outrageous terms.

Often, leases attempt to make renters sign away their legal rights as renters.

One common example that we heard many times during the Black Lives Matter protests Last year was corporate landlords not allowing their tenants to have BLM signs on their windows or otherwise on their home fronts.

We also believe the city should maintain a listing of completed renter histories so that a renter who has had a current background check for one apartment application can use that background check for other apartment applications.

In other words, for the city to enable transferable renter histories.

And last but not least, to ban the use of credit checks.

Most rental histories do not require a credit check because in reality, credit checks have very little bearing actually on whether a prospective tenant will pay their rent.

In fact, we've heard from many renters who say that they've never missed paying rent even once.

But if you look at their credit check, that wouldn't reflect the stability that they have ensured to make sure that their landlord is paid every month.

So I think it's important that the Seattle Renters Commission has proposed that Seattle prohibit the use of credit checks in rental histories, calling them essentially a modern form of redlining.

I also wanted to use a few minutes in this briefing to speak in favor of preserving the Alder Creek nature area in District 3. My office has heard from many people who live near Alder Creek who are extremely concerned that one of their neighbors is attempting to build a driveway across the nature area.

That neighbor has applied to the Department of Transportation and then to the Department of Construction Inspections for the building permits and the comment period for those building permits ended last week.

This is a type two administrative decision, so it does not come to the city council for any formal vote or other councilmanic action.

However, my office was copied on the comments neighbors sent in I have been in the community for a long time.

Opposing this development of the nature area that everybody loves.

I was struck by how widespread the concern about this development is.

My office was copied on over 100 e-mails from concerned neighbors.

I understand that the specific decisions about permits are made by the departments and not by the city Council.

However, I did want to take this opportunity to urge the Department of Transportation and construction inspections to do what they can do to work with these neighbors who care so deeply about preserving Alder Creek to find solutions to this and future such issues that might impact the natural area there.

And I also wanted to publicly thank the many, many community members who have spoken up about this in defense of the nature area.

Finally, there is important news on the struggle to demand the WTO issue an international copyright waiver for the COVID-19 vaccine.

And this, you know, since the city council passed the resolution from my office two weeks ago, as I mentioned at that time, that resolution was one small part of a giant organizing effort across the country and internationally.

But we did help build that movement.

And following the resolution that was passed by the city council, we held a protest outside the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where many speakers talked about the need to have the ability of countries to produce the generic versions of the COVID-19 vaccine so that billions of people have access to the vaccine in order to save millions of lives.

After the resolution was passed by the city council, a resolution here in Seattle, a resolution was passed by the city of Cambridge in Massachusetts, which the DSA elected official who brought that resolution forward said publicly that they were inspired by the resolution that was brought forward in Seattle from my office and from the activists for the genetic vaccine.

And we've also had Council members in Chicago have considered what started to consider doing the same.

But then we, of course, know that last week.

The Biden administration conceded and agreed to support the waiver because of the tremendous pressure that they have been under, which is a really big victory for the activists, not only in Seattle in the United States, but globally because the United States is needless to say, a very powerful entity in the WTO.

However, the issue is not settled because we know that WTO operates on a consensus basis, obviously not consensus of ordinary people around the world, but consensus of imperialist powers.

And we have seen that even after the announcement from the Biden administration, the European Parliament, especially countries like Germany, continue to oppose it.

But this concession from the Biden administration was still a huge step toward creating the opportunity for COVID vaccines.

But this is also a reminder, the opposition of the European Parliament is a reminder that This has not been won yet.

For the waivers to happen, we need the WTO as a whole to concede on this, and activists still have work on their hands.

I'd also mention that it's not incidental that the inventor of the first polio vaccine, Jonas Salk, intentionally chose not to patent it, just so in order to make it as easy as possible to vaccinate the entire world.

that was essential for preventing the spread of polio and for eradicating it from white sections of the world.

And many of us are direct beneficiaries of the polio vaccine.

Hopefully, the international movement keeps building in order to win the intellectual property waivers from the WTO, but it's also important to note that Cuba has reported that they are in the final, the stage three of the clinical testing of the vaccine.

And Cuba has, of course, had a long history of providing free medical support to every country that is in need.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Council Member Sawant.

Are there any comments or questions on that report?

Hearing none, we'll go over now to Council Member Strauss and then after Council Member Strauss will be Council Member Lewis.

Good morning.

Good morning Council President, my apologies for that short delay.

Good morning colleagues there are two items from the land use and neighborhoods committee on today's introduction referral calendar Council Bill 12 double 067 accepts a grant for the Department of neighborhood census outreach work.

The second bill on the introduction referral calendar is Council Bill 12068, co-sponsored by Council President Gonzalez, which extends the free street cafe permits for an additional year.

I'll speak to this more in just a second.

There are, on today's full council agenda, there are 24 items from my committee, 22 appointments to the Design Review Board and two appointments to the Community Involvement Commission.

Understanding that we have a packed agenda this afternoon, Council President, I will keep my remarks on each of these 24 individuals brief.

The next meeting of the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee is this Wednesday, May 12th, starting at 9.30 a.m., and we have four items on the agenda.

A briefing and vote on Council Bill 12067, the Department of Neighborhoods Grant Acceptance Ordinance I just spoke to, and a briefing and vote on Council Bill 12068, which extends the free street cafe permits.

I'm excited to announce this legislation today, co-sponsored, as I said, by Council President Gonzalez, This legislation extends the free permits for existing and new cafe display and vending use permit holders.

And we're also directing SDOT to prepare the permanent permitting proposal.

That's not a mouthful.

I don't know what is permanent permitting proposal to be implemented after May 31st, 2022. So in short, this bill keeps in place the pilot program that was passed last year.

We're putting right now the intermediary between the pilot and the permanent proposal so that during this time we'll create that framework for the permanent legislation and next year we'll pass that permanent legislation.

This extension will give our businesses certainty.

the certainty that they need to invest in their outdoor dining and retail spaces to safely bring customers into their shops, into their restaurants, and able to recover economically from this incredibly difficult year.

My office, the mayor's office, and SDOT have worked together to bring this forward, and we're all committed to a robust stakeholder process to ensure that the permanent permit program suits all business types and resident needs.

Also in committee, we have a briefing on the next round of SDCI technical codes, including broiler and grading codes, as well as a briefing on proposed legislation to establish a mobile home park overlay district, which will preserve the remaining mobile home parks in our city and replace the existing moratorium on redevelopment of mobile home parks.

I want to thank Council Member Juarez for everything that she has done leading the efforts to ensure that we're finally able to bring a long-term solution to an issue that has been before us repeatedly over the last three years.

Draft legislation can be found on the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee website and a council bill will be introduced next week.

We plan to hold a public hearing and possible vote in the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee on May 26th.

Last week, I spent most of my time with colleagues here in committee.

We had finance and housing last Tuesday morning with a public hearing in the evening until about 8 p.m.

We had the transportation and utilities Wednesday morning.

I was supposed to attend the finance and housing meeting Wednesday afternoon.

Unfortunately, I was stuck at the live fire event, which I'll speak to in just a moment.

Thursday was a long day with PSRC growth management from 10 a.m.

to noon.

the Maritime and Industrial Lands Commission from noon to two, and then the Select Committee on Homelessness Investments on Strategies from 2 p.m.

to 5 p.m.

In addition to all of that committee work, my staff attended the North Precinct Advisory Council, as well as checked in with the Finney Ridge Community Council.

I was happy to join the Seattle Fire Department to observe the live fire training event in Loyal Heights.

This was held at the home of Marion Hugh, who had lived there from 1937 into the 20 aughts.

Mary continued gardening into her 90s.

One neighbor even shared that she would trim the edges of the grass by hand.

This building was set to be demolished and buildings that are set to be demolished can be used by the Seattle Fire Department for training purposes.

If you or someone you know has a building set for demolition, please reach out to the Seattle Fire Department because this is a unique experience during their training.

I want to thank all of the recruits for everything that they have been doing, and we're excited to have them become firefighters shortly.

And I want to thank Chief Scoggins, Deputy Chief Kennedy, Battalion Chief Jurczyk, and Captain Goins.

The Chief even donned his own bunker gear and got into the house with the Battalion Chief Jurczyk and Captain Goins.

I continue to be truly impressed with our Fire Chief, leading by example.

Lastly, I attended the Maritime and Industrial Advisory Council meeting.

There should only be one more of these meetings before I have a more robust report to share with you colleagues in the next step for closing loopholes and really creating some permanent changes to how our maritime and industrial lands are used.

This week, I'll be meeting with the Finney Ridge Neighborhood Association.

I'll be meeting with Chief Diaz again to discuss public safety and industrial zones.

I will be attending the Policy Committee of the Association of Washington Cities and meeting with local grocers.

My staff will be attending the Ballard District Council and the Green Lake Community Council that both happen at the exact same time on Wednesday evening.

Here in District 6, I'll be talking to residents Wednesday and Thursday evenings this week.

Last week, our office hours were rescheduled due to all of our committee attendance.

I did get to speak with neighbors in East Crown Hill, Tangle Town and Fittie Bridge.

We discussed the psychological impacts of the last year on our community, the need to keep public spaces clean of trash, the needs of our child care providers and staff.

I also got to speak with a North Precinct Advisory Council member who doesn't live in District 6, and yet they, you know, it's still important to talk.

And I got to meet members and the commander of the Ballard Eagleson Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3063, as well as I got to hear from many Seattleites sharing their perspectives during the ARPA public hearing on Tuesday night, and I met many neighbors at the live fire event in Loyal Heights.

Lastly, my team is working with the Ballard Alliance and many others to finalize the details of a design charrette for the cafe street on Ballard Avenue.

I'm excited for the permanent pathway for the sidewalk cafes and the cafe street on Ballard Avenue so that we can keep these amazing programs even once the pandemic is over.

Thank you, Council President, for your support on the sidewalk cafe legislation.

Thank you, colleagues.

That is my report.

Thank you so much, Council Member Strauss.

Really excited to be able to have an opportunity to work with you once again on such an important initiative and looking forward to the process and to earning the support of our colleagues on that street cafe legislation.

Very exciting.

Okay, colleagues, any other comments or questions for Council Member Strauss?

Hearing none, we'll go ahead and continue.

Next up is Council Member Lewis, and then we will hear from Council Member Herbold.

Council Member Lewis.

Thank you, Madam President.

There are no items on today's agenda, either introduction or referral, or this afternoon for the Select Committee on Homelessness Strategies and Investments.

I do want to thank everybody for patiently getting through our long but very productive meeting of the committee last Thursday, where we discussed a variety of really critical, pressing issues that are facing our community from the need to stand up more hygiene assets to confront the ongoing challenges with hepatitis A.

in our community through increased access to running water and street sinks to issues with our homelessness outreach and shelter systems and the future expansion of those systems even further with the potential of a third leased hotel and additional tiny house villages being sent out for requests for proposal.

Just as a reminder, we will have an additional select committee meeting this month on May 26th at 2 p.m.

And I expect follow-up on a variety of things where committee questions were asked and answers were not readily available.

So that does provide us a good quick turnaround to get some answers on some of those critical questions pertaining to one of the most omnipresent and ongoing issues that we are facing in the city.

I did want to highlight a couple of additional things subsequent to the committee.

On Friday, I had the great privilege of taking a tour of the Seattle Waterfront to see the progress that's being made by the Department of the Waterfront with Director Marshall Foster.

I want to just give a shout out and say I appreciate it The director taking the time and showing me around.

I had the opportunity to visit for the first time pure 62, which is a very impressive public asset and public park.

I noticed just to bring it back to some of the conversation on the select committee.

a honey bucket sink that was leased, has been leased by Seattle Public Utilities that is on Pier 62. It reminded me, and I was not aware, I didn't remember during the committee, that the city has leased a couple of these sinks in a variety of locations around the city.

My observation of this particular sink indicated that in some respects, doesn't appear to be compliant with some of the considerations that SPU shared with the committee last Thursday that have been hurdles to getting the clean hands collective sinks stood up.

Particularly they are very much not ADA compatible sinks that you have to pump the water with your foot in order to get the water to come out of the sink.

So, for that reason, I am going to send some follow-up questions about what the requisition and procurement process for those sinks was, why that is different from, you know, if there is a different standard being assessed now than there was when we requisitioned those initial assets.

I'm also interested in a cost differential between the leasing of the honey bucket sinks versus the clean hands collective sinks, which appear to be considerably cheaper and more effective investments.

So I just wanted to let the council know that I am going to ask that additional question.

I would have asked it last Thursday if I had remembered that we still had some of these honey bucket sinks around the city that are currently still being leased.

And thank you, Marshall Foster, for walking me right in front of one to remind me of that.

Moving on, I do want to give a shout out now that the state legislative session is all over.

to the legislature for sending us $2 million to expand tiny houses in the state capital budget.

This is a great shot in the arm for our efforts here to get more tiny house villages stood up.

$2 million goes a really long way just to give a reminder to the council The one-time capital expenses for tiny house villages range from $400,000 to $600,000.

Getting an additional $2 million to cover those capital expenses is considerable and can lead to a very big difference.

That money should be available in short order to be merged with pledges of private resources as well as taxpayer money that is in our budget and federal relief money that is also being discussed through the American Recovery Act.

to lead to more private, safe four walls with a door that locks shelter options for people experiencing homelessness in the city.

I want to thank Speaker Emeritus Frank Chopp for shepherding that proposal through the legislature and sending us that critical resource.

And I look forward to us doing everything we can to effectively leverage that resource and stand up more of these critical assets.

With that, Madam President, I don't have any additional updates.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Lewis.

Are there any comments or questions on that report?

Councilmember Mosqueda, please.

Councilmember Lewis, I just wanted to thank you again for continuing to raise this issue and for allowing for a very important hearing last week on this and other topics in your committee.

Unfortunately, over the weekend, my whole family got hit by the norovirus.

And if folks haven't experienced that already, I know some of you have, if you haven't experienced that already, it's quite debilitating and you need to wash your hands every single time you go to the bathroom, no matter what that bathroom use is for.

And getting norovirus is very painful.

I had the luxury of being able to wash my hands every single time over the weekend, and I just continued to think about those who were outside, unable to wash their hands for normal needs in order to prevent the spread of COVID and other diseases.

So it was an in-your-face example of why we need to have these hand-washing facilities for everyone.

especially for folks who might be outdoors in the elements and who need access to hand-washing facilities, whether it's to prevent the spread of COVID or other diseases.

And thanks again for your continued work on this, and I look forward to learning more from the inquiries that you're sending in.

Thank you so much.

Any other comments or questions?

Hearing none, we're going to move down the line.

Next up is Council Member Herbold, and then after Council Member Herbold will be Council Member Juarez.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Thank you so much.

There are no items on the full council agenda from the Public Safety and Human Services Committee.

We will have a Public Safety and Human Services Committee meeting tomorrow.

There are two items on the 930 Tuesday.

May 11th agenda.

The first item is the Seattle Police Department budget legislation.

Just a quick overview on where we're at on that.

As always, I like to lead the discussion of the Seattle Police Department budget with a recognition that the City Council fully funded the Police Department 2021 hiring plan.

It has always been fully funded since passage last year.

And this legislation that is before the council would not impact the proposed 2021 hiring plan.

The legislation is scheduled in committee tomorrow for discussion and possible vote.

As far as sort of the timeline that has come before, back in March when we had heard the legislation, the monitor overseeing the Seattle Police Department consent decree sent some questions to the police department.

and expressed his expectations that the council not act on the legislation before the monitor received the answers to the questions sent to SPD.

Since that time, the Seattle Police Department has responded to the monitor's questions, and these are a number of different questions associated with the police department's budget.

As I've noted on occasion, the committee has delayed additional consideration of the legislation in order to allow for the police department to reply to the monitor.

There has been some uncertainty on whether or not we should expect a response from the Monitor, but based on communication received last week and have shared with Public Safety and Human Services Committee members since receiving that correspondence from the Monitor last week, the Monitor's position seems to be that a $2 million budget cut, which is the bill that is before us now, in the context of a $360 million annual budget and a bill that proposes to lift a $5 million proviso could still somehow put SPD in a position of not being able to deliver key management and operational requirements.

And all of the management operational requirements that have been identified are all related to staffing.

And again, we have fully funded the staffing plan.

So the current version of the legislation before the committee provides a total $5.4 million investment to ameliorate the impact of reduced officers, including funding for community service officers, crime prevention coordinators, and public information requested positions recommended by the city auditor.

and funding for evidence storage, as recommended by the Inspector General, and another $225,000 for five civilian crisis responder positions.

It redirects $2 million away from the Police Department budget towards participatory budgeting and, again, makes available an additional $5 million through the release of Proviso while increasing funding to participatory budgeting by $2 million.

I have another amendment that has been shared with committee members that the city attorney's office is reviewing and we'll have a version approved by law linked to the agenda soon.

The amendment The second proposal is related to the council's goals to pursue out of order layoffs for officers on the Brady list.

And a recent legal analysis shows that while the council was really interested in pursuing out of order layoffs based on an argument that having officers, part of the police department who can't fully fulfill the obligations of their job, including giving testimony in court, met the legal standards under the public safety civil service rules for out of order layoffs in instances where doing so would make the department more efficient.

A recent legal analysis shows that because of this intersection, between our public safety civil service rules and state law, it would be very difficult, if possible at all, to pursue out of order layoffs.

Firstly, the public safety civil service rules allow out of order layoffs to be rehired when you move from a place a moment in time where you're reducing the size of the department by laying off officers to when you are, like we are now, we're no longer in a hiring freeze.

So it prioritizes the out-of-order layoff officers for rehire.

And then secondly, state law prohibits adverse action to be taken against officers based solely on their Brady list inclusion.

I'd really hoped to be able to address that second issue in this state legislative session, but the state legislature did not change this 2018 law.

during the recent session.

And again, that 2018 law specifically prohibits adverse action to be taken against officers based solely on their Brady List inclusion.

I testified this year at the State Legislature and asked for consideration for the change of this element, but this is not one of the elements of police reform that was successfully pursued this year.

So given that the monitor continues to raise concerns about training and patrol staffing, this amendment is intended to signal our responsiveness to those concerns, though it does remain difficult for me to understand how the monitor is suggesting that funding can solve the police department's training and patrol staffing challenges, given that, again, the council has fully funded the police department's 2021 staffing plan.

And so the second item that is on the agenda for tomorrow is Council Bill 12-0065.

And that is legislation that transfers 911 call center positions and parking enforcement officer positions from the Seattle Police Department to the Community Safety and Communication Center.

In the budget that we unanimously passed, Council Bill 119949 established the new Community Safety and Communication Center.

This new CSCC is intended to help reframe how the city provides for community safety in response to the Council's interest in exploring expanded duties.

for non-uniformed staff and is really intended to help facilitate the reduction of the police department's footprint so that those functions that remain in the police department can be really focused on a traditional law enforcement mission.

Ordinance 1262.33 provides that the CSCC would begin performing the 911 call center and parking enforcement functions by June 1st.

And through budget last year, the council took a different approach than the one the mayor proposed to have PEOs transferred to SDOT.

This different approach was initiated by the PEOs themselves who reached out to council with their vision of being a part of the civilian public safety response system.

Ordinance 1262-33 requested that the executive report on the expansion of PEO responsibilities to include some of those functions.

We'll be taking up that work later this year once we get those reports back from SPD.

but that conceivably could be taking on responsibilities ranging from managing traffic at lighted intersections to response to non-injury collisions, reporting to and reporting on minor thefts, and a number of other items.

So these reports have been delayed, but we are still looking forward to taking those up later this year.

So the bill discussed and voted on tomorrow will be consistent with the council's budget actions, a move of the SPD-901 call center and the PEOs to the CSCC.

And this is all work that needs to be completed by June 1st.

And then lastly, just a couple of quick public health updates and updates on items coming up this week on public health.

Seattle residents are doing a great job on COVID vaccinations.

I'm sure folks have heard that more than 70% of Seattle residents have started their vaccinations and 97% of people who get their first first dose also return for their second dose, ensuring the highest level of protection for the vaccinated person, their family and the entire community.

It's getting easier and easier to get vaccinated.

A new effort provides free or low-cost transportation to vaccination sites for many residents.

You can call the Vaccine Transportation Helpline at 425-943-7000.

6706 or you can visit findaride.org forward slash COVID.

You can now walk in to three city-run vaccination sites without an appointment in West Seattle, Rainier Beach and Lumen Field and a number of pharmacies also announced last week that they're allowing no appointment COVID vaccinations at Safeway, CVS and Albertsons.

And as it relates specifically to the West Seattle Rainier Beach sites, their hours are being extended to close at 530 p.m.

each day that they're open Monday through Saturday.

I want to express my appreciation for the Seattle Fire Department.

Late last week, they celebrated a true milestone, 100,000 vaccinations administered.

They're doing a fantastic job keeping residents and workers in Seattle protected.

Lastly, on Tuesday evening, I will be participating in the South Park Neighborhood Association meeting, where we'll be discussing both the future of the South Park Neighborhood Center, the development of new affordable housing in South Park, and an area that is referred to as the Triangle Properties in adjacent unincorporated King County.

And then finally, on Wednesday, the West Seattle Bridge Community Task Force meeting.

And that's all I have today, thank you.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Herbold.

Are there any comments or questions on that report?

Hearing none, we'll go ahead and go down the line.

Next up is Councilmember Juarez, and then after Councilmember Juarez will be Councilmember Morales.

Good morning, Councilmember Juarez.

Thank you.

Good morning, everybody.

I hope everybody had a happy Mother's Day.

So let me begin.

There are six items on the Public Assets and Native Communities Committee on this afternoon's council agenda.

There are three appointments and three pieces of legislation.

And our next committee meeting is Friday, June 4th at two o'clock.

In regards to parks, we'll start with the shower program.

For the reporting period from April 28th through May 4th, parks served almost 300 users.

In regards to childcare, last week, parks served 291 children at 17 childcare sites throughout the city.

And in regards to the Clean City Initiative and the funding from April 26th to May 2nd, Parks picked up about 112,000 pounds of trash from 35 encampment locations citywide.

Parks also removed about 1,100 needles.

Two parks received extra maintenance during this period.

That is the West Seattle Stadium and the Green Lake Park.

And cumulatively, the Parks Department has cleaned up about 1.8 million pounds of trash and 52,000 needles.

And lastly, we have some update on the Yes Farm initiative.

Seattle Parks partnered with Seattle Housing Authority and Black Farmers Collective to support the neighborhood planting program at Yesler Terrace.

Park teams members worked together to formalize the irrigation watering schedule to provide water to the neighborhood garden, which supports the Black Farmers Collective's Yes Farm initiative.

The Yes Farm initiatives was created to grow the freshest, healthiest food possible by people of color for people of color.

I also want to follow up on what Council Member Strauss shared with you earlier on the manufactured mobile home park legislation.

On Wednesday, Council Member Strauss and I will be introducing the legislation at the Land Use Neighborhood Committee to create a mobile home park district overlay.

In particular, this is up in D5 for the two manufactured mobile home parks.

In January 2019, the City Council passed Ordinance 125764, place a one-year moratorium on the development of mobile home parks, which has been extended.

This is the conclusion of that process and a solution to protect vulnerable seniors living on fixed incomes in mobile home parks.

More details, of course, will be presented in committee.

Last week, North Seattle College, the D5 office staff and former staff, volunteered at the North Seattle College Vaccination Clinic with the Seattle Visiting Nurse Association last Friday.

By their...

Estimates they were able to help out about 300 folks get either their first or second dose of the Moderna vaccine.

I have in front of you today a letter proposing a formal letter of support from the Seattle City Council to three tribal nations of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.

Seattle environmentalists and community activists joined over 100 protests around the world for a global day of action last Friday, May 7th, to oppose the Enbridge Oil Company Pipeline Project, which stretches across Minnesota and neighboring states.

The project in question, called Line 3, is an oil pipeline project that poses a real threat to the environment and communities dependent on clean land, water, and air, in particular tribal communities.

So I have before you a draft for your consideration opposing the Line 3 project.

The letter reflects our support for tribal council leadership for the three nations I mentioned.

That is, again, the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and the White Earth Band and Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.

These tribes are fighting a long battle to decommission the old Line 3 pipeline and to transition to renewable resources.

This letter recognizes the harmful impacts that the oil industry has on Native American communities, lifestyles, and health.

So opponents include Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, also a dear friend of mine, she's also a tribal citizen of the White Earth Band Ojibwe, as well as Jackie Fielder, the leader of the Stop the Money Pipeline, who organized the Global Action Day, who reported, if approved, this project would emit 193 million tons of greenhouse gases every year.

And the Line 3 project, of course, we believe, violates treaty rights and violates the tribe's right to consultation and informed consent.

We believe under the Biden administration that there may be hope, The president can revoke the permits and suspend the project entirely.

President Biden revoked the Keystone Pipeline project earlier this year.

We're hopeful that this administration will take a second look and review tribal consultation at a federal level.

The city of Seattle acted on similar issues before when we passed the resolution in 2016 opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline project today.

I want to thank Council Member Sawant back then for working, our offices working together to get that resolution passed.

And today we have an opportunity to support these tribal governments and communities that are harmed by Line 3. The Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment reviewed the letter and is highly supportive of this effort.

I had a few notes I want to share what this means, because I had a few people ask, why is the city council care what happens in Minnesota?

And it basically goes to some of the values that we have stated as a city government in our relationships with tribes.

It supports tribal sovereignty.

It continues our engagement regionally and nationally in supporting government-to-government relations and tribal consultation regarding the environment and affected communities.

It works to protect and uphold treaty rights, which is the law of the land, and it recognizes the harmful impacts of the oil industry on Native American communities on the health, the environment, and lifestyles.

Our office has prepared, Nagina's prepared, a really good fact sheet with more information and links to some of the information, some of the stories that have been written about this, including in the New York Times and Crosscut.

Louise Erdrich, a Native American woman writer and also a friend of mine and a professor at Dartmouth, authored a wonderful piece in the New York Times in December 2020, Opposing the Line 3 Pipeline.

Louise is also a member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa tribe.

So if you want, I can have Nagin forward that to your offices as well.

And I want to loop back and say a big thank you and shout out to Matt Remley.

He approached our office with this issue and we appreciate his hard work and working with Nagin to draft the letter before us.

And I understand he and some of the other folks plan to call in this afternoon during public comment.

So I look forward to hearing what their comments are in support of this letter.

So at this time, I think you all have a copy of the letter.

This will be the letter will be forwarded to the White House, the administration.

So Council President, I'd like to formally request we circulate this letter for signatures this morning, and I hope my colleagues will join me and sign.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Juarez, so much for that description.

Colleagues, before we call the roll on this, as is the custom, I'm gonna ask if anyone has any questions or comments for Council Member Juarez before we call the roll.

Any questions?

One more time, any questions?

All right, hearing no questions, will the clerk please call the roll to determine which council members would like their signature affixed to the letter opposing the old Enbridge Line 3 pipeline.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson?

Council Member Peterson?

Sawant?

Yes.

Sorry, yes.

Apologies, thank you.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Lewis?

Yes.

Herbold?

Aye.

Juarez?

Aye.

Morales?

Yes.

Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Nine in favor.

Wonderful, thank you so much.

Council Member Juarez, is that the end of your report?

Do you have anything else?

No, that's it.

Thank you.

Back to you.

Great.

Thanks so much.

Okay, folks, we're gonna any other comments or questions on Councilmember Juarez's report before we go down the line?

Hearing none, we will now hear from Council Member Morales, and then I did get a note from Council Member Mosqueda who does want us to circle back to her as she mentioned in her opening remarks.

So, Council Member Morales, you're up next, and then we will hear from Council Member Mosqueda, and then I will conclude this portion of the agenda.

Okay, thank you very much.

Good morning, everyone.

There are no items on this afternoon's agenda from the Community Economic Development Committee.

The next committee meeting is Tuesday, May 18th at 2 p.m.

We will hear and discuss next steps necessary for lifting the proviso and begin the process of implementing the participatory budget process.

I have heard from many constituents over the last several weeks who are really excited about getting this process going.

They're eager to decide how to spend nearly $30 million, how to invest that in our communities for alternatives to policing.

They take seriously the stewardship that comes with what could be Seattle's largest allocation of public funds and put into the hands of the public.

That's what this process is about.

It's what we've been talking about all along when we say that we have to democratize access to resources and to decision making.

So that's what we mean when we say we want to also democratize access to power.

We want to get this process going as quickly as possible and also do it in a way that is as responsible as possible so that we steward these funds.

I do want to acknowledge and honor the request of my constituents as well, the Black Brilliance Research Project participants, many of whom live throughout the Central District and South Seattle, who time and again have made it clear that in order for this process to be successful, we need a department or an agency that can build trust with community and that can increase civic engagement in our Black and Brown neighborhoods.

This needs to be a community-driven process, not a city-led process.

So with that in mind, I'll be introducing legislation that releases the participatory budget proviso and directs it to the Office of Civil Rights to write an RFP and to begin the search for an organization that could manage and conduct the participatory budgeting process.

I'm hopeful that this organization, whether it's a local group or a national group, will bring to the table the experience and the skill set to manage the process, particularly one of this size and magnitude.

It's important that we get this right because this project is complex and because there's a lot at stake, especially for our black and brown neighbors who fought really hard to make sure that this funding was included in last year's budget.

So I'm excited to be introducing this legislation.

We're currently seeking review from the city budget office.

So I'm hopeful that it will be ready for my committee next Tuesday.

And my hope is that we can vote and full council on May 24. So, with that in mind, I will move on.

This week, we'll be discussing, as Council Member Sawant mentioned, Council Bill 12057, the Just Cause Eviction legislation that my office has been working on to extend eviction protections to all tenants, regardless of lease type, and to finally fully ban no-cause lease terminations.

The bill will be presented in Council Member Stalin's Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee, and I've invited several advocates to participate on a community panel, including Kaitlin Heinen, a staff attorney with the Housing Justice Project, Colton Kenyon, who is an affected renter, Violet Lavitae from the Tenants' Union, Washington State, Colin Donovan, also an affected renter and member of the LGBTQ Allyship Renters' Committee, and Daniela Lizarraga, a systems navigator at El Centro de la Raza.

I'm looking forward to this discussion between community members, affected tenants, and organizers to help us develop this legislation.

And committee colleagues with questions that they'd like to see addressed by the panelists can please feel free to send questions ahead of time to my aide, Devin Silvernail, so we can ensure that the panelists are prepared to answer those.

Lastly, I do want to thank Council Members Lewis and Sawant for co-sponsoring the legislation.

And thank you to Council Member Sawant for scheduling the special committee so that we could discuss the legislation.

Last week, I attended the PSRC Economic Development District Board.

The Greater Seattle Partners is coordinating a regional recovery task force to develop long-term economic recovery plans.

Last spring, leaders from across Snohomish, King, and Pierce Counties called for a coordinated regional recovery strategy to rebuild in a more equitable way across the three-county region.

Last August, the Regional Economic Recovery Task Force was launched.

And the task force is identifying a portfolio of regional initiatives to create more good jobs.

And they're particularly interested in supporting and promoting more successful Black and women-owned entrepreneur opportunities.

So, the goal here is really to improve the quality and diversity of jobs in the key sector, as well as to develop diverse talent and to connect people to jobs by reducing geographic barriers and other barriers that folks might be experiencing.

So, this summer, the task force will work to design initiatives and are developing a fundraising strategy and an organizational structure, and the hope is that a draft plan will be ready later this summer.

And I'm happy to share that presentation with anybody who's interested.

It was really – they presented a lot of data about the disparities that we're experiencing here, that many are experiencing.

And I just want to quickly share some of the highlights.

So before COVID hit, we were already experiencing a very inequitable economy.

I don't think anybody's surprised by that.

But 860,000 people in the region were out of work or in low-wage jobs with more than 30% of those individuals having at least a two-year degree.

The region was in a 13% decline in jobs and new business, and only 39% of women of color with a college degree had a good job.

So we know that nothing has improved in the time being, but I just want to remind folks that even before COVID hit, there were some huge economic inequalities existing.

So that's not what we're interested in going back to.

We're interested in moving forward.

And Greater Seattle Partners is focused on investing in women of color.

who could make the most impact on the region and really make the most impact moving toward an equitable economy.

Our office is proposing several of the strategies included in that, including investing in a community investment trust.

We are working with the Portland Community Investment Trust folks to begin a feasibility study this summer.

and we look forward to bringing that forward as we learn the results and really have a robust conversation about the strategies that we need to move toward a more equitable economy in our city.

Moving on to district issues.

Last week I met with Georgetown neighbors who are working on an array of different community development projects.

So I want to thank my chief of staff, Alexis Turla, who recognized that community members were working in different circles and really made the smart decision to bring everyone together.

to collaborate and really to build power for that neighborhood.

There's a lot that folks want to get done there.

And so we're eager to make sure that they get access to the resources and to the support that they need.

Folks are really interested in creating a community space where young people can get mentoring, where job training and social services can be offered.

and where neighborhood groups can just find space to meet and plan for how their community wants to respond to the changes that are happening there.

Later this week, I'll be taking a tour of some possible facilities in the neighborhood to see if we can identify a place that might serve as this community hub that they're looking for.

I also met with Visit Seattle.

These folks are very excited about the possibilities for a recovery in the city.

And despite some claims that Seattle is dying, they are very optimistic about bringing visitors back to the city and about supporting our neighborhood commercial business districts and weaving together a strategy that highlights and supports both the downtown area and our independent neighborhood businesses.

So I'm looking forward to the campaign that they are working on and I think the plan is to roll something out later this summer.

Very excited about that.

Finally, I met with AI Peace, a group that is developing senior housing on the north lot of the PACMED building.

And while it's not 100% certain yet, I do want to thank Congressman Adam Smith for submitting this project for community project funding for the 2022 federal budget cycle.

Along with this project, Congressman Smith submitted several proposals on behalf of the South End in particular and the city, including HealthONE expansion, the MLK Affordable Housing and Early Learning Center, and two Africatown projects, both the Cairo site and the Youth Achievement Center, which is down near the Columbia City light rail station.

I'm really excited and hopeful that those projects get that federal funding so that we can see, again, how community-led, community-driven projects can really make a significant impact in our neighborhoods.

Next Wednesday from 3 to 5, I'll be holding office hours at the Columbia City Farmers Market for the first time.

Very excited about that.

And constituents who are interested in meeting there or at any other time can request an appointment through my council website.

That is all I have this morning, colleagues.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

Are there any comments or questions on that report?

All right.

I am not seeing any questions, so we're going to move back over to Council Member Mosqueda, who is going to do a quick little cleanup.

Thank you very much, Council President and colleagues.

I apologize for having to circle back.

I just wanted to make sure that I circulated to you.

This morning, the final version of the affordable housing proclamation that was sent to you as we spoke this morning and also last Friday, a version was sent to you as well.

Really excited to have your potential consideration here.

And folks from the Housing Development Consortium are teed up to receive this this afternoon.

So, Council President, I would like to turn it back over to you.

If we may call roll for the council members who might want to sign on to the affordable housing week proclamation.

It is now in front of us in your email.

Great.

Thank you so much, Council Member Mosqueda.

And I did see that that came in on our email, so I appreciate you circulating the final version.

Colleagues, are there any questions on the proclamation as described by Council Member Mosqueda?

Hearing and seeing no hands raised or questions being posed, I will ask that the clerk please call the roll to determine which council members would like their signature affixed to the proclamation recognizing Affordable Housing Week.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Sawant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

Lewis.

Yes.

Herbold.

Yes.

Juarez.

Yes.

Morales.

Yes.

Council President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Nine in favor.

Wonderful.

Thank you so much.

We look forward to making that presentation during today's full council at the top of the agenda.

So we'll make sure the folks from HTC are logged in early to make sure that we can get started with our meeting.

Awesome.

Great.

Thank you so much, colleagues.

I will now conclude this portion of the agenda with my report.

There's nothing on the introduction referral calendar from the Governance and Education Committee and our Governance and Education Committee does not have anything on this afternoon's City Council agenda.

I did want to make sure folks were aware that tomorrow there will be a meeting of the Governance and Education Committee starting at 2 o'clock p.m.

That's our regular meeting time.

On the agenda, we will have three items for discussion and consideration.

The first is Council Bill 12066. This is the first quarter employment ordinance for personnel matters related to various departments across the city of Seattle.

So for this item, we'll be joined by the Seattle Department of Human Resources representatives and Karina Bull of our Council Central staff.

This legislation also appears on this afternoon's introduction referral calendar, but won't be considered until we have an opportunity to consider the legislation in committee.

Next up, we will, in my committee, have a conversation about child care facilities.

We will be discussing strategies and challenges for home-based and center-based child care facilities.

And for this item, we will be joined by a few community panelists that include child care resources and child care providers that provide care here locally in the city of Seattle.

We'll also be joined by representatives from the Department of Education and Early Learning, Human Services Department, and our Seattle Department of Construction Inspections.

to better understand the challenges and supports of opening, expanding, or relocating child care facilities within the city of Seattle.

I think this will be a really good complement to all of the work that my office has been doing throughout the years in various budget actions to try to identify strategies specifically focused on child care for children birth through three years old.

And I think it also provides a good foundation for the discussions that we're having in the finance and housing committee.

related to how to allocate ARPA funding in the context of needing to meet the ongoing crisis and needs related to child care and focusing in specifically on the issue related to facilities related to home-based and center-based child care facilities.

So really excited about having an opportunity to have that discussion in my committee and For those of you who are not in my committee, but are interested in participating or listening to the conversation again, it should be the 2nd item on the agenda.

And all of you are welcome to join in on that conversation to learn more.

Lastly, deal will join us to provide a report of council budget actions that I sponsored in 2019. We will hear a report and recommendations for expanding infant and toddler care, as well as recommendations for expanding and growing access to childcare in Seattle for our families while supporting our childcare providers.

I'm really excited about receiving those reports.

And again, I think this will be a very good complement to some of the discussions we're having in the ARPA fund conversations in finance and housing.

If you have any questions about any of these items, please don't hesitate to reach out to me, or you can reach out to my senior policy advisor, Vy Nguyen, in my office.

She'd be more than happy to make sure that you have all the resources and information you need as you get prepared for our committee.

Uh, report original committees and I have none coming up this week and nothing to report out from last week.

I did have an opportunity to last week on Thursday, join Mayor Durkin and Seattle firefighters over the West Seattle mass vaccination site.

to celebrate the fact that the Seattle Fire Department has achieved a massive goal of vaccinating 100,000 people in that mass vaccination site.

So just want to say thank you so much to all of our public employees who show up every day to make sure that our communities are getting inoculated safely, efficiently, and effectively.

So thank you so much for your service and was really happy to be out there serving up some Husky deli ice cream in the tradition of many of these firehouses and welcome the opportunity to take a moment to celebrate a good achievement for our city.

Okay, lastly, I also have a proclamation.

This will not be presented this afternoon, but I do think it's important for us to acknowledge that This week is municipal, I'm sorry, yes, May 2nd through May 8th was Municipal Clerks Week.

So my staff on Friday circulated a proclamation acknowledging that May 2nd through May 8th, 2021, which was last week, was Municipal Clerks Week.

The city clerk is a chartered public office that subscribes to a professional code of conduct and oath of office, which together with the city of Seattle ethics code serves as a foundation upon which the office of the city clerk stands.

The office of the city clerk's mission is to foster civic education, participation, and openness in Seattle city government through effective facilitation of the legislative process and transparent, accountable stewardship of public information and official records for the legislative department.

The Seattle Office of the City Clerk is comprised of 30 professionals who strive to uphold the office's stated values of public service, accountability, respect, and stewardship.

The past year for many of us, including the City Clerk's office, has been unlike any other year for many.

And this is certainly true, again, for the Office of the City Clerk, which has successfully supported the legislative department in adapting to our entirely virtual and remote operations.

This work would not be possible without the 30 individuals working within the city clerk's office.

Our deep gratitude goes out to them.

I hope you will all join me in thanking our incredible team and the office of the city clerk for their tireless work and dedication in supporting us in every way possible.

Of course, before when we were actually located in city hall, but that support has become even much more important and noticed in this virtual and remote environment.

So huge.

Thank you to our city clerk, Monica, Martina Simmons, and to, of course, all of.

the other city clerk employees who have really just provided a tremendous, tremendous example of what servant leadership looks like.

So thank you so much for that.

Colleagues, I am going to ask that the clerk call the roll to add folks signatures to the proclamation.

But before I do that, does anyone want to make any comments or ask questions on the proclamation?

Keeping in mind that this proclamation will not be presented this afternoon at two o'clock.

All right, hearing no questions or comments, will the clerk please call the roll to determine which council members would like their signature affixed to the proclamation recognizing municipal clerks week?

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson?

Aye.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Lewis?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Hi.

Morales?

Yes.

Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Nine in favor.

Wonderful.

Thank you so much, everyone.

Really appreciate the opportunity to acknowledge our municipal clerks.

Okay, that is the end of my report.

I'm happy to answer any questions or hearing any comments on my own report.

Hearing none, we are going to move into our final agenda item for this morning, which is an executive session.

We're about 20 minutes behind, but I think I hope we can get this done by no later than noon.

So as presiding officer, I am announcing that the Seattle City Council will now convene an executive session.

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

The council's executive session is an opportunity for the council to discuss confidential legal matters with city attorneys as authorized by law.

A legal monitor from the city attorney's office is always present to ensure the council reserves questions of policy for open session.

I expect the time of the executive session to end by 12 o'clock p.m.

noon.

If the executive session is to be extended beyond 12 o'clock p.m.

noon, I will announce the extension and the expected duration in open session.

Thank you.

Thank you.