Seattle City Council Neighborhoods, Education, Civil Rights & Culture Committee 4/22/22

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I'm now going to close public comment and we will move on to our first agenda item.

Will the clerk please read item one into the record?

Agenda item 1, Seattle Arts Commission 2022 work plan for briefing and discussion.

Thank you very much.

Okay, we have the Seattle Arts Commission here with us today.

I'm excited to hear from them.

The Arts Commission is really an important body for helping the Office of Arts and Culture.

They advocate for arts policy, create equitable access for participation in the arts, and really support us in fostering a rich arts engagement for our community members.

Today we're going to hear some examples of the kinds of programming that the Arts Commission supports that support artists and cultural sector workers.

And we're also going to hear from this community advisory body about their efforts to really anchor communities with cultural space and support individuals in our workforce efforts as part of the creative economy.

So I am excited to hear from two of our arts commissioners.

Ebony Arunga and Bee Wah are here to share their presentation with us.

So I will hand it over to you to get us started.

Thank you so much, Tammy, and for everyone else who is letting us speak today.

Quick question, am I allowed to share screen or can someone run our slideshow for us?

I believe you can share the screen.

Oh, OK.

Oh, yeah.

It's right there.

Sorry about that.

Cool.

So I'm sharing screen.

Everyone can see OK?

Cool.

So I'm Vi Hoa.

I'm a writer and film director.

I was previously with Northwest Film Forum, still working there, just not as the executive director.

We wanted to speak to you today about some programs that we supported, as Council Member Morales said.

And this is us.

Moving on to the next slide.

The first thing we wanna just highlight that the Arts Commission as a whole really champions is the Hope Corps program, which a lot of council members supported and we thank you for that.

It is a WPA style program that puts artists to work in the creative industries and really creates opportunities for paid workers and also storytelling around really crucial issues of our time.

Last year, there was a budget of $2 million, and $1.5 million came from city funds, and $500,000 came from an NEA grant.

It's put 100 workers to work for over 6 to 12 months, earning $15,000 to $38,000, and in this time where cultural workers are really struggling, it's definitely a program that has put a lot of people to work, especially folks from BIPOC communities, and one of the programs we wanted to highlight that's currently happening as a result of Hope Corps is the Beloved Campaign, which is a multimedia and arts-driven campaign that speaks to the epidemic of gun violence, and it has so many facets to it.

It involves journalism, it involves interviews, it involves art installations, film, so it's really a multi-pronged approach featuring a lot of community partners, and we just want to advocate in this upcoming year for supporting a program like this again.

Next, we want to speak to some programs that the Office of Arts and Culture does that really champions cultural space.

So one of those is the Cultural Facilities Fund, and it's a regular funding program that the Office of Arts and Culture gives out every year, generally speaking, where applicants can request up to $100,000 to support pre-capital, capital, and post-capital project expenses.

And that wide purview, I can speak from personal experience through my experience with arts organizations, really gives people the leg up to be able to pursue capital campaign projects in a way that might be out of their reach otherwise.

In 2020, it was put on pause so the funds could be used for COVID recovery.

In 2021, the funds supported the Cultural Space Agency, which Ebony will speak to in depth later.

And in 2022, they're reviewing opportunities in this area.

We just wanted to highlight that this program is happening and how crucial it is that the office maintains their full funding so they can continue to run programs such as this.

Another program they do regularly is called Square Feet Seattle.

It's hosted by the Office of Arts and Culture and the Facilities and Equitable Development Committee of the Arts Commission supports it as well.

It's a community event and engagement event which discusses strategies to combat the growing affordability crisis.

It includes a lot of interactivity between attendees, so there's been participatory budgeting activities which have resulted in really amazing community-focused initiatives.

For example, the Cultural Space Agency PDA came from the Square Feet discussions.

Another program that came from the Square Feet discussions was the Tiny Cultural Space Program, which basically takes small swaths of surplus city property to build tiny structures to house cultural activities.

So some of you might know these organizations.

The constructions are created by Saw Horse Revolution, a nonprofit that teaches youth carpentry and craft, particularly focused around South Seattle.

One of the success stories from 2021 was Escalita's Library, which was formerly in Beacon Hill.

It's a community library that uplifts oppressed communities in Seattle, and they now have this beautiful space as a result of this program.

And in progress right now is a spot for Deaf Spotlight, which inspires and showcases deaf culture and sign language through the arts.

They run, for example, the Seattle Deaf Film Festival.

They also give out grant making to deaf artists.

So they're very important organizations being supported with these small spaces.

And lastly, so this is one of the photos of Sawhorse Revolution building as the leaders library there are youth workers here.

And we just generally want to advocate really strongly for cultural space, all of us know the importance of having these spaces and.

just want to advocate for integrating arts and culture into the city's upcoming comprehensive planning process, because there are other cities that integrate arts more fully into the planning process.

And we believe that they're vital enough that it would be important for it to be considered more integrated.

So I'm going to pass it on to Ebony.

And Ebony, just let me know when you want me to change the slide.

Sorry, I was muted.

I'll start again.

Hi, everyone.

My name is Ebony Arunga.

I am an arts advocate and administrator in Seattle.

I manage Ijeoma Oluo, who is a writer and author.

I am also the community liaison at the Cultural Space Agency.

I'm a member of the Seattle Arts Commission, and I'm also the co-chair of the city's Facilities and Equitable Development Committee.

So I'm here today under all of those hats to talk to you about the Cultural Space Agency.

The Cultural Space Agency is a mission-driven, values-based organization, a cultural real estate development company.

And it's, next slide, please.

These are values that drive the entire organization.

Keep race in the room, which is centering BIPOC communities and other marginalized communities.

Assets are not always financial.

So just taking into account that community value is more than just money.

Like there's many things that the community can bring that bring value to the organization and to the table.

always be learning, allowing our work to continue to evolve and just recognizing that we don't know everything.

We use the cohort model of teaching, which we do through the BASE program, the Building Arts Spaces Equitably program, which was originally started with the City of Seattle, but recently transferred to the Cultural Space Agency.

We build community wealth, which is really important, and we saw that this week with some some things that came up.

So we facilitate real estate property ownership by community organizations and individuals in vulnerable neighborhoods.

Who Decides Who Decides is about transparency, just being very open about how we're doing things because it's a very community-led organization.

Next slide.

This is our governing council, which we're all seated there by city council.

And as you can see, it's primarily BIPOC people, and they come from multiple walks of life, including real estate, architecture, the arts, of course, and all of the in between.

Next slide.

Uh-oh, I'm missing a slide, so I'll just talk about it.

Um, so in order to, so our, as I spoke before, our organization is led by the community and it's through the base program that, uh, we build our constituent constituency.

So the base program building art spaces equitably is where the arts and, um, real estate converge.

And it is, uh, it is, um, you have to be a graduate from the best based program to become part of the constituency and or be brought on by the constituency at large.

So the constituency then makes up the fabric of the organization through three committees.

We have our Racial Equity Committee, which is responsible for the mission, vision and values of the organization, as well as just the general culture.

And we have our Properties, Investments and Programming Committee, which is where projects get into the pipeline, which will then eventually hopefully become funded and become a real project.

And we also have our Governing Council Nominations Committee, which are responsible for creating a slate of governing council members who lead our organization.

The governing council of the organization is similar to a board of a nonprofit.

So our governing council is chosen, the slate is chosen by the constituency, which is then floated up to the mayor, who then passes it on to the city council.

And when city council signs off, our governing council is seated.

And so those three committees generally lead the organization in those ways.

We currently have four projects that we are about to close on over the next two months.

El Barrio is the first one.

It's about to close in about a week from today.

And as you can see here, you can see where it is on the displacement risk index, ah, my words, the displacement risk index map.

It is about a half a block of space that can, oh, next slide, please.

Ah, yes, so it's three parcels.

And it's in South Park, which is about 50% Latinx nowadays.

And it is about a half a block of space that is going to be bought in about a week.

And so we're really excited that this is our first project that we're going to close.

It has the ability through that large parking lot to also have affordable housing built on the site.

Um, yeah, and all of the projects that I'm going through today are also going to be acquired debt-free.

So all of the fundraising has been done mostly through the strategic investment plan, um, and other capital campaigns.

Next slide, please.

The next project that we are about to acquire probably in about three weeks is Columbia City Theater.

Um, it's in partnership with Rainier Avenue Radio and sorry, just Rainier Avenue Radio and the Cultural Space Agency.

Next slide.

Columbia City Theater is run by Tony Benson, and he will be, Rainier Avenue Radio, sorry, Rainier Avenue Radio will have music, theater, film, dance, and other performing arts.

It will have a strong youth engagement program, and they would like to expand into a commercial kitchen.

Right now, we're also looking at ways to make the building more accessible because as it stands, there's stairs that go up and stairs that go down into the space.

And so we're looking at building ramps and or a wheelchair stair climber.

Next slide.

The station space is at King Street Station.

Next slide, please.

And it is going to be in partnership with Totem Star, Jackson Street Music Program, Red Eagle Soaring, Whip Smart, and Rhapsody Projects.

It is all youth empowerment projects.

So this is going to be a very strong site for youth programming.

And it's in, I believe it's the third floor of, sorry, the second floor of King Street Station.

Next slide.

a cultural anchor for Rainier Beach, which is our next closing project within these next two months.

Next slide.

And it's bringing together two community-based dance schools connected to the African diaspora, Northwest Tap Connection and Union Cultural Center.

It will have dance classes for learners of all ages in both American tap dance, and Afro-Brazilian capoeira.

It will have culinary cultural traditions celebrated through the kitchen and garden.

And so, yeah, these are the four projects that we're about to close on.

One thing that we saw over the last week was a threat to these projects being able to be closed because of a misunderstanding with the city attorney's office, where they were saying that they were unable to bring forth the funds from the Strategic Investment Fund to help close the project.

And part of the reason was because of the way that our partnerships are structured.

We go into an LLC agreement with our community partners.

The reason we do this is to build community wealth.

and so that the partners can eventually become the full owners of the building if they so choose, or to have the oversight and administrative support of the Cultural Space Agency.

And so that issue was resolved, and we're really thankful for that because we're able to go ahead and close on El Barrio in about a week, which would have lost its earnest money if that did not go through.

And so we are definitely looking to city council and to all of our supporters for ways in which we can resolve these types of issues in the future and, you know, be able to continue with our mission to build community wealth within these communities.

And thank you so much.

That's the end of the presentation.

And if you have any questions, we're happy to take them.

Thank you so much, Ebony and Bea.

I am really glad to hear that this issue was resolved and definitely keep us posted if there are other questions that come because this is something that the city chartered in 2020. This is an important mechanism for us as a city to preserve cultural space, to build community wealth, as you've said, and I know that you know, as a city, we've put several years into building this idea up, and now we're starting to implement it.

So I want to make sure that we're not sort of, that the right hand knows what the left hand is doing here.

So I have a couple of questions.

I am curious if you could talk a little bit about how the Cultural Space Agency and the work that it does relates to the Cultural Facilities Fund.

And so that's the first piece.

And then I want to make sure I understand that the cultural facilities funding for 2021 went to support the PDA.

Is that the typical use for that fund or was that sort of backfill because of the COVID and the other situations that we were in?

So I don't think that's the typical use of the fund.

Maybe Eboni can speak to this as well.

But I think generally speaking, it's sort of like a grant application thing.

And it's different from the Cultural Space PDA because it allows for more people to apply.

And it's the Arts Office adjudicating who receives the funds as opposed to the Cultural Space Agency.

deciding.

And with the Cultural Space Agency, it's also, it seems like it's projects that are closer to closing, whereas the Cultural Facilities Fund for Northwest Film Forum, for instance, we got a pre-capital campaign feasibility study through that grant.

And that was like vital in us even being able to explore the potential of like seeing what we could do to purchase space.

So they're a little bit different in focus.

I would say the Cultural Facilities Fund is broader.

OK.

And so there is a program manager, presumably, then at the arts department that actually makes decisions about where the Cultural Facilities Fund grant money goes.

I think it is adjudicated by a panel, like usual.

I'm not sure, actually.

But there is someone who manages it, and I think that's Kathy Shea.

Okay.

And then the PDA, as you said, is more of an acquisition fund to be able to hold land in ownership for community to then develop the kinds of projects that you're talking about here.

Great.

Okay.

Colleagues, are there questions for our arts commissioners about these programs, about the PDA itself?

Great work.

No questions.

You all did great work.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss.

I just want to reiterate how important this is.

I mean, as the city is growing, as we, you know, especially now start moving into hopefully, into economic recovery.

I think it's really important that we're doing everything we can to make sure that our cultural workers continue to have opportunity as well.

And we know that part of the challenge here in Seattle is that because it is so expensive, it is really hard for folks to find practice space, performance space, production space.

And these are the kinds of mechanisms, the tools that we have as a city to facilitate the kind of support that's needed to make sure that our artists are able to stay in the city and continue to contribute to the really rich cultural environment that we have in Seattle that we are known for.

So I want to appreciate all the work that you do.

I'm probably going to follow up with you to ask a little bit more about your budget and might even ask you to come back to share more about kind of the mechanics of how the PDA is funded and how you use that money to do the kinds of purchasing that you're talking about.

We did talk about this a little bit just a couple weeks ago, and I know those are That's information that you're still trying to pull together.

You just had a retreat.

So when you're ready, I would love to ask you to come back and share more with us about your budget and how that works so that we can make sure that you have the funds, that there is a plan for getting acquisition, but also that if there is city funding that has already been committed, that we're not keeping you from from closing on something that is really important to the community.

Thank you so much for that.

Can I just say, one, I will send you a draft today, and it's not for public consumption just yet.

But in terms of the two pots of money that we look for, one is to support the capital projects that we are doing, and the other is for operations.

We find that if we have the operations costs covered, then we can go after the capital capital funding.

And so I just wanted to put that here before I go.

Great.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Oops, sorry.

Go ahead.

Yeah, I just want to quickly say we would be happy to come back anytime.

So thank you for even giving us this chance to let you know a little bit more about our work.

Well as you said the purpose of the of the Cultural Space Agency is to develop cultural space real estate projects.

That's what we're trying to do.

But we're trying to do it in a way that reflects the desires of the community.

We're trying to build community wealth through investments in these opportunities and really partner with real estate developers or cultural community stakeholders to create these these real estate projects that really reflect the interest of both.

As you said, there's a convergence here that we really want to support.

So my interest is especially in supporting communities and creating generational wealth.

And I think doing that through cultural spaces, through arts institutions, particularly, as I said, because we often lack affordable commercial space, it's a major barrier to being able to preserve This is an important tool, and we really want to be a partner in solving this problem so that we can create new spaces, particularly for Black and Brown communities and our underserved neighborhoods.

So thank you both.

I'm really hopeful that this PDA, coupled with funding that we can provide, will really help create new space that can last for generations in our neighborhoods.

So thank you both for being here, and we look forward to hearing back from you.

Thank you so much.

Okay, Devin, will you please read item two into the record?

Agenda item two, Council Bill 120311, an ordinance relating to historic preservation, imposing controls upon the Wagner Floating Home, a landmark designated by the Landmarks Preservation Board under Chapter 25.12 of the Seattle Municipal Code, and adding it to the table of historical landmarks contained in chapter 25.32 of the Seattle Municipal Code for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thank you very much.

So we actually have three items today from the Landmarks Preservation Board.

And I know Aaron is here from the Department of Neighborhoods to talk about each of the projects.

So I am going to hand it off to you, Aaron.

But if you don't mind, before you begin, this particular item, I wonder if you could, for my colleagues and for the viewing public, just explain a little bit, once again, about the process here, and especially the role of council in reviewing Landmarks Board recommendations.

And I'm especially interested in, and we can talk about this throughout, what benefit the owners accrue for something like this, and how benefit for the city is determined.

So I'll leave it at that and hand it off to you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

And I'll also say I'm joined today by the City's Historic Preservation Officer, Sarah Soap.

Sarah's here to present one of the ordinances.

And Sarah, I don't know if you want to speak to the question raised by Council Member Rouse or if you'd like me to respond.

You can go ahead, Erin.

maybe repeating what you did last two weeks ago.

Okay.

The nomination and designation process for a landmark, there are two public meetings in which the Landmarks Preservation Board evaluate the application that's proposed by the nominators.

If the property is designated, then the staff initiates the negotiation of a controls and incentives agreement with the owner of the property.

And the controls are, the board has designated certain features of a property, and you'll hear me talk about those today, as will Sarah.

And the controls are about how to review proposed changes to those features in the future.

So the agreement has detailed lists of things that are excluded from any review.

And then items that can be reviewed by the staff as opposed to going to the board.

So the agreement gives everyone some flexibility about how to manage change.

And the incentives include, and I spoke to this last time a bit, the special tax valuation program.

There are There are grant opportunities potentially for designated landmarks.

There is also transfer of development right and transfer develop potential for certain zones within the city that are available to landmarks with ordinances.

And there's also code relief, both zoning and building code relief that can be available to landmarks.

So the step we're here today is to present the ordinance, which is to codify the controls and incentives agreements for these three properties.

And if the council approves them, they will go to the mayor for signature.

Thank you very much.

Okay, well, let's proceed then with the first item.

And would you like us to have everyone introduce themselves for the three landmarks, or would you like to do them one by one?

We can go ahead and do everything right now.

Thank you.

OK.

Sarah?

And I think Jessica Rowe is joining us, too, representing the Seattle First National Bank.

Yeah.

Good morning.

I'm Jessica Rowe.

I'm a land use attorney with McCulloch Hill.

I believe it looks like Heidi Martinez representing the owner is not with us, but she may join if she's able.

And from the Wagner Floating Home, we have Matt, Grace.

Matt, your mic is muted if you want to.

Thank you.

Yes, I'm the current owner.

You know, I joined this process late.

I didn't was not involved in any of the previous process.

And so I'm here to kind of learn, you know, observe.

And Erin, I want to say thank you to Erin.

She's been very helpful and responsive with all of our questions in this period.

So thank you.

And representing us with more questions will be Grace.

She has, she's my architect and will may have some questions for the board.

And then we have Josh.

Hi everyone, I'm Josh Anderson, the Executive Director at the Center for Wooden Boats.

Glad to be here.

Okay, so we'll start with the Wagner Floating Home.

Is everyone able to see that?

My screen?

Yes?

Okay, great.

So as we'd shown previously, and as we bring to committee, we provide the six standards that the Landmarks Board considers at the beginning of their presentation as a point of reference.

So in addition to being more than 25 years old, the resource needs to meet at least one of the standards that are identified by the board, and it also needs to have the integrity or ability to convey that significance.

So this is the Wagner Floating Home, This ordinance will codify the controls and incentives agreement that was signed by the previous property owners and the City Historic Preservation Officer.

This nomination was made by the Wagner Estate and the property was sold in August 2021 to the new owner who's joining us today.

This property is at 2770 Westlake Avenue North, it's unit 10, and it was designated by the Landmarks Board on June 2nd, 2021 under standards B, C, and D, And the features of the landmark include the exterior of the house and the floating log foundation and platform it sits on.

So this was built in 1910. The Wagner Floating Home is among the city's oldest remaining houseboats and is thought to have originally been a seasonal recreational canoe club on Lake Washington near Madison Park.

And I think that's what we see in the historic photo here.

It was likely towed to its current moorage on the northwest shore of Lake Union in 1938 when regulatory actions by the city of Seattle drove houseboats off of Lake Washington.

In its current location, the residence was featured in Life Magazine in 1946. So Colleen Wagner, when we speak of Mr. and Mrs. Wagner, before Colleen Wagner was married, she rented this houseboat with friends and met her future husband Dick, Richard Wagner.

They purchased the floating home when they married in 1965, and this became their family home for more than 50 years.

And they raised their two sons here, David and Michael.

In the 1960s, wooden boats were falling from favor as new marine technology burgeoned and many of the wood boat repair shops had closed.

As most people began to get rid of wooden vessels, the Wagners began to collect small wooden boats, and in 1968 opened a rental business at their home that they called the Old Boathouse.

Mr. Wagner described it as a kindergarten of hands-on maritime heritage museums, and he said, we not only taught our visitors how to row, paddle, and sail traditional boats, but we also had Saturday regattas at our floating home.

Their home and business became a gathering place for wooden boat enthusiasts and anyone interested in history, boats, and woodworking.

In 1976, they started hosting monthly educational meetings, drawing as many as 40 people.

It was the Wagner's dream to create a small watercraft museum where people could play with the boats and handle the tools.

And over time, this vision evolved in what we know today as the Center for Wooden Boats, which is at the south end of Lake Union.

And I'll also say this property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and it's since 1982, and Colleen Wagner was seeking to become a city landmark here at the site, and her sons, David and Michael, finished that nomination process.

Would you like me to move to the next property, or would you like to have questions for Wagner Floating Home?

These two seem very connected, so let's do this one and then we'll take questions.

Okay, great.

So you heard me give some history for the Center for Wooden Boats.

This ordinance, again, is to qualify the controls and incentives agreement between the property owners and the City Historic Preservation Officer.

This nomination was made by the Center for Wooden Boats.

It's located at the south end of present day Lake Union, 1010 Valley Street, or Waterway 4. It was designated June 2nd, 2021 under standards B, C, and D.

The controlled features include the exterior and interior of the open pavilion, which is on land, the exteriors of the boat shop and boathouse, and the pilings and platforms that support them, and the exterior of the oar house and its floating platform.

The boat shop was built in 1983, the oar house and pavilion in 84, and the boat house in 1989. Mr. Wagner designed the buildings with assistance from Barbara Oakrock, Steve Johnson, and Keith Vaughn.

As this property is very much a living history, I wanted to give Josh Anderson, the executive director, just a moment to speak a little about its significance.

Thank you so much, Erin.

First, I just wanted to thank this committee.

the City of Seattle Council, the Landmarks Preservation Board, 4Culture, Aaron Doherty, and of course, Sarah Martin, who did all the research.

Just everyone at the city we've worked with on this project.

We really appreciate it, and it's been a whole lot of fun to go through.

The Center for Wooden Boats promotes Northwest American heritage through education, interpretation, and hands-on experience in building, maintaining, and using historic small craft.

You know, I always used to joke when I was leading volunteer orientations as the lead boat builder, that we're basically a museum that purposely breaks its artifacts so that we can rebuild them.

And that's mostly true.

What's always been important to our organization was the process of teaching people how to use boats and care for them so that they can interact with the natural maritime environment in a sustainable way.

And the process of just repeating that cycle over and over and over and over again, and just constantly connecting with new people and reconnecting with old friends just has the very intentional outcome of building community and preserving history in a really tangible way that gets passed on from generation to generation.

The Center for Wooden Boats has existed in some form for over 50 years, starting first at the Wagner Floating Home, literally in their living room under the Aurora Bridge, before moving to South Lake Union and expanding to the north end of the lake as well.

It was intentionally started, initially started because the Wagner saw settles, famed boatyards and boats starting to disappear and they really wanted to preserve that history and more importantly, the community that they were a part of.

Well, now in 2022, literally all of those wooden yards in the city are closed.

While there's still numerous incredibly skilled shipwrights and plenty of wooden boats in this area, CDOEB is the only organization left with dedicated physical infrastructure on Lake Union solely to preserve wooden boats in Seattle's rich history with them.

Landmarking our floating buildings helps ensure this resource stays available for the city and the residents for generations to come.

So thank you.

Shall we move to the third or would you like to do questions for these two?

Let's do questions on these because I have a few questions about I can understand what it means to have controls on a house or a building, but when there's a control on a floating log foundation, I don't really know what that means.

So can we talk a little bit about what that means for the first project?

So the Landmarks Board felt that There's actually sort of an inverted pyramid of logs beneath the platform.

At least that's their understanding of it.

That's what helps it be buoyant.

Although it's been supplemented over time, I think, with other more contemporary practical implements to keep that buoyant.

The board hoped that the timbers could remain intact over time, but we do have specific language in there in the agreement that allows us the staff to review with the owner when they need to supplement and use other means of keeping it afloat because It won't be a landmark if it isn't above the water, or at least available.

And it's someone's home.

It's Matthew's home.

But it's kind of a unique structural feature of the houseboat.

But it's not the only.

And so presumably, if the wood starts to deteriorate, you can replace it.

But it has to be with another log platform.

And I think we're also open to using other means of keeping it buoyant.

OK.

Matthew, are you comfortable with that as the person who will be living there?

Yeah.

I mean, I'm not an expert in keeping homes afloat.

So certainly, it is a very old structure.

And when I had inspected, the guy took his knife and stuck it through the log and said, yeah, these are really old.

So the house certainly, I mean, just in general, the entire structure needs a, it's been, the same family owned it for almost 60 years and it kind of, looks like that and it needs a lot of, you know, restoration and love is why I have Aaron.

I mean, I'm sorry, why I have Grace.

Yes.

Yeah.

We are certainly looking to preserve this, the rich character, but also, yes, make sure it stays afloat and is a comfortable home for Matthew as well.

So.

Council Member Strauss.

Thank you, Chair.

Matthew, great to see you.

I didn't expect to see you with this one.

Chair, as you will find, having done, just being a purveyor of interesting things in North Seattle, it's my understanding that the wood that was used to create your foundations is old growth.

Is that correct?

I assume so.

I mean, it's, you know, from 1910 and there's some From what I can tell, peering over the edge, there are some very large logs under there.

My understanding is that the deeper logs tend to stay preserved longer, and the ones near the top tend to decay and get mushy.

Exposure to the air.

Josh has probably some good technical expertise in that regard.

Yeah, definitely old growth.

And that's kind of one of the unique things about like landmarking these particular floating buildings is there's not a ton of the original sort of floating homes left, but there's a really long history in Seattle of floating homes and being sort of worker communities supporting the sort of maritime industries of the area.

But yeah, there's such high quality logs that they last a very, very, very long time, hundreds of years.

That's exact.

And so what I've also found is when City Light was building the dams and the Skagit and Ross Lake, they also used the same mechanisms of old growth logs as the foundations.

And some of those floating homes are still used today.

And I know that, Matthew, your home is one of maybe only a dozen or so on Lake Union and the Ship Canal using these old growth logs as foundations.

And so I just really appreciate the fact that you're bringing this forward.

in this way, understanding that if you need to secure your foundation a little bit better, that you have that opportunity.

This is really amazing.

Just kind of switching gears real briefly to talk about Center for Wooden Boats.

Again, the history of wooden boats on Lake Union is very extensive because we, for many, for the longest time and still to this day in a smaller amount, Lake Union has been a place where Wooden boats come during their off season after they're fishing in the Bering Sea in the Gulf of Alaska, because this is with navigable channels to the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea because there are many different types of saltwater worms and different elements in the saltwater that will decay the wooden boats faster.

And so using a safe harbor in the wintertime of Lake Union to kill off those saltwater worms is a very important and useful strategy.

I know that's not exactly what the Center for Wooden Boats is doing today, but hopefully that fresh water will continue to preserve Matthews Foundation and the foundation that Center for Wooden Boats has set up that teaches so many people about how to get on the water.

So I just want to thank you all.

That's all, Chair.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

I just wanted to jump in, too, and say that we have quite a bit of experience dealing with overwater structures, maybe not floating homes, but the Central Waterfront Piers and MOHAI's building are both over water.

And so we've had to work with the Department of Natural Resources in making sure that replacement materials are compliant with all of our state, local, and federal regulations.

Thank you, Sarah.

I was just at the Center for Wood and Boats a couple of weeks ago.

I had a friend in town, so I took her down there to see that.

It's very interesting.

Council Member Nelson, you're muted.

I just want to say that I'm a huge fan of the Center for Wooden Boats.

I did not realize it was also a home, but so I support this.

And I also just wanted to know, and we can take this offline, but how does landmarking a structure then relate to the whole shoreline master plan update?

Does it change anything?

Councilmember Strauss, you might know about that because that's land use, but probably not, right?

Does it make it easier?

I am not the person to answer that.

Okay, then never mind.

Thank you very much.

We can certainly get an answer.

I'll follow up.

Thanks.

Other questions?

Grace, did you have any questions?

Yeah, so

And I think Aaron's been helping us with this behind, you know, not behind the scenes, but just as we start our process looking to remodel this awesome houseboat for Matthew, that there are certain things that he would, of course, like to be able to change while maintaining the character of the home.

And I believe I have the answer that all of them through this process of applying to the Landmarks Board to review these controls through that process.

But things that are available as potential.

So one, yes, being able to modify or supplement the floating logs was certainly one to be sure that it stays safe.

changing things like the windows where they're painted shut, maintaining the look, but being able to use either repair or use a modern window that maintains the appearance, and painting the exterior of the houseboat as needed.

So I believe all of these, the controls don't, limit that possibility.

There's just a process for applying them.

Do I have that correct, Erin?

Yes.

Excellent.

Thank you.

And I'm happy to talk about it again.

But yeah, we've gone through kind of those details of each of the things you'd like to propose to change.

So we have process for that.

Some of that will be with staff and maybe some portion with the board.

But I think a lot of it is in-kind maintenance and repair or things that are part of administrative review.

Excellent.

Thank you.

Oh, yes.

And the fireplace falls under that as well.

But again, we've talked about it.

Yes.

And the board did not designate the interior of the home so that future owners would have flexibility to make changes there without any review.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I really appreciate your questions, Grace, because those are the kinds of things that You know, we don't have all the detail here, so it is helpful to understand, you know, what does it mean that this process is sort of controlling the owner's ability to modify the exterior of the house, and particularly when we're talking about something sitting on water, there's going to be a lot of conversation back and forth to make sure that you're protected and that that we can preserve the history of this, because it's pretty cool that it's one of the oldest houseboats, but you need to be able to live in it safely.

So thank you for raising those issues.

OK, I don't see any other questions from my colleagues.

So I think we can move on.

Let's go ahead and take a vote on these two items.

Let's see, what item number are we?

Okay, colleagues, I am going to move that the committee recommends approval of Council Bill 120310 to designate, nope, sorry, let me move up one.

I'm going to move that we recommend Council Bill 120311, imposing controls on the Wagner floating home as a landmark.

Is there a second?

Thank you very much.

It's been moved and seconded to recommend approval of the legislation.

Any final comments?

OK.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Chair Morales?

Yes.

Four in favor?

Okay, the motion carries and the committee recommendation that the council pass the legislation will be sent to the May 3rd city council meeting.

Will the clerk please read item three into the record.

Agenda item three, council bill 120310, an ordinance relating to historic preservation, imposing controls upon the center for wooden boats.

Thank you.

Okay, any other questions or discussion about the Center for Wood and Boats?

I do not see any.

So I'm going to move that the committee recommends approval of Council Bill 120310. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to recommend approval.

Will the clerk please call the roll on this bill?

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Chair Morales.

Yes.

Four in favor.

Okay, the motion carries and the committee recommendation that the council pass the legislation will be sent to the May 3rd City Council meeting.

Thank you all very much and we look forward to continuing the process with you.

Okay, will the clerk please read item four into the record.

Agenda Item 4, Council Bill 120312, an ordinance relating to historic preservation imposing controls upon the Seattle First National Bank Building for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

OK.

Thank you, Devin.

Erin, I will pass it on to you to talk to us about the bank building.

And Sarah will present this one.

Oh, OK.

I'm going to cover this one.

So this is Seattle First National Bank building located on Denny Way in the Denny Regrade.

You can see there.

Go back.

It was designated back in November 2006 by a previous owner had submitted the designation.

And what you're seeing here today is the codification of the controls agreement with the current owner.

The controlled features are the site and the exterior of the building.

And let me just go over the history a little bit.

So it was built in 1950, and it's a one story reinforced concrete modern style structure.

As I said, it was located in the Denny Regrade neighborhood.

This subject building was designed by John Maloney, but it was designed after an architect, Jay Lister Holmes' prototype.

Jay Lister Holmes had designed the first National Bank building, the industrial branch that's located on First Avenue South, and that opened in 1946. And that industrial branch building represented a model and like a distinctive functional pattern of a new type of building that there was a statewide, this bank had a statewide building program intended to standardize all the branch offices.

And so Lister Holmes designed the first prototype and then subsequent similar buildings were designed by different architects and not really on a strict repetitive plan, but adapted to each site.

So this building features the kind of tall block like rectangular massing and brick cladding with a prominent concave stone clad entry surround placed symmetrically in the primary facade that is consistent with the prototype.

But kind of what sets this one apart is that the east facade is set back and allows a space for a driveway that served the original drive up window.

The plane of that east facade is concave with a curve to match the drive and a curved marquee.

And you can see this in the historic image extends from the northern most window panel to the brick sign tower at the northeast of the building.

It's detailed in a way that makes it appear to float.

And the marquee shelters what was the drive up banking station and continues that curve and connects the building with the tower architecturally.

So that's what makes this particular building stand out.

And it's on a corner.

is really differentiated from a lot of the other prototypes.

And you can still see this prototype all over the city.

There's one in my neighborhood here in Greenwood.

And Jessica, oh, so one thing, Council Member Morales, you'd asked about incentives.

And one of the reasons why this property owner was motivated to sign a controls agreement was that there's TDR available for this property, and that TDR was created through some zoning changes in the uptown neighborhood relatively recently.

So in order for them to take advantage of that TDR incentive, they need to have an ordinance And Jessica, I don't know if you heard.

Yeah, thank you, Sarah.

I'm Jessica Romo, land use attorney with McCulloch Hill, and I'm here on behalf of the owner.

I believe I'm joined by Heini Martinez on behalf of Walgreens.

And just thank you.

Thank you, Sarah, for your help with the controls and incentives agreement.

I think you provided the important context that I wanted to add, which is that this building was already landmarked a long time ago, 2006. So now the owner is looking to take advantage of the possibility of creating TDR and the great thing, partially partially to Council Member Morales' question at the beginning.

The great thing about the code is that that means that this density above a landmark is not lost, per se.

It's able to be transferred off the site.

And then the owner can take advantage of some of that value to be able to take care of the building.

So that is why we are here.

And we just thank everybody for your time.

And we're happy to answer any questions if you have any.

Well, thank you, Sarah and Jessica.

I have several questions and you kind of started to answer them, but if you don't mind, I'll just sort of go through them.

So I think the first question I have is, as you said, this was designated in 2006. So can you just talk a little bit about why it's just coming before council?

You know, sometimes, especially when a property changes hands before a controls agreement is signed, sometimes it just takes a little bit longer for the owner to negotiate controls.

You know, we don't like to put a lot of pressure or try to stop control negotiation.

We want to bring and educate the property owner along.

So I think this is an instance where not only ahead it changed hands a couple of times since it was designated but it we just wanted to bring them along and get make sure they were comfortable with the controls agreement.

And we work closely with Jessica, who's very helpful in negotiating a controls agreement that I think the property owner is comfortable with and has a lot of opportunity for administrative review.

And in some cases, no review of certain changes that they are planning or have some plans to make in the future.

And so is it the owner seeking status, the status then?

approached me to negotiate and finalize these controls.

Okay.

Can you talk, you mentioned that the original building was built in 1946 and this was something done subsequently, so can you talk about why this is the one coming forward and not the original and kind of what the implications are of designating this one rather than the original?

You know, I don't know why I wasn't staffing this particular program in 2006, so I don't know why this specific building came when it did.

It often is because an owner wants to know whether it's a landmark or not in terms of whether they're going to sell or redevelop et cetera, so I'm not exactly sure why this one came to the landmark board.

And others did not.

Okay.

Let's talk about what's being preserved.

Because my understanding is this was originally a bank, but it's a Walgreens now, so presumably there weren't any particular features inside that were preserved.

No, just the site and the exterior of the building.

And it to me and the landmark board, it was a really good fit to have a youth like Walgreens come in because it they were able to modify the interior of the building without the board reviewing it.

And it's a single use, similar to a bank.

And they've been a very good steward of the building and have been able to get certificates of approval for all of the changes that they've wanted to make, including they modified the entry doors.

This was some time ago.

And added signage to accommodate the Walgreens use.

And the board was very supportive of that.

So what does it mean?

What does it mean?

Because it's not just for the exterior of the building, but for the whole site.

Is that right?

So talk a little bit about what that means to have this.

The site includes a large parking lot.

So I'm sorry, but I'm struggling a little bit with what it means to preserve a parking lot as a historic landmark.

So I they would be able to build on certain potentially build apply and build on certain portions of the site that are not currently built on.

I think the landmark board designated the site in this particular case because of that drive through what I was describing as the drive area and that curved marquee, which is really important, a visual feature of this particular building.

Do you have a picture of that?

The current photo that I see doesn't show that, I don't think.

And so it's just hard to get a sense of what the feature is.

Yeah.

And that feature, Erin, if you could move the hand, is down below to the east and is not there.

That's where it is.

OK.

And so the lot.

The lot is just the full legal parcel was included in the designation.

I think the tower is here, right, Sarah?

And then there's that arcing concrete.

So this is the part that's open.

OK.

I'm sorry.

Colleagues, does anybody else have questions?

I don't want to take up all the space here.

You mentioned the, I don't see any questions, so I guess my last question is, you mentioned the TDR opportunity, so can you just talk a little bit about what that transfer of development rights means for capacity, density, what we might be able to build here or elsewhere?

Sure, so I don't know this, maybe Jessica knows more about the specific details of what might be available, but basically you can take the FAR calculation and sell, essentially sell that to another property owner within the uptown zone.

It's like a real estate transaction.

And then the TDR is used as a part of the incentive zoning for the new site.

So in order for the site that it's being transferred to to maximize its zoning potential they could use the TDR to achieve that which would increase the density on the receiving site.

Okay, Council Member Nelson.

So, it's my understanding that the council vote cannot undo the controls anyway, so, but getting this done today would allow for, you know, those tax benefits, the TDR, to be realized.

So, that's just, I looked into it cursorily.

Thank you.

Yeah, no, I'm just trying to understand what the benefit for the city is and so where where we might be able to add to to housing opportunity to, you know, could we add a public plaza here?

Could we, you know, increase the community benefit in some way?

So, I'm just trying to, you know, dive a little deeper because I, as in the previous case, I don't have all the details about what the things are that were negotiated.

So, okay.

Well, I think that the community benefit is the housing that'll be built with the transfer development rights.

I don't know.

Yeah, trying to understand all of that as well.

So, we've got a little bit of time left.

Are there other questions from colleagues?

Okay.

If you don't mind, I think on this one, I would like to dive a little bit deeper in understanding what some of these controls are.

So I don't feel like I'm ready to vote on this.

If there's no objection, I'd like to hold this until our next meeting, which is May 13th.

Is that okay?

I don't hear an objection.

So we'll hold this until our next meeting.

And in the meantime, Erin and Sarah, we'll follow up with you and just try to make sure that we have a full understanding of what the opportunity is here.

I'm totally fine with that.

So we will move forward if there's no objection.

Hearing no objection, the bill is held until the May 13th meeting.

Okay, let's move on to our final items, which are a few appointments.

Will the clerk please read items five and six into the record.

Agenda items five and six appointments 2171 and 2172 reappointments of Kayla DeMonte and Holly Morris Jacobson as members Seattle Arts Commission for terms to December 31st, 2023. for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thank you very much.

So we've got two reappointments here.

I'm going to ask our, I don't think Director Ellie Barnes is here.

Am I correct?

So I'm going to ask Ebony to present our two Arts Commission reappointments.

Is Ebony still here?

I don't think she is.

I think they all hopped off.

Okay.

Council members, I'm happy to share a little bit with you about these two appointments.

So first we have Kayla DeMonte.

Kayla is the Deputy Director at Citizen University.

And let me take this out.

leads the program team on the national slate of events that focus on strengthening citizen power and renewing civic practices.

Prior to this, Kayla served as the Director of Programs for the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and introduced programs like the Young Professionals Network and Women in Business and Leadership and has also served with One Real, I'm sure you all remember One Real, managing festival sponsorships and partnerships for projects like Bumbershoot and Family Fourth.

This is a reappointment to, this is a mayoral reappointment to the Arts Commission for a one-year term, two-year term from January 2022 to December 2023. Are there any questions?

Okay, let me read quickly.

Holly Morris Jacobson is another reappointment.

Holly has a background in nonprofit management, strategic planning and communications, and works with Microsoft and has created strategic marketing and productions for the Seattle International Film Festival and other entertainment and education institutions.

This is also a mayoral reappointment for a term from January 2022 to December 2023. Other questions?

OK.

Colleagues, I'm going to move that the committee recommends confirmation of reappointments 02171 and 02172. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Chair Morales?

Yes.

Or in favor?

The motion carries and the committee recommendation that the appointments be confirmed will be sent to the May 3rd City Council meeting.

Devin will you please read item 7 into the record?

Agenda item seven, appointment 2186, reappointment of Donald T. Felder as member of Families Education Preschool and Promise Levy Oversight Committee for a term to December 31st, 2023, for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thank you very much.

I see Director Chappelle is here to talk about these appointments, so I'll hand it off to you.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

It's great to be here today.

Before I jump in, do you want me just to do Dr. Felder right now?

Yes.

If you want to do the other appointments too, that would be fine.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

So I'll start off with Dr. Felder.

Dr. Felder, he's a proud graduate of the University of Washington.

Dr. Felder is a retired educator.

He taught and served in numerous capacities in Seattle Public Schools for 30 years.

And through his great memories and accomplishments, Dr. Felder is well known for being a key leader in starting Interagency High School.

But once he retired from the Seattle Public Schools, Dr. Felder, he then took his love for children, families, and the community to KC family programs where he then worked for 10 more years.

And maybe I shouldn't use the term work because I know I've learned that when you love what you do, it's not considered a job.

But Dr. Felder, he is a community advocate that is well known for ensuring just racial equity, his racial equity lens, making sure that it's applied to policies and systems building and other continuous improvements.

With that said, I'm looking right here.

I know Dr. Felder had to jump to his phone earlier, and he may be here, and I just don't see him.

I was going to pass it over.

He's here, yes.

Dr. Felder, please go ahead.

I'm actually here.

Is this my time to speak?

Yes, sir.

Well, I just want to say joy and happiness to everyone and I am thrilled to to receive this appointment is really another opportunity to share some wisdom and help.

those children who are least fortunate in our school system to receive the kind of services that has been in place for so long.

You know, I sometimes like to brag that I went to Seattle Public Schools, worked in Seattle Public Schools.

My children went to Seattle Public Schools.

I served on a bunch of committees in Seattle Public Schools, and now I have the real grand pleasure of serving as a LOC member.

So I just wanted to say thank you for this opportunity.

It's with much love that I take on this responsibility and much dedication to the citizens of Seattle, Look forward to Seattle Public Schools and deal doing wonderful work together in partnership to serve the children.

Well, actually serve those children who sometimes just have struggles and go wayward.

And so our job is to bring us not a straight, but put health children on the journey march in a way that they can see their dreams and.

And I want to say see their dreams through partnership.

And I'll close by saying that I really, really was pleased that I was on this call listening to the cultural spaces because I see that partnership as as a way to increase opportunity for our children to thrive within the city of Seattle.

So I want to thank all council members who are on this call for your grand work and much appreciation once again for allowing me to serve the city of Seattle.

Thank you so much.

Really happy to see you and thank you for being here.

Devin, I'm going to ask you to go ahead and read item 8 into the record, and then we will just do these two together and let Director Chappelle speak to Ms. Thompson-Black.

Agenda item 8, appointment 2186, appointment of Linda Thomas-Black as member, families, education, preschool, and promise levy for a term to December 31st, 2024.

Thank you.

And just to confirm appointment numbers, I have 2186 and 2185.

2185. My apologies.

OK.

Thank you.

Director Chappelle, please go ahead.

Okay, thank you.

So it is again another pleasure of mine to introduce UNC United Negro College Fund CEO for Seattle, Linda Thompson Black.

Linda has also been a passionate about education.

She's worked She actually worked on the original education levy back in 1990. Linda was responsible at that time, she was responsible for coordinating the first education summit that gave rise to the education levy in 1990. She has been extremely pleased to see how it's grown so far.

Linda is a proud graduate of UW, where she received both her undergrad and graduate degrees.

She's also a proud SPS High School graduate.

Go Quakers!

Linda has worked for a national student achievement organization to really just help implement student achievement programs across the country.

But most importantly, other than doing this work that she's doing now, she's a proud mom of some really amazing children.

I've had the pleasure of meeting them both.

And her children are also graduates of SPS, and they're doing extremely well.

And I'll pause there, Linda, to allow you to say some things.

Thank you so much, Dwayne, for that introduction.

And like Donald, I'm extremely excited to be a part of the LOC.

It is full circle when I work for Norm.

His vision was to have this families and education levy, and it was my job to rally the community.

I had over 350 community meetings that gave rise to our education summit.

And it was right on the heels of an anti-busing initiative.

So being here now is just phenomenal.

And when we did the first levy, it was $7 million a year for seven years.

So I am deeply passionate about education and Seattle Public Schools.

I loved my Seattle Public Schools education experience.

there was an educational change team that came to our high school, and I was on that committee, and we were on that student leadership group.

And we were the most diverse school in the country.

And we had some of the most significant award-winning programs.

And so I hold that dear in my heart.

And I want the best for our schools.

And I want to be a part of supporting DEEL as we move forward.

So I'm really looking forward to it.

I was telling Duane that I feel our girls are success stories.

My oldest daughter, my youngest daughter is a lawyer and she works with the White House and Congress on the Affordable Care Act.

deeply passionate about providing health care for everyone.

And my second daughter is an MBA and works for the Department of Treasury and Strategic Initiatives.

And I believe a big part of that, their success has to do with the powerful education they received in Seattle Public Schools.

So looking forward to being a member and doing everything I can to support this work.

Thank you so much.

Really nice to hear from both of you.

And I'm sure that passion will show as we move forward with the Levy Oversight Committee.

Colleagues, any questions for our appointees?

Council Member Schatz.

Thank you, Chair Morales.

No questions, just, I mean, Dr. Federer, Linda, your resumes are amazing.

And Linda, clearly, if you're able to raise such a successful, amazing daughter, I can't wait to see what you're doing for our city.

So I, you know, and Dr. Federer, I'm just incredibly impressed and amazed by what Dr. Chappelle has told me about you.

So no questions, just again, wanting to thank you for spending your time.

coming to the Chair Morales' committee and understanding that these are volunteer positions.

And so you are volunteering your most precious resource, your time, to better our city, better our communities, and better our schools.

So just thank you so much.

Thank you.

Very good.

Okay, colleagues, I think what we will do then is I will move that the committee recommend confirmation of appointment 02185 and 02186. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Councilmember Strauss?

Yes.

Chair Morales?

Yes.

All in favor?

Terrific, thank you so much.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation that the appointments be confirmed will be sent to the May 3rd City Council meeting.

Thank you so much and we look forward to working with you.

Have a good day.

Thank you.

Okay, I believe we've got one item left.

Will the clerk please call, read item 9 into the record.

Agenda item 9, appointment 2119, appointment of Adrian Lamb as member International Special Review District Board for a term to December 31, 2023, for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thanks very much, Devin.

OK, so we have with us from Department of Neighborhoods Rebecca Freston, who's going to talk to us about Adrian Lamb, the appointee that we will discuss today.

Please.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

Can you hear me okay?

Okay.

I first wanted to ask if it would be helpful for Council Members to have a brief overview of the work of the International Special Review District Board.

I can give a brief synopsis, if you don't feel that's necessary, I'll launch right in.

Sure, go ahead.

Okay, so the International Specialty District Board is one of eight or the district is one of eight historic districts in the city.

And the board is recommend advisory and makes recommendations to the Department of Neighborhoods director.

on any applications for certificates of approval for changes of use, underlying principle use of the space within the boundaries of the district, or any changes to a building or site, and that includes open spaces and public rights of way.

The board meets twice a month as applications require, and then reviews the applications and make recommendations to the board.

This position is for a two-year term.

Members are eligible to serve two consecutive two-year terms.

There are seven members on the board.

Two of them are mayoral appointees, and five are elected in an annual election by members of the community.

And those five positions represent business owners, property owners, community representatives, and residents or tenants.

in the neighborhood.

And then there's an at-large seat that is an elected position as well.

So this is one of the two appointed seats.

And we generally reserve these seats for architects and individuals who have architectural training so they can bring that technical experience to the board.

And Mr. Lam, Adrian Lam, is an architect and he has worked in the field for over 20 years and been involved in all range of projects from commercial to residential and retail spaces.

He has actually been an applicant in the past, has presented to the International Special Review District Board, and so has that familiarity, and presented to the Design Review Boards as well.

I think he has a rich detail experience that would bring some great expertise and perspectives to the board in helping review projects, especially in light of all of the development that is coming So with that, I will turn it over to Adrian to introduce yourself or say anything else that you'd like to add, and then we'll turn it back to council.

Thank you so much, Rebecca.

Can anybody hear me?

Wonderful.

Well, it's certainly a privilege to receive this appointment by the mayor.

As you can see, I'm not only just a long-term resident, but I'm actually an immigrant.

So, kind of with my heritage and being an immigrant to this country, it is definitely a real privilege to serve the community that I've been so welcome to.

So giving back to the community within my professional capacity is something that's very natural.

It'll be interesting to be sitting on the other side of the table for once.

And it also allows me to fulfill a passion of mine for the preservation of the rich history of the city that I've adopted.

And so, yes, I really look forward to being a part of the board and help advance future projects into this neighborhood.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Well, again, it's it's important to have the kinds of skills and experience and expertise that you'll be bringing to this position.

As Rebecca said, there's so much happening across the city right now, but especially as we're talking about, you know, our communities of color, our downtown areas, it'll be important to have have your lived experience and your expertise as an architect as part of those conversations as well.

Colleagues, are there any questions for Mr. Lem?

Okay.

Very good.

Well, in that case, we will move, I will move that the committee recommend confirmation of appointment 2119. Is there a second?

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of the appointment.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Chair Morales?

Yes.

Or in favor?

Perfect.

Thank you very much.

The motion carries.

Mr. Lamb, the committee recommendation that the appointment be confirmed will be sent to the May 3rd city council meeting.

You're welcome to join and listen, but your presence is not required.

So thank you very much for being here and for your willingness to serve the city in this way.

Thank you, council members.

Okay.

Before concluding the meeting, I want to give colleagues any opportunity to share final thoughts or make any announcements.

Okay.

Very well.

It is 11.06 a.m.

This concludes the April 22nd meeting.

Our next scheduled meeting is on May 6th.

So I will see you all then.

Thanks very much.

We're adjourned.