Seattle City Council 3/8/2021

All right.

Good afternoon, everyone.

The March 8th, 2021 meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It's 2 o'clock p.m.

I'm Lorena Gonzalez, president of the council.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Juarez?

Here.

Council Member Lewis?

Present.

Council Member Morales?

Here.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Council Member Peterson?

Here.

Council Member Sawant?

Present.

Council Member Strauss.

Present.

Council Member Herbold.

Council President Gonzalez.

Present.

Seven, present.

Thank you so much.

And as other colleagues join us, I'll make sure to note that for the record.

We do have a presentation at the top of our agenda today.

This presentation is brought to us by Council Member Sawant.

She has a proclamation honoring Imam Benjamin Shabazz, also known as Brother Benjamin.

Council Member Sawant will first present the proclamation, and then I will open up the floor for comments from other council members, should any other council members wish to make comments.

We do have a guest here today to accept the proclamation.

So for now, I'm going to go ahead and hand it over to Council Member Sawant, who is going to present the proclamation to us.

Before I do that, just want to note for the record that we have been joined by Council Member Mosqueda.

Council Member Sawant, the floor is yours.

Thank you, President Gonzalez.

Good afternoon, everyone.

It's an unusual privilege for me and all the community organizers and socialists in my office to be able to present a Seattle City Council proclamation to honor the life of Imam Benjamin Shabazz, who passed away last week, which is a huge loss for our community.

For more than 30 years, Brother Benjamin, as he was more commonly known, served the Muslim community as an imam.

And indeed, he served the entire community, dedicating his life work to struggling for freedom, justice, and equality for all.

Brother Benjamin was an integral part of the Islamic School of Seattle for the majority of the school's 32-year existence in the Central District, where he was an imam, a beloved teacher of social justice, and a respected elder to many generations of Islamic School of Seattle students.

Brother Benjamin was an unwavering Muslim ally to Jewish and Christian communities, organizing numerous interfaith programs and dialogues, establishing a bridge for understanding and working together.

He was a profound African American community leader and courageous fighter for social justice, and he will be dearly missed by so many of us.

From fighting for the $15 minimum wage and renters' rights and affordable housing, to protesting Amazon's development of law enforcement facial recognition software, to being outspoken against racism and for Black liberation, Brother Benjamin has been a pillar for progressive change for decades.

Before reading the text of the proclamation, I want to share a couple of brief memories of Brother Benjamin.

I personally first met him when I was grocery shopping at the PCC in Columbia City many years ago.

He came up to me and said he strongly supported the movements we were building to fight for ordinary people and that we should not be deterred by attacks from those who oppose progressive change.

Two years ago, our council office worked closely with him and other residents of the Brighton Apartments in Rainier Valley around advocating for their tenants' rights and engaging this community of elders and immigrant families in the broader fight against racist gentrification.

One night, my staff were at the meeting with the Brighton leaders, and Brother Benjamin, who was also part of the leadership group, wasn't there.

One of the leaders said that she had heard he was not feeling well and had gone to the hospital.

About halfway through the meeting, Brother Benjamin came through the door and sat down.

He had come directly from the emergency room and looked quite exhausted.

The other tenants urged him to go to his apartment and rest.

No, he insisted.

He would stay in the meeting because the community's needs required his presence and he stayed and helped the group plan their next action step.

That was Brother Benjamin, always putting the community and the needs of others first.

That's how he lived his life.

May we all be inspired to follow in his example of sacrifice and caring for others and courage to fight for what's correct.

I'll read the proclamation, which was prepared with the support of Brother Benjamin's family and community.

And then with the Council President's approval, we will have Jamil Shabazz, Brother Benjamin's son, on the line to receive the proclamation.

And we are so fortunate to have him here to say a few words.

The proclamation a proclamation honoring the late Imam Benjamin Shabazz for his service to the community and to the cause of racial and economic justice, whereas Imam Benjamin Shabazz known to many simply as Brother Benjamin was a pillar in the community.

and was beloved by many, an African-American man who dedicated his life to racial and economic justice and human right for all.

And whereas Brother Benjamin was born on September 21, 1946, and grew up in Camden, New Jersey, and whereas Brother Benjamin served in the military, was sent to Vietnam, where he earned three Purple Hearts before being honorably discharged, and whereas after returning from the war, Brother Benjamin settled in Seattle, married, and had four children, And whereas brother Benjamin became a leader in the Muslim community, serving as a mom to the community for more than 30 years and focusing his life work on struggling for freedom, justice and equality for all, whereas as an integral part of the Islamic School of Seattle.

of the majority of the school's 32-year existence in the Central District, Brother Benjamin was an imam, a beloved teacher of social justice, and a respected elder to many generations of Islamic School of Seattle students.

And whereas Brother Benjamin was a key leader in restructuring the ISS into the progressive Cherry Street Mosque, which continues to this day in the Central District, and whereas Brother Benjamin was an unwavering Muslim ally to Jewish and Christian communities, organizing numerous interfaith programs and dialogues, establishing a bridge for understanding and working together.

And whereas Brother Benjamin was a strong advocate for staunch advocate for economic and social justice as an early and outspoken advocate of the $15 minimum wage and a strong supporter and activist for rent control and renters rights, taxing for-profit corporations to fund affordable housing and address gentrification, for the rights of the African-American community, and for the rights of all immigrants and working people.

And whereas Brother Benjamin was a recipient of many awards, including the Muslim Man of the Year Award at the National Muslim Journal Awards, and whereas as a longtime member of the Brighton Apartments community in Rainier Valley, a nonprofit-owned building serving elders and immigrant families, Brother Benjamin selflessly worked with the other tenants to organize and advocate for their rights, helping to secure a rent freeze agreement in the building to prevent the displacement of low-income residents.

And whereas Brother Benjamin continued this advocacy work, not stopping even as his health declined, most recently serving on the Brighton COVID Committee, which ensured the safety and health of the elders an immigrant family, and whereas Imam Benjamin Shabazz died peacefully on Thursday, March 4th, 2021, with his family reporting that the last things he heard were a reciting from the Quran and the call to morning prayer, and whereas the Seattle City Council joins with Seattle's Muslim community, the Brighton apartment residents, and foundation board members, and the broader community in mourning the loss of Imam Benjamin Shabazz, and whereas the Seattle City Council recognizes Imam Benjamin Shabazz's life work will live on to the inspiration and devotion to justice and righteousness that he instilled in so many people over the decades of his life.

And whereas we are committed as a community to join with others in carrying on this important work of economic and racial justice for all, including fair pay, housing rights, respect for one another, religious freedom, and the rights and dignity for all.

And whereas we make this commitment, with the endurance and urgency required to make progress for the people of Seattle, especially working people, elders, the African-American community, and other marginalized communities to whom Imam Benjamin Shabazz dedicated his life energy.

And whereas the Seattle City Council is proud to make this commitment in honor and memory of Imam Benjamin Shabazz, Now, therefore, the Seattle City Council proclaims Monday, March 8, 2021 to be Imam Benjamin Shabazz Day.

I'm so happy to have had the opportunity to read this resolution to this proclamation, and I will now hand it over to the Council President.

Thank you so much, Council Member Sawant, for reading the proclamation into the record.

Are there any additional comments from other Council members?

Okay.

Hearing none, I will now move to suspend the rules in order to hear from Jamil Shabazz.

So if there's no objection, the council rules will be suspended to allow Jamil Shabazz, who is the son of Brother Benjamin, to accept the proclamation and provide remarks.

Hearing no objection, the council rules are suspended.

And I'd like to now welcome Jamil Shahbaz to today's city council meeting and would be happy to hand it over to have him provide us with some remarks and the viewing public.

I know we've got Jamil with us.

There he is.

Okay.

Go ahead.

Somebody has to.

Okay.

Let's see if we can help you turn your camera on.

There we go.

All right.

Take it away.

Yes, how are you?

And thank you.

My sister was also on here.

Also, she's supposed to share time with me.

I apologize.

I apologize for that.

We we failed to make a formal notice of that.

Yes.

So we also have a major Smith with us.

The rules are suspended to allow both guests to address the city council members of the viewing public.

Please.

And first of all, in honor of my father, I would like to say that we thank you.

We thank the council members, Council Member Sawant, and all of those who are in attendance in honoring my father, Imam Brother Benjamin Shabazz this day.

This is a very joyous occasion for us, a joyous occasion for the community.

What I wanted to do, with Council Member Sawant very eloquently read the proclamation and shared a story.

I wanted to just relate a story very briefly to show you all and the viewing and listening audience.

what my father uh...

was trying to accomplish in his life what his goals were and one story i relate to you was a story in our religion um...

islam al-islam of the story of bilal bilal was uh...

companion of our dear prophet muhammad peace and blessings of almighty god be with him he was an african slave who earned his freedom through the religion of Al-Islam.

And Prophet Muhammad sent someone to free him and to pay for his freedom.

Bilal, fast forwarding, Bilal was honored and selected to be the first caller to prayer.

And that is called the Adhan.

In that call to prayer, it says Come to prayer, come to prayer, come to success, come to success.

Those who are familiar with that prayer, you've probably heard it if you watch movies where they've been in Muslim countries and you'll hear the loud chant over the microphone, that's the call to prayer.

Balao, an African slave, an ex-African slave, was the only one selected to call that prayer on top of the Kaaba.

But the significance of that prayer is come to prayer, come to prayer.

But the second line to that is come to success, come to success.

And so my father was trying to be a reflection of that call to prayer, which was come to success.

And that prayer, even though it was from an African slave, it wasn't a call to only Africans.

It wasn't a call to only Arabs.

It was a call to the world to come to success.

And so my father, as you see with everybody's story and all of the different races and faces and people that he touched, he was calling people to success.

And what was success?

Success was what our great nation, America, stands on, which is freedom, justice, and equality.

So I just wanted to bring that to the forefront so when people reflect on my father, they can know that the conversations that he and I had, we talked about Bilal.

And he wanted to, because Bilal, even though there's not supposed to be racism in the religion of Islam, Of course, human beings take on different traits.

And so they implement things into religion.

And so we taught, he tried to bring Bilal to the forefront because Bilal was not just some random person.

He was the right-hand man to our dear prophet.

And so that's one thing that I wanted to point out.

Come to success.

This was the life that my father was trying to live.

So I thank you all and in honoring our dear brother, and we will continue to honor him on this very day, if not every day, but March 8th of every year.

Amen, Brother Benjamin Shabazz Day.

I'd like to pass it over to my sister.

I don't want to take up too much time, and I'm pretty sure she'll have some beautiful words.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Words cannot express the deep appreciation and gratitude that the council and particularly council members to want for this recognition of my father.

So I just want to say thank you for myself and my family.

I wanted to share how the history, we can look back in history and how religion has caused a massive divide in the world.

And I want to share with you that my father, through the essence of his belief in religion, brought about solidarity.

His interfaith work brought people together for success as we strive for excellence.

I want to highlight that he would be dearly missed, not just from our family, but from the community as he's moved on to be with the ancestors as an institution in this city.

But I want to say compoundedly and exponentially dearly missed as an institution in the black community.

As our black community has been pushed out, gentrified, it's our pillars and our elders who remain and represent the brick and mortar that's not there.

And so my father's love and passion for his community, for civil rights, social justice, and the empowerment and liberation of black people.

I want to speak to what he will want me to speak to when he is one of his last words to me was, we are the prayers of our ancestors.

So it comes to me to say the importance of this work that we continue on in our pressure and our struggle for the liberation of black community that we It's the resources that came to people like my father and our other pillars, how much stronger our community would be rather than the systems and the individuals suffering from the racism and the anti-blackness that continues to put a foot of oppression upon our community.

So I speak that in honoring my father's name and honoring his life that not only is he dearly missed, But our community suffers due to the loss.

And I would ask everybody to look at how we walk to build solidarity, whether it's your spirituality, your religion, what have you.

But he was a model for that.

So if you take anything from his life, practice in modeling that.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you to both of you for being with us.

And of course, we are here to celebrate the life and legacy of your father.

But we also want to take a moment to reflect on the tremendous personal loss that you and your family and loved ones are currently experiencing and appreciate.

your willingness to so soon thereafter be with us here in this space in recognition of that loss, but more importantly of his life and the kind of life and legacy that it leaves behind.

So our deepest gratitude to all of you and to your loved ones and to your entire family.

and the entire community for the tireless work and the tremendous loss, and really appreciate being able to share this virtual space with both of you.

Council Member Sawant, I saw that your hand was up, so certainly want to give you an opportunity as a sponsor of the proclamation to share some closing words with us.

Thank you, President Gonzalez.

I just wanted to also convey gratitude from my office to both Brother Jamil and Sister Imaja.

So grateful that you were here and your words really have touched us, not only in terms of the personal loss that your family is suffering, but also the loss to the community.

And most of all, I think from the stories and the accounts that you both shared, I think as you said, Maja, if we take anything from Brother Benjamin's life to guide us in our lives, it is that message of solidarity and the message of social justice, equality, for all.

And that means actually fighting for those things as brother Benjamin did every single day.

And, um, and I'm glad that we had this opportunity to share these words.

But that won't be enough.

We have to actually show it through our action.

So we look forward to, um, standing alongside you, your family and the Cherry Street Mosque community and the community as a whole to realize the vision that brother Benjamin stood for.

Thank you.

Hey, thank you so much to our guests for being with us today.

And thank you Council Member Sawant for bringing forward this proclamation.

And I'm happy that all nine council members were able to add their signature to that proclamation.

So thank you so much for joining us.

Really, really do appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Of course.

Okay, folks, we're gonna move now to the next item on the agenda, which is approval of the minutes.

The minutes of the city council meeting of March 1st, 2021 have been reviewed.

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

Hearing no objection, the minutes are being signed.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes?

Approval of the introduction and referral calendar.

If there's no objection, the introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the introduction and referral calendar is adopted.

Approval of the agenda.

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

Hearing no objection, the agenda is now adopted.

Public comment.

Colleagues, at this time, we will open the remote public comment period for items on the city council agenda, introduction, referral calendar, and the council's work program.

I want to thank everyone for their ongoing patience and cooperation as we do continue to operate this remote public comment system.

It remains the strong intent of the City Council to have public comment regularly included on our meeting agendas.

However, as a reminder, the City Council reserves the right to end or eliminate these public comment periods at any point if we deem that the system is being abused or is no longer suitable for allowing our meetings to be conducted efficiently and effectively.

I'll moderate the public comment period in the following manner.

We will have 20 minutes to hear public comment today.

Each speaker will have two minutes to address the city council.

I'll call on each speaker by name and in the order in which they registered on the council's website.

If you haven't registered yet, you can by going to the city council's website at seattle.gov forward slash council.

You would have to do that and sign up before the end of our public comment period today.

Public comment link is also listed on today's agenda in addition to our website.

Once I call the speaker's name, staff will unmute the appropriate microphone, and an automatic prompt, if you have been unmuted, will be the speaker's cue that it is their turn to speak, and then the speaker must press star six to begin speaking.

Please begin speaking by stating your name and the item that you are addressing.

As a reminder, public comment should relate to an item on today's agenda, the introduction referral calendar, or the council's work program.

Speakers are gonna hear a chime.

When you hear a chime, that means you've got 10 seconds left of your allotted two minutes.

Again, once you hear the chime, I'd ask that you begin to wrap up your public comments so that we can call on the next speaker.

If you don't wrap up your comments within the allotted time period, then your microphone will be muted to allow me to call on the next speaker.

Once you've completed your public comment, I'd ask that you please disconnect from the line.

And if you plan to continue following this meeting, you can do so on Seattle Channel or any one of the listening options listed on the agenda.

Public comment period is now open and we'll begin with the first speaker on the list.

Again, please remember to press star six after you hear the prompt of you have been unmuted.

Our first speaker is Howard Gale, followed by Lajaya Washington.

Go ahead Howard.

Oh good afternoon.

Howard Gale District 7 commenting on continuing police abuse and failed accountability.

Just three three days ago the Black Student Union at Seattle University held a vigil for Derek Hayden the man experiencing a mental health crisis who was murdered by the Seattle police less than three weeks ago.

Derek was shot to death by the Seattle police within seconds very few seconds of encountering him.

Derek was pursuing a master's degree in computer science at Seattle University.

Tim Wheeler Derek's friend from Sequim where Derek had come to live when he was orphaned said quote he was a caring sympathetic person who identified strongly with the poor and the homeless.

He helped organize a plant nursery in Port Angeles that sold trees and flowers to raise money for people experiencing homelessness.

It shows that police officers option of using deadly force is too often their first choice.

And the fact that African-Americans and other people of color are disproportionately the targets of this lethal force doesn't mean that white people are safe.

When the lives of Black people don't matter often it is life in general that does not matter." Unquote. Another friend noted he was hurting. He needed help not bullets. No one is safe from these shoot first cops. Unquote. In the last few years we have seen many people in mental health crisis and holding nothing or only knives killed by Seattle police. Sherlina Lyles, Danny Rodriguez, Ryan Smith, Sean Lee Furr, Terry Kaver, and now, Derek Hayden. None of their families, friends, loved ones have any hope of seeing justice or change given the current city council's intransigence on police accountability and the current council's blind belief that the current system is working. We need a system that provides multilingual control of investigating and sanctioning police abuse, one that forbids police from investigating police. It is the very least we can do for the grieving friends and families of those so unjustly murdered.

Our next commenter is LaJaya Washington followed by Charlotte Amoreau.

Hello, my name is LaJaya Washington.

I am Brother Benjamin's granddaughter.

And I wanted to say thank you for taking the day to honor my grandfather.

Of course we will honor him every day.

And I just wanted to take a little bit of time to just talk about the great man that that he was and will be remembered as.

I'm in my mid-20s.

My grandfather was almost 75 and I have several friends and peers my age who, you know, are telling me that they will miss him, whether they saw him, you know, playing Pac-Man at full tilt or, you know, met him grocery shopping at PCC.

And so I wanted to say that he touched so many people, old and young.

That's just how, you know, dynamic and amazing that he was.

And my mother said that, you know, he let us know one of his last words or statements, you know, that we are the, you know, the hopes and dreams of our ancestors.

He really meant that.

And I hope that people are able to go forward striving for success as he would want, but also remembering to, you know, say it loud and be black and be proud like his favorite artist, James Brown.

and to always do what's morally right and keep fighting for Black people, racial justice, for all of those who are underrepresented, and to keep our faith in God and remember that there is one God.

Thank you again for honoring him on this day.

We love him and we will miss him dearly.

Thank you for being with us today.

Next up is Charlotte.

OK, thank you, Madam President.

My name is Charlotte Amaral.

I've been a resident of District 4 since 2017. I'm speaking today on appointment 1799, the nomination of Commissioner Annabelle Backman to the LGBTQ Commission.

for another term.

I have the privilege of serving with her on the board of the 43rd LD Democrats.

And in the time I've known Annabelle, it's been incredible watching her take on projects in her community.

She currently serves as our tech committee chair and the chair of our rules and bylaws committee, which is a lot of work.

And she has led the way in transforming our meetings to become more accessible and adapting to the unique ways we hold our meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hands down, without her, we would not have transitioned as smoothly as we did.

Council Member Strauss, you should be very proud of your constituent.

The Commission is the very best Seattle's LGBTQ community has to offer, and Annabelle is no exception.

She is an amazing human being, and dedicated to the betterment of her neighborhood, her city, and the world we share.

The Commission would be lucky to have her for another term, and the Council would be wise to confirm her nomination.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in and I am checking the public comment signup sheet.

Don't see anyone else that is both signed up and present.

I would like our information technology folks to confirm that no one else is present at the moment.

Confirm there are no more registrants signed up.

There are no more registrants on the line.

Great, thank you so much.

With that being said, we will close out our public comment period and begin on other items of business on our agenda.

First up is payment of the bills.

Will the clerk please read the title?

Council Bill 12010, appropriate money to base our claims for the week of February 22nd, 2021 through February 26th, 2021 and ordering the payment thereof.

I move to pass Council Bill 12010. Is there a second?

It's been moved and seconded that the bill pass.

Are there any additional comments?

Hearing no comments, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Morales?

Aye.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson?

Aye.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you so much.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Items one and two, will the clerk please read items one and two into the record?

The report of the Community Economic Development Committee agenda ends one and two, appointments 1797 and 1788. Reappointment of Christina M. Sokoi and Jessica Williams-Halls, member of Salem Commission for People with Disabilities, returned to April 30th, 2022. The committee recommends these appointments be confirmed.

Thank you so much.

Council Member Morales, you're the chair of the committee and are recognized in order to provide the committee's report.

Thank you, Council President.

We did review, I believe it's 17 appointments at my last committee.

They all passed unanimously.

For the Seattle Disability Commission, I will just share quickly.

Christina is a Seattle University senior working on an interdisciplinary studies degree with hopes of going to law school.

She has seven children from age 14 to 29 years of age, and she has served on the board since 2018. Jessica is a native of the Seattle area, grew up on Bainbridge Island and resides in Magnolia.

And as I mentioned, they were both unanimously out of committee.

Thank you so much.

Are there any additional comments on these appointments?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointments 1797 and 1798. Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales.

Aye.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Sawant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the appointments are confirmed.

Item number three, will the clerk please read item three into the record?

Agenda item three, appointment 1799, reappointment of NFL Black Men as members of LGBTQ Commission for term to April 30th, 2022. The committee recommends the appointment be confirmed.

Thank you so much.

Council Member Morales, you are also the chair responsible for this committee's appointment, and I'm gonna hand it over to you to walk us through.

Thank you.

As our caller mentioned, Annabelle is well regarded and folks are very eager to have her back.

She's a queer transgender woman who lives with her wife and Finney Rich.

She's been serving as a commissioner for the Seattle LGBTQ Commission since 2019 and looks forward to continuing in that role.

Wonderful.

Are there any additional comments on this appointment?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointment 1799. Juarez.

Aye.

Lewis.

Aye.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Yes.

Sawant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the appointment is confirmed.

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

Items 4 and 5 appointments 1800 and 1801, reappointments of Elizabeth W. Pachude and Jackie Turner as members of the Seattle Human Rights Commission, returned to July 22, 2022. The committee recommends that these appointments be confirmed.

Council Member Morales, these are also yours.

I'm going to go ahead and hand it over to you to walk us through these appointments.

Thank you, colleagues.

Liz and Jackie are both serving as co-chairs right now.

I had the pleasure of serving with both of them when I was myself a human rights commissioner.

Liz is interested in continuing to do the work necessary to call attention to human rights issues.

She's a member of the Seattle Small Business Community with a personal stake in the current and future vitality of our city.

And Jackie is interested in being reappointed to continue to do the work necessary to call attention to human rights issues as well.

As the clerk mentioned, the committee recommends these be confirmed.

Thank you so much.

Are there any additional comments on these appointments?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointments 1800 and 1801. Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Aye.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson.

Yes.

Sawant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

President Gonzales.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the appointments are confirmed.

Will the clerk please read item six into the record.

Item six, appointment 1802, reappointment Natanas Yasu as member of Seattle Women's Commission for term to July 1st, 2022. The committee recommends the appointment be confirmed.

Thank you so much.

Council Member Morales, back to you.

Okay.

Thank you, colleagues.

Tana was born and raised in Seattle.

This is her fourth year serving on the Women's Commission.

In her work, she's raised awareness of issues impacting a range of folks, including our disabled community, to dealing with conflict based on race, LGBTQ issues, and human trafficking and domestic violence.

She is honored to be, have been elected co-chair of the commission and looks forward to continuing her work.

Thank you so much.

Are there any additional comments?

Hearing no additional comments, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointment 1802. Juarez.

Aye.

Lewis.

Aye.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Yes.

Peterson.

Yes.

Sawant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the appointment is confirmed.

Items seven through nine.

Will the clerk please read item seven through nine into the record.

Agenda items seven through nine, appointments 1803 through 1805, appointment of Vivian Hua as a member of sale arts commission for term to December 31st, 2021. Appointments and reappointment of Vanessa Celia Lobos and Quentin I. Morris as members sale arts commission for term to December 31st, 2022. The committee recommends these appointments be confirmed.

Thank you so much, Madam Clerk.

I'm going to hand it back over to Councillor Morales to walk us through these appointments.

Thank you.

First, we have the reappointment of Dr. Quentin Morris.

Dr. Morris is a concert violinist, educator, entrepreneur, and filmmaker.

He's also the founder of Keep to Change, a nonprofit with the mission of inspiring underserved youth and students of color through world-class music instruction and supporting their development as self-aware leaders.

Vivian Hua is a writer, filmmaker, and organizer.

She's the executive director of the Northwest Film Forum here in Seattle and editor-in-chief of the interdisciplinary arts publication, Redefine.

And Vanessa Villalobos is an experienced and professional choreographer, dancer, arts administrator, educator, and founder of Bailarico Dance since 2009. Ms. Villalobos received the dual University of Washington degrees in theater and dance and earned a certificate of economics at the Henry George School of Economics from Seattle University.

She's influenced arts funding by serving as a grant panelist for the Washington State Arts Commission for Culture and the City of Seattle Office of Arts and Culture.

Thank you so much.

Are there any additional comments on the appointments?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointments 1803 through 1805. Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Aye.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson?

Aye.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the appointments are confirmed.

Will the clerk please read items 10 through 17 into the record?

Agenda items 10 through 17, appointments 18.06 through 18.13, appointments of Gregory Davis, Lindsay goes behind, Yordanos Tafferi, and Quinn Pham as members Equitable Development Initiative Advisory Board for term to February 20, 2022. Appointments of Willard A. Brown, Regina May Dove, Maria Jose Sorenos, and Abdi Rahman Youssef as members Equitable Development Initiative Advisory Board for term to February 20, 2023. The committee recommends these appointments be confirmed.

Thank you so much.

Council Member Morales, these are also yours, so I'm going to hand it back over to you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, I am going to take just a second to speak to each of these appointees.

These candidates have been working really hard for a few years now as they get this Equitable Development Initiative Board set up.

And this is the first, this group is the first set of permanent members, permanent appointments to the EDI advisory board.

So this is an exciting moment for all of them.

So if you'll indulge me for just a moment, Gregory Davis is a council appointment.

The EDI board will have, I believe it's seven council, seven mayor and seven board appointments.

I may have the numbers wrong, but anyway.

So Gregory Davis is a council appointment.

He is a managing strategist at the Rainier Beach Action Coalition.

He's been active in many city conversations about neighborhood development and the importance of supporting young people in our community.

He's also, you may know, the unofficial mayor of Rainier Beach.

Lindsay Goes Behind is also a council appointment.

Lindsay is a member of the Urban Native American Community.

Lindsay serves as the Managing Director for the Naulahi Fund, and as she has indicated, loves nothing more than a balanced budget and rematriating the land.

Yordanos Teferi is appointed by the EDI board itself.

She serves as a director of the Multicultural Community Coalition, where she leads a team who is committed to community-led development projects.

She's also an experienced litigator and serves as a board chair for the Eritrean Community Center.

Pham is another board appointee.

Pham is a fund development manager at the Vietnamese Friendship Association.

She also chairs Friends of Little Saigon Board, which is a grassroots organization working on community and economic development, neighborhood planning, and advocacy in the Little Saigon International District.

Willard Brown is a board appointment.

Willard has extensive experience in development and operation of affordable housing.

ranging from low income public housing programs to home ownership.

And he worked most recently as the Director of Housing and Environmental Programs for the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association.

Regina Dove is a board appointment.

She's a mentor and capacity builder with over a decade of experience working in greater Seattle with low income, LGBTQ and communities of color.

Regina has a strong desire to build policy and advocacy skills to move the needle towards systems change.

And she serves as the capacity building coach for Rainier Valley Corps.

Cote Sorens is another board appointment.

Cote is the founding executive director of Puentes, an immigration, immigrant-led organization mobilizing mental health resources to support undocumented immigrants and their families.

They struggle with a broken immigration system.

Cote is also co-founder of Cultivate South Park.

And I'm sure some of you know, the majority owner of the amazing coffee shop in the neighborhood, Resistencia.

Abdi Youssef is another board appointment.

Abdi has years of experience advocating and organizing in nonprofit and public sector settings, issues focused on civic engagement, affordable housing, land use policy, community-based participatory planning, and racial justice.

He currently serves as equitable development organizer for Puget Sound SAGE.

And before that, he worked with the Somali Health Board.

I want to thank all of these appointees for their commitment, lifting up the voices of community members.

Too often, these are voices that are left out of conversations about how our neighborhoods should change and grow.

And as we know, the Equitable Development Initiative is all about ensuring that as new investment comes into our neighborhoods, that those who are already living there get to benefit from that prosperity rather than getting pushed out.

So this is really important work that this group has ahead of them.

And I will tell you that in committee, I gave them my personal commitments to continue using the power of my office to elevate their work and to ensure racial equity in all of our development decisions.

So I am very excited for this group of folks to get their confirmation today.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

Are there any additional comments on these appointments?

Hearing no additional comments on these appointments, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointments 1806 through 1813.

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson?

Aye.

Zawad?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

President Gonzalez?

Yes.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the appointments are confirmed.

We will now move to the Finance and Housing Committee report.

Will the clerk please read item 18 into the record?

I report to the Finance and Housing Committee, agenda item 18. Council Bill 120-006 relating to contracting indebtedness, amending ordinance 126-219, ratifying and confirming certain prior acts.

The committee recommends the bill pass as amended.

Thank you so much.

Council Member Esqueda, you are the chair of this committee, and I'm going to hand it over to you to provide the committee's report.

Thank you very much, Madam President.

Just give me one second, if you will, to pull up my script here.

Thank you for bearing with me.

Council President, Council Colleagues, this ordinance has two main actions.

It adds $8 million to the limited tax general obligation bond to provide financing for electronic signage and reader boards at Seattle Center and Through the amendment that we passed in the Finance and Housing Committee, we were able to clarify in this statute that the council's intent is that the bonds issued for the 2021 repair of the West Seattle Bridge, as authorized originally by Ordinance 126161, may be issued as tax-exempt bonds.

These two items show both good faith as partners with outside organizations, as well as good governance and fiscal stewardship of taxpayer dollars.

The committee unanimously recommends the passage of this ordinance for full council today.

Thanks so much, Council Member Mosqueda.

Are there any additional comments on Council Bill 12006?

Council Member Strauss, please.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Chair Mosqueda for ushering this through.

I just wanted to speak to the sign code aspect that is contained within this bill.

We are funding the Seattle Center to be able to expand and redevelop their signs throughout the Seattle Center.

I wanted to just call this out because there are so many different interconnected groups that are on Seattle Center campus, and these new signs allow for a cohesive way to communicate with the public.

Also, it allows for messages to be sent in different languages.

And furthermore, about the sign code at Seattle Center, they are, they enjoy an exemption from Seattle's sign code.

And so I wanted to talk just briefly about sponsorships.

Director Nehlems, who put together this, the Climate Pledge Arena, the monorail agreement.

I mean, Director Nolens has been carrying such a large load for our civic spaces in the city.

I wanted to call out his good work on the sign code exemption, which allows for sponsorships and not advertisements.

And so when that committee, I asked him about what does this mean?

Does it mean that We can have Alaska Airlines with their logo that says Alaska Airlines sponsors Seattle Center.

He said, yes.

I said, can Alaska Airlines be able to put on the reader boards just this week only $25 flights to Los Angeles.

And he said no. because that is advertising, not sponsorship.

So in everything that's going on around here, I just want to call out that good work because sponsorship is different than advertising, and I just really appreciate everyone's good work to move this forward.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Are there any additional comments on the bill?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Thank you.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Yes.

Sawant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Will the clerk please read item 19 into the record.

Agenda item 19, resolution 31991, establishing a watch list of large, complex, discrete capital projects that will require enhanced quarterly monetary reports for the 2021 calendar year.

The committee recommends the resolution be adopted as amended.

Thank you so much, Council Member Muscade.

I'm gonna hand it over to you as chair of the committee to provide us the committee's report.

I do understand there is, I think, one amendment, so we'll consider that after you discuss the base legislation.

Thank you very much, Council President.

Council colleagues, as we do every year now, this resolution establishes the year's capital projects watch list, which requires that the executive provide quarterly reports on a list of specific projects each year.

During committee, we had two amendments adding additional projects to this list, one containing the inclusion of Smith Cove.

from the 2020 watch list.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Strauss.

And another establishing the guidelines for providing quarterly reports on programmatic projects.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Herbold.

All of these projects are critically important.

This allows for us to provide additional transparency on major complex and discrete capital projects to make sure that we're flagging and monitoring any sort of changes that may be occurring year over year so that there's not any surprises and that we're all up to speed on how these large capital projects are progressing.

I appreciate the amendments that were brought forward by council colleagues during our finance and housing committee and the committee did recommend unanimous passage of this ordinance during our committee for the full council's consideration.

Thank you so much, Council Member Mosqueda.

I do understand that Council Member Morales, you have an amendment to this resolution.

So I'm going to go ahead and hand it over to you for your motion to allow us to hear more about that amendment.

Thank you.

I move to amend Resolution 31991 as presented on Amendment 3, which was recently distributed.

Is there a second?

Thank you so much.

It's been moved and seconded to amend the resolution as presented on Amendment 3. Council Member Morales, I'm going to hand it back over to you so that you can walk us through this rather simple amendment.

Yes, thank you.

Colleagues, I do apologize.

I participated, I observed the Finance Committee meeting last week and realized that I actually did want to add something.

Thank you for your indulgence, Council Member Mosqueda.

The Georgetown to South Park Trail, as you may recall, has three main segments.

The Georgetown Connection, Ellis to Elbro, East Marginal Way South Connection, and the South Park Connection.

the 16th Avenue south to the South Park Bridge.

There is still some debate on the appropriate treatment of East Marginal Way.

My hope is that that was protected by Glenn, but there's still some questions around unsecured funding that was identified in the capital improvement plan and the remaining design decision on East Marginal Way.

So I think that does I would like to make a motion to approve the amendment.

I would like to make a motion to approve the amendment.

I would like to make a motion to approve the amendment.

I would like to make a motion to approve the amendment.

I would like to make a motion to approve the amendment.

I would like to make a motion to approve the amendment.

I would like to make a motion to approve the amendment.

I would like to make a motion to approve the amendment.

I would like to make a motion to approve the amendment.

I would like to make a motion to approve the amendment.

I would like to make a motion to approve the amendment.

I would like to make a motion to approve the amendment.

Aye.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries.

The amendment is adopted and the amended resolution is before the council.

Are there any comments on the amended resolution?

Hearing no additional comments, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the amended resolution?

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis.

Aye.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Sawant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The resolution is adopted as amended and the chair will sign it.

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

We're now going to shift gears into the Transportation Utilities Committee report.

Will the clerk please read the short title of item 20 into the record?

Report of the Transportation and Utilities Committee agenda item 20, Council Bill 120-009, relating to the city's 2021 budget.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you so much, Council Member Peterson.

You're the chair of the committee and are recognized in order to provide the report.

Thank you, Council President.

Council Bill 120009 allocates the one-time reserve funding left over from the 2014 Transportation Benefit District so we can move ahead with already approved transit-related projects.

The executive announced this proposed spend plan from the reserves, primarily from the $60 vehicle licensees, back on February 1st.

The plan recently secured the important support of the Transit Advisory Board, which oversees spending for the Transportation Benefit District.

This legislation was recommended unanimously by the committee.

Thank you so much, Council Member Peterson.

Are there any additional comments on the bill?

Hearing no additional comments on the bill, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Sawant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Will the clerk please read item 21 into the record.

Item 21, resolution 31988, granting conceptual approval to construct, maintain, and operate a private parking area on East Howe Street, east of Fairview Avenue East, as proposed by BSOP1, LLC, as part of developing a public plaza in an opened right-of-way in the East Lake neighborhood.

The committee recommends the resolution be adopted.

Thank you so much.

I'm going to hand this back over to Council Member Peterson to provide the committee's report.

Thank you, Council President.

Resolution 31988 grants conceptual approval to create a small public path and plaza, and this partnership among the neighborhood, local business, and the city government better identifies a handful of parking spaces in that section of the East Lake neighborhood of District 4, which I represent.

I visited the site recently, and we had a thorough presentation in our committee.

The project is something the neighborhood has been working on with the Department of Neighborhoods and SDOT for several years, and I'm glad to see it finally moving forward.

This legislation was recommended unanimously by the committee.

Thank you.

Are there any additional comments on the resolution?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the resolution?

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis.

Aye.

Morales.

Aye.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Sawant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you so much.

The resolution is adopted.

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

Moving now to Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee.

Will the clerk please read item 22 through 25 into the record?

I report of the Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee, agenda items 22 through 25, appointments 1814 through 1817, reappointments of Diana Braccio and Regina Owens as members of Settle Renters' Committee.

commission for term to February 20, 2023, reappointments of Calvin R. Jones and Mack Scotty Ray McGregor as members, Seattle Renters Commission for term to February 20, 2022. The committee recommends these appointments be confirmed.

Thank you so much, Council Member Sawant.

You are the chair of the committee, and I'm going to hand it over to you to walk us through this report.

Thank you.

Emilia has already read the names, but just a little bit more.

Dina Brasio is an organizer with the Tenants Union.

Calvin Jones originally joined the Renters Commission as a Get Engaged appointee.

Matt McGregor is an organizer and leader in the LGBTQ community.

And Gina Owens is an organizer with the Washington Community Action Network.

All four have played an excellent role on the Renters Commission in their first term, and the Sustainability and Renters Rights Committee unanimously recommends their appointments be confirmed.

Thank you so much, Council Member Sawant.

Are there any additional comment?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointments 18-14 through 18-17.

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson?

Aye.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

President Gonzales.

Aye.

Eight in favor.

None opposed.

The motion carries and the appointments are confirmed.

Colleagues, any other further business to come before the council today?

Hearing no further business, this does conclude the items of business on today's agenda.

Our next regularly scheduled city council meeting is on Monday, March 15th, 2021 at two o'clock PM.

I hope that you all have a wonderful afternoon.

We're adjourned.

Thanks everyone.

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