Seattle City Council 1/31/23

Good afternoon, everybody.

Today is Tuesday, January 31st.

This is the meeting of the Seattle City Council.

I am now calling it to order.

The time is 2.01.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Lewis?

Present.

Council Member Morales?

Here.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Present.

Council Member Peterson?

Present.

Council Member Strauss?

Present.

Council Member Herbold?

Here.

Council President Oros.

Here.

Seven present.

Great.

Thank you.

Moving along on our agenda for presentations, as I shared with you yesterday, Councilor Morales has a proclamation proclaiming January 1st, 2023 to December 31st, 2023 to be the year of community gardening.

At this point, what I'm going to do is hand it over to Council Member Morales.

And after that, if you if our colleagues have some comments they want to share and then I will suspend the rules so we can allow our guests to speak and then we'll go to.

I I think that's it right after we suspend and we hear from our.

Here from our guest, we move on, correct?

We've already signed the proclamation.

OK, great.

So with that, council member Morales, the floor is yours.

Good morning, everybody.

Afternoon.

It's afternoon now.

Hi, everybody.

Glad to see all of you here from the Department of Neighborhoods.

We do have a proclamation honoring the year of the P-PATCH program.

I won't read the proclamation itself, but I did want to make just a couple comments.

The P-PATCH program turns 50 this year.

and has grown from one garden in the Wedgwood neighborhood in 1973, to what is now a city-wide community building and urban agriculture initiative that serves more than 3,500 households in the city across over 90 gardens.

Through their collective stewardship, the Peapatch community members and their gardening sites, the gardeners themselves maintain approximately 50 acres of open public space in the city.

The program has enabled almost 900 families to access a plot, which increases food security and health in our community and P patch gardeners have donated over 44,000 pounds of fresh food to food banks in 2022. I really want to thank Kenya Frady.

As the PPATCH program supervisor, Kenya's prioritized making this program accessible to people of color.

She's overseeing the adoption of new plot assignment guidelines that emphasize the priority placement of underrepresented communities in our gardens, has developed anti-racism trainings for PPATCH members, and really helped to shift annual work plans to direct more time and resources toward BIPOC communities.

So I want to congratulate Kenya and the whole department for their leadership in this work.

And as Council President indicated, we did sign the proclamation yesterday, so I'm happy to present it in whatever order we do this, Council President.

Great.

So what I think we'll do, since I'll see if there are any of my colleagues that would like to make any comments before I move to suspend the rules.

Council Member Strauss?

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Council Member Morales, for bringing this forward.

Just really want to thank and highlight Kenya Freddie, who was awarded the Equity Action Award by Mayor Harrell this last year for her incredible work around P-patches that you just highlighted, Council Member Morales.

Then also up in my neck of the woods, Julie Bryan, who's managed a number of the P-patches in Northwest Seattle, who recently retired.

Everyone in the Department of Neighborhoods team that's worked up Worked on key patches from interbay to Ballard to Greg's garden and more and I just want to thank everyone who works on this and Department of neighborhoods.

Because without you, the community would have fewer places to garden, especially folks who live in apartment buildings.

And our Ballard Food Bank would have less fresh food coming into it, because folks like Ballard Pea Patch have garden beds specifically dedicated for the food bank.

So just want to thank everyone for their hard work, because oftentimes, when it's working well, it goes unnoticed.

And this is a great example of Council Member Morales rightly recognizing all of your hard work.

Thank you, colleagues.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

So are there any other comments before I move?

OK, so if there's no objection, the council rules will be suspended to allow our guest Kenya Frida to accept the proclamation and provide remarks.

Ms. Frida, am I saying the name correctly, the last name, Frida?

You are recognized.

Thank you so much.

Let me move this mic a little bit.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Morales.

Thank you also to your council colleagues and to Mayor Harrell for recognizing community gardens as both a critical element of our local food system and an important tool for community building.

I also want to recognize the PPAP staff team who oversees our gardens and works directly with community members every day.

Sandy Pernitz, Bun Lee Yun, Nate Moxley, Julie Bryan, who retired last December after 24 years of service with the city, and Mason Cohn.

Thank you for your partnership and tireless support of your program and gardeners.

In addition, we'd like to acknowledge the support of all, and I emphasize all, of our Department of Neighborhoods colleagues, especially D.O.N. Accounting Team, our D.O.N. Community Grants Team, our D.O.N. Communications Team, D.O.N. Living Systems under the Director of Reimagination and Recovery, Malia Brooks' leadership, D.O.N. Director of Community Assets, Sarah Bells, and D.O.N. Acting Director, Sarah Morningstar.

Looking forward, I'm excited to celebrate the Pea Patch's 50th anniversary.

Planning is underway, and in the months ahead, we will be sharing information about community events and other activities.

In the meantime, thank you again for your incredible recognition.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I really appreciate you coming down here.

Congratulations on the proclamation.

Thank you.

Customer Morales for bringing this forward as you shared with us yesterday.

This program has been around for 50 years, and we certainly know it up in the north and the contributions that are made to our food banks that come from the patches and a big thank you to Department of neighborhoods that manages the program.

So with that, thank you.

We will move on in our, oh wait, I'm sorry, I'm gonna stop, because Council Member Morales, are you moving off the dais to hand the proclamation?

Because we're all clapping up here.

Okay, well.

Madam Clerk, should I continue or are we?

Yes, let's continue on.

Would you like to start with your in-person public commenter or your remote public commenters?

So I want to say for the record that we have, again, 13 remote callers and we have one person in chambers.

So let's start with the person in chambers and each person will have two minutes for public comment.

Please mind the chime.

We don't like to cut people off.

So with that, go ahead, Madam Clerk.

All right.

Our first public commenter is Alex Zimmerman.

Sieg Heil, my dirty, damn Nazi, Gestapo, democracy, fascist, mob, and psychopath.

My name is Alex Zimmerman.

I'm president of Stand Up America.

I want to speak about agenda number one, about reappointment Andrei Shilly, executive director of the Civil Service Commission.

I'm totally confused.

Why are you reappointing him?

He's a freaking crook and zombie.

I don't understand why you're doing this.

A civil commission don't know about what is you did for the last nine months, never show people who care.

It's a freaking totally, totally crime.

No rule, not regulation.

You approve him, that's he freaking idiot.

He supposed to be stopping this.

Civic is for everybody in constitution.

Why you only one in America, nine council doing something what is nobody doing?

Why don't show faces?

Where is the problem?

Why your faces we see every day 24-7?

And you all quiet, no decision, nothing rule, nothing regulation.

And you appoint me this crook, a director who supposed to be protect us constitution, love in open public.

open public meeting act, how is this possible?

Only in Seattle, we have a bunch of council, a bunch of 750,000 idiot who live in the city who elect this crook.

So I right now spill to everybody who listen to me, stand up idiot, stand up America.

We need clean this Dory chamber from this psychopath, a Nazi and pure criminal.

Don't show faces when people speak.

It's not believable.

I go everywhere.

I speak every week, a dozen times, and nothing.

Everybody show my face.

You only want to do this.

Why?

Because I'm Alex Zimmerman?

Because I'm a Jew?

I'm here with my Jewish side.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Our next speakers will be remote.

We have first up is Howard Gale.

And please remember to press star six before you speak remotely.

Good afternoon.

Howard Gale with Seattle Stop.org.

Yesterday during council briefing numerous council members made reference to Janavi Kandula who was struck and killed by a speeding Seattle police officer last week and also to Tyree Nichols who was killed by police in Memphis.

Council Member Lewis appeared distraught showing great empathy and sorrow for the death of Janavi demanding a transparent investigation and accountability.

A year ago in January, a man running naked in Beacon Hill, experiencing a severe behavioral health crisis, was chased by Seattle police, had a canine unit set upon him, attacking his naked crotch, and was then shot to death by the police.

His name has still not been publicly released.

The council cared so little for this man's death that they have remained unconcerned for over one year, that we still haven't made his name public, we still don't know the outcome of any investigation, and we still have no accountability.

What could possibly account for the lack of empathy and action for the police killing in 2022, but such public and proactive action around the killing of Janavi?

Is it that Janavi is deemed innocent, but a man in behavioral health crisis is deemed guilty of bringing about his own murder?

Is it that the council is so wedded to the belief that we have a functioning police accountability system that, with perfect circular reasoning, they deem the killing, quote, lawful and proper, unquote, as our accountability system has for the five nearly identical cases in just the last four years?

Or is it because the moral compass is not oriented towards truth, but more towards media coverage?

Or perhaps is it because we have failed to say his name?

As Kimberly Crenshaw stated in regards to the Say Their Names campaign, quote, if you say the name, you're prompted to learn the story.

If you know the story, then you have a broader sense of all the ways black bodies are made vulnerable to police violence, unquote.

We need to build through a city initiative, a police accountability system that provides full civilian control over police policy police misconduct investigations, and police discipline.

Go to seattlestop.org to find out how.

We have to have empathy for all victims of police violence.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is, just lost my speaker list.

Next speaker is Anil Cambly.

Anil.

Yeah, thank you for the opportunity.

I'm Anil, a senior developer at a tech company.

I urge all council members to vote yes on the ordinance proposed by Council Member Shama Sawant to ban caste-based discrimination in Seattle City.

During college in India, I was made aware of my caste every time I entered my classroom by the supposedly higher caste.

I learned to hide my caste as a result.

In my first job and each of my subsequent jobs, my seniors and peers periodically dehumanized caste-oppressed people and their place in the society in public forums everyone encouraged caste abrogation.

However, the night came out when in company of people of the same caste group.

Even in the U.S., during social gatherings, the hate is obvious, which means I fear for the well-being of my children who are being asked about their caste by their elementary school friends.

The caste supremacy and teaching starts at home and early.

All this while, I hide my caste background and hope it never gets discovered for retaliation and social ostracization.

So cast apartheid Israel, please help get rid of it.

I completely support this ordinance.

So Democrats, please vote yes for this.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is John Doe.

Hello, everyone.

Hello, everyone.

I'm making my comment in the name of John Doe.

I support the legislation to ban caste discrimination in the city of Seattle, proposed by a council member, Shama Saman.

As a member of the Dalit community, formerly known as Untouchable, a resident of Washington, and as a member of South Asian community working for a major tech company in Seattle, I say it's about time we ban caste discrimination practices in Seattle.

As a Dalit myself, I face discrimination for standard work, cultural gatherings, even when hanging out with friends.

I will share some personal experience that will help you understand how caste discrimination works in today's society.

At one incident, I was on a team lunch from work in a restaurant in West Lake.

And I ordered a beef burger, which is normal for a person like me to do, in my head.

But soon enough, my other Indian colleague started questioning what caste I belong to, since generally that's so-called upper caste consider eating beef as a sin.

And when I refused to answer directly, one of my close colleagues made a comment, the only Indian who eat beef are tribal or downtrodden or a minority who will eat anything which upper caste don't eat, like beef or pork.

It was a microaggression where I was supposed to reveal myself in front of other colleagues, Indian and non-Indian.

I rightly had to do so and explain my background to my colleagues and after which, my colleagues started looking at me a different lens, which is definitely was an inferior one.

For upper caste, it's easy to introduce themselves as who they are, but for people like me, we have to first show and prove other qualities we have, like caring, kindness, generosity, or just being a human before we can open them about our caste history.

It's not because I don't want to show who truly I am, but it's because I introduced myself as Dalit first, And if I do, if I introduce myself.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Suresh Kumar.

Suresh Kumar.

To remind speakers again to make sure that they listen for the chime so we don't cut them off.

I do not see that Suresh is currently signed up, but Sandeep Kumar is.

Is Sandeep available?

Please press star six.

Hello.

Thank you, council members, for letting me speak.

My name is Sandeep, and I'm here to support the resolution to ban CAST and add CAST as a protected category.

We have several instances of gas discrimination in this country that are well documented.

There's data out there.

And as if you heard last week as well, this is a big problem.

And Seattle is a home to a large South Asian population where these incidents happen.

And we need a strong and a resounding approval from the board that you as the council, you listen, you hear, you recognize this issue, and you're there to support this minority.

who suffer silently every day.

Unfortunately, we don't have any legal protections as of today, but once you take the lead here and show not just the city of Seattle, but the United States and the rest of the world that this is something that you deeply care about, we will start to see the wheels of justice moving.

So I urge you all to unanimously pass this ordinance that Council Member Sawant has brought and send a message that cost discrimination or any civil right violation will not be tolerated and you recognize this problem.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker signed up would be Margo Stewart, but I do not see the caller on the line.

So we're going to move forward to Tengasamy Arungan.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you for this opportunity.

I urge all the council members to vote yes on the ordinance proposed by Council Member Sharma VII to ban caste-based discrimination in Seattle City.

As a first-generation engineering graduate, I came to work in the Silicon Valley in 2013, and I worked for a tech major.

And as of standing today, there exists an implicit or explicit caste angle in the recruitment of all the IT professionals.

The referral system and the tech only serves to further the caste bias.

It seems like if the privileged, if the manager or hiring manager belongs to a privileged caste, the chances of a depressed caste person getting recruited seems very, very bleak.

I would urge all the council members to support this proposal by Shamo Sawant and help us get the, you know, the spite in the job market.

I urge all the council members to outlaw caste-based discrimination, thus making Seattle the first city in the country to do this.

This will be a historic win for all the caste-oppressed people in America and everywhere.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker, excuse me, is Sri with the last initial A.

Hi, I'm Amit Sun.

I'm working as a senior scientist in a leading U.S. company, and I urge all the council members to ban caste discrimination.

It's a very serious issue, and everywhere around the world, and especially in the U.S., people are getting affected every day at job places, in colleges and universities.

In Asian culture, your caste is identified by your surname, There could be many other markers, but surname is one of the important ones.

And it's a curse for people who are born in a low caste families because they suffer this dehumanizing behavior every day.

Even I have a PhD, I'm doing well professionally.

Whenever I go, whenever I work, I have been asked about my caste and when they know that, and because I am also born in a so-called untouchable family in India, Whenever they know my caste, they start discriminating.

They will not treat properly, and it's traumatizing and depressing.

Also, in interviews, when we see some of the Asian people, they will ask you certain questions about whether you celebrate certain festivals or not, because that's also an identifier of your caste.

So in my first company, on the very first day, a person asked me about my background, my caste, my surname and my ancestral history.

And when he found out that I'm from a low caste, untouchable family, he started treating me very differently.

And that wasn't a good experience for me.

Even in my current job, I have faced the same issue that a person would want to ask if I'm a Brahmin, which is like the high caste community in India or no.

And once they find out, It's difficult.

So I urge all council members to ban cars.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Shahira K. Last initial K.

Shahira K. Hello, council members.

My name is Shahira.

I am an organizer with the Human Rights Organization based in the U.S.

I urge all council members to vote yes on the ordinance proposed by Council Member Shawna Sawant to back caste discrimination in Seattle.

As a Dalit caste oppressed woman I have faced caste discrimination in the U.S.

My family has faced caste discrimination in the U.S. and has had to live in hiding and fear because there aren't any legal protections in place.

I have been excluded from social groups many times as a student in college and even in my prior workplace within a large tech company.

My well-being and mental health has been deeply impacted by caste-based discrimination.

I suffer from severe depression and I'm still living in hiding because caste discrimination is thriving and alive.

Caste is not only a human rights issue but it is also a feminist queer and workers' rights issue.

Protection against caste discrimination is an urgent issue in the U.S. and the legal ban on caste discrimination will protect me my family and for generations to come by ensuring that the necessary legal protections are in place.

I urge all council members to outlaw caste-based discrimination, therefore making Seattle the first in the country to take this historic step forward to protect all caste-oppressed folks in America.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Gautam Nagrair.

Gautam, G-A-U-T-A-M.

Let's see.

Star six, sir.

I see this.

I see Mr. Nagrair's tile up there.

Mr. Nagar, star six.

Hello.

Hello, councilmembers.

My name is Gautam Nagar, and I'm working as a software professional.

I urge all the councilmembers to vote yes on the ordinance proposed by Kshama Thavan to ban the caste discrimination in the Seattle city.

I belong to the human race, but still I was discriminated for something that was beyond my control, my caste.

It is imperative that we take action to eradicate this practice and ensure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their caste.

This requires a concerted effort from everyone, government, civil society, and individuals.

Anyone who is not so much aware about it, please Google, Dalit killed for, and let Google autocomplete the statement.

I request each of you listening to me to at least try it once.

You will get to see what caste discrimination has done and continues to do so even in the 21st century.

I urge everyone to stand up against caste discrimination and to work towards building a society that is based on the principles of justice, equality, and human dignity.

Passing this ordinance will allow us to recognize the issue, talk about it, and find a solution.

It will be a huge step towards giving equal opportunity, and you are the first one to look into it with all your powers.

Please do the right thing and pass the ordinance to ban the caste discrimination in Seattle City.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Um, we'll go back.

I believe it's three with the last initial a available now, Siri SRI.

There we go.

Hello.

You're on.

Hi.

Yeah, I'm here.

Thank you.

Um, hello.

My name is Sian.

I'm a software developer from the B area.

Um, I work for a large multinational tech firm after finishing my master's in the state of Washington.

In both regions, I've seen people from the South Asian subcontinent use vegetarianism, affirmative actions, last names, and various notations to out and segregate ostracized members of the oppressed caste.

I have seen this for myself.

Such systems of caste oppression are being used in the USA, universities, tech firms, and beyond.

In tech firms, people provide reference to their own family members and their social circles, perpetuating the cycle of discrimination.

In universities, students keep important information like good housing, job openings, and reference from outside of the social circles.

we can't keep the information within their dominant groups.

Such cycles of oppression can only be alleviated if caste oppression is, if there is protection for caste discrimination.

That's why I urge the Seattle Council to work in favor of Thomas Sargent's ordinance to ban caste-based discrimination.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It looks like and that's our last registered speaker that is also on online remotely.

Okay.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

I was looking up at the panel or up at the tiles as well.

So thank you for that.

So folks that We have reached the end of our public comment, so now let's move on to the rest of our agenda.

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

Not seeing any objection.

The introduction and referral calendar is adopted.

Moving on to the agenda.

Today's agenda.

There's no objection.

Today's agenda will be adopted.

Not seeing or hearing an objection.

The agenda is indeed adopted.

Moving on to the consent calendar, these are the items on the consent calendar or these are some things that are included.

Well, this is everything that's included.

The minutes of January 10th and January 24th, twenty twenty three payroll bill, council bill one two zero four nine eight.

And we have four appointments coming out of the Public Safety and Human Services Committee.

One is a reappointment to the Civil Service Commission and the other three include one appointment and two reappointments to the Pacific Hospital Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council.

With that, are there any council members that would like to remove any items from the consent calendar?

Not seeing any or hearing any.

Request to remove anything from the consent calendar, I move to adopt the consent calendar.

second.

Second.

Yes.

Did you second?

Oh, thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to adopt the consent calendar.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the consent calendar?

Councilmember Lewis?

Yes.

Councilmember Morales?

Yes.

Councilmember Mosqueda?

Aye.

Councilmember Peterson?

Aye.

Councilmember Strauss?

Yes.

Councilmember Herbold?

Yes.

Council President Juarez?

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The consent calendar is adopted.

Madam Clerk, will you please affix my signature on my behalf?

Moving on to committee reports.

There are no committee reports today.

So with that, moving on to Nothing was removed from the consent calendar.

Are there any other adoption of any other resolutions before us today?

Do not see any other businesses or other business or many of my colleagues today not seeing any before we adjourn.

Council members, we have gone through our calendar.

There isn't a lot there today.

Our next scheduled meeting will be next Tuesday, February 7th at two o'clock.

And thank you very much.

We are adjourned.

Thank you.

How long was that?

Did we get to vote on this quarter?