Seattle City Council Briefing 3232020

Amelia.

I'm here.

I'll start roll council member herbal.

Wait, hold on.

Are we live yet?

Jody, just a quick second.

Yeah, I'm not sure we're live yet.

That's why I asked for the correct to start the meeting.

I'm still waiting for Seattle Channel.

We are live.

Thank you Monica.

No.

I'm going to go ahead and say this is Councilmember Gonzalez.

Good morning.

The March 23, 2020 Council briefing meeting will come to order.

This is Council President Lorena Gonzalez.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Herbold?

Here.

Councilmember Juarez?

Here.

Councilmember Lewis?

Here.

Councilmember Morales?

Here.

Councilmember Mosqueda.

Here.

Councilmember Peterson.

Here.

Councilmember Sawant.

Councilmember Strauss.

Present.

Council President Gonzalez.

Here.

Eight present.

Thank you to the clerk.

Once again, this is Council President Lorena Gonzalez.

It's 9.33 a.m., and this is a regularly scheduled meeting of the Council at our Council briefing.

Council members, the Council rules are silent on allowing electronic participation at Council briefing meetings, so in order for us to continue participating remotely, I'm going to move to suspend the Council rules through March 31st, 2020, to allow this meeting to occur while participating through electronic means.

If there is no objection, the Council rules will be suspended to allow electronic participation at Council briefing meetings through March 31st, 2020. Hearing no objection, the Council rules are suspended and Council briefing meetings will be held with Council members participating electronically through March 31st, 2020. All right, let's go ahead and dig into our agenda.

It's a short agenda.

We don't have any presentations, but we do have reports from each of those council members that are present.

We will begin with agenda item one, which is approval of the minutes, and there are no minutes for approval today, which means we'll quickly move into agenda item two, which is the president's report.

I will endeavor to keep this report short and concise.

First, the legislative department, including the city council, continues to perform our critical work via telecommuting.

As a department and as individual council member offices, we are learning to adapt in order to help flatten the curve and stop the spread of coronavirus throughout our community.

In the coming week, as we approach March 31st, 2020, I will stay in close contact with each of you, the mayor, public health officials, and our state and regional partners as I evaluate whether the telecommute directive will be extended beyond March 31st, 2020, and if so, for how long that extension might be.

Given the ongoing data of new confirmed cases and deaths that are published every day by the Department of Health and Seattle King County Public Health, I do believe that each of us should be prepared to operate in this fashion beyond March 31st, 2020. But again, more to come as information out of our public health partners and agencies are released.

Second, since ending my maternity leave, I have had an opportunity to reach out to each of you individually for purposes of discussing with you your work programs with a goal of identifying time-sensitive legislation that is not related to the emergency response.

I think I will be able to complete this information-gathering process early this week and will then be prepared to evaluate a potential modified committee schedule that would facilitate the consideration of truly time-sensitive legislation that requires committee hearings.

In doing so, it's important for us to understand that it is likely that any reinstated committee meetings would occur telephonically, and I also have to take into consideration the burden telephonic meetings place on our clerk's staff and council central staff.

So I appreciate that this will be a tricky needle for us to thread, but my hope is that we'll be able to find an arrangement that will allow this city council to continue to advance legislation that is not related to the COVID-19 emergency response consistent with our work program and the need to continue meeting the preexisting and ongoing needs of our constituents.

So that is my president's report, more to come on these issues in the coming days.

So let's go ahead and move into agenda item three, which is a preview of today's city council actions, Council and regional committees.

Of course, colleagues, the City of Seattle declared a civil emergency on COVID-19 on March 3rd, 2020. On March 6th, 2020, I, along with Council President Pro Tem Teresa Mosqueda, set a protocol that is in place until March 31st, 2020. This protocol included a request that Council members cancel committee meetings to allow the Council to preserve the health and safety of our workforce.

and to prioritize legislation relating to the current emergency and other emergency business needs.

So I will start our next discussion on the preview of today's City Council Actions Council and Regional Committees by calling on Council Members by district number, starting with District 1 and concluding with the two citywide positions, 8 and 9. If you have a question or comment about a Council Member's report, I would ask that you make a note of that, and when I call your name for your report, you can make your comment and or ask your question of a council member about his or her report at that time.

And, you know, that's just sort of a, unfortunately, not the prettiest, seamless way to do it, but I think it'll allow for us to not talk over each other on the teleconference format.

So if you all could just hold your questions, put them in the parking lot, and when it's your turn, to provide a report.

If you have questions of a previous Councilmember's report, that would be the time to bring it up.

So let's go through our reports.

Again, I'm going to go by districts.

So District 1, Councilmember Herbold, the floor is yours.

Thank you so much.

Councilmember President, before I go into my report, I'd like to have a little bit more clarity For those of us who have already given our reports, and we have questions about council members' reports that come after ours, how best can we raise those questions?

Yes.

I appreciate that there is a numerical challenge here of sequence.

So I will go back and make sure that we have an opportunity for everybody to ask questions, should they have any.

Perfect.

Thank you so much.

So I have no business from the Public Safety and Human Services Committee on today's full council agenda.

I just want to flag a couple of issues that have come up over the weekend.

I've heard from a lot of constituents about people congregating at Alki and on Beach Drive as well as Lincoln Park.

and not advising the social distancing recommendations of staying at least six feet apart from public health to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

I think folks noticed that Edmonds has issued an emergency stay-at-home order issued yesterday with a special recognition of the challenges related to their marina beaches because of the weather drawing people out and I know District 1 is not the only area of the city challenged with people gathering in public spaces and not observing social distancing recommendations.

I am interested to know a little bit more what the council's authority is in the instance where we don't have either an executive order from the mayor or from King County or the state regarding the closure of our parks and beaches and so I'll be following up with Council Central staff to get some more information on that.

I have also reached out to King County both King County Council Member McDermott as well as Dwight Dively in the King County Executive Office to express my concern with the lack of clarity under the current state emergency orders and look forward to continuing conversations.

Basically, I think it's really about making sure that we have a clarity of message and with an understanding that we still have to allow for people to go to essential places, go out and get exercise, but I am concerned that what has been characterized as a plea for folks to stay home is not clear enough for the public and for our expectations for social distancing.

I also just want to add as well that I've been contacted by the BIA president in Soto as well as the West Seattle Junction BIA about increased sort of smash and grab crime in neighborhood business districts since there are so few people out and about and have raised that issue with Chief Best.

There is a rumor going around that SPD is going to end the enforcement patrols in all areas except 4th, 3rd, and Pike.

I've been told that emphasis patrols have not been stopped, but that they might be in the near future.

But emphasis patrols, I think it's good to to remember that emphasis patrols is sort of a term of art in that it refers to the type of officers that are on patrol, but specifically on overtime.

So even if they, if STDs decides to stop using overtime officers and instead use officers on regular time, they can still look at doing what they call directed patrols in neighborhood business districts that have these challenges.

And so I am expecting to hear more from the chief on that in the near future.

Then lastly I just want to flag a concern that I know Council President Gonzalez has also been made aware of.

Really appreciate the expansion of state unemployment benefits to more people in need in our state.

But not only are people receiving false denials, that I understand the state has come forward and said that those false denials will be corrected.

But I am really concerned about the huge number of people who are unable to access the system whatsoever.

Had some interactions with OIR over the weekend about my hopes that the state will quickly bring on more staff both to process family leave claims as well as state unemployment insurance claims.

These funds, these resources are there for the use of our workers and as it relates specifically to, I mean actually to both sources of funds.

workers have paid into these funds and have a right to access them.

So just want to flag that that's another big concern that I'm hearing from the public.

And that's all I have for today.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold, for that report.

And I think, you know, I'm going to sort of modify a little bit my direction here and sort of just to make sure that we can expedite the briefing process.

I'm going to go ahead and at the end of each Councilmember's report, see if anybody on the phone has any questions or comments.

So does anyone have any comments or questions for Councilmember Herbold?

Yes.

Okay, who is that?

This is Councilmember Morales.

Okay, Councilmember Morales, you have the floor.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Herbold, for that report.

Yes, lots of frustrations in the community, for sure.

I have a question about whether the Seattle Police Department has received any sort of directive or particular kind of training about how to engage with community members.

I know we aren't in a shelter in place situation yet, but should one arrive?

There's a lot of concern in my community, particularly among folks who don't speak English, black and brown communities who are worried that if there isn't information provided in languages they understand, how people are supposed to get the information that they are to shelter in place and the potential risk of engaging with a law enforcement officer because they don't know that that information is out there.

I had a long conversation with community members, along with council member Zahalai, this weekend about the fact that not everybody is watching the governor's livestream announcements about what we're supposed to be doing.

And even Twitter and Facebook and emails aren't necessarily reaching everybody who needs the information.

And so there is a concern that if we reach that stage where we are in a shelter-in-place environment, that people who don't know that that exists might have interactions that put them in jeopardy.

Thank you for that question.

As it relates specifically to your Training question.

I don't think, to my knowledge, SPD has engaged in training specifically related to how to manage an emergency stay-at-home order in a situation like what we're faced in.

They do, of course, receive de-escalation training.

and are in a place where the judge has, as it relates to the consent decree, has determined that the department is in a very good place in fulfilling its obligations regarding training.

I do strongly believe, though, that we need to talk as a community about what our expectations might be for enforcement.

As I've seen other cities who have moved to a shelter-in-place scenario, again, it's a staged response, and usually a shelter-in-place order does not, that first week, come with enforcement.

I've heard that Los Angeles, even though they've now been in shelter in place for several days, is now beginning to have those conversations about enforcement.

I also note that the Parks Department in particular has been doing a lot about creating physical barriers to places and putting signs up, again, to find other ways other than, as you say, relying on the constant barrage of news through traditional sources, but ways of communicating with the public sort of what the new reality is for these public spaces.

And I think lots of signage is at these different locations is really important to what is needed to be effective.

And again, I think we really have to have a phase conversation about what enforcement looks like.

When I talked to the chief over the weekend, she expressed her belief that there's a really big difference about asking people to move along, telling people that they have to move along, and taking a law enforcement action to detain or ticket somebody.

So I think there's a lot of room in there for us to to have this conversation, and we have to.

Thank you.

Just one more comment, and then I will mute myself.

I do think this is an important reminder that everything we do in response to this crisis needs to be understandable to people who don't speak English.

And I'm thinking that Our graphic designers in the city or, you know, whoever it is who can turn as much of this information as possible into sort of infographic signage that we can also pass around.

It's just going to be really important for us to remember that not everybody speaks or reads English, and their ability to understand the crisis that we're in is just as important, if not more so, so they can share information with their own communities.

Thank you, Council Member Morales.

I just want to, that's a good opportunity, this is Council President Gonzalez again, this is a good opportunity to remind you all of our Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, who has been doing a tremendous amount of work of compiling information related to the city and the county and the state's response to the emergency in a variety of different languages.

So they do have a website and a set of data available in a variety of different languages and have been, you know, doing, I think, a tremendous job of trying to interpret everything in real time in a way that is culturally and linguistically appropriate.

So let's not forget about our partners over at the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs who are working, you know, sort of into the wee hours of the morning to make sure that the needs that you've just articulated, Council Member Morales, are being addressed.

And so I certainly have been one of the voices on this council that has been beating the drum on making sure that we are taking into consideration those who are non-English speakers or limited English speakers and certainly have appreciated the work of OIRA in this regard.

Absolutely.

And my understanding is that they've been really working closely with public health.

And so their resources are sort of focused on making sure that that public health message gets out.

I just think as we start to move into other parts of kinds of information we're trying to get out, we need to support them and do whatever we can throughout other departments in the city as well.

Sure.

Thank you.

Well noted.

Any other questions for Council Member Herbold or comments on her report?

Council President, this is Council Member Mosqueda.

Please, Council Member Mosqueda, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President.

Council Member Herbold, thank you so much for your report.

You mentioned some of the work happening at the state's Unemployment Insurance Department, our Employment Security Department, and I was going to provide a report about that as well.

I just want to tag on to your remarks for an update as well.

We were notified on Wednesday about a number of workers, especially in the service industry, who were getting notifications of denials.

I want to thank the governor's office, especially Caitlin Jekyll from the governor's staff, who was lead on labor.

They quickly worked with ESD and recognized that it was their system that was sending out denial notices.

And they put an updated FAQ on their website, which we will send around.

Per Councilmember Morales' point, we'll also look to see if it's in various languages.

But for folks who may have received a denial notice, they are reviewing each of those notices.

People who work in the service industry or any other industry, you may have received a denial notice if you're on standby, meaning that you don't have to look for another job while you collect unemployment benefits because of the shutdown or lack of demand that's resulted from COVID.

and your employer not being able to offer you hours or needing to shut its doors.

So you can apply for unemployment insurance.

And effective March 20th, that's last Friday, they have put emergency rules into effect so that all workers can get 12 weeks of standby unemployment insurance.

Again, there are denials that have gone out.

Those are being reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

And ESD is working as fast as they can to make sure that they get those unemployment insurance checks out.

You are being asked to continue to file your weekly claims at this time.

And again, they are staffing up.

So if there's anybody who is interested in working for the Unemployment Insurance Department, it's esd.wa.gov.

You can find more information out there.

They're staffing up as fast as they can.

And we will send out information as well about how to make sure that you can both track whether or not you've been denied and continue to apply so that their new system can catch up with your request.

Again, thanks to the governor's office for their quick work to catch this glitch in the system.

You know, I think all of our systems are working as fast as they can, but this was one that really got notified to them by the frontline workers who were receiving those notifications.

And I appreciate their quick work, but it is definitely possible for you to receive unemployment insurance if you're in a standby status while we wait for this COVID virus to pass.

Thank you, Councilor Mosqueda, and I'm sorry if I sort of glossed over very quickly the fact that they had addressed in a very responsive way the issue of people receiving denials.

I did mention that in my report, but you're right, I did gloss over it, so I appreciate the extra detail.

The issue that I am raising that is an issue that is occurring right now is that people can't file.

They can't access the system.

The system's got too many requests.

And so that's the issue that I'm pleading for the state to look at either technological approaches or just having more people on the phone and processing claims on the phone.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

and they are hiring, so continue to spread the word about that, and we can get more folks answering those calls.

We'll put some more information out on our Twitter as well.

Are there any questions or comments for Councilmember Herbold?

Okay, let's move along.

District 2, Councilmember Morales.

Good morning, colleagues.

Today's Council calendar, on today's Council calendar, we'll be hearing Council Bill 119760, This is going to allocate an additional million dollars from HSD to the Office of Economic Development for the stabilization fund.

So, we will be hearing more about that.

As you all know, this natural disaster is really sending shockwaves through our community, particularly devastating our small businesses.

As I mentioned earlier, I was on the phone this weekend talking with some of our small business owners about what they need.

You know, folks are worried as we are virtually all spending across the city is coming to an end.

Businesses are shutting.

Owners are worried about how their employees are going to make it.

They're worried about rent.

You know, property owners are worried about what they're going to do to pay their mortgage.

Their rent is, their tenant's rent is frozen or if there's a moratorium.

So there's just this cascading, effect of everything that's happening right now, as you're all aware.

I did speak with Congressman Smith this weekend about trying to make sure we have more community development block grant money in these relief packages so that we have a tool, a resource, to continue to support small businesses.

And also asked if the small business loans that SBA is working on could have any sort of forgivable component, particularly if businesses keep their workers idle rather than laying them off so that they can continue to get the benefits that they need.

I do want to take just a couple minutes to talk about what our committee will be doing in response to the crisis.

The Community Economic Development Committee will be forming a recovery planning work group.

We really want to start thinking about how, once we get through this crisis, how we rebuild in a way that increases local resilience.

You know, I know at the city and state level, we're mobilizing to react to the crisis as quickly as we can.

We've talked about, you know, what we need to do to stop the spread, to keep people at home, to support daily survival.

But we also need to be mobilizing for long-term public investment, need guaranteed job programs if we're going to address or prevent unemployment.

We're going to need an unprecedented and massive investment in public art, public infrastructure, public employment programs to support a recovery.

And we're going to have to do it in a way that is equitable.

I'm really worried that if we do have a bunch of businesses, storefronts shutting, that we will sort of paved the way for what some are calling disaster gentrification to happen with this accelerated displacement.

So we really need to be thinking now about what we will do to protect our communities and really rebuild for the people who live in our communities.

It's going to require a federal relief package.

There's no question about that.

But it also has brought into relief for me just how critical some fiscal policy shifts will be.

We know that 40% of Seattle's general revenue comes from sales tax and B&O tax, and a recent chamber commissioned report made it really clear that cities will find it virtually impossible in the month to fund our public services if we don't find new funding sources and new ways to manage our revenue.

So, This is clearly the time for a structural shift in how we finance public services.

And as everyone knows, we haven't had a chance to talk about this, but Council Member Sawant and I have called for this with our Progressive Revenue Bill.

I want our Council colleagues to know that I stand ready to work with you to create an ordinance that generates the kind of revenue that addresses this crisis and really paves the way for the kind of economic recovery that keeps people housed and and employed.

I'm worried that without a progress bill, we may find ourselves doing triage for the next several years.

So I just want to make clear that I'm committed to working with all of you to address this head on.

And my hope is that we can pass an ordinance soon that can really start to address our revenue crisis and pave the way for the sort of long term investments that we're going to need to do.

Thank you, Council Member Morales, for that report.

And thank you also for your early expression of willingness to collaborate and work with each of us as your colleagues on the City Council on that critically important piece of legislation.

Really appreciate it.

Any questions or comments for Council Member Morales?

All right.

Hearing none, we're going to move along.

I just want to note that on Council Member Morales' report she did mention she has a bill for consideration at full council.

Last week I had offered the opportunity to have Council Central staff available at Council briefing to provide folks on the line an opportunity to ask questions or receive a briefing directly from Council Central staff.

request that council central staff be available either at council briefing or full council.

So Council Member Morales will handle that bill on her own during full council this afternoon.

Of course, Tracy Ratcliffe and Yolanda Ho are available to each of you individually offline if questions do arise for you about that bill between now and 2 p.m.

So, let's go ahead and move along to district for council member Peterson.

The floor is yours.

Good morning colleagues.

I'm grateful.

We're resuming council briefings today.

So we can increase our communications to our constituents during this crisis.

I'm grateful to council president Gonzalez for making the sacrifice to return early to lead the city council during this trying time for our city.

Regarding the Transportation and Utilities Committee, we normally meet the first and third Wednesdays of each month.

However, there are no committee meetings scheduled at this time due to the crisis.

Therefore, there are no Transportation and Utilities Committee items on this afternoon's agenda.

At the special meeting of the City Council this past Thursday, we passed a couple of relief measures, one of which is waiving all late fees on utility bills for both Seattle City Light and Seattle Public Utilities.

I'd like to thank the mayor and her teams for crafting that, and my council colleagues for supporting it, along with the other relief bills, including the one Councilor Morales mentioned.

And this is for utilities, it's in addition to the discount programs and flexible payment plans and no shut off policy.

There are three transportation items I'd like to discuss.

As we encourage people to stay safe at home, the city government has temporarily suspended the 72-hour parking rule that was announced a couple of days ago.

The Transportation Benefit District, which funds bus routes and fills potholes throughout Seattle.

So with King County deciding not to pursue regional bus measure for the August ballot due to the coronavirus, I just want to assure Seattle and my colleagues that it's a priority for me as chair of the transportation committee to maintain an extensive transit network that is relied upon by workers, businesses, seniors, and nearly everyone else throughout Seattle.

So I'll continue to work with you all and with the mayor and King County Metro and community stakeholders to explore the best future options.

To renew funding for that important transit program, the transportation benefit district and consistent with what Councilor Morales is saying to, you know, as we deal with a crisis at hand now, and also try to look to the future in an optimistic way.

looking at renewing the Transportation Benefit District as a way for us to unite and join together and focus on the bright future for our city.

Third item, King County Metro and Sound Transit, as many of you know, have announced that if you cannot afford it, you do not need to pay the fare to ride the buses or light rail during the crisis.

And also, Metro is temporarily operating on a reduced bus schedule starting today.

All the links I have to the transportation stuff is on my blog.

All of our blogs and websites are at seattle.gov forward slash council.

So even with these temporary reductions in the frequency of bus service during the crisis, we're relieved that King County Metro is trying to maintain most bus routes throughout Seattle, connecting everyone to places of care, to services, including grocery stores, and to jobs for Seattle residents unable to work from home.

In District 4, there have been many meetings that have been canceled, community meetings.

We are still having our office hours remotely via Skype or phone.

Just email us at alex.peterson at seattle.gov for District 4. A lot of restaurants are shutting down, but there are several that are open and relying on takeout.

I just went, this Thursday I went to Uncle Lee's on Sandpoint Way, picked up dinner for the family Thursday night.

There's also a bunch of other restaurants.

If you just go to my website, there's a list of a bunch of them, like Village Sushi on the Ave in the U District, Bob Bar in University Village.

So I hope you, if you're able to do that to support your local restaurants, that's great while we still can.

And thank you for mentioning, council members, talking about foreclosures.

As we talk about extending eviction protection, that will be another wave to look at in terms of people trying to pay their mortgages.

So I am looking forward to working with colleagues if there's any sort of push to have the state or federal government or banks to have a moratorium on foreclosures.

And that's all from District 4.

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

I really quickly just wanted to let you know that I received some communication over the weekend with regard to Seattle City Light, who in pursuing their ongoing plans around work apparently are doing pre-planned work in certain neighborhoods that are affecting certain customers in terms of pre-planned outages throughout certain neighborhoods.

So the screenshot that I received over the weekend showed that 326 customers were impacted on Sunday, March 28th, starting at 8.30 a.m.

And they were estimated to be without power until close to 3 p.m.

on Sunday.

So I just want to flag that as a concern that I received from someone in community about not necessarily being conducive to encouraging people to stay at home if they don't have electricity at home during the day.

So just wanted to the Utilities Committee in hopes that you would be able to speak with Seattle City Light about sort of how they approaching their planned work for outages and how they're communicating that in the context of or approaching that in the context of the current interest of the city to make sure that people have every incentive possible to stay at home.

Thank you, Council President.

Yes, I'll be getting a comprehensive update on that soon, so I appreciate that.

Great.

Okay, any questions for Council Member Peterson or comments on his report?

Hearing none, we will go ahead and move to D5.

Member Wattes.

Thank you, Council President.

I have a few matters this morning.

Let's see, there are three items on the introduction and referral calendar this afternoon.

One is an appointment to the Seattle Indian Service Commission and two appointments to the Seattle Public Library Board of Trustees.

The two library appointments, we need a quicker turnaround to allow for a quorum for their April meeting, their April board meeting.

So we are gonna vote on the library items this afternoon without the standard committee process to allow for the library board to continue their work.

They basically need a quorum to address library services and operations and financial protocols in response to COVID-19.

So this is our way to just, as you were saying earlier, Council President, moving forward issues that actually have to get done quickly in order to, as you shared, to keep the city moving.

So I appreciate the council president's office for allowing this on today's agenda.

The appointments, which are items number three and four, I'll speak to the individual strengths this afternoon.

I'll take the time to explain the main function of the board.

It's basically a five member board that provides oversight and governance of Seattle Public Library.

They discuss issues and make decisions related to services and operations.

I learned this morning, which was an issue we were discussing Friday and Saturday, that the Seattle Public Library, that staff will be working from home.

And briefly, I want to thank Council Member Peterson for his work on the Transit Benefit District.

We've been walking or meeting or discussing some of these issues with my role on the Sound Transit Board on the no fee and certainly on the reduced schedule.

And I should also add, in light of what Council Member Peterson and those of us that are still trying to meet with constituents, we've been monitoring our legislative representatives and their updates.

And I've been on the phone with some of our electeds in Olympia, as well as some of our electeds in DC.

And what we put together, and some people may want to do this as well, is my staff puts together a great, every morning, a great call list, or they call it my top 10 list, my hit list, And I just go through and try to have those conversations that were originally scheduled with particular constituents, organizations, or elected leaders.

And that seems to be working well for us.

Just having a list and a call list and just going through it.

A lot like call time, if you remember.

So with that, I think that's it.

So thank you.

Great, thank you, Council Member Juarez.

questions or comments for Council Member Juarez on her report.

Okay, hearing none, we'll go ahead and move to District 6. Council Member Strauss.

Good morning.

Thank you, Council President.

It's good to virtually be with all of you today.

My office has continued to move forward on our policy priorities while we have also shifted some of our work time to more or less doing case management with individuals and or small businesses attempting to navigate the many different levels of relief that are being provided at the federal, state, and city level as well as with private entities and philanthropy.

So for any constituents or small businesses listening today, please don't hesitate to reach out to my office for any assistance that you may need.

Additionally, I have continued working closely with the Ballard P-PATCH to try and preserve their land, including convening calls with city departments, county, and organizations such as FORTERRA and GROW.

I'm excited to learn that the state supplemental budget has included $250,000 to fund and support the P-PATCH's acquisition.

My team has also participated in the selection process for urban forestry commissioners, and I look forward to working with the commission as we move forward later this year and working on a stronger tree ordinance.

I've been working with the Seattle Farmers Market Association to explore alternative ways for residents to have continued access to local fresh produce as long as it maintains the public health efforts in which we are putting in place today to prevent the spread of the COVID As well, as I started, our office has been working to support many small businesses and nonprofits by answering questions and guiding them through the various assistance programs currently available.

So again, if anyone needs assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out to our office.

We are working around the clock and have repurposed some of our policy time, which is usually used to dealing with daily council business, and we've repurposed that time to be available to constituents and assist people navigating the process of assistance.

I've also continued my constituent office hours over the phone, and we are busy overhearing D6.

Great.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss, for that wonderful report and for doing that.

I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to councilmember Strauss.

I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to councilmember Strauss.

I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to councilmember Strauss.

I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to councilmember Strauss.

I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to councilmember Strauss.

I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to councilmember Strauss.

I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to councilmember Strauss.

I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to councilmember Strauss.

I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to councilmember Strauss.

I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to councilmember Strauss.

I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to councilmember Strauss.

I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to councilmember Strauss.

I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to councilmember Strauss.

I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to councilmember Strauss I'm thanking you for coming back early and taking that sacrifice to come back and lead the council.

It's been really good to have you back.

And I look forward to working with you over the next couple of months during this trying time for our city, our region, and the global community.

So echoing a lot of the remarks of my colleagues, I've been spending quite a bit of my time working with constituents and small businesses to try to navigate the immense pressure that they're feeling, and arts organizations, of which District 7 has quite a few, to navigate the stresses that all of them are feeling in terms of their overhead costs, being able to keep their employees employed, and critically, keep their employees on their benefits, particularly their health benefits, which given the nature of the pandemic, it's exceptionally critical investments in our workforce.

And so to that end, our office has been doing a lot of work with businesses and individuals to inform them of the city's efforts towards providing the small business stabilization funds, relief for utilities, the moratorium on evictions commercially and for residences.

I joined Council Member Morales earlier this week or rather last week on a call with the Mayor's Small Business Recovery Task Force, co-chaired by former Council Member Bruce Harrell and former Governor Gary Locke.

Hopefully those are just the beginning of many more conversations, but a couple of the takeaways that I thought were really key from that conversation was the need for a lot of federal relief to pass through the city, considering that we've compiled this a massive list of businesses that have applied for relief through the Small Business Stabilization Fund.

These are businesses that we as district council members know intimately as consumers, as neighbors, and as friends.

We know who needs the relief.

We know where they are.

It makes sense that as much federal resources we can get in a pass-through kind of capacity to make sure that relief is getting to the people who need them and that workers are emphasized and that making sure people have their basic needs met.

It's something we are well-situated to do as a city and something that we could really use federal relief to do.

So I think that idea and a number of others were raised.

I look forward to continuing to work with them to get some real relief for the small businesses and workers of the city who are really facing the brunt of this catastrophe from an economic standpoint.

On that same note, I'm proud to have been working with a group of Pike Place Market merchants who, for the first time ever, are trying to go online and take the Pike Place Market, which is part of the cultural fabric of the city and definitely part of our international image as a destination and sort of the first and original farmer's market in the city for the first time ever is going to take some of their commerce online to try to serve as the breadbasket of the downtown area and do deliveries for the first time, potentially through some kind of app-based service.

Really looking forward to see what comes of that.

There was a initial story in today's Seattle Times by Sidney Brownstone talking a little bit about how the market is evolving.

I could not be more proud to represent the Pike Place Market, and I look forward to continuing to work with them to adapt, as the market has had to do so many times before in its past, to meet new and greater emerging challenges.

I definitely encourage everyone listening at home and everyone here on the call, if you have a chance to patronize some Pike Place Market businesses through an online portal as their e-commerce function becomes possible, please do so.

It's a massive collection of small businesses in the cultural core of our city and they definitely are in need of support.

On another note that is core to District 7 and core to District 6 as well, I just do a public service announcement to everybody to say that in addition to restaurants doing takeout, don't forget that your neighborhood breweries have bottles and growlers to go still.

Make sure you call ahead to make sure they're open, but I was very pleased over the weekend to go and visit Holy Mountain Brewing in Interbay, one of the great staples of our brewing community.

They do have bottles and growlers to go.

Yesterday, I rode my bike over to District 4, to Councilmember Peterson's district, a big-time brewery on the ave, picked up a growler of beer there from Rick McLaughlin, another great small business owner here in the city.

Make sure that in addition to getting your takeout for dinner that you are also making sure that our microbreweries, of which Seattle has many, are being patronized as well.

So just a public service announcement to remember our small local breweries.

Just a brief update on the situation of making sure that our neighbors experiencing homelessness in this crisis are also being provided for.

and are being considered in our public health response.

I am pleased to say, as a number of you already know, based on the representations of the mayor's office last week, that the North Lake transitional encampment is going to be allowed, at least for the duration of this public health crisis, to stay in place.

I am looking forward to working with my colleagues to try to nail down a more concrete timeline of that commitment to make sure that we have it settled in writing in some respect.

That might be through a council ordinance.

It might also just be through hammering out a more definitive agreement with the executives.

But I'm committed to making sure that in this time of crisis, we are not seeking to evict a transitional encampment that will allow people to stay in place and not to be in a situation where they're in unsanctioned encampments in a less safe environment.

So very proud of the city that we are stepping up.

We're letting that encampment stay in place.

And I look forward to working with my council colleagues and the executive to make sure that we have a more definitive agreement nailed down.

I wanna also thank the executive for last week putting in place new guidelines around the navigation team in this time of uncertainty and in this time of public health crisis.

We certainly need to tighten up and re-evaluate our policy around the removal of unsanctioned encampments.

My understanding of the new policy that has been put down by the executive is that only camps representing the most egregious obstruction of a public right-of-way are going to be removed.

My committee is going to continue to monitor the situation to ensure that the navigation team is sticking to that new protocol that has been established.

It is critical during this time of uncertainty that on-station encampments that don't pose imminent threats to the public safety or public right-of-way not be cleared in order to provide a the kind of stability and predictability that will be essential for a successful public health response.

So I look forward to monitoring that new policy from the executive and making sure that it is adhered to.

More broadly, something I want to look into, and I want to flag it at briefing if anyone's interested in looking into this with me, Massachusetts and New York, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and New York State under their right to shelter laws, allow in times of crisis or or rather as a tactic the the booking of surplus hotel rooms in order to get people off the street and get them inside quickly on a temporary basis.

I want to potentially explore what that might look like locally as a potential strategy to get people off the street to get them inside and to do it in a way that's one consistent with social distancing and two a possible way to give a boon to our struggling hospitality industry that has suffered from the massive drop-off in tourism, and it might be a way to use the surplus hotel demand in the city as part of the response.

So that's something that I want to look into.

There's some states that offer an example of how that can be done, and I think that could be something to dig into.

Finally, I'm going to close, similar to remarks that my colleagues have shared, our office hours continue on unabated.

You know, it's more critical now than ever that we make ourselves available in these confusing times to explain what the public's response has been to the COVID-19.

And also, just to continue to focus on the more kind of bread and butter constituent issues that came up pre-COVID-19 that still continue to come up.

Just to flag a couple of interesting ones, there's a discussion from Friends of Discovery Park about the city acquiring some of the federal land that still remains in federal possession at Discovery Park around the FAA tower.

There's a proposal to slim Will that friends of Discovery Park is bringing to to slim the footprint around the FAA tower?

Consistent with FAA towers and other public parks in other parts of the country That would still allow that power to remain operational, but would reclaim more land for the public It's an interesting proposal.

I look forward to working with them to see if we can realize that vision and Pedestrian improvements in Interbay raised by a couple of constituents as Interbay becomes an increasingly more urban environment with a greater density of residents.

Pedestrian improvements in Interbay are going to be increasingly a critical conversation.

I look forward to working with folks to make sure that all of the communities in our city are walkable and bikeable in keeping with our Vision Zero goals.

So those are my updates, and I look forward to another week of serving the people of District 7.

Thank you, Councilmember Lewis.

Any questions for Councilmember Lewis or comments?

Yes, who is that?

Okay, go for it, Councilmember Mosqueda.

You have the floor.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Councilmember Lewis, for all of your work, especially with the folks who are in your district who are small businesses really appreciate you highlighting the online services that they're bringing up and look forward to pushing that out if we can in any way on our social media.

I did want to follow up with you on your comments around hotels.

This is part of the report that I'll give here in a minute as well.

We've been engaged in conversations with King County who does have hotel vouchers.

They have a number of hotels that they are working with, mostly motels at this point, to try to get people out of permanent supportive housing who are stable, who are healthier, who are not showing symptoms of COVID, but who are also are elders and have immune compromised systems.

So when they do that, it also frees up places in permanent supportive housing and shelters.

And the partnership with the hotels has been tremendous.

We've had a few conversations last week and really want to thank some of the Hotel owners that we've been talking to especially some of the downtown boutique hotel owners and we're going to be talking here soon to the hotel association But there are hotel vouchers that can help keep our hotels afloat while we find stable housing that is more isolated in nature, especially for some of our elders and folks who have compromised immune systems so that they can get out of the more crowded living situation and into a Obviously, there's a lot of logistics that need to go along with it, including food delivery and cleaning.

So we're going to be talking with our friends from Unite here as well.

But it is a program that King County has been able to fund with hotel vouchers.

And we're in the process of engaging with them and the hotel owner to scale up.

So really looking forward to working with all of you to announce some of that coming up soon.

But just I think this is a great example of where that partnership is needed.

with local business owners to both keep those businesses afloat and provide extremely needed services to our friends at Public Health and at King County.

So I just want to flag that some of those conversations are underway, and King County's hotel voucher program has been a godsend to the people who need space and also, I think, a financial boon to those hotels with so many vacant rooms right now.

Great idea and good minds think alike more to come on that I think from our partners at King County as we scale up some on more downtown Strategic locations so that people can be close to Additional services and looking forward to working with you on that councilmember Lewis Thank You Any other questions or comments for councilmember Lewis I

Hearing none, let's move to position 8, Council Member Mosqueda.

Well, hello, colleagues.

I want to join in the welcome to Council President Gonzalez.

I'm really happy that you're back.

I know that it's been a tough decision for you and your family to come back prior to the 12 weeks of family leave that you had intended to take, and so thank you for doing that and also for your work in such short order to get caught up to speed and to get us all on the same page in terms of what it looks like over the next few months.

It was a pleasure to serve as Council Pro Tem, but really I want to thank all of the colleagues on the phone for helping to make sure that the process was smooth, especially you, Council President, for being available even prior to coming back.

And I want to thank again our central staff, the IT staff, the comms, human resources, and the clerk's office for all of their patience as we set up this new protocol.

Um, and really happy that you're at the helm.

So thank you for, for your leadership and for, um, being our council president in this time, there are no items from the finance and housing committee on the agenda for today.

I do want to provide a few updates from my purview as both finance and housing chair.

And I think that some of those that we've already spoke to before, um, to, uh, in earlier in the briefing today, but wanted to let folks know we are having regular briefings with the CBO Director Ben Noble and Kirsten Arnesad from our Central Staff Director as well, both in terms of how existing operations affect our current budget and projected revenue in the near term.

Once our committee begins meeting pending the decision from the Council President's Office, there will be a chance for us to have a briefing on the impact on our current budget and also hear from the local economists who are talking about how the expected downfall is going to affect our already pressing needs for housing, shelter, and health care services.

So we're working on getting that information in a format that's available to share with all of you outside of any briefings.

We'll be able to share those reports around.

And to the extent that we do have any urgent matters that we will be able to present in committees, we're teeing some of that information up for your review as well, council colleagues.

I want to thank Director Noble and the mayor's office, also Kirsten Arnesad and central staff for the regular analysis of our current funding shortfalls, the possibility and pending receipt of state and federal funds.

And a huge thank you to the folks at Public Health Seattle, King County, and also our King County partners, both the council and the executive office through Dow Constantine for their ongoing work to make sure that we're working in partnership both in terms of understanding where the revenue needs are and the spending needs as we look to quickly stand up additional sites for assessment and care, and also to provide housing for those who are in need of critical housing now and to get more social distancing in our permanent supportive housing operations and nonprofit partners.

We had the opportunity to join in with the executive team and Council Member Herbold was on the line as well in talking with the permanent supportive housing providers.

I want to provide folks with a brief update on some of those conversations.

Obviously, like everyone else, they are in dire need and asking the federal government for additional support so that we can get those tests in hand, especially for our frontline housing providers who are working every day with vulnerable populations and those who are elders in our community who need permanent supportive housing and who are in our shelters.

In the absence of additional tests, we are working quickly to try to figure out how we can get more sites stood up, especially as you saw in Shoreline and in LA, they're standing up sites for temporary use so that assessment can be done.

And as I mentioned prior, the work that we're doing with King County and the LEAD to be in partnership with local businesses and the hotels.

I am hoping we'll quickly expand.

I want to thank King County for all of their work to get hotel vouchers out the door and to also thank the hoteliers who are stepping up, especially some of our downtown local boutique hotels who are looking for opportunities to offer their space and vacant hotel rooms to shelter those who are well but extremely vulnerable and those who are elderly.

We'll have hopefully some more information to share soon about the logistics in terms of meals and staffing so that the locations are clean on a regular basis and that there's meals provided to this vulnerable population.

But this is a great example of where our local businesses can partner with local government to make sure that we respond to the crisis as we wait for the feds to send either additional testing supplies or additional medical supplies and personnel as well.

This is exactly the type of partnership that I think will help save lives.

So a huge thank you in advance to our partners at King County and local hotels and to those who are working in hotels.

So more conversations to come with those folks, especially at Unite here.

We have also a number of questions that we've put in about how this crisis is affecting our workforce.

Hotel workers have already been mentioned.

We've already talked about the importance of making sure that grocery workers and the gig economy workers are protected, where there's a number of questions that were put into the mayor's office.

And we know that they're working very fast to try to make sure that we're getting supplies and guidance out to those workers who are already showing how essential they are.

And I think there's a lot of dialogue online that folks have seen about how many of the workers that we deem essential right now in a crisis like this are also the workers that are making minimum wage and don't have access to longer leave benefits.

And I think that there's a really important moment for us to pause and recognize the importance of their work, especially grocery workers, hotel workers, and frontline CNAs, medical staff workers.

Those who are also taking the trash out in these medical facilities are extremely important for us in order for the system to keep operating.

Thanks in advance to the mayor's office for the questions that we've put in, especially around gig workers.

We have been talking to some of the, well, I'll just say, there's been a lot of talk online as folks probably saw this weekend with one of the local retailers putting N95 masks out for sale.

I wanna thank Target for their fast work to respond to that pressure on social media and to call it to their attention that those masks were being sold and the fast work of the executive in King County, the mayor's office and Deputy Mayor Raganathan and Deputy Mayor Fong and Governor Inslee for his work with Department of Health to get those masks off the shelf and into the hands of Department of Health personnel so that those could be deployed to our first responders and to medical team, the medical staff in various teams across the state.

It is critical that we make sure that all the masks, gloves, personal protective gear gets into the hands of medical providers and first responders.

So thank you to everybody who called attention to that online and to the fast work of everybody involved to get those off of the shelf and into the government's hands.

We appreciate it.

And I know that Target reached out and expressed their apologies for that situation.

As I said, everybody's working as fast as they can.

So we appreciate their quick work to correct that sale.

We also, I think I want to pile on to what Council Member Herbold started with.

We're seeing a number of people continuing to gather in public gatherings.

I think Governor Inslee was very clear in choosing his words over the weekend and on Friday.

We need people to honor the social distancing requirements or else there is a possibility of additional directives coming down.

This is for the health of our community, the health of individuals who even feel healthy.

You could be carriers.

We especially know that there is more information coming out about those 20 to 40, 20 to 50 who thought maybe they were not susceptible to this disease, who are showing symptoms and who are also now being hospitalized.

Even if you're not showing symptoms and you're in this younger category, there is a high possibility that you are carrying and you are contagious and you are shedding the virus.

So for folks who haven't not yet heard as Council Member Morales said, maybe hadn't seen the press conferences from the mayor's office, I'm going to take this opportunity to say walking is fine, running is fine.

But playing activities such as basketball and volleyball, group activities, organized activities, and sitting close to each other is really risky and is increasing the spread of the virus.

So it is fine to go and have a picnic with those who you live with or to go for a walk or a run with people you live with.

But if you do not live with somebody, keeping a distance of six feet and avoiding social gatherings like the ones that we saw over the weekend in some of our beautiful parks, is going to help reduce the spread of the disease and save lives.

Again, we want people to practice good mental health activities during this time where social isolation can lead to depression and we want people to engage in social interaction over video streams and phone calls and text messaging, but please keep those social interactions limited and do not do group gatherings, bonfires, large picnics.

We need people to be healthy and get outside if they need to take a walk, but do not engage in that type of activities we saw for the weekend.

I'm concerned that that could lead to additional guidance and it will be needed to reduce the spread of diseases.

I want to thank the governor's office as well for his thoughtful approach to getting messages out to the public.

We know that we need to be thoughtful in how we respond.

We want people to not panic, but be prepared.

And I think his leadership and his staff leadership have been tremendous in helping to get the information out along with our mayor and King County Executive and the King County Council.

So that is, I think that is all for me.

We do appreciate these council briefings.

Council President Gonzalez, thank you for organizing these and your willingness to bring these back.

I think it's been helpful to hear what folks are up to.

as we heard, sort of make sure that we're not duplicating requests either to public health or to our partners in labor or business and other entities of government just to have a coordinated system.

I think this has really been a productive call.

So thank you, Council President, and to all of you for the work that you're doing in each of your districts and to our teams for making it possible for us to have these remote meetings.

That is it on my end, Council President Gonzalez.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

Any questions or comments on Council Member Mosqueda's report?

Okay, hearing none, before I do my report, I'm going to circle back to Council Member Herbold to address an item on this afternoon's full council agenda.

Council Member Herbold.

I really appreciate it.

I neglected to share with the council the appointment to the Community Police Commission of Scott Batchelor.

Four CPC positions are specifically designated, and one of those four designated CPC positions is one for the Seattle Police Management Association.

Mr. Batchelor is the Community Police Commission's appointment.

It is the Commission's choice who to send forward.

Mr. Batchelor is the CPC's appointment for the Seattle Police Management Association.

The CP members voted to appoint him, and he has been serving unofficially for some time.

This action would make his appointment official.

My office checked with the CPC to confirm that they were okay with this approach in the absence of committee meetings.

That is bringing Mr. Batchelor directly ahead without a committee meeting, and they do support this.

Just as a reminder, the CPC has seven total appointments, and four are specifically designated, one for the Seattle Police Guild, one for the Seattle Police Management Association, and three, let's see here, four, I'm sorry, one for the Police Guild, two for the Seattle Police Management Association, and four for Public Defense and Civil Rights.

Great, thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Any questions or comments for Council Member Herbold?

Okay, hearing none, I will go ahead and give my report.

The Governance and Education Committee does not have any legislation on today's full council agenda that is subject to a vote, and our regularly scheduled committee hearings are canceled until further notice.

Did want to let folks know that we received from Director Chappelle over the weekend, excuse me, last week, a notice of a emergency child care pilot program.

He sent out this letter to members of the Governance and Education Committee at 7.28 p.m.

on Friday, the 20th of March, notifying us of the executive's intent to stand up in the coming weeks an emergency child care pilot program that would prioritize child care slots for our first responders.

We have seen across the city that with the closure of schools, many individuals are suffering the brunt of the lack of viable child care options.

Our first responders are, of course, not immune from the lack of safe and viable child care options.

throughout the city, and certainly the closures related to coronavirus are having and even creating a deeper impact in terms of what we all know to be child care shortages throughout the city.

I have asked Council Central staff, Brian Goodnight in particular, and Dean Nguyen from my office, to take a closer look at a proposed child care pilot program to make sure that we are not rolling back on our commitments as required by statutory ordinance through the Families in Education Preschool and Promise Levy, while also making sure that we are meeting the identified needs by deal and the executive as it relates to child care needs for our first responders.

So just want to make folks aware that that is an effort that is being proposed by the executive.

I have, for those of you who've been on the council for a while, you've heard me sort of ferociously protect the revenue source that comes from the Families Education Preschool and Promise levy to make sure that we are holding fidelity to the ordinance that was passed by voters.

I believe we have a duty, a legal duty and obligation to continue to make sure that we are complying with the parameters of that ordinance.

And it's unclear to me how the state of emergency impacts that requirement, if at all.

And so we have a council center staff taking a closer look at making sure that we're not going to on any toes as it relates to or get into any legal issues as it relates to using that revenue source in a manner proposed by deal and the mayor's office.

I also want to thank the Seattle Public Schools for announcing just recently that they will be standing up 12 child care sites throughout the school district.

Of course, for those of you who are following child care issues, you know that the Seattle Public Schools is a great partner to us here at the City of Seattle in terms of co-locating child care centers and facilities through our Seattle Preschool Program throughout its schools and throughout the entire city of Seattle.

I really want to thank them for stepping up and for We have a plan that identifies 12 child care sites throughout the city that will be ready to go, I believe, this week.

I hope that we can continue to focus on the substantive issues at play, which is to meet the child care needs of children and families throughout the city and that we can stay focused on that as opposed to who has an obligation to do what.

first.

So really happy to see that the school district has made that announcement.

Extremely grateful to them and more to come on this emergency child care pilot program in the coming days.

Lastly, I have two bills on this afternoon's introduction and referral calendar.

Council bills 119761 and 119762 appear on today's introduction referral calendar.

Both are emergency pieces of legislation in response to the coronavirus COVID-19 crisis.

So, folks, we know that just 24 days ago, on February 29th, the first person in Washington succumbed to COVID-19.

As of 3 p.m.

yesterday, our State Department of Health reported 95 deaths and nearly 2,000 individuals have tested positive for coronavirus throughout the state.

Our state and regional government has been working tirelessly to implement public health measures to flatten the curve and stop the spread of the coronavirus throughout our communities.

We just heard from Council Member Mosqueda during her report, many of those efforts that have been undertaken by our state and regional partners, again, for purposes of keeping us all safe and stopping the spread of coronavirus throughout our communities.

In less than a month, this crisis has upended our normal life and changed the way many of us are able to live our lives or earn a livelihood.

And we know that thousands of workers, I mean thousands of workers across the city have been laid off as a result of Governor Inslee's emergency orders, an order that I support and that I think was absolutely necessary for the greater public good.

But this order effectively closed all schools, restaurants, bars, fitness centers, beauty salons, and other non-essential businesses that are located throughout our city and our state.

And those business closures are mandated through at least March 31st as social distancing is our current and best defense against spreading the coronavirus.

And even for those businesses that are able to go online, or do takeout or online ordering.

Again, many of them have had to significantly reduce their staffing in order to keep their doors open.

So even though many of our businesses or non-essential businesses have modified their business model in order to keep their doors open, to provide services to people in the community, it is, of course, with a lot less staff than they had before that executive emergency order was issued by Governor Inslee.

So not surprisingly, the state's Employment Security Department's figures on newly filed unemployment claims shows a dramatic increase.

The numbers are staggering.

In just the service and education industries alone, unemployment claims have gone up nearly 600 percent in a single week.

So I know I am not alone in wanting to find ways to respond to this crisis, and I want to thank my colleagues and Mayor Durkan for their leadership and commitment.

to serving the people of Seattle and beyond.

And we saw that Governor Inslee is also taking steps in order to figure out how to triage this crisis specifically for renters who are oftentimes dependent on these service industry jobs and are living paycheck to paycheck.

Of course, here in the city of Seattle, we know that more than 50% of the city rents as opposed to owns property or homes.

And really, this is why I'm sponsoring these two bills for council consideration.

Council Bill 119761 addresses the long-term impacts many renters will likely be experiencing well after the mayor declares our state of civil emergency to be over.

The legislation, if adopted, would add a specific time-limited tool for tenants to use in eviction defense.

The bill does not prohibit an issuance of unlawful detainers.

It does not prohibit the issuance of a 20-day notice to vacate.

And it does not prohibit the initiation of a writ of restitution.

It is not, as some people have characterized, a rent or eviction freeze or a moratorium, but again, is a tool that has been identified that can help and add more time for impacted renters and tenants to get right size financially once recovery and relief efforts are underway.

So I really want to emphasize that if people are able to pay rent, they should be paying their rent on time and doing that according to whatever agreement they have with their landlord.

For everyone else, there are folks at every level of government who are working to figure out how to keep people in their homes.

to make sure that they continue to be secure in their housing.

But the reality is, is that some of these individuals who have lost their jobs, who are waiting to get through the backlog, and in some cases, as Council Member Herbold mentioned, can't even get into the backlog because they can't access the system, it is going to take time for people to get the benefits that are being made available by the state and the federal government.

And in the meantime, we need to make sure that these renters, who have been able to pay their rent but for this recent layoff have the opportunity and the time to catch up and to catch their breath to be able to find mutually agreeable terms with their landlords to be able to deal with the rent that they might have in arrears as a result of the civil emergency.

So, Council Bill 119762 does exactly that.

It provides more time to renters to pay their rent in certain circumstances.

So in essence, this bill would allow renters who may find themselves between paychecks and safety net benefits like unemployment insurance to enter into a monthly rent payment plan with their landlords as long as they can become current on their full rent balance within a year of the end of the civil emergency.

It would suspend late fees, interest, or other charges related to late payments during the civil emergency and up to six months after the mayor declares the emergency to be over.

I've heard from a number of folks who found themselves, again, abruptly unemployed in the last two weeks.

And there is, again, a significant backlog in getting their unemployment insurance applications approved.

The good news is that backlog is starting to turn around and some people are starting to get notices that they were falsely denied.

But in the meantime, people have a real fear and there is a reality of becoming housing insecure.

or, unfortunately, unhoused.

And we do not want to see that occur because that would, of course, exacerbate the city's housing and homelessness crisis.

So this payment plan, if needed, will hopefully provide some additional time to allow people to get the unemployment benefit, the rental assistance, to be able to catch up on their rent.

And that is, in effect, what this bill would do.

Together, I think these bills will help to serve the best interests of our local housing ecosystem, and should buy us all some time as we work across local, state, and federal government to provide relief and recovery for thousands of households impacted by, economically impacted by the coronavirus crisis.

So I look forward to working with all of you and with the public.

these particular issues to again make sure that we are doing the most that we can to keep people in place during this crisis that has had significant economic impacts, not just to business owners, but to workers.

And, of course, that has the ripple effect of also creating the danger of creating a significant amount of housing insecurity throughout our communities, further exacerbating our unhoused crisis.

And that is, of course, something that we do not want to see occur as a result of of this crisis.

So I think these are two easy tools to make sure that we are protecting renters throughout the city as it directly relates to the coronavirus economic impacts that are being caused throughout our community.

I also want to say that I've been receiving some very disturbing communications from individuals, renters who have been receiving notices from their landlords, for example, that provide them a list of places that are hiring, encouraging them to get a job, and reminding them that their rent is due at the end of the month.

This is exactly, that kind of behavior is exactly why I believe these ordinances are needed and will serve the better purpose of protecting tenants throughout our city in a time of significant financial uncertainty for them.

I'm happy to answer any questions or entertain comments.

Okay.

Hearing none, we'll go ahead and move along.

I think that is the last report.

If there is no other business, then we will go ahead and conclude today's agenda.

Any other business?

All right.

Hearing none, our council briefing is now adjourned.

Thank you, everyone.

We'll see you at 2 o'clock.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.