Seattle City Council 3/11/2025

Good afternoon, everybody.

This is the March 11th, 2025 meeting of the Seattle City Council.

It is for two oh two.

And I'm Sarah Nelson, council president.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council member Solomon here.

Council member Strauss.

Present.

Council member Hollingsworth.

Present.

Council member Kettle.

Here.

Council member Moore.

Present.

Council member Rink.

Present.

Thanks.

Council member Rivera.

Council Member Saka?

Here.

And Council President Nelson?

Present.

Eight present.

All right, thank you.

I'm not aware of any presentations for today, so we'll move into the hybrid public comment period.

Public comment is limited to items on today's agenda, the introduction and referral calendar, and the council work program.

Clerk, how many people are signed up today?

We have five in-person speakers and one remote speaker.

All right, let's give everybody two minutes and start with the five in-person speakers.

All righty.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they are registered, and speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of their time.

Speakers' mics will be muted if they do not end their comments within the allotted time.

Our first two speakers are Nancy Craig followed by Lan Mosher.

I'm Nancy Craig.

I live at the Ballard Landmark Senior Community.

We oppose building the Burke-Gilman Trail missing link on the currently proposed Leary Market Route.

We track transportation committee and full council meeting agendas to identify topics related to that project and attend those meetings to give input.

Last July, we were pleased that the council defeated an amendment to the then-upcoming transportation levy to move $20 million from street repairs to another category from which it could be used to fund the Leary Market Route.

We were blindsided when, one week later, the amendment was presented again.

Two council members changed their vote and passed it.

In December, a proviso was passed by the Council requiring SDOT to provide detailed information about individual projects for the Council's review and approval before spending the money.

This new level of oversight also provides this visibility to the general public.

Council Bill 120946 lifts this proviso.

We strongly object and request a no vote on Council Bill 120946. We do not want to be blindsided again.

This was good governance in December.

It is good governance now.

Next up is Lan Mosher followed by Bennett Hasselton.

Distinguished members of the Council, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.

My name is Lanning Mosher, Lan for short.

and I'm a resident at the Ballard GenCare Landmark Inn.

You were wise to take extra steps in December to have extra oversight and input into the implementation of the big levy for transportation.

It is indeed, as one of your members said, incredibly detailed and a long-term plan.

You were right in December when you decided you should keep a firm grip on how our dollars are spent.

You can do that best, I think, by rejecting CB120946.

Your involvement and oversight will produce better outcomes and need not delay progress.

Parenthetically here, I worked a long time, both in government and heavy construction and civil engineering.

And what you folks need to do shouldn't delay anything at all.

You were right in December, and there's no reason to change now.

Please vote no on CB120946.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Bennett Hasselton, followed by Alex Zimmerman.

Go ahead, Bennett.

Hi, small world.

So you remember you were talking about the March in Alki where the protesters got arrested for shoving another guy to the ground?

I was actually the guy that got shoved.

I was in the protest, and the other guy shoved me to the ground right in front of the police.

They moved in and arrested him.

Now you're thinking, wait a minute, aren't you one of the, no, okay.

So I had a following out with some of the people in this group a while ago because they were filming themselves yelling wildly homophobic things at cops and going up and telling cops to kill themselves.

And I said to them, you know, okay, we're on the same team, but you should not be doing that.

And they got all mad at me and bent out of shape, and they're still mad about it.

So that's what happened.

And so we were there on the same side, but I have no ties to that group.

No ties.

A complete lack of ties.

A Rob Sokka-level absence of ties to that group.

We were just there at the same event.

Well, city attorney has issued a statement stating they're issuing a no charges filed for the person who attacked me.

So to be clear what that means, you remember a year ago, I was here for the sit-in, money for housing, not police, and we figured we'd get arrested, but I got charged for that.

Person who shoved me to the ground so hard that I almost hit my head on the pavement and could have been injured, not charged.

Why is that?

Well, of course, this is the same city attorney that I filed the complaint against for putting out the false press release and affidavit about Judge Vedati, and I've told you all about that a million times.

And they initially did charge the person, what, do you think at some point they looked at the document and said, oh, wait a minute, you shoved that guy?

Oh, I didn't see anything.

I don't know.

I smartass you guys quite a bit, but this is a pretty bad look for an elected city attorney.

I mean, you charge a protester for a nonviolent sit-in charging, money rousing, not police, and then the protester files a complaint against you for something unrelated, and then later somebody attacks that same protester, and you just don't charge that person.

Now, I did not want the guy's life ruined to attack me, but the city attorney should have taken the position that what he did was worse than what I did.

And I think taking the opposite position was ridiculous.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Alex Zimmerman, and Alex Zimmerman will be followed by Sam Montrose.

Try it again.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Zeig Heil.

My name Alex Zimmerman, I'm a Trump supporter for 10 years and I'm a MAGA member.

Yeah, I want to speak about agenda number two, about something belong to transportation department.

So, for six months, every day, I come to admin.

Admin come to consul.

Bob, sucker, you know what is mean, office, and ask for one minute?

For six months every day.

And they refuse.

Why?

I'm talking about ticket for thousand, dozen thousand ports.

Seattle people.

But as we pay right now, too much.

Government crooksack blood and money from us without decision.

Without official government decision.

It's exactly, I need only one minute.

Is this?

Consul, Bob, sucker, you know what it means.

He don't give me a chance to speak about this.

Same happened with Human Rights Commission, you know what this mean.

And I complained to Katie Moore about this.

Human Rights Commission refused this for four months, three, four months, and refused before 20 of my trespasses, as I have before.

Guys, situation very simple.

For 10 years, I ask you, open better room in City Hall one day per week so everybody can come and talk for three minutes without your controlling.

You are pure.

You're more dangerous than Nazi commie.

You know what this means?

Because I have Seattle fascists with idiotic face.

You are an idiot.

No one consul, no one mayor wants this.

Where is the problem?

Why you cannot open better room one day per week so people can come from nine to nine and speak for three minutes?

So we don't need this dirty bureaucrat.

You know what this means?

What is kill us life?

Viva Trump!

Viva New American Revolution!

Stand up, Seattle freaking idiota!

Our next speaker is Sam Montrose.

Hi there, my name is Sam Montrose.

I live in North Seattle near Magnuson Park and I was recently made aware of the plans to build pickleball courts where there are currently active wetlands and I know that it's an expansion of parking lots that exist and I want to know why there are not more studies being put forth about how this is going to impact the life that is there right now.

What I've seen on Any material put out there about why this is being created is just due to general interest.

I have not seen any reports that the government has put forth about what is this going to do?

What impact is this going to have?

And so I'm addressing particularly the members here that are involved in parks.

And I would like to see more of that.

That's all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's our last in-person speaker.

We'll now move into our one remote speaker, which will be David Haynes.

Yes, and as a reminder, please press star six.

We hear the prompt that you have been unmuted.

Go ahead, David.

Hi, David Haynes.

The one Seattle that makes it unsafe to live, work, and play.

The one Seattle that judges skin color and ignores the content of a criminal character.

The one Seattle approach that exacerbates public safety, homeless, housing, and economic crisis with racist road DEI priorities that implode society, exempting low-level drug pushers from jail, listed nonviolent low-level, no need to bother training proper, while paying politically connected nonprofits to run interference for evil repeat offenders using homeless money squandered on criminals who deserve proper punishment and court-ordered path to alleviate suffering from crime, addiction, trauma, behavioral crises.

not rewards of housing first before innocent white houseless racially discriminated citizens hated by service providers in the office of housing policies and priorities with no legitimately qualified wraparound service providers always hiring lived experience to do experts work never around on extended leave while priority hiring based on identity politics.

The one Seattle that reminds you what comes from the bottom of the barrel and dumps their racist perverted trauma onto everybody else.

The one Seattle that sabotages integrity of police reform and chooses wrong chiefs on purpose to run interference for repeat offenders.

The one Seattle with the same mayor who's been exempting his drug-pushing criminal underworld friends his whole political career.

The very mayor that this city council continues to defer to on public safety and economy crisis.

The same corrupt jive-talking mayor who tricked business community with a war on the homeless instead of a war on low-level drug pushers that are escalating violence listed low level nonviolent until it's too late negating proper gun violence prevention by trespassing and questioning and court ordering all these drug addict junkie thieving and predatory apex drug pushers who should be drawn back to their safe havens and shut down.

We need a better network of effort instead of people using excuses in politics to alleviate their efforts to put forth.

Thank you.

There are no additional speaker.

Stereo.

All right, we've reached the end of our list of public speakers, so the comment period is now closed.

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

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

And if there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing none, the agenda is adopted.

And so now we'll consider the proposed consent calendar.

Items on the consent calendar include the minutes of March 4th, 2025, Council Bill 120947, payment of the bills, and that's it.

Are there any items that council members would like to remove from today's consent calendar?

Hearing none, I move to adopt the consent calendar.

Is there a second?

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?

Council Member Sullivan?

Aye.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council Member Rink?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

The consent calendar items are adopted.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes and legislation on the consent calendar on my behalf?

Okay, moving into committee reports, will the clerk please read item one into the record?

Agenda item one, resolution 32165, a resolution adopting the statements of legislative intent for the 2025 adopted budget and 2025 through 2030 adopted capital improvement program.

Thank you very much.

I move to adopt resolution 32165. Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

Thanks.

So for those of you who were here last year, you'll remember a similar resolution, which is an annual tradition.

This resolution replaces the versions of the slides in the clerk file that shows what was in our 2025 adopted budget and capital improvement program.

So each year when we pass the budget, we do so with a number of statements of legislative intent or slides.

This is for the public's and then the following spring, we learned that some of those slides need some revision, either from the input of the executive or from input from council staff and members.

And sometimes that's about changing the reporting back to council date or to tighten up or clarify what we're asking the executive to do.

So you will have seen in your inbox last Wednesday an email from Central Staff Director Ben Noble describing the context and details of this resolution.

and ultimately it removes one slide because the executive is going to be sending us legislation, making it redundant, and then it makes some modifications to seven other slides, mostly in terms of adjusting the due dates.

So this was developed with input from the executive, and I understand that central staff drafted the resolution after speaking with each one of you directly, who are the sponsors of each individual slide, especially those that are changed.

Are there any comments about the content or the reason for this piece of legislation?

Okay, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the resolution.

Council Member Solomon?

Aye.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Moore?

Aye.

Council Member Rink?

Aye.

Council Member Rivera?

Aye.

Council Member Saka.

Aye.

Council President Nelson.

Aye.

Aye and in favor, none opposed.

The resolution is adopted and the chair will sign it.

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

And would the clerk please read item two into the record.

The report of the Select Budget Committee, Agenda Item 2, Council Bill 120946, an ordinance relating to the Seattle Department of Transportation, amending Ordinance 127156, which adopted the 2025 budget, including the 2025 through 2030 Capital Improvement Program and lifting a proviso.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Strauss.

You are recognized to speak to it.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, I've shared our collective stories, and a story in particular, so many times I'll be brief today.

This work could not have been done without Councilmember Saka and his partnership, as well as the additional accountability measures he included in the levy, which have folded in very nicely to this whole process.

This proviso is the product of SDOT submitting a current law budget during the fall budget process, meaning that the budget did not include appropriations in the case that the levy passed.

Lucky for Seattle, the levy passed.

It is important that we used this tool of mega proviso to ensure that the accountability work wasn't avoided.

And as this accountability work is complete, We must move swiftly to release this proviso to ensure the unintended consequences of delay are avoided.

We have a lot more to do to provide the built environment that residents are requesting and that keeps our economy working.

I was asked last week if there is a specific single, large, or small project that I'm excited for in this 2025 plan.

My answer, SDOT's 2025 plan and this proviso lift have so many projects all across our city, big, medium, and small.

That is what we are passing today, changes all across our city.

When we went through Appendix A, some of the sections that list projects went on for pages.

For example, sidewalk construction repair and curb ramp construction, those projects listed out start on page 18 and end on page 21. The next section, which is of crossing improvements, those projects start on page 22 and ends on the page 24. This is what I'm talking about.

Each of those specific places is going to change the built environment for some or many people.

And when you aggregate all of those projects together, it becomes a really big deal for Seattleites.

So thank you to SDOT for not missing a beat and doing good work so far.

Now it's time for council action.

This legislation releases the full funding for those transportation levy projects in 2025 to ensure SDOT has everything it needs to get this work done.

So colleagues, let's get this levy delivered.

Thank you.

Councilmember Saka, as chair of transportation, do you have any comments or anything, closing statements or anything?

Sure.

Thank you, Madam Council President.

And I will be voting for this legislation today.

And I want to thank my council colleagues, SDOT, the mayor's office for their engagement on getting this To this point, getting us to this point, we're in a position to lift the levy proviso.

I wanna thank Council Member Strauss for your engagement and your thought partnership and this whole collective strategic effort.

Colleagues, you will recall that this proviso was placed on the department during budget late last year because the executive's original proposed budget did not include a levy spending plan.

We didn't have As a legislative body, we didn't have adequate time to thoughtfully consider what a city budget with a past levy would look like.

And so this was an important, was and is an important accountability mechanism.

And that is an important element and dimension to this story.

Another important dimension of this story is that we live in a district system.

And we're elected officials, as elected officials in our own respective districts, we are now more closely connected to the communities that we serve.

Regular engagement with council by all of the departments, in this case SDOT, is crucial now more than ever.

And so as we lift the proviso today, the expectation inherent in this levy is that, you know, my hope would be that SDOC continue to proactively engage, not merely inform this council and communities that we all serve.

And I think they've done a great job of that so far, which is, in part why I'm prepared and excited to be able to lift this levy today or lift this proviso today.

But let's continue that path, move forward, because as I said in the past, this is a fairly large levy.

the largest in our city's history.

It's also the most accountable levy in our city's history.

And we saw that accountability in action last week and the transportation committee and our select budget committee.

And here we are today.

So colleagues, I wanna thank you all, especially council member Strauss.

I wanna thank the department, for your partnership and I'm excited to put them in as a position to make sure we're actually able to deliver upon these exciting projects.

That is all for me.

Thank you.

Thank you, council member.

I was not meaning to, um, to foreclose further discussion from my other colleagues.

If anybody has any questions or comments, I had, um, one question and I, I, I wanted to respond to some of the public comment we've heard about the amendment that was addressed on the Burt Gilman on Leary.

Is that – could you – Is that the one that required funding, or was that an amendment that was together with some of the, with funding from another funding source that was used otherwise to help jumpstart other projects?

Can you just tell me a little bit more about that amendment?

Yeah, I would defer substantially to the amendment author on that, but that was a vote that we took during the levy legislation process.

And it was ultimately formed the basis of attachment A, which is a commitment that we as a city made to voters.

I welcome any additional comments from the amendment author, but

Please.

Mr. Yes, I think what you're asking about is the amendment that passed in July of 2024, which, Council President, I believe that you voted against, which was moving funding from the AAC Reserve Fund, which was unaccounted for dollars.

So these were dollars that did not have a spend plan associated with them.

So these unaccounted for dollars were then accounted for by placing them in the Burke-Gilman Trail Missing Link Fund for Market and Leary.

The process continues of planning, and I can tell you that there's been deep engagement with the Ballard Landmark from the first proposal to where SDOT is now and as SDOT continues their designs and refining their designs, the Ballard Landmark will continue to be engaged.

I can tell you just between the first plan and the second plan, a new driveway was proposed that would separate their front door from the trail.

So we have had public comment here discussing residents' current situation, stepping out of the front door and being buzzed by scooters going too fast on the sidewalk.

That would be wholly avoided by having a driveway that allows for private access to the landmark facility that separates both the road and the trail from their front door.

Thank you for that information.

I wanted to simply explain to folks that are probably watching, that are here in chambers and explain why I will be supporting this piece of legislation.

And I just wanted to make sure that the amendment that you were referring to was the one that I was thinking it was, and so I did vote against that amendment because I, not because of the merits of the project itself, but because of the use of funding from another source that could have, that was, yes, it was unallocated and it was, you know, it could be used for other things throughout the year.

I did vote against that, but I am explaining that I am going to be voting today because this is a, um, These are crucial, this is a long list of crucial transportation projects that will not only improve our infrastructure, but make circulation throughout our city, no matter the mode, safer, and that's the first reason.

I just wanted to say thank you very much for bringing this forward because it's time to get these projects going.

And I wanted to make sure that every vote that we take has to be weighed against the potential benefits of the whole package.

So are there any other comments?

Okay.

Let's see, just making sure.

All right.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Council Member Solomon.

Aye.

Councilmember Strauss?

Yes.

Councilmember Hollingsworth?

Aye.

Councilmember Kettle?

Aye.

Councilmember Moore?

Aye.

Councilmember Rink?

Yes.

Councilmember Rivetta?

Aye.

Councilmember Sacca?

Aye.

Council President Nelson?

Aye.

Aye and in favor, none opposed.

Thank you very much.

The bill is passed and the chair will sign it.

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

There were no items removed from the consent calendar, and there's not a resolution for introduction and adoption today.

Is there any further business to come before the council?

Councilmember Saka.

Thank you, Madam Council.

President, I would like to request to be excused from the council meeting on April 22nd.

All right.

I'm not seeing any objection.

Councilmember Saka is excused from the meeting on April 22nd.

Thank you.

Council President?

Yes.

I would like to be excused from the April 1st Seattle City Council meeting, and it's not a joke.

Council President.

No joke.

Yes, Council Member Moore would like to be excused from the April 1st Council meeting.

Council President.

Yes.

I am also requesting to be excused April 1st, and that is also not a joke.

Well, no joke, I want to go someplace too.

No objection for excusing Councilmember Strauss from the April 1st council meeting.

Going once, going twice.

All right.

As there is no, we've reached the end of today's agenda and our next regularly scheduled city council meeting is on March 18th at 2 p.m.

Looks like there's no further business.

The time is 2.31 p.m.

All right, we are adjourned.

Thank you, everybody.