Seattle City Council Briefing

Good morning, everybody.

Thank you for being here for our regular scheduled council briefing, January 14th.

We have a short agenda this morning, and then at 1030, we'll move to our select committee on homelessness and housing affordability.

And I believe one of the co-chairs, co-chairs Mosqueda will chair.

Oh, what's it say?

And I believe one of, oh.

And now it's gonna say it now it's gonna say what did it say, right?

Okay, so we have closed caption.

That's new and cool says you're going to Coachella Okay, so let me make one announcement before we move to councilmember so want and that is this Thursday on January 17th at the Seattle first Baptist Church, we're gonna have a our annual City of Seattle Unity Day.

And we've been doing this very successfully for several years.

Let me repeat that.

This Thursday, the reception is at 6 o'clock and the program is at 7 o'clock.

In honoring Martin Luther King Jr., we're having our Unity Day.

And our keynote speaker, This year, and you may recall, we've had many outstanding speakers, is Hill Harper.

And so who is Hill Harper?

Many of you know him as an actor.

He's been on The Good Doctor, CSI in New York, and Lemonless, many movies.

You recognize maybe his face more than his name.

But let me tell you a little bit about this Hollywood actor.

He actually graduated magna cum laude with a BA from Brown University, and he's valedictorian of his department.

He holds a doctor's degree from Harvard Law School, graduated cum laude.

He also holds a master's degree with honors from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

And what I do know about him from talking to him is he became very good friends with President Obama while they were, I think, freshmen or had just started at Harvard.

And after all of this incredible education, chose to write several books.

He's the holder of six NAACP Image Awards, but become an actor, which was a passion of his.

And so I'll pass this around for you.

We're all invited.

We have seats for you.

The public is invited, free of charge.

Again, we've had great turnouts, and we've tried to advertise this, and we'll hear.

I think I've heard him speak before.

He's really an astounding speaker.

So that's this Thursday, January 7th.

I'll just pass this black one around so it's a little easier.

Okay.

Let's go around and go over today's full council actions.

Nothing for a vote from the Governance, Equity, and Technology Committee.

And again, we'll move into housing affordability and homelessness right after this meeting.

Council Member Swamp, you have the floor.

Thank you, President Harrell.

Good morning, everyone.

Good morning.

There are no items from the Human Services Equitable Development and Renters Rights Committee on today's City Council agenda.

The next meeting of the committee is scheduled for this Friday at 1.30 p.m.

here in Council Chambers.

This will be an important committee meeting because we will be discussing with a group of constituents who live in the manufactured homes in the Halcyon Mobile Home Park in North Seattle.

This mobile home park houses seniors 55 years or older who are now in imminent risk of eviction, which would be totally devastating for them.

We know that in any ordinary circumstances, when a renter is evicted or priced out of their tenancy in Seattle, it can be incredibly difficult to find another place to live.

and many are pushed out of the city or worse into homelessness.

But when mobile home park residents are evicted, it is much worse.

The residents own their manufactured homes, which actually we found out through discussion with them that after many years, the homes are not actually mobile, despite the word mobile in the phrase mobile home.

They end up, when they face eviction, they end up losing the home they own Often, and this is a brutal system, often they end up having to pay to have it demolished.

So that's like insult upon injury.

So these seniors would then have to find somewhere else to live, paid for with what is left of in their retirement, and in Seattle's unaffordable housing market after having just lost everything they own.

And, you know, this is totally unacceptable.

And my office intends to do everything in our power to stop them from being evicted.

And I hope to get the support of the rest of the council.

Just to give more information, my office has met with the Halcyon residents several times to discuss the problem and possible solutions.

I believe staff members from Council Member Juarez's office have also attended one of those meetings.

The problem arose because the owner of the Halcyon property was also, I think, an elderly resident, passed away, and the property is now controlled in trust, we believe, by the U.S.

Bank.

And the bank, of course, has no interest in ensuring the welfare of the seniors who call Halcyon home.

And the bank is currently attempting to sell the property to a developer, which would inevitably mean evictions.

So my office has been discussing with central staff and has identified some steps we can take to attempt to use the city's zoning powers to save these senior homes.

And we will be discussing those options at more length at the committee table on Friday.

So I invite everyone to join us there.

We will actually be using some of what we learned about zoning in the Save the Showbox movement, because just like in that instance, we will have to race to get the protections in place before any developer is able to vest in that property.

Before Friday, however, there is an initial step we can take.

The Halcyon Mobile Home Park is included in a region slated for an upzone as part of the MHA legislation.

I don't believe it would make sense to upzone that property only to immediately try and downzone it, so my office is recommending that we remove that property from the MHA package.

It is, of course, located in District 5, and I invite Councilmember Juarez's office to work with us on this, and just to ensure everybody knows, we were not intending to step on any district toes, but this issue has had a very fast momentum, and we didn't want to miss the boat on it.

And so we've tried to get that process underway, and we are very happy to have Councilmember Juarez's staff contact my office in order to make this possible.

And so that's the first committee meeting that we'll have this Friday at 1.30 p.m.

The other issue that is going to come up in my committee is that of the appointment for the head, the director of the new, the new director of the HSD under the mayor's office, which is the Human Services Department.

We will be taking this issue up in our next meeting, which very likely will be February 12th, but possibly it will be earlier than that.

I will make sure all council offices are kept informed about it.

This is also an important issue because, Unfortunately, the mayor's office, for reasons that are unknown to me, did not consult the human service providers, clients of the human services department, or employees of the department before making this nomination.

There was no process that is usually engaged in the appointment of the director, especially of such an important department.

And we believe that failing to include workers, providers, or clients in this nomination is a real problem.

And so my office intends to involve all three entities fully in the council's deliberation over this nomination.

More specifically, last Wednesday, My staff met with a packed room of 34 union members in the HSD, in the Human Services Department, who are deeply concerned about the process or the lack thereof in the nomination of Jason Johnson.

We've also heard a number of concerns from human service providers about the process and The workers in the HST who are members of Protech 17, the union that represents them, they have started circulating a petition that in general terms is calling for a fair process.

I don't have the exact language with me of the petition, but I can circulate that once I have that at my disposal.

But in any case, so this is the background of all of this, and this will be coming up in the subsequent committee meeting.

Let me ask you a question about that.

I understand that there now is voice some concerns about the process.

Is it the process and Mr. Johnson or primarily the process?

I'm a little removed from the criticisms.

It's both, but the employees of HSD are not, I mean, I'm not exactly at liberty to say what they feel about Mr. Johnson.

I would leave it to them.

That is why we're having the committee meeting.

But officially, I think, I believe the petition in first, I mean, the first step is why didn't we have a fair process?

Because in that fair process, those points would have come out about whatever specific concerns that might have been.

But I don't want to speak for the service providers or the employees.

So and many of you have experience with this as well.

So correct me if I'm wrong, but.

My assumption was the process is usually the process that's always done where the person is proposed and then through the confirmation process that we control, there's outreach and we can do as much outreach as we'd like or sometimes there's little outreach and it's a reappointment, that kind of perfunctory process.

I'm not aware of before a proposal the level of outreach perhaps that many of the the opposition wants and again maybe that kind of pre appointment outreach has been done, but I don't know that.

Do any of you have?

Well, just to answer your question in general terms, no.

I mean, obviously, yes.

Once it comes to council, we have the right.

I mean, then it's in our docket and we have the right to conduct whatever outreach we want to.

So you're absolutely correct about that.

But no, it's not a normal process to just reappoint the director of an important department.

I mean, if you see the process that's been used for previous situations, there is quite a bit of process in terms of, you know, actually putting the job application, I mean, job opening out there and inviting applications from a number of people who might be qualified for that and then going through that process.

And then, of course, the incumbent has the right to also put in an application.

So I don't believe that this is the normal process and certainly for such a critical department and given the concerns that have been raised, I mean, I would hardly think that the mayor's office is not aware of these concerns.

If I'm aware of these concerns, certainly they would be aware of these concerns.

So to me, it's concerning that they went ahead with this without actually addressing those concerns when they, Presumably, we're aware of them.

So we, I believe the council should do whatever we can.

Now it's come, the nomination has come to the council, so let's at least have a discussion.

What I'm saying is that I believe It should have been, that discussion should have been had beforehand.

Just a few other points, unless there are other questions.

No, but I would like to ask, when you're having this first meeting in your committee, Council Member Swann, I would like very much to be in attendance.

I think maybe in contrast to you, I've worked with Mr. Johnson for a number of years here, and I became very interested in his qualifications a number of years ago when we were in Washington, D.C., and he was a speaker there.

Maybe I feel more strongly than you that his qualifications are sound, but rather than assuming on the front end that something evil had happened or that the mayor had not looked at alternative candidates, I would hope that we would all keep our minds open and not try to assault his reputation until we've had a true opportunity to talk with him.

Well, I agree absolutely with the spirit of openness.

And I think the spirit of openness very much includes the opinions of the employees of the department and the service providers.

And I don't think those were taken into consideration at all.

So I think it's very much in the spirit of openness that we are trying to correct for that.

And if the mayor has engaged in that, you know, I invite them to clarify that.

So far, they haven't.

I welcome them to clarify those things.

Not only do...

Maybe if we ask for it, we'll get it.

Well, we have asked for it.

Council Member Baxhaw and the mayor's office is very much aware that all of this is happening.

I believe they have set up a meeting for tomorrow because they are now feeling a little bit of pressure.

But what I would say is that the spirit of openness has to apply on every end.

And if we are hearing from a number of workers and service providers that they're unhappy with the process, then I think it's the responsibility of the council to respond to that regardless of what the outcome is.

Just a couple more points.

This week, the Teamsters EMTs who work for American Medical Response providing ambulance services in Seattle will again be voting on a tentative contract.

As we have seen through our discussions last year, they do life-saving work and deserve a great contract, and they haven't got that.

I just wanted to make a public sort of for the record announcement that they will continue to have the full support of my office.

If they decide to vote down this contract and vote to strike again, then I will absolutely be with them on the front lines.

And as you all recall, that almost happened at the end of December before AMR try to return to the bargaining table.

I hope that the EMTs will have the support of all council members.

The prospect of a strike has only been raised, let's note, because the mayor's office has totally ignored the council's resolution that was passed last year, demanding the city contract with AMR have clear wage requirements.

Unfortunately, the mayor's office has failed to support these workers, and if, as a result, they are forced to go on strike, then we should be standing with them.

And last but not least, my office will be announcing soon the schedule for the next Select Committee on Homelessness and Housing Affordability.

We have one today, of course.

The next one will be chaired by me, and we will be announcing the date in a day or two.

Very good.

Thank you very much.

Council Member Juarez.

Thank you.

Good morning.

So we have no items on today's agenda from the Civic Development, Public Assets, and Native Communities meeting.

However, we do have our next committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, this Wednesday, January 16th at 1.30.

We will hold a hearing related to an easement in Discovery Park followed by a briefing and presentation, as you all know, of the Central Waterfront LID, that's the Local Improvement District, by the Office of the Waterfront.

As I've shared before many times, there are three pieces of legislation or ordinances that are packages, and they're all foundational, but the one that's most important, which is what I call the first one, would be at the actual LID formation ordinance, which would be followed by an operation and maintenance ordinance, and then, of course, the protest waiver agreement.

As you know, the central waterfront and the planning for this has been going on since about 2009. It's a $712 million project.

The LID accounts for $160 million of it, and it will open up about 20, a little over 20 acres of new parkland for the city of Seattle.

I would really encourage my colleagues to hopefully come to committee on Wednesday.

And if you can't come Wednesday, we're having a special committee meeting on January 24th at 10 a.m., again, with the waterfront to do a deeper dive.

And in between now and then, of course, my understanding is that Office of Waterfront and my staff have been reaching out to my colleagues and their aides to bring them up to speed on where we're at on this important piece of legislation.

And of course, I invite the public to visit waterfrontseattle.org for more information.

Let's see.

Have I said anything else?

We also have an executive session on this topic following our January 22nd council meeting.

As you know, the reason why we're going to be an executive session is because part of that discussion is quasi-judicial and we need legal counsel to just remind us why we hired a hearing examiner over the summer to hold, I believe it was three or four public hearings of people who would be affected by the lid and what their comments and concerns would be.

And the hearing examiner's report came out in September of 2018. The second committee meeting will be on, as I said, Thursday, January 24th at 10 a.m.

for a potential vote on the waterfront lid.

And it will go to full council that following Monday, which would be Monday, January 28th.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you.

So we have on today's full council agenda two Arts Commission reappointments.

Those are both council appointments.

We also have a single Human Rights Commission appointment and the commission itself is the appointing authority for that particular voting item today.

We have no Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development, and Arts Committee meeting this week, but next week we will be meeting on Friday due to the MLK holiday on Monday the 21st.

I also have a Regional Transit Committee meeting on Wednesday.

And the only other significant item this week as far as what I will be attending to is there is a Sound Transit 3 meeting in Delridge on Wednesday evening.

This is specifically a meeting focused on residents of the neighborhood on living in homes between Southwest Dakota and Southwest Genesee streets, as well as the west side of Delridge.

This is an area that the likely proposed alignment has some impacts on, and my office has requested that Sound Transit begin meeting with some of the neighbors there so that folks can get a sense of what all this means for them.

And then lastly I just wanted to mention that we learned Friday that the Seattle Times has found some documents that suggest that there were some efforts associated with the timing to complete the decision-making around an OPA appeal, namely the Adly-Shepard case.

And there looks like there may have been some efforts to delay that appeal in a belief that our knowledge of that appeal would impact our vote.

I don't know if that is indeed what has happened.

I have seen some of those emails in the chain of events.

I'm happy to share them with other council members.

I'm certain that Council Member Gonzalez will look into this upon her return, but I just wanted to state publicly that I really hope that this council gets to the bottom and determines whether or not There were efforts to delay the timing of the announcement and if so, who was involved with that.

So, thanks.

Very good.

I read the article too, it's interesting.

Council Member Bekshaw.

Thank you.

finance neighborhood committee.

We've got two appointments and a reappointment.

Glenn Lee, our own finance director, has been appointed, or will be, with the Benaroya Hall Music Center Board, an appointment of J.J.

McCabe, most of us know him, to the Pike Place Market PDA Governing Council, and a reappointment of Mary McCumber to the Historic Seattle PDA Governing Council.

And I want to say thanks to SDOT and WSDOT the viaduct closure this weekend went darn well.

And what was interesting to me is how many people decided to have their own little event and party on the viaduct on Friday night.

And my condo's down there.

And just watching how folks decided that they were just going to park on the viaduct and get out and party.

And frankly, it might have been a little hard for SDOT and WSDOT, but people certainly had a good time.

Thank you.

Also, Department of Neighborhoods, just a shout out.

Thank you for a really good statement that they had distributed last week, and I forwarded it as well on my Facebook, that just on what people could anticipate in each neighborhood around the closure and what options there were.

So I just want to recognize D.O.N., the good work that they did with SDOT.

Very good.

Council Member Johnson.

We've got a bunch of things going on this week, so I'm just going to take a couple of minutes to walk folks through them.

So starting with this afternoon, we've got two items that I'm shepherding across the finish line, ideally this afternoon.

The first is Council Bill 119398. This would implement some changes to developers' standards as consistent with the comprehensive plan that we adopted in 2016. The bill effectively creates different zones throughout the city and requires developers to start providing better transit options and other opportunities for people to get to and from the apartment buildings that they live in.

based on the transit usage in the neighborhood.

So it's a new set of requirements that we'll be putting on developers to help reduce our single occupancy vehicle usage all throughout the city and is a bill I'm really proud of.

The second issue this afternoon is a set of resolutions in support of the Seattle Public Schools to levies that are on the ballot in February.

And I brought a copy of the what they call the BEX levy, which is the building excellence levy and the long list of projects that are going to be funded if voters approve that.

So this afternoon, we'll be asking for your support and endorsement of those two levies.

The BTA levy, which is the other levy that is on the ballot this February, traditionally funds the kinds of things that you would think would be funded through the state, like funding for additional special needs assistance for students with special needs, like funding additional staff members inside schools to help with things like reading and math skills, and a lot of the other nuts and bolts of the infrastructure support, whether that's nurses, counselors, or admin staff.

So the BTA levy and the BEX levy are on the ballot in February, and this resolution, which is spearheaded by Council Member Gonzalez, but I'm bringing forward in her absence, we ask for your support on.

Following those full council issues this afternoon We've got a select committee at the conclusion of full council on our mandatory housing affordability program and at that committee discussion which is scheduled to start at 2 30 or at the conclusion of our full council meeting and We're going to be walking through a series of amendments in three districts, Districts 4, District 6, and District 7. We're going to start with kind of an overview of what is in the proposal that the then Mayor Burgess sent down to us in November of 2017. And then we're also going to hear from our central staffers a list of amendments that have been proposed by community members that we've heard about since that November 2017 date.

So we've had a series of public hearings and open houses over the last several years.

So these amendments that we'll be hearing about today, not voting on, but just hearing about today, are a set of amendments that have been forwarded to us by community members, not necessarily endorsed by individual council members, but issues that we've heard from community.

We have another meeting on mandatory housing affordability this Wednesday morning to go over the remaining four districts, one, two, three, and five, and we'll have very much the same process.

Again, we'll plan to have an overview of what was proposed, and then the kinds of amendments that we've been hearing uploaded by community.

So that's going to be the continuation of our discussions on mandatory housing affordability.

We've got several other meetings scheduled for January and February, but we're going to be very district-focused for this week.

Happy to answer questions if there are any.

Seeing none, we will move on.

Thank you, Councilman Johnson.

Thank you very much.

Councilman Mosqueda.

Good morning, Mr. President and committee.

I have one item that I'm bringing forward to today's full council agenda, and that is the labor proclamation that you see in front of you.

As many people know, we have been known in this area for the incredible work that this council and community, led by unions and workers, have accomplished, including paid sick leave, paid safe leave, $15 an hour minimum wage, ban the box, secure scheduling, a domestic workers' bill of rights, And while we have applauded these efforts in the last decade, we really want to celebrate the last century of labor history in this region.

This year marks the 100-year anniversary of the Seattle General Strike.

And as we face potential attacks on labor unions from the national level, we want to make sure that we stand up and recognize and commemorate our struggles throughout the last century.

Our proclamation has been circulated.

I hope you guys have a chance to take a look at it.

I think it's more important now than ever.

And we take the opportunity not just to celebrate the day of the beginning of the general strike, but really the year, as there will be ongoing commemorations throughout this year from our labor partners, unions, labor archives, and history efforts throughout Seattle.

So we'll be sharing more of that.

We'll also have a presentation in my committee on February 17th on the Housing, Health, Energy, and Workers' Rights Committee to talk about labor history throughout the last 100 years here in Seattle.

Thank you for considering signing on to that, and I'd be remiss to say Many of those issues that this council has put before have also been worked on by central staff Patricia Lee and she did announce that she is leaving at the end of this month.

So I just want to say thank you to her for her incredible service to this city and for working on behalf of labor and unions.

We have the housing health energy and workers rights committee coming up this Thursday again We're moving our start time to 10 a.m.

To accommodate the Seattle squeeze and we'll have CEO and general manager Deborah Smith coming forward to report on her first few months in office including the customer energy solutions investigation report on sexual harassment and intimidation in the workplace and We have a request brought to us by the Seattle silence breakers, and we're looking forward to getting an update from her.

We'll also have the Seattle City Lights in the Homish County sale of sidewalk easement, Council Bill 119353, and City Lights 2018 Endangered Species Act Land Deed Acceptance Council Bill 119354, in addition to the Office of Housing reporting out on the $75 million in new funding that they just awarded last month.

1030, or as soon as we're done speaking, we will have a chance to have our second select committee on homelessness and affordable housing, and we will meet immediately following this committee.

So thank you all for walking in and joining us.

There is going to be a presentation from Mark Dones, who is from Future Laboratories and here with us.

Thank you for your work, and thank you for your upcoming presentation.

We'll have a chance to hear from Christine Margiotta from Los Angeles who is with Social Venture Partners and formerly ran the coalition Home for Good.

And a number of community partners, experts on the local level who've provided input on the report that we've seen and will provide ideas on how we can move forward.

Dan Malone, Paul Lambros, Colleen Echo-Hawk, Chloe Gale, Allison Isinger, and Sean Van Eyck.

I'm also circulating the report that came from Los Angeles, the Comprehensive Homeless Strategy.

We have copies in the audience as well.

This is the section of the Los Angeles report focused on consolidating governance, which will be the focus of our conversation today, how we can consolidate and streamline.

With that, I just want to say thank you to the West Seattle BIA and Nucor, who hosted us last Friday in West Seattle.

This is the beginning of our office's effort to get into community.

We will be joining community members, small businesses, unions, nonprofits.

Anywhere you'd like us to go, please let us know every other Friday.

And this month, we kicked off in D1.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Herbold, for welcoming us to your district.

join each council district according to the month.

So next month, Council Member Harrell, we look forward to joining in D2 and so forth.

We'll also have office hours next Friday in districts.

So looking forward to posting that and working with you all as we come to your districts.

If there's anything you'd like us to do, please let us know and that applies to the community at large.

Thank you, Council Member Esqueda.

I'm returning to you a fully executed proclamation on the commemoration of the labor movement and the history of working people.

There's that.

And thanks for signing the proclamation on Unity Day.

Appreciate that.

Council Member O'Brien.

Thank you, Council President.

The Sustainability and Transportation Committee has nothing on this afternoon's full council agenda.

We have a meeting tomorrow afternoon.

The start time tomorrow afternoon is going to be at 1.30 instead of the typical 2. Just to remind folks, we're shifting that a little earlier.

So for community members or staff who are trying to get out of here before the Prime rush hour hours.

We're going to try to give a little flexibility only two items on tomorrow afternoon's agenda report back from SDOT on two different items.

The first is around automated enforcement for block the box and transit lane violations.

This is an issue that the City of Seattle has had in our legislative agenda for a couple years trying to get state authority to allow us to at least pilot some technology to manage cases where vehicles enter an intersection where there's not room on the other side to get out of it and end up creating all sorts of congestion and often safety hazards to folks that are trying to walk or bike across that street.

We currently do not have the legal authority to use enforcement cameras to manage that.

Instead, we can send a police officer out there, and as you can imagine, when a police officer shows up, enforcement is great.

But it's rather expensive, and we can't have a police officer at every intersection on every day, so we're looking for a little more flexibility.

Similarly, with the transit lanes, we have a number, an increasing number of transit-only lanes that are designed to help move our buses, which often are carrying 70, 80, 90 people through our city, and give them priority.

And again, occasionally, and when I say occasionally, sometimes it's up to 100 times a day, we see vehicles illegally using those.

And again, without on-the-site enforcement, it creates a challenge to getting people through our city more effectively.

So ASDOT has done a little bit of research work on that.

They're going to report back to us.

And this is something that we will continue to work on with Olympia to get some authority.

Councilmember Herbold.

Thank you.

As it relates specifically to the legislation that will be coming forward in Olympia, I think it was brought up last session as well.

And I just think one of the things that I heard from OIR during our budget process when we used funds that had been earmarked under ordinance here in Seattle, 20% for pedestrian safety.

There were some concerns that our decision to use those funds for other general fund purposes might actually have a negative impact on our ability to get legislation passed in Olympia.

And if you haven't already thought to do so, I think it might be useful to reach out to the bill's sponsors and ask whether or not they would consider restricting the funds in the authorizing legislation so that those funds could only be used for traffic safety pedestrian purposes.

I appreciate that Council Member Herboldt, and I've heard that concern too, and I will absolutely do that.

With the school zone speed cameras, there's a state requirement that that money has to go to school safety projects, and I think similarly here, trying to tie any revenue we get to investments that fix the problem we're trying to solve.

The ideal here, frankly, would be that we don't collect a penny.

because everyone would obey the rules and that would be perfect.

And I think that it would be appropriate on the transit lanes that the investments, any revenue that wouldn't be collected be invested back in transit service and I think unblock the box for Vision Zero.

And I would certainly be open to a requirement that 100% of those investments are dedicated to those goals or whatever response are down there.

Really, it's about the authority so we can do enforcement and I appreciate you bringing that up and I know What came out of budget last year I think that's something that I'm interested in revisiting in our committee this year to try to make a to recommit to how we dedicate those funds.

The second item on tomorrow afternoon's agenda is a report back on the The annual report for the Seattle Transportation Benefit District, this is the third year that that's been operation.

So for folks in the viewing audience, there's a vehicle license fee that voters approved of an additional $60 on top of the 20 that was councilmanically approved previously.

That revenue or that source generates close to about $50 million now a year that is dedicated towards a set of transit investments largely buying additional service from King County Metro, but also helping with low income access through OrcaLift fares and review some of the funds for things like making sure that students at all Seattle high schools have access to free bus passes too.

And so we'll look forward to hearing that report.

This is a, I want to just flag for folks that when voters approved that, it was time limited and there's just less than two years left on that.

If we do not find a new source or renew that, we will see a significant reduction in our ability to invest in transit.

So two years is still a ways away, but in terms of getting a plan together, it's just around the corner.

And there's also a threat from Tim Iman's another initiative that would significantly restrict our ability to do that.

So that's something else we'll have to keep an eye on and how we manage that.

Certainly, this week, I want to applaud community members, not just here in Seattle, but throughout the region.

The early reports from congestion out there in the region is that a lot of people changed their behavior today.

Some folks were working from home.

I hear a lot of folks that either got up and came in earlier.

The buses, I think, were pretty crowded, and the crowd started much earlier than normal.

But I really am grateful to so many folks who had flexibility that used that flexibility to make the commute seem pretty manageable today.

We had gorgeous weather today, which also makes things a little easier, I saw.

The bike counting numbers were up significantly, where I saw.

The weather's not gonna hold for three weeks, and I think, typically, when you have a day like today, people build up for day one, and imagine we'll see that pendulum shift back in the next two or three days, but really urge folks that when you have that flexibility to continue to use that, and we know that long-term, we need more investments in bus service, too, and so this is something we'll pay attention to.

Very good.

Thank you.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I also wanted to mention on day 24 of the longest federal government shutdown, we did post some information online thanks to Seattle City Light.

They attended a fair at the SeaTac airport with many of the federal workers there and made sure that folks know that there is a utility discount program and there are options.

So if folks are struggling to make ends meet on a day-to-day basis or because of this federal shutdown, There's information on our Twitter page, and encourage folks to repost if you can to make sure people know Seattle City Light does have options for folks, and we'll be working with them to make sure that that information gets out.

And we will continue to push for strong, good governance and get our federal system up and running as well from this Washington to the other.

Oh, and we will convene at 1045 for the select committee.

1045 will convene on the dais remember after a two o'clock full council meeting we have again the Select committee on citywide mandatory housing affordability our favorite subject under councilman Johnson's leadership So sorry had to schedule for formal meetings today, but looking at everyone's schedule and our committees It's been tight, but we have to we have to do okay.

Take five minutes.

We'll be on the dice with that we stand adjourned