City Council 7/26/21

July 26, 2021 meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It's 2.03 PM.

I'm Lorena Gonzalez, President of the Council.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Herbold?

Here.

Thank you.

Council Member Juarez?

Here.

Lewis?

Present.

Mosqueda.

Peterson.

Here.

Sawant.

Present.

Strauss.

Present.

And Council President Gonzalez.

Present.

Seven present.

Thank you so much.

Colleagues, as I mentioned this morning during council briefing, Council Member Mosqueda is not able to join us this afternoon.

She's under the weather.

So if there is no objection, Council Member Mosqueda will be excused from today's meeting.

Hearing no objection, Council Member Mosqueda is excused from today's meeting and we send her our best wishes, hope she feels better soon.

Presentations, I'm not aware of any presentations, so we'll move to approval of the minutes.

The minutes of the City Council meeting of July 19th, 2021 have been reviewed.

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

Hearing no objection, the minutes are being signed.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes?

Approval of the introduction referral calendar.

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

Hearing no objection, the introduction referral calendar is adopted.

So I'll move to adopting the agenda.

I move to adopt the agenda.

Is there a second?

It's been moved and seconded to adopt the agenda.

Council Member Herbold, I understand you have a motion to make on the agenda, so I'm gonna recognize you to make that motion.

Thank you very much.

I will move to hold item 17, Council Bill 1201-19, and we're holding that until August 9th.

I will second that motion.

It's been moved and seconded that the Council Bill 120119 be held until August 9th, 2021. Council Member Herbold, any additional comments on the motion?

I have nothing further to add.

I'm making this motion on behalf of Council Member Mosqueda, who is not with us today.

Great, thank you so much.

Are there any additional questions or comments on the motion to hold Council Bill 120119 until August 9th?

Council Member Sawant, please.

Sorry, just to confirm, this is the motion related to the grocery workers hazard pay?

Yes, yes.

And we're only holding it until August 9th.

Right.

Thank you.

I support the motion to hold this ordinance, the vote on this ordinance, till the later date.

However, I just wanted to make a few comments quickly about the ordinance itself.

The ordinance itself is something that will strip grocery workers of their hazard pay over three years earlier than that was determined by the ordinance that offered this hazard pay to grocery workers last year.

The hazard pay ordinance that the council passed last year required big grocery workers to pay workers an additional $4 an hour in hazard pay in compensation for the dangers they undertake in doing essential work.

during the pandemic, and their work brings them into contact with so many people throughout the day, every day.

And the hazard pay in the original ordinance lasted three years after the end of the public health emergency.

The public health emergency is not over yet, and I think it is absolutely premature to talk about stripping the hazard pay, stripping these essential workers of their hazard pay, which I do not agree with.

I don't think August is late enough either.

So I just wanted to clarify to members of the public what my position is on the ordinance itself, though of course I support holding it.

And I think the least that should be done to support the essential workers is to at least maintain the hazard pay for the originally determined three years.

And if council members agree with me, then we can just vote.

We can just vote no on stripping the grocery workers of the hazard pay altogether and keep the original three years requirement.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

Are there any other comments on the motion to hold Council Bill 120119 until August 9th?

Hearing no additional comments on the motion, will the clerk please call the roll on the motion to hold Council Bill 120119 until August 9th, 2021?

Herbold?

Yes.

Gladys?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Yes.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the bill is held until August 9th, 2021. Are there any further comments on the amended agenda?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the amended agenda?

Herbold?

Yes.

Lettice.

Aye.

Lewis.

Yes.

Peterson.

Yes.

Sawant.

Yes.

Strauss.

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez.

Yes.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the agenda is adopted as amended.

Okay, colleagues, we're going to move into public comment.

We will open the remote public comment period for items on the City Council agenda, introduction and referral calendar, and the Council's work program.

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

It does remain our strong intent to have remote public comment regularly included on meeting agendas.

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

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

The public comment period for today was scheduled to occur for 20 minutes, with each speaker having up to two minutes to address the council.

However, we do have a very large volume of individuals signed up and present to address the council today.

We have approximately 60, maybe 55 individuals who are with us to provide public comments this afternoon.

So in the spirit of wanting to hear from as many folks as we can, I am going to request to have the council public comment period extended.

So if there is no objection, the public comment period will be extended from 20 minutes to a total of 30 minutes.

Hearing no objection, the public comment period is extended to a total of 30 minutes.

I will also need to reduce the amount of time allotted to each speaker, again, in the spirit of wanting to hear from as many individuals who pre-registered to give public comment today within that 30-minute period.

So instead of doing two minutes, I'm going to ask that the clerk provide provide each individual with, let's see, let's start off with 60 seconds for each speaker.

And again, I may need to reduce that further in order to maximize the number of folks who took the time to sign up for public comment today.

So let's go ahead and set the clock to 60 seconds.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

So again, each speaker is going to have one minute to address the council.

Again, each speaker is going to be called in upon based on the order that they registered on the council's website.

Each speaker needs to call in from the phone number used for this registration and using the meeting phone number ID and passcode that was emailed to them upon confirmation.

Please keep in mind that the number that you are calling into is different than the general meeting listen line call-in information.

Each speaker will be called on in the order in which they registered on the council's website.

And each speaker is asked to begin addressing the council by reminding us of your name.

You will hear a prompt of you have been unmuted, and that means it's your turn to press star six before you begin to speak.

Again, once you hear the prompt of you have been unmuted, you need to press star six in order to unmute yourself.

Please begin by stating your name, the item that you are addressing, And as a reminder, your comments should relate to an item on today's agenda, the introduction referral calendar, or the council's work program.

You will hear a chime at about 10 seconds.

That means that you have 10 seconds left to wrap up your public comment.

If you have not ended your comments at the end of the time provided, your microphone will be muted so that I can call on the next speaker.

Once you've completed your public comment, please disconnect from the line and you can follow this meeting on Seattle Channel or one of the listening options on the agenda.

The public comment period is now open.

Again, I'm going to call on speakers and please press star six after you hear the prompt if you have been unmuted.

So the first three speakers are Howard Gale, followed by Shelby Handler, and then we will hear from Blythe Serrano.

Howard, welcome.

Good afternoon, Howard Gale.

Over the last year, we have seen the repeated failures of every aspect of our police accountability system.

The Community Police Commission held a rare once in six years public forum in February to solicit input regarding how police complaints should be investigated, and then promptly voted not to do what the community demanded.

We have seen the Office of Police Accountability ignore complaints, find against victims, or hand out meaningless discipline in over 99% of the police abuse cases from the last year.

Last week, we witnessed the latest failure of the system as the Office of the Inspector General released their first findings on the police abuse of 2020 from a 12-member panel that included seven people who are part of the failed system, including five SPD officers, four of whom have decades of questionable claims against them, including abusing protesters, and only one member who identified as a protester.

It is as if the city held a peace circle for domestic violence victims and invited mostly abusers, along with a few folks, to represent the abused.

This was an obscene whitewash and demonstrates the need for full community control over police policy, misconduct, and discipline.

Go to Seattle.

Stop.

Next up is Shelby Handler, followed by Blythe Serrano, and then we'll hear from Catherine Wolfe.

Shelby, welcome.

Hi there, my name is Shelby Handler, and I'm a Jewish resident calling from District 2, and I'm calling in strong support for Bill CB-120-142 today, calling on all of City Council to support the legislation to prohibit SPD from training with all countries, yes, all countries that are committing grave, ongoing human rights abuses.

Our city needs to stop spending resources on supporting violations of international law.

Instead, we should put our investments in BIPOC communities and specifically in black-led solutions for safety.

And as a Jewish resident, I just really want to say this loud and clear.

When we resist white supremacy, we are resisting anti-Semitism.

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

I know, I feel deep in my body that when we invest in communities that are most impacted by these systems, it makes all of us more safe, including Jewish folks of all races.

So we need to stop investing in racist and militarized policing and not invest in exchanging of worst practices.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Next up is Blythe Serrano, followed by Catherine Wolfe and then Hannah Swoboda.

Hi, my name's Blake.

I rent and work in the Central District, and I'm calling in to urge the Council to support the upcoming pieces of legislation from Council Members' Office on Affordable Housing and Renters' Rights and Police Accountability.

These pieces of legislation would provide funding for the New Hope Affordable Housing Project and the Garfield Superblock, require landlords to provide six months' notice for rent increases, and provide relocation assistance when they displace tenants with outrageous rent increases.

and ban SPD from having any exchange with the military or police of any country that violates basic human rights.

Last year, our tax Amazon movement, the Black Lives Matter protest, Black clergy, affordable housing advocates, and socialists won dedicated funds from the Amazon tax each year to go towards central district affordable housing.

This was a huge victory, but our communities need much more.

City Council must pass Council Member Sawant's resolution condemning the city establishment's past practices of racism redlining and urban renewal and commit to funding the new hope of family affordable housing project to create affordable homes for families with roots in the central district.

Again I. Thank you.

Next up is Catherine Wolfe followed by Hannah Svoboda and then we'll hear from Madi Kraushammer.

Go ahead Catherine Wolfe.

Hi, I have a lived experience with Deadly Exchange now before you.

It passed in my town, Durham, North Carolina.

It claimed Israeli Jews instruct American police how to hurt black Americans.

It is a lie.

It is sick.

It is dangerous.

False narratives like Deadly Exchange are making our lives hell.

Jews are getting beaten up, chased by cars, threatened in restaurants, bullied into closing businesses.

After deadly exchange passed in my town we tried to convince our Black neighbors that Jews weren't out to get them.

Then came posters of Jews with tentacles.

Swastikas.

Three lawsuits.

Blistering write-ups.

Durham is broken.

But Seattle stands a chance.

Reject false narratives.

Reject Jew hatred.

Reject deadly exchange.

Thank you.

Next is Hannah Svoboda, followed by Monty Krauthammer, and then we will hear from Zachary Andrews.

Hannah, welcome.

Hi, this is Hannah Svoboda, and I'm a renter in District 3. I think we have the opportunity to pass a bunch of really exciting, crucially needed new legislation in the coming weeks and months, so I'm calling in to urge the City Council to vote yes on five bills and amendments that Councilmember Sawant's office and working class movements have put forward.

Our movements have been busy organizing for them.

Now it's on the City Council to listen to us.

So the resolution to fully fund the New Hope Affordable Housing Project, which was raised by Sawant's office alongside the United Black Clergy and the Church Council of Greater Seattle will create 90 affordable homes in the CD so that families with historic roots can actually stay or return to the neighborhood.

Hopefully Council will discuss this next Monday.

Also incredibly important is the bill from Suwan's office to ban Seattle PD from having exchange with the military or police of nation states that violate internationally accepted standards of basic human rights.

There's two renter's bills as well, providing relocation assistance for tenants displaced, six months notice for rent increases.

Next up is Mahdi, followed by Zachary Andrews, and then we will hear from Michael Grant.

My name is Moti Krauthammer, and I'm a resident of Seattle.

I'm also the son of a Holocaust survivor, and I'm commenting about Council Bill 120142. Please do not think that blaming foreign governments for SPD's misdeeds and racism will solve those problems.

These are American problems, and it does not make any sense to start looking for another country to blame.

It's potentially quite harmful.

Trump's repeatedly blaming China for COVID led to a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes here in our region.

So, too, blaming Israel for policing issues here in Seattle jeopardizes the safety of Jews in our city.

This resolution is clearly using Israel as a red herring to distract Seattleites from looking locally for the root causes of racist policing.

I understand the council's temptation to do so.

Blaming Jews is convenient and a popular strategy for those looking for a scapegoat for their society's problems and their leadership's failures.

Please do not even refer this committee It's a waste of resources.

It's certainly not going to solve any problems and it reflects deep-seated anti- Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Zachary Andrews, followed by Michael Grant and then Ed Mast.

Zachary, welcome.

Hi, this is Zachary Andrews.

I'm a resident of District 3 in Seattle, and I'm calling in to voice my support for the End the Deadly Exchange Initiative.

as we cannot continue to support the genocidal state that is Israel and apartheid state that is Israel and having them train our Seattle Police Department as it reinforces the militarization and continued terrorization of communities in Seattle and definitively continues the support of the genocide and apartheid of Palestinians in occupied Palestine as well.

I would also like to continue to voice my support for all of the rent control initiatives that have been put forth by the office as well.

Thank you for your time.

I see the rest of my time.

Thank you.

Next up is Zachary followed by Michael.

I'm sorry.

Next up is Michael Grant, followed by Ed Mast and then Yvette Basker.

Hi my name is Michael.

I'm a Jewish renter in District 2 and I deeply implore you to support the council legislation to prohibit SPD from training with countries that are committing human rights abuses.

Tonight I'm flying on a red-eye from my grandfather's memorial.

He showed me what moral Jewish opposition to human rights abuses Israeli apartheid look like and I speak in his name.

He was a dear role model for me and I hope that you do the right thing to end these on our city.

I do not consent to the programs that are carried out in the name of my Jewish safety which come at the expense of Palestinians Black and Brown Americans poor and working class people mentally ill and disabled people and all who are affected by the increasing militarization of our police.

Please do the right thing.

Thank you on behalf of me and my grandfather supporting the human rights of people in Seattle and throughout the world.

Thank you for calling in.

I am just doubling back here.

I recall hearing from Moti and Michael Grant.

I'm not sure we have heard from Zachary Andrews, but he's showing up as spoke in on my sheet.

So just want to double check on the status of Zachary Andrews.

It doesn't look like Zachary's actually present, so that was our fault.

Okay.

Okay.

That's okay.

Thank you so much.

Thanks for clarifying.

Do you want to skip over someone inadvertently?

Next is Ed Mast, followed by Nevitt Basker, and then Derek Bellegarde.

Ed, if you want.

Ed Mast, do you want?

Go ahead.

Go ahead, Ed.

Ed Mask, Duwamish Territory, now called Wallingford, speaking in favor of legislation to stop our police from training with countries that consistently violate human rights.

The U.S. State Department has identified Israel as one of those countries.

And I happened to be in a meeting years ago with then chief of police, Gil Kerlikowske in Seattle.

He was just back from a training in Israel.

And Chief Kerlikowske observed to us that Israeli forces were not focused on crime prevention, but instead focused on crowd control, which, of course, translates easily to suppression of protest, suppression of dissent.

Our police do not need any more training in that.

Their record of crime prevention is already not good.

Don't want them training in any of the long list of countries that gravely abuse human rights.

Please vote in favor of the Deadly Exchange Legislation.

Next up is Nevette Basker followed by Derek Bellegarde and then Logan Swan.

Hi, my name is Nevette and I'm calling to oppose Council Bill 120142. Seattle has issues with police misconduct and accountability but those issues have nothing to do with foreign travel or with human rights around the world.

Council Member Sawant is using Seattle's problems to promote a geopolitical agenda that has nothing to do with our city and does absolutely nothing to address these very real challenges.

The proposed ordinance doesn't help Seattle and it doesn't advance human rights in other countries.

It only deflects attention from our own issues preventing form to vilify foreign governments.

Accusing Israel or any other country for the misdeeds of the Seattle Police Department is ridiculous and slanderous.

Please focus on Seattle's problems.

Don't look for scapegoats thousands of miles away.

Please don't allow this council and this city to be used to further evasive foreign policy agenda.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up is Derek, followed by Logan Swan, and then we will hear from Guy Arone.

Derek, welcome.

I think I see you now, Derek.

Go ahead.

IT, do we still have Derek with us?

Yes, Derek is online.

OK.

Derek, if you can hear me, just press star six so we can hear you.

I am not able to hear Derek.

Derek, it looks like you're unmuted on our end.

Just double check your actual phone to make sure you're not muted on your actual phone.

This is Logan Swan.

OK, I have you listed as the previous speaker so.

Logan, why don't you go ahead since we have you on and we will double back to Derek.

OK, yeah, my name is Logan Swan.

I'm a renter in District 2 and a union iron worker out of Local 86 Seattle.

And yeah on August 2nd the City Council is going to be voting on a very important resolution from Council Member Sawant which her office is putting forward alongside the United Black Clergy and the Church Council of Greater Seattle to acknowledge the past injustices of racist redlining and urging the City Council to fully fund the New Hope Affordable Housing Project as a step towards making the Central District affordable to Black working-class people.

By approving Council Member Sawant's resolution next Monday August 2nd The City Council will commit to funding the New Hope Family Housing Project which will create 90 affordable homes in the Central District so that families with historic roots in the neighborhood can stay or return.

Last year our taxed Amazon movement the Black Lives Matter protests Black clergy affordable housing activists and socialists won dedicated funds from the Amazon tax each year to go towards the Central District's affordable housing.

We know our communities need much more.

We need to increase the Amazon tax to pay for even more affordable housing in Seattle and union jobs.

Thank you for calling in today.

Okay, now we are going to go to Derek Bell guard and then we will hear from guy around Derek.

Please apologies for the technology challenge there.

Oh, I think you can hear me now.

Good afternoon, President Gonzales and members of the Council.

Oh, thank you so much.

Sorry about that.

I'm Derek Belgarde, Executive Director of Chief Seattle Club, enrolled member of Confederated Tribes of Celeste Indians of Oregon.

I'm also from Chippewa Cree, Rocky Boy, Montana.

The Chief Seattle Club is so grateful for the support from the city for our All All project.

Construction is now at 85% complete, and in October, we'll be opening up Seattle's first affordable housing, targeting homeless American Indians, Alaskan Natives.

As you know, we represent less than 1% of the overall population, but 32% of the chronic homelessness population.

Culturally responsive projects like all are crucial towards stabilizing and healing our homeless relatives in our community.

We've been raising money now for five years and have secured 49.2 million, but we still have 1.6 million to go.

Council Member Lewis and central staff have identified 1.67 million in underspent monies from HSD.

We appreciate your support towards approving the funding to complete our all project.

And I can't wait to invite you all to the Cedar ribbon cutting later this year.

Everyone.

Thank you.

Thank you, Derek and thanks for your patience as we work through those technology issues.

Next up is guy around, followed by Steve Lincoln and then Joe comes.

Hello, my name is Guy Oron.

I'm a resident of Seattle, testifying in support of Council Bill 120142, which would ban...

I just want to address some of the pushback we're getting from the other side, which is trying to conflate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.

My comrade, Ayse Monsour, clearly none of these people who oppose the End the Deadly Exchange campaign have actually read the legislation, because this bill will stop the trainings of all countries who have human rights violations.

While we know Israel has committed heinous crimes to the Palestinian population these past six months, this bill does not target them specifically over any other country.

Our goal is to make Seattle safer for all community members, which includes the Black, Muslim, and Palestinian residents.

I encourage city council members to recognize when ultra-right organizers attack POC community members with baseless claims for their own political agenda.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Steve Lincoln, followed by Joe Kunzler, and then Robert Amkraut.

Good afternoon, Council.

My name is Steve Lincoln.

I'm calling in opposition to Bill 120142. This bill does not prevent the Seattle Police Department from working with countries like Russia, China, or Iran.

Instead, The sole target of this bill is Israel.

In 2006, a gunman entered the Belltown office of the Seattle Jewish Federation.

He shot all six of the ladies present, killing one, Pam Wachter, who was a volunteer that day.

The shooter's motive, he said, he was angry at Israel.

This bill's purpose is to demonize the Jewish state of Israel and by association keep enmity against the Jewish people.

Why?

because the bill sponsor is associated with a movement that is angry at Israel.

This council should reject the bill.

Thank you, Steve, for calling in.

Next up is Joe Kunzler, followed by Robert Amkraut, and then we will hear from Sue Hodes.

Well, good afternoon, Council President.

It's always a privilege and honor to call in and give you a piece of my heart.

You have done an excellent job as Council President in managing the Council's affairs.

However, in case you don't check your Twitter mentions, the Washington Coalition for Open Government is very unhappy with how Seattle City Government has been running things lately.

You know, there's an entire Twitter thread.

by the Washington Cog, complaining greatly about how Mayor Durkin has violated the Public Records Act.

I call upon you to find the courage, if you really want to be mayor and really want my endorsement, and impeach and try Mayor Durkin.

I also call upon you to fraud the anti-Semitic, racist, inhumane resolution by Council Member Sawant and impeach and try her as well for crimes against humanity.

And I know you do an awesome job, Council President, and, you know, as a Council President.

So thanks for all your hard work with these remote meetings.

I hope you're doing well.

Next is Robert Amkraut, followed by Sue Hodes.

And then I have Kelsey McGrath showing up as not present.

So Kelsey, if you can hear me, double check those credentials to make sure you're calling into the right number.

Robert Amkraut, please.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Thank you.

This is Robert Amkraut.

I'm a resident of District 5. I'm calling to urge the council to reject the anti-Israel bill number 120142. This bill is not about policing.

Rather, under the guise of neutral language, the bill targets the world's only Jewish majority state, Israel.

Israel's training of police departments is about responses to terror and mass casualty incidents.

Israel's training has nothing to do with the Seattle Police Department's policing of minority communities.

Israel's training seeks to save lives.

As a Jew, like the overwhelming majority of Jews, in a time of rising anti-Semitism, I feel threatened and attacked by a bill that targets Israel.

Reject this divisive bill.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in, Robert.

Next up is Sue.

followed by Martin Spottenberg.

My name is Sue Hodes.

I live in District 2. I am a Jewish feminist, retired teacher, and I've worked on peace in the Middle East since 1986, as a Jew, with Israelis and Palestinians.

Separate anti-Semitism from criticizing violent governments.

The Israeli government has perpetuated all kinds of murderous...

uh...

attack on palestinian but didn't know please do support this bill one two oh one four two it is not just against the israeli government please do not complain anti-semitism against all jews by criticizing violent moves of the government but this ordinance also would prohibit a the seattle police department from training with any country that violate human rights and there's many and that is sink global at global local, be brave, support bill 12142 as a majority of Jews do.

Next up is Martin Spotted Bear followed by Margo Stewart.

Go ahead, Martin.

My name is Martin Spotted Bear.

I'm a Southern Pagan.

I grew up in the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, Montana.

I recently moved to Seattle to get clean after struggling with my addiction for many years.

My brother and my cousin both work at Chief Seattle Club, and they connected me to Kings Inn, the club's hotel shelter in downtown Seattle.

After settling into a room, I checked into Valley Cities, completed the 28-day drug treatment program this month.

I started working at Chief Seattle Club as a lead advocate at Eagle Village.

I've applied to move into the housing at All Hall.

It's really important for me to have stable housing since I've been sober for three months.

At All Hall, I will be surrounded by a Native community who will help me stay sober.

Please support Chief Seattle's club request to provide $1.7 million to complete construction of All All.

I can personally testify that the club provides lifesaving programs that are vital to Seattle's urban Indian homeless community.

Thank you for calling in Martin and sharing your experience with us.

Really appreciate it.

Next up is Margo followed by Alia.

Hi, my name is Margo.

I live and work in the Central District.

I'm calling in favor of measures council members who want to put forward on affordable housing, renters rights and police accountability.

It's really bizarre to hear the accusation of crimes against humanity level about the office with the clearest and most consistent record fighting for these sorts of rights for oppressed people.

But in light of the spreading Delta variant and threat of more dangerous heat waves and smog this summer, we urgently need to vote on August 2nd to fully fund the New Hope Affordable Housing Project that has been championed by the United Black Clergy, the Assurance Council of Greater Seattle, and the Movement of Faith Leaders, Central District Residents, and Socialists in conjunction with Solange's office.

As the pastors have said, this and other affordable housing projects need to be funded by expanding taxes on the rich and big business, and they also need to be coupled with robust renters protections.

Fighting for safe and affordable communities also means passing as soon as possible rather than delaying the Garfield Superblock Project and preventing our police forces from training with nations who have committed human rights violations.

You know, a united movement for real police accountability is the best way to fight racism and anti-Semitism in the ranks of our...

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Alia, followed by Kelsey McGrath.

or maybe it's Aaliyah.

A-L-I-Y-A.

Go ahead.

My name is Aaliyah.

Can you hear me?

We can hear you.

I'm sorry for struggling with pronunciation of the names here.

Go ahead.

No problem.

I'm a resident of District 3 and I also work at the Rachel Corey Foundation.

I'm just calling to voice my personal and our organizational support of Council Bill 120-142, which bans Seattle Police training with countries that have violated human rights laws.

We're in support because it's really just common sense that the Seattle Police should not be training with countries that violate human rights laws.

Rather than spending our city's resources to support those violators of international law, we should instead be investing in Black and Indigenous communities, specifically some of the ballots we're hearing about, housing Indigenous community members, and in broader, supporting broader community-led solutions for safety.

So this council bill would support those ongoing demands by cutting back on funding for training that puts Seattle residents at risk.

I also just want to address, you know, those who oppose the campaign obviously have not read the legislation because it's not specifically about

Thank you for calling in today.

Okay, next up is Kelsey McGrath, and then we'll hear from Inshan Burns.

Hi, I'm Kelsey, an SDS teacher and resident of District 3. I fully support the ordinance to end SPD exchanges with any country that violates human rights.

While SPD is at its core an anti-Black, colonial, and violent institution, these exchanges, like the one between SPD and Apartheid Israel, help to broaden practices that expand surveillance, justify racial and ethnic profiling, suppress public protest through use of force, and promote violent practices like extrajudicial executions, solitary confinement, deportation, and detention, and attacking human rights defenders.

It is a no-brainer that SPD should be barred from collaborating with military and police forces of any regime, like Israel, that has committed numerous war crimes, according to the UN, and is apartheid state, according to Human Rights Watch.

Again, STD, with or without collaboration with human rights violators, will remain an anti-Black colonial and violent institution.

However, it is the duty of our city council to ensure that our city is not endorsing, encouraging, or supporting collaboration between STD and other racist violent regimes, and instead stands with people fighting for liberation here and everywhere, and invest in community and Black and Indigenous-led safety initiatives.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Enshawn Burns, followed by Matt Wilder.

Hi, my name's Nashawn Burns.

I wanted to speak in favor of the resolution introduced by Council Member Sawant, which is up for a vote on August 2nd to commit to funding the New Hope Family Housing Project and condemn our city's history of racist urban renewal and explicitly discriminatory redlining.

As part of this urban renewal, the historically black New Hope Missionary Baptist Church was forced to sell part of its land in 1969. And now, a year after the summer of the uprising for black lives, The church, led by Reverend Jeffrey and supported by Sawant's office, has raised the demand to return this land that was effectively taken from them and put it to use, reversing gentrification and housing 90 families with historic roots in the district so that they may stay here or return.

So I call on the council to stand with the Black Central District residents and faith leaders calling for the correction of this historic injustice to pass the resolution on August 2nd with no delay, committing to fully fund the project.

In addition, I would like to emphasize, as many other commentators have said, my support for the, against Israeli training of our police.

Thank you for calling in.

Next is Matt, followed by Ahuva Marinsky.

Hi, my name is Matt.

I'm a renter in District 3. I want to call on the council to ban police trainings with human rights violators.

And I want to wholesale reject the false equivalence to the situation by situations of Trump's scapegoating responsibility for the mishandling of COVID to China and resulting in Asian hate.

This is about whether or not we should allow our police to train with any nation that has been found guilty of committing war crimes.

There's no misplaced blame in calling out Israel for its crimes against Palestinians and their movements.

And I want to thank Council Member Sawant and her office for taking a stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and for leading the way and making this bill possible.

I want to point out that there's a number of false allegations of our office for crimes against humanity.

What we should say, this is a council office that has the best record of standing up for human rights, for working people in marginalized communities.

Thanks.

Okay, thank you so much for calling in.

Next up is Ahuva, followed by Juan Del Prado.

Ahuva, if you can hear me, press star six so we can hear you.

Good.

Go ahead.

My name is Ahuva.

I am a member of the Israeli American community.

As an Israeli immigrant, I am concerned that the Consul Bill 120142 will result in bad feelings towards the Israelis who live right here and are part of the Seattle community.

We have seen a large increase in anti-Semitic incidents, discrimination, and nasty rhetoric around the country.

Targeting Israel will target Israelis and Jews and exclude them.

To the community, rather than increasing divisions, please ensure that Seattle is a safe, inclusive, and welcoming city for all, including for Israeli-American also.

Please reject Council Bill 120142. Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Juan, followed by Flora Wright.

And Juan, if you can hear me, just press star six so we can hear you.

Hello?

Yep, go ahead.

We can hear you.

Well, good afternoon.

My name is Juan DeWitt Del Prado, Jr.

I'm a tribal member of Alaska Tlingit tribe, Eagle Clan, and I was homeless for 16 years before I found Chief Seattle Club.

I've always been a working man, but, you know, because I had a lot of debt, from student loans to IRS back taxes and unpaid child support.

But, uh, 17 years ago, I moved out of my two bedroom duplex and lived in my van to save money and pay off my bill.

I went to LA fitness for showers and free food at my employer at the Muckleshoot casino, Snoqualmie casino, all those jobs that I used to work for.

And it took me many years, but I finally paid it off.

I paid all off my debts and I'm now debt free.

So, Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19, I was laid off.

Then my ban broke down, so I was...

Thank you, Juan, for calling in today.

I'm sorry, we were unable to hear the rest of your testimonial.

You can feel free to email that to us at council at Seattle.

We would be happy to read the rest of your testimony.

Next up is Jordan.

And then we're going to hear from Amy Rosenfall.

After Amy, we are going to reduce the time allotted to each public commenter from 1 minute to 45 seconds in order to allow us to hear from more individuals who signed up.

Jordan.

Hi, can you hear me?

We can go ahead.

Great.

Hi, my name's Jordan Quinn.

I'm a renter in district two and a member of Socialist Alternative.

I urge the council members to support the upcoming pieces of legislation for affordable housing and renters' rights and police accountability that are coming from council member Salwan's office, including the really important resolution to acknowledge the past injustices of racist redlining in the central district and urge the city council to fully fund the New Hope Affordable Housing Project.

and to not delay that, but to pass it on August 2nd, like it's planned.

Also, too, to support the two crucial bills that are coming forward from Shama's office, one requiring landlords to provide six-month notice for rent increases, and the other mandating that landlords provide relocation assistance when they raise the rent so much that they economically evict their tenants.

And then also, just wanna thank Council Member Sawant and also all the community organizers for showing the courage and leadership in standing up for the oppressed people and for police accountability, but proposing to end the deadly exchange.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Amy Rosenthal.

Can you hear me?

I can hear you.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

My name is Amy, and I'm calling in reference to council bill 120-142.

While the bill includes some pretty language and beautiful words, make no mistake, it is a clever cover for Jew hatred.

The driving force behind this and similar resolutions is the genocidal terrorist organization, Hamas, which perpetrates lies.

I know your focus is on caring for the citizens of Seattle, but this bill will simply embroil the city in foreign affairs, and will enable anti-Semitism and Jew hatred.

It opens the door to swastikas and attacks on Jews.

The city of Seattle is better than this.

We know you stand against anti-Semitism and Jew hatred.

Please reject CB 120-142.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

OK, so I am going to ask for the clock to be adjusted to 45 seconds.

Thank you so much, Madam Clerk.

Appreciate it.

And we're going to continue through the list here for another 10 or 15 minutes.

So next up is Flora Wright, and then we will hear from Sylvie Reynolds.

Hello, I'm a resident of District 3 calling to support CB 120-142, which is supported by over 20 local community organizations.

make it illegal for SPD to train with any country that violates human rights according to international law.

Seattle should not continue to invest in racist and militarized policing.

Seattle isn't made safer when SPD trains with an occupying military force that's a known abuser of human rights.

Trainings with the Israeli military and all other human rights violators promote tactics of occupation and reinforce SPD's discriminatory and repressive policing.

And these trainings are the second most frequent destination for SPD.

During these trips, SPD studies tools of occupation, including racial profiling, suppression of protest, and massive surveillance.

I also support more affordable housing in the Central District and with the Chief Seattle Club.

I yield my time.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Sylvie Reynolds, followed by Josh Ravich.

Hi, this is Sylvie Reynolds calling from Green Lake.

I'm just calling to thank everyone for continuing to advocate for a two-way bike lane and a two-way traffic lane on the currently stay healthy street.

We would like, we appreciate the advocacy to open this road immediately and We thank you for listening to our neighborhood and hearing what we have to say, and we look forward to the announcement and the public process.

Thank you.

Thank you, Sylvie, for calling in today.

Next up is Josh Ravich, followed by Khan Hassan, and then we'll hear from Zoe Cunningham.

Josh, please.

Can you hear me?

We can, go ahead.

Okay, my name is Josh.

I'm calling about CB 120-142.

I'm sure you're aware that effective laws are not created by deliberately concealing the true objective, as this bill does.

This bill ties itself up in such convoluted knots that both Israel and America are among many countries that would be rejected by its criteria as written.

But the totalitarian dictatorship of Iran would be acceptable.

Because the advocates for this bill wish to involve the city of Seattle in international relations and foreign policy, The whole world is watching you.

I'm confident that you understand your task is to do what's best for Seattle, not promote a public relations coup for people living 6,000 miles away.

Reject Council Bill 120-142.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Khan, followed by Zoe Cunningham and then David Beslar.

Hello, can you hear me?

Go ahead, Khan.

Yep, we can hear you.

Go ahead.

This is Khan.

This is Khan.

I'm a part of a coalition of Seattle Indian Americans, and I'm calling in support of legislation 120142 to prohibit the Seattle Police Department from painting with countries that are committing human rights abuses, especially the apartheid, violent, racist, occupied Israel.

We know that safe and healthy Seattle must be grounded in our city's respect for the human rights and dignity of all people.

SPD has already shown documented patterns of violence and racism and are under court supervision for excessive force and racially biased policing.

We need to be focusing on making Seattle more safe and should not be spending money to train with other countries who are violating human rights.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Zoe, followed by David, and then we will hear from Matthew Smith.

Hi, everyone.

My name is Zoe Cunningham, and I'm a resident and homeowner in District 3, and I'm calling in full support of CB 121-42.

I'm Jewish of mixed lineages, Ashkenazi and Sephardic, and I am the grandchild of people who survived the Jewish Holocaust in Europe because of the willingness of normal people to stand up for human rights.

And I really urge us in our city to listen to the Black-led call and to defund, to disinvest from the police.

We still have a lot of work to do around policing in our city, and there's no reason we should be supporting the police to train other places.

Please support Council Bill 120-142.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is David followed by Matthew Smith and then Aram Falsafi.

David welcome.

Good afternoon.

David Basior.

I am a rabbi in the city of Seattle.

I live in District 3 and work in District 3 with a community of residents of Seattle in every district.

I'm here today to support Council Bill 120142. You are hearing a lot today about how this might make Jews feel in our city.

My heart is with us.

I love our people.

I love each one of you.

And today, we need to act instead with the feelings of Jews, but with the lives of black and brown, with disabled, with queer people, and not for what might feel good.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Matthew, followed by Aram Falsafi.

And I have Iris Langman signed up, but showing up is not present.

So Iris, if you can hear me, please make sure to call in.

Otherwise, we will hear from Peter Condit.

So next up is Matthew Smith.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Yeah, my name is Matt Smith.

I'm a renter in District 2. We're facing huge systemic crises, and the Council needs to take major action to address these.

The Council should be supporting all of the bills that Councilmember Salwant is putting forward on behalf of our community, including banning SPD from training with human rights abusers and building new affordable housing.

Last year, we saw the biggest protest in U.S. history against racism and police brutality.

The underlying problems are still there.

They haven't been fixed.

The council has a chance to take action here to take real progress in that direction, banning SPD from training with human rights abusers, committing to funding the New Hope Family Housing Project, which will create 90 affordable housing units and correct a historic process of racist gentrification in the Central District.

And it's absurd that people are attacking.

Thank you.

Next up is Aram, followed by Peter Condit, and then David Haynes.

Go ahead, Aram.

Aram, I just need you to press star six so I can hear you.

Oh, sorry.

Can you hear me now?

Can you hear me now?

We can hear you.

Yep, yep.

Go ahead.

Okay.

So I want to thank you for the time to talk.

I'm calling in favor of Bill 120142, I guess if you feel like Seattle Police Department does not have a racial profiling problem, then sure, send them off to train in places where they're experts at racial profiling.

If you think this is sending police to train in a foreign country is not a foreign policy issue, and not sending it is a foreign policy issue, that doesn't make a lot of sense that somebody talked about.

I also want to say I'm a homeowner in Columbia City before I forget.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Peter Condit, followed by David Haynes and then Lauren Chodson.

Hello, this is Peter Condit in Green Lake.

I'm calling in support of Council Bill 120-142 to prohibit the Seattle Police Department from training with countries that are committing human rights violations.

Racist and militarized policing does not make us safe.

Investing in community makes us safe.

As Council considers its July supplemental budget I also ask that you remove all of SPD's 2021 salary savings from the police department.

That money should go to Just Care and to the HSD Community Safety Capacity Building grants for true nonviolent public safety.

I also support funding affordable housing in the Central District and via the Chief Seattle Club.

Finally, I'll speak against putting cars back on West Green Lake Way North, because among other things, it would be highly inequitable to people who would benefit a disproportionately wealthy car-owning residence near Green Lake.

The cost would be increased risk of injury and death.

Thank you.

Next up is David Haynes, followed by Lauren Chodson, and then Madeline Olson.

Hi, I live downtown.

It's totally unsafe and unsanitary.

The majority of gun violence in Seattle is related to drug pushers and other criminals competing to get rich violently, while city council, mayor, prosecutor's office, and interim police chief policies have encouraged evil to conduct uncivil war on community with impunity.

If liberal leaders really cared about black youth, they would jail the evil adults and improve punishment to end the cycle of crime in younger generations.

We witnessed adult criminals destroying lives and being protected from any punishment, yet city council thinks buying off more activists Organizers claiming they need money to ask gun-toting criminals to leave guns at home is proof Seattle does not have qualified, trustworthy elected leaders to help with public safety.

Only crack meth and heroin pushers are safe from being punished, resulting in youth following the wrong path.

Please resign your office.

You have destroyed the city.

Thank you.

Colleagues, we are at 3 o'clock.

We have about just shy of 15 minutes worth of public comment to hear from.

So, if there's no objection, I would like to extend the public comment period for today to add an additional 15 minutes.

Hearing no objection, we're going to add an additional 15 minutes, which means that if you signed up for a public comment, we will get to you this afternoon.

You just have to hang tight here, and we will get to you before 3.15 PM.

Next up is Madeline Olson, followed by Davina David Garrido.

Hi there.

Can you hear me?

We can hear you.

Go ahead.

Great.

I just want to call on the council to ban police trainings with human rights violators.

Also, as a Chinese-American with a Jewish partner, I want to full-on reject the false equivalence of this situation to Trump blaming China for COVID leading to Asian hate.

This is about whether or not we should allow our police training with any nation that has been found guilty of committing war crimes.

Just because Israel meets the criteria does not mean we shouldn't pass the ban.

There's no misplaced blame in calling out Israel for its crimes against Palestinians.

There's nothing anti-Semitic about standing up for human rights.

I want to thank Council Member Sawant and her office for taking a stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and leading the way to make this possible.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Davina Davids-Garido, followed by Aisha Mansour.

Hi.

This is Davina.

Can you hear me?

We can.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Hi my name is Davina and I'm calling in today to voice my support for Bill CB 120-142 to end the deadly exchange.

For Seattle PD to continue normalizing relations and taking pointers and trainings to militarized forces abroad with extensive human rights violations sends a message to the people of Seattle that the priority is not to keep them safe but to enforce harmful programs and tactics that put them more at risk.

Seattle PD has no need for more training in violent policing tactics.

I'm calling on city council to make the right decision and showing their constituents that their lives matter more than relations with terrorist regimes and vote in favor to end the deadly exchange.

Thank you.

I yield the rest of my time.

Thank you.

Next up is Aisha Mansoor followed by Daniel Cavanaugh.

Oh, you should try that one more time.

There we go.

We can hear you.

Go ahead.

My name is Aisha Mansour, and I'm a resident of Seattle living in Green Lake.

And I would like to voice my support for Bill 120-142 that ends trainings with countries who have an extended history of human rights violations.

Guy Oron earlier mentioned that this bill does not specifically target Israel.

And while Israel may have committed human rights violations, that does not mean that this would not end trainings with other countries who have committed extended histories of human rights violations.

These accusations of anti-Semitism are common and usually targeted at POC left organizers and left politicians.

We have seen it at AOC.

We have seen it at Pramila Jayapal.

We have seen this targeted at Rashida Tlaib.

Do not fall for these accusations and please stand with the organizers.

Thank you.

Next up is Daniel Kavanaugh followed by Jeremy Voss.

Hey, my name's Dan.

I'm a renter in the Central District.

I urge all council members to support the upcoming piece of legislation for affordable housing and renters' rights and police accountability from council members to want.

I really want to thank council members to want's office for putting forward the ban on the Seattle Police Department from having any exchange with the military or police of nation states that violate international human rights.

You know, this bill really wouldn't have come forward without Councilmember Schwartz's office and the community organizers in her office for showing the courage and leadership and standing up for oppressed people and for police accountability.

And in addition, please, on August 2nd, the City Council will vote on a resolution.

Her office is putting forward, alongside black clergy, to acknowledge the past injustices

Thank you.

Next is Jeremy boss followed by Jason Sykes.

Go ahead.

Jeremy.

Hi, can you hear me?

We can hear you now.

Jeremy.

Hi, my name is Jeremy boss.

I'm a.

I'm a D2 resident.

I grew up in the Seward Park community.

I'm Jewish.

I'm a descendant of Holocaust survivors, as well as those that survived the Farhud in Iraq.

This is really a no-brainer legislation.

Like, yeah, support CB 12142. People are right.

This won't, like, magically solve all the problems with SPD, but it's a very small first step.

We can't begin to pretend that we're reforming while we're doing this.

It's also very offensive that people are using the fear of anti-Semitism to somehow justify these trainings as if these trainings keep me safe and they don't.

Yes, support the bill.

Thank you.

Solidarity.

Thank you.

Next up is Jason Sykes, followed by Shawna Kelly.

Hi, Matt.

My name is Jason Sykes.

I'm a resident of District 4. I'm calling in to urge the City Council to take a more aggressive stand on police accountability, specifically to look at ways to give full civilian oversight of SPD.

I would just remind the City Council respectfully that when the consent decree was handed down, SPD was taking, on average, three community lives per year.

Today, 10 years later, SPD is taking, on average, three community lives per year, one life per year is too many.

And I would urge the council to focus on to the land oversight to address that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up is Shauna Kelly followed by Lauren Berry Kagan.

Hi, my name is Shauna Kelly and I'm calling from Green Lake and I am just calling to advocate for the opening of Green Lake Way.

Also for the equity and inclusion, we lost over 100 parking spots, many of which were for disabilities.

And we feel like this is a discriminatory practice against the people who would like to use the park.

Additionally, small businesses are being impacted in a lot of our neighborhoods, including Wallingford, Finney Ridge, Fremont, and Greenlot.

And we would just like to see this open back up and It's it's a great impact.

So thank you so much for considering and thanks for your advocacy.

Thank you.

Next up is Lauren Berry-Kagan followed by James Oliveros.

Hi my name is Lauren Berry-Kagan.

I'm calling from the 3rd District here as a board member of my synagogue strongly in favor of CB 120-142 prohibiting SPD from training.

With security forces of any country that violates human rights law, including Israel, police exchanges with Israel and other countries serve to reinforce, circulate, and promote the worst practices of discriminatory, repressive policing that already exist in both countries.

Of course, ending these exchanges won't end police violence here in Seattle, but this is an opportunity to chip away at the structures of white supremacy and state violence that these exchanges both rely on and help strengthen.

Some may falsely claim that our campaign will negatively impact local Jewish communities, but they do not speak for all of us.

I hope you will vote in favor of the proposed ordinance.

I also want to support additional funding for it.

Next up is James Oliveros followed by Alec Fisher.

Hi, I'm James Olivares.

I'm speaking today in solidarity with my black and brown neighbors as a concerned member of the Philippine diaspora who recognizes the international consequences of military and police cross-training.

It's extremely disturbing to me that the tactics that have been used to murder the people of my homeland can be seen on the streets of my own neighborhood as FPD continues to train with human rights abusers.

This legislation will not only curb the militarization of the police, it also ensures that our tax dollars won't support repressive regimes in other countries like Duterte's war on the poor and indigenous people of the Philippines.

With a year of protests against police violence and images of brutality against the Palestinian people steered into public memory, your constituents will not forget where you stand on this.

My tax dollars should not fund the brutalization of neighbors, Palestinians, of my Kaaba buying back home, or any victims of state-sponsored violence.

I don't want any more blood on my hands, and you shouldn't.

Next up is Alec Fisher, followed by Aidan Carrington.

Hi my name is Alec Fisher.

I'm a renter in District 2. So 12014. I'd like the council to support this bill in order to stand against global Islamophobia and to stand in support of our local Palestinian community as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next is Aiden Carroll followed by Blair Carolman.

even here calling from green lake uh...

where i uh...

would oppose you putting cars on back on the fifteen to twenty percent of really play that is lacking them instead we ought to remove cars from the other eighty eighty five percent but if it is to happen to reopen the cars do not allow it to display the vehicle resident at sixty-fifth and aurora uh...

also and the deadly exchange As Ram earlier hit the nail on the head, it is an exchange.

We – SPD cannot be trusted to train with anyone because it is honestly more risky that SPD will give their tactics to Israel or Canada or the Philippines or Mexico as vice versa.

Support all – Next is Blair Perelman followed by Latanya Severo.

Oh, looks like we lost Blair, so we're going to move over to Latanya, and then we will hear from Thomas Petrie.

Latanya, welcome.

There you go.

Go ahead.

Awesome.

Hello, this is Latanya Sevier, a black non-binary person living in Beacon Hill.

I'm calling in support of Council Bill 120142 to prohibit the Seattle Police Department from training with countries that are committing human rights violations.

Racist and militarized policing does not make us safe.

Investing in community makes us safe.

As Council considers its July supplemental budget, I also ask that you remove all of SPD's 2021 salary savings from the Police Department.

That money should go to Just Care and to the HSC Community Safety Capacity Building Grant for true nonviolent public safety.

I also support funding affordable housing in the Central District and via the Seattle, the Cheap Seattle Club.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Okay, we have two more speakers showing up as registered and present.

So I'm going to call on those two last speakers now.

Thomas Petrie and then Jeff Paul.

Thomas press star six so we can hear you.

Thomas, one more time.

I'm still showing you as muted on our end.

Okay.

Let's see.

Thomas, one more time.

I can see you, but you are showing up as muted.

And make sure you're hitting the star button, not the pound.

It's star six.

Let's hear from Jeff Paul and see if we can work out our technology difficulties with Thomas in the interim.

Jeff, go ahead.

Hello, my name is Jeff Paul.

I'm an educator with Seattle Education Association and a renter in District 4. i'm here speaking in support uh...

for the bill to end the deadly exchange there's a lot of really great uh...

comments and thank you for extending the public comment section i just want to say that the adult is a human right to be and we definitely claim uh...

and so it makes absolute sense uh...

and the practice uh...

training with any human rights abusers uh...

anywhere around the world uh...

that's just like a hundred percent make sense uh...

taking out the context of uh...

israel at the one that's been called out the most uh...

so We need to do that immediately.

There's so many things that need to change about our policing system, but we can do that right now.

So make the decision.

It's an easy call.

And also use the salary savings to fund just care and other nonviolent community safety.

Thank you.

OK, let's try Thomas Petrie one more time.

Thomas, if you can hear me, just press star six to unmute yourself.

I'm still not able to hear Thomas and he's still, Thomas is still very much showing up as muted on my end.

Thomas, try that one more time, star six.

One more time, Thomas.

Star six.

Okay.

I am not seeing Thomas come off of mute.

Thomas, I am so sorry.

I know you waited until the very, very end here.

See if we can try one more time, star six.

Thomas, we're still not able to hear you.

I am so sorry.

You can email your comments to us at councilatseattle.gov.

We do review our email and take those comments into consideration.

Again, my apologies that we are having some technical difficulties.

I can see your tile, but I am showing that you are still muted.

So we're going to go ahead and end the period of public comment.

and move to other items of business on this afternoon's agenda.

Next is payment of the bills.

Will the clerk please read the title?

Council Bill 120132, appropriating money to pay certain audited claims for the week of July 12th, 2021 through July 16th, 2021 and ordering the payment thereof.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

I move to pass Council Bill 120132. Is there a second?

Second.

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

Are there any comments?

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

Herbold?

Yes.

Gladys?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

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

Agenda item one, Council Bill 120126. relating to Seattle Parks and Recreation authorizing an exchange of city-owned property at Walt Hunley Playfield for property owned by Seattle School District No. 1 adjacent to West Seattle Elementary School.

Thank you so much.

I move to pass Council Bill 120126. Is there a second?

Second.

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

I'm going to hand it over to Council Member Juarez, who is the prime sponsor of this bill, to address the item.

Thank you, Council President, and thank you for allowing this item to advance to full council so Seattle Parks and Seattle Public Schools can meet their deadline.

Colleagues, as I shared with you an email, an informational background email on Friday, July 23rd, this executive proposed legislation will authorize an exchange of city-owned property at Walt Hunley Playfield for property owned by Seattle Public Schools adjacent to West Seattle Elementary School.

We've done these common property swaps between parks and other city departments such as SDOT and the zoo and aquarium, and now we're doing another one with Seattle Public Schools.

Seattle Public Schools and Seattle Parks and Rec began the process of formally transferring these two pieces of property in the 1980s, but did not complete the legal process required for transferring the properties, including the execution of quick claim deeds.

The property trade involves two pieces of land of equal value and size.

This trade will give Seattle Parks and Rec full control over its existing athletic field and Seattle Public Schools full control and the ability to develop its property at the elementary school.

The bill ensures that the portion of the property being transferred to Seattle Public Schools remains available for public outdoor recreation through the execution of an interlocal agreement between the two agencies.

Madam President, I recommend that council pass this bill.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Juarez.

Council Member Herbold, you have your hand raised.

Thank you so much.

Really appreciate Council Member Juarez for bringing this forward.

Just for the viewing or listening public in District 1, just want to add a little bit of more detail about the interlocal agreement.

The interlocal agreement specifies that the district will not develop or fence off the public recreation portion, but will have the ability to install a gate in the existing fence that will allow students to access and recreate.

The arrangement equalizes the area of the transfers and neither agency will be required to compensate the other for the exchange.

And the legislation does not in any way change the current use of the affected pieces of property.

They'll continue to be used as they are now, but with underlying ownership appropriately held by the correct agency user.

Thanks.

Thank you so much, Council Member Herbold.

Are there any additional comments on the bill?

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

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Yes.

Seven in favor and none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Will the clerk please read item two into the record?

Agenda item two, court file 314479. Designation of facial recognition technology, a surveillance technology pursuant to Seattle surveillance ordinance, Seattle municipal code 14.18.020.

Thank you so much.

I move to approve clerk file 314479. Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded to approve clerk file 314479. I'm going to hand it over to Council Member Herbold, who is a co-sponsor of this clerk file item, to address the item.

Thank you again so much and really appreciate the opportunity to work with Councilmember Peterson on this bill.

He is the chair of the committee that has oversight of the surveillance technology related actions.

And so since this is a clerk file to the surveillance ordinance, really appreciate his leadership in helping me work through some of the issues related to a recent Office of Professional Accountability investigation where the director concluded that an officer's use of facial recognition technology was not in violation of the city's surveillance ordinance.

We received analysis from central staff.

The analysis shows that The facial recognition technology is currently within the jurisdiction and purview of the surveillance ordinance, meaning that the use of the technology is currently prohibited unless reviewed and approved as described in the graphic or as described in the in the ordinance itself.

But in order to eliminate any confusion in the future, whether facial recognition technology is covered by the surveillance ordinance, Council Central staff recommended that we use the clerk file as the mechanism for this particular clarification.

We've also sort of heard differing opinions from from Chief Diaz in the Seattle Police Department.

Back in November of 2020 when this issue was first brought to public awareness, Chief Diaz wrote that SPD does not use Clearview AI.

and has no intention of using Clearview AI, and he went on to say, as chief, I'm committed to upholding the tenets of the surveillance ordinance and the civil liberties of our residents.

Clearview AI's business product is at odd with those two central priorities.

Further, on my request, again, last year, the chief sent out a department-wide communication reminding everyone in the Seattle Police Department about the policy.

It made clear that one cannot use personal technology as a means to bypass city policies and included for the review of SPD employees what the actual content of the policies were.

And recently, the chief publicly indicated that it is a gray area, saying it's not Chief Diaz's position that surveillance ordinance as presently codified covers the use of facial recognition software.

And again, the clerk filed before the council today will ensure that in the future, the surveillance ordinance is very clear that it does include the use of facial recognition technology and will be subject to the review process.

outlined in the ordinance.

Thank you.

Thank you so much Councilmember Herbold.

Any additional comments on the clerk file?

Councilmember Peterson, please.

Thank you, Council President.

Yes, as Council Member Herbold said, approving this clerk file would designate facial recognition technology as surveillance technology, so it would then be subject to the thorough review and approval process as prescribed by Seattle's strong surveillance ordinance.

there's actually a SMC section 14.18.020B4 that states that council may at any time designate that a technology is or is not surveillance technology.

And it actually asks for a clerk file to do that.

So thanks to the foresight of the authors of the surveillance ordinance for giving us this option to do this today.

And we encourage you to adopt this clerk file.

Thank you.

Thank you so much customer Peterson.

Any additional comments on the clerk file?

I'm not seeing any other hands raised.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the approval of the clerk file?

Purple.

Yes.

I Lewis yes.

Peterson yes, so want yes.

Strouse?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Yes.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the clerk file is approved.

Will the clerk please read item three into the record?

Agenda item three, clerk file 314456. Full unit lot subdivision application provides Solar Real Estate 6 LLC to subdivide three parcels into eight parcels of land and one of those parcels into 13 unit lots at 11200 Pinehurst Way North East.

Thank you so much.

I move to file clerk file 314456. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you so much.

It's been moved and seconded to file clerk file 314456. I'm going to hand it over to Council Member Strauss to address the item.

Thank you, Council President, this clerk file in our next.

Item number four on the agenda is the ordinance that will be associated with this clerk file.

Clerk Barn took most of my speaking points for me because this is a technical and legal matter where city council's role is to ensure that this process has certified the needs that the plot meets all the conditions previously set by the hearing examiner.

So let me go through the points here.

This clerk file and the following council bill grant final approval to the, quote, Pines at Northgate, unquote, subdivision at 1014 Northeast 112th Street in Northgate.

This plot divides one parcel into eight, with one of those parcels being further subdivided into 13 unit lots for individual townhome sales.

In total, the project includes 13 townhomes and seven live-work units.

Our role, the council's role in this process, is to, again, certify that the plot meets all the conditions previously set by the hearing examiner.

Seattle Department of Transportation, Seattle Department of Construction Inspections, and Council Central staff have all confirmed that the plat meets all requirements and recommend the council approves this application.

With that in mind, I move to place clerk file 314456 on file.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you so much, Council Member Strauss.

Are there any additional comments on the clerk file?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the filing of the clerk file?

Herbold?

Yes.

Lattes?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Yes.

Seven in favor, then opposed.

The motion carries and the clerk file is placed on file.

Will the clerk please read item four into the record?

Agenda item four, council bill 120127, approving and confirming the plat of the pines at Northgate and the portions of northeast quarter of southeast quarter of section 29, township 26 north, range four east, WM in King County, Washington.

Thank you.

I moved to pass Council Bill 120127. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you so much.

The bill has been moved and seconded for passage.

I'm going to hand it back over to you, Councilor Strauss, in the event that there is anything else you'd like to add.

Thank you, Council President.

You and the Clerk Barron have done a wonderful job.

This is the associated council bill to the previous clerk file, the quote, Pines at Northgate, unquote, all subject matter has already been covered, and therefore I move to pass Council Bill 120127.

Great, thank you so much.

Are there any additional comments on the bill?

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

Herbold?

Suarez?

Lewis?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Yes.

Strouse?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Yes.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Will the clerk please read items five through 11 into the record?

The report of the Community Economic Development Committee, agenda items five through 11, appointments 1970 through 1976. The appointments of Audra D.D. Boo and Bunny Marie Moore as members, Seattle Music Commission, for a term to August 31st, 2024. The appointments and reappointment of Jason Clacky, Sue Ennis, and Eric Lilliboy as members, Seattle Music Commission, for a term to August 31st, 2023. And the appointment of Denise Burnside and Casey Ann McKay as members Seattle Music Commission for a turn to August 31st, 2022. The committee recommends the appointments be confirmed.

Thank you so much, Madam Clerk.

Colleagues, as you know, Council Member Morales is not here today, and these are items from her committee.

I am hoping she sent notes to someone, as my script says that she's going to speak to these, but she is not here.

So does anyone have talking points for Council Member Morales' appointments?

Council Member Peterson.

I'm happy to try to speak to the appointments.

I was at the committee, but I don't have the official notes.

That'd be great.

If you don't mind pitch hitting, that'd be fantastic.

I appreciate it.

Of course.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, the Community Economic Development Committee was honored to see all these applicants at the committee.

They're all qualified, excited to serve, and were unanimously recommended by the committee.

So I know that Chair Morales would like to see them all appointed today.

Thank you.

Council President, she probably was there as well with Council Member Peterson.

And if I can just say, I was busily looking for my notes and I can't find them, but I can say it was pretty awesome.

So a lot of them showed up.

They're very amazing.

We're very excited.

We got a chance to look at their, their packets and council member Morales did a phenomenal job of introducing the folks.

And so did the departments that were there to introduce the folks and they were all passed unanimously.

It's all I got from memory.

I appreciate it.

We are doing what we can here.

I do know that the materials have been available to members of the viewing public, both related to the Community Economic Development Committee, but also on today's whole council agenda with the full appointment packets available.

And do you see that the record reflects that all five council members who are members of the Community Economic Development Committee recommended Recommended that the City Council confirm these appointments.

So if there are no additional comments or questions, we can go ahead and move forward.

Okay, hearing no additional comments or questions, I would ask that the clerk call the roll on the approval of the appointments.

Council Member, thank you.

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Seven in favor and none opposed.

Thank you so much.

The motion carries and appointments 1970 through 1976 are confirmed.

Will the clerk please read items 12 through 16.

Agenda items 12 through 16, appointments 1977 through 1979, 1981, and 1982. The appointments of Morgan Kane, Kyla Evans, Gwennady Mamidala as members, Seattle Women's Commission for a term to July 1st, 2022. And the appointments of Ophelia Parker and Gemma K. Turk as members, Seattle Women's Commission for a term to July 1st, 2023. The committee recommends that these appointments be confirmed.

Thank you so much, Madam Clerk.

So the first appointment is Morgan Cain to the Seattle Women's Commission.

Again, the members of the Community Economic Development Committee did have an opportunity to consider all of these appointment packets and approved and recommended that the council confirm all of the appointments we're about to discuss.

Morgan Cain joined WISE in 2016 after graduating from the University of Washington with a BA in psychology.

She has obtained her MPA from the UW School of Public Policy and Governance, where she focuses primarily on social policies and conducting participatory community-driven research.

She is passionate about social and economic justice for all communities and is very interested in the intersection of identity, opportunity, and health.

They spend their free time advocating for policies protecting women's rights and is an active member of the LGBTQ plus community in Seattle.

Morgan lives in Capitol Hill with her partner where they enjoy browsing in used bookstores and urban gardening.

So that is Morgan.

Let me pull up the next appointment.

Bear with me as I scroll through a rather voluminous agenda here.

The next appointment is Kyla Evans.

Let's see here.

Sorry about this.

Kyla Evans is a clinical social worker at Harborview Medical Center.

Her professional background includes domestic and international advocacy within local and national government, as well as program development and management with a focus on women's issues.

She recently completed consulting work for Duwamish Tribal Services and has served as a founding member of student, staff, and faculty-led collective amid excuse me, aimed at integrating an abolitionist lens into social work practice at the University of Washington.

She holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Washington, as well as a Master of Science from the DePaul University School of Public Service.

And she was born and raised in the little town of Brewster, Washington, and currently resides in the Central District of Seattle.

Our next appointment to consider for the Seattle Women's Commission is the appointment of Vinati Mamadali.

Again, this appointee has lived in Seattle since 1987, currently employed at Gates Foundation since 2003. Before that, Vinati worked part-time in the Seattle Public Schools and in the King County Department of Finance, Financial Management Division.

Currently has a bachelor's degree in arts from Osamani University and has a nonprofit management certification from the University of Washington and is very excited about serving our local community in this role.

And I think there's one more appointment for the council to consider.

Let me pull that one up for the record.

Okay, there's two more.

The next one is Ophelia Parker.

Ophelia Parker is a resident of both, has been a resident of both Capitol Hill and the Central District.

She works full-time as a legal project coordinator for Bristol Myers Squibb's cell therapy team and supports a team of attorneys on projects related to cell therapy drugs and focuses her work around patient advocacy and efficacy.

Also currently enrolled at the University of Washington, where they are studying for certification in project management while they prepare for the master's degree.

Also very excited about serving on the Seattle Women's Commission.

And then our last appointee for consideration on the Seattle Women's Commission is Gemma K. Turk.

And Gemma.

is, excuse me, Gemma has for the last 10 years worked diligently to expand abortion training and success.

She hopes to use her professional expertise in program evaluation and planning and her personal commitment to women's issues to connect more profoundly with her community.

She believes she can be of great service and pledges to be a committed and active member of the commission.

Her family recently moved to Seattle, but she has already found a deep affection and love for our city and is looking forward to continuing to work on issues that impact women.

Highlights in particular, her concerns about the number of women who have left the workforce due to COVID and wanting to play a role in shepherding the city's policies towards reintegrating those women into our workforce.

So colleagues, those are our appointees for consideration on the Seattle Women's Commission.

Are there any additional comments?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointments 1977 through 1979, 1981, and 1982. Herbold?

Yes.

Lattis?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

So want?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Yes.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the appointments are confirmed.

Okay, will the clerk please read items 18 through 21 into the record.

Report of the Finance and Housing Committee.

Agenda items 18 through 21. Appointments 1983 through 1986. appointment of Stephen Hooper Jr. as member of Domestic Workers Standards Board for a term to February 28, 2023, and the reappointments and appointment of Sylvia Gonzalez, Elizabeth Hunter Keller, and Marie Gabrielle Rosenberg as members of Domestic Workers Standards Board for a term to February 28, 2024, the committee recommends these appointments be confirmed.

Thank you so much.

And Council Member Herbold, I'm going to hand it over to you because you are speaking in Council Member Mosqueda's stead this afternoon.

Thank you for that.

Thank you so much.

So appointment 01983, Steve Hooper is a new appointee.

He currently serves as president of Ethan Stoll Restaurants.

His experience as an employer of domestic workers, including nannies, au pairs, house cleaners, gardeners, as well as plumbers, electricians, and other tradespeople.

Steve is a resident of District 6. Appointment 01948. This is a reappointment.

Sylvia Gonzalez is a domestic worker and on staff at Casa Latina as a domestic worker organizer.

She has served on the board of directors of the National Domestic Workers Alliance for several years and has played an instrumental role in the Seattle Domestic Workers Bill of Rights.

This is Sylvia's second term.

Appointment 01985, Elizabeth Hunter Keller.

Liz is a resident of District 6. She is a domestic worker employer of a house cleaner and nanny.

In her professional life, Liz has extensive experience in public relations and marketing in both the public and private sector.

She volunteers for a number of local nonprofits.

Liz is passionate about ensuring domestic workers are treated with dignity and respect.

And this will be Liz's second term on the board as well.

Finally, appointment 01986. That's Marie Gabrielle Rosenberg.

This is a new appointee.

She is a resident of District 5. She migrated from Haiti in the late 80s.

She's a former licensed x-ray technician, and currently she's working as a nanny and nursing assistant in the Seattle area.

Thank you so much, Council Member Herbold, for Covering that particular report, are there any additional comments?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointments 1983 through 1986. Yes.

Gladys?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strouse?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Yes.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Motion carries, and the appointments are confirmed.

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

The report of the Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee.

Agenda items 22 through 25. Appointments 1966 through 1969. Appointments of Emily J. Myers, Andrea Ornelas, Deepa Sivarajan as members, Green New Deal Oversight Board for a term to April 30th, 2022. And appointment of Christina Chu as member, Green New Deal Oversight Board for a term to April 30th, 2023. The committee recommends that these appointments be confirmed.

Thank you so much.

Council Member Sawant, you are chair of the committee.

I'm going to hand it over to you to walk us through this report.

Thank you, President Gonzalez.

These four appointments are the last council-nominated appointments to the Green New Deal Oversight Board.

After these confirmation, the board has only four remaining vacancies, one mayoral appointment and three that are appointed by the oversight board members themselves.

Andrea Ornelas and Emily Myers are being appointed to the Green New Deal Oversight Board positions reserved for representatives of the labor movement.

Andrea is the Assistant Political Director for Member Outreach and serves on the Executive Board for Laborers Local 242. Emily Myers is the Staff Organizer and serves on the Executive Board for UAW 4121. Deepa Sivarajan is the Washington Policy Manager for Climate Solutions.

She is being appointed to a GND Oversight Board position reserved for people with expertise in climate change.

Finally, Christina Chu is being appointed to the Green New Deal Oversight Board position reserved for a youth representative, and Christina organizes with Sunrise Seattle.

The Sustainability and Renters Rights Committee unanimously recommends the council confirm these appointments.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Swatt.

Any additional comments on the appointments?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointments 1966 through 1969?

Are both?

Yes.

Wattis?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Yes.

Seven in favor, nine opposed.

The motion carries and the appointments are confirmed.

Will the clerk please read item 26 into the record?

Report of the Transportation and Utilities Committee, agenda item 26. Council Bill 120115 relating to the traffic code amending sections 11.14.277, 11.16.121, and 11.76.015 of and adding a new section 11.14.276 to the Seattle Municipal Code to establish on-street paid parking rates for large events that are expected to draw at least 10,000 attendees.

The committee recommends the bill pass as amended.

Thank you so much, Council Member Peterson.

You are the chair of this committee, so I'm going to hand it over to you to provide the report.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, as I mentioned at the Council briefing this morning, our Transportation and Utilities Committee amended and then unanimously recommended Council Bill 120115. This bill will enable our Seattle Department of Transportation to better manage on-street parking availability in the uptown neighborhood by increasing parking rates as needed during large events at Seattle Center.

Large events are likely to include professional sports at the newly renovated Climate Pledge Arena, formerly known as Key Arena.

While our committee unanimously adopted the bill on July 7th, we decided to have the legislation arrive at today's council meeting, a full three council meetings later, just in case the public wanted more time to comment.

Thank you to Council Member Morales for her important amendment in committee, which clarified that the scope is limited just to large events at Seattle Center.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Council Member Peterson.

Any additional comments on the bill?

Council Member Lewis, please.

Thank you so much, Madam President.

As I am not a member of the Transportation Committee, today has been my first opportunity to engage in a council process on this bill.

I do wanna thank Council Member Peterson for providing space to meet and discuss potential concerns with him in the run-up to his process in his committee and do appreciate that that process was inclusive of my positions as the council member representing Uptown.

I do feel like I should make a statement on the legislation now that it's facing final passage and I have the first opportunity to weigh in with an official vote on it.

I do support the legislation.

I do think it's important that we have a strategy around the finite on-street parking supply in the Uptown neighborhood and how the coming significantly large events at the Climate Pledge Arena are going to impact that parking supply.

I do just want to put on the record for folks watching, and this will probably be redundant to the discourse in the Transportation Committee, but for the first hour of parking, for the first, rather, two hours of parking, the rate will be assessed at $3 an hour.

For the second two-hour period of parking, it'll be assessed at $8 an hour, with the director discretion to increase to $12 an hour.

For a four-hour period, folks could end up paying as much as $22 for on-street parking or up to 30 if the full discretion afforded to the director is permitted.

I think it is important to acknowledge that the Uptown neighborhood has considerable additional demands as a neighborhood with a number of small businesses with additional arts and entertainment facilities in the region, all of which are going to be competing for limited parking supply with these significant events.

I do want to just go on the record and state that I think it is important that when we are planning moving several thousand people into a discrete area that we do provide incentives to take advantage of the multitude of direct bus routes that go to the Seattle Center campus from all over the city of Seattle.

That we take advantage of the souped up monorail transfer that is going to be available to visitors on game days to transfer from the light rail at Westlake to the monorail in order to get to the Seattle Center campus.

And we can't forget the upcoming Thomas Street improvements that this council has supported for a number of years to increase bike and pedestrian options and indeed to facilitate potential parking from further afield and provide a good pedestrian promenade to the Seattle Center campus.

All improvements in anticipating moving significant numbers of people to the Seattle Center.

There are considerable alternatives to driving.

And if folks do drive, we need to make sure that we are doing our due diligence to make sure that the parking is being rationed in a way that can be, that can coexist with some of the other demands the Uptown neighborhood faces for street parking.

And also make sure that we are incentivizing those other methods of folks to get to the center campus without depending on single occupancy view.

So with that, I will be voting for this.

I do think that, considering again that it's only limited to situations when there are large events, these are not new default 24 hour a day parking rates for the uptown neighborhood, that this is a reasonable course of action by the department, and I will be voting for it today.

Thank you so much, Council Member Lewis.

Any additional comments on the bill?

All right, hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Herbold?

Yes.

Wattis?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Yes.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

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

Will the clerk please read items 27 through 31 into the record?

Agenda items 27 through 31, appointments 1919 and 1987 through 1990. The appointment of Timothy O. Steele as member City Light Review Panel for a term to April 10th, 2023. Reappointment of Mikkel Hansen as member City Light Review Panel for a term to April 12th, 2024. appointment of Leo L. Lamb as member, City Light Review Panel for a term to September 30th, 2022, and the appointments of Carrie Lynn Mead and Joel Paisner as members, City Light Review Panel for a term to April 30th, 2024. The committee recommends that these appointments be confirmed.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Council Member Peterson, I'm gonna hand it back over to you to walk us through these appointments.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, as I mentioned at Council briefing this morning, both Seattle City Light and Seattle Public Utilities recently completed updates to their strategic plans, which include proposed rate paths.

Council recently approved these plans.

Approving the strategic plans and rate paths are complex endeavors, and prior councils thankfully set up review panels for both utilities to enhance accountability and stakeholder engagement.

And we were fortunate that our seasoned members stayed on long enough to complete their analysis and endorsement of the multi-year strategic plans for both city-owned utilities.

And after those important milestones, we are having some natural turnover to welcome new members.

All of these appointments were unanimously recommended to you by the committee for approval.

I'm hopeful they will continue to focus on managing costs and keeping rates as affordable as possible for the hundreds of thousands of ratepayers.

Regarding the Seattle City Light appointments, the first five, Um, the as usual, the appointment packets were posted on the committee agenda and today's council agenda.

We discuss them thoroughly at committee on July 21st.

All the volunteers are qualified to oversee the electric utilities plans.

And again, all these appointments were recommended unanimously by committee.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Customer Peterson.

Are there any additional comments on the appointments?

All right, I don't see any hands raised.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointments 1919 and 1987 through 1990. Herbold?

Yes.

Flores?

Aye.

Lewis?

Aye.

Peterson?

Aye.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Yes.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the appointments are confirmed.

Will the clerk please read items 32 through 36 into the record.

Agenda items 32 through 36. Appointments 1999 through 1995. Appointments of Gretchen Glau, Maria McDaniel, Khalid Mohamed, Tiffany Sevilla, and Mickey Sotos as members.

Seattle Public Utilities 2018 through 2023. strategic business plan customer review panel for a term to July 30th, 2024. The committee recommends that these appointments be conferred.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

I'm going to hand it back over to Council Member Peterson, who chairs this committee and is going to walk us through these appointments.

Thank you, Council President.

And colleagues, again, these are the appointments to the customer review panel for Seattle Public Utilities.

They are all qualified to serve.

Their appointment packets were posted on the committee agenda a couple weeks ago and the council agenda today.

We discussed these candidates at length at our committee on July 21st.

Look forward to the existing members of the review panel as well as their able SPU management team bringing these new appointees up to speed as SPU looks ahead to their next strategic plan and rate path.

These appointments were all recommended unanimously by our committee.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Council Member Peterson.

Are there any additional comments on the appointments?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointments 1991 through 1995?

Herbold?

Yes.

Lewis?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Sawant?

Yes.

Strauss?

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Thank you.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Yes.

Seven in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the appointments are confirmed.

Other business, is there any further business to come before the council?

None here.

I'm not seeing any hands raised.

So colleagues, this does conclude the items of business on today's agenda.

Our next regularly scheduled City Council meeting is on August 2nd, 2021 at 2 o'clock p.m.

I hope that you all have a wonderful afternoon.

Thank you.

We're adjourned.