Seattle City Council 1/14/19

Good afternoon, everybody.

Thank you for being here on January 14th, Monday, for the full council meeting.

The January 14th city council meeting will come to order.

I'm Bruce Harrell, president of the council.

Clerk, please call the roll.

Bagshaw?

Here.

Herbold?

Here.

Johnson?

Here.

Juarez?

Mosqueda?

Here.

O'Brien?

Here.

Sawant?

Here.

President Harrell?

Here.

Seven present.

Very good.

If there's no objection, today's introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the instructional referral calendar is adopted.

And if there's no objection, today's agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, today's agenda is adopted.

The minutes of the December 10, 2018 meeting have been reviewed.

And if there's no objection, the minutes will be signed.

minutes are signed.

Presentations, I think we have a great presentation today by Councilmember Mosqueda and I'll turn the floor over to Councilmember Mosqueda.

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

Today I'm honored to be introducing a labor history proclamation on behalf of the City of Seattle.

Thanks to centuries of struggle and work by workers, their labor unions, advocacy groups, and elected officials like my colleagues here, Seattle and Washington State has been recognized as being on the forefront of labor protections.

We know about recent labor advances like Seattle's paid sick and safe leave, like the fight for $15 an hour minimum wage, fighting to ban the box so that more workers can have access to economic security, secure schedules so that people aren't at the whims of changing schedules, and clopenings.

and the work that we did this last year on the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, being the first city in the nation to pass labor standard protections for domestic workers who care for our kiddos, our elders, and our homes.

These are just some of the accomplishments we've accomplished here in Seattle over the last decade.

But our city and our state has had labor history wins over the last century.

And this year, we celebrate the many milestones, including the 100-year anniversary of the Seattle General Strike.

This year, we face ongoing attacks from the national level.

And here at the local level, we're standing up to educate our community about labor's past history and current struggles.

We're standing up to make sure that folks know that at the local level, we're here to lift up workers, unions, and to fight for more equitable conditions for all.

These are the protections that we've been working on throughout Seattle's history, and we're looking forward to continuing to learn from those going forward.

We're proud of our history, we're proud of our recent accomplishments, and this proclamation today concretizes our commitment to continuing to work together and learn from our history.

Mr. President, if I may, I'd like to read a couple of the passages from this proclamation.

Excellent, please do.

Whereas, Seattle's organized labor unions and the broader labor movement have been vital to the progress of American democracy, helping to secure not only higher standards of living, but greater access to democracy and giving workers the ability to counter the power of money with the power of many, both in the workplace and in the halls of government.

Whereas, labor unions promote health and well-being by ensuring higher wages, retirement benefits, limits on working hours, opportunities for job training, safer environments, and discrimination-free workplaces.

And the benefits also extend beyond union members by unions negotiating health insurance for families, paid vacations, and holidays for all workers, according to the University of Washington.

Unions have helped create healthier workers, workplaces, and communities, according to the U.S.

National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health.

Whereas, on the 100-year anniversary of the Seattle General Strike, 2019 presents an opportunity to acknowledge several important anniversaries in Seattle and in Washington State, including the Spokane Free Speech Fight of 1909, the Centralia Tragedy of 1919, the 20th anniversary of the battle in Seattle during the WTO demonstrations.

Whereas the Seattle general strike of 1919 was a five-day general work stoppage by more than 65,000 workers lasting from February 6th to February 11th of that year in support of workers striking to protect their right for fair wages and to bargain collectively and directly with their employers.

And whereas, a coalition of labor unions, museums, archives, labor heritage organizations are all working together to organize a series of events throughout this year, 2019, to recognize and educate the public about the significance and legacy of these important events.

So this proclamation, Mr. President, asks for us to recognize the year 2019 as the year commemorating the labor movement and the history of working people in Seattle.

I'm excited about this proclamation.

I thank all of the Council for their support.

I want to just quickly say thank you to Connor Casey from the Labor Archives of Washington, Harry Bridges Center of Labor Studies, Pacific Northwest Labor History Association, Martin Luther King County Labor Council, Pierce County Labor Council, Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, MOHAI, HistoryLink, ILWU, Local 23, Young Workers Committee, Tacoma Historical Society, David Jepson, Thurston, Lewis Mason County Central Labor Council, and many others who are pulling together events in this year in our region to celebrate labor history.

And thanks finally to Sejal Parikh, my Chief of Staff, who has been working diligently with these community members to bring this proclamation forward.

I would love, Mr. President, if I might be able to present this to Mr. Casey on the city's behalf.

If there's no objections, we'll suspend the rules.

No objection.

The rules are suspended.

I'll allow Councilmember Muscata to proceed.

And thank you, Sejal, too, on behalf of the full council.

Yes.

Let's try not to put a bum.

Not intentional.

Sure.

Hi, on behalf of the Pacific Northwest Labor History Association, the Labor Archives of Washington, and the Solidarity Centennial Committee, I want to thank the Seattle City Council and Councilmember Mosqueda, her Chief of Staff, Sejal Parikh, for inviting us to be here today and for this proclamation declaring this a year of labor history and education.

I also want to acknowledge Councilmember Herbold, who have supported the Labor Archives, and Councilmember Sawant, who has collaborated with us in the past.

I know they have all been supporters of labor culture and history in their own rights.

I want you to picture it.

High rent, uncertain living wages, transit systems straining at the influx of new workers attracted to jobs in a dominant industry, and rampant income inequality.

Is this Seattle of 2019?

This was 1919, when a shipyard strike grew to become a regional labor shutdown, led by militant unionists unsanctioned by their parent unions and national federation that closed Seattle for the better part of a week.

From February 6th to 11th, 1919, more than 65,000 workers represented by the 110 unions affiliated with the Seattle Central Labor Council, representing about 20% of Seattle's population, went out on strike.

Importantly, the strike was supported in solidarity by large numbers of non-union members and non-wage workers as well.

Women, children, and relatives of families with union members supported the strikers.

Japanese-American labor organizations, though excluded from membership in the largely white U.S. labor movement at the time, chose to honor and participate in the strike alongside their fellow unionists.

The strike had its origins in the shipyards.

During World War I, the government imposed wage freezes in war industries.

At war's end, shipyard unions demanded a raise and resuming of collective bargaining directly with their employers.

Negotiations were complicated by a federal board, which discouraged Seattle employers from meeting the union's demands.

When the workers struck, when their employers continually refused to meet their conditions.

The strike lives in popular memory as a testament to the power of solidarity and direct action by working people.

Though the scale of the strike panicked local and state officials in the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, who mobilized police and military personnel despite the strike's nonviolent character, The strike was administered peacefully and competently by the workers themselves.

A central strike committee administered the strike, making sure hospitals had sheets and babies had milk, and through a network of kitchens, the people of Seattle were fed.

Diverse groups united across occupations, racial, ethnic, and gender divisions, and political affiliations to assert themselves in a powerful eruption of collective action.

The strike was administered peacefully and competently by the workers themselves, as I mentioned.

This became a powerful model and source of inspiration for the labor movement in Seattle, the United States, and beyond.

Later general strikes in San Francisco and Minneapolis-St.

Paul in 1934 and Oakland in 1946 looked to the general strike in Seattle as a historic example, drawing from the lessons learned and the example it provided.

I'm part of a statewide series of events, a planning committee, called Solidarity Centennial, which is, as Councilmember Mosqueda mentioned, a coalition of labor, history, educational, cultural heritage, and social justice groups across the Pacific Northwest.

And we've been meeting for more than a year to try to plan a whole statewide series of events throughout 2019 to commemorate the centennial of the 1919 Seattle General Strike and the Centralia tragedy, as well as other events.

We are having events, exhibits, commemorations open to all and our website is SolidarityCentennial.com.

We have three events and an exhibit at MOHAI in February.

On February 2nd, 6th, and 7th, they will include a new documentary on Pacific Northwest labor history, a documentary on radical feminist journalist and general strike committee member Anna Louise Strong, and a theatrical and musical event employing voices from the strike performed at the Seattle Labor Chorus.

There will be an exhibit at UW Special Collections Labor Archives launching February 4th, the Labor Archives annual event, as well as the Pacific Northwest Labor History Association Annual History Bus Tour on February 9th.

And there will be a walking tour of radical Asian American labor put on by the Wing Luke Museum and several other related events.

There will be book readings by Professor of History of UW, Jim Gregory.

and the UW Press, who have republished the central academic history of the strike, and a new book on the strike is coming out this year.

In Centralia, November, there will be commemorations of the Centralia tragedy of 1919, and we're also talking to the Fair Work Center about a potential event.

I want to invite everyone to participate and attend all these events, and to thank you all very much for supporting and acknowledging our efforts.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Council Member Skater.

President.

Okay, at this time, we'll take public comment on items that appear on today's agenda or our introduction and referral calendar or our work program.

And just by way of context, this is the general sign-up, and then later on in the agenda, we have an issue on the ballot that will come up, and we'll have a separate public hearing on that, and I'll call that out when we get to that agenda item.

So this is just for the general agenda, and we'll start off with Mr. Alex Zimmerman, followed by Ruth Danner.

Thank you, sir.

Hi, my name is Alex Zimmerman.

I want to speak about number one in the agenda, about zoning.

I live in the city for more than 30 years, but what has happened for the last five years, when Amazon come together with you and destroy the city, I don't see the sense.

Everything that you are doing right now, it looks to me like pure masturbation.

You don't change nothing.

Everything that you are doing right now, it makes the situation worse, worse, and worse.

Five years ago, nobody from you stopped in Amazon.

Four years ago, nobody from you stopped in Amazon.

Three years ago, nobody stopped from you in Amazon.

Two years ago and now, nobody stopped in Amazon.

We want to fix the zoning problem.

This cannot be fixed, the zoning problem.

Most of Seattle will have a comfortable life for many years, and I live in Seattle more than 30 years, I know about this.

So what is you doing right now?

You make situation more worse, worse, and worse.

We can fix this, it's very easy.

And right now, Amazon in New York show how people in New York don't like Amazon.

But you never talking about move Amazon out from downtown or ever cut them by 10,000 people.

When you talk to Amazon and cut Amazon little bit, every problem will be fixed.

We come back to normal life, not maybe like before.

but much better.

But you're never talking about this.

Why?

Because you all are fascist.

Seattle's right now with number one fascist city in America.

When you, government, council, together with corporation like Amazon in another corporation, make life miserable for the people, it don't have sense.

We're talking about labor.

We're talking about union.

A BS, forgive me my expression, you know what it means.

A real union fighting for the people.

A real council fighting for the people.

Stand up, America.

We hail my lovely Fuhrer.

Okay, so our next speaker will be Ruth, and then followed by Megan Cruz.

Thank you, Mr. President and members of the City Council.

I'm here to speak today about CB 1193.98, which I understand you'll be voting on or discussing today.

My primary concern as a resident of downtown is the removal of the Director's Rule 5-2009.

That rule requires new construction to consider levels of service for intersections downtown.

And when it is removed and replaced with an effort to reduce single occupancy vehicles, but downtown is exempted because it's too close to the, because it's within the half mile limit for the link.

Downtown, we will have no more mitigation.

You'll be adding more parking spaces to the parking garages, but not counting the cars that will fill them.

Thank you very much for your time and I'll see the rest of my time to my fellow.

Megan Cruz, then followed by Connor.

I don't know if Connor is going to speak again, but I have him signed up.

Thank you.

I'm here today also to ask the Council please reconsider voting yes on the level of service standard bill before you.

It was written with residential neighborhoods in mind, but in the city center it will compound gridlock.

It changes how traffic is accounted for downtown two ways.

First, it eliminates Director's Rule 2009-5 that requires new towers show the traffic they generate won't overwhelm capacity on surrounding streets.

Virtually all of the new towers exceed that capacity.

The current director's rule provides these towers can't be approved without offering mitigations to reduce their impacts.

That code-based leverage and protection disappears with this bill.

Secondly, the bill leaves out the biggest threat to downtown traffic by narrowly defining level of service as the percentage of single occupancy vehicles on the road.

Downtown single occupancy vehicles only account for 23% of the traffic.

That's the lowest percentage in the city.

By looking at just one source of traffic, the bill omits downtown's biggest problem, the rapid growth of congestion from truck deliveries and ride-hailing services.

These aren't hypothetical concerns.

We've talked about a small sliver of downtown development off Virginia Street that will add 6,500 new residents and over 10,000 daily vehicle trips.

Because of this bill, there will be no grounds to require the transportation impacts from these developments be mitigated.

In short, this bill is incomplete.

It won't accurately measure or address adverse impacts on city-centered traffic.

If the council really believes a level of service bill is not the place to address downtown transportation that's in crisis, then what is?

Thank you.

Thank you.

I had Connor sitting here, but I think that might have been just a miscommunication on the sign-up sheet.

Connor Casey.

So I'll move on to George Danner.

Thank you for your service and your time.

My name is George Danner.

I reside downtown at Second and Pike, and I'm speaking today on council bill that ends with 398. I'd like you to vote no, and here's my reasoning.

retired marine chief engineer with 35 years of experience.

And a ship is just like a city, but it floats.

And in my career, in our fleet, there were people in the office that would decide what they were going to do to our ship.

And it took a few years, but I learned that there was a really important question when they came to you with these proposals, and it was, does it make sense?

And this bill doesn't make sense for downtown.

It's incomplete.

I'm afraid it will grant developers in Seattle another loophole.

that future residents, visitors, commercial and private drivers, pedestrians, fire, emergency police, transportation, and the land use planners will struggle with it and pay for its unanticipated negative effects on the life of the livability of the city today and into the future.

And what happens if this gets passed and it doesn't work?

What is plan B?

And I was wondering if there is one, and hopefully there is.

And thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Our last speaker I have signed up is the Honorable Michael Fuller.

Yes, I thank my God for being here today, Bruce Hurrell.

But I'm here because of the violations of the Chapter 42.30 Open Meeting Act.

And I'm moving to amend to case number 18-2-14942-8.

The next court date is June 10th.

So, Margaret Lloyd Richards is stating she's being violated.

Margaret Lloyd Richard Sue I Jewel further alleged bad new year 2019 for Black Lives Matter community.

Older American Act October 3rd 1965 that was signed by President Lyndon Johnson.

Dr. Martin Luther King's Voters Rights Act 1965. Dr. Martin Luther King's speech, August 16, 1967. Where do we go from here?

European settlers, Neanderthals, September 11, 2001, by Asian President Bruce A. Harrell is the most racist Asian in United States history against George H.W. Bush.

Sr., who in fact served in the United States Navy during World War II, June 6, 1944. George A. W. Bush also was the 41st President of the United States, also made law, the America with Disability Act, July 26, 1990, and Section 504, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which has not been enforced by city council members.

Communist Control Act, August 24, 1954, that was signed by President Dwight Eisenhower, and the Organized Crime Control Act, October 15, 1970, that was signed by President Richard Nixon.

Thank you, sir.

President Bruce Harrell.

The Honorable, the time is running out.

Sir, you need to let Margaret Lloyd Richards back in here because you're violating her First Amendment rights, due process, Equal Protection Number 14th Amendment rights, unproceded due process, and substantive due process.

Too much, Chapman, brother.

Too much.

You're throwing too much at me.

Okay, thank you very much, sir.

I appreciate it.

You know I'm serious about this.

I know you're serious, too.

I'm right there with you.

I understand that.

Thank you.

I've got more laws for you.

I'm sure you do.

Thank you, sir.

State and federal.

Thank you, sir.

Okay, that will conclude the public comment at this section, and we'll move to the payment of the bills.

Please read the title.

Council Bill 119440. I've already money, but today I said I didn't claim, so I didn't order any payment thereof.

I'll move to pass Council Bill 119440. It's been moved and seconded that the bill pass.

Any comments?

Please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Bagshaw.

Aye.

Herbold.

Aye.

Johnson.

Aye.

Juarez.

Aye.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

O'Brien.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

President Harrell.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passed in the Sherwood Senate.

Please read the first agenda item.

The report of the Planning, Land Use, and Zoning Committee, agenda item one, Council Bill 119398, relating to land use and zoning, amending the title of Chapter 23.52, Subchapter 1 of the Seattle Municipal Code, and amending Sections 23.52.004 and .008 of the SMC, and repealing Section 23.52.002 of the SMC to implement the Comprehensive Plan Adopted Level of Service Standard.

The committee recommends the bill pass as amended.

Thank you very much.

Council Member Johnson.

Thanks.

We, in 2016, adopted an update to our comprehensive plan, and within that, we adopted a level of service standard that relies on what the industry would call a multi-modal level of service.

It sets a series of targets for reducing the number of folks that are driving alone, living in our neighborhoods throughout the city, and set some goals for those targets.

The action that we contemplate today would implement those level of service standards in neighborhoods throughout the city, and do it in a way that would require residential uses with more than 30 dwelling units, non-residential uses with greater than 4,000 square feet of gross floor area, or non-residential uses in industrial zones that have more than 30,000 square feet of gross floor area, to start to propose ideas for folks to be able to get to and around those uses without needing to have a car.

Those kinds of ideas will take effect in an associated joint director's role, but it could include things like subsidizing transit passes, providing sidewalk improvements, or limiting the amount of parking that's provided on site.

It also specifies thresholds that some projects are required to go through impact studies related to transportation that are more projects will be going through this than currently are required to do so under the State Environmental Policy Act.

A complicated technical piece of legislation, but one with an underarching objective of trying to ask developers to pay more to the city to allow for folks that are living or working in their units to be able to get around without needing to have a car.

I'd ask for your support.

Any questions or comments?

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you.

I just want to speak to some of the concerns that we heard during public comment today.

We also heard similar concerns during the committee process in Councilmember Johnson's PLEZ committee.

And what we learned through that process is that mitigation of transportation impacts for downtown development as a matter of policy, is limited currently to programmatic measures.

So there is SEPA review for downtown projects, and the one that is the mitigation that is most often used are transportation management plans.

In addition, Development regulations in themselves create disincentives for single occupancy vehicle use downtown.

Specifically, there are parking maximums for commercial development.

There are floor area ratio disincentives for the provision of above-grade parking.

and there is a development standard where there's a limit of floors above grade parking and there is also a limit on requirements regarding screening.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Any further comments?

Okay.

And I want to thank those that came out to testify on the plan, at least for expressing concerns and having a record clear on your concerns.

And hopefully this will still work to your benefit, even though it may not be exactly the kind of legislation you wanted.

So thank you for coming out.

Please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Bankshaw?

Aye.

Herbold?

Aye.

Johnson?

Aye.

Juarez?

Aye.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

O'Brien?

Aye.

Sawant?

Aye.

President Harrell?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Bill passed and the Chair will sign it.

Please read the report of the Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development and ARCH Committee.

Read items 2 and 3.

The report of the Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development, and Arts Committee agenda items two and three, appointments 1230 and 1231, reappointments of Farrah Frank and Quentin I. Morris as members of the Seattle Arts Commission.

For a term to December 31st, 2020, the committee recommends the appointments be confirmed.

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you so much.

So the first appointment, it's appointment 1230, is Praia Frank.

She is a council reappointment.

She acts as the Associate Director of Community Programs at the Seattle Art Museum currently.

She previously worked at Lucid Lounge and the University of Washington as well as the University, I'm sorry, University of Washington and Bothell, specifically their Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity.

She is also a board member of On the Boards and TASVIR.

In addition, Quentin Morris is also a reappointment to the Seattle Arts Commission, still also a council reappointment.

Mr. Morris is an internationally acclaimed violinist.

He has won many, many awards.

He's the Director of Chamber and Instrumental Music at Seattle University, as well as an Associate Professor of Performing Arts in Arts Leadership, and has an associate appointment to the Global African Studies.

Thank you very much.

Any questions or comments?

Those in favor of confirming the appointments, please vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, vote no.

The motion carries and appointments are confirmed.

Please read agenda item number four.

Agenda item four, appointment 1232, appointment of Eric Gray as member of Seattle Human Rights Commission for a term to January 22nd, 2020. The committee recommends the appointment be confirmed.

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you.

Eric is a appointment that has been brought forward to us by the Human Rights Commission itself.

Eric is a survivor and a community advocate for victims of sex trade and trafficking.

They previously worked as a case manager for homeless youth and further they have been serving, unappointed, but serving dutifully as a commissioner to the Seattle Human Rights Commission for a few months now.

Very good.

Any comments?

Those in favor of confirming the appointment, please vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed vote no.

The motion carries.

The appointment is confirmed.

Please read the report of the Finance and Neighborhoods Committee.

The report of the Finance and Neighborhoods Committee, agenda item five, appointment 1233, appointment of J.J.

McKay as member of Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council for a term to June 30th, 2022. The committee recommends the appointment be confirmed.

Thank you very much.

Many of you know J.J.

McKay.

He's been a fixture in the city and a number of boards, including Mary's Place, U.S. Bank, Seattle Opera, and I first got to know him about 10 years ago, and he's currently being nominated for appointment to the Pike Place Market PDA Governing Council.

He has a track record as an experienced executive and leader in both for and non-profit sectors.

And I will tell you that the CEO of Pike Place Market was here with us and was very enthusiastic about getting his expertise on the board.

We recommend his appointment.

Very good.

Any comments?

Those in favor of confirming the appointment, please vote aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Those opposed vote no.

The motion carries, the appointment is confirmed.

Please read agenda item number six.

Agenda item six, appointment 1234, appointment of Glenn M. Lee as member of Benaroya Hall Music Center Board for term to, excuse me, the committee recommends the appointment be confirmed.

Good, so this is the appointment of Glenn Lee, and he is known to most of us as our director of our finance here within the city, but he is now being appointed to the I've just lost this.

The Benaroya Music Center Board of Directors.

Thank you very much.

And I asked him whether he was a major music enthusiast, and he said, of course, but he is being brought in on this because of his stewardship for the city finances.

And we recognize and welcome his appointment to Benaroya Music Center Board.

Very good.

Any comments?

Those in favor of confirming the appointment, please vote aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Those opposed vote no.

The motion carries.

The appointment is confirmed.

Please read agenda item number seven.

Agenda item seven, appointment 1236, reappointment of Mary McCumber as member of Historic Seattle Preservation Development Authority Governing Council for term to November 30th, 2022. The committee recommends the appointment be confirmed.

Thank you.

So this reappointment of Mary McCumber brings her to us after she's already served 18 years on Historic Seattle Council, including four years as chair.

This will actually be her sixth term.

Mary, again, many of us know her for her work on Future Wise.

And she was the director of the City of Auburn's Department of Planning and Community Development.

We're delighted that she's willing to continue on this particular board, and we recommend that her confirmation be approved today.

Very good.

Any comments?

Those in favor of confirming the appointment, please vote aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, vote no.

Motion carries, and the appointment is confirmed.

Okay.

Adoption of other resolutions.

Please read it into the record.

Agenda item 8 resolution 31860 supporting the Seattle Public Schools proposition 1 and proposition 2 and urging Seattle voters to vote yes on proposition 1 and proposition 2 on the February 12th 2019 special election ballot.

Okay, as provided for under RCW 42.17A.555 the City Council will now consider the adoption of resolution 31860 that was read into the record and And at the conclusion of council member comments, the council will hear comments from members of the public who wish to speak on the resolution.

This resolution, of course, endorses Seattle School District's Propositions 1 and 2, which relate to operation and building infrastructure funding on the February 12th, 2019 special election ballots.

So approximately equal opportunities to speak will be given to members of the public.

Thanks for reading the item into the record, and I'll relinquish the floor to Councilmember Johnson.

Thanks.

I bring this forward on behalf of not only my colleague, Councilmember Gonzalez, but also all those of us who are parents of kids in public schools.

The two levies in front of voters this February present a unique opportunity for us to continue our decades-long partnership between the City of Seattle and the school district and its board of directors.

on complementary investments.

And the investments that are in front of voters this February are critical ones.

Not only do we have a very, very long list of capital investments that would transform and reconstruct several schools throughout the city, but also will make investments in nearly, if not every single school in the city of Seattle.

But in addition, the operating levy, commonly referred to as the BTA levy, also has a set of critical operational investments that are necessary for all of our students to excel in all of our Seattle Public Schools.

So this ongoing partnership between the city and the school district, I think, is a critical one, and I'm super excited to see this ambitious plan on the ballot and looking forward to voting yes myself.

Thank you so much Mr. Johnson for your leadership on this.

I'm wondering if you could just hold up that map and the back side of it.

Thank you.

So what I appreciated about this map and I'm not sure that We can even begin to have it focused from the Seattle Channel.

But this is the number of schools that will be aided by this particular levy.

And the backside of it identifies, I mean, almost to the dollar, what kinds of things will be done at each elementary, middle school, and high school.

So I know that there's been some controversy around this.

People are saying, well, how come that the McCleary decision didn't take care of it?

Well, the McCleary decision didn't take care of it.

And so for us to continue to have the grade A quality public school system that we want, we need to support this levy.

And I'm happy to be doing that.

So thank you for bringing this forward.

Thank you.

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you, and I did just want to speak to some of the controversy that Councilmember Bagshaw alluded to.

There was a Seattle Times editorial last week that I made some inquiries about.

They had two contentions, one related to the size of the operations levy and the second related to concern that the levy would be undermining the basic tenant of McCleary, which is to make sure that there isn't unequal funding in school districts across the state, where cities with school districts and taxpayers who are willing and able to fund um, basic education, um, are able to do so more plentifully than other school districts.

And what I, um, learned, uh, from my inquiry is that it is true that the, um, size of the operations levy, the request, um, in the levy itself, um, is a different number than what they can currently be legally collected.

It is in excess of the legally authorized collection amount.

that doesn't mean that they're going to be able to collect all that money.

The plan is, again, and I think this is very consistent with the intent of McCleary, the plan is to go back to the state legislature this year to increase the amount that can legally be collected under state law, thus maintaining that strong commitment that we have to make sure that different school districts across the state are not put in different positions, depending on whether or not those particular districts are able to pass levies.

So in essence, increasing the collection amount gives the Seattle Public Schools some flexibility because by asking for the additional capacity now they don't have to go back if the state law is itself changed.

And then the other point that I think is important to note that there was a question about the use of the dollars and again whether or not the use of the dollars is consistent with the legislative decisions made in the legislature last year.

And I think it's important to take note that the State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction approved the Seattle Public Schools plan for the operations levy and took the position that it is, in fact, consistent with state law.

Thank you.

Thanks for those comments, Councilman Herbold.

Any further comments?

If not, we're going to move to public hearing.

Any further comments?

Okay, so as required by law, we have two sign-up sheets for Proposition 1 and Proposition 2. So I'm going to call you out in the order that you signed up, and we'll start off.

Just one moment here, give me one sec.

Okay.

So we'll start off with Mr. Alex Zimmerman, and following Mr. Zimmerman will be Melissa Palforb.

It's on proposition number one.

I have two signs.

Should I go through first?

It's a little bit confusing.

I'm sorry, Mr. Zimmerman.

I humbly apologize for interrupting.

Can you start this time back, please?

I have two sign-up sheets, but the same people sign up for both.

And so, why don't we just speak on both of them?

No problem.

Proposition one and proposition two.

Absolutely, absolutely right.

I'm very happy when I see something common sense that was very unusual in this chamber.

So, situation right now, very simple.

Yes, it's exactly what I want to explain to you.

Money need for school.

It's exactly, absolutely.

I'm not too much sure how much money.

Because money, what is we have here, we're talking about billions.

My experience with board of school director, but as I come and see who these people, it's very low, primitive, not professional.

We cannot give these people chance operate with billion dollars.

We need somebody who's have different opinion.

They have same opinion like you.

He belong in your same principle like you use.

More money, more money, and stealing money.

That's exactly what's happened.

We're talking about billion and billion dollars.

And I'm absolutely sure, like professional business consultant, because I don't care to speak this for a couple of minutes, we have more than enough money now in the system.

We can fix it everything 10 times cheaper, five times cheaper, maybe three times, but much cheaper.

So this happen and happen again and again.

But what is I want to talk to right now about this?

It's about operation with money and business principle.

What is every business have, government or not government?

700,000 idiots who live in this city deserve their government.

They want to pay billion and billion dollars.

I'm very happy with this.

Because when 700,000 idiots pay a billion and billion dollars for billion and billion dollars, a billion and billion dollars for transportation, for school, for everything, and nothing goes better.

So I'm very happy when the 700,000 natural born degenerate idiot will be wake up and clean chamber like you, totally in school, bored like too, totally.

Because what is you look right now is a pure fascism.

When government together with corporation suck blood and money from us.

Stop fascism, clean this chamber, stand up America.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thanks for all.

in line with the public now.

So Melissa will be followed by Jake Ewert.

Hi, my name is Melissa Pailthorpe.

I'm the president of Schools First, the organization that mobilizes the Get Out the Vote campaign for the school levies, and here as a volunteer and a parent in our public schools.

Thank you all for supporting this resolution.

I think Council Member Baggio pointed out that The capital levy has significant funding and improvements for the buildings across the city, which is really critical.

We have a number of aging buildings.

We've been working on that for a while, and we have to keep working on improving those for our kids.

And as Councilmember Johnson pointed out, we do have a funding gap between the McCleary solution and what we're able to raise locally.

So our EP&O levy this year is absolutely critical.

And as Council Member Herbold pointed out, we are asking for additional authority, knowing that we would have to, in fact, have legislative action to collect on that.

Seattle is not unique in this.

Several districts are taking this tack because we don't want to have to come back to voters and ask again and spend more resources and time on that.

So thank you for your support for our 53,000 kids and appreciate all the work that you're doing.

I would also like to remark that this does go hand in hand with the FEPP levy.

We need both pieces to make this work in our city.

So thank you for that as well.

And I want to apologize on behalf of Greg Wong because he had to leave, but that was the point that he wanted to make.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Jake Ewert.

Hi, my name is Jake Ewert.

I'm a volunteer with Schools First that you just heard about.

I'm also a parent of kids in the Seattle Public Schools.

I've got a second grader, a kindergartner, and a little guy who will be in kindergarten soon.

These levies are really important to me.

They're very, very important to the city.

The capital levy is obviously important to improve and replace some schools.

And the operations levy, obviously important to bridge the gap between all the improvements and funding the state has made.

public schools need for services now.

A lot of folks have been moving to this town and will continue moving here, interested in putting their kids in Seattle Public Schools.

It's really important that we continue investing in them.

I know one thing about the money that's going to be collected.

Every single dollar is going to be used to support our kids.

So it's a great investment.

I urge you to vote yes.

Thanks very much.

Thank you.

And thanks for letting us know Greg was not here, but we did have Greg on the sign-up sheet.

And Greg, thank you for all the work you're doing.

Okay, seeing no further speakers signed up to speak either in favor or opposition to the resolution, the public comment period for this time will be closed.

The council will now proceed with a vote on the resolution 31860. Okay, those in favor of adopting a resolution three one eight six zero, please vote.

Aye.

Aye Those opposed vote.

No The motion carries the resolution is adopted then chair will sign it Thank you very much with pleasure.

Is there any further business coming for the council?

Why don't we commence at three o'clock for the select committee on mha so you've got about uh, 12 minutes, right?

Thank you.

And we'll be back on the dais counselor.

I'm a skater

Mr. President, I'd like to ask to be excused next Tuesday.

I'm going to be traveling to Washington, D.C.

to serve on the National Task Force for Addressing Homelessness and Housing with the National League of Cities and honored to be there on behalf of 18 other cities.

If I may be excused, I'll promise to bring everything back that I learned.

Okay.

You said Tuesday, January 22nd.

Got it?

Councilmember Esqueda has moved and was seconded to be excused from on January 22nd.

Any comments?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

She's excused from 122. Any further comments?

If not, we stand adjourned and see you in a few minutes.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.