Neighborhoods, Education, Civil Rights and Culture Committee 12/8/23

Good morning, everyone.

The December 8th, 2023 meeting of the Neighborhoods Education, Civil Rights, and Culture Committee will come to order.

It is 9.30, and I'm Tammy Morales, chair of the committee.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Lewis?

Present.

Councilmember Strauss?

Present.

Vice Chair Sawant?

Chair Morales?

Here.

Three present.

Thank you.

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

Hearing no objection, today's agenda is adopted.

On the agenda day, we have...

Mike, Mike is really loud.

If we can turn that down just a notch, thanks.

On today's agenda, we have...

We have several appointments that we will have on the consented calendar to assorted boards and commissions.

And then we have two appointments for executive positions, Director Jennifer Chow for the Department of Neighborhoods and Director Guilin Khaim for the Office of Arts and Culture.

And then we have one additional agenda item.

So we will begin with public comment.

I see one person online.

Do we have folks signed up here?

Okay, I'm not gonna read through the entire public comment period.

Folks, we'll have two minutes and I will call your name.

We'll start with the person online.

You'll have two minutes.

You'll hear a chime when you have 10 seconds left.

So please begin to wrap up your comments so we can move on to the next person.

And the public comment period is now open.

So we'll start online with Katie Sheehy.

Katie, please press star six to unmute.

Katie.

Good morning, council members.

Can you hear me now?

Yes, please go ahead.

Awesome.

Thank you.

I am Katie Sheehy.

I first met Jennifer Chow as part of the Race and Social Justice Initiative Core Team 5, and I subsequently got to work with her when she was work leading the racial equity toolkit for the Chinatown International District work that the city was leading.

And I just am sorry I can't be there in person, but wanted to say that I think speaking for myself and I think other people, other members of Core Team 5 are would be are just amazed and delighted that Jennifer is going to be the director of the Department of Neighborhoods because she's super fabulous and will be a great benefit to our communities that we serve and city staff as well.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

The first in-speaker, in-person speaker is Alan Ruth, followed by Kathleen Barry Johnson.

Sorry.

Thank you very much.

My name is Elin Ruth.

Full disclosure, I'm a city employee.

I work in the Department of Neighborhoods.

Today's my day off, so you can't hold it against me.

I first met Jennifer a few years ago when she came to work for the Department of Neighborhoods.

And it's always good to get to know people before they get to the next stage.

And she started us on a path of discussing racial equity and racial justice.

And I think it's a good time for her to come back and to continue that work.

And I would say to you that this is your village.

And it's interesting for me to be in this space because I had a moment like this when my mother could say, that's my baby.

When I came to work at the city council, black people didn't work at the city council and they weren't legislative assistants for people who weren't African American.

And no matter how I screwed up, my mother said, that's my baby.

When I messed up my first budget, she said, that's my baby.

When things went well, I was still her baby.

And I realized that I went home every day.

Before I went home, I visited my mom.

And I had to tell her what I did every day.

And I think I shared with you that I had to show her my performance evaluation.

It mattered to her how I did my work.

Not how well I did it, but the effort I put into it.

And I realized that in my 49 years of city service, I never strayed very far from the values of the people who raised me and put into me.

So I say to you, stay with your village.

And this is a moment for your mother, so I have a gift for your mother, not for you, so don't take your mother's gift.

Because this is her moment too.

And as a mother and a grandmother, it's always good to see your children advance and put into the world the things that you put into them.

So congratulations, Jennifer.

And I will tell you the one thing that my mother always told me, anyone who won't tell you when you're wrong, you're right.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Kathleen Barry Johnson, followed by Mary Mitchell.

Good morning.

I'm Kathleen Barry Johnson.

I'm the Executive Director of Historic South Downtown.

Historic South Downtown is a state-created organization that works in Chinatown International District and Pioneer Square.

I first met Jennifer in the course of that work in around 2018 with the Race and Social Justice Initiative and her work there.

When I found out that she was going to be nominated for the head of the Department of Neighborhoods, I was thrilled.

And I was thrilled for you, but I was also thrilled for the people of this city.

This is a city of neighborhoods, and I can't think of a better candidate for your position.

And the work she's been doing since she was appointed absolutely bears this out.

Jennifer possesses superhuman qualities.

Let's just be honest.

Her energy level is something I've never seen.

And it doesn't seem to flag.

So that's amazing.

She presents her authentic self every time.

And she has enormous capacity for empathy.

She sees people where they are.

And she seeks to understand their story so that she can understand their context and then help to help them see their potential through.

And these are gifts that not everybody possesses and you possess them in abundance.

The action the council will take today to confirm Jennifer Chao will secure these superhuman efforts for the people of the city of Seattle.

And I'm honored to speak today in fervent support of your confirmation, Jennifer.

As director of the Department of Neighborhoods, I know that you will do everything that you can to support the people of the city.

And I'm so proud to know you.

Thank you.

Next is Mary Mitchell, followed by Tessa Hall.

Good morning.

My name is Mary Mitchell and I am a 31 year employee with the city of Seattle.

But today I am here as a, uh, I said I wasn't gonna cry, but I'm probably gonna cry.

As a born Seattleite, a generation of family, and I'm here to share with you my support for Jennifer as the Director of Department of Neighborhoods.

Our work relationship, now our sisterhood, was formed through transitions.

So in mid-2019, Jennifer joined FAS as a Consumer Protection Deputy Director over policy, and I transitioned on a four-month hiatus During this time, Jennifer stepped right into the racial equity toolkit and worked with the team and brought her wisdom and experience of community engagement and helped the team to engage in the community around cannabis equity and specifically the lack of business ownership for black members who were over incarcerated during the war on drugs.

And some of that work is now in the city's RSJI ordinance.

And the next transition is also the murder of George Floyd.

Jennifer stepped up as a leader to support black people experiencing trauma and used her voice to bring together and unite us around understanding what anti-blackness is and internalized racial oppression is.

Jennifer also was instrumental in forming learning teams in the consumer protection division that are still going on today to help the team to unite around leading with race and having a deeper understanding.

So it's my honor today and know that Department of Neighborhood will have a leader that will lead with compassion through difficult transitions.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mary.

Next is Tessa Hall, followed by Amy Chen Lozano.

Hi, everyone.

Good morning.

My name is Tessa Hall.

I'm with Build Lake City Together, which is a small business support and community building organization up in Seattle's Lake City neighborhood.

Here representing Build Lake City Together, I just wanted to We're so proud of you.

And Jennifer has been, in her time here, she's already spent a lot of time in Lake City, and that's not something that we've had before.

So I just wanted to appreciate you and thank you for this.

And we had an event last week.

She brought her family to it.

She has her family here today.

You can tell she has her heart, her whole heart into this.

And we really look forward to more coordinated efforts up in the north end and really just appreciate you and just want to wish you the best of luck.

So thank you.

Amy Chen Lozano, followed by Tam Din.

Good morning, council members.

My name is Amy Chen Lozano.

I was introduced to Jennifer only earlier this year in a meeting with Department of Neighborhoods and Office of Economic Development.

In the short time I've known her, she has shown exceptional leadership, consistent follow through, and demonstrated herself to be a person of the utmost integrity.

When her name comes up, people only speak well of her across various organizations to her college professors.

I don't know if you know this, this is an extremely rare quality.

In four separate meetings this year with completely unrelated organizations, when asked who's the best person to work with in the city, who can get things done, who does our community trust, it's always Jennifer Chao.

She is a credit to her department as well as her family.

As an active member of the Chinatown International District and community organizer, I wholeheartedly support Jennifer's appointment as executive director to the Department of Neighborhoods.

Thank you.

Pam Din, followed by Marie Kiddo.

Dear esteemed council members, my name is Tam Dinh, and I'm a social professor at Seattle University and the board president of Friends of Little Saigon.

Today, I'm here as an American of Vietnamese descent who loves Little Saigon, someone who volunteers her time in the Little Saigon neighborhood, whose family frequent the boat, tamarind tree, boiling point, and many other restaurants, cafes, and shops in the international district on a regular basis, and whose mom shops at Lum Seafood and How How weekly.

In regards to the appointment and confirmation of Jennifer Chao as the Department of Neighborhood Director, I would like to submit the community's letter of support for the records.

I would also like to use my time here to express my gratitude to the mayor, his staff, and the selection committee for taking the community's letter of support into serious consideration.

For too long, we have had a revolving door of city leaders who had little knowledge or connection to our community.

In Jennifer, we have a leader with an established and proven record of authentic community engagement, someone with lived experience and strong ties to the neighborhood.

We look forward to the council's continual support of Little Saigon.

We ask that you urgently invest in our community, address our public safety concerns, and advance the work that Friends of Little Saigon is doing to revitalize the neighborhood.

We ask that you continue to confirm leaders who reflect the identity, values, and history of the community.

Leaders who embrace authentic community collaborations.

Leaders like Jennifer Chow.

Thank you for your service and dedication to the Little Saigon neighborhood.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Marie Kida, followed by Matt Hayashi and Tomasina Smith.

Good morning council members and community members.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jennifer at a Major League Baseball all-star debrief.

The room was packed with community leaders, city officials, and there were no more seats at the table.

Jennifer actually took time to move out the way so that myself and my colleagues, Omari Salisbury of Converge Media, and Taylor Roden of Metier Brewing Company could be included and have a seat at the table.

And I knew at that moment I had met someone special.

As a fellow community engagement leader, a first-gen American Seattleite, a child of the Central District, and the Strategic Partnership Advisor for Friends of Waterfront Seattle, it's been an honor to meet you.

And I look forward to our friendship and what we build in the future.

Congratulations, Jennifer.

We have Matt Hayashi followed by Tomasina Smith.

Good morning.

I'm Matt Ekohakayashi with Headwater People.

I'm a principal consultant there.

And I just wanted to speak in support of Jennifer.

Some of the work that we've been doing with the city involves a generational wealth building initiative that's started with DON.

And now it's transitioning across the city into OED.

And it is a special thing when a project like that that has been rooted and led from black and brown leaders in the community with incredible staff at DON.

And how do you help navigate the city's waters in transitions like this?

And I think it's been as a neutral observer, which has been exemplary.

The leadership that Jennifer and her team, Malia and Jackie and Cassini, who I think is here, have shown and we just super, super appreciate on behalf of the community.

All the projects we've been involved with at DON has had a really, really striking sense of leadership that's grounded not just in the institution of the city's interest, but really in the community's interest.

whenever those things may be confusing or dissonant and I just want to just rise up and say I really really appreciate that and thank you

Good morning, my name is Thomasina Schmidt and I'm the Executive Director for Seattle Neighborhood Group, a nonprofit focused on crime prevention and community safety.

I'm here to support the nomination of Jennifer Chow for the Director of the Department of Neighborhoods.

We met Jennifer a few months ago and right away she jumped in getting to know our team and the people we serve.

She showed up to our events, everything we invited her to, she came.

and even at one event, she spoke last minute.

Her passion, enthusiasm, and commitment for this work is palpable, and we enthusiastically support her nomination for Director of the Department of Neighborhoods.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Looks like we might have one more person who just signed up, and then I do find one more person online.

So I'll start with Liz Walters.

Liz, if you'll press star six to unmute.

Oh, you just signed up here.

Okay, come on up.

This is my first time, sorry.

That's okay.

Okay, let me pull up my note, thank you.

Okay, I'm Liz Walters.

I just wanted to, like, say my piece real fast.

A highly unexpected finding from the COVID lockdowns is that we do not need a foster care system.

When children were supposedly going to experience unprecedented levels of abuse and CPS was going to be flooded with reports when schools reopen, what actually happened was nothing.

CPS was forced to step out of homes due to restrictions, and since less baseless reports were being made during the closures, social workers actually had availability to investigate cases of severe abuse, which actually led to a decrease in fatalities.

This proves that we don't need to rely on teachers, typically white middle-class women, to assess if children are being abused.

We can end mandated reporting, which we know only keeps parents from seeking the help that they need.

Over lockdown, stimulus checks were more available and employment gave a newfound sense of ease to many families.

Regular assistance like that could promote family stability and relieve parental stress, improving a child's overall health, academic performance, and their economic outcome.

Cash assistance allows parents to the choice to spend more time caring for their child as well as monetary resources to meet their material needs, which is exactly the point of foster care to begin with.

We need to establish a minimum benefit so that no families fall below a certain income level and put an end to work requirements, racist behavioral policies, and time limits on receiving benefits, considering over 75% of CPS reports are for neglect, which is often just the effects of poverty, which could effectively end the need for a foster care system.

It could also undo generations of historical racism, especially within the welfare system.

There was also a huge resurgence of mutual aid.

While schools were closed, communities were helping each other with things like child care, distributing food, wellness checks, and paying rent.

This removes struggling families from the surveillance and hierarchical structure of nonprofits and charities.

We know that families thrive within communities.

We need to divest from the family policing system and invest in community-led mutual aid.

Imagine a world where we are a parent can come to their child's school and help.

and be met with resources like cash, food, assistance, child care, and community networks.

Thank you.

And I also just wanted to say, lastly, we cannot speak about keeping American children safe and with their families without acknowledging the nearly 10,000 Palestinian children reported murdered and the countless more left without a single living relative at the hands of the Israeli government, funded by our tax dollars, and the genocide on Palestinians, free their people, free their land, and call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

I don't see anyone else signed up.

So I will close public comment and we will move to our first legislative agenda item.

Excuse me.

We'll start with the committee's consent agenda, which consists of appointments to boards and commissions.

As a reminder, the consent agenda functions like the city council consent agenda, where colleagues can pull items for individual discussion if they choose.

Otherwise, items are voted on as a package.

Devin, will you please read items one through 21 into the record?

Agenda items.

one through 21 appointments to the historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority, Seattle Human Rights Commission, Seattle Immigrant and Refugee Commission, FEP Levy Oversight Committee, Community Involvement Commission, Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority, Seattle Disability Commission, and Seattle Women's Commission for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thank you.

Colleagues, are there any individual items that you would like to have pulled for discussion?

I'm not seeing any.

So, colleagues, I move the committee recommend approval of these appointments.

Is there a second?

Can I have a second, please?

Yes.

Sorry, Chair.

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to recommend approval of these appointments.

Devin, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Chair Morales.

Yes.

Three in favor.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation that council approve these appointments will be sent to the December 12th Seattle City Council meeting.

Okay, will you please read item 22 into the record?

Agenda item 22, appointment 2734, appointment of Jennifer Chow as director of the Department of Neighborhoods for a term to December 31st, 2025 for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thank you.

And I believe Deputy Mayor Wong is here along with Jennifer.

Please come on up.

Good morning.

While you're settling in, I will just say that I'm really pleased to appoint to present the appointment for consideration.

In the several months I've been working with Jennifer, she's proven to have a keen understanding of the important role that community engagement plays in supporting the city's efforts to achieve our racial equity goals.

I see her at community events all over the city and the county, and I understand her deep commitment to ensuring that our neighbors have an understanding of the role of local government and to finding ways for them to be part of our processes.

I know my colleagues have had a chance to read her answers to our questions.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you, Jennifer, and from Deputy Mayor Wong, and I will hand it over to you both.

Thank you.

Good morning, Chair Morales, council members.

Thank you for having us here today.

It is my great pleasure to introduce Mayor Harrell's nominee for the director of our Department of Neighborhoods, Jennifer Chao.

Whether it's bringing people together to solicit ideas, diversifying access to pea patch gardens, preserving our neighborhood historic districts, or opening opportunity through the Neighborhood Matching Fund, the mayor is proud to nominate this more than capable leader to champion these programs and more.

Mayor Harrell selected Director Chau after conducting a competitive search process, and he was particularly impressed with her diversity of experience in supporting community.

She's a former small business owner, has experience in the nonprofit sector, and has long worked in the public sector for the people of Seattle.

It's fitting, actually, that our Department of Neighborhoods nominee supported people at the Seattle Neighborhood House, helping them achieve long-term education and employment goals.

As a longtime public servant, she's worked in our Office of Civil Rights, on our Department of Neighborhoods Outreach and Engagement Team, and as Deputy Director of Strategy and Administration in our Finance and Administrative Services Department.

Building and supporting community has always been a vital and integral component of who Jennifer is.

She works tirelessly to uplift the voices of our residents, particularly diverse communities who have been historically marginalized.

Now, as a former short interim director of the Department of Neighborhoods myself, as most folks now, I like to think I have a little insight into what it takes to be successful.

I will say that as you heard in the public testimony today, there is widespread support for Jennifer.

She has been our interim at the Department of Neighborhoods only since March, so only nine months.

And she's already gone out to 65 different community gatherings throughout all of Seattle, from the north end to the south end.

She goes to community, she listens to community, she believes in community.

And that is the most valuable component that we look for in the mayor's office for our Department of Neighborhoods director.

And she's done this all of her life as been demonstrated by the public comment.

It is a unique and special trait.

I'm confident that she will strengthen the city's relationship with community members and help us drive toward Mayor Harrell's vision of an equitable, supportive and inclusive Seattle.

And with that, I'll turn things over to Jennifer to offer her introductory remarks before taking your questions today.

Thank you very much, Deputy Mayor Wong.

And thank you so much, Council Chair Morales.

And thank you council members for the opportunity to be considered to serve as the director of the Department of Neighborhoods.

My life's work has led me to this position and I am humbled and honored to be here today.

When I started this journey as interim director in March, I committed to visiting all the neighborhoods across the city of Seattle by the end of the year to build and strengthen relationships.

As Deputy Mayor Wong mentioned, so far, I have attended 65 community gatherings across all neighborhoods in each of the seven council districts.

And I've actually run into a few council members and community along the way.

To name a few, I joined Council Member Strauss for Norwegian Constitution Day in Ballard, celebrated the first Washington-Union Cultural Festival with Council Member Morales, honored the Pea Patches 50th anniversary with Council Member Peterson, and attended the Portal Porch grant opening in Belltown with Council Member Lewis.

Being in community is the highlight of my job, and it's what brings me joy in this role.

During my community visits, I've listened to each community as they share their cultural nuances and unique needs that will allow their communities to thrive.

There are different approaches based on the cultural needs of the neighborhood, but they all want to create belonging, visibility, and activation.

I know there's still much work to do to connect communities to each other and government, and I look forward to working with my colleagues at DON and across city departments to grow our civic engagement program, to bring community together in celebration of their diversity and shared humanity.

Communities do not have to thrive at each other's detriment.

When communities can see each other as neighbors, it is possible to bridge across cultural differences and find shared solutions that meet the specific needs of each community.

I want to thank my amazing leadership team and all the staff at DON for their constant love, their brilliance and commitment to make things better for community.

Their support is invaluable and I am touched to see them here today to share my journey.

I am also grateful for the collaboration with council as we work towards One Seattle where everyone is included and can thrive.

And I would not be here without the support and trust from the community.

I take my role seriously, and this work is close to my heart.

As a woman of color of Mian ethnicity from Southeast Asia who calls Seattle home, I understand how critical it is to cultivate visibility, belonging, and access.

I won't be perfect, but I am committed to progress and learning so we can do better for community.

In closing, the Department of Neighborhood achieves its vision of community empowerment by centering racial equity in decision making and investing in communities to forge their own solutions.

By leading with our core values of relationships, investments, and capacity building, we can create a healthy and whole ecosystem, both internally and externally.

Thank you for the opportunity to share.

I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

Great, thank you so much to both of you.

Colleagues, I don't have questions, but I did wanna start with just kind of threading some of the things that we talk about, particularly with the Department of Neighborhoods, and I really appreciate the answers to our questions.

So we did submit a dozen or so questions to Director Chao.

And one of the things you talked about was that though we have a race and social justice initiative and we have racial equity toolkits that we use, you said there's a missing element in how to embed racial equity assessments as a standard part of the city's practice when developing our processes and procedures.

And I'll say I was just at the, I sit on the board of the Association of Washington Cities, which is doing a lot of work to try to help our communities across the state understand why diversity and racial equity is so important.

In some communities, that's a hard conversation to have harder than others.

But one of the things that we talked about at that meeting yesterday was even with our tools, and Seattle is ahead of so many communities, even despite that, it is hard for us to measure the impact of that work.

And I think it was really important for you to raise that issue and talk about how we are laying the foundation for us to move forward in that way as a city, but we have a lot of work to do still to measure, be able to measure the impact that our processes are having so that we can increase equity across the city.

And I think the role that the Department of Neighborhoods plays is critical to this mission, because what you do is help all of our neighbors understand what all these local government processes are.

And that engagement is a critical piece of helping us as a city move forward.

So I appreciate having all these folks here from throughout the city and throughout the department to support you and your work.

It's a real testament to your understanding of how critical that work is and how the Department of Neighborhoods plays an important role in helping the city achieve our goals.

So thank you and thanks to all of you.

Colleagues, are there any questions for Director Chau?

Thank you, Chair.

Not at this time.

I'm just very excited and proud of Jennifer for becoming the next director of Department of Neighborhoods.

Great.

Okay.

Well, if that is all, then I will, let me get back to my script, move that the committee recommend approval of the appointment.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you very much.

Devin, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Chair Morales?

Yes.

Three in favor.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation that council approve the appointment will be sent to the December 12th committee meeting, sorry, full council meeting.

You do not need to be there, but you're welcome to attend.

Thank you very much, congratulations.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Okay, Devin, will you please read item 23 into the record?

Agenda item 23, appointment 2693, appointment of Gulgun Kaim as director of the Office of Arts and Culture for briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thank you, and we are joined again by Deputy Mayor Wong.

And I am excited about Gugun being here as the mayor's appointment to the position of director of the Office of Arts and Culture.

I was part of the mayor's selection team that interviewed her.

We interviewed candidates from near and far to find the right person who could support our arts community expand our creative sector and really find new ways to acknowledge the critical role that creatives play in the fabric of our community and the fabric of our economy.

So I am excited to have you here and we'll hand it off to both of you.

Thank you.

Chair Morales and council members again, thank you and good morning.

I'm actually really honored that two of the apartments in my portfolio are before you today because we have two incredibly qualified candidates here.

Well, the pandemic peak brought all of us countless challenges.

Our artists and cultural institutions really are still feeling the impacts of that.

We know that King County just adopted a financial investment for the arts that will bring countless opportunities.

And it's in this period of a notable transition and realignment that our arts community deserves a leader with a proven track record to guide our office of arts and culture into the future.

Mayor Harrell has identified that leader in Gulgun Khayyam, and it's my pleasure to introduce her today.

To say that Gulgun is qualified for the role, in my mind, is a little bit of an understatement.

She joins the Seattle family from the city of Minneapolis, where she was founding director of the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy.

A multidisciplinary artist herself, she assisted artists and creatives to grow and evolve their career paths with the help of local government.

The mayor conducted a rigorous national search led by our Department of Human Resources, and she was the clear choice.

Council Member Morales, as you mentioned, I know you were a member of the 16-member search committee of artists and creatives.

Thank you for being part of that.

And I trust that you recognize what the mayor did.

Gorgun centers strategic planning and knows that the long-term success of arts organizations is rooted in thoughtful investment and capacity building.

It all comes down to planning is a refrain I've heard from her more than once.

Interim Director Kayyem has taken an intentional approach to the way we make our arts investments and will focus on reinvigorating the creative economy with a race and social justice lens.

She will help foster relationships between artists, particularly in underserved communities, to grow artistically while simultaneously expanding access to art throughout our entire city.

Her experience, passion, and creativity make her the ideal choice to spearhead our Office of Arts and Culture.

And the mayor thanks you for your consideration of his nominee today.

And with that, I'll turn things over to Golgun to offer her introductory remarks before taking your questions today.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor Wong, and thank you.

It's a delight to be here, Chair Morales and council members.

I'm honored to be before you.

I am actually overwhelmed by the reception here as well.

I want to say I'm a newcomer to Seattle.

I arrived in September.

And I have appreciated the warm welcome that I have received from the community, from the city, from colleagues, from staff.

It has really meant a great deal to me to get to know the community, to build relationships.

The foundation of the work I do is centered on relationships, so it's really critical that I get out into the community and meet everybody.

Since I arrived, I have been responsive to invitations, seeking out relationships, getting to meet the people that we typically work with in the office, getting to know our work, and getting to, frankly, know my job.

I have met with organizations such as Langston, CD Forum, Wing Luke Museum, Cultural Space Agency, Friends of the Waterfront, the Seattle Art Museum, the National Nordic Museum, through Council Member Strauss.

Thank you, Council Member.

I've attended the Seattle International Film Festival events with Councilmember Lewis, the Symphony, I've had conversations with their board as well as their leadership, the Fifth Avenue Theatre, the Paramount Theatre, Inspire Washington, and many, many more.

I've spoken to gallery owners in Pioneer Square, at Station Space, organizations that we are in relationship with, such as Totem Star, Red Eagle Soaring, and the Rhapsody Project, just to name a few.

It has been quite overwhelming for me to see the reach and impact of the work that the Office of Arts has already been doing.

And it's an honor for me to be considered as the new director.

The other relationships I have and connections I have made are connecting with colleagues for strategic reasons.

in the cultural funding community, such as 4Culture and Arts Fund, and government agencies, such as at the Seattle International Airport and at the state and at the county level.

It's critical for the city to consider these partnerships, as there are great transformations happening in the arts community.

not only because of the challenges that are faced post-pandemic, but also because there's new legislation that was just passed.

And we need to consider, as Deputy Mayor Wong made comments around my interest in planning, we need to consider our policies as this big transformation is happening.

What is the role of the Office of Arts and Culture as we look forward to that new investment?

What are the gaps in investment that we can be working on ourselves?

So these are all the questions I have.

And I know that my staff is there to support those questions.

We will be going out into community and seeking to answer them.

Finally, as noted, I come to you with a background in creative economy research, arts-based community development, supporting and leveraging creative sector assets towards social and economic growth.

And I'm excited to apply my skills and knowledge in service of the city and the community.

So thank you very much.

I look forward to your questions.

Thank you.

Thanks so much.

I will say I'm a little biased because Interim Director Kayim and I have had several fantastic conversations about the intersection of arts and land use as a neighbourhood planner myself, and really the important ways that art contributes to the public realm and what we can do in that regard.

So I'm really looking forward to continuing to work with you You both referenced the county's doors open legislation that just passed.

I wonder if you could just address that since that just happened this week.

and talk a little bit about how that will impact our ability or our relationship with funding organizations.

Yes, so it's an enormous infusion of resources into the community that is much needed.

It brings Seattle up almost to the national average of investment.

So Seattle, before the legislation, was investing 68 cents per capita, and the national average is around $2.

So it will bring us up to $1.50.

per capita, which is a very good first step.

I want to emphasize that while it's an important infusion of resources, those resources do not come online.

It's roughly $100 million until middle of next year.

And then the 4Culture, which is the agency that will be dispersing those resources, they will spend a year really thinking about how to invest.

So in the meantime, elected officials will be making some decisions about dispersing those resources.

What does it mean to us?

I think that's the question we're asking.

We're going to look closely at how 4Culture is investing, working with them to understand where they're putting their strategic investments in general operating support, program development, individual artist workforce development, and then we will seek to either collaborate and reinforce what they're doing or be in places in areas that they're not doing.

So that I'm going to not try to guess, because that work is still to come.

But I'm very excited about that investment.

I think it's a game changer for King County, and I think it's really important that we celebrate, but not be too...

to think that it solves all of our problems.

Sure.

Well, and to that point, I know one of the things that you did in Minneapolis was to do kind of a study of the sector to help understand what gaps there are.

Can you talk a little bit about that process and how you would do that here?

So...

Taking racial equity lenses to looking at data, we were the first city in the United States to ask for disaggregated data in our look at jobs in the county as well as the city.

And by disaggregating the data, we learned more about employment and pay for creatives of color and women, and sort of looking across different disciplines to see, who was employed, how much employment there was, as well as the pay scales.

And what we learned was there was a big disparity in employment and pay for creators of color.

We didn't meet the national average.

So that emphasized a place where government should go.

So I've always been a believer that government should be where the private sector has failed.

And so that's when the work of my office then shifted to addressing the systemic barriers to employment and pay for artists of color specifically.

So that's one example of long term and use of data and in order to inform decision making and policies.

Great.

And is that something that you anticipate doing here or something similar?

Those are questions I'm asking as we speak.

We're discussing with OED the next creative economy report, and that's disaggregated data to me is the key to learning.

Terrific.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any other questions for Director Kayim?

Thank you, Chair.

No, not at this time.

Just as she said, it was very nice to tour the National Nordic Museum with her.

INTERIM DIRECTOR FOR ABOUT FIVE MORE MINUTES.

I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO TAKING MANY MORE TOURS AROUND OUR CITY'S ARTS AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS WITH YOU GOING FORWARD.

THANK YOU.

I APPRECIATE THAT.

OKAY.

WELL, SEEING NO MORE QUESTIONS, I MOVE THE COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS APPROVAL OF THE APPOINTMENT.

IS THERE A SECOND?

SECOND.

IT'S BEEN MOVED AND SECONDED.

DEVIN, WILL YOU PLEASE CALL THE ROLL?

COUNCIL MEMBER LEWIS?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Chair Morales?

Yes.

Three in favor.

Terrific.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation that council approve the appointment will be sent to the December 12th meeting.

Thank you very much.

Excited to do it.

Okay, lots of clapping happening in chambers.

Great, thank you very much, Deputy Mayor Wong.

Okay, terrific, congratulations to both of you.

We will move on to agenda item 24. Devin, will you please read that into the record?

Agenda item 24, Council Bill 120729, an ordinance relating to historic preservation, imposing controls upon the elephant car wash sign, a landmark designated by the Landmarks Preservation Board.

For briefing, discussion, and possible vote.

Thank you very much.

Okay, we have Sarah Sotov online.

Here we go.

And then I thought I saw Malia in chambers, but...

Maybe I'm mistaken.

Sarah, are you presenting?

I am.

Okay, great.

Please go ahead.

Good morning, Chair Morales and council members.

Would you like me to share my presentation now?

Sorry, it's a little loud in here.

I can't hear you yet.

Okay.

Oh, share the screen.

Yes, please go ahead.

Here we go.

All right.

Are you able to see it okay?

We can see it, yes.

All right.

So this ordinance is to codify the controls and incentives agreement that was signed by the property owner, and Justin Ibarra is here with me today online.

And the...

The nomination was made by the owner.

And this is for the elephant car wash sign.

So I'll kind of quickly read over the designation standards for folks just as a reminder.

So in order to be designated a landmark, the resource must meet at least one of the following criteria.

So it is the location of or is associated in a significant way with a historic event with a significant effect on the community, state or nation, city, state or nation.

B, it is associated in a significant way with the life of a person important to the city, state or nation.

It is associated in a significant way with a significant aspect of the cultural, political or economic heritage.

It embodies the distinctive visible characteristics of an architectural style or period or method of construction.

It is an outstanding work of a designer or builder.

Or because of its prominence of spatial location, contrast of sighting, age, or scale, it is an easily identifiable visual feature of its neighborhood or the city and contributes to the distinctive quality or identity.

So for the Elephant Car Wash sign, it was designated in August of 2022 under standards C, D, and E.

The controlled features of the landmark is the sign.

Any maintenance that needs to be made to the sign does not require a certificate of approval.

and there's administrative review available if there's any change that needs to be made to the internal mechanisms of the sign or if the property owner wishes to move the sign to another location that's visible from the public right-of-way and it isn't too far out of its current context.

The sign was designed and built in 1956 And it was designed by Beatrice Haverfield, one of the city's preeminent sign designers, and called the Queen of Neon.

So the sign is associated with the elephant car wash business that was opened by the Anderson family in the early 1950s.

The concept of the elephant is attributed to Archie Anderson, but the design was really developed by B.

Haverfield and was then fabricated by Campbell Neon in 1956. So B. Haverfield's early work on neon signs include Ivor Haglund's Waterfront Cafe at Pier 54, the Chubby and Tubby Realfields store sign on Rainier Avenue South and the original R, or Rainier R, that overlooked South Seattle.

She was also responsible for the neon sign at Hatton Boots and the original Cinerama sign at the Paramount, and she also helped design the first sign for the Cinerama Theater at 4th Avenue and many others.

This is important to me because I don't think many people know that she had such an impact on signage design throughout our city.

So the sign that we're looking at today, it was originally located at 6th and Battery, but it has been repaired and restored by Western Neon at its studios in 4th Avenue.

And the sign has now been installed with approval from the Landmarks Preservation Board in the open plaza.

at 7th and Blanchard, approximately two blocks to the south of the original location.

And it essentially now stands as a piece of privately owned public art.

So you can see by the photos that I provided, I took a contemporary photo because I really wanted to show that the context of the sign has not changed.

significantly over time, so you can still see the space needle in the background from this view.

And that is my presentation.

Great, thank you.

And so this contemporary photo is at the 7th and Blanchard location?

That's correct.

And did you say that the owner is here?

Yes, Justin, he's joined online.

Oh, okay.

Justin, would you like to make any remarks?

I would just like to thank the Council and everyone for taking the time to vote on this, and I appreciate everyone's efforts on this.

Otherwise, I'm excited to get this all going and finally have this wrapped up for everybody.

Okay, great.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Sarah.

Colleagues, are there any questions about this designation or the controls?

Chair, thank you.

No, not at this time.

I'm just very excited that this iconic sign that I've gotten to look at my entire life as I got off of Aurora Avenue is still in South Lake Union.

Although I think if I try to give directions based on it, I'm going to get somebody lost.

Yeah, well, and I just, I do appreciate a little bit of the history of B.

Haverfield.

All of the signs that you mentioned, Sarah, are quite iconic in the city, and I had no idea that it was one person, one woman, who designed them all.

So thank you for that little history lesson.

Okay, colleagues, if there are no further questions or remarks, I move the committee recommends passage of the legislation.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, it's been moved and seconded.

No final comments.

Anything else, Sarah?

Okay.

All right, Devin, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Chair Sawant?

Well.

Chair Morales?

Yes.

Three in favor.

Great.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation that council pass the legislation will be sent to the December 12th city council meeting.

Thank you very much, Sarah.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Okay.

If there are no further comments or questions, that concludes our agenda.

So the meeting of the December 8th Neighborhoods Education, Civil Rights and Culture Committee is adjourned.

Thanks very much colleagues.

I do wanna say, I wanna thank my committee members who have served on this committee the last two years.

This is the last committee of the year, committee meeting of the year.

So I wanna thank community members who have attended, presented and department colleagues who have joined us.

It is 1024 and we are adjourned.

Thank you very much.