Seattle CIty Council Civic Development, Public Assets, and Native Communities Committee 9/4/19

It's starting and you're not muted.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'll do a call to order.

This is a meeting of the Civic Development, Public Assets, and Native Communities Committee.

The date is Wednesday, September 4th, and the time is 2 p.m.

I'm Councilmember Deborah Wars, Chair for the Committee, and I'm joined by Councilmember Gonzales.

Thank you.

So we'll move to the approval of the agenda.

If there are no objections, the agenda will be adopted.

Seeing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Let me go with the chair's report.

We have three items on our agenda, two pieces of legislation by our parks department, followed by a resolution regarding missing murdered indigenous women and girls.

And those of you who have been tracking this issue know that we have been working with the Seattle Indian Health Board and other groups to tee up legislation and ordinance that's soon to be coming after this, hopefully.

So on the first matter, we're going to consider a resolution approving the design for improvements at Victor Steinbrook Park.

I believe that's to the tune of $1.6 million.

Improvements for public safety, sight lines, renovation, lighting, and upgrading.

Item two is a council bill that authorizes the acquisition of real property on the South Fork of Thornton Creek.

And I believe that's about $800,000.

A long time coming in purchasing this last piece of private property.

And then as I shared earlier, Resolution 31900. This legislation stands as the foundation for a city's response to the missing murdered indigenous women group, I'm sorry, girls crisis.

This topic has been heavily researched by the Urban Indian Health Institute, also referred to as Research Arm of the Seattle Indian Health Board.

The Seattle Indian Health Board is a community health center that provides health and human services to its patients while specializing in the care of native people by way of indigenous knowledge informed systems of care model.

That's basically a fancy way of saying for our community the love that we take care of them.

Seattle Indian Health Board is a leader in the promotion of health for urban American Indians and Alaska Natives locally and nationally.

Their report on missing murdered indigenous women and girls among urban indigenous people is the first to be published in the nation and it is Seattle's responsibility to respond and take action.

I just want to share on a personal note that the people that we'll have at the table today are more than pioneers, that's a pun.

in Indian country.

They have a personal and professional commitment that we remain, that Native folks and marginalized people remain visible, not only in the public eye, but also in the government's response to crisis and issues that need to be addressed by government, and addressing institutional racism and institutional oppression.

And we'll get more into that when they present on the third matter on the agenda.

So we're very happy to have you here today, and we welcome you and your presentation again.

So we'll go into the details of the provisions around urban Native consultation in city business health and services for victims and data collection by relevant city departments.

We have learned the term decolonizing the data from Abigail Echo Hawk.

That's our new term, fancy term we throw around.

I'm not quite sure I understand it all, but it's been working quite well for me.

So with that, I will close the chair's report and we'll move to public comment.

Do you have anyone signed up?

We have one person.

Okay.

Elizabeth Riggs.

Elizabeth who?

Hi, my name is Elizabeth Riggs.

I'm a board member of the Green Lake Advisory Council.

And Debra Juarez, you, Council Member Debra Juarez, you asked us to look for partnership funding for the replacement of Green Lake Community Center and Evans Pool.

And so we've started with the obvious.

Good, let me hear.

So the King County Parks Levy passed and they have a grant application process that may start on October 2019 and they have annual, some annual funds available.

We contacted the Washington State Legislature, and as you know, it's a biannual budget for 2020. They asked us to contact them in November 2019. And so we would like to apply for partnership funding.

But we need to know, you know, we need to work with, we're not sure who to work with in terms of we need the details, we need to work with the people on the schematic design, we don't know where that process is, we don't know whether we work with the parks department or with you or how do we proceed.

We have, we can talk more offline, but you can work with our office and we'll get your name and we will set up another appointment and talk.

And we've done this with community groups before, how we start, like when we raised the 18 million for the Lake City Community Center, three years in the making, but we did it.

But we started with community, community groups like yourself, working with their groups to work with the county and the city and the state, and then working with the mayor's office.

And then of course, securing money in the budget.

So we will be happy to work with you on that.

And again, we'll get your information and your number, and we'll schedule a meeting.

That would be lovely.

And also, Jesus Agarres is here.

The superintendent's here.

So I'm sure he'll like to hear from you as well.

Yes.

I saw him come in, and I plan to talk to him when there's a private moment.

Good for you.

OK.

Great.

Thank you.

I'm guessing we're done.

Okay, so we will close public comment and we will move into our items of business.

And, Nagina, I'll have you read into the record the first item and then we can invite our folks up.

Item 1, Resolution 31891, a resolution approving the design for improvements to Victor Steinbrook Park funded through the 2008 Parks and Green Spaces Levy.

Great, so I understand we have some more folks.

Oh, you're all coming on up.

Everybody's coming on up.

Great, so I saw the PowerPoint, and you guys can introduce yourselves.

I'll say a few words, and then I'll let you guys launch into what we're doing at Victor Steinbrook Park.

Tracy Ratzliff, Council Central Staff.

Jesus Aguirre, Seattle Parks and Recreation.

David Graves, Seattle Parks and Recreation.

So I know that this has been a long time coming because it was in the original of one of the items that was listed in the 2008 issue on the parks levy.

So we're finally moving into this area of revamping and reinventing and cleaning up and landscaping.

So I'll let you guys take it from there.

David will walk through the presentation, but I want to just also clarify that.

So this is for the design improvements for Victor Strandberg Park.

You mentioned the budget of $1.6 million is what was in the 2009 Parks and Open Spaces levy.

We actually had to supplement that budget by another $5 million due to some of the, as we're going into looking at the membrane between the park and the parking garage.

So it's become a much more substantial project, but we'll walk you through where we are with that.

That's Victor Steinberg Park as you see today.

So this was the levy language from 2008 Parks and Green Spaces levy.

The first step was to go to council.

We did that back in 2014 just to give an overview of the necessity of the project.

Part of the reason we're just now getting to the project was we wanted to coordinate with the central waterfront development and the development of the market front project, which is on the PC1 site to the south.

So the levy requires council approval of the design before we start in construction.

We're now at 95% construction docs, so getting the project ready to bid.

This is kind of the last step.

We were before the This is in the Historic District, Pike Place Market Historic District.

We were before the Historic Commission last week, and they approved the project.

So this is the last step.

We did a broad brush of public outreach, spent some time with Native folks, spent time with the homeless community, spent a lot of time working with Colleen Echo Hawk and her folks, Chief Seattle Club, Indian Health Board.

John Paul Jones from Jones and Jones was part of our design team, so he had some great work with our native community as well.

Plus, working with kind of general stakeholders, the market, surrounding residents, surrounding businesses, that whole kind of broad outreach and broad user group for folks out of Victor Steinberg Park.

Here's a park that I think is a challenging thing for us.

The westerly half of that park sits on top of a unicorn.

Before you go for that last slide, I like how you have the Native American one on the easel there.

Good job.

Thank you.

Nice.

Yeah, it wasn't intentional.

The challenge for us with this project, I mean, the levee envisioned a really straightforward project.

There was lighting and cleaning up the park and doing that sort of thing.

Once we dug into it, you realize the west half of the park sits on top of the Unico parking garage.

There's a membrane that was put down in the mid-80s when the park was constructed.

You know, if you put a membrane down today, you get a 30-year life.

This was probably less than a 30-year life.

So the membrane failed.

In order to do the levy project, we basically have to remove the, we have to do the membranes.

You basically have to remove the whole park, two-thirds of the park, clean off the slab, put the membrane down, and then put the park back on top of it.

So hence, that's the big REIT number you see associated with the project.

The levy dollars are relatively small in comparison.

Here is the vision.

Here's what we're going to build out there.

As you can see, it's not very different than what you see out there today.

The berms will remain the same.

The south room where the pergola sits will look very similar.

There'll be a connection to the market front project to the south.

So folks that are mobility challenged will be able to go from Victor Steinberg Park directly up the ramp and into the market without having to navigate the cobblestones in front of Pike Place Market.

When the Tree of Life was installed in the northeast corner, that was where the children's play area was, so we're bringing children's play element back into the park in a subtle way.

Those light-colored squares at the north end of the park are just some things for little folks to interact with.

The original park design had trees along that north end, so we're bringing those trees back.

The lighting will be upgraded if you're out there now in the evening.

It's really dark or really bright.

There isn't a constant glow out there, so this will be upgraded lighting so you get a constant light level out there, but won't shine up into the surrounding residents.

Seating will be improved.

The current seating doesn't accommodate folks in wheelchairs and companion seating, so there will be spots at the tables for folks in wheelchairs, those folks that are mobility challenged.

In working with John Paul Jones, Well, you'll see more of a schematic of a similar.

Oh, sorry, one thing.

The large London plane tree has to be removed.

A good portion of that's over the parking garage.

There's no way to take it up and put it back down and preserve it.

So we'll take that tree down.

We'll put a new one in, same species, large caliper.

So to preserve that.

preserve that feeling.

What you see in the lower left corner is Coast Salish for welcome in the English translation, so that'll be in two spots at the park.

Off of Western, when you walk in the park, will be welcome in Coast Salish, and also here, that's the entrance from Market Front.

We're adding a paving pattern that's a Coast Salish paving pattern, both in the area where the pergola is, we'll have to rebuild the pergola, and then in what we're calling the north room, which is that area at the north end of the park.

And some upgrades to the railing, some upgrades to the seating, just in a lot of ways, new concrete surface, we'll be able to keep it clean and fresh, and the park will really look like it does today, only brighter, crisper, and easier for us to maintain.

David, I know we've met with you a couple times on this along with the group.

And I really want to thank you, because we started talking about this a couple years ago.

And now to see the Coastal Salish and all the things that hiring John Paul Jones and having that group, Colleen and folks, what a difference when you sit down and actually work with the community, whatever that community may be, to reflect a sense of place that when you come here, you're in Seattle, and this is Coastal Salish people, not Blackfeet from Montana.

We're not just all one culture.

We're all different, and this is their land.

So thank you so much for that territorial acknowledgement and honoring.

I think we really appreciate that.

I know you've been working on this for years.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Is there anything you want to ask Councilman Gonzales?

Okay.

Anything else?

Nope.

That's it?

Oh, okay.

On this one.

Oh, okay.

Sorry.

Is there more?

Oh, OK, well, I just need to know if anyone had to say anything before I went to a vote.

I was trying to be respectful.

I'll say thank you.

OK, so with that, we already read the item into the record.

Let's see.

I move the committee pass resolution 31891. Second.

Thank you.

The motion is moved and seconded.

All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, no.

Ayes have it.

We'll submit this to full council on Monday.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, David, for all your hard work.

Let's read the second item into the record.

And while we do that, if I may, Council Member, just to direct our friend from Green Lake, David Graves is the person that she should just connect with, and we can start that conversation around the planning part for the community center.

Did you hear that, Grace?

David Graves is willing to contact people?

Yes.

That sounds great.

OK.

That's how we get it done here.

All right, go ahead and introduce yourself.

Did you read it in there?

Not yet.

Go ahead.

Item 2, Council Bill 119616, an ordinance relating to the Seattle Parks and Recreation, authorizing the acquisition of real property commonly known as 1902 Northeast 98th Street, authorizing acceptance and recording of the deed for open space, park, and recreation purposes, and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts.

Good afternoon, Councilmembers.

I'm Max Jacobs with the Seattle Parks and Recreation.

And Max, I'll go through the slideshow, but I think this is an exciting project continuing in our efforts to restore Thornton Creek in Northeast Seattle.

This is a creek that has an incredible diversity of fish, and we've been working for years now to preserve sections both of the North and South Forks, so this is a great opportunity for us.

Max, are you walking us through the PowerPoint?

Is that how we're doing this?

It's only a couple pages.

Absolutely.

Okay.

This is pretty brief, Council Member Juarez.

As the superintendent said, this is a wonderful opportunity.

This is the last in-holding along the stretch of Thornton Creek, and this is an opportunity for us to protect the habitat.

It's a really significant stream in terms of fish bearing, and also by controlling this site, we're going to be able to stop invasive weeds from entering the creek system.

So this is really an important habitat protection opportunity, and we're grateful that the owners reached out to us.

We tried to acquire the property years ago and were not successful.

So this is one of those situations where we develop relationships with folks in the community and sometimes they bear fruit many years later because they like to sell to the park.

When we, I was looking, I know you're going to get to it, but I'll just say it quickly and let you get to it.

But we went on a field trip almost three years ago.

So that picture that you have in there of that bridge, we went there.

Were you with us?

I wasn't there.

Oh, and then they pointed out the last property owner that was on the creek.

So I'm trying to remember, we went with the Thornton Creek Alliance folks and a bunch of other people from SPU in parks.

I can't remember who was all there.

I don't think you were there.

Probably Chip.

Who?

Chip Williams.

Oh yeah, it was Chip.

Probably Chip Hammond.

Yeah.

Exactly.

You were on that field trip.

I don't know why you weren't.

I think Christopher was there.

But anyway, I noticed that picture right away.

And I have for the life of me been trying to get back to that.

And I couldn't remember how, now that I have the address, yeah, I walked right over there.

It was really cool.

It's hidden in there.

You can't find it.

I tried to go find it a couple times.

I couldn't find it.

Now I know.

It's an amazing site.

It's beautiful, and we have a great partnership with SPU here because we've done a lot of stream restoration work, and it kind of serves multiple purposes, open space and also some natural drainage features.

So, I mean, you've really said almost everything that needs to be said here.

I mean, we're very excited about the acquisition.

It's based on an outside appraiser, of course, as we always do.

It's 0.7 acres.

we'd strongly recommend approving the ordinance so that we have authority to close on that transaction.

What's the timeline?

What are you looking at?

How close are you to?

We'd like to close as soon as we possibly can if council approves the ordinance and the mayor signs it.

It's not profoundly urgent, but we're trying to close as soon as we can.

And whenever we deal with private property owners, they often have a sense of urgency.

So in this market, it's been really important to close quickly.

And you're going to demolish the house on there, right?

That's right.

Just like the other piece that we got on the North Fork of Thornton Creek, the red house?

That's right.

Okay.

Did you have more to add?

I don't really have more to add.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

I mean, this is Park District funded.

We're going to seek half of the money back from King County Conservation Futures, which is another program we very frequently take advantage of, and it's great for the park system and the community.

Yep.

Is there anything else you guys want to add?

We okay?

All right.

We will move to a vote then.

So I move the committee pass Council Bill 119-616.

Second.

Motion is moved and seconded.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, no.

The ayes have it.

Congratulations.

We'll get this to full council Monday and then hopefully we can close.

Will you let us know when you do that?

Absolutely.

It would be really nice to know.

I'm happy to.

Because I don't even know when you're closing on the Red House up on 125th on the North Fork Authority.

Very, very soon.

Okay, because I was going to ask Parks to get back to us on that one, too, because the Lake City community group have been asking when they're going to close on that and if there's going to be any kind of fanfare or whatever.

Opportunity to celebrate.

Yes, thank you.

Opportunity to celebrate.

Wonderful.

I think we should rename the Forks.

Council Member Gonzalez, North Fork.

I want the South Fork.

Council Member Juarez, the South Fork.

Second.

Boom, it's done.

Gonzales Creek, Juarez Creek.

Yeah.

It would be pretty historical in this city.

For sure.

Who gets the lower, though?

I don't know.

Casper or Gonzales?

I'm fine.

I just want one.

Yeah.

I don't care where it's at.

We have no rivers or streams named after Latinos in this city.

So I'm just saying.

We got like two.

There's some other Latino names if you want to.

No.

Women.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for all your work, too.

I know you've been working on this a long time.

We have.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

All right, so this is the one I've been excited.

Not that you guys aren't important.

I care about that stuff too.

So let's read the third item to the record.

Resolution 31900, a resolution reclaiming the inherent responsibility of the city to protect its most vulnerable populations, acknowledging the disproportionately high rate of violence against women of indigenous communities, urging city departments to deliver sustainable investments that address the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls crisis and establish a new racially appropriate framework of understanding and approach to ending violence against indigenous women and girls.

and calling on the mayor of Seattle to drive systemic reform that requests and empowers and holds accountable related city departments to work in cooperation with Native communities to build trust and engagement for stronger government-to-government relations.

Wow, I was going to say short title, but thank you.

Can we have our guests come join us?

So we can just go all down the line on introductions.

And I know Mr. Doss is going to walk us through his memo.

And then we're going to hear from the three folks here.

And then I will save my comments till we get towards the end.

You can go ahead and start.

Greg Doss, Council of Central Staff.

It's on the stem.

On the stem.

Oh, there it is.

Thanks.

Abigail Echo-Hawk, Chief Research Officer, Seattle Indian Health Board.

Erin Spark, government affairs officer, Seattle Indian Health Board, and soon to be a member of the Native Village of Chevek.

Oh, good for you.

Esther Lucero, CEO for the Seattle Indian Health Board.

Thank you.

So I will hold my introductory remarks.

I think I've said enough.

And I want to hear from you guys, so I'll let you.

How are we going to start this?

Are you going to walk us through your memo first?

Open it any way you want to do it, Madam Chair.

Let's do it that way.

Let's tee it up and then we'll let the subject matter experts dive in.

So talk a little bit about the history for the viewing public and note that as we all know here at this table, indigenous women experience violence at much higher rates than other populations.

Studies have shown that indigenous women are murdered at rates greater than 10 times the national average.

There have been several studies that have been conducted.

I'm just going to hit some high points.

The Canadian government funded some groundbreaking research into the MMIWG issue.

They had a commission lead a multi-year inquiry that found that there was no reliable estimate of the number of Indigenous women who have been killed or have gone missing but that prior estimations, which extend into the thousands, likely are severe undercounts of the actual number.

Then there, of course, there was the groundbreaking research that was conducted here in the United States by the Seattle Indian Health Board representatives here at the table.

I know that that was a topic that you all addressed in a prior hearing, so I'm not going to go into that too much.

Turning to the legislative history, early this year Congress considered several pieces of legislation that would have made changes to the way the federal government addresses the MMIWG issue.

Two of the more prominent bills, Savannah's Act and the Not Invisible Act would have made significant changes to the way the Department of Justice and other federal agencies handle the issue.

The legislation has not passed yet.

However, it is the basis for the resolution that is before the committee today.

So with that, I will go ahead and start my summary of the resolution.

Resolution 31900 acknowledges that the city has responsibility in addressing the murdered and missing indigenous women and girls crisis.

It calls on the mayor of Seattle to direct departments to make racially appropriate sustainable investment that address the crisis and help bring an end to the violence against indigenous women and girls.

It requests that the city departments employ a culturally attuned framework that fosters an indigenous led initiative that combats disproportionately high rates of structural violence as well as addressing underlying factors of homelessness, poverty, income, inequality, death, poor health, and education inequities.

Some highlights of the resolution.

There are a number of specific actions that are requested of the mayor, the Seattle Police Department, the Human Services Department, Department of Neighborhoods, and the Seattle-King County Health Department.

SPD would review and improve its method for collecting, disseminating, and using the data on indigenous people.

SPD would also develop best practices and protocols for law enforcement agencies to handle MMIWG cases.

They would finally make efforts to improve relationships with indigenous people in consultation with representatives from the Seattle Indian Health Board.

And then also they would potentially add to the force a culturally attuned police liaison position to work with Seattle Indian Health Board staff.

The Department of Human Resources would review all of its contracts with programs that address potential causes of violence against indigenous women, including homelessness and poverty, gender-based violence, mental health, and substance abuse disorder services.

They would, by the first quarter of next year, examine their funding levels and recommend strategies to ensure that their practices are equitable and that funding is distributed accordingly, equitably.

Finally, the city would confer with local tribes, tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations in the development of any strategies or policies that could benefit indigenous people.

They would pursue strategies investments to address the MMIWG crisis.

And finally, the resolution notes that it's council's belief that additional resources and a detailed work plan by city departments is necessary to improve the lives of indigenous people.

Before we begin, let me just say this, and I'm going to turn it over to you guys.

I want to really thank you, Greg, and central staff, because you guys all got on top of this issue quickly.

We were worried.

And I know that federal Indian law policy, all of these issues, you got on it really quickly.

Your staff did.

You guys worked really closely with Nagin and Saline Health Board.

their staff, and we saw the first draft, the second draft, the third draft.

It just kept getting better and better.

And I just want to appreciate that this is why we added Native communities to committees, so that we have central staff that understand that Native issues belong on this floor as well.

Because when I first got here, a lot of people just had no background of any Native issues.

I was always doing it for them.

And so for you guys to do that and work with Nageen and the Santa Elena Hills Board, It's just been amazing, so I'm hoping this is some subject matter expertise that you can take with you and you can continue to build on, because we're going to need you further down the road for some other issues that we're teeing up for 2020. That's if I'm here, but that's my point.

Let me just say this before we get started.

We have been really lucky to have the support of the mayor's office, city attorney Pete Holmes, Police Chief Carmen Best, and Abigail, I'm sure you can say more about this, but working with the Seattle King County Board of Health and their subcommittee.

We've been getting information from them as well.

And we've been offline kind of talking with the King County Superior Court and Seattle Municipal Court.

So we envision a bigger governmental family and more city departments and agencies to tackle this issue so it isn't just a few people on the second floor or the seventh floor that understand this, but it's actually ingrained and weaved into how we govern.

So I'm going to leave it at that and I'll let you guys take over.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

I'm so excited to sit here at this table today.

The last time that we were here with this incredible team at the Seattle Indian Health Board, we were able to present, and I thank you so much for the incredible amount of time we were given to really give a full overview of this issue and how it's impacted not only Seattle, King County, and Washington State.

We were given ample time, but one of the things that I had the opportunity to say here was is that we've heard a lot about the research.

We've done the formative research.

This is an issue that has been raised to public awareness across the country, but we have seen very little specific action.

And to my knowledge, the action that is going to be taken here in Seattle, if this resolution does pass the full council, will be the first of its kind in the country.

that has very specific goals and outcomes and measures of accountability.

And so we are leading here nationally.

We have this opportunity to show the rest of the country the way it should be done to really recognize that this is a race-based issue.

This is affecting specifically American Indians and Alaska Natives.

It is addressing the institutional and structural oppression that has allowed for missing and murdered indigenous women to remain invisible for so long.

So I'm excited to sit here at this table and kind of feel like these currents of electricity through myself, truthfully, as we look at what this resolution is attempting to do.

And one of the things, again, that I really appreciate is that it is looking at more than what actions can the city take within its own departments, really seeing named in there SPD, looking at where funding allocations are going to, but we also see in this resolution very specifically the inclusion of community throughout and that is again one of the differences because what we can't expect is institutions like the city, like the police departments, like the human services departments that struggle with making sure that they are doing culturally attuned and racially attuned care and services to do that without the input of the community.

And so to see that name throughout this resolution is again groundbreaking.

I think we are sitting here with an opportunity again to show the rest of the nation how to do this right.

And when we do it right, we do it because And I know that's why Council Member Juarez sits here at this table bringing Native issues here is because we love our people.

And we begin to address violence within the American Indian Alaska Native community.

We are going to be addressing violence throughout the entire community because what impacts one impacts all.

And so we have the opportunity to build the health and well-being of not just the indigenous community, but everybody that lives here within the city of Seattle.

Thank you.

Thank you Councilmember Juarez and Councilmember Gonzalez for having us today and thank you especially for really leading the way to make sure that this saw the light and that we're going to see this through to the end.

So we'll be here.

We were here in the beginning.

We're going to be here right there at the end with you.

This is extremely groundbreaking because nine pieces of legislation in eight states have been brought up as far as missing and murdered indigenous women have gone.

None of those actually talked about how we're going to look internally.

A lot of that put the onus of the problem on the Native community itself.

This is a problem that's affecting the Native community.

How are we going to fix it for them?

This is the first time we're saying we're going to use them to use their strengths to figure out how we're going to do this.

And once we do that, it'll be the beacon for the rest of the country, and I will say the world, to figure out how this is going to be addressed.

So I want to thank you for doing that, for understanding that this policy is groundbreaking in so many different levels, but it will break the ceiling when we're talking about how policy is addressed for our entire communities, even though we're talking about a targeted community right now.

So I want to thank you for doing this.

From the bottom of my heart, again, saying that I'm the father of two young girls.

Ages 7 and 4, Ari and Ida, who I think about every day with their safety because of the issues that we've been dealing with for so long.

And it's been unspoken.

But to see it spoken here, to see it spoken on national TV, within our newspapers, to the point where it's part of our collective consciousness, I honestly did not think we were going to get to this place.

And I thank the creator every single day for putting me in touch with this team, making sure that I could work with them at the Seattle Indian Health Board so we can bring this to the rest of the community.

So thank you for elevating this.

Thank you for lifting us all up.

Again, I feel like I've been at this table quite a bit this year.

And I think that's really a testament to true leaders.

I mean, when I sit at this table, I'm looking at leadership.

And what that means is, is a city who said, wow, we don't have to wait for national efforts to come to fruition.

We don't have to wait for the state, you know, to take true action.

We're going to really model what that looks like.

And we're going to work with the communities that we serve every single day to uplift their strengths and to exercise their power to really address the needs of our community.

And I'm sitting here as a CEO who's incredibly proud of this team.

Thank you.

Yeah.

And so when we think about the ways that we've worked, I always get excited about these guys, right?

Because they're so dynamic, right?

CEO just standing here with your team who's done something that is pivotal, not only just for our local communities, but also for national communities, right?

And that's what happens when you work together as a community.

And I think that one of the things that I really love about this resolution is that it really demonstrated how our community comes together to meet the needs of our people.

Right?

And so we were able to leverage this giant brain and this powerful voice, you know, to bring this forward and to work with your team who said, yeah, we can learn something here and let's do something real.

And so what I'd like to see now is other cities across the nation actually develop these policies that confer policies with tribal communities and urban Indians.

throughout the country so that we can make a difference, not only with missing and murdered indigenous women, but all issues that affect our communities.

To me, it's a true acknowledgement of the fact that 71% of us live in cities now, right?

And so we're going to get to know you a lot better.

And to me, you all have just really modeled what that can look like.

So thank you so much.

Thank you.

Akeha.

Thank you.

Council Member Gonzalez, anything you want to add?

Sure.

I just wanted to echo the thanks of the folks at the table for you, Chair Juarez, and your leadership in this space.

You were pretty adamant a couple of years ago about making sure that we that we added Native Americans specifically as spoken words to a committee title, and a lot of times people think, well, it's just a title, it's just words, like, who cares?

But it does matter, and really appreciate your leadership in this space, which is long overdue, but very welcome change, I think, to the dynamic and the culture of how the city of Seattle, and the city council in particular, does its business.

overarching leadership and your specific leadership on this resolution.

I think it's a very well-crafted resolution, and I'm really excited about continuing to have an opportunity to support the work in this particular space.

And a lot of times, you know, when we're talking about communities of color, we typically do shift the burden to communities of color to solve their own issues, and that can be a mixed bag, right?

Like, we are closest to the problem, so we are also closest to the solution, so we want that ownership, but we also recognize that there are structural issues related to being able to do that work.

to the fullest potential if we don't have the support of the institutions who are ultimately holders of the responsibility to make sure that they are not continuing to perpetuate harm within our communities, but are instead investing in our resilience and in our strength.

And then the promise of what we know we have been and what we know we can continue to be in the future as people.

So really excited about continuing to support this work.

I recognize in the resolution and in the summary fiscal note there are several I'm assuming those are conversations that will occur during our upcoming budget process and wanted to confirm that.

Okay, great, great.

I just wanted to make sure that some of those budget requests impact the Seattle Police Department, which I have oversight for, and the Public Safety Committee, and wanted to make sure that we weren't gonna lose that thread in the ongoing conversations around investments to modify the structure of how we do the work at the city, but also how we support community-based initiatives.

I'm really glad you brought that up, Councilman Gonzalez, because you're our next stop.

We were just trying to clean up some things off from the seventh floor and clean up some budget issues.

But because you chair that committee, we knew that we wanted to, and I'm glad you're on this committee because obviously your wealth of information and subject matter and the issues that you've done for public health and law enforcement, we were going to be looking to your expertise as well.

And I would welcome you to be a co-sponsor on this at some point when you're ready.

Okay, so let me just say a few things first.

I'm going to save a lot of my big words for Monday, so we don't get all emotional again, but Council Member Gonzalez brought up something, and I've learned a lot from her in this, and I'm learning more as I get older, because I think it's the same thing, we just have new words for it, that this whole crisis of missing, murdered, indigenous women and girls is a byproduct of institutional oppression.

This is what happens when institutions don't see people of color as something that they are supposed to handle or tackle.

As Council Member Gonzales was saying, when you have that kind of institutional oppression, Injustice is manifested in not only the brick and mortar, but just how they provide policy, a perspective, services, money.

And what Council Member Gonzales touched on, which was wonderful because I get it, is that we have to rely on external advocacy.

We have to rely on community pulling together to tell us what we need to do to govern and to lead and to get your voices in our budget and in our policy and to change laws.

We can't wait for the federal government or the state.

I know the state passed a bill on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, and we looked at it.

We looked at the federal one.

But we wanted this to be reflective of this city council and what's a priority to us, not only manifested in legislation and an ordinance, but in budget.

And the other issue, which is really near and dear to my heart, is there are two things going on.

Did you guys see the recent art installation out of Canada called 4,000 Beads?

I saw it yesterday.

Do you want to briefly share what it means or I can?

So it was by an artist by the name of Chinupa Lugar who created and did a community-based effort where people sent in beads that are about this side from across the country and he created a portrait that is and represents all of the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and also trans women in Canada.

and it is a representation in a community-built art installation that represents and holds those voices and stories in beauty and in art and in recognition of their families.

So my idea was, that's my second, oh, is Jesus still here?

No, but that's my second budget issue within parks, and maybe that we do some kind of installation to represent what we're doing for missing, murdered indigenous women and girls.

You know, the last presentation you saw where we worked with your sister, obviously, Colleen, and getting the indigenous and territorial acknowledgement.

I want to do that for this project and that's my next step in 2020 is where we're going to look for this money for parks and other departments to come forward and have something that manifests what we're doing for missing, murdered indigenous women and girls.

I was really disappointed because I was back in D.C.

and we were working hard to whip votes for the passage of Savannah's Act and the Violence Against Women Act, VAWA.

Both of them failed.

They got out of the House but not the Senate, even though we were working with Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids and Elizabeth Warren.

So I can't even tell you how sad I was.

I just like, you know, okay, so our lives don't matter on our own reservation in cities.

we will not have jurisdiction to be able to prosecute men that violate, rape, hurt our women and children.

Okay.

Great.

Thank you, United States of America.

So when we get back to institutional oppression and we talk about what are the byproducts of it, it isn't just this phenomenon and this crisis of what we're dealing with.

We also see it, a manifestation of that is like when we saw redlining.

Someone said you can use federal money and tell people of color that they can't buy homes in this neighborhood.

It was institutionalized, it was okay.

We have a history with Native folks, well over 300 years, where the federal policy has been that we have to be, it's either genocide, termination, you know, it's been every side you can think of.

And one of the things I've worked with the housing folks is for the first time, they're adding the word colonization to the list of trauma, sexism, racism.

It's the first time I've ever seen it in a real document, where they're recognizing that colonization equals trauma, which equals, and also not just the people that experience the trauma, but those in positions of power and authority are perpetuated.

and legitimize it and make it a statute or a law.

So, and I know Council Member Gonzales knows this probably better than I do, our job is to deconstruct that.

And the way we do that is to show, because I know everyone's going to watch what Seattle's doing.

And they're going to say if the city of Seattle can not, if they can, I mean, the federal government left us behind.

The state has a law.

I mean, that's, it's a good one, but I'd like to see a little bit more teeth in it.

But ours has that.

It has deliverables.

And the last thing I'll say is, and I've said this before, and I've said it many, many times in my life, Daryl Kipp was an elder on our reservation, and he was phenomenal at Blackfeet.

And he had his degree, even though I say this kind of as a side note, but it's important, in our Blackfeet language.

He's the one that started all of our immersion schools.

And I've known Daryl for years.

We lost him about 10 years ago.

But one of the things that he taught us and we lived by in Blackfeet, and I can't say it in Blackfeet, but I can say it in English, is that when they took away our language, is that language is culture, and culture is behavior.

And if you change the language, you change the behavior.

That's how powerful language is.

And when they took that from us, and we didn't have words to describe certain pain or all these things, then they took away some of our humanity and without getting too much into the weeds about what Daryl said and did.

That's kind of how I come to this is with the languages and the invisibility.

And so I'm excited today to get this out the door and in front of full council Monday.

And I know we're going to have more of our brothers and sisters here and then move forward.

And I just want you to know that we certainly have the support of the mayor's office and other folks.

But I'm just really excited when we finally get this thing done and we can celebrate and move forward and work with you guys.

And who is the woman that worked out of your office with Nagin?

That's Francesca Murnan.

Yeah, and I wanted to say that in my remarks.

I thank her because she worked so hard putting all of our personalities together in this one document.

It's an amazing job.

And I'm going to steal her from you, but OK.

You're not.

I warned you before.

I have to say, Nagin and Francesca and Mr. Goss, they all did a really good job.

Oh, and other central staff, I'm sorry.

Allie and Asha.

The double A's.

Yeah, the double A's.

No, Ali and Asha.

Oh, and Amy.

And Amy, all three of them.

I'm so sorry, you guys.

I didn't see you sitting there.

Those are the three other people that have worked on this legislation, you guys, that were knee-deep in it and were working on it.

And I mean, you know, it's just been wonderful.

We have four staffers on this.

And I don't even know the last piece of legislation we had four staffers, except for during budget.

So this is Indy Geen, who now is becoming more of an expert.

She was explaining to me what culturally attuned, what that meant.

I'm like, OK, I got it.

All right.

I'm a little behind, but I'm catching up.

So with that, is there anything else we want to say to close this out, folks?

Excited for Monday.

Good.

Yeah, very excited for money.

And again, there are efforts going out throughout King County.

There's the Board of Health Subcommittee chaired by Councilwoman Cole-Wells, along with their efforts at the King County Prosecutor's Office to ensure the correct racial classification is corrected for victims, particularly of sexual assault.

And so again, this work is going to allow us to further invest and lead in these areas and really see Seattle and King County as the leaders in addressing violence against indigenous women.

Now is the time for justice.

Now is the time to lead.

Thank you all for ensuring that that happens here.

Thank you.

And I want to drive home one last point before we go.

This piece of legislation, understand that we're setting up a framework that nobody else has even come close to attempting.

You mentioned earlier that this is giving teeth to something.

This is a shark coming to attack right now, as far as all the other pieces of legislation go.

That's how I roll, Aaron.

You know that.

That's why we're on your boat right now, right?

Council Member Gonzalez?

Oh, I just wanted to ask really quickly if there's been any contacts between you all and the King County Medical Examiner's Office in particular?

We haven't been working with the examiner's office, but that is definitely one area that we want to begin to work in.

Yeah, I mean, he's really fabulous.

You know, I had an opportunity to, it's probably one of the most morbid tours I've done, but I had an opportunity to actually talk to the King County Medical Examiner about a lot of the different issues that disproportionately impact communities of color, and he made a point to mention Native communities in particular.

You know, one of the most profound experiences I had was walking into a closet where there were remains of individuals who have yet to be identified.

And I think there's a unique opportunity to develop a partnership with him around this particular conversation and issue.

I don't know where it can lead, but it certainly seems like an opportunity.

Yeah, that would be thank you so much for that suggestion.

And actually, for mortality data in Washington State, we have found incredible racial misclassifications, particularly of American Indians, Alaska Natives.

There is a study done to Pacific Northwest hospitals of patients there and 44% of the American Indian and Alaska Natives in that hospital system, two major ones here in this city, 44% of them are racially misclassified within those hospital records.

And so it's another issue when we think about the medical examiner's office where they are you know, assisting in determining the race and ethnicity.

So I think it is one of those.

Thank you for making that suggestion.

We will definitely reach out.

Great.

And thank you, Council Member Gonzalez, because I know that you had brought it up before.

I remember making a mental note of that, but thank you for saying that.

One good thing is myself, Council Member Mosqueda, and Council Member Bagshaw sit on the Seattle King County Board of Health.

So we'll be involved over there.

So when you're bragging about us over there, I'll be up there waving.

I just did that.

Yeah, you just did that.

Thank you very much.

Okay, so with that, go ahead.

Can I say just one last statement?

And that is that when we solve these problems for Indian country, we can solve them for our other communities of color, right?

Because when we're addressing issues about racial misclassification, that affects so many other people.

And so we've said that a lot.

You know, I know Colleen has said it about homelessness, and we've said it about health.

Like, if you solve, you know, problems for Indian people, you solve it for all people.

And so I appreciate you guys seeing that today.

One last comment, too.

I don't think I'll be saying this Monday, but I want to say this now, particularly since Councilwoman Gonzalez is here, and she chairs the public safety issues, and is knee-deep in all that.

Sometimes it's better just to tell a quick story than to try to be wonky and sound like a government official.

We had a horrible assault on a local tribal member, LGBTQ.

And the only reason I learned and worked quickly is because the chair of that tribe called me.

And I gave his number.

And then the mayor called him, and then we called the King County Prosecutor's Office to contact the family, because the tribe couldn't get any information out of King County, or they just, no one would tell them anything.

So this person who was a former client just called me, and I said I'm on it, called the mayor, mayor's on it, we called over there, we got it done.

We shouldn't have to rely on personal relationships and friendships when you have a government-to-government responsibility.

We just shouldn't.

I mean, if Kitsap County called the prosecutor's office, they should just respond to them.

There shouldn't have been that.

That was my point.

And I'm hoping that this type of legislation and that person that we hire, maybe two people, that that becomes part of the fabric of government, where you're not calling personally, me at home, saying this happened, we can't get information, and I'm on the phone on a Saturday making calls.

It got done, but it shouldn't happen that way.

But anyway, that's my point.

And then we secured the knowledge that the perpetrator was caught, and the person who was assaulted was okay, well, not okay, it didn't work out, We were able to contact the family and let them know, and just everything else that they needed to know, and contacted them with the victim's advocate that was going to be assigned to the Native American person.

But it was a hate crime, and it was really sad.

But anyway, it's been taken care of.

But I'm hoping that, like you were saying, Esther, we just keep moving on, that what we do here, we do for everybody.

We're just starting right now with our Native communities.

But I'm guessing we have more of these issues across the board that we can address.

Okay, okay, well enough of saving the world so Okay So we already read that into the record.

I move that the committee pass resolution 3 1 9 0 0 second all those in favor say aye aye Those opposed.

No the ayes have it and we will present this and we'll see you to full council on Monday Great.

Thank you very much you guys

Thank you guys.

I'm sorry, you guys, I didn't see you back there.

Man, I was getting some shade.

Yeah, thank you.

Oh, wait, hold on, don't leave yet.

Okay, you're right.

Thank you guys.

I got all excited.

Okay, so, okay, I got a little excited.

Okay.

These items will appear before City Council for a final vote this coming Monday, September 9th at 2 p.m.

in Council Chambers.

The next meeting of the Civic Development, Public Asset, and Native Communities Committee will be Wednesday, September 18th, and with that, we stand adjourned.

Thank you, Council.