Seattle City Council Briefing 4/26/2021

Peterson.

Here.

Sawant.

Present.

Strauss.

Present.

Herbold.

Here.

And Council President Gonzalez.

Here.

Bevin, present.

Thank you so much.

If there is no objection, the minutes of April 19th, 2021 will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the minutes are adopted.

I'm going to dispense with the President's report, and we're going to go ahead and preview today's City Council Action and Reform Regional Committees.

The order for today is Council Member Juarez, followed by Luis, Morales, Peterson, Solan, Strauss, Herbold, and then I will come back.

So, I'm going to hand it over to Council Member Juarez.

I'm hoping she's joined us, and if she hasn't, we'll have Council Member Luis.

Council President, this is Council Member Strauss.

I was reading Council Member Juarez's points for this morning.

Would you like me to wait until my turn or dispense with that?

Please go ahead.

Great.

My apologies.

Just as I start, the sun is in my eyes.

Speaking for Council Member Juarez this morning, colleagues, great to see your faces again and great to be back.

There are no items from the Public Assets and Native Communities Committee on this afternoon's council agenda.

The next meeting of the Public Assets and Native Communities Committee is Tuesday, May 4th at 2 p.m.

Councilmember Juarez does a great job giving us an update from the Parks Department every week and this week the update is from the Clean Cities Initiative from April 12th to the 18th.

Parks picked up 129,543 pounds of trash from 26 encampment locations.

Parks also removed 1,200 needles.

Two parks received extra maintenance during this period, Judkins Park and Pinehurst Playfield.

Cumulatively, the Parks Department has cleaned up 50,000 needles and 1.7 million pounds of trash with the Clean Cities Initiative funding.

The shower program from April 14th through the 20th Parks served 283 users.

The Rainier Community Shower Program was closed most of last week, while Miller Community Center Shower Program was closed on Friday.

Regarding child care, last week parks served 292 children at 17 child care sites throughout the city.

And then lastly, Rainier Beach Pool opened April 19th.

The pool will operate on a limited schedule throughout the summer.

And that is Councilmember Juarez's report for this morning.

Thank you very much, Madam President.

This week, I do not have a huge amount of updates for the consideration of the council.

There are no items on introduction or referral.

Crime sponsored by my office.

nor are there any agenda items from the Select Committee on Homelessness Strategies and Investments on today's calendar.

I am proud to be co-sponsoring, along with Councilmember Morales, legislation to close the loophole for Just Cause evictions to apply and that is Council Bill 120057 and looking forward to hearing an update in Council Member Morales' presentation this morning and looking forward to working closely with her office to advance this critical legislation in the weeks to come.

I just want to remind everybody that the Select Committee on Homelessness Strategies and Investments will be meeting on May 6th at 2 p.m.

That committee is likely to have a pretty packed agenda, so come ready to really dig into everything relating to particularly the shelter surge.

policy through the executive Pacific Hotel and the Kings Inn and hopefully, knock on wood, a third hotel by the time that committee convenes or at least a plan for a third hotel.

We're also hopefully going to hear, as I indicated in my remarks last week, from Seattle Public Utilities on the status of of setting up the StreetSync program to provide well-resourced access to running water and hygiene for people experiencing homelessness, particularly as we have seen, as Councilmember Morales and I relayed from our Board of Health briefings two weeks ago, that we are seeing, again, outbreaks of hepatitis A due to lack of adequate access to hygiene facilities.

everyone should be looking forward to those critical discussions.

Otherwise, I don't have any additional updates.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Lewis.

Next up is Councilmember Morales, please.

Thank you.

Good morning, everyone.

I want to start with reflecting on our committee meeting from last week.

We learned that the verdict of the Derek Chauvin case would be announced at the same time as the Community Economic Development Committee last week.

And so in order to give our black neighbors time and space to process the verdict, I canceled that committee meeting.

So I want to thank those who are waiting patiently for commission appointments, as well as thanking the public who I know are eager to participate.

see us move forward with the participatory budgeting implementation.

We are working to reschedule the committee.

My hope is that that will be scheduled in the next week.

And so as soon as the new date is confirmed, we will make that announcement.

I do have one item on this afternoon's introduction and referral calendar, as Council Member Lewis mentioned.

Council Bill 12057 is the bill that I've been discussing that would close the lease termination loophole.

I wanna thank Council Member Lewis for his co-sponsorship and look forward to support from other colleagues.

As we near the end of the eviction moratorium, it's critical for us to address the issue of no cause lease termination.

And I will note that Council Member Sawant also has a bill on the calendar to address this issue.

Our bills take different approaches to closing the loophole.

We will be hearing Council Member Sawant's bill in her committee tomorrow.

The community organizations who asked me to bring my bill would like to present the bill.

So be part of a community panel in committee.

And so I have asked council members so on if we can schedule another meeting.

before May 25th to allow us to organize a panel discussion with members of the community who helped bring this policy to our office.

And I do want to especially thank those organizations, the Tenants Union, Transit Riders Union, Washington CAN, El Centro de la Raza, Wablock, B-Seattle, and the Housing Justice Projects who are representing the Stay Housed, Stay Healthy Coalition as they continue to provide input and support in developing this and the other pieces of legislation that my office will be bringing.

We really wouldn't have this legislation without their ongoing work.

The other thing I want to address, colleagues, I think it's really important to acknowledge the fact that we have now received two letters from city workers who are expressing deep frustration about how black workers are treated in this institution.

city governments.

Two weeks ago, I shared with you a letter from members of the interdepartmental team who are working on participatory budgeting.

We received a letter from some staff who are very concerned that their work has been misrepresented in the memo about participatory budgeting that we received from the mayor's office.

They're concerned that that doesn't reflect what the IDT has actually been working on.

And also concerned that the executive's office is interfering with efforts to act on requests from communities of color.

We're going to discuss in my committee, we will still discuss in my committee once it's rescheduled, some of the issues that were brought up.

And then just a few days ago, we received another letter, this one from the equitable development initiative manager.

That letter expresses frustration over the way institutionalized racism is impacting how decisions get made about funding, funding that we have already discussed in our budget process last year, about how racism affects our programs and city workers' ability to implement programs, and about how community is ultimately affected by this interference and the racism.

The letter cites a new report that indicates that employees of color and women were also more likely to be leaving city employment without a new job lined up, and that women of color leave for reasons of conflict or culture at a rate of 47 percent.

So I say this because it's clear that we have challenges in the way our city organization listens to the lived experience of people of color.

We have several black women who are now frustrated enough that they are reaching out publicly about it.

And so We can't have this.

Black women are leaving city employment and taking with them their institutional memory, their intellectual brilliance, their lived experience, and this doesn't serve anybody.

So we have a problem.

We have to acknowledge it.

And I'm asking my colleagues, and we'll be asking others in the city as well, what we need to do to move forward and make some serious decisions about how we're gonna address this.

And then finally, I just want to remind folks I do continue to hold office hours on Thursdays from 10 to noon, Sundays from 3 to 5. Starting in mid-May, my office will be having in-person meetings, socially distanced in-person meetings at the Columbia City Farmers Market on Wednesdays from 3 to 5, and then virtual hours on Thursdays.

So community members can request an appointment via my council website.

And colleagues, that's all I have this morning.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Morales.

Any comments or questions on that report?

I'm going to ski in here to see if anybody has their hands raised.

I don't see any hands raised.

So we're going to go ahead and hear now from Councilmember Peterson, followed by Councilmember Salon.

Councilmember Peterson, good morning.

Thank you, Council President.

Good morning, colleagues.

The Transportation and Utilities Committee has one item on this afternoon's full City Council agenda.

Council Bill 12043 pertains to one of our city's cable franchise agreements, specifically the Wave Company.

This legislation simply has the city consent to a transfer of controlling interest in the parent company of Wave.

The city has a cable franchise agreement with Wave Division 1, LLC, and Wave will remain the franchise grantee with the Wave brand and operations continuing as is in Seattle.

Seattle Municipal Code 21.60.110 requires us to consider even partial transfers of parent company ownership for cable franchises.

and federal law has a timeline for this consent, with that deadline approaching soon.

Our Seattle Information Technology Department completed a thorough review of the proposed transfer and engaged both financial and legal experts to assist with the analysis.

They all recommend approval, and as part of the approval, are having the city receive from the company a strong corporate guarantee and consent agreement, which requires continued performance and service to customers.

Seattle IT presented all of this to our Transportation Utilities Committee last week, and our committee unanimously recommends approval today.

If you have any questions between now and full City Council, please direct them to Eric McConaghy of our Council Central staff or to Alice Lawson of Seattle IT.

Our Transportation Utilities Committee meets on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 9.30 in the morning, so our next committee meeting will be next Wednesday, May 5. On the introduction referral calendar, our committee has four items, including three technology items.

Colleagues, as you may recall, we are working our way through several groups of surveillance impact reports as required by our city's thorough surveillance ordinance.

We recently amended and adopted the so-called Group 2 surveillance impact reports for some of the existing technologies already used by Seattle City Light, the Fire Department, and the Police Department.

The introduction and referral calendar contains group three, which is just three technologies already in use by our Seattle Police Department.

We will hear these group three surveillance impact reports on existing technologies at our Transportation Utilities Committee on Wednesday, May 5 at 930. And while our central staff will provide analysis memos in a few days, committee members might want to get started with their reviews, which are made easier by the executive overviews provided by Seattle Information Technology.

They're already posted along with the actual bills, CB120053, 54, and 55. If we all do our homework, our committee should need only two meetings to amend and approve these three surveillance impact reports.

After hearing them on May 5, we'll consider amendments at our May 19 committee meeting, which means amendments would be due to central staff by May 10 or so to provide time for sufficient review by the city attorney's office, including whether such amendments to SPD existing technologies would have any material impact on the federal consent decree.

Our committee last week received an update on SDOT's implementation of the audit concerning Seattle's bridge maintenance backlog.

At the same time, we received an update on a separate but related challenge of how to generate funds to keep our bridges safe from earthquakes.

Our Transportation Utilities Committee also heard, for the first time, the Durkin Administration's proposal, Council Bill 120042, that suggests how to spend the new $20 vehicle license fee.

As a reminder, this new money is something we adopted and authorized as soon as we could a few months ago for our city's transportation needs.

SDOT proposes to divide the $7 million each year into six different categories.

Another option, If we choose, we want to focus on creating jobs as we emerge from the COVID pandemic and fix our infrastructure faster, would be to leverage those funds to generate $100 million now.

I want to thank Nicole Grant, the head of MLK Labor Council, for calling into our committee to speak in support of the proposal sponsored by several council members to explore issuing $100 million in bonds to support our transportation infrastructure more quickly and boldly.

I also appreciate Council Member Juarez signing on as a co-sponsor of our amendment during committee.

We could have voted the proposal out of committee last week, but I held it to give certain interest groups more time to read the brief amendment, which simply asks SDOT to come back with specifics for the $100 million.

While the funds would benefit all modes of transportation, the amendment emphasizes bridge infrastructure that has long been neglected, as we've seen with the sudden and costly shutdown of the West Seattle Bridge, negatively impacting marginalized communities, as well as the audit of bridges showing the deteriorating condition of our city's aging bridges.

Nevertheless, SDOT's original plan from various stakeholders will still be a guide for how to spend tens of millions of the dollars that can be generated by the bonds if we choose to do something faster and bigger.

One moment.

This past Thursday, district four, this past Thursday in the Wedgwood neighborhood, I was invited to participate in a thank you and farewell to the workers of the QFC store at the Kroger company closed.

We thank the grocery workers for serving the community for so many years, and especially during this hazardous time during the COVID pandemic.

We thank the community leaders who organized this thoughtful campaign to support the workers, in addition to the ongoing support from their union.

The event was a powerful reminder of how much the community cares about its neighborhood businesses.

We were all disappointed by the Kroger company's decision to shut down this wonderful grocery store.

But that out of state company made its decision and blaming their decision on a temporary city hall law that benefits workers during COVID does not hold water because that corporation is sitting on $2 billion in cash.

And that's on top of the substantial profits they earned in 2020. On a positive note, I spoke to QFC last week and they confirmed that there are no layoffs.

All the workers who wanted to stay with QFC have a transfer already lined up with no loss in benefits.

And that's thanks in large part to their union.

Personally, I think Kroger made a bad business decision to leave this amazing community with its generous customer base.

I look forward to welcoming a new store with open arms.

I personally contacted several different grocery store owners to pitch the neighborhood to them.

I'm also in contact with the owner of the entire shopping center, so they know I'm available to help attract a new anchor tenant there.

Wedgwood is wonderful.

It's open for business.

And I also look forward to working with the sponsors of the temporary COVID hazard pay laws when it's an appropriate time to reevaluate the public health situation as workers get vaccinated and we emerge from this pandemic.

That concludes my report.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Council Member Peterson.

Are there any comments or questions on that report?

I don't see any hands raised, so I think we will continue down the line here.

Next up is Council Member Sawant, followed by Council Member Strauss.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Thank you, Council President Gonzalez.

Good morning, everybody.

There are no items on today's City Council agenda from the Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee.

The next meeting of the committee is scheduled for its regular time tomorrow, Tuesday, April 27th at 2 p.m.

At that meeting, we will discuss two renter rights bills and some aspects of the Green New Deal.

First, the committee will discuss the bill from my office prohibiting the eviction of school children and their families and educators during the school year.

Last week, when the bill was formally introduced, my office hosted a press conference to unveil the school children eviction defense bill.

And we were joined by members of the Seattle Education Association, by a Seattle public school student, and by school board director, Zachary DeWolf.

And since that press conference, actually, the Seattle Education Association representative assembly just held a vote on a resolution supporting this ordinance and That resolution passed with near unanimous vote at the representative assembly of the union.

To summarize, this bill prevents the evictions of school children and their families and educators during the school year.

It's common sense, but there are also mountains of research showing that when children are evicted, it has devastating impact on their academic achievement and development and on their mental health.

Just imagine trying to focus on your schoolwork while losing your home.

For example, the losing home report found that, quote, of evicted respondents with school-aged children, 85.7% said their children had to move schools after the eviction, and 87.5% reported their children's school performance suffered very much because of the eviction, end quote.

In 2018, the state found that nearly 4,200 Seattle public school children were homeless at some point during the school year.

This is a staggering 7% of all public school children.

In practical terms, that means that in an average class of 30 students, two will be homeless at some point during the school year.

This is a racial justice and Black Lives Matter issue.

Just as Seattle landlords evict Black tenants at much higher rates than other tenants, we also see that Black students and other students of color disproportionately face homelessness.

The 2018 state data showed that fully 40% of homeless students were Black and 23% of homeless students were Latinx, even though Black and Latinx community members constitute much smaller proportions of Seattle's overall population.

For the high school class graduating that year in 2018, the Seattle PI found, quote, for the class of 2018, 55.2% of homeless students graduated on time compared to 84.5% of students who were housed.

These are staggering data, and they underscore why we need to pass this legislation.

We know the enormous connection between being evicted and becoming homeless because a losing home report found that nine out of 10 times, if you're evicted, you're going to end up homeless.

Preventing school year evictions, that is banning evictions during the school year, will reduce at least this one form of systemic racism that is inflicted on our young people.

I continue to think the fact that the children are evicted in one of the richest cities in the richest country in the world is a damning condemnation of the global system of capitalism.

But at the very least, the city council does have the power to stop evictions during the school year.

I look forward to the discussion in the committee tomorrow and hope all council members will support this important renters' rights bill.

Next on the committee agenda tomorrow will be a discussion on the bill from my office to close the fixed term lease loophole in the just cause eviction ordinance.

We will hear from a community panel of impacted renters who have had a landlord refuse them, refuse to extend the lease without just cause along with renter organizers.

This issue was also discussed at our last committee meeting while we were developing the legislation.

It's an issue we've put on the work plan of our office for the year.

We intended to also discuss the similar bill from Council Member Morales' office on that topic, but we've heard from their office that they're not ready yet for that discussion.

So we will work with the office of Council Member Morales to find a good time to discuss the bill in the committee in the near future.

We sent our bill to the clerk's office for introduction a little over a week ago, and it is on today's introduction and referral calendar.

for council members to review.

The fixed term lease loophole has created a situation where landlords can refuse to renew a tenant's lease without any cause at all.

My office organized a petition to hear from renters about this issue.

443 people have signed the petition and 77 people sent us personal stories of how specifically this loophole has affected their lives.

Amy, now living in West Seattle, told us, quote, they wanted more money.

I couldn't afford it and the place wasn't worth it.

After six years, I moved in with my boyfriend and his kid because it was what I could afford.

If he hadn't been there, I would have had to move in with my mom in Chicago.

I had pets.

It was horrible.

I was a great tenant.

Did my own property maintenance.

Really scary and sad time." End quote. John in Northeast Seattle told us, quote, after seven years as an excellent tenant with on-time rent, improvements to landlord's property, I was informed that my lease would not be renewed at the end of June 2021, end quote. Kathleen from Beacon Hill wrote, quote, I've been in many long-term rental situations where eventually the lease was not renewed. Each time has been traumatic. Stable living situations were broken up and roommates of many years were scattered to new unfamiliar and less advantageous conditions. These are just some of the dozens of stories, as I said, 77 stories that we have received yet and the petition signatures are still coming in. My staff and I have since directly spoken to dozens of the renters who have signed the petition and dozens of renters before that that we had met through previous struggles. Some of them will be speaking personally tomorrow at the committee. The bill from my office follows the model of the legislation passed by a grassroots movement in federal way which gathered signatures and eventually passed the stable homes initiative, which created just cause eviction protections in federal way and included renters on fixed term leases. Now there is added urgency. The state eviction moratorium ends in 65 days because Democrats shamefully allowed the sunsetting of the statewide eviction moratorium to be included in the right to counsel bill that was just passed. And it's quite likely the mayor will follow suit and end the city's eviction moratorium then as well. We've heard from tenants repeatedly that they really fear eviction beginning in July. The dozens of impacted Renters we have talked to are the community who need to be mobilized to make sure we can win this because we will need a movement to stand up to corporate landlords and the control they wield in the halls of government at every level, city, state, and at the federal level. And we've seen every time that we have won renters rights victories is because ordinary renters are mobilized and fired up to fight back. These renters fear being evicted but also see the hope in getting organized and fighting for concrete victories like this one and like the right to counsel bill that we just won a victory on. And as I've said many times before, I'm really happy that Council Member Morales has brought this bill forward. I'm also happy to work with Council Member Morales on the United bill and also have offered to co-sponsor the bill that she's bringing forward. And we also know that it will take a movement building approach for this to be able to see the finish line. And that's what tenants who have been in touch with our office have been calling for, that is we close this loophole and not have the kinds of additional loopholes that have now come into play with the state bills that we have just seen pass the legislature. Neither of the renter's rights items on today's city council introduction and referral calendar are being moved for votes tomorrow. Tomorrow's meeting will give council members and members of the public the opportunity to become familiar with the legislation. And we hope to have amendments and votes at the upcoming meetings. Finally, tomorrow's Sustainability and Rental Rights Committee will also hear from community organizers who have been fighting for the Green New Deal in Seattle. We need to rapidly electrify our city infrastructure and ultimately break the power fossil fuel companies have on our society. At the last committee meeting we heard a report from Seattle's Office of Sustainability and Environment about Seattle's total greenhouse gas emissions, and it was stunning, though maybe not surprising for those who are paying attention, the city is nowhere near where it needs to be to prevent catastrophic climate change as far as Seattle's responsibility is concerned. Obviously, this is a global issue. The graph of what is actually happening with greenhouse gas emissions compared to where we need to be, there is such a stark difference between the two. It looks like it's the edge of a cliff. It will require a massive investment in green infrastructure that can only be funded by substantial new big business taxes, and that will not be possible without mobilizing a mass movement. And I look forward to this beginning discussion. Last couple of weeks in Council briefing, I've spoken about Mayor Durkin's unfortunate decision to end the moratorium on enforcement of the 72-hour parking ban. My office circulated a community petition urging Mayor Durkin and City Council members to stop plans to resume harassing homeless neighbors. and tens of thousands of Seattle's renters without the luxury of a driveway with the 72-hour parking fines. As I said last week, over 1,000 community members have signed the petition, and I believe hundreds of emails have been sent to the mayor and the city council. The 72-hour parking rule, which is ticketing or towing cars parked for 72 hours, criminalizes people for being poor and hassles anyone without a driveway or garage. For people who are forced to live in their cars because of the searing affordable housing crisis in our city, enforcing this rule, especially during a pandemic, could be catastrophic, costing them not only their vehicle, but also their only shelter and all their possessions. We need affordable social housing expansion, not harassment of neighbors struggling to survive. And I've had community members report anecdotally that they're starting to see homeless RVs starting to be towed from different communities. Durkin claimed while reinstating the 72-hour parking rule that there would be a transition period and that homeless people living in their homes will not be immediately ticketed and towed. Even that incredibly low bar was a lie, as I just reported. Imagine what it means for a homeless person to have their vehicle towed. They lose their vehicle. They lose every item of clothing they own that they are not wearing. Many of these are working people. They lose documentation and IDs that they don't have access to. They lose any sentimental item they own, pictures, keepsakes, address, et cetera. This is just inhumane. They lose the only shelter they have. They lose their tools, which is vital for anyone doing day labor. They lose anything of value and overwhelmingly they can never get any of these items back ever. I continue to urge Mayor Durkan to immediately reinstitute the moratorium on the 72-hour parking rule. In addition to extending the moratorium, which is crucial, I also support the demand from real change vendors who are urging Mayor Durkin and the Seattle City Council to use funds from the Federal American Rescue Plan, that is ARPA funds from 2021, to open safe lots with wraparound services for vehicular residents. Last but not least, on today's introduction and referral calendar is a resolution that urges President Biden to end the U.S. opposition to the international campaign for an intellectual property rights waiver from the WTO for COVID-19 vaccines. It also adds the Seattle City Council as a signatory to a community letter to President Biden on that topic. This letter has been signed by over 400 unions, community organizations, and faith groups, and I'll read some of the names in a short while. The rapid and widespread global dissemination of vaccinations is at the center of every strategy by public health professionals to stop the spread of the virus, yet the vaccinations have not been equitably distributed around the world. and huge swaths of the world, including the global south, remain without access to the vaccine. To quote the World Health Organization, over 87 percent, in fact at this point nearly 90 percent, of the vaccines have gone to high-income or upper-income countries, while low-income countries have received just 0.2%. On average, this means one in four people in high-income countries have received a coronavirus vaccine compared with just one in more than 500 in low-income countries. Profit-driven billionaires and big pharmaceutical corporations, with the blessing of the Biden administration, are blocking many countries like Brazil, India, and South Africa from producing the COVID-19 vaccine. If we don't fight to change this, starting with the necessary first step of removing the WTO patent restrictions, public health experts say it will literally be years before people in the Global South get the vaccine. Over 100 countries have appealed to the WTO, which enforces these so-called intellectual property rights internationally, to issue a waiver to allow COVID-19 vaccines to be produced around the world. But WTO representatives from rich countries like the U.S. have opposed issuing the waiver. This was, it should be noted, this was essentially a policy of the Trump administration, who steadfastly defended the profits of big pharma over the lives of millions of people in the global south. Unfortunately, the Biden administration, now in its 100 days of its administration, has continued that policy. The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has said a COVID-19 vaccine must be seen as a global public good, a people's vaccine. The letter signed by over 400 community organizations and labor unions has urged the administration, Biden administration, to lift the U.S. blockage of the waiver to the TRIPS agreement, that is a trade-related intellectual property rights agreement that is administered by the WTO. so that many countries can get access to the vaccine. And the letter says, quote, help restore America's moral and public health leadership in the world by siding with the majority to prioritize saving lives over protecting pharmaceutical corporation monopolies. and profits. This new position would be widely noted given U.S. officials' shameful attack on the waiver at a January WTO meeting, end quote. That's from the letter that has been signed by so many organizations. Additionally, an important op-ed appears in this morning's issue of the Washington Post in strong support of removing the patent restrictions on the COVID-19 vaccine. The op-ed is authored by Joseph Stiglitz, co-recipient of the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics and Columbia University professor, and by Lori Wallach, who is director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. They say, quote, unfortunately, the drug companies have consistently done whatever they can to preserve their monopoly control. Even today, as they battle the waiver and argue that existing compulsory licensing rights are sufficient, which just as an aside, they're wrong about those existing rights are not sufficient. They lobby the US government to sanction countries that use that tool. These corporations have also undermined this option by building quote unquote, tickets of intellectual property barriers. They fortify their monopolies by registering exclusive rights to industrial designs and undisclosed data, such as trade secrets and test data, in addition to numerous patents and copyrights for each medicine, each element would require a license, and the WTO's flexibility might not even encompass all of them, end quote. This is, I think, a very, very spot on accurate description of what's actually happening. All council members additionally would have received a letter from the Washington Fair Trade Coalition supporting this resolution from my office and urging the council to vote yes and put secure its quick passage, end quote. This TRIPS waiver is – that is, removing the patent restrictions – is supported by the Fair Trade Coalition, but in addition also by Doctors Without Borders, Partners in Health, the American Medical Student Association, Doctors for America, National Nurses United, Health Gap, Public Citizen, Amnesty International, Oxfam, you know, just hundreds of organizations, but locally also by API Chaya, Indivisible, Community Alliance for Global Justice, Global Exchange, Code Pink, Right to Health Action, Washington State Labor Council, Washington Federation of State Employees, we'll see, American Federation of Teachers, Washington, the Martin Luther King County Labor Council, the Church Council of Greater Seattle, and the Filipino Community of Seattle. among others and there's an email that should have reached council members just now from the the American Flight Attendants Association. I haven't read the letter myself, but my staff just told me the letter has come in support of the resolution. Just one other point, many of the big pharma corporations, the billionaires, including Bill Gates, who are opposed to this TRIPS waiver that the resolution is advocating for, make the completely falsified claim that protecting these obscene profits of big pharma and billionaires are necessary in order to provide innovation in the clinical area, but this is completely untrue, because in reality, The overwhelming majority of these clinical innovations and indeed technological innovations in general happen because of overwhelming amounts of public funding. Much of the research is conducted in public, you know, taxpayer-funded public universities and produced by just armies of researchers and scientists, the overwhelming majority of whom, again, are not billionaires, they are just salaried employees. In fact, the New York Times has done excellent reporting on this issue, and one of the things they reported was how as an example, Catalin Carrico, one of the heroes in the development of the mRNA technology for the vaccines, which has now become the backbone of the life-saving, historically life-saving approach that we've now been able to get advantage of, spent her career from going from lab to lab supported by government grants, herself never making more than $60,000 a year. COVID is terrible everywhere, but the reality for ordinary people in many poorer countries is absolutely catastrophic. I hope council members have seen the chilling pictures in the news over the past week of the mass cremation fires in India, and amid this unimaginable human suffering, the sociopathic approach of profit-driven, of big pharma, and their representatives in imperialist governments are actively preventing the vaccines from being produced in countries around the world just so that they can maximize their profits. This logic was clearly demonstrated in an article that was shared on CNBC last Wednesday titled, quote, Goldman Sachs asked asked in biotech research report, is curing patients a sustainable business model, end quote. Basically, what this means is that Goldman Sachs is openly acknowledging that while one-shot cures are really incredible for saving lives, not to mention ending any amount of misery faced by human beings because of diseases, it's not good for profit-making under capitalism. This is the logic of capitalism and it's not a surprise, but it does not make it any less sickening. Reuters is reporting that, quote, gas and firewood furnaces at a crematorium in western Indian state of Gujarat have been running so long without a break during the pandemic that the metal parts have begun to melt, end quote. And let's keep in mind, under pressure from the right-wing Modi and BJP regime, experts are saying that the numbers are actually being underreported. This is a gruesome scenario. As I mentioned, this resolution is on the referral calendar, but it's not yet on today's city council agenda for a vote because it was not finalized in collaboration with community activists until after the agenda was published on Thursday. Council. I am not a member of the WTO but as my office informed all Councilmembers when we distributed the resolution last week I intend to move to amend the agenda at today's City Council meeting to allow for a vote today and I hope all Councilmembers will support that. The reality is this resolution is time sensitive because a new round of WTO meetings is beginning including a TRIPS Council meeting planned for April 30 which is just four days from now. are fighting for the waiver and are building momentum to prepare for these upcoming meetings, starting with April 30th. And this resolution, if passed today, would join the Seattle City Council as part of that historic and laudable global effort. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Colleagues, any comments or questions on that report?

Okay.

Colleagues, there is an issue that was just raised by Council Member Sawant that is relevant to us all this afternoon at 2 o'clock p.m.

I understand just based on her comments now that she understands she intends to make a motion to move the resolution as she has described it from the introduction and referral calendar in order for us to take final council action today at 2 o'clock.

as opposed to the ordinary process, which is being on the introduction and referral calendar for a week before final full council action.

So I just want to get a sense from colleagues if folks have any opinions or thoughts about acting on this resolution this afternoon, as opposed to the ordinary course of business, which would be next Monday.

just opening up the floor to solicit some input on that decision point before we get to two o'clock.

Not everyone at once.

Council Member Herbold, please.

Thank you.

Um, I'm sorry.

I know Councilor Sawant addressed this, but I was distracted.

Councilor Sawant, did I hear you say that there is a general council meeting this week that this letter is targeted towards influencing?

There is a WTO or TRIPS Council meeting on April 30th, which is specifically the body that discusses the specific issue of the TRIPS waiver.

And then in early May, there is a General Council meeting.

Okay.

Very much.

But obviously the TRIPS Council's decisions will influence what the General Council does.

Got it.

And that is on the 30th?

That's correct.

Yeah, in that I think I would be inclined to support a effort to walk this on today.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Any other thoughts or concerns on that procedural matter before we get to 2 o'clock?

Hey, I'm not seeing anyone else.

raising their hand.

Colleagues, for those of you who may have thoughts about it or may not, you're welcome to reach out to me between now and 2 o'clock.

I do want to make sure that this is orderly for the afternoon and don't want to sort of belabor the point if folks feel comfortable voting on the contents of the resolution, then I'd like to sort of understand that before before I have to manage the procedure this afternoon at two o'clock, so.

Okay, with that being said, thank you so much Council Member Sawant for your report, really appreciate it.

Next up is Council Member Strauss, followed by Council Member Herbold.

Good morning, thank you, Council President.

Thank you, colleagues.

There is one item from the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee on today's introduction and referral calendar.

Please take note of what I am about to say.

because clerk file 314474, a contract rezone for 701 23rd Avenue from commercial neighborhood commercial one with 40 foot height limit to neighborhood commercial one with a 50 foot height limit is now pending for the purposes of council's quasi judicial rules.

Council members should avoid any ex parte communications about the merits of this application.

For questions about quasi-judicial rules, please contact Lish Whitson of our council central staff.

Again, colleagues, this item for contract rezone of 701 23rd Avenue is now under quasi-judicial.

So please refrain from talking to the applicants about this.

There are no items on today's land you from land use and neighborhoods committee on today's full council agenda.

And this, the next meeting of the committee will be this Wednesday, April 28, starting at 930am there are four items on the agenda, a post adoption public hearing on CB one to triple zero one, and.

slash ordinance 126293, the Bringing Business Homes Small Business Flexibility Bill.

In committee, we will also have the Department of Neighborhoods Annual Report and the Office of Planning and Community Development and Seattle Department of Construction Inspections Race and Social Justice Initiative Report.

And at the end, we will discuss the Seattle Design Commission's Annual Report as well.

Moving into my regular briefing, I, before moving in my regular briefing, I will say that I was relieved last week when Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder.

What was unnerving and unsettling is that after an entire nation watched as George Floyd was murdered, many of us were unsure if anyone would be found guilty.

As this verdict was delivered, more black Americans were killed at the hands of police, and we must create stronger accountability of the use of lethal force and ensure bad actors are held accountable in our court systems.

It was a very trying week and a brief glimpse of hope for change as the years continue to, as we continue to move through this change in our, in our policing.

Moving on to my regular report.

covering the meetings I have had and the meetings that I will be having this week.

I met with King County Public Health to discuss safety around our natural gas infrastructure.

And I'll be meeting with them again this coming week.

I was able to meet with Ballard Rotary, Finney Ridge Community Council, discussing important issues to their neighborhoods and talking about District 6 at large.

I was able to have multiple conversations about cafe streets my desire is to see them as permanent fixtures in our communities and so not only was i able to talk to the restaurant alliance about uh their importance i was also able to talk with the economic development director director pamela banks and department of neighborhoods director andreas montia about uh the issues on ballard avenue specifically as i'm working to set up a design charrette for the ballard avenue street cafe as a model that other street cafes can use throughout the city.

I have been asking SDOT for permanent permits of sidewalk cafes and street cafes since the beginning of January.

I'll provide you colleagues with updates when I have them.

All that to say is that we need to have permanent, we need to have regulations that business owners know will be around for longer than just October 31st of this year.

In addition, I met with the Ballard Alliance and the mayor on a walking tour through Ballard to meet and hear from local business owners.

Conversations I personally have regularly, as I have organic relationships with many of these Ballardites, and I'm often on Ballard Avenue enjoying the Cafe Street.

I was also able to tour the Tunnel Boring Machine and Ship Canal Water Quality Project, and I was excited to attend the unveiling of the Tunnel Boring Machine's new name after our legendary grunge band Mudhoney.

As other council members reported, I also attended the press conference announcing the expansion of HealthONE to a second unit which will serve Ballard in the University District.

These are critical services we need and provide the services that are very similar to what Cahoots provides in Eugene, Oregon.

I am looking forward to having more health ones on our street as soon as possible.

Additionally, I was able to tour the Leary Triangle multiple times to outline how we are able the future of this public space, being a gateway to the neighborhood, with the possibilities of food trucks art skate parks and much more.

This is an exciting area of.

public space that business owners and neighbors have been trying to organize around for the last five to six years, and I'm excited to be part of that effort these days.

My staff also attended the maritime and industrial land use meetings, which are continuing, and we should be wrapping them up sooner than later.

Lastly, I was able to join the blessing of our fleet virtually.

Our fishermen This is strenuous work that takes fishermen away from their families for many months at a time to ensure that the world has seafood that we're able to enjoy.

One of the things that always sticks out to me about the blessing of the fleet is that Ballard has always had a strong economy because every fishing vessel in Fisherman's Terminal is a small business, directly and indirectly employing thousands of people.

So even before you needed to have nice jeans to go out on Ballard Avenue, we always had a strong economy because our market street was not on the land, it was in Fisherman's Terminal.

So to everyone heading to the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska, Godspeed on your journey and may God bless our fleet.

This coming week, I will be meeting with the Green Lake Chamber of Commerce and my staff will be attending the Fremont Neighborhood Council tonight.

I'll be meeting with the Finney Neighborhood Association and attending the North Seattle Industrial Association meeting.

As well, I'll be having my regular meetings with the Chief of Police and the City Budget Director, and I'll be meeting with the Finney Neighborhood Association and joining the Puget Sound Regional Council's General Assembly.

As always, I hold my district meetings with District 6 residents, and I'll be looking forward to speaking to D6 neighbors on Thursday from noon to seven.

Thank you, Council President, colleagues.

That is my report.

Thank you so much, Council Member Strauss, and welcome back.

Hope your jury duty service went as well as it could have.

So thanks and welcome back.

Okay, Council Member Herbold is next, and then I will conclude this portion.

And we do have three executive sessions today, but before anybody freaks out about that, they should be very short.

So we, I think, are still on time here.

I'm going to hand it over to Council Member Herbold.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Thank you so much.

First, I want to start off by delivering Councilmember Mosqueda's report.

She has been excused from today's council briefing and full council, as well as the committees that she sits on this week.

There is one item from the Finance and Housing Committee in today's full council agenda, and that is Council Bill She may recall this bill relates to the $18 million in 2020 coronavirus relief funds that were not expended last year because we held on to those funds in case we needed them as a match.

for FEMA.

We learned in January this year that we no longer need these matching funds and they must be spent in 2021. So Council Bill 120041 represents investments in decisions that we as a Council have already made with the goal of funding programs that we have a high degree of certainty that the funds can be expended this year.

And the services themselves will face a fiscal cliff soon if the funding is not expanded for those services.

So this is just one bill that will dovetail with the upcoming $119 million in ARPA funds that will be discussed in finance and housing over the next month.

the council president as co-sponsor on the coronavirus relief funds.

We'll speak more to this bill but just now via these remarks signaling my strong support for its passage as well as the Council Member Mosqueda's support for them as well in her absence.

The next Finance and Housing Committee meeting will be on May 5th, I'm sorry, May 4th at 9.30 a.m., and the committee meeting will also have a public hearing on the American Rescue Plan Act, ARPA, at 5 30 p.m and a special committee meeting on may 5th at 2 p.m.

over to my report for today.

There are no items on the full council agenda from the Public Safety and Human Services Committee.

The Public Safety and Human Services Committee is meeting this week.

We will be meeting tomorrow at 9.30 a.m.

The agenda has three items on it.

The first is a briefing from the interdepartmental team on policing and community safety.

will be an update from the executive on those efforts.

We also will be hearing SPD's quarterly finance and staffing report, led by Council Central staff.

with participation from SPD as well.

And finally, the Human Services Department will be with us to give us an update on the new division of the Human Services Department called the Safe and Thriving Communities.

We'll also include in that update some information about the victim advocate transfer as well, that transfer from the Seattle Police Department to the Human Services Department to this particular division.

An update from the Human Services Department for this morning's meeting, just letting folks know that applications are open now for the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program.

This program provides $40 worth of vouchers to be used for the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables at participating farmers markets.

Folks who are 60 years of age or older are eligible to apply.

If you are an American Indian or Alaskan Native by June 30th and low income, you are actually eligible at age 55. You can learn more by contacting the Community Living Connections at communitylivingconnections.org or you can call 206-962-8477.

A quick update on the public health front.

So far, the city has administered over 127,000 vaccines to eligible adults.

Roughly 45% of those vaccines have been administered to members of the BIPOC community.

This week, the city is receiving more than 52,000 COVID vaccines.

This is the largest single week allocation received yet.

The city expects that this level of supply will be maintained or increased over the upcoming weeks.

This morning the city announced thousands of open appointments available at the city of Seattle affiliated sites through May 3rd.

You can go to seattle.gov and look for the banner across the top with a link to book your appointments directly.

Appointments are available at Lumen Field, Rainier Beach, West Seattle, or North Seattle.

And this is for folks who are looking for their first dose.

Anybody who has difficulties finding information online or would like in-language assistance, you can call the Customer Service Bureau at 206-684-2489.

In-language assistance is available on the phone.

More than 1.6 million residents of King County have already been vaccinated and we are on track to reach community immunity by the end of May if the high rate of vaccination continues.

The city has also announced two new programs for people aged 60 and older who are seeking their first dose.

One program is you can just simply walk up to the city-run vaccination sites at Rainier Beach or West Seattle without an appointment to get vaccinated, and that's Monday through Saturday, 9 to 4. If they are accompanied by somebody younger but still at least 16 years old, that good neighbor can also be vaccinated.

Both of these programs are dependent on supply that day, but if there's no vaccine available, you will be able to schedule an appointment on the spot.

can learn more about these programs or ask questions again at Seattle.gov forward slash vaccine.

Vaccines are free and there's no requirement to show proof of insurance or debt or identification to receive the vaccine.

Although the rollout for vaccines is going very well, we are all aware that we've been hit with a fourth wave of COVID infections, and it looks different from earlier waves, given that hospitalizations are rising sharply, driven by sharp increases with the highest case counts in people aged 10 through 49. And children ages zero through nine consistently had the lowest case rates until mid-March, but now have higher infection rates than people 70 and older.

So right now in King County, somebody is hospitalized for COVID every 84 minutes, according to the King County Public Health Officer.

And of course, this drives home the fact, again, that we always must be vigilant, keep up the precautions that have served Seattle so well, wear a mask in public and around unvaccinated people, stay six feet apart from people outside of your household, avoid groups and crowds, and wash your hands thoroughly.

Last mention for my report today is that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

More than 7,000 adults and children sought help from King County sexual assault organizations in 2020. Even during the pandemic, help is available for anyone who has experienced sexual abuse or needs information.

The nonprofit King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, KSARC, operates a 24-hour resource line at 1-800-99-VOICE and offers a wealth of resources to help prevent and end sexual violence on its website in both English and Spanish.

The website is ksarc.org.

And last Thursday, my office circulated a proclamation declaring April to be Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

at this afternoon's council meeting.

We'll hear from representatives of Consejo Counseling and the Seattle Women's Commission, who will receive the signed proclamation, as well as sharing their thoughts.

I thank you all for supporting this effort.

And I believe the council president will ask the clerk to call the roll for signatures.

And before doing so, just want to announce that on Friday from 2 to 6 p.m., I will be having my office hours.

Thank you so much, Council Member Herbold.

I am happy to do that.

Before I call the roll, are there any questions about the proclamation as described by Council Member Herbold?

I'm not seeing any questions.

Colleagues, I did get a notice from Council Member Sawant that she had to leave Council briefing early, so she will not have an opportunity to be part of this roll call, but we will make sure that she has an opportunity to add her signature at the top of full council to ensure that there are as many signatures that can be added to that.

So without further ado, will the clerk please call the roll to determine which council members would like their signature affixed to the proclamation recognizing April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Strauss?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

And Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

That's six, Council Members.

Thank you so much.

Council Member Herbold, did you have anything else as part of your report?

All right.

I'm seeing a no, so we are good to go.

Thank you so much for that.

Okay, colleagues, I will end today's council briefing with my report.

I'm sponsoring one item on today's introduction and referral calendar.

That's resolution 32003. It is a routine parliamentary related resolution.

This resolution is before the council every year in accordance with the general rules and procedures of the Seattle City Council.

It is designed to retire legislation that has been introduced and referred but not acted upon by the City Council.

Each of your offices has been consultant on this process in order to ensure only legislation appropriate for retirement is included in the resolution.

And those decision points are reflected as appropriate in the contents of this resolution.

Resolution 32003 is being referred to the full city council, and I expect that we'll take final action on this legislation on Monday, May 3rd.

At this afternoon City Council meeting, I will speak to Council Bill 12041 on behalf of Council Member Mosqueda and as a co-sponsor of that bill.

As discussed at last week's Finance and Housing Committee, and as noted in the remarks from Council Member Mosqueda read by Council Member Herbold, Council Bill 12041 would appropriate nearly $18 million of federally granted coronavirus relief funds This legislation would increase appropriations in several departments for programs that need additional funding to continue services through the end of 2021, including food access programs, child care services, vaccine outreach efforts, and the Clean City Initiative.

I'll speak more to the details of the legislation at this afternoon's meeting, but I'm also happy to take any questions today if anyone has any questions about that legislation before 2 o'clock.

Okay, colleagues, as a preview, I will have one item for introduction, referral, and adoption next week on May 3rd as well.

I am sponsoring a resolution calling on Congress for comprehensive immigration reform and support of the immigrant refugee community through legislative and budgetary actions at the federal level.

This resolution is designed to lift up organizing efforts and priorities by community leaders such as One America and the Washington Immigrant and Solidarity Network.

We joined community leaders to ask Congress to create a roadmap to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, many of whom call Seattle their home.

We are calling for an increase in the number of family visas available to strengthen family reunification, and the resolution also calls towards ending immigrant deportation and calls for moratorium on deportation, detention, and punitive enforcement.

Also, the resolution describes our support for increasing admission of refugees and asylees and also indicates that we want to ensure that all COVID-19 relief and recovery and programs serve every resident regardless of their citizenship.

So this is something that will work its way through the city council process starting this week and wanted to make sure that all of you had a heads up about that resolution before you see it in your inbox.

Next up, report of regional committees, both last week and this week, focusing on this week first.

This Thursday is the PSRC General Assembly, which is the regular convening of hundreds of elected officials from the roughly 80 jurisdictions that are members of the PSRC.

The primary items of business on the agenda include the election of officers and the adoption of the Budget and Work Program for fiscal years 2022 through 2023. Last Thursday, the PSRC Executive Board took action to approve the distribution of $580 million in Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, funding it to the region's transit agencies to mitigate the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

PSRC worked with leaders from the region's nine transit agencies to develop the funding recommendations, and the executive board also approved a supplemental funding action totaling roughly $53 million for projects on the adopted contingency list for PSRC's Federal Highway Administration funds.

Last week, there was a meeting of the Families Education Preschool and Promise Levy Oversight Committee, where Deal presented the FEP annual report.

We will be receiving that briefing in a future Governance and Education Committee meeting, but just as a highlight of the work that has been done in year one of the FEP levy, I wanted to highlight just a couple of really good results.

Year one meant that we invested about $95.1 million.

Through those investments, 30,000 children and youth were served.

129 school and community partners were funded.

There were 10 different competitive funding processes in which more than three dozen community review panelists participated.

And this is with significant response.

And in addition, through our COVID-19 response, we had to be very dynamic, and through that process allowed for funding of remote instruction, telehealth services, Seattle Preschool Program coaching, and emergency child care.

Again, the full update of FEPP activities is scheduled for early or late summer in the Governance and Education Committee meeting, and if any of you have any questions about the FEPP levy investments, you are welcome to reach out directly to Director Schweil, or you may also reach out to my senior policy advisor, V. Nguyen.

Okay, lastly, Saturday is May Day, folks.

May Day is something that I have participated in just about every year that I've lived in Seattle.

It is a day for organizers in the worker and immigrant rights movement.

and to celebrate the intersection of worker rights and immigrant rights.

I'll be joining One America to call on comprehensive immigration reform at an event on Saturday morning here in Seattle.

I'll be joined there by Senator Joe Nguyen of the 34th Legislative District, and we are also hoping to be joined by Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal and Susan Delpenny.

So that is this Saturday, looking forward to being together with community on May Day.

This Thursday, I'll be meeting with several other city council presidents to discuss a shared vision for a nationwide progressive movement.

As a board member of Local Progress, I'm glad to be a part of national conversations about how we move our communities collectively forward on everything from homelessness to police reform, municipal broadband, and transit, and progressive revenue, of course.

So I'm excited to continue to join those leaders from other progressive city councils on Thursday to learn more about how to best serve our communities.

That is the end of my report.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

Hearing and seeing no questions, colleagues, I'm now going to move us into executive session.

As presiding officer, I'm announcing that the Seattle City Council will now convene in executive session.

The purpose of the executive session is to discuss pending potential and and or actual litigation.

The council's executive session is an opportunity for the council to discuss confidential legal matters with city attorneys as authorized by law.

A legal monitor from the city attorney's office is always present to ensure the council reserves questions of policy for open sessions.

I expect the time of the executive session to end by 11.45 a.m.

If the executive session is to be extended Beyond that time, I'll announce the extension and the expected duration in open session.

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