technology issues fixed.
Thanks to Seattle Channel for doing that so quickly.
We're only six minutes behind.
So let's go ahead and get the meeting started.
Good morning, everyone.
The January 11th, 2021 council briefing meeting will come to order.
The time is 9.36 a.m.
My apologies to members of the public and our guests attending here.
We were put on alert that Seattle Channel had some technical difficulties.
Much appreciation to them for getting those resolved and fixed so quickly.
But here we are, live and ready to go.
Will the clerk please call the roll?
Council Member.
Thank you.
Council Member Juarez.
Here.
Lewis.
Present.
Morales.
Here.
Mosqueda.
Present.
Peterson.
Here.
Sawant.
Here.
Strauss.
Present.
Council President Gonzalez.
Present.
Nine present.
Thank you so much.
Approval of the minutes.
If there's no objection, the minutes of January 4th, 2021 will be adopted.
Hearing no objection, the minutes are adopted.
President's report.
I'm gonna save my comments until my report at the end of the next section.
So let's go ahead and dig into preview of today's city council actions, council and regional committees.
We will begin this next section now.
And again, as a reminder, we will call on council members in the rotated roll call for city council meetings.
That roll call order is as follows.
Council members Herbold, Juarez, Lewis, Morales, Mosqueda, Peterson, Sawant, Strauss, and then I'll conclude.
We will have an executive session today that is scheduled to last at least 45 minutes.
Hoping that we will be able to conclude executive session no later than 1130 a.m.
or noon today in order to give our staff enough time to reset and get ready for a full Council meeting.
That being said, first up is Councilmember Herbold, who I understand is having some camera difficulties on Zoom, so you're going to see a black box, likely, but she's coming in loud and clear and hoping to be able to work on those tech issues.
I'm going to turn it over to councilmember Herbold.
full council.
As briefly mentioned last week, we have an updated version of the proclamation honoring the frontline workers who made us all safer through citywide testing.
We've needed to clean up some of the language and added some additional details.
specifically details related to making sure that we are recognizing the work of all individuals and departments who participated in rolling out citywide testing.
As of Friday, the city has surpassed 550,000 tests administered and the mayor's office together with the Seattle King County Public Health Department are working to figure out how we can use our citywide testing infrastructure as part of also delivering vaccines.
The second proclamation is honoring the community service of Tim Harris, who retired from Real Change last year.
And we'll have lots of folks to thank as part of the presentation for that proclamation at 2 o'clock today.
I'm also walking on a resolution in support of articles of impeachment to impeach Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.
The resolution was drafted with support from Local Progress and has been shared with the Office of Intergovernmental Relations and the Law Department.
We're currently waiting for law office review.
It's the resolution itself.
I understand there may be another As far as items that are coming up on the public safety and human services committee meeting tomorrow at 930. We have six reappointments to the community police commission.
Two from each of the appointing bodies, the community police commission, the council, and the mayor.
We will also be having initial discussion of appointment of curry mayor, the new proposed director of the office of emergency management.
We'll just be an introduction to proposed Director Mayor tomorrow morning.
We also are going to have a walkthrough decision agenda on less lethal weapons recommendations of the Community Police Commission, the Office of the Inspector General, and the Office of Police Accountability.
It's been a while since the council unanimously adopted legislation.
to prohibit the use of less lethal weapons in all circumstances, including crowd control and other circumstances.
So I want to just quickly give some background about where we're at and how we got here.
Of course, in June, after the local protests in response to the murder of George Floyd and heavy use of these weapons by the Seattle Police Department, the council adopted Ordinance 126-102 to prohibit the use of numerous less lethal weapons.
Then in July, U.S. District Court Judge Robart issued a temporary restraining order, which prohibited the ordinance from going into effect.
In August, the three accountability bodies completed recommendations as requested by both the council and the court.
If you recall, we included language in the ordinance where we specifically solicited the recommendations of the three accountability bodies, thus feedback on potential changes that we might need to make to the ordinance.
We also asked the same of the court, recognizing that we were obligated to do so under the consent decree.
On September 11th, the Public Safety and Human Services Committee, at the Human Services Committee meeting, the accountability bodies, including the Community Police Commission, the Inspector General, the Office of Police Accountability, all presented their recommendations to committee members.
And then on December 17th, where we had a roundtable discussion with these same accountability bodies, and we included the Seattle Police Department in that discussion as well.
on December 17th in the Public Safety and Human Services Committee meeting, we announced that the next meeting that we would have, the one that's coming up tomorrow, that we would be going through a decision agenda comprised of the recommendations of the accountability bodies and other options to discuss how we might vote, make changes to our existing ordinance.
We are aiming for a committee vote on the 26th, but tomorrow's meeting is a continuation in our deliberations.
The legislation after the committee vote would then be sent to the monitor as a draft bill together with the Department of Justice and Judge Robart in line with the consent decree process before any final consideration at full counsel.
to be clear about sort of where we're at now, there is no city law currently in effect prohibiting the use of less lethal or crowd control weapons.
And the limitations that exist right now are a result of the current lawsuit from Black Lives Matter and the ACLU.
And so that's just an overview of where we're at now.
I think another piece of important background is to consider the judge's perspective.
In the June temporary restraining order Judge Robart issued, he was critical of the ordinance adopted by the council saying it does not increase public safety.
and he expressed interest in hearing the recommendations from the three accountability bodies.
So that's a key reason that the committee has met twice to hear, discuss, and ask questions about their recommendations and why the discussion tomorrow is structured around the recommendations.
to the public safety and human services committee.
received an update from the Human Services Department that they are distributing in-language cards to four community living connections partner agencies to include with food, meal, and other deliverables to clients promoting services, to clients receiving or experiencing isolation during COVID.
And then also, Operation SAC launched its mobile kitchen, distributed 230 meals outside of City Hall on Christmas Day with support from FAS and SDOT.
The distribution also included socks, gloves, and hygiene supplies.
mentioned that I, as well as others, released a statement on Wednesday in response to the national capital's violent occupation and coup attempt brought on by Donald Trump's refusal to support the peaceful transition of power that is a core element of our democracy.
It's not a lie.
He lost the election.
I also echo President-elect Biden's comments made on Thursday.
You can't tell me that it's a group of Black Lives Matter protesters yesterday that would not have been treated very differently than the mob that's from the Capitol.
We all know this is true.
It is totally unacceptable, totally unacceptable.
The American people saw it in plain view.
On Friday evening, I think many of us are aware that Chief Diaz posted an update in the Seattle Police Department blotter explaining that the department had been made aware that two of its officers were reportedly in D.C.
on Wednesday.
Chief Diaz went on to say that the department supports lawful expressions of First Amendment freedom of speech, but that the violent mob and events that unfolded at the Capitol were unlawful and resulted in the death of another police officer.
Chief Diaz explained that the incident has been forwarded to the Office of Police Accountability for full review.
And I have also been in contact with the office for police accountability as well as the chief.
And we understand that they will investigate whether any police department policies were violated and if potential illegal activities need to be referred for criminal investigation.
The OPA is also investigating the comments of Guild President Mike Solon, who falsely claimed both the far right and the far left, were responsible for the insurrection and coup attempt in Washington, D.C.
last week.
During his election campaign, Mike Solon produced a campaign video that glorified violence and sensationalized conflict.
Over the summer, he went on national television and called for federal forces to intervene in Seattle, despite the opposition of the chief and mayor and several council members.
And now he's promoting dangerous falsehoods about the attack at the Capitol last week.
Seattle police officers were at the Capitol last week.
We don't know whether or not they participated in the insurrection, but I cannot help but wonder whether the actions of these officers were influenced by the rhetoric of their leader.
This is not the person I believe should be leading our police officers' guild in these challenging times of necessary change, and I hope the members of SPOG come to agree.
The mayor also released a statement related to the SPOG president's statement.
She called it wrong, immoral, and a lie.
She said his statements do not reflect the values of the city of Seattle, but instead echo the failed lies of a presidency.
And she mentioned, in fact, every officer at the Seattle Police Department has an obligation to not post speech that negatively impacts the department's ability to serve the public.
This is a quote from the Seattle Police Department manual section 5.125 regarding social media.
And I think that's all I have.
Thank you for giving me a little extra time today.
One last thing to mention, of course, is that this week we have a King County Regional Policy Committee meeting, and then I have office hours, virtual office hours on Friday, January 29th between 2 p.m.
and 6 p.m.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councilmember Herbold for that report and those remarks.
Any comments or questions about Councilmember Herbold's report?
Hearing none, we'll go ahead and move down the line and hear now from Councilmember Juarez, followed by Councilmember Lewis.
Good morning, Councilmember Juarez.
Good morning, Council President.
Good morning, colleagues.
Thank you.
Quite the week.
Let's see, there are no items of the Public Asset and Native Communities Committee on this afternoon's council agenda.
The week ahead, January 12th, on Tuesday, I'm scheduled for a Sound Transit North King County sub-area briefing to prep for realignment discussions in the coming months.
January 14th, I plan to attend a Puget Sound Regional Council Transportation Policy Board meeting.
In the morning, this is an important meeting in a series of discussions.
we participated in to secure the City of Seattle $15 million in federal funding towards the West Seattle Bridge Project.
Council Member Peterson joined me on the last meeting.
I'm hoping we have the same discussions that we had last time about securing this money for the West Seattle Bridge Project.
And big shout out to OIR and SDOT for prepping us with the material and the memo and the numbers so we can work with the rest of the Transportation Board so they vote favorably so we can release these funds for the city of Seattle.
On January 15th, I will be joining the Native Action Network, and the Native Action Network is an organization that's been around for almost two decades, chaired and created by former Senator Claudia Kaufman and Iris Friday, dedicated to the empowerment of young Native American women.
A lot of these young girls have gone off to college, have come back, have went to law school, have worked for their tribes, and seek either public office or running for office in their own tribal governments, including my own daughters that attended when they were 9 and 10. So I'm going to attend one of their classes in the morning this Friday, and so I will give you an update on that.
It's an incredible organization, and like I said, it's been around a while and it's been incredibly successful.
update on Sound Transit.
I'm sure some of you have been reading about what's been going on with Sound Transit and our discussions and changes in the enhanced costs to realignment.
As we enter 2021 with the same challenges of 2020, the Sound Transit Board remains diligent in its processes to realign light rail projects in response to COVID-19, to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Basically, in this pandemic field recession, costs have gone up in how we're going to do realignment.
What we learned from Sound Transit last week, one of the reasons, two of the reasons why, of course, is that we have incredible increase in real estate costs and construction, construction sectors of the economy.
Those have skyrocketed and have taken some projects to some projects up to 150% in property costs.
So right now we're focusing on West Seattle and Ballard.
We expect summer cost increases for future light rail projects, such as extensions to Everett, South Kirkland, Issaquah, the Tacoma Link extension.
to Tacoma Community College.
And I just want to share just a few of my notes, and I want to follow up with some of you later.
I know Council Member Esqueda has some questions for me offline, and I want to follow up with her office as well.
The good news is that there are eight projects, and seven of them are on schedule and under budget, and some of them aren't.
we are concerned about is the construction market costs and of course, property values.
The west Seattle project which is considered one project, we are estimating it was around $8 billion and now we are looking at about $12 billion.
That is a 50% increase.
We are hoping, and also one of the projects in Pierce County has gone up from 11% to 50%.
The Busset Rapid Transit System, the BRT, is fairly stable.
Some of the numbers that came out on Thursday will be updated again.
We'll be more specific.
And I know some of you guys are a little bit wonky, and I want to share this with you.
We have it.
We can share it again with you.
Nagina and I went back and looked at the program realignment board briefing book.
There's a PowerPoint, and it's like 44 pages long.
It came out in December 2020. And why this is important, if you want to see it, you don't need to see all 44 pages.
Some of it's just pictures.
But it actually goes in and explains the costs of the property construction, inflation.
And I should note that Sound Transit has hired a third-party validator to come in to reassess and look at it, basically double-check their math.
and their calculations and cost estimates, which is really important.
I think we need that third outside third party to come in and say, your numbers are off, your numbers are good, your numbers are close.
But as you know, we can't predict until we get this pandemic under control.
It's like a domino effect.
I think once we get the pandemic under control, the recession under control, then other things will start falling into place.
And I think that's where we're at.
I think every sector is there, not just sound transit.
So with that, If you want more information and more detailed information, I'm happy to follow up with all my colleagues and the dean is happy to provide any other additional information that you may need.
So let's go to parks.
Last week, my office received an activity report that we've been requesting and we got from the mayor's office on the Clean Cities Initiative.
So from December 28th to January 3rd, that's about six days.
Here's some of the results.
So that's about six days.
We've recovered 636 needles that were removed.
We've discovered, or we collected 185,000 pounds of trash, which was removed from 10 park locations.
Encampment trash pickup, 10 encampment locations were serviced, Prefontaine Park, Ballard Commons, Northeast 45th and 50th Street, 104th and 105th and Evanston, Denny Park, Lake City Mini Park, Albert Davids Park, Lake City Community Center, 4th Avenue and Yesler Way vicinity.
So those are like 10 areas where this council passed, and I can't remember, I think it was 3.9 million.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
I know they originally asked for 5.9.
for the Clean Cities Initiative.
Parks has taken it and worked with us to, and SPU and other city departments, of how we're going to fill in this gap to come in to just clean.
And it isn't just cleaning and picking up trash and picking up needles.
It's also emptying out the sandy cans, taking away furniture.
And also, thank you, City Council.
We also passed more navigators to come out.
Well, I'm using the word not navigators like before.
Calm down.
people that are working in particular neighborhoods to help people with social services, particularly organizations that are already in the district or already in the community that some of our unsheltered neighbors already know, where there's already trust and we can get them to services and get them into housing.
The indoor shower program, from December 30th through January 5th, parks serve 344 users in the shower program at five community centers.
Food distribution food lifeline continues to distribute food free food boxes which include meat and vegetables at the Rainier Beach Community Center on Wednesdays from 10 to 1 and last Wednesday food boxes were distributed to families in need.
COVID testing from December 29th through January 5th 3,438 people were tested for COVID by Curative, a medical testing company, at three Seattle public rec sites.
That would be Northgate, Garfield Community Center, and Lower Woodland Park.
Cal Anderson, Cal Anderson Outreach and Activation.
The Cal Anderson Park Project team have held virtual community meetings to provide an update on the status of the park.
At a December meeting, attendees requested discussion to be dedicated to homeless encampments at the park, its removal, and the city's responsibilities during the pandemic.
Seattle Parks and Rec plans to bring the community back together for a follow-up work session on Friday, January 15th.
I don't know the time.
I can get back to you on the time.
I'm sure our neighbors, park users, and business owners can use that opportunity to highlight their unique needs and visions for park use.
And again, our office and the dean can provide more information.
We've been working closely with parks on all the cleanup, particularly in light of the money that was set aside for the initiative.
Officer of the Waterfront, briefly, great news on Pier 58. The entire superstructure of Pier 58 has been removed.
The contractor is currently working on removing the concrete elements from the water, including saving what they can of the Fitzgerald Fountain.
I know I shouldn't laugh, but hopefully they can save that fountain.
Peer 57 has reopened their restaurant front as of January 7th and is anticipating opening the Great Wheel on January 14th, 2021. Briefly, Native communities, I'm happy and excited and we should all be.
Seattle Police Department has hired their new Missing Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Strategic Advisor.
As you know, this council voted not only for the resolution, but also the ordinance and the budget and the money to hire somebody within SPD to handle casework on missing murdered Indigenous women in the Seattle area.
I'm proud to say that City of Seattle, this is the first of its kind locally and nationally.
Congratulations to Luis Gomez Ventura, who had their first day December 28, 2020. They have a strong background in database systems and working within and for communities of color.
I'm confident in their ability to reform internal systems so Seattle can better assist Native communities.
My office remains engaged with the SPD Data Division and, more importantly, the Seattle Indian Health Board, as well as tribal governments, urban indigenous organizations, tribal police, and courts.
Again, we should all give ourselves credit.
I think sometimes we don't do this enough, but I think we did good here, guys.
We took something from a national level, we took something from a state level, and we made it Seattle.
And I'm really proud of that.
And like I said, this is no city has, major city has done this.
And also the tribes in the state are very thankful that we actually have a system where we have connected all of these networks.
not just SPD, not just City of Seattle, but tribal governments, tribal police and courts, so that when our Native American girls and women go missing, the data is collected and we go looking for them.
So thank you.
Thank you, colleagues.
District 5 updates.
On January 7th, I joined Mayor Durkin, Fire Chief Scoggins, Police Chief Diaz, Deputy Mayor Tiffany Washington, Chris Leverson and Build Lake City Together and A.J.
At our who's our business advocate at the office of economic development and a meeting with the 7 business owners and community.
Who are affected by the large fire on the evening of Monday, December 28th as, you know, there were 8, 8, 8 stores.
7 of them had businesses in and have been there as long as I practically lived in this neighborhood 30 years.
and all of them burnt down to the ground.
Seattle firefighters have determined that the suspects intentionally started the fire, and Seattle Fire estimates the loss, as I shared last week, at around 2.7 million.
Seattle Police Arson and Bomb Squad are following up to investigate, and the suspects are still outstanding.
The Office of Economic Development, A.J. Khari, has been coordinating with Chris Leverson of Build Lake City Together to provide outreach, support, and resources for the businesses.
Again, our hearts break for these business owners.
We've met some of them who have already been through an unprecedented year.
as we all have of a pandemic field recession, the impact of small businesses, what it's done to their employees and the employers, and particularly, of course, to their property.
For more information on how you can contact Chris Leverson, we have the information, but it's chris.leverson at chs-wa.org.
Again, Nageen can follow up with you on a particular email with all the details.
If you're in a business in need of assistance, we also put this in the North Star, which is our newsletter that goes out on Thursday.
But I'll say it again, because there are a lot of questions from the business owners that were on the call Thursday.
Please contact AJ Khari at ajkhariatseattle.gov.
So thank you for that.
That's all I have, Council President.
Thank you, Council Member Juarez.
Any comments or questions on that report?
Okay, hearing none.
Colleagues, I apologize for having to do this, but we have to go back to Councilmember Herbold's report.
Staff, thank you, staff, has rightly reminded me that we were supposed to call for signatures on the two proclamations that she mentioned, and I inadvertently forgot to do that.
With your indulgence, I'd like to do that before we hear from Councilmember Lewis, who I think is next in the queue.
So, colleagues, as you heard Councilmember Herbold mention, the first proclamation will be related to honoring the frontline workers who have made us all safer through the citywide testing.
This is sort of an updated version of a proclamation that we all signed previously.
So, are there any questions before I request that the roll be called on the first proclamation as described by Council Member.
Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll to determine which council members would like their signature affixed to the proclamation honoring the frontline workers who have made us all safer through citywide testing.
Herbold?
Yes.
Juarez?
Aye.
Lewis?
Yes.
Morales?
Yes.
Mosqueda?
Yes.
Peterson?
Yes.
Sawant?
Yes.
Council President Gonzalez.
Yes.
Nine in favor.
Thank you, madam.
Clerk, those signatures will be affixed to the proclamation.
Colleagues, we're going to go ahead and call the roll to determine which council members would like their signatures affixed to the second proclamation described by Council Member Herbold, which is one honoring the community service of Tim Harris.
Are there any questions about that proclamation before the roll is called?
Hearing no questions, will the clerk please call the roll to determine which council members would like their signature fixed to the proclamation honoring the community service of Tim Harris.
Herbold?
Yes.
Juarez?
Aye.
Lewis?
Yes.
Morales?
Yes.
Mosqueda?
Yes.
Peterson?
Yes.
Yes.
Grouse?
Yes.
Council President Gonzalez?
Yes.
Nine in favor.
Thank you, Madam Clerk.
Those signatures will be affixed to the proclamation.
Thank you so much.
I apologize again for having to go backwards in the agenda, but I appreciate the opportunity to be able to do so, so we have those proclamations ready to go for this afternoon.
Okay, Council Member Lewis, you are next, and then we will hear from Council Member Morales.
Good morning.
Thank you, Madam President.
I will be brief since I know we are eager to get to this executive session later in the morning, and I don't have all that much to report this morning.
I do want to join the expressions of my colleagues, in particular Council Member Herbold, this morning and her extensive remarks.
condemning the violent attack on the united states capitol uh...
on the part of domestic terrorist seeking to overturn the results of a fair free and democratic election uh...
i further this weekend uh...
similar to councilmember herbold's comments called on Officer Mike Solon to resign his position, not only as head of his union, but within the Seattle Police Department in recognition of the extremely divisive, inaccurate and false statements that Officer Solon has made in the wake of this violent attack, implying a false equivalency of conduct and a completely fake theory of involvement from BLM activists in the insurrection that occurred on Wednesday on the part of MAGA-supported extremist groups.
I stand with council colleagues, with the mayor, with labor leaders and community members condemning that violent and misleading rhetoric and believe it is time for new leadership in SPOG and that union would be wise to relieve itself of that divisive leadership that has done nothing to advance the cause or the issues of that union.
or better the quality of support for the workers in that union.
Similarly, I support the resolutions that are being brought forward today by Councilmember Gerbald and I believe Councilmember Peterson calling for the impeachment and removal of President Donald Trump, given the extreme violations of constitutional norms and blatant insurrection against the democratic institutions of this country that he displayed last week.
I look forward to those efforts being consolidated and thank both of those, both of my colleagues for their leadership and bringing that forward.
I do not have any other updates this morning and look forward to having to say on some substantive updates on the permanent supportive housing legislation.
My office has been shepherding probably by briefing on next Monday once some critical deadlines have lapsed and we are ready to move into the next phase of considering amendments and moving forward on that legislation with more certainty.
I don't have anything else.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councilmember Lewis, for those comments and for that report.
Are there any comments or questions for Councilmember Lewis?
Hearing none, we'll go ahead and move over to Council Member Morales followed by Council Member Mosqueda.
Council Member Morales, good morning.
Good morning.
Thank you, Council President.
Good morning, colleagues.
There are no items from the Community Economic Development Committee on today's agenda.
Next Monday, we'll be celebrating the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
And so consequently, things will get bumped.
So my first committee of the year will be moved to next Friday, January 22nd.
The calendar states 2PM, but I believe we've swapped with Council Member Mosqueda and we'll be meeting at 930. Can I ask the clerk to confirm that?
I think you're seeing a thumbs up from Council Member Mosqueda.
My understanding is that that switch has been completed by the clerk's office, so you should be good to go.
Great.
Thank you very much.
Last week, I met with Jolene Haas, Director of the Duwamish Longhouse, to learn about their Duwamish Greenbelt restoration work and other programming that they've got going on once we are able to go back and meet with folks in person.
I would encourage my colleagues to go check it out.
It's a beautiful Cedar Longhouse and there's some really important, an important history to learn there in addition to the work that they're doing now.
We continue to hold Zoom meetings with constituents and to hear about their priorities for the district, including a strong desire to keep Lake Washington Boulevard closed to traffic to allow for greater pedestrian and bike access.
And also met with Arts and Culture Director Randy Engstrom and the Interim Director Kalendra Childers to hear about their transition planning.
I do want to let colleagues know about some of the work they're doing right now.
They are working with other city departments to implement a grant making system.
that both better reflects available city resources in real time, but also kind of streamlines the grant application process to the city.
And the idea here is to really make the process less onerous on community, particularly our smaller organizations that are representing communities of color very often find our grant making or grant application process overly burdensome.
and so I'm really excited about the work that the departments are doing to try to streamline that and make the process more equitable.
This week I'll be meeting with former Councilmember Abel Pacheco to hear more about the Sound Transit Program realignment work that Councilmember Juarez mentioned, particularly how projects in Seattle will be impacted and look forward to following up with Councilmember Juarez as well.
understand what we should be expecting there.
Finally, I do want to congratulate our newest legislators from Seattle, Representative Liz Berry, Representative Kirsten Harris-Talley, Representative David Hackney.
I hope we can all keep our colleagues in mind as they begin their work in Olympia Day, wishing them all a productive and a safe legislative session.
After the events of last week, I know we're all thinking about the very tenuous nature of our democracy.
And it's important to remember that we have to work hard to protect our democratic institutions.
They do not protect themselves.
So I want to join my colleagues in condemning the violence, the privilege, the sedition we witnessed last week, and in calling for anyone who's associated with organizing or inciting that violence to be held accountable.
I fear that this is really the beginning of these efforts, not the end.
And so I want to join those calling on our congressional delegation and on our vice president to act with urgency to impeach the 45th president and on calling on Mike Solon to resign from his leadership position and his position in the city of Seattle.
That is all I have, Council President.
Thank you, Councilmember Morales, for that report and those comments.
Really appreciate it.
Are there any comments or questions for Councilmember Morales?
OK, hearing none, we're going to go ahead and move down the line here.
Next up is Councilmember Mosqueda, followed by Councilmember Peterson.
Good morning, Councilmember Mosqueda.
Good morning, Council President.
Good morning, colleagues.
There are a few items on the introduction and referral calendar today from my office.
We have several appointments to the Community Roots Housing PDA and the Seattle Housing Authority.
Also on today's introduction and referral calendar is Resolution 31983. This confirms our desire to make sure that our elected officials, medical folks in the region, and our healthcare organizations come together to work to exchange information related to COVID-19.
And this includes lifting up and showing the leadership of Cuba's medical system.
Cuba and their medical system, their health information system have a history of strong international coordination and strength.
And I want to thank Cindy Domingo.
She has been a longtime leader and leading delegations down to Cuba to make sure that people can learn from the experience of the Cuban people and their expertise and leadership in the medical field.
She has been the board president of the Center for Social Justice and the co-chair for U.S.
Women and Cuba Collaboration.
And I think it's important because we are often, you know, working from home and we're so focused on what we're doing here in Seattle and in our region to respond to COVID.
Just for a little bit of background, I want to put the reason for this resolution into context.
Cuba has reported 1.3 deaths.
That's 1.3 deaths per 100,000.
while the United States has reported 110 deaths per 100,000.
This also compared to the per capita rate of total cases in the U.S. is 56 times the rate of Cuba.
And the per capita rate of total deaths is 85 times higher in the U.S. than it is in Cuba.
Cuba has a long history of providing international medical and healthcare assistance to the people of the world, especially in developing countries, under the banner and the cause for making sure that healthcare is seen as the true human right that it is.
And the International Medical Brigade was decisive in the fight against Ebola epidemic in West Africa and has stepped forward in many epidemics around the world, including dengue fever, HIV, AIDS, swine flu, and hepatitis.
And since the outbreak of COVID-19, Cuba has sent 52 medical brigade equipments around the world with pharmaceutical equipment to over 45 countries with additional requests from similar systems from other countries.
And it should be explicitly stated that the U.S. blockade has severely restricted collaboration on scientific and medical research that interferes with the potential for saving lives in the face of this pandemic.
which not only harms the people of Cuba, but it also harms us, the international community, who could benefit from the medical expertise and generosity of the people in Cuba.
I want to note that the Washington State Labor Council and the Martin Luther King County Labor Council have passed resolutions calling for cooperation in Cuba to save lives in the face of COVID-19.
This resolution is in alignment with that.
It asks for our federal and state delegation, along with the medical and research community here in Seattle, which we are very proud of and know that they have international recognition as well.
to actively explore collaboration with Cuban counterparts so that we can exchange knowledge and collaborate to make sure that we are improving the lives – saving lives, improving treatments, ensuring that there's vaccines, and the most cutting-edge protocols deployed across the globe.
And we can do this in partnership with Cuba.
So I appreciate your consideration for that.
It's on today's introduction and referral calendar and will also be up for consideration on Monday.
In terms of full council, there are no items from the Finance and Housing Committee on today's full council agenda.
Our next Finance and Housing Committee will be on Friday, January 22nd at 2 p.m.
Thank you very much, Council Member Morales, for working We will have the housing authority appointments, labor standards board appointments, a of the relocation of residents which by the way they have 100% success rate of offering folks opportunities to move back into Yesler Terrace and every single person who has wanted to move back to Yesler Terrace has had the opportunity to do so.
So that's what the community preference policy looks like and it's a great example of when we do We have a lot of work to do.
We have a lot of work to develop.
Making sure the folks who have been in that area get the chance to come back.
Our community preference policy is succeeding.
It is something I would love to lift up and highlight the great work of the Seattle housing authority.
We will be sad to see the director leave and want to give him a chance to talk about the work they have coming up over the next five to six We have legislation that we will be considering that allows for us to offer emergency and hazard pay.
to grocery workers.
And folks may have followed the news just before the holiday break from the city of Long Beach, California.
Other cities are considering this as well.
When we think about essential workers, we have made a lot of protections mandatory at the city of Seattle, and especially for our gig workers.
Initially, we were very excited to hear that the union in working with some of our local grocers had been able to accomplish $2 an hour for their workers, but quickly that went away.
And in the time of COVID, where people continue to see skyrocketing rates of infection, including the most deadly day for COVID deaths just this last week, we know that the COVID epidemic, or sorry, pandemic is not over.
It's not near to be over.
We are very excited about the vaccine to come, but we need to treat these workers as the true essential workers that they are.
They have been sacrificing themselves to go to the grocery stores and to work on our behalf and that should not mean that they are sacrificial.
We want to make sure that they have hazard pay and emergency pay just like has been paid for in the city of Long Beach and I'm excited to bring this legislation forward and we will have more discussion about that next Friday.
In other updates, I joined my colleagues in the condemnation on the language that's been used here locally.
And I want to make sure that we are explicit in our condemnation for what we saw in not only our state capital, but also in the nation's capital.
And let's make no mistake about it.
The attempt, the attempted coup, the domestic terror that we saw was an attempt to tell our country's residents, in particular, our black, indigenous and people of color residents, LGBTQIA, residents, women and working families that they don't matter and that their voices don't matter by making sure that they were trying to fight the vote to count the votes to welcome in the new federal administration.
They were trying to incite violence and fear and their efforts will not work.
All of your votes matter.
All of your calls for justice continue to matter.
Black lives matter.
And we should make sure that we continue to fight to make sure everybody is safe no matter where they work.
That includes community, public safety officials, elected officials, members of the press.
And that includes on Capitol Hill here, Capitol Hill in DC, in grocery stores, in packing houses, our governor's house, or at the state and house in our state legislature.
I want to thank members who are serving today down in Olympia, our elected officials.
This is their first day of legislative session, as has been noted by my colleague.
And they are surrounded by a barricade.
We appreciate that you are putting yourself out there to to fight for health and safety of residents by bringing together the state legislature.
And I know that, you know, it was very terrifying to see my husband, who's a member of the press, be half aware of protective gear, including bulletproof vests.
We want to make sure everyone, no matter where they work, whether they're elected officials, members of the press, community members or otherwise, everybody is safe where they work.
So thank you for all of the work that you will do this upcoming legislative session.
Thanks to the members of the press and our broader community who continue to call for justice and safety and the right to be able to work and feel safe is something that we will continue to fight for.
I also want to thank Representative Jayapal, our U.S.
Washington District Representative for Seattle, Washington.
She and Senator Patty Murray led the call for the 25th Amendment for a Washington state delegation.
Now, all nine Democratic members of the Washington state delegation, in addition to Governor Inslee, have called for the 25th Amendment, Section 4, to be invoked.
and I know that you don't come to that decision lightly, so I thank you all very much for your leadership in DC, and we will continue to stand up and fight for justice and not back down in the face of fear and intimidation.
Thank you very much, Madam President.
Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda, for those updates and for those comments.
Really appreciate it.
Colleagues, any comments or questions on Council Member Mosqueda's report?
Council Member Swan?
Thank you.
This is about the resolution that Council Member Mosqueda just mentioned about U.S.-Cuban collaboration on the medical issues related to combating COVID.
David McLaughlin, who is a prominent activist from the Physicians for a National Health Plan, contacted my office and requested that we co-sponsor this resolution that they have advocated for correctly, so calling for U.S.-Cuban collaboration to save lives in the fight against COVID-19.
and the statistics speak a powerful story for what can be accomplished through public and socialized medicine.
And I wholeheartedly support this resolution.
Over the weekend, my office contacted Council Member Mosqueda to offer that co-sponsorship, and her office requested that I mention it here in this briefing, which I'm doing so right now.
I'll just add that the complete failure of private profiteering health companies in the context of U.S. capitalism.
To address the COVID health emergency is a clear demonstration of the urgency for single payer Medicare for all with full coverage of all medical needs, including dental and gender medicine needs, not to mention what we actually need, which is fully socialized medicine.
So as I said, I'm happy to co-sponsor this resolution urging cooperation with Cuba to much more effectively fight the pandemic.
And I also wanted to recognize that the activists with the PNHP have for years been advocating for Medicare for all.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Salant.
Anything else for Council Member Mosqueda?
Okay, hearing none, we'll go ahead and go down the line.
Next up is Councilmember Peterson, followed then by Councilmember Swann.
Good morning.
Thank you, Council President.
Good morning, colleagues.
Our Transportation and Utilities Committee has no items on today's full City Council agenda.
Our committee meets again Wednesday, January 20th at 2 p.m.
Normally our committee meets in the morning, but we moved it to the afternoon so we can witness and breathe a collective sigh of relief with the inauguration of President Biden and Vice President Harris earlier that day.
On January 20th in the afternoon, our committee will be very busy with more appointments to advisory boards as well as briefings on important technology matters.
I'd like to comment briefly on the reprehensible, illegal, and violent storming of the U.S.
Capitol building last week, spurred by a president who is not fit to lead our nation.
Before becoming a husband and a father many years ago, I had the honor of working in our nation's Capitol.
and inside the hallowed halls of Congress.
Each morning, I'd sit outside the Library of Congress and stare up at the gleaming Capitol Dome.
And last week, the videos of right-wing mobs smashing into that ultimate symbol of American democracy to try to undo the will of the people smashed into my soul as a public servant and threatened the progress we have all been striving to achieve.
I appreciated the swift and eloquent statements from our Council President, Public Safety Chair, condemning these horrible events as they were unfolding last week, and also from my colleagues this morning.
I look forward to reviewing Councilmember Herbold's resolution.
After the shock and the sadness, that violence has only hardened my resolve to lean into my job and try to try my best to govern with skill and do my part to make such an event unthinkable for future generations.
January 6, 2021 will be a brutal reminder of how fragile any democracy is, the importance of education, and how much elections really matter.
I'm hopeful of efforts on Capitol Hill this week to impeach and remove President Trump.
The inauguration of a new presidential administration on January 20th cannot come soon enough.
of regarding the comments of Mike Sullen.
While I have not been in favor of defunding our police department by any specific percentage, but have instead favored an approach that first implements a solid plan to revamp public safety, I absolutely condemn the remarks by the president of the police union, Mike Sullen, on Twitter.
While this city council, like all legislative bodies, will disagree on many things, I believe we all agree not only that Mr. Sullivan's remarks and their implications are reprehensible and untrue, but also the need to revamp the inflexible, expensive, and unjust police union contract.
I concur with the comments from our mayor, our former police chief, Carmen Best, and many others.
For the good of the over 1,000 women and men in uniform serving Seattle and who work hard as part of our city government family, I think it's time for Mr. Sullen to hand this important position over to someone who can represent the officers we rely on with the dignity and decorum they deserve during these tumultuous times of change.
We must have a partner who has truly embraced that we cannot go back to the way things were.
The current president of the police union has, in my view, disqualified himself to be a fair partner in negotiating that contract, which will become the most important tool for sustaining reform, saving money, maintaining safety, and delivering justice.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councilmember Peterson, for that report and those comments.
Anything, any questions or comments for Councilmember Peterson on his report?
Okay, thank you so much customer Peterson.
I just wanted to know really quickly as it relates to the work relevant to transportation and utilities committee.
I know there's a lot.
going on right now, but I did want to take a moment during your report to just give a public service announcement that starting today, the West Seattle low bridge will begin to be monitored via camera, and that means automatic traffic enforcement.
So for those individuals who are not pre-authorized to be on that low bridge between 5 a.m.
and 9 p.m., If you do use the West Seattle Low Bridge, it will result in an automatic $75 fine for each trip each way.
So I want to thank Seattle Department of Transportation for pushing out that information.
And for those council members who are interested in pushing out the same message via your social media channels or newsletters, you can go to Seattle DOTS, Seattle Department of Transportation's Twitter page and find some to make sure that there is a safe place to park their car so that they can bike over or walk over to downtown.
a little faster to get there just even on foot or bike than it is to go around the long way.
So Mr. Chair, if we could follow up on that.
I think that the folks around the neighborhood here would appreciate it if they want to bike or take their stroller or go for a walk over there down to our downtown core.
I think it's a lot faster for them to walk.
So I would love to follow up with you so that I can get back to them as well.
And I know SDOT has heard that request already as well.
So thank you.
All right.
Hearing nothing else on that, we'll go ahead and go down the line.
Next up is Council Member Sawant, followed by Council Member Strauss.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Thank you, Council President Gonzalez.
There are no items on today's City Council agenda from the Sustainability and Winter Sites Committee.
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the committee will be Tuesday, January 26th.
Wednesday's horrific demonstration of far-right violence in Washington DC is a scary reminder that Trump may have lost the election, but Trumpism and the far-right is growing.
Trump and his reactionary base are refusing to accept a democratic election result and attempting to overturn it.
Socialist Alternative and my council office stand in solidarity with everyone fighting the right and with all those who were caught in the fire at the Capitol building, including the custodial workers, service workers, staff members, and others.
My council office supports the peaceful counter-protests that were held over the weekend by working people and socialists as part of an immediate fight back against these far right actions.
The only real defense is a mass movement and mass organization of working people, labor unions, social movements, and socialists to shut down the far right.
Police in city after city brutalized peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrations last summer in the name of, quote, law and order, end quote.
Where are these alleged defenders of law and order when the far right goes on a terrorizing rampage?
We saw the police's non-response to the horrific actions by the far right at the US Capitol.
They allowed an armed right-wing mob with the declared intent to overturn a democratic election, to walk unhindered up the steps.
Some police even took selfies with these right-wing Trump supporters.
Unfortunately, this should come as no surprise.
Under capitalism, police repression is primarily reserved for use against progressive movements.
Black Lives Matter protesters peacefully marching on the streets of our cities, like Seattle, are met with flashbang grenades, rubber bullets, and chemical weapons, while DC police take selfies with the far right.
During Jim Crow, for example, the KKK coordinated lynchings with local law enforcement.
And even though lynchings were not technically legal, not one court would convict the lynchers.
And we have just heard that at least two Seattle police officers were in DC on Wednesday.
And Mike Solon, the reactionary president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, has disgustingly speculated that it might be Black Lives Matter or left-wing protesters who stormed the Capitol building.
Absolutely, Mike Solon needs to resign immediately from the police department and from the guild.
It is notable during her resignation announcement that former police chief Carmen Best, who had just presided over brutal attacks on the Black Lives Matter protests, said to Seattle police that, quote, you are truly the best police department in the country, end quote.
Given the clear track record of police departments targeting progressive and left-wing movements with violence and using kid gloves in response to far-right mobs, it is all the more important that grassroots activists fight against what are now shaping up as round two of attempts by the City Council Democratic Establishment to either water down or repeal one of the few historic victories won by the George Floyd movement last year.
the first-in-the-nation ban on police use of the so-called crowd control weapons.
If Democrats water the ban down, or worse yet, repeal it, they will have effectively put more weapons of repression into the hands of reactionary police.
I urge council members to stand on the just side of history and oppose any such attempts.
The far-right vigilantism we are seeing right now is just the beginning, unless working people get organized on a mass scale.
When Biden became the Democratic nominee and Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race, Trump was, yet again, like the con man that he is, able to present himself as standing against the establishment.
Falsely so.
But the point is that without a left alternative, the far right will continue to grow in legitimacy.
The only way to win over the tens of millions of ordinary people who voted for Trump out of anger at the corporate elite in Congress is to break from the establishment of both major parties and build fighting movements.
The far-right violence at the Capitol is the result not only of Trump, but also of the complete failure of the democratic establishment to stand against his attacks on the working class in any meaningful way.
It shows that we simply have no time to kick the can down the road for real change.
We need a party of the working class.
We need to build a mass fight back for Medicare for all, a Green New Deal, and actual democratic control over police.
Unions, community groups, socialists, activists, and others must fight for all these demands to build a powerful alternative to the fake and dangerous populism of Trump and to defeat the far right.
Congratulations to Google employees who have courageously formed their alphabet workers union local with the communications workers of America.
This is exactly the kind of steps we need in the direction towards a revival of America's proud militant labor movement.
And I also want to be completely clear about the crowd control weapons ban that my office and grassroots activists in the Black Lives Matter movement won last summer.
We need to be clear that the court issued a temporary restraining order.
The bill was not struck down.
The city council is not required to water it down.
And it is shameful that council members are now using it as an excuse to repeal this hard-fought victory of the BLM movement.
It is also worth noting that there was no representative of the movement in court when Judge Robart issued the temporary restraining order.
Both the City of Seattle lawyers and Trump's Justice Department together asked for the court to block the bill from going into effect.
There was no one in the court defending the legislation.
My office does not support the watering down or repeal of the ban on the so-called crowd control weapons.
These are weapons wielded by a Seattle Police Department that continues to violate a federal injunction against its overwhelming brutality towards the BLM movement.
These are weapons in the hands of police officers joining in far-right terror, very likely in D.C., and they need to remain banned.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councilmember Sawant for that report.
Are there any comments or questions on Councilmember Sawant's report?
Okay, hearing none, we'll go ahead and go down the line.
Next up is Councilmember Strauss, and then I will conclude this portion of the agenda before we move to executive session.
Councilmember Strauss, good morning.
Thank you.
Good morning, Council President.
Good morning, colleagues.
There are no items from the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee on today's agenda.
However, there are 10 items.
from the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee on the introduction and referral calendar.
We have CB 1198, 987, which extends a contract rezone of 1106 34th Avenue.
We have clerk file 314466, an application for a contract rezone of 1415 22nd Avenue.
to neighborhood commercial two with a 75 foot height limit and an M1 MHA suffix.
This item is now pending for the purposes of the council's quasi-judicial rules, meaning council members should avoid any ex parte communications about the merit of this application.
If you have questions about this, please contact Ketil Freeman in our central staff.
If you again have any questions about the quasi-judicial process.
Also on the IRC, we have four appointments to the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority Governing Council.
We have two appointments to the Pike Place Market Historical Commission, one appointment to the Urban Forestry Commission, and one appointment to the Historic Seattle Governing Council.
The next meeting of the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee is this Wednesday, January 13th, and there are three items on the agenda.
We have a public hearing and a vote on legislation to extend the interim floodplain regulations that Council adopted last year, a discussion and vote on an application to extend an already approved contract rezone of 1106 34th Avenue, and an initial briefing and discussion on the proposed updates to the construction code and energy code.
Last week in my Council duties, I met with members of Association of Washington Cities, some of the large cities to prepare for the legislative session that is beginning today, I attended the growth management policy board.
And I don't need to say much more than what's already said been said by colleagues about last week's attempted coup, other than this is a clear demonstration of the difference between how America treats our black America and our white America.
I will take this moment to highlight and thank the quick thinking staff for securing the Electoral College certificates.
Last week could have gone in many different ways had this not occurred.
And again, highlights the important role that staff fulfill making government function.
So often staff's work goes unnoticed because they make it smooth.
For instance, award-winning Seattle Channel makes all of our meetings very smooth.
This morning they had a serious issue that they were able to resolve in moments, getting us back online quickly.
So also taking this moment to thank all of the staff who make our city council and our city government function from the clerks to IT to central staff.
and the staff of all of the council offices here at City Council.
Thank you for making government function.
Last week here in District 6, I met with, again, I meet with District 6 residents every week.
It's one of my favorite parts of the week.
Thank you to the neighbors of Ballard, East Ballard, Green Lake, Sunset Hill, Fremont for speaking to me last week.
We discussed permanent supportive housing, public safety, homelessness, and the misdemeanor bills that Councilmember Herbold has proposed.
I also attended the Woodland Park safety meeting last night, discussing the safety issues regarding the zoo and around Woodland Park Zoo.
I look forward to meeting with District 6 residents this week.
We'll be meeting on Tuesday, and meetings extend after 5 p.m., so I'll be meeting with residents in the evening, because I don't think that you should have to go out of your way to have your voice heard at City Hall.
Thank you, colleagues.
Thank you, Council President.
That is my report.
Thanks so much Council Member Strauss for those comments.
Any questions or comments on that report?
Okay, hearing none, I'll go ahead and go through my report here.
Hold on just a minute.
So report of the Governors and Education Committee, we have no items on the introduction referral calendar, nor do we have any items on the City Council agenda.
I am scheduled to attend the Puget Sound Regional Council Transportation Policy Board meeting on Thursday, January 14th at 9.30am.
At this meeting, the Transportation Policy Board will vote on Additional funding for the West Seattle bridge.
I'm making a recommendation to the full executive board on a proposal that includes some significant funds for the city's infrastructure needs in that regard.
This proposal will be discussed at the December transportation.
Excuse me at the next transportation policy board meeting.
It was discussed previously at the December meeting.
I think we are expecting there to be some potential opportunity to advance those recommendations to the next phase of consideration within the Puget Sound Also wanted to make some comments related to last week's events.
Obviously, last Wednesday's mob attack on the United States Capitol punctuated a dark and disturbing moment in our nation's history.
President Trump prompted and stoked this insurrection with his lies, rhetoric, and open season attacks on our fair and free elections and on our nation's electoral process as a whole.
These events, which continue to unfold, threaten both our country's democracy and the cohesion of our society, and we must not allow Trump's cynical, selfish acts to further disrupt our longstanding tradition of peaceful transfers of power.
I want to thank both Council Member Peterson and Herbold for their their intent in bringing forward a resolution to encourage our federal leaders to consider impeaching this particular president, who has made it very clear that he is not fit or suited for this position, even if it is for one more day.
And so I appreciate the opportunity to consider those resolutions in support of Seattle's delegation certainly, and Congress and the Senate.
As elected leaders, we all have a responsibility to denounce this dangerous rhetoric and work to move our country forward towards progress and healing.
I firmly believe that in order to move forward from this dark episode in history, we must hold to account those that seek to overthrow a duly elected government, attack our elected leaders, or delegitimize our democracy.
This includes members of law enforcement and leaders of police guilds across the country, including police guild leaders like Officer Mike Solon, who over the past week has spread conspiracy theories that blame the Black Lives Matter movement for last week's insurrection that was clearly led by Trump supporters and those who clearly sought to interfere in our fair and free elections.
Spreading conspiracy theories and lies that are ultimately intended to justify Trump supporters' unpatriotic acts of attempting to prevent the certification of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States of America is reprehensible.
Officer Solon should voluntarily resign from his leadership role at the Seattle Police Officers Guild.
And if he does not, I hope that the police guild members who duly elected Officer Solon will seek to have him removed and replaced with someone who truly will focus on the interests of union represented employees within that particular union.
Regardless of your political party or ideology, we should be unified in seeking justice and accountability for those who committed any illegal and treasonous acts in our nation's capital.
Over the weekend, Seattle Police Department Chief Adrian Diaz advised me and other members of the city council that at least two Seattle Police Department officers were in Washington, D.C.
on Wednesday and may have participated in the deadly and seditious acts of the mob that descended upon the U.S.
Capitol, where our nation's senators and congresspeople and their staff We're having a joint session to certify the results of our presidential election.
I understand these officers have been placed on administrative leave while the Office of Police Accountability begins investigating these officers actions.
It is my expectation that members of law enforcement who are shown to have participated in the insurrection will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
not just by our internal investigation processes, but also by applicable local and federal laws.
Our democratic institutions and ideals are stronger than what we witnessed last week.
And I wanna thank members of the Seattle delegation and others who I know experienced personally that horrific moment while they were in this chamber.
This isn't just about taking down lecterns.
It isn't just about breaking windows in the Capitol building.
It is about the fact that five people were killed in this event that was clearly an attempt to prevent the results of a fair and free election in our presidential elections.
And we saw hundreds of other Capitol staff scramble for cover, many wearing gas masks and all fearing for their lives as a result of what occurred at the Capitol last Wednesday.
And my sincere thoughts and gratitude go out to every single member of Congress who was in that Capitol building, who had to go through that really traumatic experience all while just simply doing their job, all while simply doing the people's work in the people's hall.
So I hope that we can stand together in this moment.
I know that our history is filled with injustice and violence committed in the name of progress.
And we continue to grapple with the legacy of racist institutions and inequality in every facet of our life.
But I believe in our democracy.
And it is made better by the people who serve their communities.
and work towards a more perfect union by fighting for justice, equity, and fairness.
I believe our best days are ahead of us and look forward to continuing that work on behalf of my constituents and our beloved community with each of you and those who we work with in community every day to fight for justice, equity, and fairness for those who have unfortunately still been denied the opportunity to fully succeed and thrive.
in our communities.
This week, of course, also marks the start of our state legislative session.
I'm very excited to welcome the newly sworn in members of both houses and the judiciary.
I want to thank everyone for their willingness to serve and to lead.
Being in public office in this particular point in time is very difficult.
It is challenging to serve in this role with many crises and many issues facing our communities.
It is now more important than ever that we get people to serve, to step up and serve in these important positions who are really going to be willing to meet the challenges of truly unprecedented challenges.
And in the next 105 days, our state legislature will have to grapple with budget and policy decisions that will impact our state, including our own city for years to come.
We have record making representation of BIPOC community members serving now in our state legislature, and I'm confident that this representation will lead to more equitable policy for us all.
The city's legislative agenda reflects our ongoing commitment to racial, economic, and environmental equity, and the city council stands ready to support legislative efforts that aim to accomplish these goals, and we will continue to welcome opportunities to partner with our state Seattle delegation and others as we look for sustainable solutions to these unprecedented challenges facing the people we represent here in Seattle.
Beginning Tuesday, January 19th, the Office of Intergovernmental Relations will be in attendance at our weekly council briefings.
to provide us timely and relevant updates on the progress of priority legislation in the state legislature pursuant to our state lobbying agenda.
I look forward to hosting members of our Office of Intergovernmental Relations to make sure that we are providing a transparent report to members of the public on where we are succeeding and where we may not be advancing as much as we'd like to on our state lobbying agenda priorities.
And it'll be an opportunity, colleagues, for each of you to also ask questions.
and offer to be more deeply engaged in advocacy around your legislative priorities.
Of course, you're not limited to interacting with our Office of Intergovernmental Relations at simply our council briefings.
You're also welcome to reach out to them independently as you begin to get information about particular legislative bills and priorities occurring at the state level.
I want to thank the folks at OIR for The work that they've been doing to support several of us on the council who have been having meetings with the Association of Washington cities with state senators with state representatives with other elected leaders at other major cities to really Talk through some of the most important issues related to public safety and policing look forward to continuing to have those conversations and look forward to being able to coordinate our efforts here on the city council to truly see some transformative change at the state level that Seattle will also benefit from.
I don't have anything else to report as part of my report.
I'm happy to take any questions or hear any further comments before we move to executive session.
Hearing nothing else, we'll go ahead and close out this portion of the agenda.
And as providing officer, I am going to announce that the Seattle City Council will now convene an executive session.
The purpose of the executive session is to discuss pending potential 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 no later than, let's say 12.30 PM.
If the executive session is extended beyond 12.30 PM, I will return to open session and we'll announce the extension and the additional expected duration.
So for now, we'll go ahead and hold while we stop transmitting.