Seattle City Council Briefing 11/23/2020

Old Juarez Lewis and then again, I will conclude this agenda discussion.

So first up is Councilman Morales.

Good morning.

Good morning, everyone.

There are no items from the Community Economic Development Committee on today's agenda.

Last week, we finalized the contract for the participatory budgeting process.

You will all be glad to know, certainly glad to know.

Thanks very much to Claudia in the auditor's office and Lakeisha Farmer on my staff for all their very hard work in getting this done.

Also want to thank Council Member Herbold who helped us kind of get the final pieces in place.

We'll be contracting with Freedom Project, whose mission is to support healing connection and restorative communities, both inside and outside of prison.

through the strategies of nonviolent communication, mindfulness, racial equity, and anti-oppression.

This is the $3 million that we approved during the summer rebalance process.

So, and as many of you know that much of that work has already begun and we are expected to receive a preliminary report very shortly along with subsequent reports in the early, in the first quarter.

First quarter of 2021. Last week, I was honored to serve as the guest speaker for the Street People Fundraiser for Seattle Neighborhood Greenways.

They shared some important stories about their work supporting our Stay Healthy Streets, Cafe Streets, the Rainier Avenue improvements that we're funding, as well as Whose Streets Are Streets.

And I want to congratulate that team for a very fun and successful evening and congratulate them on exceeding their fundraising goal.

Over the weekend, I volunteered for the Share the Bounty food giveaway at the New Holly Community Center.

I want to thank the folks at Homesite, Urban Family, AppShare, the Odessa Brown Children's Clinic, and many others.

Thanks to their efforts, we were able to give away 300 bags of food to local families.

This week, my office will be closed beginning tomorrow.

My staff will be taking some very overdue time off.

I, for one, will not be joining my parents and siblings for Thanksgiving as we normally do.

Between all of our families, we are 22 people.

So as much as we will miss spending time together, we've decided it's not worth the risk of one of us getting coronavirus.

So instead, we'll be having a Zoom Thanksgiving.

I hope everyone is able to stay healthy and safe over this holiday weekend.

And that is my report.

Thank you, Councilmember Morales.

Are there any comments or questions on that report?

Hearing none, next up is Councilmember Mosqueda.

And I do want to just sort of at the top remind folks that we are going to head into, I said 1030 a.m.

for the Select Budget Committee.

It's actually slated for 10 a.m.

And so for those colleagues who might have comments related to the Budget Committee, with the exception of the Budget Chair, I would ask that you please reserve your comments related to budget items for the Select Budget Committee, and let's try to keep this morning's Council briefing as tightly as we can on non-budget-related matters.

We'll have plenty of time to talk about budget-related matters during Budget Committee.

Council Member Mosqueda, please.

Thank you very much, Council President.

Good morning, everyone.

I wanted to start by noting that it's been a long year.

We have been engaged in a process first with the COVID crisis, the bridge, the ongoing stay home and stay healthy mandate.

And I was just listening to the radio and they were talking about the confluence of stressors right now, which is the economic downturn, COVID, and they said the holidays, but we have the budget.

So I know it's been a long year and I wanna appreciate everything that you all have been doing to get us to this point.

We do have our last meeting today.

Before we get into the meeting, I do wanna note, that this has been a deliberative process.

Lots of people have brought in their own perspectives and have very much contributed to making this budget.

I think one of the most progressive and robust conversations that we've had in recent history about where our dollars should be going and how we can be investing the public dollars differently.

And while we might not always agree, I think it's important to make sure that we're encouraging folks to have a difference of opinion and still be respectful and understand where each other is coming from, and that this is true from those who are on the outside as well.

I know a lot of folks have had their homes visited lately, and I want to make sure that folks know that we can push hard, we can make each other uncomfortable, and in some cases we should be, and I think we do that here on council as well.

But to folks in the community and at large, each of us are elected representatives with various constituents, and we're trying to be responsive to each of those constituents.

And what's happened to some of our council members is just not okay.

The council president has said it before, I know other council members have as well, and I have said it before as well, and I just want to be very clear as we head into the end of this year, how much I appreciate The various strategies that I've taken to the streets, I've participated in direct action many times myself before.

And we know that it is important to make sure that the voices are raised and that the messages break through sometimes and that we hear folks.

But some of the things that we've seen at individual homes, like children being screamed at and people of color having their, women having misogynistic messages written on their streets is just not okay.

I have not experienced any of that.

All the conversations I've had with folks who visited me multiple times from different sides of the issues have been very respectful and I appreciate that.

And I recognize that there's many different people doing different types of actions out there.

And so as we go into having deliberations that can be tough, this is what we've been called to do is deliberate and make decisions on really tough issues.

But I just want to make sure that that diversity of opinion is something that we value, because if we start attacking folks who have children at home, women, people of color, and sending misogynistic messages or spray painting their streets, It could have the opposite effect, it is not actually promoting democracy, I don't want fewer people to run for office or step into these roles because they're worried about their family or their neighbors and things like that and we have to make tough decisions this moments calling on us to make those tough decisions.

and in many ways this council has stepped up to do that and I think the budget is a strong reflection of that and we'll continue working on it where we have fallen short we will but I just want to make sure that folks hear how much how important it is for us to continue to support the call for tough conversations and accountability, yes, but also recognizing we don't want to have an unintended consequence of discouraging people from running or being in these positions.

And we all have constituencies to represent, and we're all going to continue to push for change in various ways.

So I want to say I appreciate every single one of our colleagues, and I do want to call out that bad behavior that folks have experienced and continue to work with you as we find solutions.

There is direct action is very important in many ways.

And as I've mentioned before, John Lewis, for example, I think he was 14 or 15 when he first began his forms of direct action and look where he led.

And so many people look back on his career, but we have to do this in a way that is not discouraging people from ever wanting to speak their opinion or be in elected office.

And I appreciate that folks are taking to the streets, tough conversations happen and I appreciate all of you and want to make sure that you all know that I do not support that kind of engagement.

Today is the last meeting of the 2021 budget deliberations, and we have a lot to do in front of us.

I will be very short.

We only have a few technical issues that are really going to be in front of us for this morning's meeting, and we will have a 20-minute public comment at the very beginning, but we are going to limit it to 20 minutes because we are required to have a public comment period of 20 minutes for each of our meetings.

I know everyone is tired, and I really appreciate all that you've put into this year in helping to create a budget that we are on the cusp of passing.

So thank you very much.

And with that, I will turn it back over.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda, for that report.

Any questions or comments?

Okay, hearing none, we'll go ahead and hear now from Council Member Peterson, and then we will hear from Council Member Sawant.

Council Member Peterson, good morning.

Thank you, Council President, and thank you, Budget Chair Mosqueda, for your remarks this morning.

After the 2021 budget is adopted, our Transportation Utilities Committee will resume its meetings starting next Wednesday, December 2nd.

We'll also plan on having a meeting on Wednesday, December 16th, and then Wednesday, January 6th.

There's lots of transportation items to discuss.

The Transportation Utilities Committee has no items on today's full City Council agenda, but the introduction and referral calendar is referring some legislation to our committee for property easements and other technical updates from Seattle City Light and Seattle Public Utilities.

Regarding the West Seattle Bridge, last week, Mayor Durkin announced her decision to repair the West Seattle Bridge, which both Council Member Herbold and I support.

This is after considering the various costs and benefits and recommendations from technical experts, the Port of Seattle, and the residents and small businesses impacted directly by the bridge closure.

I believe immediate repair of the bridge is the best choice so we can quickly and safely restore mobility to our region's bridge network.

Immediately repairing the bridge still keeps open the long-term solution to plan and fund a methodical replacement in the future and to coordinate with increased transit options.

Last week, I ventured inside the West Seattle Bridge to view the stabilization work.

That emergency stabilization work was needed whether we repaired or replaced the bridge and is a strong foundational start for the full repairs that are coming.

We will continue to receive frequent reports from our Seattle Department of Transportation, and I will probably ask them to come to our committee either December 16 or January 6th.

In District 4 this past weekend, I joined a talented crew from Seattle Public Utilities to pick up litter and remove illegal dumping from parts of our district.

The work was fun and tangible, and we all felt better after making the neighborhood a little cleaner and safer.

I'd like to thank all city departments and crews and contractors who pick up the litter, and I'm very glad this city budget will be able to increase funding to address litter and illegal dumping.

Thank you.

Sorry about that.

I was struggling to toggle between my screens again.

Thank you, Council Member Peterson, for that report.

Certainly, as a member of your committee, I look forward to digging into a lot of the work that you just mentioned, and I appreciate the comments related to the West Seattle Bridge as well.

Okay, any other comments or questions for Councilmember Peterson?

Hearing none, next up is Councilmember Salant, followed by Councilmember Strauss.

We can't hear you, Councilmember Salant.

Sorry, I was unmuted.

Yeah, now it happens.

It happens to all of us.

Go for it.

Thank you so much, Council President Gonzalez, and good morning, everyone.

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

We are canceling tomorrow's regularly scheduled meeting of the committee because several committee members are unable to attend, understandably, because it's Thanksgiving week, and the agenda items are not time-sensitive.

So we will find a time after Thanksgiving to reschedule.

That's it for my office.

Thank you so much, Council Member Salant, for that report.

Any comments or questions?

Okay, hearing none, we'll go ahead and go down the line to Council Member Strauss, followed by Council Member Herbold.

Good morning.

Good morning, Council President.

Good morning, colleagues.

There is one item from the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee on today's introduction and referral calendar, Clerk File 314465, which is an application for a subdivision of 901 Northeast 57th Street into 14-unit lots.

And this is a procedural aspect coming out of the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee.

There are no items from the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee on today's agenda.

The vote on CB 119907, which extends a moratorium on the redevelopment of manufactured home parks, will be next week, so as not to overlap with today's budget votes, since we have so much going on.

Tonight my staff will be at the Fremont neighborhoods Council to update them about the conclusion of our budget process and discuss public safety and homelessness in the district district six, and other things going on here in District six I want to thank all the neighbors of Ballard East Ballard Tangletown Greenwood Sunset Hill and Fremont We discussed permanent support of housing, public safety, alternatives to policing, traffic calming measures, and route 44. Finally, since this is a short week, I will resume my D6 resident meetings next week.

And if you'd like to sign up for a meeting with me, please do so on my website.

Note we're scheduling about three weeks out, which might be pushing us close to the end of the year.

Council recess at the end of December.

So thank you.

I'll save my budget comments for later.

I want to thank you, Council President and colleagues.

That is my report for today.

Thank you so much, Council Member Strauss.

Any comments or questions?

Hearing none, we'll go ahead and hear next from Council Member Herbold and then Council Member Juarez.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Thank you so much.

Just starting off here with the weekly shout out to the fire department.

The Seattle Fire Department COVID-19 tests administered at their four sites is now cumulatively 398,000 tests between June and November 22nd.

We heard last week that the mayor has signed an executive order to expand COVID-19 testing.

The executive order asks department directors to pursue new strategies to identify five to 10 new additional locations locations for testing.

A quick update from the Human Services Department.

The Age-Friendly Seattle division is presenting the next event in its Close to Home series on December 3rd.

Close to Home Stories of Health, Tech, and Resilience is a series of online events presented by Age-Friendly Seattle featuring information and resources for older people, caregivers, and their families.

The presentation starts at 10.30 a.m.

on Thursday the 3rd, and you can learn how to spot misinformation and scams, where to go for the facts beyond the claims, and what you can do to better navigate today's information overload.

It will include speakers from AARP Washington and the UW Center for an Informed Public.

They'll be live and recorded captioning provided in English, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

And it'll be streamed live on Microsoft Teams and archived on aging King County's YouTube channel.

You can find more information at, let's see, you can find more information at agingkingcounty.gov forward slash virtual dash events.

And thank you to the Human Services Department for providing this important ongoing series for Age-Friendly Seattle.

As it relates specifically to our public health update, we know here in Seattle and across the state, COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations are surging.

We're seeing outbreaks now at long-term care facilities, including one here in West Seattle this week, where 24 residents have tested positive and two residents sadly have died.

In the last week, hospitalizations have increased by 70%.

This is a really important point in the pandemic.

Our actions will shape our ability to return to a more normal life in the months to come.

This year's holiday season will be hard.

We can't gather with our loved ones, but celebrating at a distance is how we keep everyone safe.

Testing as soon as possible after symptoms appear is important to prevent COVID-19 from spreading to family and the community.

You can always sign up for a free COVID-19 test at kings county forward slash COVID testing.

It's up to us all to slow the spread of COVID-19, protect our communities, and particularly our most vulnerable.

Hard work.

We did it last spring.

We can do it again.

I know it's particularly a challenge again for the holiday season.

This is a time that we are used to spending with our families and loved ones.

Um, one thing that I'm, I'm doing with my, uh, family and a family of choice is, um, folks are, uh, bringing dishes to my backyard and we have a big table set out.

Um, and, um, folks are taken to go dishes, uh, of, of our normal traditional Thanksgiving offerings.

Um, so, um, not, not gathering, but coming up, coming by picking up a dish.

and then taking it home to eat in our own individual homes with a Zoom call while we eat.

So just folks I know are trying to get creative and still trying to do what we can to replicate the parts of our traditions that are important to us.

I want to just mention following up on some of the comments that Councilmember Peterson made about the bridge announcement from the mayor.

As we know, the mayor announced the city will proceed with a repair for the West Seattle Bridge.

I participated in the press conference last week along with Councilmember Peterson to announce this decision and attended two meetings of the West Seattle Bridge Community Task Force that day.

I just want to highlight a couple things about this announcement.

During the press conference announcing the decision, the technical advisory panel co-chair Barbara Moffitt noted that proceeding with repair had the unanimous support of the technical advisory panel.

SDOT plans to have a final repair cost estimate in early 2021. The figure used in the cost-benefit analysis is $47 million, though SDOT cautions it's a preliminary figure.

As always, as we get closer to 100% design, that figure will firm up.

They'll be studying and discussing how the bridge responds to the stabilization work reaching completion on now, and how the bridge responds to colder weather.

This will inform design work on the repair.

Another really important element in the decision, I'm glad the mayor highlighted, is the future of Terminal 5 and the maritime economy, which provides thousands of jobs, helps maintain our diverse economy.

Terminal 5 is being modernized in two phases, with the first being completed in the spring, and the other in 2023. The co-chairs of the Northwest Seaport Alliance, Port of Seattle Commissioner President Peter Steinbrook and Port of Tacoma Commission President John McCarthy issued a statement saying the safe and rapid restoration of vehicle capacity and traffic mobility to the high bridge is the highest priority for us.

Lastly, just want to mention last week I had the pleasure of participating in a 34th legislative district town hall with state senators.

Joe Nguyen, and Eileen Cody, and Joe Fitzgibbons, as well as King County Council Member Joe McDermott.

And I'm looking forward to, after passage of the budget, resuming Public Safety and Human Services Committee meetings.

And the first will be on, I believe, December 3rd.

I'm sorry, December 8th.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Council Member Rebold.

Any comments or questions on that report?

Hearing none, we'll go ahead and hear now from Council Member Juarez, followed by Council Member Lewis.

Council Member Juarez, good morning.

Hey, guys.

Surprise, huh?

It's a pleasant one.

It's great to see you.

Good morning.

Thank you, Council President.

Yes, this is what it looks like at 930. You too have this to look forward to at 61. So anyway, let's get through this.

This morning, my office will send out, I got this wrong.

Apologize, wrong script, wrong paper here.

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

There is a meeting of the Public Assets and Native Communities on December 1st, however, at two.

This is the final meeting of the year.

There are appointments and two pieces of legislation that need to be completed before the end of the year.

and most have been pending due to COVID-19 and the budget.

So the draft agenda is still being confirmed.

More to come on that.

In regards to today's Metropolitan Park District Board meeting, we have that meeting today, which will occur after the City Council meeting adjourns.

There will be a 15-minute break after Council and a different set of call-in information.

You should all have the Zoom details.

We will be adopting the Metropolitan Park District budget concurrent with the city budget as we do every year.

At the start of the meeting, we will receive a presentation from Tracy Ratcliffe, Council Central Staff, and Jesus Aguirre, as you know, who is the Superintendent of Parks.

We have five pieces of legislation to vote on and to conclude the 2020 budget.

and also to finish the 2021 budget for the Metropolitan Park District.

I should add of the legislation, all of it is nothing new.

It's stuff that we've been talking about for the last seven months in light of COVID and the changes that we've had to make to the Metropolitan Park District budget for the rebalancing and for 2021. In regards to parks, this morning, my office will send out a parks weekly COVID programmatic updates.

Highlights include new statewide COVID restrictions, Given Governor Inslee's new statewide restrictions in response to the surge of COVID-19, there's some changes to Seattle Parks and Recreation operations.

The Amy Yee Tennis Center is temporarily closed.

The opening of the Medgar Evers Pool has been delayed.

Masks are required for athletic play on SPRS sports fields, Seattle Parks sports fields.

Parks will be refreshing park signage to remind park users about public health guidelines that helps keep parks open and safe for everybody.

This is a update on the waterfront, Pier 58. Work on the Pier 58 removal last week focused on removing creosote piles from the southwest corner of the park.

The contractor is targeting to complete the pile by pulling it out this week.

After completing this work, the contractor will make preparations to remove additional timber decking and will begin preparations for removing the southern terrace, which is tentatively anticipated to occur the first week in December.

Finally, I don't know if you all know this, but this is Native American month apparently again.

Yeah.

November 20 and 21st, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Seattle Indian Health Board with an online virtual event titled Indigenous People Festival.

I was honored to be interviewed in this year's event, along with Esther Lucero, Colleen EchoHawk, Abigail EchoHawk, and Robin Little Wing Saigo from the Suquamish Nation.

you can visit my Twitter to review the interview.

I should add that this Yellingin Health Board has been around forever, since I was a child, used to be in the old VA building.

And I believe it's only had three CEOs in all its history, beginning with Joanne Kauffman, Ralph Ocura, and now Esto Lacero.

And they have come a long way from a small budget to now, I don't even know how many in the millions they're up to and how many employees in a full-fledged clinic, hospital, housing, everything you can imagine.

So that is a testament when you hand over community services to a community that understands their client base and their people.

Anyway, more on that later.

So in the video, the video that we posted, that we worked with Saline Health Board and other groups, the video dives into the 1970 protest of Fort Lawton and its impact on Native communities today.

Yours truly was there.

I think I was 12. I thought we were going roller skating, but we were taking over a building.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, let us do so in honor of Native American Heritage Month and celebrate the Native activists who paved the way for many today, including the land that we stand on.

Week ahead, the office is closed Thursday and Friday.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Council Member Juarez.

Any comments or questions on that report?

Okay, hearing none, we'll go ahead and go down the line.

Next up is Council Member Lewis, and then I will round out this morning's discussion.

Council Member Lewis.

Thank you, Madam President.

My report will be brief this morning.

There are no items on the agenda this afternoon from the Select Committee on Homelessness Strategies and Investments.

The Homelessness Strategies and Investments Committee will have at least one committee meeting before the winter recess.

The date has not been set yet, but sometime in mid-December, I would anticipate.

So folks can look forward to that.

Last week, related to the work of the committee, I had the privilege of appearing as part of a panel discussion with members of the board of the Third Door Coalition to present to Queen Anne community members about the virtues of a housing first approach to solving homelessness and the necessity of significantly scaling up the supply of permanent supportive housing to meet the intense demand that we see visibly every day on the streets of Seattle of our neighbors experiencing homelessness.

That was a good productive meeting where I think a lot of minds were actually swayed by the by the evidence and the coalition that Third Door has brought together to raise awareness to folks about that need.

Otherwise I have nothing else to report this morning.

Thank you.

Thank you customer Lewis any questions or comments.

On that report hearing none colleagues, as I mentioned at the top of the hour, the half hour here, I have nothing on this afternoon's introduction referral calendar and.

on the full council agenda from the Governance and Education Committee.

The Governance and Education Committee will be having its regular meeting on Tuesday, December 8th, starting at 2 o'clock p.m.

We will be considering a couple of pieces of legislation, one related to the Department of Education and Early Learning and the FEPP levy in particular, related to making sure that there is ongoing flexibility in the next school year for deal funding given the ongoing COVID pandemic and the realities of the impact to our early education and K-5 system.

You may have all seen the coverage related to the Seattle Promise Program in the papers over the weekend.

We've had a huge number of public school students in Seattle take advantage of our Seattle Promise program.

The department continues to dig into the RSGI data to make sure that We are still meeting the core value and function of making sure that that program is accessible to those who are furthest from educational justice.

But very exciting news to see how popular Seattle Promise is and looking forward to having that.

conversation around that flexibility ordinance on Tuesday, December, excuse me, yeah, Tuesday, December 8th.

It's already going to be December.

And then lastly, we'll also be having a conversation around some legislation being proposed by the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission related to lobbying and other electioneering issues.

Really excited about bringing forward that legislation as well.

More to come on both of those as we get closer to December 8th.

That is all I have.

Happy to take any questions or hear any comments.

Hearing none, colleagues, that does conclude the items of business on this morning's council briefing agenda.

It is 10.03 a.m., which means that the Select Budget Committee can officially convene as a body.

I understand that we will be using, I believe, the same Zoom credentials, so you don't need to uh, log off and log back in.

And I'm going to, I'm going to look to our budget chair to see, um, how much time you want to, um, take here before we, we jump into, um, budget committee.

Thank you, Madam President.

If it pleases the president and the council, I think we can just go ahead and get started.

We will have 20 minutes of public testimony.

So if you all are okay with that, let's just roll on it.

I think I'm probably fine with it, but I think Seattle Channel probably needs a little bit of time to transition.

So Seattle, can someone from tech let me know whether Seattle Channel needs a little bit more time to transition?

Seattle Channel just needs about a minute.

Okay.