Seattle City Council 8/3/2020

I cannot tell if we have started.

There we go.

We are recording.

Thank you so much.

The August 3rd, 2020 meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It is 2.02 p.m.

I'm Lorena Gonzalez, President of the Council.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Mosqueda?

Here.

Councilmember Peterson?

Here.

Councilmember Sawant?

Here.

Councilmember Strauss?

Present.

Councilmember Juarez?

Here.

Council Member Herbold.

Here.

Council Member Lewis.

Council Member Morales.

Here.

Council President Gonzalez.

Here.

Eight present.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Council members, the City Council rules are silent on allowing remote meetings and electronic participation at City Council and community meetings.

The City Council anticipates continuing this practice of remote meetings through at least September 1st of 2020. In order to allow the Council to conduct business remotely, the Council rules will need to be suspended.

So I intend to move to suspend the Council rules to allow the Council to conduct meetings remotely through September 1st.

So if there is no objection, The council rules will be suspended to allow council members to hold remote meetings and to participate electronically at city council and community meetings through September 1st of 2020. Hearing no objection, the council rules are now suspended and the council will hold remote meetings and participate electronically through September 1st.

Presentations, I am not aware of any presentations for today and there are no minutes for approval at today's meeting.

So we will move to adoption of the referral calendar.

If there is no objection, the proposed introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the introduction and referral calendar is adopted.

If there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

So colleagues, at this time we will open up the remote public comment period for items on the City Council agenda, introduction and referral calendar, and the Council's 2020 work program.

I want to continue to thank everyone for their continued patience as we continue to operate this system in real time and navigate through all of the inevitable growing pains and shifts.

It remains our strong intent to continue to have public comment regularly included on meeting agendas.

However, the City Council does reserve the right to end or eliminate these public comment periods at any point if we deem that this system is being abused or is no longer suitable for allowing our meetings to be conducted efficiently and in a manner in which we are able to conduct our necessary business.

I will moderate today's public comment period in the following manner.

The public comment period for this meeting is 20 minutes and each speaker will be given two minutes to speak.

I'll call on each speaker by name and in the order in which they registered on the council's website.

If you've not yet registered to speak but would like to you can sign up before the end of public comment by going to the council's website at Seattle.gov forward slash council.

The public comment link is also listed on today's agenda.

Once I call the speaker's name, staff will unmute the appropriate microphone, and an automatic prompt if you have been unmuted will be the speaker's cue that it is their turn to speak.

Please begin speaking by stating your name and the item that you are addressing.

As a reminder, public comment should relate to an item on today's agenda, the introduction of the referral calendar, or the Council's 2020 Work Program.

speakers, you will hear a time at 10 seconds.

That means that you've got 10 seconds left to wrap up your public comment.

And please be aware that if you do not end your comments within the allotted time period, then your microphone will be automatically muted so that I can call on the next speaker.

If you are unable to give us all of your public comments in the allotted two minutes, We do encourage you to email us at Council, that's C-O-U-N-C-I-L, at Seattle.gov, with the remainder of your public comments.

Once you've completed your public comment, we ask that you please hang up, and if you continue to follow this meeting, you can do so on Seattle Channel or on one of the listening options listed on the agenda.

So the public comment period is now going to be opened.

And I will begin with the first speaker on the list.

It is 2 0 7 p.m.

We will go until 2 27 p.m.

And the first speaker is Laurel Shandlemeyer followed by Indu Nair.

Good afternoon.

My name is Laurel Shandlemeyer and I'm a resident of District 6. I'm calling to voice my continued support to defund SPD as you consider the budget this week.

Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now has put forward a proposal to defund SPD by 50 percent and reinvest that budget in community-based and community-led solutions to health and safety.

And I strongly recommend implementing those demands.

Cities and communities are safer when people have the resources to succeed and when they are not aggressively policed by those trained to see violence as both the hammer and the nail.

We've heard many of the council members voice their support for defending SPD but now is the time to deliver on those promises.

Do what's right and be on the right side of history.

The citizens of Seattle and the nation are watching.

Please don't let us down.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Our next speaker is Indu Nair followed by Suhail Mahmood.

Hi my name is Indu Nair.

Hi my name is Indu Nair.

I'm calling in support of defunding SPD.

Seven council members have promised defunding SPD by 50 percent.

It's time to deliver on that promise not to develop cold feet.

Don't be complicit in institutional and systemic racism and white supremacy.

119 out of 200 top paid City of Seattle executive employees are in SPD.

Almost exclusively, these are police officers, sergeants, and lieutenants.

They were paid an average of $268,000 last year.

For what?

To kill, torture, torment the citizens exercising their constitutional rights?

Slowdown?

Hell no.

Did they slow down to look and think before they perpetrate children?

brutally attacked the citizens of the city.

Please support Salman's resolution to fund and reallocate those funds to community-led health and safety systems and release protesters arrested during this uprising without charges.

I yield my time.

Thank you.

Next up is Suhail Mahmood followed by Sean Scott.

Hello, this is Suhail Mahmood with CSIA.

I urge the council to defund SPD by 50%.

I have to say only this, defund the SPD, refund our money so we can use it for the good of people.

We, the people, did not give it to you so you could commit violence against us when we protest.

To be clear, this is not a comment against all police officers, only against insufficient accountability of this institution to people at large.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up is Sean Scott followed by Robert Kirkshank.

Excellent.

Thank you so much.

Good afternoon Seattle City Council.

I am calling in my capacity as a policy manager for the Solid Ground Poverty Action Network.

On behalf of our 300 employees we wanted to extend our gratitude to the council members who have recognized the gravity of this new civil rights moment.

So many of us cast ballots in the last and in recent elections to make sure that we had elected officials that upheld the public trust.

And I think in this moment that means leaving no stone unturned for the most part to make sure that we're defunding the Seattle Police Department and reinvesting in community care reinvested in Seattle's long neglected black community.

When we look at budgetary figures related to public safety in the city of Seattle there are many Seattleites that pretty rightfully don't get the impression that Black Lives Matter at their source.

We see a Seattle Police Department that is funded at levels that exceed the city's total investment in health and human services, in childcare, in the arts, in libraries and parks and zoos and aquariums combined.

So when we talk about Black Lives Mattering, it means making sure that we're honoring that statement with budgetary decisions which actually reflect a society that's an anti-racist society, a society that values Black lives at their roots.

So, once again, on behalf of everybody here at Solid Ground and the Public Action Network, extending our solidarity to the movement to defund the Seattle Police Department.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for calling in, Sean.

Next up is Robert, followed by Alicia Glenwell.

Thank you, Councilmember Herbold and Councilmembers.

My name is Robert Crookshank.

I'm a homeowner in Greenwood in District 6. This week is a crucial moment that will help determine whether this council is serious in its commitment to Black lives and to meeting the community's demands around stopping police violence.

And we see SPD is clearly working hard to derail this effort.

They're spending our taxpayer dollars on a sophisticated and clever media strategy, generating offensive and unfounded concerns about peaceful protests, while continuing to ignore the murders police have committed of Seattle residents like Charlene Lyles, the serious injuries they repeatedly inflict as they go about their business, and refusing to stop the brutality they've delivered to protesters and journalists even in just the last month alone.

The police are unapologetic.

They're determined to continue their pattern of brutality, killing, and numerous other ways of making it clear that SPD has not and will not accept that Black Lives Matter.

That is why I urge you to meet the demands put forward by Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now to defund SPD by at least 50 percent by voting to reinvest that money in community-based solutions to health and safety, eliminating transfer SPD functions, and reduce SPD's budget across the board.

I also urge you to override Mayor Durkan's appalling veto of the COVID relief funds which are also an urgent equity issue.

Thank you for the time.

Thank you for calling in Robert.

Next up is Alicia Glenwell followed by Leah Lucid.

Good afternoon.

My name is Alicia Glenwell with the Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence.

I speak today from our coalition's collective experience of working to prevent and respond to domestic and sexual violence in Seattle and King County.

We stand with decriminalized Seattle, King County Equity Now, and other leaders and activists in our city calling for immediate divestment from our current systems of policing, prosecution, significant reinvestment in solutions that deeply support people in communities, including those that specifically address gender-based violence.

Carceral responses to violence do not make us safer, nor do they lead to true accountability or justice.

that some survivors turn to the police for protection represents a collective failure to provide other options.

And until we do, survivors' needs and interests should be supported within the systems they turn to for help.

We urge you to refuse any SPD budget proposals that would cut or reduce services to survivors navigating the criminal legal system.

Additionally, we support the elimination of the entire navigation team and the redirection of these funds to outreach, engagement, services, and housing.

We call upon you to truly and fully honor your commitment to defund the SPD by 50% or more.

Please use your power now to create a healthier, safer, and more equitable Seattle where all can thrive.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for calling in.

Next up is Leah Lucid, followed by Howard Gale.

Hi, thank you.

Hello, city council members.

This is Leah Lucid.

I live in District 4. I know this afternoon is not about the budget but I didn't get a chance to comment earlier due to having a high number so I'm calling about that now.

I want to say I'm strongly in support of defunding SBD by 50 percent at least and investing in our Black and Brown communities.

I'm an organizer in my neighborhood groups D4 for Black Lives and Maple Leaf for Black Lives and we recently organized multiple events in Northeast Seattle including also with a Wedgwood group Think Big Wedgwood.

that had hundreds of constituents who were also out to show their support for these demands for the movement's leaders.

I urge all council members to please denounce the lies being spread by Chief Best and Mayor Durkin and the press about the movement and about what defunding the police really means, as well as their lies about the nature of the everyday march group for both the morning and evening march.

Many of you have spoken to them or even met them in person.

I commend you.

And you know firsthand that they are not aggressive nor dangerous.

I march with them, I stand with them, and I support them, and these lies are dangerous.

Also, as a researcher at the University of Washington myself, I must also use this platform to point out that my council member Alex Peterson's recent survey sent out asking for constituent feedback on the defunding plan was shamefully leading and biased toward his already declared decision to vote against this demand and have something to hide behind in terms of public support from his constituents.

Shame on you Alex.

That survey would never make it through a review board because it was so biased.

So please do better.

Please show that Black Lives Matter through your actions.

I yield my time.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Howard Gail followed by Rosie Lynn Lynn Desch.

Hi this is Howard Gail from Lower Queen Anne District 7. Yes obviously you need to defund the SPD by 50 percent.

But please do not ignore that the SPD is only one part of our current problem.

The police abuse we have witnessed over the last two months could not have happened without the failures of our police oversight entities, the Community Police Commission, the OPA, and the OIG.

It is not just the horrifying violence that police have unleashed on protesters.

It is the recent May killing by police of the homeless African-American, Green Anne, in May. and the 27 other deaths that have preceded that.

Both the SPD and the Oversight Agency have failed us.

You cannot fix one without fixing both.

Please defund and reorganize those entities, the Community Police Commission, the Office of Police Accountability, and the Office of the Inspector General.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Next up is Rosie, followed by Alex Place.

And my apologies to you, Rosie.

I'm sure that I butchered your last name.

Rosie.

Hi, my name is Rosie Lindeke.

That is just fine.

It happens all the time.

I'm a lifelong Seattle resident nurse practitioner and I currently live in District 3. I'm calling in support of Resolution 31961. So I wish Section 3 was more specific about what subject to discipline actually means.

And I also don't see how this resolution is actually enforceable when SPD has the power that it currently has which is one of the many reasons I am also in favor of defunding SPD by 50 percent and utilizing solutions proposed by organizations like King County Equity Now and Decriminalize Seattle.

Thank you.

I yield my time.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Alex Place followed by Reba Bakshi.

Hello.

SPD's current method of laying off police officers states that officers will be laid off in order of length of service, the one with the least service laid off first.

This rule also indicates that layoff out of the regular order can be granted upon showing a necessity in the interest of efficient operation of their department.

It is a necessity that SBD be comprised of black, indigenous people of color.

Police systems are inherently racist and cannot be operated and led by the people who benefit from the racism built into the system.

We need police officers that understand and have firsthand experience of how racism can harm people in all of its forms.

Lay off the white officers first, regardless of length of employment.

We need to expunge oppressors from our protective systems.

Follow Kusama Sawant's lead and stop white supremacy from dominating the public systems made to protect us.

Black trans lives matter.

Meet the demands.

Defund SPD.

I yield my time.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Reba and then we will hear from Abby London.

Hello council members.

I'm Reba Bakshi and I work in Seattle.

Black Lives Matter and defunding police is the most urgent thing we need to do at this point as for the concrete action item that the BLM movement has been requesting.

I'm asking the council members today to cut the police budget and defund the police entirely.

We need abolition and not reformation since it has not worked for most police departments in the country.

I want you to follow the lead of the King County Equity Now Coalition who have concrete demands on cutting SPD's budget and using it to halt gentrification in the central district and to build affordable housing and community spaces to increase true public safety.

This is also important for upholding the values of secularism and democracy in this country.

Thank you.

Thank you, Reba, for calling in.

Next up is Abby London, followed by Will Tauspern.

Hi, my name's Abby London, and I'm calling, speaking in support of Chief Carmen Best, whose residence in Snohomish was visited last night by an aggressive mob, the African-American Advisory Council, and Reverend Harriet, and over 1,015 others who do not agree with the mainstream media passing fads known as Defund the Police.

I don't think it's right to intimidate citizens and public officials on a daily basis.

I don't think it's right for an aggressive mob to get their way.

An angry mob which is included from the few.

Council members Lewis and Strauss you campaigned for more police officers.

I implore you to stick to what you promised your constituents when running for office.

More police not less.

The crime dashboard data isn't even available for the public through July yet.

One of the most dangerous months in Seattle.

We already know we don't have enough officers for a city of our size and you have no plan to set up an alternative.

Council Member Lewis, you fight cities like Eugene and Denver's success with other programs in an email, but you fail to mention cities like New York City and Minneapolis, which have seen a drastic increase in crime-sensitive funding.

Obviously, due to the pandemic, many cuts are going to be made.

How about the council ceases the dangerous rhetoric of defunding the police and highlights other programs that will be cut, and by how much?

Please stop ignoring long-standing Black community members who are against defunding the police.

Stop encouraging the angry mob.

That's not what Seattle is about and that's not what we want.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Will followed by Brittany Williams.

Hello.

Thank you City Seattle City Council.

My name is Will Toastfront and I'm a Seattle District 4 resident union member and Solid Ground staff member.

I'm calling on behalf of Solid Ground and myself to urge your support in defunding SPD by at least 50 percent dismantling the navigation team and reinvesting in BIPOC communities.

Our groundwork's to end poverty and undo racism and other forms of oppression that cause it.

Our work includes homeless prevention, rental assistance, permanent supportive housing, domestic violence survivor services, food justice programming, transportation, and more.

SPD is the violent street force of a criminal punishment system that criminalizes poverty and continues to destabilize and oppress Seattle's Black and Brown communities.

Furthermore, their rapidly expanding budget at the expense of housing, human services, and other community services means that SPD is called to respond to situations where they do not have the expertise.

In fact, SPD officers asked to respond to behavioral and mental health crisis situations, oftentimes threaten and harm those in need of help rather than de-escalating situations and providing critical support.

Funds from SPD's budget must be reinvested in a manner that allows those groups that have been most impacted by police brutality and mass incarceration to fully control the way those investments are made in support of their own liberation.

I mean, supporting community-led organizations of three think way public safety social services and more are provided in our city.

Finally, I want to honor and appreciate the organizers and community members whose work before and through the summer of 2020 has afforded you all the opportunity to vote on the right side of history.

Thank you very much.

I yield my time.

Thank you for calling in.

Next up is Brittany followed by Shelby Handler.

Good afternoon, my name is Brittany Williams, and I am the daughter of a retired assistant police chief in Arkansas, and I understand this issue from both sides of the aisle.

I'm an in-home care worker.

and an executive board member for SEIU 775. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

I'm speaking not only on behalf of myself, but my son, my daughter, and on behalf of thousands of caregivers who live and work in Seattle.

I'm here today to express that SEIU 775 supports the decrim Seattle demand and ask you as the city council to defund SPD by $9 million.

and reinvest in communities by voting to eliminate SPD's functions that are harmful to Seattle residents, transfer functions to non-militarized city programs and departments, reduce the budget across the board, fund community investments in true health and safety with money that would have otherwise went to the SPD budget.

Too many black and brown people in our city are being murdered, harassed, intimidated, and falsely incarcerated.

We deserve better.

As caregivers, we understand what it takes to keep people in our community safe and healthy at home.

We need to help our seniors and people in low-income pay rent, avoid evictions, stay in stable homes, We need to make sure that everyone has access to health care, be involved in behavior health.

We need food assistance to people who are struggling to put food on their table because they're in debt from unexpected hospital visits.

The list goes on and on of real needs in our community.

So please, vote on Wednesday.

to reimagine the policy of our police, to give my son and other black and brown children and my daughter a future with less violence and fear.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in.

And also huge thanks to all of the members of 775 for all the caregiver work that they're doing.

It's so important now and always.

Next up is Shelby Handler, followed by Tobin

Hi there.

My name is Shelby Handler, and I am an educator and a writer who lives in District 2, and I'm a renter.

And I just want to echo what so many are saying on this call.

I believe in defunding SPD and reinvesting in community.

Doing this, actually, all of our lives depend on this, most of all black and brown communities, but truly all of us.

because police do not make anyone safer.

Police do not make anyone safer.

And I know it's a scary time.

And so it feels risky to do something like this.

But I know that a lot of people are clinging tighter to systems that promise us safety through domination and violence.

But the fact is that those systems are only going to do what they were designed to do, protect the white ruling class by targeting black and brown folks.

And I really believe it's time for new solutions and I feel inspired by those council members who have already pledged to defund SPD by 50%.

And so let's heed that call, rooted in the wisdom of communities who are most impacted.

So please, Council, meet the demands put forward by Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now to defund SPD by at least 50% and reinvest in community-based solutions for health and safety, eliminate and transfer SPD's function, and reduce SPD's budgets across the board.

I really believe history is going to look back on all of you for making a move towards the more just world that all of us desperately need.

So thank you so much.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Tobin.

And then we will hear from Chris Weber.

Thank you.

My name is Tobin Clusty.

I am a resident of Ballard District No. 6. I'm a public defender and an attorney.

I'm calling today to support the efforts of Defund Seattle Police Department.

It is essential that we do this as a first and major step towards creating a system that actually empowers Black and Brown people and actually provides for a community to make people safe and also gives them the support that they need so that way they can actually pursue the American dream.

I work every day in a system where police officers use right reports and accuse individuals particularly Brown and Black individuals engaging in what they call violent activity or aggressive manners.

And they use this in order to try to defend themselves for the actions that they take against black and brown people and often end up charging these individuals with assaulting the officers.

I defend them every single day.

And I see what this does to a community and what the problems are and protecting these police officers and giving them so much money in order to write these reports to criminalize black and brown people and then use it to justify their violent actions against them.

Every single year, we put into place reform after reform after reform with absolutely no results.

This is what we need to do.

We need to remove this funding.

invest it into services that we can actually provide the community, housing, a proper crisis control and management, and be able to support the community rather than criminalize them and allow the police officers to engage in this violent activity against Black and Brown people.

We support them, and by doing that, we support our community.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in.

Colleagues, we have reached the 20-minute A lot of time for public comment.

We only have a handful of public commenters left, so if there's no objection, I'm going to extend the public comment period by another 20 minutes, although I think we have quite a bit less than 20 minutes.

So there's no objection.

I like to extend public comment period by 20 minutes.

Hearing no objection, we will go until 2 o'clock.

48 p.m.

and I will now call on Chris Weber followed by Ellen Labuse.

Hi.

I live in District 3 and I support the five demands from the everyday march.

SPD must be defended be funded by at least 50 percent.

The money reinvested in BIPOC communities in the youth jail must be shut down within the year not by 2025. The SPD's annual budget has almost doubled since 2001, adjusting for inflation, going from $229 million in 2001 to $409 million this year.

However, their average homicide clearance rate is only 68%.

According to the Seattle Times, SPD's arrest rate for rapes was only 8% in 2016. NPR reported that only 7% of burglaries and 41% of violent crime incidents in 2013 were cleared.

The New York Times in an article published in June reported that violent crime makes up only 1.3 percent of all 9-9-1 9-1-1 calls in Seattle.

Clearly massive increases in the SPD's budget have not reduced crime rates nor have they increased crime clearance rates.

And we don't need a militarized force of armed police officers to respond to burglaries sweeps and calls regarding homeless individuals parking enforcement individuals with mental illness and turning nonviolent protests into war zones.

We need upstream services to increase education spending and to equip job equip people with jobs and affordable housing which will prevent crime in the first place rather than simply responding to incidents.

Poverty is not a crime and we need to treat our homeless population and those with mental illness with compassion using trained social workers instead of law enforcement with little psychiatric knowledge.

Seven of you have already agreed to a 50 percent reduction of the budget both for the remainder of 2020 as well as 2021. Fulfill your promise or we'll see you at the ballot box.

Thank you and I yield my time.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Ellen followed by Andre Brown.

Hi I'm Ellen Leibis District 6 voter.

I too believe we need to defund SPD by at least 50 percent and reinvest in Black and Brown communities.

I grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis and now live in Ballard.

In both places, it is obvious that police involvement leads to vastly different outcomes based on skin color, zip code, and housing status.

The institution of policing is inherently tied to racial violence and intimidation, and there is no moral justification for spending over a million public dollars in our city every day on this oppression.

In this pandemic, the city has managed to furlough many employees but not cops.

Councilmembers, why are you turning your backs on us, your constituents, and protecting the interests of the Police Officers Guild, Please listen to the majority of Seattleites that support a 50% defund according to a King side survey.

I urge you to remove $85 million from the SPD budget in the 2020 rebalance and follow the plan from King County Equity Now and decriminalize Seattle to build a truly safe Seattle.

I yield my time.

Thank you for calling in today.

Next up is Andre followed by Grace Zhang.

Hello, yes, I'm a little concerned because I'm concerned about the language I've been hearing about kind of robotic language about reimagining and being on the right side of history.

It's really kind of sad.

But if you think that getting rid of police officers is going to make the black community safe, that's really misguided.

And I just think that you have no idea what is really going to help black communities and black people.

And I yield my time.

Thank you.

Next up is Grace, followed by Esther Campbell.

Hi, my name is Grace Dang.

I'm a resident of Mercer Island.

I just graduated high school this year.

And on behalf of the youth and the future generation, we demand nothing less than for SPD to be defunded by at least 50%, then for that money to be reallocated into black communities, into sectors such as housing, healthcare, mental health, education, etc.

I fully support King County Equity Now and Decrim Seattle's comprehensive plan to defund SPD and the five demands of the everyday march.

It is your duty and obligation to fix this racist system that you left for us and you should be embarrassed that literal children are more willing to fight for Black lives than you are.

I also urge you to denounce Chief Best's inaccurate and misleading statements about recent protests especially as many of you have met the organizers of the everyday march and know these protesters are not violent or pose any sort of danger.

If Black lives matter prove it.

Thank you.

I yield my time.

Okay, next up is Esther followed by Tilshawn Turner.

Hi, my name is Esther Kimball.

I am a resident of District 3 and I'm calling in support of defunding the SPD.

We're in an economic and public health crisis and we need to reallocate funds to supporting people through COVID-19, especially in communities of color.

And SPD's excessive force is a threat to public safety.

I live very close to many of the recent protests, and the police have not made us safer.

They've put us at risk by gassing protesters who were responding to police violence.

And not only did this harm protesters and journalists who were exercising their First Amendment rights, they also hurt residents who were simply existing in our own homes, including children and elderly people.

The protesters are not a dangerous mob.

The police have acted like an angry mob, and they have poisoned people in their own homes, and they regularly harass black and brown people and homeless people.

And we need to stop using excessive force.

We need to stop traumatizing black and brown people and homeless people.

We need to end the navigation team who have been ignoring the CDC guidelines and moving on homeless people during a pandemic, even though this increases the COVID risk by interrupting their access to support services and hygiene services, and we need to follow the recommendations of King County Equity Now and decriminalize Seattle and invest money in supporting people through this horrible crisis instead of investing money in violence.

Thank you.

I yield my time.

Thank you.

Next up is Tilshawn, followed by Rachel Lefwich.

This is actually TK, one of the organizers from the Every Day March.

That is my government name now that you guys know.

And of course, I am in support of defunding SPD by 50% and reallocating those funds to black communities.

And just like previous people, because youth are the future, and if youth are really our future, we need to invest in their education now to prevent that education street pipeline from being real in the future for them.

And Council Member Strauss, I am deeply saddened by your comments of us terrorizing the Council Member Juarez.

That is very terrifying that you said that when you attended one of our marches completely all the way through.

So for you to make those type of statements after you attended one of our marches is disheartening.

So now we know that you guys say one thing to our face and then go behind our backs and say something else.

So like everybody else, I'm going to tell you just like this, if Black Lives Matter, prove it.

Quit talking and prove it.

Put some pen to the paper and prove it.

I yield the rest of my time.

Thank you, TK.

Next up is Rachel, followed by Aspen Blaine.

Hi there.

My name is Rachel Leftwich, and I am a renter and resident of District 5. So I'm speaking particularly to my representative, Deborah Juarez.

I voted for you and you are accountable to me.

I believe in defunding SPD and reinvesting in communities is necessary because the police do not keep us safe and are asked to do too much in our society.

I do not think it makes sense to have a violent person with a gun respond to folks suffering from poverty and homelessness.

Police have been brutalizing protesters in the streets to stop them from exercising their First Amendment rights.

This is disgusting and deeply wrong.

Release all protesters without charge.

Please meet the demands put forward by Decriminalize Seattle County Equity Now to defund SPD by at least 50% by voting to reinvest in community-based solutions to health and safety, eliminate and transfer SPD functions, and reduce SPD's budget across the board.

Thank you for the chance to comment.

Thank you.

Our last speaker signed up for today is Aspen Blaine.

Hello, my name is Aspen.

I both live and own a business in District 5, and I'm here to talk to you to support defunding SPD.

I'd like to share with you that I have personally been arrested in the past and was lucky enough to be part of the community court system that's part of King County larger.

Not only has that changed my life, preventing myself from committing further crime and encouraging me to be a supportive community member, but I watched it change lives for so many people.

We all were held accountable, but instead of jail time, we serve our community and the community meets our needs of housing, education, work and training, mental health services and more.

I watched how meeting these community needs keeps people from committing crime in the first place.

We need support, not violence, and we can provide that support before the crimes are even committed rather than after.

The United States has the highest recidivism rate in the world.

Clearly, our justice system isn't working.

Defending SPD allows us to spend our budget supporting people in the community and truly work towards making Seattle safe.

I'd also like to share that I had a call once for a suicide call and there was nothing more terrifying than to have two men with guns at my door when I was really at the end of my own rope.

So I think that we need to do things differently basically.

Please take this urgent step, this urgent first step of defunding SPD by 50% or more.

I also support King County Equity Now and decriminalize Seattle's suggestions for how to spend the money.

I'm ending my time by urging my representative, Deborah Juarez, to join us on the right side of history.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Aspen, for calling in today.

Okay, folks, I am doing one last review of our public comment sheet to make sure I didn't miss any one.

And it looks like all of those speakers who preregistered and are currently listed as present have been called upon.

So we're going to go ahead and close out today's public comment period.

For those of you who may have registered but didn't get matched up, there is a select budget committee meeting scheduled for this Wednesday, August 5th, starting at 10 a.m.

You can register for public comment on issues related to the SPD budget and the entire budget starting at 8 a.m.

Okay folks, we're going to go ahead and dig into items of business on this afternoon's agenda.

We'll go ahead and begin with payment of the bills and I'd ask the clerk please read that title into the record.

Council Bill 119837, appropriating money to pay certain other claims to the week of July 20, 2020 through July 24, 2020 and ordering the payment thereof.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

I move to pass Council Bill 119837. Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded that the bill pass.

Are there any comments?

Hearing no comments, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

Strauss.

Warris.

Aye.

Aye.

Herbold.

Aye.

Lewis.

Aye.

Morales.

Aye.

President Gonzalez.

Aye.

And then Madam Clerk, can you call on Council Member Strauss one more time before you call the tally?

Council Member Strauss.

I'm not hearing him, so we can go ahead and proceed.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

I'd ask the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation.

Items of business, committee reports of the city council.

Will the clerk please read item one and two into the record.

Items one and two, appointments 1589 and 1590. Appointment of FEMA readiness member, King County Regional Homelessness Authority Invitation Board.

for term 2, July 15, 2023, and appointment of Paula Carvalho as member, King County Regional Homelessness Authority Implementation Board for term 2, July 15, 2024. Thank you, Madam Clerk.

I will move to confirm appointments 1589 and 1590. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

Council Member Lewis, you are the prime sponsor of these appointments.

And I'm going to go ahead and recognize you in order to address them.

Thank you so much, Madam President.

And I actually did realize, because I believe it in my haste to have an abbreviated updated briefing today, neglected to mention that these were actually up for final passage today from the Select Committee on Homelessness Strategies and Investments.

I just cannot say enough, not only about the appointees, but also our process.

I think we can be very proud as a council that we did put out an all call to ask people if they wanted to serve on this unprecedented implementation committee for the King County Regional Homelessness Authority to really take this great step forward in having a regional response.

to put together our homelessness services as a city and a county and co-locate those services.

The folks that we are putting forward here today in these bills were the result of that open application process where we received a number of interested applicants from the public and we selected at the staff level, and I wanna thank I want to thank Cody in Councilmember Gonzalez's office and Jacob Thorpe in my office for their work in vetting and also really discussing, you know, like who are the people we should put forward to really be mindful of centering the experience of people with lived experience and homelessness in who they feel like brings the leadership, the skills, and the empathy to do this work well.

I can say that at the meeting the other day, where we confirmed the appointments to the implementation board, there were some members that invited controversy.

It was not either of the confirmations we were putting in front of this committee today, partly because Council Member Gonzalez and I really did solicit, internalize, and value the input of the folks on the Regional Homelessness Authority.

I think it is important to recognize that there are a lot of folks who do come to us with lived experience in homelessness.

With those remarks I would just encourage passage of both of these folks today or confirmation.

And really look forward to seeing the work they will do with the other implementation board members.

Thank you.

Thank you.

the Seattle City Council, I think the implementation board and the regional effort around addressing homelessness will be well served by these two candidates, certainly, but by the, I hope, by the whole slate of those who will serve on the implementation board.

So hearing no further comments, I would ask the clerk please to call the roll on the confirmation of the appointments.

So what I Strauss.

Why, yes.

Thank you, whereas I purple.

Yes.

Lewis.

Yes.

Morales.

Yes.

President Gonzalez.

Yes.

9 in favor, none opposed.

Thank you so much.

The motion carries and the appointments are confirmed.

We have a very short agenda today, so we're now going to move over to other business.

Is there any other further business to come before the council?

Council Member Sawant.

Thank you.

I move to be excused from the city council meeting on August 17th.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

Any objection to Council Member Sawant's to be excused from the full Council meeting on August 17th.

Hearing none, Council Member Sawant will be excused from the full Council meeting on August 17th.

Any other business to come before the Council?

Council Member Vizcaya.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, Council President.

I didn't catch you the first time.

I'm asking to be excused on Monday, August 10th.

Thank you so much.

If there's no objection, Council Member Juarez will be excused from the full Council meeting of August 10th.

Hearing no objection, Council Member Juarez will be excused from the full council meeting on August 10th.

Any other business to come before the council?

Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you, Madam President.

I am asking as well for the council's permission to be excused on August 17th.

Colleagues, Council Member Mosqueda has asked to be excused on Monday, August 17th.

Any objections to that request?

Hearing no objection, Council Member Mosqueda will be excused on Monday, August 17th.

Any other business to come before the council?

Okay, colleagues, hearing no other business to come before the council, this concludes the items of business on today's agenda.

We are ending today's meeting at 2.50 p.m., just in time for us to all go back into our virtual offices and dig into the important work that faces us for the remainder of the week.

I want to thank you all for your hard work today.

It was another long day.

Our next city council meeting is on Monday, August 10th, 2020 at 2 p.m.

and I hope that you all have a wonderful afternoon.

We are adjourned everybody.

Thank you.