And if the clerk can let me know when we are recording.
There we go.
Great.
The March 30th, 2020 meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.
It is 2.01 p.m.
I'm Lorena Gonzalez, president of the council.
Will the clerk please call the roll?
Council Member Juarez.
Here.
Council Member Lewis.
Here.
Council Member Morales.
Here.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Here.
Council Member Peterson.
Here.
Council Member Sawant.
Here.
Council Member Strauss.
Present.
Council Member Herbold.
Here.
And Council President Gonzalez.
Here.
9 present.
Thank you.
Presentations.
I'm not aware of any presentation, so we will move to the approval of the minutes.
The minutes of the City Council meetings of March 16th and 23rd, 2020 and the special City Council meeting minutes of March 19th, 2020 have been reviewed.
If there is no objection, the minutes will be signed.
Hearing no objections, the minutes are being signed.
Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes?
All right, we'll move to the adoption of the referral calendar.
If there is no objection, the introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.
Hearing no objection, the introduction and referral calendar is adopted.
Approval of the agenda.
If there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.
Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.
Let's move on to payment of the bills.
If you, if the clerk could please read the title into the record.
Yes, it's just a second.
Jody, do you have it really quick?
I apologize.
Council Bill 119765, an ordinance appropriating money to pay certain audited claims for the week of March 16th, 2020 through March 20th, 2020, and ordering the payment thereof.
Thank you.
I move to pass Council Bill 119765. Second.
I need a second.
Second.
It's been moved and seconded that the bill pass.
Are there any comments?
Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on passage of the bill?
Councilmember Juarez?
Aye.
Councilmember Lewis?
Aye.
Councilmember Morales?
Aye.
Councilmember Mosqueda?
Aye.
Councilmember Peterson?
Aye.
Aye.
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Committee reports.
Will the clerk please read agenda item one into the record?
Agenda item one, Council Bill 119763, relating to city finances, creating a fund for depositing donations, gifts, and grants related to the city of Seattle's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, creating a budget summary level amending ordinance 12600, which adopted the 2020 budget, changing appropriations to various departments and budget control levels, and from various funds in the budget, declaring an emergency and establishing an immediate effective date all by a three-fourth vote of the City Council.
Thank you.
This is a bill that I'm sponsoring, so I will move to pass Council Bill 119763. Second.
Thank you.
It's been moved and seconded to pass the bill.
As sponsor of this bill, I'll first address the bill.
And I know that there are three amendments, two amendments to the underlying bill and one amendment to the amendment.
So I apologize if this seems a little clunky, but bear with me as we work through the parliamentary procedure.
So really quickly, I'll describe the council bill, and then I'm gonna hand it over to Council Member Mosqueda to put amendment number one on the table before we then hand it over to Council Member Herbold, who will discuss an amendment to amendment one.
So in response to this COVID-19 outbreak and its economic effects, many philanthropic and business partners have expressed an interest in donating resources to assist people in businesses in Seattle that may be in need as a result of the economic crisis that we are currently experiencing.
Article 1, Section 1 of the city charter provides that the city of Seattle may accept gifts and donations of all kinds and do all acts necessary to carry out the purposes of the gifts and donations.
However, our Seattle Municipal Code requires that even though in a proclaimed civil emergency, the mayor may accept gifts, grants, or loans, the council must act legislatively to allow for the acceptance of those gifts, grants, or loans.
So that is what this legislation is designed and intended to do.
The legislation would create a new fund in the city treasury for the receipt of gifts, donations, and grants to the city to assist in the management of and recovery from crisis created by the COVID-19 global pandemic.
The uses for these funds could include food assistance for persons in need, financial assistance to small businesses, assistance with childcare costs, loan guarantees for small businesses or individuals, rent assistance for small businesses or individuals, and operating assistance to cultural and nonprofit organizations.
We will be considering some amendments this afternoon to expand that list of allowable uses, which I consider to be friendly amendments.
This legislation would also create a new budget summary level line to allow city departments to spend from the new fund for the purpose of assisting in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
It also gives the executive authority to accept gifts, donations, and grants consistent with the purposes of the fund without additional approval by the city council so as to move the assistance forward in a timely manner.
There'll also be an amendment that we will consider this afternoon that requires reporting back to the city council so that we can make sure that the executive is still staying accountable to the intent and design of this legislation.
This legislation would also gives appropriation to finance general contingent on the receipt of those donations.
so that they can quickly deploy these resources.
And lastly, the legislation is necessary to go, excuse me, this legislation is considered to be emergency legislation to allow it to go into immediate effect in order to protect public health, safety, and welfare.
So that is a summary of the legislation and what it is intended to do.
to address, and I'm going to go ahead and hand it over to Councilmember Mosqueda, who has an amendment, amendment one to this council bill.
Councilmember Mosqueda.
Thank you, Council President.
I'd like to move to amend Council Bill 119763 by including amendment number one.
Second.
Okay, it's been moved and seconded to amend the bill.
Councilmember Mosqueda, I'm going to ask you to address the amendment first, and then I'm going to have Councilmember Herbold make an amendment to your amendment, and then we can have a discussion about the full package.
And then we'll vote on Councilmember Herbold's amendment to Amendment 1. And then if that passes, we'll vote on your amendment, Amendment 1, as amended.
All right.
So, Councilmember Mosqueda, why don't you address your amendment before we hand it over to Councilmember Herbold?
Thank you, Madam President.
I put forward this amendment because I support the goal of being able to act quickly to deploy resources from private donations or grants as soon as possible to provide relief to those in our community who are experiencing the impacts of COVID.
At the same time, I think it's important that we have transparency and oversight in how we're allocating those dollars.
As a council, I think it's important that we understand the full picture of dollars going to support various needs, such as small business support, food assistance, homeless support, and housing, so that we are able to make informed decisions about other expenditures.
The amendment that is included here in Amendment 1 would require weekly reporting on how these funds are being spent so that we're able to maintain proper oversight and also enabling expedient direction of these funds to where they need to go in the community as fast as possible.
Thank you so much to Council Member Herbold for her amendment to this amendment, which I see is friendly as well.
Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.
We will now hand it over to Council Member Herbold to discuss her friendly amendment.
Thank you so much.
I move to amend Amendment 1 as presented on Version 2 of Amendment 3 on the agenda.
Second.
Okay, it's been moved and seconded to amend Amendment 1. Council Member Herbold, please speak to your amendment.
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate Council President Gonzalez for bringing forward this legislation, as well as Council Member Mosqueda for her Amendment 1 and the Amendment 2 that we'll be hearing in a little bit.
Amendment 3 is intended to build off of Amendment 1 to specify that reporting requirements are needed to be according to the categories of spending listed in section three of the resolution.
And the category of emergency housing and homelessness supports added by Council Member Mosqueda in a subsequent amendment that we'll discuss in a minute.
As we know, this legislation allows for quick action on donations in line with this being an emergency.
However, authorizing up to $30 million in appropriations, the council is forgoing its normal budgetary authority.
So reporting as proposed by Council Member Mosqueda in her amendment one makes a whole lot of sense.
This amendment simply ensures that the reporting includes the categories that we have identified as allowed categories so that we have a clear sense of which needs are being addressed and funded, and that's what this amendment would do.
Great.
Thank you, Council Member Herbold.
Are there any comments or questions on Amendment 3, which is Council Member Herbold's amendment?
Okay, hearing none, will the clerk call the roll on the adoption of Amendment 3?
Councilmember Morales.
Aye.
Councilmember Juarez.
Aye.
Councilmember Lewis.
Aye.
Councilmember Morales.
Aye.
Councilmember Mosqueda.
Aye.
Councilmember Peterson.
Aye.
Councilmember Sawant.
Aye.
Thank you.
Council Member Herbold?
Aye.
President Gonzalez?
Aye.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
The motion carries and Amendment 3 is, oh, I'm sorry.
The motion carries and Amendment 3 passes.
So now we will consider the Amendment 1 as amended.
Are there any further comments on Amendment 1 as amended?
OK, hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of Amendment 1 as amended?
Council Member Juarez?
Aye.
Council Member Lewis?
Aye.
Council Member Morales?
Aye.
Council Member Mosqueda?
Aye.
Council Member Peterson?
Aye.
Council Member Sawant.
Aye.
Council Member Strauss.
Aye.
Council Member Herbold.
Aye.
President Gonzalez.
Aye.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
Thank you.
The motion carries and Amendment 1 is adopted as amended.
I believe there is a second amendment to Council Bill 119763, which is sponsored by Council Member Mosqueda.
So I'm going to hand it over to her to make the motion to amend the Council Bill accordingly for discussion.
Thank you, Madam President.
I move to amend Council Bill 119763 with the text included in Amendment 2.
Is there a second?
Second.
It's been moved and seconded to amend the bill.
Council Member Mosqueda, please feel free to speak to your amendment.
Thank you, Madam President.
This amendment expands the list of authorizing uses of this fund to include emergency support for housing and homelessness services.
As this crisis unfolds, the existing housing and homelessness crisis are also well beyond the emergency level capacity.
We need to make sure that new funds can also go to those on our frontline providers who are working to get folks out of dangerous close quarters, off the streets and into dwelling where they can safely practice social distancing and make sure that they get the care that they need during this crisis.
This is critical for those who are also in permanent supportive housing, as we've heard from many of our human service provider organizations who are providing assistance, both in terms of counseling and food delivery, they are in dire need of additional support for those who are in permanent supportive housing as well.
Appreciate the generosity that's been already shown by the support for this fund, and I'm hoping that with this amendment to include emergency housing and homelessness supports as an authorized use, we can see more funding being available for things like affordable hotel rooms, food delivery, PPE for frontline workers and staff, who provide services in our housing and homelessness shelters.
This enables the funds from the donation to the city to go to those who I think are really on the front line helping our most vulnerable residents in need of secure housing.
Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda, for that amendment.
Are there any comments or questions about Amendment 2?
Okay, hearing none, will the clerk call the roll on the adoption of amendment two.
Council Member Juarez.
Aye.
Council Member Lewis.
Aye.
Council Member Morales.
Aye.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Aye.
Council Member Peterson.
Aye.
Council Member Sawant.
Aye.
Council Member Strauss.
Aye.
Council Member Herbold.
Aye.
President Gonzales.
Aye.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
Thank you.
The motion carries and the amendment is adopted.
Are there any other comments on the bill as amended?
I'm not seeing any.
Sorry, Council Member Gonzales, I do have comments.
Okay, please, Council Member Solan.
Thank you, President Gonzalez.
I will be voting yes on this bill to create a structure of a fund to allowing the city to accept philanthropy to support people whose lives have been devastated and are going to be in the coming months by the coronavirus crisis.
However, we do need to be clear that in general, when big business gives what they call philanthropy, they often get back far more in profits and through favorable political legislation or absence of legislation, much more than they donate because they are donations by political power.
Council Member Morales and I have advocated for a big business tax of $500 million per year.
I have no doubt that big business will attempt to use their donations into this much smaller $30 million fund to attempt to argue that they should continue to avoid paying anything in terms of significant taxation.
Furthermore, we also need changes statewide and federally, and I think statistics that have been compiled through economic studies in the past decades have shown that actually corporate philanthropy does very little to nothing to address the massive inequality that has just grown nationwide and now it has become even more emergent in the face of this pandemic.
So we need changes at every level.
My office has launched a petition to Governor Inslee to make a number of those changes and we will need a movement to fight for this.
So if members of the public are watching this then Please get involved in this fight.
We're calling on Governor Inslee to close all corporate tax loopholes to immediately tax big business and wealthy households.
And then, of course, federally, we need massive changes.
And that's why I'm strongly supporting Senator Bernie Sanders's $2 trillion proposal for a bailout of working families, which also includes $2,000 per month income for working families through this crisis.
It's also been noted statistically that, on average, workers give a higher percentage of their income to charity, and the middle class give a higher percentage of their income to charity than does big business or the wealthy.
And nobody argues ever that taxes on workers should be eliminated because they are already giving charity.
So I would urge everybody who's watching this for us to build a movement that's vigilant about not accepting that argument from big business.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Sawant.
I agree with your remarks.
It seems like every time we talk about progressive taxation or taxation in general, we oftentimes get the philanthropic efforts of big business thrown back at us as an argument to prevent or minimize taxation or revenue creation tools.
So I appreciate your reminder on that front.
Are there any other comments or questions about the underlying bill before we vote on it?
Okay, I'm not seeing anyone come forward.
So we'll go ahead and vote on the bill.
So will the clerk call the roll on the passage of the bill as amended?
Council Member Juarez?
Aye.
Council Member Lewis?
Aye.
Council Member Morales?
Aye.
Council Member Mosqueda?
Aye.
Council Member Peterson?
Aye.
Council Member Sawant.
Aye.
Council Member Strauss.
Aye.
Council Member Herpel.
Aye.
President Gonzalez.
Aye.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
Thank you.
The bill passes as amended and the chair will sign it.
Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.
Okay, we're gonna go ahead and move to item two.
Would the clerk please read item two into the record?
Agenda item two, Council Bill 119764, amending ordinance 126000, which adopts the 2020 budget, changing appropriations to the Executive Department's Office of Sustainability and Environment, the Department of Neighborhoods, the Department of Education and Early Learning, Seattle Parks and Recreation, and Budget Control Levels, and from various funds of the budget, for the purpose of providing support to individuals in Seattle and ratify confirming searching projects.
I'll buy three fourths vote at the city council.
Thank you.
I moved to pass Council Bill 119764. Is there a second?
Second.
It's been moved and seconded to pass the bill.
Council Member Mosqueda, you are the prime sponsor of the bill, so I will hand it over to you to make remarks about the bill.
Thank you, Madam President.
I want to first thank the mayor's office for sending down this legislation to transfer $5 million from the Seattle budget resources to a new food voucher program, which would provide grocery money for many families in need, thousands of families across Seattle.
Council Bill 119764 creates this fund in an effort with the Office of Sustainability and Environment to support 6,250 low-income families facing food insecurity because of the response to COVID.
The program is funded with the Sugary Sweetened Beverage Tax Revenues.
And due to the crisis that we're in, we decided to reallocate, that it was a good idea to reallocate some of the funds that were going to parks and to the Department of Neighborhoods to make sure that we could provide food security for these families.
The CAB or the Community Advisory Board of the Sugary Sweetened Beverage Tax Revenue that provides ongoing analysis and feedback to this council on the implementation of the tax We have contacted them and as you all saw via their correspondence back to the Council, there was a few questions, but they were supportive of the reallocation of the funds.
Due to the large layoffs because of COVID, we need to make sure that we're maintaining food security for families across the city to be able to put food on their table.
The council as a governing body in charge of the city's budget has to make tough decisions, and I think this is one of them, on how we spend our resources in response to COVID.
While the sugary sweetened beverage tax funds are important programs, and many of you have spent years trying to get this effort off the ground, passed, and implemented, The city must push pause in order to make sure that we ensure families in Seattle, especially our kiddos who are enrolled in Seattle's child care programs, have food that they need so they can remain healthy during this public health crisis.
I want to thank all of you for your past work on the sugary sweetened beverage tax effort.
Again, this is a pause, not a repeal, and it is in line with what the goals of the sugary sweetened beverage tax revenues were intended to do.
I appreciate the CAB for reminding us that the very programs that we're talking about supporting are also for the population that benefits from this tax.
Again, thanks to the CAB members, the community advisory board members for their weighing in with overall support, and we'll make sure to follow up on implementation and tracking this closely in conjunction with the CAB members.
Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda, for those introductory remarks on Council Bill 1197.6.
So that is the introduction to that particular council bill.
I believe that there is an amendment that is going to be addressed by council member Morales.
So I will hand it over to council member Morales to make her motion to introduce amendment one.
Thank you, Council President Gonzalez.
I move to amend Council Bill 119764 as presented on Amendment 1 on the agenda.
Thank you.
Is there a second?
Second.
It's been moved and seconded to amend the bill, and I will hand it back over to Council Member Morales to address her amendment, Amendment 1.
Thank you.
So I want to thank you, Council Member Mosqueda, for your last comments.
We know that this crisis is more than any of us really can deal with.
And I know from here out, we will be asking ourselves the question over and over again, how we acknowledge the great need that we have.
For protecting folks who are in jeopardy across the city, whether we're talking about seniors or immigrants or children or our homeless community, those who have been laid off and those who don't have a job to have been laid off from, we are going to have some hard decisions to make.
This amendment would ask the Office of Sustainability and the Environment to prioritize certain categories of Seattleites should additional funding become available.
Particularly, we're concerned about immigrants and refugees who are recipients of the state food assistance program but who don't qualify for federal programs.
We're also concerned about folks who are over 60. We know that seniors are particularly susceptible and vulnerable to this disease, people with disabilities.
And of course workers have been dislocated because of the COVID virus.
I have spoken to a couple of CAB members of the Community Action Board members, advisory board members, to get their thoughts.
And like Council Member Mosqueda said, these folks fought really hard just a couple years ago for allocation of this tax for their food security programs.
And the idea was that money that is taken out of our communities of color in particular get put back in through some of these food security programs.
So that said, everyone acknowledges that we're in a crisis and that it's really important that we find other ways to protect our community members.
So the folks in the cab consider this a friendly amendment, and they also want to make sure that we are serving seniors who are susceptible to COVID and that we're looking out for the folks who are falling through the cracks of some of our federal programs.
And that's what this amendment is intended to do.
So I move passage of Amendment 1.
Okay, it's been moved and seconded to amend the bill as described by Council Member Morales.
Are there any questions or further discussion about Amendment 1?
Okay, I don't see any questions or hear any questions, so we will go ahead and I will ask that the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of Amendment 1.
Council Member Juarez.
Aye.
Council Member Lewis.
Aye.
Council Member Morales.
Aye.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Aye.
Council Member Peterson.
Aye.
Council Member Swan.
Aye.
Council Member Strauss.
Aye.
Council Member Herbold?
Aye.
President Gonzalez?
Aye.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
The motion carries and the amendment is adopted.
We will now move over to Council Member Herbold who has an amendment to Council Bill 119764 listed as Amendment 2. Council Member Herbold, would you like to move Amendment 2?
Thank you so much.
I move to amend Council Bill 119764 as presented as Amendment 2 on the agenda.
Is there a second?
Second.
It's been moved and seconded to amend the bill with amendment two.
I'm gonna hand it over to Council Member Herbold to address her amendment.
Thank you so much.
One of the things that we've heard from constituents, in addition to the gratitude that we are hearing from folks at finding these vouchers in their mailbox, is an interest in having a selection of stores beyond Safeway.
I've learned from central staff's conversations with the Office of Sustainability and the Environment that the city welcomes having more retail partners and has identified some priorities for what it would mean for additional grocers to join, including having multiple stores within the city of Seattle limits.
being able to do the technical processing necessary for the program and make it interoperable in their store, and ensuring that vouchers expire monthly, commit to handing back-end data and sending the city weekly information on voucher redemption, invoicing partners at United Way or the city monthly, and ensuring that cashiers will be fully trained on this program so customers have a positive experience when using the voucher.
So this amendment, too, adds a new section that requests OSC to continue to pursue partnerships beyond Safeway with additional retailers with a preference for those that are unionized to expand retail operations for households receiving emergency grocery vouchers.
Thank you, Council Member Herbold.
Are there any questions or comments on Amendment 2?
Council Member Morales, please.
I just want to thank Council Member Herbold for this amendment.
I have also heard lots of people say that Safeway is While we appreciate their willingness to partner, folks would really appreciate having some other options.
So if we can find other folks, other grocers who are interested in participating in this, I know my constituents would certainly be grateful for some more choice.
That's fantastic.
Any other questions or comments on Amendment 2?
Okay, seeing none, we will go ahead and have the clerk call the roll on the adoption of amendment two.
Council Member Juarez.
Aye.
Council Member Lewis.
Aye.
Council Member Morales.
Aye.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Aye.
Council Member Peterson.
Aye.
Council Member Sawant.
Aye.
Council Member Strauss.
Aye.
Council Member Herbold.
Aye.
And President Gonzalez.
Aye.
Nine in favor, nine opposed.
Thank you.
The motion carries and amendment two is adopted.
Are there any further comments on the bill as amended?
Madam President.
Please, Council Member Esqueda.
Thank you so much.
And again, thanks to all of you for your possible support for this and for the mayor's office for sending it down.
I do want to take a minute to harken back to something that Council Member Sawant said last week.
And I think the point was really well taken around wanting to make sure that we don't have austerity budgets and borrowing or robbing Peter to pay Paul.
I think that it's a really important point and well taken.
I have talked to the CBO and I understand that they're in the process of providing a sort of emergency fiscal note so that we can have a more real-time understanding of how various proposals that are being sent down actually impact our budget.
And I know that this will be important to all of the council members as we think about our own budgets and supplemental budgets coming up here soon.
I don't take lightly taking from any of the programs.
Last week, we talked about housing.
This week, we're talking about sugary, sweetened beverage tax revenue.
And while the money is going directly to, I think, priority populations that the tax had really intended, I think the bigger question remains around the revenues that we have in our emergency funds and overall, I think, in other pockets of the budget.
So Council Member Swan, it was a point well taken, and I wanna make sure all the council members know that the fiscal notes that we should be seeing in the future will help us in evaluating what the impact is on our current budget and potentially our future budget and future emergency funds.
I think that this is all a really critical time for us to make sure that we don't get into austerity budgeting and recognize that as Naomi Klein talks about, we don't want to use this emergency to further escalate inequality or deficiencies in our budget, which we've seen done at the national level and across the globe when there's times of emergency.
So thank you all for your support potentially for this amendment.
And please know that we will have more information in the future as future pieces of legislation come down.
Thank you Council Member Mosqueda for those remarks.
I think last week I also signaled agreement with those remarks made by Council Member Sawant as well and have had conversations with Executive Director for Council Central Staff around making sure that our memorandums or memorandums from our policy analysts from Council Central Staff really clearly describe and include how the shifting of these dollars is going to impact programs that may have been identified as council priorities in our last budget season, or that have been listed as priorities through the funding mechanism, whatever that funding mechanism might be.
So I think it's really important for us to make sure that we're tracking how this money is moving around, and in addition to that, we are going to be able to see what the programmatic impact really is as a result of choosing to shift dollars in the way that we are choosing to shift it in this period of crisis.
so hopefully we will continue to see that level of analysis, good analysis from our Council Central staff and I know that Director Aristad and others make sure that we have all the information we need to fully understand the impact of how we're moving money around through these bills.
So I appreciate it.
Any other comments or questions about the bill before we vote on it?
Okay, seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?
Council Member Juarez?
Aye.
Council Member Lewis?
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Thank you.
The bill passes as amended and the chair will sign it.
Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?
Okay, we're gonna go ahead and move to agenda item three.
We're so close to being done, folks.
If the clerk will please read item three into the record.
Agenda item three, resolution 31939, a resolution in support of the bid by the city of Seattle to host the National League of Cities 2025 City Summit Conference.
Thank you.
I move to adopt resolution 31939. Is there a second?
Second.
It's been moved and seconded to adopt the resolution.
Council Member Herbold, you are the sponsor of this resolution, so I'll hand it over to you for remarks.
Thank you.
So as I mentioned at this morning's briefing, this is a resolution in support of Seattle's bid to host the 2025 National League of Cities Conference.
The National League of Cities is the country's oldest and largest organization serving municipal governments with a mission to strengthen and promote cities as centers of opportunity, leadership, and governance.
Seattle is a long-time member of NLC and previously hosted this conference in 2013. Visit Seattle is preparing Seattle's bid, working in partnership with the Association of Washington Cities.
The mayor has signed a letter indicating her support for hosting the 2025 conference.
My office has previously circulated additional information to all council members about this conference and its expected impact on Seattle, including answers to a checklist of questions that is required by resolution 30340 for special events.
This resolution declares the City Council's support of the bid and invites the National League of Cities to conduct a site visit here as it considers where to host.
It's projected to be about 4,500 attendees with an estimated economic impact of $13.8 million for the City of Seattle, and in particular, the tourism and hospitality industries, which, along with so many industries, are being really hard hit by the coronavirus right now.
In 2018, some of you may remember Council Member Bagshaw sponsored in the Council passed Resolution 31813 in support of hosting the conference in 2024 or 2025. At the time, the checklist of questions required by Resolution 3034 when considering hosting events was not prepared.
Visit Seattle believes a new resolution that specifically identifies 2025 as the target date will be required to ensure a competitive bid.
So given the desire for a new resolution, I initiated the review process outlined in Resolution 30340 to ensure that the City Council is providing appropriate oversight for large events.
Central staff reviewed the visit Seattle's request and indicated that the National League of Cities conference meets the definition of a major event In the resolution because city resources will be required for planning and or security and Special permitting is unlikely to be required This event is unlikely to result in the triggering of a future obligation as as anticipated As The resolution anticipates concerns with future obligations, and the city's financial exposure and resource commitment to the event is unlikely to meet the threshold to trigger that obligation.
In addition, another trigger is anticipated overtime expenditures exceeding 3% of Seattle Police Department's budget for overtime, another trigger that is not anticipated to be met.
I requested that the Office of Intergovernmental Relations and Visit Seattle complete an evaluation of NLC's request using the checklist of questions outlined in Resolution 30340. That's all I have.
Thank you, Council Member Herbold, for those remarks.
Are there any comments on the resolution?
Council President.
Council Member Mosqueda, the floor is yours.
Thank you very much, Council President.
I want to thank Council Member Herbold and her office for the work that they've done on this resolution.
As someone who's also been in touch with folks from the AWC about the possibility of encouraging the summit to be held here in Seattle, initially had some concerns about funding and future obligations, which Council Member Herbold just spoke to.
So I want to especially thank Council Member Herbold for all the time that she spent tracking down the information on past city summits and working with a number of stakeholders to get answers to those questions that I know we shared.
As one of the two city representatives with Council Member Strauss on the Association of Washington City's board, I am excited to support this resolution now that we have answers to those questions.
I know that it won't be easy to find additional revenue to support and host the summit as we get closer to 2025, but I know that there is options for us to work with others in the community to make sure that the funds are brought in.
The summit does allow for us to highlight what's great about Seattle.
I think provides us with the opportunity to highlight our great union workforce that's in much of the hospitality and in our greater Seattle region as folks come into the city they would be able to see how Seattle has hopefully been able to rebound with our great workers on the front line and to bring in much needed revenue to our industry that's being hard hit right now, including in food service, tourism and hospitality.
So the National League of Cities also participates in charitable event giving during this summit, and this allows us to bring in national attention and resources and I think that it's a great opportunity for us to highlight what's good about Seattle and help build towards that 2025 deadline.
Thanks so much Council Member Herbold for all the work you did to answer those tough questions.
Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.
Are there any other comments on the resolution?
Okay, hearing none, will the clerk call the roll on the adoption of the resolution?
Council Member Juarez?
Aye.
Council Member Lewis?
Aye.
Councilmember Morales.
Aye.
Councilmember Mosqueda.
Aye.
Councilmember Peterson.
Aye.
Councilmember Sawant.
Aye.
Councilmember Strauss.
Aye.
Councilmember Herbold.
Aye.
President Gonzalez.
Aye.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
Thank you.
The resolution is adopted and the chair will sign it.
Will the clerk please affix my signature to the adoption on my behalf?
I'm sorry, to the legislation on my behalf.
Okay, so we are gonna move now to adoption of other resolutions.
We have, I think this is our last, second to last agenda item.
So we will go ahead and hear about resolution 31940. If the clerk can please read the item, item four into the record.
Agenda item four, resolution 31940, a resolution calling on Governor Inslee to impose an immediate moratorium on rent payments and urging the governor to call on federal legislators and the Trump administration to impose an immediate moratorium on rent and mortgage payments, and calling on federal legislators and the Trump administration to impose an immediate moratorium on rent and mortgage payments.
Thank you.
I'm going to move to adopt resolution 31940. Is there a second?
Second.
It's been moved and seconded to adopt the resolution.
I know that Council Member Morales is the sponsor of the resolution, and I'm gonna hand it over to you, Council Member Morales, to make some comments about the bill, but I know that Council Member Strauss has an amendment, which I understand is a friendly amendment.
Council Member Morales, would you like us to consider the amendment before you make your remarks or after you make your remarks?
Let me explain what the resolution is and then we can talk about the amendment.
Okay, so the resolution has been moved and seconded.
I'm going to hand it over to you, Council Member Morales, to speak to the resolution first, and then we will hear about the amendment.
Please.
Thank you.
Well, first, I do want to apologize to my colleagues.
I left our briefing this morning to tour the field hospital before actually having the opportunity to share with you this information about this resolution.
So I will do that now.
Before I do that, I do want to acknowledge and thank Council Member Sawant.
She is circulating a letter and petition to achieve a similar goal.
Council Member Mosqueda is also circulating a letter.
I think all of us are All of us as a council are eager to make sure that we're protecting our neighbors.
And this resolution is really aimed at protecting, I'm sure all of you are getting calls from your constituents about their fear about the rent crisis.
It is the end of the month.
And we've got constituents who are worried about being able to make their rent payments.
We also have landlords who understand that their tenants can't pay rent, but who still have mortgage payments that they are responsible for.
And so this is really calling on the governor to use his emergency power to freeze rents and calling on our federal legislators, our congressional delegation, to freeze mortgage payments during this public health crisis.
I'm getting hundreds of emails from folks who are really worried about their ability to cover their bills.
And the truth is that we've got, you know, tens of thousands of Seattleites who are worried.
We may be entering We're certainly going to enter a recession, possibly worse.
And so we want to make sure that we're doing something now.
to protect people and keep them from having, you know, just pushing this debt out and not being able to cover it later.
So we are proposing this resolution.
I do want to let folks know that we're working with other legislators up and down the West Coast.
This is part of a broad coalition of supervisors from San Francisco, council members from Los Angeles, Boston, New York State Senator, who are moving these kinds of resolutions through their jurisdictions in the next week in a real effort to push our federal administrators to make this happen for our constituents and to keep people in their homes during this crisis where they are safest.
And so I move passage of this resolution.
Thank you, Council Member Morales for the description and explanation of this resolution.
Before I open it up to the whole for discussion and additional comments, Let's consider Council Member Strauss's amendment first.
And once we consider that amendment and have a vote one way or the other, we can go ahead and go back and have a conversation on the resolution as amended if the amendment is successful.
So I'm gonna hand it over to Council Member Strauss to make his, excuse me, to introduce his amendment.
Thank you, Council President Council members.
I have an amendment that I'd like to propose that did not meet the council rule of distributing it by noon today, and my apologies for the late notice on this.
It simply adds to the resolution, a moratorium on insurance payments that are related to either residential, commercial or primary ownership.
So insurance policies that cover your home and your tenancy, as well as property taxes.
That is it.
Okay, so if there is no objection, the council rules will be suspended to allow an amendment that was not distributed by 12 noon today.
Okay, hearing no objection, the council rules are suspended and we can proceed with consideration of the amendment.
So I will now ask Council Member Strauss to make the formal amendment to consider Amendment one.
Thank you, Council President.
I move to amend Resolution 31940 and present as presented on Amendment one.
Is there a second?
Second.
Okay, it's been moved and seconded to amend the resolution.
Council Member Strauss, you already spoke a little bit about Amendment 1. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Yes, thank you, Council President.
Just to add that beyond rent and mortgage, we also need to be aware that insurance policies need to maintain coverage despite a person's ability to pay this month if they were laid off or for other reason, economic reasons, as well as property tax for some folks may be the final straw that breaks their back.
during this moment.
So as we advocate, because resolutions are not legally binding ordinances as ordinances are here at the city of Seattle, as we advocate to suspend rent and mortgages, I do believe that we should also advocate to suspend insurance and property taxes.
Thank you.
Hey, are there any comments on the amendment as proposed?
Question.
Okay, Council Member Peterson has a question.
The floor is yours.
Thank you.
Just wanted to clarify, on this amendment, Council Member Strauss, is this to temporarily suspend those payments, but they'll still be due at the end of the crisis?
So they're not giving them?
Yeah, I think the importance is the nuances are very important.
And since this is not legislation and we are advocating to higher levels of government whose jurisdiction it is, and we know that at the broadest base, the broadest tax base is the best place to make policies rather than creating Swiss cheese by making different policies at different municipality levels.
I think that it is important to understand the nuances and I'm not advocating for any which direction on at this time.
Thank you.
Are there any other questions or comments about the amendment?
OK, I don't see any here.
Any other questions?
So I'm going to ask the clerk to call the role on Amendment 1.
Council Member Juarez.
Aye.
Council Member Lewis.
Aye.
Council Member Morales.
Aye.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Aye.
Council Member Peterson.
Aye.
Council Member Sawant.
Aye.
Council Member Strauss.
Aye.
Council Member Herbold.
Aye.
President Gonzalez.
Aye.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
Thank you.
The motion carries and the amendment is adopted.
Are there any further comments on the resolution as amended?
Okay, so I saw Councilmember Peterson raise his hand first, followed by Councilmember Sawant.
So Councilmember Peterson, the floor is yours.
Thank you.
This question is for the sponsor, Councilmember Morales.
Regarding the moratorium on residential and commercial rent payments.
I just want to clarify that it's a, um, is the intent that it would be that we're asking, um, the governor and federal legislators to temporarily suspend the payments, but that at the end of the crisis, those payments will be due.
Are we asking actually to outright forgive all payments and they will never be due
Yeah, we're asking for them to be forgiven.
I'm getting hundreds of calls a day and emails from people saying that, you know, it's if I don't pay rent for four months, especially in Seattle, where rent is, you know, two thousand dollars, there's no way that that accumulated debt is something I will ever be able to pay off.
So, and similarly for property owners.
So this is a crisis that is, you know, people are experiencing across the country.
And we are saying that in this situation, we need to just freeze the rent for folks until the crisis is over.
That might be two months, it might be three months, but that should not be added on to the end of their rent payments, especially if folks might be ending their lease.
It just creates more complications.
So we're calling for a rent freeze until the crisis is lifted and people are able to go back to work and pay their bills.
whether they're renters or have a mortgage payment.
Thank you.
Any follow-up questions or comments, Council Member Peterson?
I'm just struggling with this one just because it did come up on Friday and there are sorts of legal issues associated with this potentially.
I have also, on the other hand, so I'm concerned that people are getting other relief.
Would we want to then suspend the payments that are due when they're getting relief from other angles?
However, I have received lots of emails from constituents who are expressing their major concern and fear and pain that they're suffering during this crisis.
So I wish we had more time to think this through.
I appreciate the comments of Council Member Strauss that this is a resolution and we're simply asking the folks at different levels of government to consider these and they can deal with those specifics.
But the sentiment that we're expressing here is that People are struggling and that we need our other elected officials to address that.
I do want to commend our congressional delegation, though.
I don't want this resolution to be viewed as that we feel.
You know, I feel that Congresswoman Jayapal and our U.S. senators are doing a phenomenal job, as is Governor Inslee and our mayor.
So I just hope that it's taken in that spirit that we're just trying to communicate concerns we're hearing from our constituents about their financial distress.
Thank you.
Sure.
Sorry.
Can I respond?
Yes.
Yes, you may, please.
So I appreciate that.
And it's true that I did not get to talk to all of our delegation.
I did talk to Representative Jayapal and she supports this and believes that we, you know, this is part of what she's fighting for in D.C.
I will also say that, you know, our leaders gave a trillion and a half dollar windfall to the financial sector.
to make sure that they were able to weather this storm.
And so I think it is critically important that we do what we can to help our constituents who don't benefit from that kind of windfall and who are literally at risk of being out on the street if they don't get some assistance.
So you're right, we are trying to sort of cobbled together assistance in as many different ways as we can, but we know that the reality is that rent is the, you know, for some people, 50% of their monthly expenditure, and so they need relief.
So we're asking our state and federal leaders to help provide it.
Okay, we're gonna move over to Council Member Sawant who I had in the queue next.
And if anyone else wants to speak, I can see you with the exception of Council Member Juarez.
So if you have questions or comments that you wanna make, if you can just raise your hand so I can put you in the queue, that'd be great, okay.
and I'll make note of it.
Thank you.
Council Member Lewis.
Council Member Sawant, floor is yours.
Thank you, President Gonzalez.
I support this resolution, which will, the resolution itself, what it will do will support, show the support from the Seattle City Council to what is now a demand made by literally millions of people.
And I wanted to clarify that the resolution's passage itself will not enact this moratorium, but it will provide support for the movement that has been happening on the ground several weeks before the city council got involved.
Over the last couple of weeks, a nationwide petition initiated by socialists from all across Washington state, making this demand to suspend rent and mortgage and utility payments, has garnered over 2 million signatures nationwide, which is roughly one out of every hundred adults.
In addition, my council office has also sent letters to Governor Inslee last week, one on Thursday morning and one on Friday, urging that he immediately enact a suspension of rent, mortgage and utility payments.
with no adverse, and what we mean by suspension is no adverse consequences to renters and homeowners, such as any eviction notices, damage to credit rating, or incurring back payments or debt.
So, you know, to respond to Council Member Peterson's question or concerns, no, suspension does not mean you will have to pay it later.
No, suspension means you don't have to pay it at all because of the crisis that, the scale of the crisis that we're in.
My letter to my two letters to the governor also call for a statewide rent freeze through the end of 2020, which is no rent increases through the end of 2020. And I just want to acknowledge, by the way, just on that there is the phrase rent freezes are used interchangeably by different people.
I just want to clarify that in common sort of housing expertise-related parlance, rent freeze is usually meant to say no rent increases, but the letters that I've written to the governor are upholding both the demands, both the suspension of rent and mortgage and utility payments without any consequences, plus no rent increases through the end of 2020. And believe it or not, we had to add that to that letter because we are hearing from many, many people who are saying that their corporate landlords are, in the middle of this pandemic, sending them notices for rent increases starting in the spring.
This is absolutely unconscionable.
In coordination with the letter that my council office sent to the governor, we also launched a public petition making these demands of the governor.
And this petition has rapidly gathered enormous support.
The petition was launched on Thursday afternoon and released to the public and over 6300 people from across Seattle and Washington state have now signed it and people are still signing it.
And I urge members of the public for watching this to continue sharing it.
There is so much support for these demands because they are absolutely necessary.
You know, it's March 30th today when it's going to be due in April.
And we're talking about households that have lost their incomes because of this crisis and because of capitalism's crisis, because capitalism is incapable of dealing with normal needs, let alone a pandemic.
for working people.
These are people who are already living paycheck to paycheck.
And so in a city where thousands of people were already being priced out of their homes and in normal times, paying rent was already becoming difficult.
Now it is going to be mathematically impossible for people who are going to be forced to survive at best on reduced paychecks of unemployment if they're lucky enough to qualify.
But we know gig economy workers will not qualify.
What are white share drivers going to do, for example?
And many part-time workers don't qualify.
And also we have to make the point that if a household has to make a choice between rent and food or prescription, we absolutely want them to be able to have their basic needs satisfied like groceries and prescription.
We cannot have them paying their rent to their landlord and then going hungry or being sick without any medication.
In the council briefing this morning, some council members referenced movies like It's a Wonderful Life to appeal to banks to do the right thing and suspend foreclosures.
I have to say it is strange to me that this even needs to be said, but that's a movie.
It's a fictional story.
In real life capitalism, big banks are absolutely ruthless.
The decisions that they make are driven by market forces, not personal kindness.
In fact, big banks, corporate landlords are some of the most rapacious corporations who have plundered the economy.
In the Great Recession, there were millions of foreclosures of middle-class and working-class homeowners while the big banks got bailed out.
So I just wanted to say in the interest of our movement that's watching, basing any idea on the expectation that big banks, mortgage holders, and corporate landlords will do the right thing is just a recipe for massive impoverishment of millions of working families.
We've already seen the Federal Reserve's projection for second quarter unemployment.
They're predicting a 30% unemployment rate.
That is depression level unemployment.
Just now, just two days ago, we heard from the Department of Labor that statewide the unemployment is at least around 133,000, but that is an underestimate.
We know that.
And so we are talking about just endless numbers of families and working people, individuals who are just going to be wiped out if we are not going to do something about this.
And obviously the citywide issues won't be enough.
We do need to fight for it.
And as far as there are any concerns raised by – which, again, it's stunning to me that these so-called concerns are being raising that, oh, maybe people are getting – working people are getting some relief from other sources.
So what if they are?
Absolutely, they should be, and we should be thanking people like Senator Bernie Sanders for absolutely fighting for working people in U.S.
Congress.
But whatever support people are getting right now is not going to be enough, and in the The banks are getting trillion dollars a day bailout.
So let's be clear about where all the money is going.
It's not going to working people, and we are not in any danger of overfunding working people's needs.
And I just want to close by saying that this is a nationwide movement.
Renters in Ohio have the petition making these similar demands for suspension of rent and mortgage.
That has garnered an amazing 150,000 signatures.
And so I support this resolution, of course, but most importantly, I'm committed to building this movement because we will need to be clear.
This is a resolution.
It makes a statement, but does not by itself enact a suspension of rent and mortgage payments.
And it is an important step forward, but I want members of the public to understand that we need to keep fighting.
We cannot rest on what would be passed.
today, which would be a good step, but not enough.
And I would urge everybody who's watching this, please continue to share the petition from my office.
Let's get to 10,000 signatures and join me to come off my office on April 2nd at 6 p.m.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Sawant.
Council Member Lewis, you had raised your hand next in the queue, so the floor is yours.
Thank you so much, Madam President.
So I'm proud to support this resolution today.
I want to first thank Council Member Morales for bringing this forward, and Council Member Strauss, I want to thank you for your amendment to really strengthen this.
I think now more than ever in these times of uncertainty, it's critical that people get some assurity around their insurance payments as well.
You know, just to echo the comments that Council Member Morales made in response to some of the things that Council Member Peterson said, and I think that this goes a long way to assuaging some of the concerns that were raised by Council Member Peterson.
We just saw on Friday, Congress pass a massive bailout for airlines, for lots of industries that are impacted and affected by the uncertainty of the COVID-19 crisis.
basis and argument for those bailouts is these are companies that have been adversely affected.
There's no way they could have planned for a pandemic and what a pandemic would have done to them.
The exact same argument can be made in support of the renters and people who have recently entered into mortgages to be homeowners who never could have anticipated or planned that when they signed their mortgage or when they signed their lease, that they were going to be in a position where they were going to lose their livelihoods, lose their homes, and have to be in a position where they could not make their rent or could not make their mortgage and face the threat of eviction or foreclosure.
So I think it is, they warrant the same consideration.
I mean, even more so our consideration and the consideration of government than these big companies that got a massive bailout last Friday.
To speak to Council Member Peterson's concerns, which I think are warranted, I mean, in my understanding, and Council Member Morales could correct me on this, there's nothing in this resolution to suggest that Should Governor Inslee or should Congress heed our request that there be some support to back up those policies and those actions?
I think it's very foreseeable that when inevitably there's another relief bill that comes from Congress and we know that ultimately, you know, be it this summer or later this spring, there's probably going to be another big relief bill.
Then a big part of it, based on the exaltations in this resolution and the other resolutions from other cities and other governments, could include support for helping to cover folks' mortgages and people's rents.
uh...
so there's nothing good even though it's not necessarily specifically enumerated on what are in the exact policy prescriptions be that congress and that the governor taken pursue uh...
you know i mean it The point is we're still asking them to basically put renters and people with mortgages in the position where they themselves are not necessarily going to be expected to come up with the aggregated debt from this period, that they basically be in line to receive the same kind of consideration that we generous lend to banks and to airlines at the national level, but that we aren't lending to working families.
So I think it's fully appropriate given the posture of this.
I don't think that, let me put it this way.
I find it highly unlikely that Congress would, or that the state government for that matter, would put something like this forward without putting some resources behind it to make sure people are whole.
So I don't have a concern in voting for it on that basis.
The only other thing that I want to do, and similar to the exaltations that were made earlier by some of my, or the urgings that were made by some of my colleagues earlier, I just want to, briefly address the general public for the folks that are listening in today.
Based on a lot of the communications my office has received on this resolution, I do think there's fairly widespread misunderstanding that this resolution will in and of itself have the effects of freezing the payments to mortgages and rents.
I just want to join my colleagues who have mentioned this already in this meeting and saying, if you were in a position to continue to make payments on your rent or your mortgages, please do so.
This resolution in and of itself is not going to immediately provide that relief.
And relying solely on this resolution is not going to put you in a position where, you know, where you can get some relief if you fail to pay your rent or your mortgage.
So just wanted to remind folks, if you are in a position, continue to do that, barring pending developments from the state and the federal government in response to this resolution.
So with that, I'm proud to vote for this resolution today, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.
Thank you, Council Member Lewis.
And then Council Member Morales, I'm going to, once folks are done talking about the resolution, I'm going to let you have the last word.
So I have Council Member Juarez who is in the queue.
So Council Member Juarez, the floor is yours.
Thank you.
I just want to follow up with what Council Member Peterson said and also share that We all agree and understand the crisis we're in, and I really don't want to go into the us and them thing.
I just, for once, can we all be in the end zone at the same time?
Um, the clarification that I have is when I'm looking at the resolution, which is four pages long, it talks about the immediate moratorium on residential and commercial mortgage payments and rent.
Um, it isn't, and I'm glad Catherine Peterson pointed this out because when I was looking at this, that this resolution and looking at the letter that council member Mosqueda put together, um, you know, I was inclined to vote.
Yes.
Because first of all, there really wasn't a date in there, but when you actually read it more thoroughly and I was, I pulled it out and then finally printed it.
It goes on in the last one of the last sentences to add that, and no renter in the nation should be required to pay rent during this health emergency or accumulate debt for unpaid rent.
So I, I just want to be clear that what we're voting on as a resolution and you're correct.
It is not a law.
It's not ordinance.
It means that the Seattle city council is speaking in one voice and that we are resolute to do the following.
So we are voting.
If we vote yes on this, that, um, and I'm guessing this obviously extends to residential and commercial mortgage payments, that not only do we have a moratorium, but we also have a forgiveness of all the debt.
Is that correct, what I'm hearing in this sentence?
So that means that we have a moratorium during this crisis, and whenever this crisis ends, whatever was accumulated, residential and commercial mortgage folks, people who own these documents, payments, notes, that they will be forgiven of all debt.
And that's the core of what's happening here.
And I just want to make that clear.
So this isn't about that we are all, everyone is not in agreement that we don't want to see a renter, a homeowner, not be burdened with this kind of debt in light of the package that was passed by Congress.
We've all been watching the news.
We all get it.
So just so we have clarification to Council Member Morales, this is actually what we'll be voting on, including with Council Member Straus' amendments about the other items that would be a moratorium on and forgiven as well.
Council Member Morales, would you like to answer that question?
Sure.
So I'm sure we've all heard, as I said, heard from tenants, heard from business owners.
I've talked to several property owners who say, I understand that my small business tenant can't pay rent.
They've shut.
They're not bringing in any money.
So it makes sense to me that they shouldn't be paying rent.
But I still have a mortgage to pay.
And so what am I supposed to do?
So that's what this is addressing.
Yes, we have not just tenants and residents, but we also have commercial property owners and commercial renters who are in the same boat.
And so this is a way to address the property owners issue, the tenants issue, and understanding that You know, deferring payment for three or four months isn't really going to solve the problem for some of these folks.
So.
So the short answer is, yes, that is what we're calling for.
As I said before, this is part of a national organizing movement, because this isn't just happening in Seattle.
Across the country, renters and property owners are trying to figure out how they're going to pay their bills.
And so this is an unprecedented national event, a global event, and things are going to be very jarring for quite some time.
Yes, the short answer is yes, that is what this resolution is calling for.
Council President, may I follow up?
Yes, please, Council Member Juarez.
Thank you, Council President.
So you're saying that a commercial, somebody that owns 20 plus units or apartments, who also has a mortgage to pay if they don't collect renters, which we're gonna exempt.
So that person, let's say owns 30 units of rental, is going to also, from our resolution, understand that we are lobbying for them as well under this administration and to our governor, that they too don't have to pay their mortgage to the bank.
That's right.
Any other follow-up, Council Member Juarez?
No.
Okay.
Are there any other questions or comments about this resolution?
Okay, hearing and seeing none, we will go ahead and have the clerk call the roll on the adoption of the resolution as amended.
Council Member Juarez.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Council Member Herbold?
Aye.
President Gonzalez?
Aye.
Eight in favor, none opposed.
Thank you.
The motion carries and the amendment, excuse me, the resolution as amended is adopted.
And the chair will sign it.
Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?
All right.
Give me just a minute, folks.
I'm toggling between two different scripts here, so I need to get back to my other set of notes here.
All right.
All right.
Will the clerk please read item five into the record?
Agenda item five, resolution 31942. Adding the West Seattle Bridge emergency closure and repairs to the watch list of capital projects for enhanced quarterly monitoring establishing Resolution 31931.
Okay, thank you so much.
I move to adopt Resolution 31942. Is there a second?
Second.
It's been moved and seconded to adopt the resolution.
I am going to hand it over to Council Member Herbold as the lead sponsor of this resolution to address the resolution.
Please, Council Member Herbold, the floor is yours.
Thank you so much.
This resolution would place the West Seattle Bridge on to the capital improvement program watch list.
Just some general points.
As you know, the council has a watch list that we approve every year.
and we create a yearly watch list by resolution.
Just last month, the council approved resolution 31931 sponsored by Council Member Mosqueda to adopt the 2020 capital projects watch list for projects requiring quarterly enhanced reporting.
In 2018, the council adopted legislation to establish this enhanced reporting, which includes these quarterly updates on all individual projects that are on the watch list itself, as well as ongoing programs.
This resolution adds the West Seattle Bridge to the 2020 watch list.
It does so in light of the fact that a week ago s dot announced the closure of the West Seattle Bridge Do the public safety threat posed by cracks that were expanding?
Rapidly, they announced the closure of the West Seattle Bridge to to council members about three hours before actually closing the bridge So that really highlights the need to get projects like this in front of the council any any time that there is a advanced knowledge of there being risk associated with the project.
Now that we know that there is risk, we want to make sure that we are monitoring the short-term and long-term work associated with this project.
As it relates specifically to some of the technical aspects of the legislation Because the project doesn't have a capital project ID number yet.
It's described a little differently than other projects Adopted by by resolution in the watch list.
And so for that reason, it says The City Council requests that the Mayor add any capital projects with spending related to the near-term repair, long-term repair, and mitigation during closure of the West Seattle Bridge to the 2020 Watch List for enhanced quarterly reporting as described in Section 2 of Resolution 31931. So we have that description of the project instead of an identification number.
I really want to thank Councilmember Peterson, the chair of the related committee, for his work on the resolution and co-sponsoring it, and his commitment as chair to work towards greater transparency and public reporting on important SDOT issues.
I do have a small amendment as well, just to kind of get to the meat of the importance of the bridge.
Okay, so why don't we go ahead and consider your amendment first, and then once we vote on that amendment, we can provide your co-sponsor, Councilmember Peterson, an opportunity to make remarks as well.
So why don't you go ahead and make the formal motion to introduce the amendment, Councilmember Herbold.
I move to amend Resolution 31942 as presented on Version 2 of Amendment 1 of the agenda.
Okay, is there a second?
Second.
It's been moved and seconded to amend the resolution.
Council Member Herbold, would you like to speak to the amendment?
Thank you.
Yes, this amendment was requested by a member of the community in West Seattle.
I do agree that it's really important to highlight the critical nature of the West Seattle Bridge as the busiest roadway in the city of Seattle, handling 100,000 vehicle per weekday under normal conditions, along with 17,000 transit riders and ferry traffic from Vashon and Kitsap County.
In including this language in the resolution, putting this project on the watch list, we are signaling as a council that we understand and agree the importance of this roadway to Seattle residents, not just on the peninsula, but throughout the city.
Great, are there any comments on the amendment?
Okay, hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the amendment?
Council Member Juarez?
Aye.
Council Member Lewis?
Aye.
Council Member Morales?
Aye.
Council Member Mosqueda?
Aye.
Mateo.
Council Member Peterson.
Aye.
Council Member Sawant.
Council Member Strauss.
Aye.
Council Member Herbold.
Aye.
President Gonzalez.
Aye.
Eight in favor, none opposed.
Okay, the motion carries and the amendment is adopted.
Are there any further comments on the resolution as amended?
And I think this might be an appropriate time to hear from Council Member Peterson if you would like to make some remarks.
Thank you, Council President.
Just briefly, I appreciate working with Councilmember Herbold on this.
I think that we were all surprised last week to hear about the need to close West Seattle Bridge so suddenly, but we support the decision of the mayor and SDOT to do that closure.
However, we want to put it on the watch list because now it's become a major capital project.
We have to intensify our scrutiny of this, not only the West Seattle Bridge, but it really raises the question about what is SDOT doing with the other major bridges throughout our city that need major maintenance and repair.
There are some seismic projects that are happening throughout our city on bridges.
So really just raising the level of intense scrutiny on getting back to the basics of our city infrastructure so that we can not only get the West Seattle Bridge fixed and open as quickly as possible to keep everybody safe on it, but also to look deeper at what SDOT is doing with the other bridges throughout our city.
So I look forward to working with SDOT and my council colleagues to intensify oversight of this.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Peterson for those remarks.
Are there any other comments on the resolution as amended?
All right, hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the resolution as amended?
Council Member Juarez?
Aye.
Council Member Lewis?
Aye.
Council Member Morales?
Aye.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Aye.
Council Member Peterson.
Aye.
Council Member Sawant.
Aye.
Council Member Strauss.
Aye.
Council Member Herbold.
Aye.
President Gonzalez.
Aye.
Eight in favor and unopposed.
Thank you.
The resolution is adopted as amended and the chair will sign it.
Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.
We are now going to address other business.
I understand that Council Member Mosqueda has other business for the council team to consider, so I will hand it over to her.
Council President Gonzales, this is Shama Salman.
Sorry.
We lost you for a moment.
I understand you have some technological difficulties.
So thanks for calling back in.
Yes, absolutely.
But I was just going to request, could we take the last two votes that I missed again so I can vote?
Oh, boy.
Yes, I'm going to have to remember my Roberts rules of order.
So I think I have to move for reconsideration of of those agenda items.
Is that correct, Madam Clerk?
This is Amelia.
Yes, that's correct.
And you can do it by unanimous consent.
So if you'd like to request that there's no objection for reconsideration of agenda item four as amended, as well as number five.
And then after you seek the reconsideration for item four, then we will redo the roll call.
Okay, great.
If there is no objection to reconsideration of agenda item four as amended, we will reconsider it.
Hearing no objection, we will reconsider agenda item four as amended.
Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of resolution 31940 as amended?
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Council Member Herbold.
Aye.
President Gonzalez.
Aye.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
Okay, so the resolution 31940 passes and the chair will sign it if the clerk will please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.
If there is no objection we will reconsider agenda item 5 which is resolution 31942. Okay, hold on.
Hearing no objection to the reconsideration of Agenda Item 5, which is Resolution 31942, I'll ask that the clerk please call the roll on the passage of Resolution 31942.
Council Member Juarez.
Aye.
Council Member Lewis.
Aye.
Council Member Morales.
Aye.
Council Member Mosqueda.
Aye.
Council Member Peterson.
Aye.
Council Member Sawant.
Aye.
Council Member Strauss.
Aye.
Council Member Herbold.
Aye.
President Gonzalez.
Aye.
Nine in favor, none opposed.
Okay, the resolution is adopted as amended and the chair will sign it.
Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?
All right.
So other business.
Um, this, uh, I understand that Councilor Mosqueda has a letter to discuss with us, so I'm gonna hand it over to her for discussion.
Thank you, Council President.
And I again want to thank our central staff.
I know they did a lot of work over the weekend on many of those amendments.
So just A special thank you to them.
Also on Friday, I circulated to your offices a sign on letter for the city of Seattle, the council members to send a message to our governor's office to extend a moratorium on all forecl structures and commercial the state.
This is in li of the conversation we've So I'll just say, well, t taken at the city and the small businesses and nonpr All of our offices are he that we've already talked banks will foreclose on t and that those property owners are facing loss of income for households and small businesses due to the downworld spiral in the market.
A lot of our renters who live in the city live in multifamily structures and families across Washington are being forced to choose between necessities like food or paying for rent, while many businesses are also struggling to stay afloat and may be unable to make their rent or mortgage payments as a result of this crisis.
Placing a moratorium on evictions would complement other protections that we have already enacted as the City of Seattle and that you have seen echoed at the state level thanks to Governor Inslee.
I think this would support housing stability and economic resilience for our communities and would help us avoid long-term negative impacts to our economy.
A statewide moratorium on foreclosures would address large gaps in the state that the federal administration has taken to authorize the Federal Housing Authority to implement a foreclosure and eviction moratorium for single-family homeowners with FHA-insured mortgages for the next 60 days.
It also responds to the call from the Washington Low-Income Housing Alliance and others to enact foreclosure moratoriums to help protect renters and small business owners as well.
The letter has been discussed with the governor's office and the governor's staff, and I think that they appreciate us continuing to elevate these issues.
They said that a letter would be welcomed as they look at various strategies at the state level to address the requests that they're also getting.
So with your consideration, we'd love to have the council members sign on to the letter that has been circulated.
We will affix your electronic signature to the letter.
if you indicate if you're interested in signing on.
I mentioned this in my emails to the city council, but a special thank you to Council Member Peterson for following up with law on the request from the Washington Low-Income Housing Alliance to advocate for foreclosure moratorium that would protect multi-family housing providers.
Thanks to Council Member Herbold for weighing in as well.
And you've already heard other council members, Morales and Sawant, that are working on similar efforts.
But really appreciate your consideration of signing on to this letter to the governor's office to continue to amplify the call for state level action, as well as I think what Councilmember Morales' effort did, which was to call for federal action.
I appreciate all that's happened in our effort already to try to protect homeowners and small business owners.
This would be, I think, a really important measure as we look at protecting renters and those who are paying as small business owners as well, their monthly rent.
So thanks for the consideration.
And again, thanks to Council Member Peterson for helping to draft that initial letter that's been sent around.
Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.
So typically we deal with letters that are being circulated in an open public session in order to make sure that we're complying with the Open Public Meetings Act.
So I really appreciate you bringing this opportunity forward in this public setting.
Before I go through the process of seeing who would like to have their signature added to the letter.
I'm gonna open it up and see if anyone has any additional comments or questions about the proposed letter.
Council Member Herbold.
Thank you.
I also just want to give a shout out to Councilmember Kate Burke in Spokane.
Councilmember Burke has been doing a really wonderful job of assembling councilmembers throughout the state who are housing champions to talk through many of these issues so that we can be speaking with a unified voice This is one of those issues that came up in that context.
I know it's come up in other contexts as well.
But if folks who are on the council are interested in learning more about Council Member Burke's Housing Champions calls, just shoot me or Council Member Mosqueda an email and we'll be sure to get you on as well.
It's a really great opportunity, not just for us to talk to one another, but for us to be guided by the on the ground work that our advocates in the housing community are doing, as in particular, led by the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance.
Thank you, Councilmember Herbold.
Are there any other questions or comments by my colleagues?
Okay, seeing none, just to avoid having to do a roll call again, I'm gonna sort of do this in the negative, if you will.
If you do not want your name added to, if you do not want your electronic signature affixed to the letter as described by Council Member Mosqueda, please indicate so now.
Okay, I'm not hearing anyone register their objection.
So it sounds like you have the consent by all council members to have their electronic signature affixed to your letter.
Council Member Mosqueda, thank you for bringing it forward in open session.
I'm with our rules and state law really appreciate it and really looking forward to having that letter be transmitted to the governor.
I think it's really important as we are continuing our conversations around providing relief to tenants.
It's really important for us to acknowledge that there are many renters who who need this relief, but there's also it's really important for us to acknowledge that there are plenty of homeowners or condo owners that are going to be and are experiencing economic distress as a result of the economic crisis that was precipitated by COVID-19.
So it's really important for us to make sure that we're looking at this as holistically as possible to provide that, to ensure that those reliefs can be provided.
So really appreciate your advocacy.
Okay, is there any other further business to come before the council?
Okay, hearing none, that was the last item of business on our agenda.
Our next regularly scheduled full council meeting will be on April 6th at 2 p.m.
And there is no other business to come before us, so we are adjourned.
Thank you, everyone.