Seattle City Council 6/27/23

Um, let's see, I apologize here.

This in order.

All right.

Good afternoon everybody today is Tuesday, June 27, the meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

The time is 202. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll.

Councilmember herbal here.

Councilmember Lewis present Councilmember Morales here.

Councilmember Nelson present.

Councilmember Peterson present.

Member so on present Council Member Strauss present Council President Juarez present.

I'm sorry Madam Clerk I didn't hear you.

eight present.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

We have no moving on on the calendar or agenda.

We have no presentations today.

So we'll move on to public comments.

So Madam Clerk, the last I heard we had two remote speakers.

Yes, two remote speakers, and I believe just one in person speaker.

I'll double check the front desk.

Okay.

So with that, we will Let's start with our in-person person first, and each one will have two minutes, and then we will go to the remote speakers for two minutes, and then we will go into the rest of our calendar, our agenda.

All right, would you like me to run the recording today, before or after the in-person speaker?

Or at all?

Why don't you just go, yeah, well.

We have a big agenda.

Yeah.

So, no, you don't have to run the recording, but I will just share it and if I miss, if I leave anything out, please correct me.

Looks like we have two remotes and one in-person speaker.

Today's agenda has 11 items on it.

One is an appointment of sharing dead men to the office of city clerk, which is from me.

We have an item from the land use committee.

We have four items from the public assets and homeless committee, and we have five items from the transportation and sale public utilities committee, and other under biz other business, we have the consideration of an appeal.

So I'm going to ask those of you who are calling in are listening to please speak to the agenda.

And again, I have to share, please do not use profanity, tech, personal, make personal comments on people's race, ethnicity, or any of that.

Basically, just give us your public comment and be kind and polite and let us know what you're thinking, because we are listening.

So did I miss anything?

I don't believe so.

Okay, great, that's wonderful.

All right, so we will go ahead with the in-person speaker first and Madam Clerk, go ahead.

Our in-person speaker is Jenna Edlund.

Hi, my name, can you hear me?

Hi, my name is Jenna Edlund.

I'm a 20 year resident of downtown Seattle.

And I'm curious when enough is enough.

600, 600 is the number of police officers we are actually down.

Why are we not focusing on solving the public safety and crime issues and this be the only issue until it is solved?

This affects every single one of us in this room.

Why is anything else being discussed when people are dying daily?

Whether being shot on the way to work, on the way home, we cannot walk these streets.

On the mile walk here today, we stepped over three people that looked like they needed Narcan.

This is really unacceptable.

That is absolutely careless and this is not doing the job.

When is enough gonna be enough?

when you don't make it home from work, when your significant other doesn't, who on this council cares enough to actually do the work that needs immediate attention today?

Not something to do with studies or levies and assessments, but actually being able to live and be alive and walk the streets of this once beautiful city.

We attended the Pride Parade on Sunday and spoke with several SPD, and they're actually down 600 officers, not the 365 you publicly decry.

That is unacceptable.

I'm asking you to focus on what needs the most attention first and foremost, and put the rest to the side that is not life threatening.

Thank you for your service and your time, and I hope you consider the safety of all.

Thank you.

Our first remote speaker is Howard Gale, and Howard Gale will be followed by Mary Jones.

Howard, are you there?

Howard?

Yeah.

Can you hear me?

Yep.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

Good afternoon.

Howard Gale with SeattleStop.org commenting on our failed police accountability system.

Two weeks ago, a group of us presented public comment and provided irrefutable documentation to all council members concerning the outrageous behavior of the Community Police Commission the week prior.

In May and in June, public employees and commissioners with the CPC engaged in suppressing First Amendment rights and threatening police violence, knowing that one member of our group has already experienced the worst of police violence, the murder of a family member by the SPD.

You can view the evidence at tinyurl.com forward slash CPC abuse.

That's tinyurl.com forward slash CPC abuse.

Yet not a single member of this council has made a public statement or raised any questions at council meetings concerning this behavior.

Six years ago on this very day, June 27th, council members Herbold and Juarez responded to the brutal SBD murder of Charlena Lyles, telling the public that they were shamed and that things would be different.

Six years later, eight more people were murdered by the SBD under circumstances similar to Charlena's.

And we face a police accountability system that shuts out and threatens the community.

We see things have not changed and that there is no shame.

The Community Police Commission, which has remained unaccountable and unaudited, for over a decade now, should not be allowed to rewrite the city rules that govern it and to pay the very co-chairs that have attacked and threatened community members a total of $54,000 a year to continue this abusive and unaccountable behavior.

The council must demand an independent audit of the Community Police Commission along with a public hearing before making any changes to legislation or providing any increase in funding.

There must be an independent audit of the CPC to evaluate what it is that's gone on.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Mary Jones and Mary will be followed by David Haynes.

Go ahead, Mary.

Mary.

Oh, maybe she is no, not present currently.

We will skip to David Haynes.

And if Mary joins while David Haynes speaking, we'll go back, uh, David Haynes and don't forget to press star six.

Mr. Haynes, David Haynes.

Hi, thank you.

Um, there's a problem with the public safety and the homeless crisis where the police chief is blaming the homeless for the nexus of crime and the city council and the mayor and the police chief leadership.

are ignoring the fact and not making a real concerted effort to shut down the low level drug pushers who will destroy and victimize somebody for five bucks in drugs.

And not once has the police made a real concerted effort to pay overtime to police, to question all the junkie thieves that need to be trespassed from the bus stops and the entrances and the sidewalk.

And they have to be forced into either an improved jail system that has the compassionate offering of helping them break their habit of addiction, or we need a drug treatment facility.

Like protected from the evil drug pushers that bring the supply into the facility that make it impossible to solve the problems that some people are using as the excuse while they can't alleviate somebody else's addiction conscription.

And.

I think that if I was one of the King County Regional Homeless Authority leaders, I could help solve the problem because I know that the governor could have the National Guard stand up a whole bunch of like authorized encampments that would have addiction, behavioral crisis, trauma, and then the innocence.

And we could start processing people into the path that they need to get to.

with the service providers there.

And then we could have King County eminent domain of need to shut down all those evil motels that have been trafficking and victimizing, making money and rebuild all those motels with the Army Corps of Engineers cutting the footers and taking away all those parking spaces and have a robust build out to solve the homeless crisis using the American rescue plan dollars that.

Thank you.

That concludes our present speakers, council president.

Thank you.

So we've gone through the remote and the in-person.

So with that, I'm going to close public comment.

I'm guessing there's no one else in chambers, Madam Clerk.

There is not.

All right.

Moving on onto our agenda, I'm going to go to the adoption of the IRC.

There's no objection.

The introduction and referral calendar is adopted.

Hearing or seeing no objection, the IRC is adopted.

Moving on to today's agenda.

If there's an objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Not seeing any objection, the agenda is adopted.

Let's move on to the consent calendar.

Items on the consent calendar include the minutes from June 20th, payroll bill, council bill 120605, and oops, sorry about that.

I have, we have one appointment from the Public Assets and Homelessness Committee.

That would be the appointment of Mr. Asham to the Climate Pledge Arena Giving Council to the term of June, 2026. And that comes out of Council Member Lewis's committee.

Are there any items a Council Member would like to remove from the consent calendar?

All right.

Hearing none, I move to adopt the consent calendar.

Thank you.

It has been moved and seconded to adopt a consent calendar.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the consent calendar?

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Aye.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council President Juarez?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The consent calendar is adopted.

And will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes and the legislation on the consent calendar and including the appointment on my behalf.

So we have a pretty full calendar, folks.

Let's go to committee reports.

We have 11 items.

The first item will come from me, but with that, Madam Clerk, will you please read item one into the record?

And item one, appointment 2590, appointment of Shireen Dedman as city clerk of the city of Seattle.

Thank you.

I apologize for that.

I had to wrestle some papers here.

I hear that we have Ms. Shireen in the room, but, I'll be speaking to this a minute.

So you've read into the record.

So I moved to confirm appointment 2590 of Ms. Shereen Deadman.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

It's been moved and seconded to confirm the appointment and as sponsor of this item, I will address it.

And then I will see comments from the floor and then we'll see what happens with the vote.

So let me go ahead with my comments.

I should add that all of you received a confirmation packet and resume of Ms. and had an opportunity to meet with her.

But let me read these comments into the record, and then I will open the floor for my colleagues.

Per Seattle Charter Article 8, Section 3, the selection and appointment of the city clerk is the responsibility of city council.

When our longtime clerk, Monica Simmons, retired, we began an official search process for the city clerk.

The search was conducted over several months, which included advertising with municipal clerk associations, both local and international.

42 applications were received and then put through a competitive process, including multiple interviews with department staff and leaders.

I'm pleased today to announce the selection of Ms. Shireen Dedman as the final candidate.

Ms. Dedman comes to us from, now am I saying this right?

Is it Mono?

Mono County, California.

I've been saying Mono, that's why I'm making sure I say it, Mono.

Her work for Mono County included serving as senior deputy clerk as well as county clerk register recorder of votes, voters clerk of the board.

The title itself shows you what breadth and responsibility Ms. Deadman had in her prior position.

I believe you all received copies of her resume packet or confirmation packet.

In addition, I believe Ms. Deadman made herself available to meet with each of you individually as well and she's in chambers today.

As you can see from her resume, which is quite extensive, and in meeting with her, Ms. Steadman brings a strong commitment to public service.

She is also committed to bringing a human-centered approach to the job.

The interview committees were impressed with her natural leadership and ability to quickly absorb new information to succeed in a broad number of responsibilities.

Ms. Deadman is enthusiastic and a public servant who has dedicated most of her life to public service in the professional realm.

She is set with high standards and to help those around her meet them.

As city clerk, Ms. Deadman will be responsible for fostering civic education, participation and openness in Seattle city government.

Her commitment, experience and leadership is needed for this role.

I believe she will deliver the leadership and high standards we need in a city clerk.

I enthusiastically ask for your support today in confirming Ms. Deadman as the new Seattle City Clerk.

And I just want to add and thank, I want to thank central staff, that is Esther Handy, and I want to thank, who's our other HR person?

Karen Jackson.

And everybody and the clerks, all of you who participated, as well as Bryndale Swift, my chief of staff, myself, and other folks dwindling down the candidates and the interviews.

And, you know, I really, really am excited that Ms. Dedman was selected.

I think she really fits in Seattle and their sensibilities.

I hope some of you had an opportunity to talk to her.

I have more than once, and she's here today.

So with that, I'm gonna open the floor for any comments or anything my colleagues would like to add.

Okay, I am not seeing any comments.

Okay.

Council President, I can't figure out Zoom.

Can I make a comment?

Yes, Council Member Strauss, then Council Member Nelson.

Go ahead, Council Member Strauss.

Thank you, Council President.

We're so very excited to have you here leading our office of the city clerk.

It was nice to get the chance to meet with you.

I don't know when that was, maybe it was last week.

We're just very excited to have you here in the city and we're excited to support your work and never hesitate to reach out to let us know how we can support you and your entire team.

I see the entire team here and you all have kept us moving through the pandemic.

I reflect on the fact that the last city clerk is the person that brought us out of only paper into the digital age.

And so, that beyond your entire team really being steadfast supporters of all of our work here during the pandemic of trying times, we still have Plexiglas.

Council President, can we take down the Plexiglas yet?

We're just excited to have you here and we're here to support you as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

Council Member Nelson.

Thank you very much.

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to meet with you.

I'm nodding too.

And my staff.

And we really appreciated your warmth and your alacrity to just get into work.

And it's clear from your experience, I didn't know, by the way, that you were from Mono County.

If I'm correct, that's where they have a big lake.

with a whole bunch of salt and people float in it.

So we didn't get to that in our talk, but it's clear that you have the energy and the experience to really serve the city well.

So thank you very much for stepping up and taking on this work.

Thank you, Council Member Nelson.

Is there anyone that would like to say a few words?

Well, I'm going to close this out, and I just want to add on a more personal note.

Deadman's resume is incredible.

And a lot of the people that applied had great resumes and they were hard to select from.

in the interviews, but I think what persuaded me was just her sensibilities and her leadership.

Of course, her intelligence and her professional accolades and what she's done.

But for the city of Seattle, I just felt like Shereen Dedman was the person that could come here and pick up where Monica and Elizabeth left off.

And so I'm really happy.

I think you guys are going to be excited to have her here and to see her do her job.

And she is here in Chambers today.

So before we do that, I'm gonna close this out on the conversation.

I don't see any more hands.

So with that, I hope you will all enthusiastically support Ms. Deadman's appointment.

So with that, would the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of the appointment of Ms. Shereen Deadman for Seattle City Clerk.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the appointment is confirmed.

Congratulations, new City Clerk Dedmon.

At this time, I will invite the outgoing Interim City Clerk and archivist, Anne Fratella.

Thank you, Anne, for serving until we found someone to administer the oath and office, I think it's the oath of office, and then allow the city clerk to provide comments to the council and members of the public.

So with that, I'm gonna hand it over to Anne.

Thank you, Council President.

Good afternoon, Shereen.

It's my honor to administer the oath.

Please raise your right hand and repeat after me.

That mic is not on.

It's on us.

I'll speak up, don't worry.

No, we need the mic.

I, Shireen Dedman.

I, Shireen Dedman.

Swear or affirm.

Swear.

That I possess all of the qualifications.

That I possess all of the qualifications.

Prescribed in the Seattle City Charter.

Prescribed in the Seattle City Charter.

And the Seattle Municipal Code.

And the Seattle Municipal Code.

For the position of City Clerk of the City of Seattle.

For the position of City Clerk of the City of Seattle.

That I will support the Constitution of the United States.

That I will support the Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution of the State of Washington.

The Constitution of the State of Washington.

And the Charter and Ordinances of the City of Seattle.

And the Charter and Ordinances of the City of Seattle.

And that I will faithfully conduct myself.

That I will faithfully.

And that I will faithfully conduct myself.

as the City Clerk of the City of Seattle.

As the City Clerk of the City of Seattle.

Thank you.

Congratulations, Shireen Dedman.

This is your opportunity now, if you want to address us.

Thank you.

And I'm glad you're here.

So with that, I'm going to hand the floor to you, Ms. Dedman.

Well, thank you, Council, it's such a pleasure to meet all of you who I didn't meet before.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to be here.

I do want to say that you said it correctly the first time it is Mono County.

from there.

And so really it's going to be kind of hard to follow what you already said.

You said a lot of what I wanted to say myself.

I come as a clerk, a recorder, registrar, and clerk of the Board of Supervisors.

So I'm used to wearing many hats.

One of the reasons why I put my hat in the ring for this position, because there's a lot of similarities to that.

But yes, I am pretty good at having to learn new stuff and learn it really fast.

So I look forward to that.

With my long history of public service, I look forward to the bigger challenge of the city of Seattle to continue to uphold the values of the city clerk's office, which include just civic engagement, civic education, but also really important, one of my priorities being transparency in everything that we do.

So I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of the members of the group, and I can say the welcome has been so warm from everyone here.

You are an amazing organization.

Maybe sometimes people lose sight of that, but I just want to remind you as a newcomer here, it has been great to meet every single one of you that I have had the opportunity to meet, and I look forward to meeting and serving with you all.

So thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Stedman.

And you might not think we're so amazing after a while.

Let me just add this.

Shireen, if you don't mind me calling you Shireen.

During the interview process and the final selection, I think what I really appreciated about you, and I think we need more of, is that you're a very kind person.

And I appreciated that, as well as being incredibly intelligent.

But also, you have a sense of humor.

And for me, that's a sign of emotional and and intelligence and intellectual intelligence that goes beyond just being book smart.

So thank you so much and congratulations.

I appreciate all of your kind words.

Thank you.

All right.

Now we have a new clerk.

Great.

All right, let's go to item number two out of the land use committee.

Agenda item two, Council Bill 120520, relating to land use regulations of home occupations.

Committee recommends the bill pass with Council Member Strauss, Morales, Mosqueda, and Nelson in favor, with an abstention from Council Member Peterson.

All right, with that, Council Member Strauss, the floor is yours.

Council President, we passed my home-based businesses bill out of committee a few weeks ago.

I wanted some extra time just to make sure everyone was okay with it.

We passed this original bill during the pandemic to provide emergency relief for entrepreneurs and providing them the flexibility they needed to incubate their business dreams from their garages and homes.

Yes, I tried to name this bill the Garage Business Bill, and I was reminded that home-based businesses also operate inside the homes.

We've had some other very creative names for this bill.

I think this all demonstrates how many different types of entrepreneurs can benefit from this type of flexibility and the strength of entrepreneurial spirit throughout our city and country.

These interim regulations for home-based businesses were initially established in March of 2021. During the pandemic, these temporary measures were introduced to give the businesses flexibility when everyone was when there are stay-at-home orders.

And yes, all businesses must adhere to safety regulations of whatever industry they are operating within.

So if there is food preparation, they must be certified with Department of Health.

If there is alcohol with all of these different agencies that ensure that regulations are being met.

And what this bill does is amend the land use code to allow the flexibility for these other regulating jurisdictions to ensure that the products are up to the standards that are required throughout the industries.

I wanna make mention of something as I was looking back in the original committee meetings where it was brought up and I agree that not all pandemic changes should be made permanent.

I'd also like to offer that the pandemic offered us an opportunity to reflect on the temporary changes and try new things.

And we've had the time to understand if they are ideas which should be made permanent.

The changes contained within this bill today allow for very small changes that make a really big difference to entrepreneurs incubating their business dreams and turning them into reality.

As well, these changes have been well received by Seattleites by and large.

This bill before us right now will permanently amend the regulations that we have had in place since March of 2021, as they have proven to help small business owners while not disrupting the neighborhoods in which they exist.

These changes in regulation allow small business owners to thrive and gives them more latitude to eventually transition into brick and mortar stores.

It is these new businesses that will be filling potentially vacant storefronts by giving them the opportunity to incubate in their garage, in their home and expanding into being in those brick and mortar storefronts.

With that Council President, those are my remarks and I urge a yay vote.

Thank you colleagues.

Thank you.

Council Member Peterson.

Thank you Council President.

As I mentioned during the committee meeting on this legislation, I'll stay consistent with my previous votes on this topic.

Small businesses are already allowed to operate out of homes under section 2342050 of the Seattle Municipal Code.

Expanding this concept was originally discussed as a temporary response during the COVID pandemic.

In my previous communications and on my website I listed several reasons for not expanding the businesses that can be operated out of homes during the pandemic so changing that expansion from a temporary policy during the pandemic to a permanent city law.

therefore is even more problematic in my opinion.

In addition, I remain concerned about the uncertainty of impacts on our existing neighborhood business districts and on residential areas.

Existing small businesses in our neighborhood business districts often have long-term leases and other significant overhead costs, which can put them at a disadvantage when we relax regulations on home-based businesses.

Moreover, with a relatively low level regulation some home occupation businesses can cause significant impacts on neighbors.

For example, in District four is a car sharing operation using public streets as free storage for what's essentially a car rental business and that's causing significant impacts with several complaints.

In addition, the relevant city departments SGCI, FAS, and SDOT could do more to monitor the number, locations, and types of businesses taking advantage of this relatively relaxed regulatory scheme outside of the small business districts.

So regardless of whether this legislation passes today, I plan to work with the departments to prepare a statement of legislative intent for consideration during the fall budget season to respond to these concerns.

But for today, I'll be voting no on this bill.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

I am going to support this.

Originally a committee, I wasn't sure, and I think we had a couple of committee hearings about it.

And I am going to take issue with what Council Member Peterson said, only on the issue of bringing up The pandemic, whether we like it or not, has forced us to implement social policies that we as a society have been slow to implement.

And that is being cognizant that a lot of people can't get downtown to do public comment.

Now we do remote.

A lot of people don't, they're taking care of their children, there's elder care, There's people who don't have cars, can't pay for parking, can't always get in on public transportation or at the time in the middle of the day.

So without going into a huge speech, again, the pandemic forced us to, again, look at the things that we can do because between the pandemic and the recession and other things, we really had to restructure our thinking.

And I think this is one of the good things that came out of it.

I too was concerned about the location of other smaller businesses, competition, licensing, signage, and council member Strauss through the committee.

I think we remedied all those questions, at least for me.

So with that being said, I think this is one of a few that, you know, like again, the pandemic forced us to implement social policies that we've been dragging our feet on for decades.

So this is just one of them.

And so for that reason, I will be supporting this.

I think it's a good bill.

I think we'll see where it goes.

We'll see if this helps small businesses start in a garage and maybe end up somewhere else.

People got to start somewhere and I can't think of a better place.

If indeed they're all completely licensed and within state law and all the Department of Health matters, then I think we're going to be okay.

So with that, I'm going to be voting yes.

Are there any other comments before I hand it back to Council Member Strauss to close this out?

Okay, I do not see any.

So Council Member Strauss, do you want to close this out?

Thank you, Council President.

I remember that committee hearing where you peppered me with questions so vividly because it was the first time I got to exercise the rule, which is if you come to committee not prepared to answer all of Council President's questions, you shouldn't come to committee.

I do think it would be Anyone who wants to go back and watch that committee, I think it's a really great example of the legislative process where concerns are brought up and concerns are addressed.

Council President, that committee meeting made me a stronger legislator and I appreciate that and I thank you for that.

Council Member Peterson, the concerns you raised are exactly why we took over two years from passing the initial temporary regulations before making the decision to make them permanent.

We have not seen the concerns that you've raised materialized, and I honor your ability as a separately elected official to vote your conscience.

I am excited about this bill because I do believe that it gives the people who need the flexibility the most to turn their business dreams into reality and fill vacant storefronts with the businesses that make our city so vibrant.

I'm excited for the passage of this bill, and colleagues, thank you for your consideration.

All right.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss.

And with that, Madam Clerk, can you please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Councilmember Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

No.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

And Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Seven in favor, one opposed.

Thank you, the bill passes, the chair will sign it, and Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Let's move on to item number three, and it looks like this is Council Member Lewis of the Public Assets and Homeless Committee, and it looks like three, four, five, and six are all Mr. Council Member Lewis.

So with that, can you please read item three into the record?

Agenda item three, Council Bill 12059 relating to the waterfront park and public spaces.

Committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you.

Councilor Lewis.

I think so much Council President.

This ordinance relates to the waterfront park and public spaces, authorizing the superintendent of parks and recreation and the director of the Seattle Center to execute an agreement we've been talking about for a long time at this council between friends of the waterfront.

And the Department of the Seattle Center for public safety and a bunch of other operating arrangements that we're going to have to activate that space and program it.

I do want to flag for the record here that this is legislation that had hanging over it.

pending negotiations regarding a labor harmony agreement.

Those agreements did finally get negotiated in good faith to the satisfaction of all parties, and we expediently acted on that information to pass this ordinance and move it forward.

And I want to lift up the leadership of Joy Shigaki at Friends of the Waterfront, Katie Garrow at Martin Luther King County Labor Council and Marshall Foster at the Seattle Center for really making sure that important component was taken care of in relation to this ordinance.

And this did pass unanimously out of committee and look forward to voting on it now here at full council.

Thank you, Council Member Lewis.

Are there any comments from my colleagues regarding this?

All right, not seeing any.

Councilor Lewis, did you wanna add anything before we go to a vote?

No, thank you.

Okay, all right.

All right, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

I ate in favor none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it and Madam Clerk, please fix my signature on my behalf.

Let's move on to item number four, Madam Clerk please read item four to the record.

agenda item for Council Bill 120604 relating to Seattle Center Department authorized the Seattle Center Director to execute for and on behalf of the City of Seattle, an agreement with New Rising Sun for the presentation of the annual Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival at the Seattle Center.

Committee recommends the bill pass.

Great.

Council Member Lewis.

Thank you so much, Council President.

I'm very excited that this year we will see a return of Bumbershoot to the City of Seattle and the Seattle Center.

This legislation in front of us authorizes the Director of the Office of Seattle Center to come to terms on the final agreement with New Rising Sun, the operator that was selected to take over Seattle's Bumper Chute Festival.

really excited about this new partnership.

It's a great signal to really have this coming back after COVID, a good sign of continuity and a return of our summer traditions here in the city of Seattle.

And really look forward to seeing what the new leadership team and the new operator can make of this festival.

Thank you, Councilor Lewis.

And thank you for your work on this and committee.

So with that, are there any comments?

Oh, Councilor Nelson.

Thank you all so I am proud to to support this this festival agreement because I Well, I came to the I first attended Bumbershoot in 1990, and that was two weeks after I arrived in Seattle.

So it sort of fused in my mind as as a as a great introduction to the to the vibe of the Seattle music and art scene.

And I think it was about nine dollars back then a day.

I could be wrong, but it got more expensive over the years and I got old and sort of stopped going.

So But this festival agreement, I believe, with New Rising Sun is a match made in heaven because the three principals here, Greg Lundgren and Steve Severin and Joe Paganelli, they know what Seattle, they're old timers in the music scene, they're shrewd entrepreneurs.

They have a vision for new programming and that's partly why I was really happy to support the budget item last fall, which, let's see, it's a workforce development item and it focused on teaching youth age 17 to 25. And particularly those from low income communities youth of color and youth from the LGBT Q plus community the technical creative and business skills of concert and event promotion and that is something that this group is bringing to bumper shoot.

to the entity, to the experience of Bumbershoot that will last throughout the year.

And it's just one example of many of the programs and ways that Bumbershoot will reach more into community and support, to support artists and upcoming artists and small business people going forward.

So this is great for the city and great for Bumbershoot.

Thank you, Council Member Nelson.

So before we go, oh, Council Member Sawant.

Thank you, President Juarez.

This public-private partnership gives a for-profit corporation control over Bumbershoot with all the profiteering and price gouging that entails.

Bumbershoot was created publicly by the city and used to be free to attend.

Then until COVID, it was run by a private nonprofit.

Now it is being handed over to a for-profit corporation for a decade or more.

Public-private partnerships repeatedly mean that the public pays the costs and the private corporations enjoy the profits.

And in fact, the services deteriorate.

And this is not a statement of opinion.

This has been statistically documented nationwide over decades.

This is what happens when public services are privatized.

I do not support the privatization of Bumbershoot and will be voting no on this agreement.

There should be public funding for Bumbershoot through taxes on the wealthy.

And I should also note all these glowing points about the New Rising Sun.

New Rising Sun was incorporated in 2022 basically just for this contract.

They claim that they're going to do a lot of wonderful things, but their promises so far are just marketing and there's zero evidence to show for that.

And as far as I understand, the contract pays the city a tiny fraction of ticket revenue.

So none of this is surprising.

It is all very much par for the course for public-private partnerships.

So I will be voting no, thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Sawant.

Council Member Strauss.

Thank you, Council President.

I must have received a very different briefing than our last colleague speaking because I find this to be a wonderful way to revitalize, re-energize downtown and bring back Bumbershoot run by Seattleites for Seattleites because this has been a long-standing public I mean, this has been a public event where I can't tell you how many bands I've seen, from Murder City Devils to the Pixies to Tribe Called Quest.

Having this bumbershoot as an institution within the city of Seattle provides Seattleites opportunities that few other people have around this country.

When I joined AmeriCorps and went across the country to be with other 18 to 24-year-olds serving the country, They had not had the access to this number of concerts.

And a lot of that access was because of things like the Vera Project and Bumper Chute.

I'm very excited to see this come back.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Councilor Strauss.

Are there any other comments before I allow Council Member Lewis to close us out?

Well, I want to add, since I'm probably the oldest one here, started going to Bumper Chute and it was free in high school.

So I won't tell you what year that was.

And I think I saw El Chicano, but anyway.

Anywho, let's see if there's any other comments.

I don't see any.

So Council Member Lewis, do you want to take us out?

Yes, thank you, Council President.

And I do want to thank Council Member Nelson for her support in the budget for some of the items that has made this partnership possible and really appreciate the words from Council Member Strauss, lifting up his support for the return of this tradition and the city's investment in making this new partnership possible.

That is a new focus of bringing it back to be more of a Seattle driven project, a more local project.

one that is gonna be, as was indicated earlier, defined by year-round activations, in addition to the festival that we all know and love on Labor Day weekend, but involve ongoing workforce training, ongoing activations, ongoing concerts in our downtown core, the Seattle Center and beyond.

So I...

respectfully disagree with some of the remarks made by other members of the council in regards to the public benefit associated with this.

I think that there's going to be a significant benefit, not just in terms of the activation, the return of the festival itself, the ongoing workforce training and development component of this work, but also the the more local focus of the operator.

So I am looking forward to our next steps after this agreement and working with the department of the Seattle Center to work toward the return of this great Seattle tradition and would just remind the council that this did pass unanimously out of the committee.

Thank you, Councilmember Lewis, I'm guessing you're not disagreeing that I'm old, so I'll let that go.

All right, with that, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Councilmember Herbold?

Yes.

Councilmember Lewis?

Yes.

Councilmember Morales?

Yes.

Councilmember Nelson?

Aye.

Councilmember Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

No.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Seven in favor, one opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes, the chair will sign it.

And Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

So let's move on to item number five.

Please read item number five into the record.

Agenda Item 5, Clerk File 314494, Council Concept Approval and Waiver or Modifications of Development Standards for Replacement of Fire Station 31 at 11302 Meridian Avenue North.

The committee recommends the City Council grant the clerk file.

Thank you.

Council Member Lewis.

Thank you so much, Council President.

This clerk file was discussed in committee as part of a special public hearing to consider modification of the development standards for the new Fire Station 31, which will be located at 11302 Meridian Avenue North.

The rules were suspended to allow for us to consider and vote on the clerk file in the same public meeting, which we did do last week.

At that committee meeting, we heard a presentation from the builders and architects and the fire department regarding the need for certain waivers and modifications under current development standards to accommodate the footprint required of a Seattle fire station to perform its duties and function.

We made a number of findings on the record regarding changes to setback and other development standards to accommodate those requests.

And the committee was satisfied by a unanimous vote that those waivers were required for this fire station to be fully operational and serve the people of Seattle.

And more specifically, I should say the people of District 5. But district five and beyond, the service area does extend into multiple council districts.

And I look forward to confirming this clerk file at today's council meeting.

Thank you, Council Member Lewis.

Are there any comments from our colleagues on the floor?

All right, I'm not seeing any.

I'm guessing Council Member Lewis, you have no closing remarks?

No, Council President, I do not, thank you.

Thank you.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the granting of the clerk file?

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The clerk file is granted and the chair will sign the findings, conclusions, and decision of the council.

The clerk please affix my signature to the findings, decisions, and conclusion of the council on my behalf.

Let's move on to item number six.

Madam clerk, please read item number six into the record.

Agenda item six, clerk file 314499 council waiver or modification of certain development standards to allow redevelopment of the South Park Community Center and to allow five light poles for athletic field lights.

The committee recommends the clerk file be granted.

Thank you.

Council Member Lewis.

Thank you, Council President.

This clerk file regards a couple of changes requested for the South Park Community Center, and particularly allowing five light poles to illuminate the athletic field.

We received a briefing from the Seattle Department of Construction Inspections detailing the modifications that were being sought.

for those particular features.

The committee was satisfied by a vote of four, four in favor unanimously recommending that these changes be granted.

Thank you.

Are there any comments from my colleagues before we go to a vote?

And I'm guessing Council Member Lewis, you're okay?

We can move forward to a vote?

Yeah, nothing else to add.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the granting of the clerk file?

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council President Juarez?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

The clerk file is granted and the chair will sign the findings, conclusions, and decisions of the council.

And will the clerk please affix my signature to such findings of the council on my behalf.

Thank you.

Let's move on to item number seven, the Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities Committee.

Madam clerk, can you please read item seven into the record?

Agenda item seven, Council Bill 120596 relating to the Department of Parks and Recreation authorizing Superintendent of Parks and Recreation to enter into an agreement with the Washington State Department of Transportation to accept and expend funds provided by WSDOT to implement the design and construction of certain recreational improvements as mitigated measures for the recreational impacts of the Portage Bay Bridge Rinook lid portion of the SR 520 I-5 to Medina bridge replacement and HOV project.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you.

Council Member Peterson.

Thank you Council President, colleagues, Council bills 120596 and 120597 are Council bills that will facilitate the completion of the remaining construction for State Route 520 sometimes referred to as the rest of the West project that the city is coordinating with the Washington State Department of Transportation.

This Council 120596 authorizes an agreement between wash dot and our own Parks and Rec Department for the construction of the Portage Bay Bridge Roanoke lid over State Route 520. This council was recommended unanimously by our committee last week.

Thank you.

Right.

So Council Member Peterson, you spoke to 596 and 597. So you I'm guessing you since you spoke to both of them, but we can vote on them separately.

Correct.

Yes, we'll vote on them separately.

Thank you.

Okay.

You spoke to, okay.

Are there any comments, um, regarding these items?

I do not see any.

Okay.

So with that, I'm guessing again, you have nothing else to add customer Peterson.

Thank you.

Council president.

Just the, uh, I will speak briefly to five, nine, seven.

I just wanted everybody to know that they're sort of a group, but I'll speak to them.

We'll vote on separately.

Oh, okay.

Okay, so with that, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Oh.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

And Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

We'll move on to item number eight.

Madam Clerk, can you please read number eight into the record?

Agenda item eight, Council Bill 120597 relating to the Department of Finance and Administrative Services, authorizing the Director of Finance and Administrative Services or the Director's designee to grant limited property and access rights to the state of Washington over and under a portion of real property known as Fire Station 22. The committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you.

Council Member Peterson.

Thank you, Council President.

This bill, Council Bill 120597, is also related to the State Route 520 project, part of our regional cooperation with WSDOT.

This bill authorizes an agreement between WSDOT and our city's Financial and Administrative Services Department, FAS, to grant limited access rights to the state over and under a portion of Fire Station 22, which sits adjacent to where 520 meets I-5.

This Council Bill was also recommended unanimously by our committee.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

Are there any comments from the floor?

Not seeing any.

I'm guessing Council Member Peterson's good on comments, so we can go forward to a vote.

Okay, great.

With that, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the passage of this bill?

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

Bill passes and the chair will sign it.

And Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Let's move on to item number nine, which is also Council Member Peterson.

Will the clerk please read item nine into the record.

Item nine, Council Bill 120599, extending the duration of the block the box and transit only lane camera enforcement programs.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you.

Council Member Peterson.

Thank you Council President, colleagues as mentioned during our Council briefing, this Council 120599 is time sensitive legislation that extends our authorization from the state government for the automated traffic enforcement, often referred to as block the box, which is designed to protect pedestrians, without this legislation our existing authorization expires at the end of this month.

This council bill is supported by SDOT and was approved by the city attorney's office.

I wanna thank again Calvin Chow from council central staff for his work on this.

He circulated the council bill on June 12 to all council members and informed us of the time sensitive nature.

Our committee adopted it unanimously last week on June 20th.

Crafting it as emergency legislation enables it to take effect immediately upon the mayor's signature and the mayor's offices standing by after council hopefully votes on it today.

As you may recall, the City Council adopted the original block box authorization unanimously in 2020 as ordinance 126183. When the state granted new authority recently for additional types of automated enforcement, such as allowing enforcement cameras in designated drag racing zones, SDOT had attempted to incorporate all this new authority into a single Council Bill, but that became challenging, so we split it into two concepts.

This bill, which needs to be approved today, and another bill we're working on through committee.

So today we ask that you adopt this Council Bill 120-599 to keep our existing authority for camera enforcement of block-the-box intersections and transit-only lanes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

My understanding is we need a three quarters vote of the city council.

All right.

Are there any other comments from the floor before we move to a vote?

Okay, Council Member Herbold.

Thank you.

I just want to underscore the very clear comments of Councilmember Peterson, but just don't feel the need to do so.

This is existing authority that this council has voted unanimously in favor of but that state law requires.

an extension of the time period beyond the initial time period that we all supported.

So this is, again, really important for pedestrian safety.

There's a number of deliverables associated with expansion of the program that this council also voted for during the budget process, but that is unrelated to continuing the existing authority for the non-expanded program.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Herbold.

Are there any other comments from the floor?

All right, Councilor Peterson, anything else?

All right, so with that, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

All in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes.

Chair will sign it.

And Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation.

Let's move on to item number 10, which is also Council Member Peterson.

Will you please read item number 10 into the record?

Agenda item 10, Council Bill 120595 relating to the Cedar River Municipal Watershed.

Committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, with Council Bill 120595, Seattle Public Utilities is seeking a routine renewal of its authority for the limited application of an herbicide to treat knotweed at the Cedar River Municipal Watershed.

This renewal has been granted approximately every three years since 2010. As you may know, knotweed is a harmful invasive species that is legally required to be controlled.

The regional office of the Washington State Department of Health confirmed its support for this request from Seattle Public Utilities.

This legislation was recommended unanimously by our committee.

Thank you.

All right.

I see a little dissension in our office on this vote, but we will be voting yes.

Are there any other colleagues that have anything to share about Councilor Peterson's controlling the knotweed?

Do not see any.

Councilor Pierson, is there anything you want to add before we go to a vote?

Thank you.

So with that, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

Bill passes and the chair will sign it, and will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Let's go to item number 11.

Agenda item 11, Council Bill 120598, relating to Seattle Public Utilities, authorizing General Manager and Chief Executive Officer of Seattle Public Utilities or designee to execute an agreement between Seattle Public Utilities and the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority for the ownership, operation, and maintenance of stormwater facilities located at 136 Northeast 115th Street in Seattle.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

With Council Members Peterson, no, excuse me.

Yes, the committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you.

Councilor Peterson.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, Council 120598 will authorize an agreement between Seattle Public Utilities and Sound Transit for the ownership, operation and maintenance of stormwater facilities in a small section of Northeast Seattle.

This legislation was recommended unanimously by our committee.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any comments from our colleagues?

I do not see any.

Anything else you would like to add, Councilor Peterson?

No, thank you.

I have to ask that.

So that's why I do that.

I know it's repetitive for some of you, but sometimes something, sometimes you have something to say at the end.

So with that, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes, the chair will sign it, and Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation.

Looks like that concludes all 11 matters that were in committee reports, so with that, we'll continue on our agenda.

First of all, there were no items removed from the consent calendar, and second, I do not see any adoption of any other resolutions.

And for other business, we have in front of us a consideration of an appeal.

So let me make the record here.

The city council will now consider an administrative appeal to an exclusion issue to Avro Alex Zimmerman on June 13th, 2023. The question is, shall the decision to exclude this individual from attending city council and standing committee meetings through July 11th be sustained?

So what you're basically saying is there was a decision to exclude, Mr. Zimmerman appealed that decision.

So your vote today is whether to uphold the decision to exclude on June 13th.

So with that, are there any comments from my colleagues before I move forward?

Okay, I'm not seeing any.

Again, during roll call, council members will either vote aye to sustain the exclusion through July 11th, 2023, or vote no to grant the appeal and remove the exclusion.

All right, a simple majority is needed on this vote.

Not seeing any other questions, the floor is open, okay.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the decision to exclude this individual from attending council and standing committee meetings through July 11th, 2023, whether it should be sustained.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the exclusion remains in effect.

Okay, before we move on, is there any other business to come before council?

All right, you do not see anyone raising their hand for any other business.

All right, colleagues, this does conclude our items of business on today's agenda.

The next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 5th, instead of Tuesday, Wednesday, July 5th, due to the July 4th holiday.

Thank you all, and we are adjourned.

Recording stopped.