Seattle City Council 9/30/19

Good afternoon everybody.

Thank you for being here in City Hall.

The September 30th 2019 City Council meeting will come to order.

I'm Bruce Harrell, President of the Council.

The clerk, please call the roll.

Mosqueda?

Here.

O'Brien?

Here.

Pacheco?

Here.

Sawant?

Here.

Bagshaw?

Here.

Herbold?

Here.

Juarez?

Here.

President Harrell?

Here.

Six present.

Thank you very much.

I know Council Member Bagshaw is running a little late.

She'll be joining us shortly.

If there's no objection, the introduction or referral calendar will be adopted.

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

And if there's no objection, today's agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, today's agenda is adopted.

The minutes of the September 16th, 2019 City Council meeting have been reviewed.

And if there's no objection, the minutes will be signed.

Hearing no objection, the minutes are signed.

Presentations.

We're excited to have Council Member Herbold lead us through a presentation.

Council Member Herbold, you have the floor.

Thank you so much.

I am really excited to present this proclamation honoring Julian Wheeler, who helped to organize the committee to establish a Seattle Disabilities Commission back in 2009. We're coming up on the 10th year anniversary since the Commission for People with Disabilities founding in November.

So this is a fortuitous time to both honor Julian Wheeler's contribution as well as recognize the upcoming anniversary.

The People with Disabilities Commission advises the council, the mayor, and city departments about important issues affecting people with disabilities.

and have been very active in partnering with legislation that I've had the privilege to sponsor in my Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development, and Arts Committee.

I may read the proclamation to the record, please.

Please, if there's no objection, let's suspend the rules and continue with our proclamation.

Thank you.

This is a proclamation by the Seattle City Council honoring the ad hoc committee to establish a Seattle Disabilities Commission, Julian Wheeler, and commemorating November 12th as Julian F. Wheeler and C-E-S-D-C Day.

Whereas in 2008, Julian F. Wheeler spearheaded the formation of the Volunteer Ad Hoc Committee to establish a Seattle Disabilities Commission with the assistance of several other city residents for the goal of advocating for a Seattle Commission for People with Disabilities.

And on July 24, 2009, as a primary vehicle for this advocacy, they submitted a letter to the mayor of Seattle requesting the creation of a commission.

On November 12, 2009, following the sustained advocacy efforts in form of appearances at City Council budget hearings, which we're coming up on again, and meeting with the City Council, they were successful in securing funding for the formation and staff capacity to manage a new commission.

Whereas the Seattle Commission for People with Disabilities advises the Mayor, City Council, and City Departments about important issues for people with disabilities, recommend practices, policies, and legislation to the city in matters affecting people with disabilities, and encourage understanding among people with various disabilities as well as between people with disabilities in a larger Seattle community.

And whereas there are over 70 boards and commissions in the city represented by over 900 constituents, many of which were the product of advocacy and campaigns aimed at the goal of bringing community invoices, in the goal of bridging community voice in policies, programs, and issues.

And whereas the Seattle Commission for People with Disabilities, the legacy of CESDC, continues its work to this day, advancing social justice for people with disabilities and thereby for all people.

Now, therefore, the Seattle City Council proclaims November 12th, 2019, the 10th anniversary of the approval of funding for a Seattle Commission for People with Disabilities to be Julian F. Wheeler and C.E.S.D.C. Day for the contributions of Mr. Wheeler to the City of Seattle and the leadership of the People with Disabilities Commission.

Thank you, Councilmember Herbold.

Our rules continue to be suspended.

Yes, of course.

I think I have two minutes.

Oh, you're okay.

Council President, Council Member Herbold, other council members in attendance, and fellow attendees at this meeting, thank you very much.

My name is Julian Wheeler.

Purely for personal identification purposes only, I currently serve as the chair of the Pierce County Accessible Communities Advisory Committee, and I'll plug the Accessible Communities Act as giving us an opportunity to maybe form an ACAC in King County.

But I wanted to thank you for this rare occasion in my life, and I wanted to also thank you in the spirit of other awards programs, my friends and my family, my wife, Sarah, who made this request for this proclamation.

But I wanted to also acknowledge that this could not have happened had not volunteers gotten together.

We were a volunteer committee, and I do want to acknowledge Chris Lehman and John DeNoyer as the first two people who approached me after a neighborhood summit downstairs in the Bertha Landis room when I made a proposal in the latter General Assembly, and they said we can help with that.

But I also want to acknowledge Councilmember Nick Licata when we were meeting earlier that year and having a meeting about my work on another commission, and I said, how nice it would be to have a City Disability Commission, and he said, you should do that.

So it's like, and fast forward, we have this.

But I also want to acknowledge the work of the People with Disabilities Commission for Seattle.

and for the good work I hear that they are accomplishing.

The lessons along the way are varied.

You wouldn't expect to catch along the way, but the rights of people matter more, especially in times of fiscal austerity and economic recession.

You hear often how budgets are just limited, and I would acknowledge that with the budget season coming up, that any accessibility project that doesn't make the final cut in your budget, you can actually apply through other means of funding, whether county or state.

I want to encourage that.

And I just wanted to thank the ad hoc committee, the commission, my family for their support.

And I hope that this encourages people all around Seattle and everywhere else to stand up for their ideals and the principles of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

And I know I don't have time left to say everything I want to say, but I want to thank Elisa for her role in drafting the enabling legislation.

in 2009 when Nick Licata's office was the first council office to support our humble proposal and also Richard Conlon for being the second and for months that was it and then I want to acknowledge also former council member Jan Drago who through some intuitive sense was our fifth vote before the November 12 meeting when this proposal received unanimous approval for the budget tab, and thank you very much.

Let's keep fighting for what is right, even if it's not popular.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Okay, at this time we'll take public comment on items that appear on today's agenda, our introduction referral calendar, or our 2019 work program.

I have a sign-up sheet here, and I'll start off with Blake.

followed by Katie Garrow.

Hello, Seattle City Council.

I'm Blake Guyana.

I cannot enunciate clearly and use a speech device.

I came here today to offer my support for Resolution 31908. It is very important for sidewalks to be properly maintained.

As a powered wheelchair user, it is critical that all sidewalks have curb cuts.

I am significantly impacted when an intersection or driveway does not have a curb cut.

I need to go back to the nearest one and then drive down the side of the street, which creates a very dangerous situation for me because I could get hit by a vehicle.

Since sidewalks are built for pedestrian protection, everyone should be able to use them.

At some intersections in Seattle, there is only one curb cut at a corner of an intersection.

This can present a very dangerous situation because I need to drive my wheelchair directly into oncoming traffic when the light turns green just to get my wheelchair off of the sidewalk.

I hope you will make an investment in the city's sidewalks.

I also think it is critical for the Seattle Department of Transportation to conduct a public safety campaign to inform property owners of snow and ice removal.

One major problem I experienced during last February snowstorm was being unable to use sidewalks for days because all of the snow was plowed onto the sidewalk.

When the city of Seattle plows roads, they need to consider where the snow is going and if that would impact sidewalk users with mobility challenges.

Thank you for your considerations.

Thank you.

Hi, good afternoon, council members.

My name is Katie Garrow, and I'm the deputy director at MLK Labor.

And while I'm here today to express my support for the Infant at Work Resolution, I also want to offer my solidarity to the People with Disabilities Commission for your resolution.

And thank you so much for all the work that you do to advance the causes of people with disabilities and human rights.

As I said, though, I'd like to speak primarily to the Infinite Work Resolution.

At our office at MLK Labor, we allow staff to bring their infants to work.

We have a staff member named Peter Hasegawa, who's the father of a young boy, a young baby, And Peter being able to bring his son to work I think has positively impacted his relationship with his child as a father, but it's also significantly positively impacted his spouse's career.

She also works in the labor movement and has a demanding career negotiating contracts for a union.

The other thing that I'd like to offer is my boss, Nicole, is also a mother.

She has two young children.

If you've ever been at a labor council meeting or any sort of union meeting, if you know a woman leader in that union who is a mother, you are likely to see her children in that space because working in the labor movement requires that you work nights and weekends.

And if you want to be a woman who works nights and weekends, you likely have to bring your children with you.

So, I want to encourage the passage today of the resolution, and thank you for your leadership in this body of work.

And thank you especially to Councilmember Mosqueda.

Thank you, Katie.

Our next three speakers is, is it Polly Van Sennis on the snow response, and then Glenn Bollman, and then Anna Suvarts, or Anna on signals and sidewalks?

Hi, Paul, my name is Pauline Batsonis and I'm speaking on behalf of the Transit Riders Union.

You've heard me speak before that I have a problem with one ankle because I stepped in a sidewalk while boarding a bus in the U District.

This is a major sidewalk area and it was all cut up and well, there's blame on both the city and the county.

of Metro Transit.

Sometime back, I went to a neighborhood workshop sponsored by the Red Cross, and she told us that once the ground stops shaking, they have an emergency plan they go into, you contact your colleagues, the City of Seattle or the appropriate agency, checks the first buildings they check for safety are the ones that are designated as emergency evacuation centers.

So they have a strong plan, and I would think that with things like sidewalk safety, the city could start maybe with bus zones, which are heavily zoned, and fixing those maybe first, and then working outward from there.

On the subject of snow removal, I noticed down in Roxbury, where I live, right on the edge of White Center, the same problem that other people are going to express, that when they plowed, they blocked sidewalks.

It's a major crosswalk in the middle of Roxbury, crossing from several neighborhood specialty housing for senior and families and Safeway on the other side and this is a crosswalk with a light and a signal and a lot of people were trying to cross it and people in walkers and wheelchairs and they couldn't because there was a ridge of snow right across the ramp that would connect two sides and I finally chopped the snow up into pieces and knocked it out of the way, but I broke my tool in doing so.

So I think we can do better with all of this, but I would say we can come up with a plan and start with certain areas that are heavily used and go on from there.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, thank you, Council President and Council Members.

My name's Glenn Bowman, and I'm here speaking for myself.

I want to voice my strong opinion that it's critical to require SDOT to have a signals policy.

It's kind of crazy that they don't already, and if you look back at some of the investments that have been made over the past few years.

You see that they've spent I believe now over a hundred million dollars on adaptive signals along places like Mercer and that has been pretty much a complete failure by everybody's definition including those at SDOT.

Yet somehow that money survives a reset and austerity cuts by the mayor's office.

And I think we need a signals policy that will prevent that kind of thing from happening.

We're planning to roll out more adaptive signals, even though they've proven to not benefit cars, or at best, very marginally benefit cars.

detrimental, measurably detrimental to pedestrians, both in terms of providing access to our streets, but also in terms of safety.

Anytime you expect pedestrians to wait a significant amount of time to cross a street, We all know that some of them are not going to, and it's just not acceptable to allow SDOT to shrug their shoulders and say, well, they didn't have a light, so they were asking for it if they get seriously injured or killed.

I mean, we know they're going to do it.

We know what happens.

Just go stand down at Mercer and 9th or Mercer and Terry and right now, when you leave this meeting, and you'll see people crossing against the light, you'll see people crossing with the light, but have to go through six, seven, 12 vehicles, all of this is unsafe.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Following Anna will be Dixon Yan and then S.D.

Mintz.

Ana Zivarts, program director of Rooted in Rights, we're a video advocacy program of Disability Rights Washington, and we're also part of the Mass Coalition.

So I'm speaking here today in support of the signals policy and the sidewalk maintenance and snow removal policies.

I'm also a big fan of bringing your infants to work.

As you can see, mine is still sleeping.

Hopefully it stays that way.

We feel like it is critical that our city think about our priorities and how folks get around.

For many of us with disabilities, sidewalks are a critical part of the transportation network.

But also as a city, we need to be thinking about how we can move towards a greener future, a future that relies more on people walking, rolling, bicycling, and taking transit.

And our sidewalks right now, the conditions they're in, do not support that.

I pick up my kid at Seattle Playgarden near the 90 in Rainier, and the sidewalks near there are incredibly treacherous.

The crossings across Rainier are incredibly treacherous.

We shouldn't be asking folks in our community to take those risks in order to be safe as pedestrians.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Following Dixon will be Esty and then Clark Matthews.

Hi, my name is Esty Means, and I'd like to speak about getting around in the snow in a wheelchair, manual or powered chair.

I've been doing it for many, many years in Seattle.

And the first thing I wanted to say is to say thank you for the great improvements that have already been made compared to the way things were 20 years ago when getting around in the snow or even just the rain was almost taking your life in your hands.

sometimes, but still we have a long way to go to make it really easy for people to go around to go to work or any other thing they need to do downtown, especially.

I know the biggest problem I currently have using a power chair for getting around is in major streets that are plowed and snow accumulates and all the curb cuts are usually managed to get, if I need to cross the street, that's the end of my travel because there's no way to get on the curb cut to get on the other sidewalk.

We need to find a solution to that.

I know that's what happened when you clear the roads, but think about the people that use those roads and they need to get from place to place or even just to get to their car.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I'm here to support the resolution for the sidewalk repair and snow removal.

I have been a photographer for many years.

I take a lot of, I shoot a lot of landscape and events to show how awesome Seattle is.

I have been traveling using a to take the pictures have been all the places of the city.

I have seen all kinds of like bad and broken sidewalks.

It's just scary.

If you find a time to rent a wheelchair and move around the city, you will find out what I'm talking about immediately.

So I'm always considering that I'm going to fail, something is going to happen.

And it finally happened last month.

Last month, I was an official photographer of Seattle seafaring.

When I was taking pictures, I fell very badly because of some bad sidewalk.

I was injured and my device was damaged.

It cost me a lot of pain, a lot of time to heal, and it cost me a fortune to repair my devices.

So I want to say, so a better sidewalk is not only for convenience or make people more convenient, it's about safety.

Because a better sidewalk is not only inconvenient, it's also dangerous for people.

So, I thank you for your support.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for your testimony.

Clark, and then following Clark will be Casey Osborne Hinman.

Hi, Council.

My name is Clark Matthews.

I'm with Reunion Rights and a member of the Mass Coalition.

And I'm also here to implore you to pass the sidewalks resolutions and the signal timing resolutions as well.

I think, you know, we just need to find a better way of taking care of our three ways here.

I think, you know, relying on property owners and just trusting they're going to do what's right with their sidewalks, be it repairing it or plowing it and clearing it, you know, we don't handle streets that way.

Imagine if, you know, if we left Fourth Avenue here and just said, well, whoever, block by block, business by business, property owner by property owner, we'll let them clear their street, you know, in front of their property.

We'll wait till they shovel this Fourth Avenue in front of, you know, We'll wait on Starbucks to clear the street, and then we'll be able to move through.

I think we need to honor and respect pedestrians as much as we respect cars, and find better ways of doing this.

I know as someone who used a chair myself, yeah, when it's closed, like, you just, and there's uncleared sidewalks, you just don't go out.

I could push around my apartment building, because my apartment building had been plowed, But the Bank of America beside me didn't shovel their sidewalk.

And that's as far as I went for days and days and days.

And we can do better than that.

And so yes, thank you.

Thank you, Clark.

So Casey Osborne Hinman and then Megan Cruz.

Is Casey here?

He's here.

Oh, OK.

Sorry, Casey.

Got your hands full.

Let me set down my graham crackers in my car.

Good afternoon.

My name is Casey Osborne Hinman, and I'm a campaign director with Moms Rising.

This is my 15-month-old Lucy.

We are here on behalf of our Seattle members, wanting to thank the Seattle City Council for taking up this important resolution today.

The Infants at Work pilot program is something that excites us and our members greatly, and we especially want to thank Council Member Ms. Gata for her leadership.

Infants at Work programs have been successful at several private and public employers across the country.

These programs help new parents navigate the transition back to work after welcoming a new child.

And I can say from my personal experience, it has helped tremendously with both of my children.

Having these supports helps new parents to navigate the transition by helping make it easier to support breast and chest feeding parents in the workplace.

This is especially important for parents of color who are more likely to experience barriers to breast and chest feeding due to racial bias in medical care.

Babies at Work policies also help lower child care costs for families, which we all know is critical in a region like ours.

More than 2,100 babies, including this one, in more than 200 organizations have been brought to work.

These employers range from law firms to public schools.

And the Parenting in the Workplace Institute has reported that organizations with Infants at Work policies report increased retention, higher morale, increased teamwork, and increased efficiency.

Put simply, Infants at Work programs strengthen our families, our workplaces, and our communities.

Again, we thank you and we urge Mayor Durkan to add her support as well and implement the program as soon as possible.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Megan Cruz be our next speaker, followed by Janet White.

That's great.

I'm Megan Cruz.

I first want to add my support to the issues that have been discussed before this.

They're both very important.

I'm here today, though, to talk about CB119-600, which is the SEPA bill that you'll be considering for a vote next week.

It is the SEPA bill.

Like many others, I believe this bill is not fully formed and deserves your careful consideration and important amendments before approving.

The bill seeks to adopt new state law and replace SEPA with a patchwork of rules and revised SMC.

As written, it weakens SEPA appeal protections and replaces it with rules and thresholds that are yet to be established.

It also grants DCI a very good department, but one that considers developers, its primary constituents, full control in setting these rules.

The result is a bill that's clear about how to eliminate appeals, but offers no specifics on how to ensure infill developments are sustainable and equitable.

Trying to make this bill work, a group of downtown residents has given Councilmember Pacheco a couple of amendments we'd like seriously for you to consider before approving this.

The first would require a broad group of stakeholders from the community and city departments.

The community would include residents, interest groups, environmental lawyers, land use lawyers, everyone.

Bring everyone to the table to establish and vet these rules.

Appeals arise because the current design review MOP and SEPA processes are not consistent and limit public engagement.

And this would be a first step to resolving that.

This bill also incorporates, importantly, a new state law that limits or denies appeals for SEPA based on transportation impacts.

That's fine, but where are the protections in this bill?

There are none.

It just simply says you can't appeal.

We need to get a handle on new infill developments because they're putting strain on alleys and streets, but they aren't being required to provide adequate infrastructure.

This second amendment would ask that thresholds would be established to trigger SEPA review and mitigation, and that developers would not be able to buy their way out of mitigating their designs just by paying a transportation impact fee.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Cruz.

Janet Way.

Good afternoon Council.

My name is Janet Way.

Today I'm representing the Save the Market Entrance Group on and we request a party of record status with legal standing on the CB 119 600 bill coming up next week.

We are very concerned about this proposed legislation and its potential impacts on the lives of citizens.

SEPA is one of the few tools open to citizens to give substantive, meaningful input about potential environmental impacts of policies and developments proposed by the city or developers.

including issues such as were brought up today by people with disabilities and moms with babies who need to have access to lots of areas of our city.

All these safety issues are relevant.

It is the foundation of fairness to the public inspired by the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act.

Nevertheless, we do support the proposed amendments in which SEPA rules and thresholds be established for input from stakeholders and a broad city departments and community stakeholders be convened for design review, MUP and SEPA referenced in this bill.

It is fundamental that citizens be provided opportunities to give input, comments, and opportunities to even appeal decisions if necessary.

This will only improve the democratic process.

We respectfully ask your consideration.

Thank you.

So, we have gone beyond our 20-minute allotment for public comment.

I'm only about a page and a half into it.

We have about 12 more speakers.

Unless there's objection, I'll continue and continue with public comment, but we're going to take it down to one minute instead of two minutes.

So, I'm going to let the speakers go.

So, Robert, is it Robert Seidman?

And then Zosie Milkovich.

Robert, Zosie, and then Katie Wilson, one, two, three.

Hello, my name is Bob Seidman, a board member of Save the Market Entrance.

It represents over 88,000 individuals who have expressed concern over Seattle's future viability.

We need to preserve a fair and independent SEPA analysis and appeals process.

Without it, where does a resident go to express his or her concerns of the questions of traffic congestion, pedestrian safety, rapid fire, police, and medical services?

Growth management is amalgam of tedious but relevant needs.

Why are builders getting a pass on adequate track to trail loading berths, parking places, dumpster bays, and garbage pickup?

Also, engineering vehicles in the future will need to make repairs, where is their bay?

Two amendments have been proposed by an earlier speaker for the SEPA bill.

This would give the public a voice in establishing SEPA rules and addressing adverse impacts related to transportation density.

Please, don't pass this legislation without adopting these amendments.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Sochi Makevich with Washington Community Action Network.

We're here to support Councilmember Herbold's tenant protection bills that are before you.

So I'll be super quick.

So the first one that gives the right to having a roommate is critical for housing affordability.

You know, I'm someone who makes a living wage, but I can't afford to live by myself.

I live with three other people.

And so it is important for people to be able to have that option and it's also important for people to be able to live with their families.

So this is really important for people to be able to live.

Then the next one, the DV bill, you know, right now landlords can charge tenants for damage caused even by an abuser and that is locking people out of housing because Most landlords won't even consider the circumstances of why you owe that debt to the landlord in the first place.

And so by making sure that landlords can't do that, and there's even a mitigation fund in there so they can stop whining about it, this will help a lot of DV survivors be able to get into housing.

And then just also we support the mass transportation resolutions and the InfraNetwork resolutions.

Thank you.

So Katie will be followed by Edmund Witter and then Josh Fogart.

Hi council members, my name is Katie Wilson here with the Transit Riders Union.

We would also like to add our support to Council Member Herbold's tenant protection legislation, all of it, and I'd also like to speak in favor of the two resolutions related to the mass transportation package Transit riders, we are also pedestrians.

We walk or roll to our transit stops.

Some of our members, like Esty, are wheelchair users.

Others are blind or have visual disabilities.

Others, like Pauline, might sprain an ankle.

And all of us need to be able to get down the sidewalk.

We need a better system for sidewalk repair.

The current system is broken.

We also all need time to cross the street.

So we are strongly in support of both resolutions before you today, and we hope you will pass them.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I actually have a, I'm Edmund Whitter from the King County Bar Association.

I have a form I'd like to use to illustrate one of the issues involving council members.

If I could pass up to you, I have copies.

So I'm a housing attorney.

I just want to give you an illustration in support of Council Member Herbold's bills, but in particular regarding domestic violence and what the actual issue is.

In this form that I passed up, you'll see what an invoice looks like when a person has basically been a victim of domestic violence.

In this case, what happened is the woman, she was living with her mother.

Her estranged husband forcibly came in while she was out.

beat her mother and there was actually pretty severe blood damage along with a skull fracture.

She then had to flee and then she received this bill and about halfway you'll see a charge for $3,800 for quote bodily fluid cleanup.

Now if somebody forcibly enters into your home and then beats you and causes damage, you're not liable to the owner of that rental property, the perpetrator is.

What this bill does is gives streamlines that process to make sure that the victim will have an ability to get rid of that damage, make sure it doesn't affect their credit, and they can find new housing.

Thank you.

Following Josh will be Gordon Bedelford.

Good afternoon, Councilmembers.

My name is Josh Vogt here on behalf of Working Washington and Fair Work Center to support the Infants at Work Resolution.

Thanks for your consideration of this resolution today.

We think the pilot program is a really smart way for one of the city's largest employers to see what more we can be doing as a city to support working families.

And we love to see the city leading the way as a high-road employer, so kudos to you.

You know, the resolution points out there are numerous health and developmental benefits for infants to these type of infinite work policies, from getting the nutrition they need to the bonding that's critical in that first year, and as well as the resolution also points out the kind of social equity benefits.

the gender equity, racial equity in the workplace, all well served by infant at work policies.

So, you know, as a father of a young kid, as you may remember, I left the city right about when my daughter was born and went to a job that afforded me just a ton of flexibility.

And I think it's critical for new parents to have that.

So in closing, we think it's good for workers, good for new parents and newborns and a great step by the city.

Thank you.

Thank you, Josh.

And welcome back home.

Hello.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Gordon Padelford.

I work for Seattle Neighborhood Greenways.

I'm here in support of the two mass transportation package items around sidewalks and signals.

First of all, walking and rolling in the city is a fundamental human right.

And if we're not able to do that, we're really failing as a city because people need to get to where they need to go.

And just because you need to use an assisted cane or a device to get to where you need to go or you're getting on an age, doesn't mean you shouldn't have that basic fundamental human access.

So this is really a fundamental issue that we're addressing.

Also just want to point out that we're going into budget season right now and there's going to be a lot of requests, but this is not a budget request.

So this is really charting a great path to making our city more accessible for everyone.

and doesn't have a big price tag attached to it.

So I hope that's reason enough to jump at support.

But a few other reasons.

One, the census just came out and showed that we're one of the best cities for increasing the rate of walking.

And so we should really keep that going and respect the fact that people really want to walk and roll.

And let's let them do that.

Thanks.

Thank you, Gordon.

Next three speakers, Heather Pierce, Courtney Cole, and Brett Waller.

Heather, Courtney, Brett.

Is Heather here?

No?

Yes?

Okay.

Following Heather is Courtney and then Brett.

And Courtney, you can take the middle mic and get ready if you want.

Good afternoon, Council.

I'm Heather Pierce with the Rental Housing Association of Washington.

RHA would like to thank the sponsor, council staff, stakeholders, and all sides for meeting with housing providers and developing some new language to landlord-tenant policies in CB 119658, improving it for everybody.

We support the development of a mitigation fund for damage created by perpetrators of domestic violence and commit to working further to figure out the best way to maintain funding for a mitigation fund that does not specifically increase housing costs in the city.

We also appreciate language in the legislation that expressly states that perpetrators of domestic violence are not shielded from liability for the damage that they caused.

While we appreciate the effort to define dating relationship more concretely, RHA continues to have concerns about the broad application of the brumate policy in CB 119-606.

Landlords are responsible for the health, safety, and welfare for their tenants, and continue to have concerns about ensuring that residents in our communities do not pose a threat to the safety of other tenants and the public at large.

Also, in vending a standard, that long-term guests must meet the financial requirements of a rental agreement may limit access to housing for those who need it most.

Again, may I finish my statement?

Well, in a sentence or two, yes, please.

Yes, thank you.

Again, we are happy to participate in a stakeholder process on these bills and look forward to further conversation about how to best provide tenant protection without increasing the costs associated with providing housing in the city.

Thank you, Heather.

Hello.

Hello, council.

My name is Courtney Cole, and I am also here with Rooted in Rights and the Mass Coalition.

As someone who is legally blind and a cane user, signal policy and sidewalk maintenance are both extremely important.

pieces for me as a transit and sidewalk user.

Signal policy, extremely, extremely important to have more time to cross the street for me.

Sometimes I walk at a slower pace than others.

Sometimes I can't see how much time is on the countdown for the signal.

That's really anxiety-inducing when you're crossing the street.

During the big snow this February, I was basically trapped in my house for eight days.

It's a long time.

to be trapped in a 400-square-foot apartment.

It was hard.

I couldn't really go out and get food and things that I needed, so it's really important to maintain our sidewalks better for everyone.

Thank you.

Thank you, Courtney.

Just one sec.

Brett, I'll call the last three speakers here.

That'd be Brie Geinkeild and Christina Logson and Elizabeth Evans and David Haynes.

Council President, members of the Council, here speaking this afternoon.

My name is Brett Waller from Washington Multifamily Housing Association, here speaking this afternoon on Council Bill 119658. I want to thank the sponsor, Council Member Herbold, for her willingness and openness to consider this mitigation fund over the past few months as an alternative and an opportunity to assist survivors of domestic violence and really give them an opportunity to give survivors an opportunity to flee an incentive domestic balance without further burdening them with any financial costs.

And we look forward to continue working with council member and the city itself through the rest of this year to properly fund the program and into the next year to implement it as well.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, Brett.

Hi, I'm Brigayne Kildon with Central Seattle Greenways.

And for years, we've been trying to figure out how to make our streets safer for people walking and biking, walking and rolling and biking, I should say.

And it's been challenging when we try to figure out why any particular intersection is working the way it is.

And it was kind of revelatory to find out that there is no signal policy.

that each of these intersections are designed by whichever signal engineer happens to be assigned to it on whatever particular day.

So while there are a lot of things I want to see in the signal policy, I'm most excited about just having a signal policy.

It's much easier to change something once you've actually got it than it is to try to work with every individual in an entire department.

Obviously, you've been seeing our lovely reminders of the horrible snow problems we had.

We thought we maybe should put up a sign that says winter is coming.

and remind you that we really do need to have a good maintenance plan in place, but also a longer term maintenance policy that actually works for our sidewalks is important.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Christina, Elizabeth, are you here on Council Member Dombowski's behalf or this individual testimony?

Both.

Can we be both?

Well, then it'd be a minute apiece then.

Okay.

Council President Harrell.

It's going to be longer if you just said just for Council Member Dabowski, but no.

Council President Harrell and members of the City Council, thank you so much for allowing us some time to speak.

My name is Christina Logson and I'm Chief of Staff to King County Council Member Rod Dabowski.

In May of 2018, Rod and Council Member Colwell sponsored legislation requesting the executive to create an Infant Set Work pilot program for King County employees.

The impetus of this legislation was the difficulty of finding child care, its increased cost, and the knowledge of the benefits when parents and babies have time to bond in the first six months of an infant's life.

My coworker, Elizabeth Evans, was able to take advantage of our Infants at Work program when she started bringing her three-month-old baby, Gracie, to work in March of this year.

Gracie really set a high bar for for the council as our inaugural infant.

Her smiles and giggles lit up many of a room and she was a daily reminder of the impacts of our policies, near and long-term impacts.

And also a reminder of the creative ways that we can support our employees and the message and example that we can set for our next generation.

We encourage you to adopt an Inference at Work program yourselves after you hear how Elizabeth benefited from this experience and how your employees could too.

Hi.

Again, my name's Elizabeth Evans.

Thank you so much.

I'm really here to say thank you, especially Council Member Mosqueda, for your leadership on this amazing issue.

Credit to Rod and Christina.

When they learned I was having a baby, they encouraged me to transition back to work with her.

They even sent me some various pack-and-play options for Rod's office.

But I have to admit, I was pretty skeptical at first about my ability to handle both my full job and a baby at work.

By the end of my first week, when I was talking to a UW Bothell professor about antibiotic-resistant bacteria in a local wetland, while my baby was sleeping on my shoulder, I was like, you know, I got this.

I think I can do it.

And it really, truly was just an incredible experience.

I did it for about three and a half months.

You've heard the benefits from various people here, and I can attest they're all true.

The only drawback was my daughter went through smile withdrawals.

She's used to smiling about 100 people a day, and when she had to go home with her nanny, yeah, she wasn't getting 100 smiles a day.

But other than that, it was a tremendously positive experience, and thank you all.

Thank you for your testimony.

Councilmember Dombowski and I attended the Husky game last Saturday, and we're why they won so well by the way, so we send them our best Thank you our last speaker is David Haynes David the floor is yours sir Thank You council no offense But there is still no legitimate protections for renters in any of these ordinances created to charade a perception of doing something about rundown outdated dilapidated housing stock with inflated rents King County Property Assessor and city government go along with while oppressing renters.

I say this because there's a woman who works at an abusive Kroger store who has a landlord she has to interact with on a daily basis and She's paying for us basically to be his friend, required to fend off the verbally abusive power tripping landlord who is overcharging her rent when she has to bucket boiled water from elsewhere to her bathtub because it's unsafe to turn on the water.

Yet she is paying five times her rental rate.

I don't see any legislation to protect renters from abusive landlords and building owners.

These ordinances are about receipts and allowing other people to stay in your house is probably going to be, they're going to be abused.

And since I don't have any time, City Light needs to stop speculating in the for profit market and give discounts to low income without using cash allocation.

And hopefully Transit Riders Advisory Board will be constructively positive in their criticisms of Metro's failures because of the inefficiencies, horn honking road rage, and getting off early while passing every bus stop people need during rush hour.

Thank you, sir.

That will conclude our public comment.

Thank all of you for your comments.

We're going to move to the payment of the bill section.

Please read the title.

Council Bill 119-660, appropriating money to pay settlement claims for the week of September 16th, 2019 through September 20th, 2018, and ordering the payment thereof.

Move to pass Council Bill 119-660.

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

Any questions or comments?

If not, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Mosquera.

Aye.

O'Brien.

Aye.

Pacheco.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

Bagshaw.

Aye.

Herbold.

Aye.

Juarez.

Aye.

President Harrell.

Aye.

Eight in favor and none opposed.

Bill passes and the Chair will sign it.

Please read the first agenda item.

The report of the City Council, Agenda Item 1, Resolution 31910, requesting a plan to develop an Infants at Work pilot program for eligible City of Seattle employees and their infants.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you, Mr. President, and thanks, Council colleagues and all of the folks who came to testify today and over the last few months as we've been putting this presentation together to bring forward for the city's consideration.

As you heard, bringing children to work has become a growing trend, allowing parents and caretakers the ability to come back to work while having the bonding time that they need with their new child.

Let me be very clear about something.

This is about all genders and all family types.

This is about making sure that parents and guardians can bring their children to work if they need to.

And there's very positive reasons for this.

The ability to bond, the ability to be around children, making sure that we are both addressing the health benefits of having those kiddos around, and there's also an equity issue that we're trying to address here.

The negative consequences of having the lack of child care, the lack of access to child care, and the lack of affordable child care.

So this resolution, this effort today, really combines both the positive aspects of having time with your kiddo and addresses the real consequences of having lack of access to child care.

We'll continue to work on these issues as we celebrate that every family now has the ability to take 12 weeks of paid leave beginning in 2020. We know that many families will potentially not be able to take this full 12 weeks because it's not full pay in some cases.

And we're very excited that our state is now leading the nation in the length of time that every parent and adoptive parent and folks who are getting a child through various ways will be able to take 12 weeks.

But this is pales in comparison to what other countries offer, six months, a year, two years of guaranteed paid time off and guaranteed income.

So while we're happy about the ability to now have more families to be able to take leave, we also know that at the end of those 12 weeks, many families are faced with the impossible decision of whether or not they pay for childcare leave the job market, and what to do with their kiddo.

This resolution offers a solution.

The Infant Set Work Resolution asks the executive to consider, with input from the community, including the Women's Commission, Office of Civil Rights, Office of Labor Standards, our city unions, new parents and guardians, and the Workforce Equity Planning and Advisory Committee, to come up with a pilot strategy within six months that we can implement here at the City of Seattle.

We know these programs are good for employees and workplaces.

They reduce turnover, reduce stress for parents and guardians while increasing the health outcomes of kids by allowing for additional bonding time and breastfeeding and chest feeding.

The benefits go on.

There's increased healthy brain development for the child, greater job satisfaction for the employee, and lower health care costs.

And importantly, we don't talk about this often, Within that first 12 months when a parent is able to be with their infant, there is reduction in parental suicide and reduction in complications for the health of the parent.

And this is also true for those who are adopting kiddos.

There is increased life expectancy for kids when they're able to stay with their parents and have additional breastfeeding, chest feeding time and to be close to their parent or guardian.

So I also want to be clear about another thing.

This is not for me.

This is not for me.

This is for every employee here at the City of Seattle.

I am lucky in that we have cobbled together various leave opportunities for the first year of our infant's life to come.

This is about a long-standing policy that we know to be a true and proven public health benefit when infants can come to work.

It is good for the health of that baby.

It is good for the health of the parent and guardian.

And frankly, it's good for the health of the employer as well.

So to anyone who's asking, this is absolutely about the greater good of Seattle's workforce.

And in Seattle, we like to be pioneers.

We like to applaud ourselves for all the work that we've done on labor standards.

But let's be real.

We're actually catching up on this one.

We're making up for lost time.

We are not the first ones, as you've heard.

There's at least 200 companies across the country with countless nonprofits and for-profit businesses, including municipalities, like you heard from King County.

Washington State Department of Health has already implemented this.

And in King County, I was really inspired by the report that we received at the Board of Health, initiated by Council Member Dombowski, to allow for people to bring their infants to work.

Thanks again to Christina Logsdon and Elizabeth Evans from the King County.

Office of Councilmember Dombowski for their work to initiate a pilot at King County and their support for this resolution.

The resolution largely tracks what King County has implemented and there's three new additions that I'd like to call out, Mr. President, that I think are important.

Please do.

The first is that we're promoting equity across economic status and job classification.

So this resolution asks the question, what alternative options exist for employees like bus drivers, firefighters, police officers, frontline folks who cannot bring their kiddo to work physically with them?

Maybe there's a flexible schedule, child care subsidies, additional paid time off.

something like that to compensate for those individuals who work in somewhat dangerous situations.

The second thing is we are going to ensure success with this proposal.

We've ensured success by asking for training programs for both participating staff and non-participating staff to ensure for successful programming.

And as you've heard from Elizabeth Evans and Christina Logsdon, the presence of infants sometimes can actually be a boon for the entire workplace, not just for the infant and the parent.

And then lastly, there's a racial equity and cultural competency component to this.

We've asked for cultural and religious accommodations to be baked into the pilot, and this also recognizes what Christina and Elizabeth said, which is often it's women of color who have a less likelihood of having the longevity of breastfeeding, and that further complicates health outcomes.

So the resolution is designed to ask the mayor to give us a pilot within the first six months, sorry, between now and six months from now, we are hoping that the mayor will work with us and with the community at large to come up with both the financial needs, the policy framework, and the training opportunities.

And we look forward to implementing the strategy within a six-month period.

We're also going to be looking at training and alternative provisions as well as physical safety requests for kiddos and making sure that there's a successful workplace.

And with that, I'd just like to thank the folks who helped bring this resolution to you today.

PROTEC-17, our union friends, Martin Luther King County Labor Council, who you heard from at Categaro, Civic Ventures, Moms Rising, who testified, police officers, Working Washington, the Fair Work Center, Office of Labor Standards, Office of Civil Rights, and again, Councilmember Dombowski, special thanks to Sejal Parikh in our office for coordinating with all of those stakeholders to bring this forward.

And with that, Mr. President, I'm really excited about the resolution in front of you.

Thank you very much, Council Member Esqueda.

Council Member Bakeshaw.

Councilmember Mosqueda, it would be just fine with me if you were doing this for Camila.

Oh, thank you.

But I appreciate the fact that you acknowledge that this is for the better good.

And I do want to say thank you to Councilmember Dembowski across the street, our good friend from public health.

But also, since we know and in the mayor's budget that she has indicated to us that your my request to have a child care center in 2020 in City Hall, does not look like we're going to have the support that we had hoped for, but this is at least something to get us started.

And I'm interested in knowing, and I'm sure that we'll hear a lot more about this in the coming months, but whether or not there will be set-aside rooms for people that want to go down, take their child if the child is fussy, but, you know, have computers set up, places for them to continue work, having That you know quieting their child and also separate breastfeeding rooms more than what we've got already So I know that this is just a study, but I would really love to see if we can be um, really creative about this So everybody has privacy when needed and the child can stay with a parent Excellent.

Thank you.

Thank you cast my back shawl Any other comments or questions before we vote on this resolution?

And I want to just make a quick sort of personal comment.

Thank you, Council Member Muscat, for bringing this legislation forward and for those that testified.

Today, one of our legislative department employees had a young son here visiting, and I think there was something going on around the afternoon that required him to be here.

And I have to admit, it just, it warmed my heart just to be able to, because this employee still could do the job, and they do it quite well, by the way.

But I looked at this young boy, and then I told my staff, and I walked in.

I had the chance to ride the elevator with him.

I said, well, that was me.

Because my mother and father worked for the city, both about 30 years apiece.

And I was always down here in the library, because that's where she worked.

And it's city light with my father.

And while there weren't official policies like this, they were just long-term employees.

And they were younger then, in their 20s and 30s.

But I was welcomed.

And I don't think they had a lot of options.

I think I was sort of stuck down here sometimes for appointments and whatnot.

But I think that this kind of thing changes the culture to where we could say we want to be not just infant friendly but children friendly.

And so I like where we're heading with this.

I think we'll see the benefits of this kind of policy 5, 10, 15 years down as cultures change in the workplace.

So thank you for bringing this forward.

Okay.

There's no other soap boxes to get on.

I'm going to move this.

I move to adopt resolution 31910. Moved and seconded.

Any other comments?

Those in favor of adopting the resolution 31910, please vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed vote no.

The motion carries.

The resolution is adopted and the chair will sign it.

Please read the next agenda item into the record.

The report of the Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development and Arts Committee, agenda item two, Council Bill 119606, relating to rental properties, restricting a landlord's ability to limit the number of persons residing in a rental unit, prohibiting the use of conditions that are applied to persons residing in a rental unit who are not tenants, amending section 7.24.020 and .030 of, and adding new sections 7.24.031 and .032 to the Seattle Municipal Code.

Committee recommends the bill pass as amended.

Customer Herbold.

Thank you.

I'd still like to...

I'm sorry.

I'm struggling here through this head gold.

I'd like to first start off with a little bit of context.

These first three bills in particular have been the product of working to realize the recommendations from the Losing Home Report published by the Seattle Women's Commission and the Housing Justice Project.

This bill before us now prohibits a landlord from limiting the number of people residing in a rental unit to fewer than the legal occupancy limit established by local, state, or federal law.

Additional roommates and family members are required to be named in a lease and can be subject to screening requirements no stricter than those of the primary tenant.

Roommates and family members of roommates can be denied based on those screening requirements.

This legislation was intended to help people share the cost of rent and enjoy the other benefits of living with family or roommates in the high rent environment here in Seattle.

The 2019 National Low-Income Housing Coalition report shows that the average housing wage, in other words, what a tenant needs to make in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rate, is $36.52, or a salary of nearly $76,000 a year for the Seattle-Bellevue area.

This is more than twice the minimum wage.

The bill also opens up greater cultural inclusivity in our housing market.

In discussing this bill, we heard from several people testifying that the ability of having a roommate was only about affordability, but also enabled non-traditional household situations, such as households with caretakers of adult children or siblings with disabilities.

Cultures where multi-generational living situations are more common.

This bill uses current city, local, and state occupancy standards.

Landlords price their rental units according to the market demand.

This is a standard business practice, enabling roommates to continue to combine resources to make rent and afford other necessities.

is an important goal to create housing stability for all people.

Like a similar law in New York City, all occupants in the household will be required to be identified on the lease and landlords are not restricted from running screening requirements on roommates that are not immediate family, like a sublease relationship.

The bill also establishes secession rights in cases when the tenant vacates or abandons a rental unit before the end of the lease term.

Current law permits a landlord to evict or eject remaining people in these situations, but this bill instead would permit occupants of a rental unit to stay upon being come upon becoming a party to the lease agreement.

So, in other words, they would have to become, they'd have to be, they'd have to become a party to the lease agreement in a formal way.

A couple other things I just want to mention.

SDCI recognized that there is need for significant tenant and landlord engagement around this bill before it goes into effect, so we have a delayed implementation date and if there are no questions, I'd like to move passage of Council Bill 119606.

Thank you very much, Councilor Herbold.

Any comments or questions on this bill?

It doesn't actually need to be moved, does it?

So we're okay.

Okay, because it came out of committee.

So with that, no questions or comments.

Are you finished with your comments, Council Member Herbold?

I am.

Okay, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

O'Brien?

Aye.

Pacheco?

Aye.

Sawant?

Aye.

Bagshaw?

Aye.

Herbold?

Aye.

Juarez?

Aye.

President Harrell?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passed.

Please read the next agenda item.

You can read a shorter title if you like.

Agenda item three, Council Bill 119658 relating to rental agreements.

Committee recommends the bill pass.

Council Member Herbold.

This bill prohibits a landlord from seeking damages from a tenant or a household member who has experienced domestic violence so long as they have provided written documentation to the landlord signed by a qualified third party stating in the statement that the tenant or household member reported to a qualified third party that they are a victim of domestic violence and the name of the perpetrator that caused the violence.

This qualified third parties can be law enforcement, health professionals, court employees, licensed mental health professionals, or advocates for crime, victim, or witness programs.

The time, date, and location of the act of domestic violence that resulted in the property damage and a brief description of the property damage.

These are all the contents of this third party report.

This was modeled off of the principle of limiting liability that is already established in state tenant law, which allows a survivor to terminate a lease before the end of the term of the lease without penalty.

The key provision of this legislation is that the survivor should not be held liable for damages caused by their abuser.

This bill specifically states that when perpetrators cause damage to a unit, it is they who are responsible for that damage.

Advocates with the Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence insisted that we structure the reporting requirements to maintain anonymity of the perpetrator in reporting to mitigate the risk of retaliation.

This is a best practice in the gender-based violence advocacy and support to ensure safety and it preserves the agency of a survivor to make decisions that deeply impact their lives.

Hopefully my colleagues here received an email last Thursday from the coalition speaking to this point.

This provision of protecting the anonymity of the perpetrator while limiting the liability of the survivor created a practical challenge for the bill that many constituents and advocates representing landlords expressed named the namely the question of a landlord's ability to recoup their damages.

To respond to this challenge, with the support of the Rental Housing Association, the Multifamily Housing Association, and tenants' rights organizations like Washington CAN and the Housing Justice Project and the Coalition, we introduced a Landlord Mitigation Fund modeled after a similar resource used in the state to help landlords in these scenarios.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Council Member Bagshaw.

Councilmember Herbold, thank you for bringing this forward and I appreciate our conversation this morning and I think a specific question I had asked and you answered, I just wondered if you'd repeat it, is that you have been working with the Rental Housing Authority and others just to get their buy-in and to get their input as well.

And I heard someone testify today.

I appreciated that.

But I wonder if you'd just bring it up a little bit and flesh it out a little bit more.

Sure.

Well, as I said, we recognize that the provision of limiting the liability to the tenant and the desire and best practice of not releasing the name of the perpetrator created a practical challenge that constituents and advocates representing landlords expressed to me, namely the question of a landlord's ability to recoup for damages caused by the perpetrator if they can't locate them.

And so to respond to this challenge, with the support of the Rental Housing Association and the Multifamily Housing Association, we introduced a Landlord Mitigation Fund in this legislation.

And you also responded this morning that you felt that you got sufficient input from them and it was added in this legislation that we had their support at least.

Correct.

And I think we heard some conversation about interest in working together collaboratively in the state legislative session to ensure that the statewide Landlord Mitigation Fund is available for this purpose.

We will be working within the context of this year's budget for some bridge funding to get us through to that point, but that's, I'm anticipating ongoing collaborative work on that.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Thank you, Councilor Harrell.

Any questions or comments on this bill?

I'll make a closing comment and that is my support for the bill is actually very simple.

That as this egregious example shows that a, and sometimes I say victim not, I say victim as opposed to survivor because I don't want to lose track of the fact that they often are victims of brutal violence.

and have survived it.

So whether it be a victim or a survivor of violence, make sure they are not stuck with a bill for property damage after experiencing something like that.

So that is what I think gets to the heart of this legislation, which I fully support.

I don't think that there was any intent in this legislation to deprive a landlord an ability to try to recoup it from a responsible party for perhaps or even create a fund for it.

And I think that's the other part of this legislation, another policy basis as to why I support it.

And so I'm very hopeful that as we both work on a state clarification and we work with all of the groups that are vested on this issue that perhaps we either improve it or implement it just right because the strong policy reason behind this and that is not to penalize a survivor makes all the sense in the world to me and I would venture to say landlords would fully agree me agree with me on that and thank you for bringing this example because this is the kind of Policy we want to reverse so thank you for bringing this legislation forward and with that Please call the roll on any other comments.

No hands.

Please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

I

Skeda.

Aye.

O'Brien.

Aye.

Pacheco.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

Bakeshaw.

Aye.

Herbold.

Aye.

Juarez.

Aye.

President Harrell.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Please read the next agenda item.

Agenda Item 4, Council Bill 119619 relating to notices of residential rental tenants.

Committee recommends the bill pass.

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you so much.

So this bill is important because of one of the goals identified again in the losing home report of increasing tenant knowledge of the rights and resources that are available to represent themselves is a key strategy.

The Seattle Department of Construction and Inspection named this as a response to Statement of Legislative Intent 335A2 that I sponsored, recommending that we identify ways to equip tenants to understand their rights early as a strategy to manage escalating issues between tenants and landlords.

And it's important to name the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act is primarily a self-help tool and can only be as effective as tenants are able to advocate and represent themselves.

So this legislation itself would not only identify the right that the tenant has when they receive a notice to terminate tenancy, when they receive a notice to increase their rent, or they receive a notice from their landlord that the landlord intends to enter their unit, the notice will notify the tenant what their rights are, and in instances when resources need to be available to address those rights, it will notify the tenant of those resources as well.

Thank you, Councilmember Herbold.

Any questions or comments on this bill?

If not, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

O'Brien?

Aye.

Pacheco?

Aye.

Sawant?

Aye.

Begshaw?

Aye.

Herbold?

Aye.

Moraes?

Aye.

President Harrell?

Aye.

8 in favor and none opposed.

Bill passed and the chair will sign it.

Please read the next agenda item.

Agenda item 5, Council Bill 119620 relating to residential rent payments requiring receipts and non-electrical payment options and amending section 7.24.030 of Seattle Municipal Code.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you.

This bill has been put forward by STCI because of the issues that they have identified in responding to tenant calls associated with some property owners who require payment be done electronically.

Not everybody has means to electronic payment and often there are fees associated with electronic payment.

So this bill ensures that property owners do not limit payment of rent by electronic means only.

There was some concern that this bill would preclude a property owner from all other non-cash payment options and become more vulnerable to risk of fraud and theft.

The language of the bill specifies that electronic payment options are okay as long as they also accept other options like cash, check, or other payment means, like money orders.

The goal is to give the tenant choice.

Thank you, Councilor Herbold.

Any questions or comments?

If not, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

O'Brien?

Aye.

Pacheco?

Aye.

Sawant?

Aye.

Bagshaw?

Aye.

Herbold?

Aye.

Juarez?

Aye.

President Harrell?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Bill passed and the Chair will sign it.

Please read the next agenda item.

Agenda item six, Council Bill 119621, relating to termination of residential rental tenancies.

Committee recommends the bill pass.

Council Member Herbold.

Thank you.

This bill is intended to proactively prevent conflict between tenants and landlords around habitability issues that result in eviction proceedings.

The rental registration and inspection ordinance is the city's main tool to ensure that housing is safe and up to basic maintenance standards, and landlords are required to be registered with the Rental Registration and Inspection Program before evicting a tenant per our Just Cause Eviction Ordinance.

The Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections identified that some landlords were who, I should say, some landlords who had not registered their units under the Rental Registration and Inspection Ordinance were doing the registration in those instances when they were planning on evicting somebody.

They were doing that registration actually during the eviction hearing.

And the intent of our law was was to make it so that landlords could not evict tenants who were not registered with the rental agreement registration program.

And so this was actually a loophole in our ability to ensure that landlords were fulfilling their obligation to be registered with SDCI.

So this law would instead require registration in advance of issuing a notice to terminate.

RIO is a key tool to shift the Seattle Department of Construction Inspections Enforcement from complaint-driven to proactive.

Frequent violations are missing or non-functional smoke in carbon monoxide detectors, safe hound rails, and exposed wires.

The focus of the registration program are life safety violations.

So again, this would require, in an instance where a landlord failed to have their unit registered with the Rio program, it would require the landlord to basically start the eviction process all over again from step one, rather than giving them the opportunity to register in the middle of the process.

Thank you, Councilman Herbold.

Any other questions or comments?

I just want to say thanks to Councilmember Herbold for your work on these four pieces of legislation.

I know you've been working diligently on these and you're under the weather today and I think it just shows that your commitment to getting these over the finish line before budget.

So it's a lot of work and thanks for your championing of these.

I'll drink to that.

Any other questions or comments?

This is also cold medicine.

Cold medicine.

Please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

O'Brien.

Aye.

Pacheco.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

Bagshaw.

Aye.

Herbold.

Aye.

Juarez.

Aye.

President Harrell.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Bill passed, the chair will sign it.

Please read the next agenda item, the short title.

Agenda item seven, Council Bill 119639, relating to Seattle Public Utilities, declaring certain real property rights to be surplus to the needs of Seattle Public Utilities.

Committee recommends the bill pass.

Council Member Herbold.

This is legislation to authorize Seattle Public Utilities to grant an easement for access across portions of the Cedar River water pipeline right of way to serve adjacent properties that would otherwise not have driveway access.

Granting this easement would resolve a property owner lawsuit and allow for some minimal compensation to the city of easement rights of $3,500.

Thank you.

Any questions or comments?

If not, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

O'Brien.

Aye.

Pacheco.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

Bagshaw.

Aye.

Herbold.

Aye.

Juarez.

Aye.

President Harrell.

Aye.

Eight in favor and none opposed.

The bill passed and the chair was silent.

Please read the report of the Housing, Health, Energy, and Workers' Rights Committee.

The report of the Housing, Health, Energy, and Workers' Rights Committee, agenda item eight, Council Bill 119631 relating to the City Light Department authorizing General Mandra and Chief Executive Officer of City Light to execute the Northern Grid Funding Agreement authorizing the execution of supplements, extensions, and amendments to such agreements subject to appropriated budget authority and ratifying confirming certain prior acts.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you, Mr. President.

This is one of five bills dealing with Seattle City Light today.

And first and foremost, I want to say thanks and congratulations to Erin House, who is wrapping up this year with this medley of Seattle City Light grand finale bills.

So thanks to her for her work.

Council Bill 119631 enables City Light to enter into a two-year funding agreement with Northern Grid and Biennial Extensions.

Seattle City Light has been participating in regional transmission planning as a member of Columbia Grid since 2009. The transmission owners in the Pacific Northwest are consolidating into a larger region by having a single process for enhanced regional planning with an expanded planning footprint.

Transmission planning is key to long-term operations of the Western Electric Grid and is a critical element to maintain the reliability of the transmission grid in the near and long term.

By participating in the regional transmission planning We have included Seattle City, sorry, Seattle City Light has included this participation in their budget, and by changing the entity, Seattle City Light is not seeking additional appropriations.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

Any questions or comments?

Now, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

O'Brien?

Aye.

Pacheco?

Aye.

Sawant?

Aye.

Bagshaw?

Aye.

Herbold?

Aye.

Juarez?

Aye.

President Harrell?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Bill passed and Chair was signed.

Next agenda item.

Agenda item nine, Council Bill 119632 relating to the City Light Department, granting authority for the department to offer term limited pilot programs to study demand response and low-income assistant programs.

Committee recommends the bill pass.

Council Member Esqueda.

Council Colleagues, as you may remember in July of 2018, we requested recommendations in our updated Seattle City Light rate redesign as part of the resolution adopting Seattle City Light's 2019 to 24 strategic plan and endorsed a six-year path for those rate changes.

Seattle City Light review panel and the Seattle City Light responded to this request in the rate design report and by submitting this draft report to us in April of this year.

So, this effort in front of us moves forward with four of those pilots to help us take those recommendations from the review panel to the next step.

And again, thanks to the all-volunteer body, nine-member body, for your work on coming up with some strategies, not only for rate redesign, but helping us initiate these four pilot programs.

This includes pilots for low-income customers to inform City Light's future proposal for design discounts, and for services assisting low-income customers.

This ordinance would authorize Seattle City Light to move forward with the pilot programs, and we expect the pilot programs to go live in 2020 to give us ample time to inform our rate design changes later that year, ready for action in 2021.

Very good.

Any questions or comments?

If not, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

O'Brien.

Aye.

Pacheco.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

Bagshaw.

Aye.

Herbold.

Aye.

Moraes.

Aye.

President Harrell.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passed and the chair was silent.

Please read the next agenda item.

Agenda item 10, Council Bill 119633 relating to the rates, terms and conditions for the use and sale of electricity supplied by the City Light Department for 2020. The committee recommends the bill pass.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Thank you, Mr. President.

This is a technical ordinance that includes three elements related to Seattle City Light rates and fees.

The first is the franchise agreement between Seattle and Burien, the City of Seattle and Burien.

The second is how City Light handles cost adjustments triggered by the Bonneville Power Administration.

the entity we pay for power and the transmission of power.

And the third technical aspect here is adding a new code section related to electric vehicle charging stations, outlining that the facilities are available to any member of the public and authorizing City Light to design fees to reflect the cost of the service and recoup the capital and operating costs of the charging equipment plus the cost of the energy used.

Very good.

Any questions or comments?

If not, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

was gonna I O'Brien I put Jaco I so want a bank shot I her bold I whereas I president Harrell I aid in favor none opposed bill passenger side please read agenda item number 11

Agenda item 11, Council Bill 119659 relating to emergency assistance for low-income City Light Department and Seattle Public Utilities Department customers.

Amending sections 21.49.042 and 21.76.065 of the Seattle Municipal Code to expand and align eligibility and assistance guidelines for emergency assistance programs.

Committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you, Mr. President.

This effort was initiated last year through a statement of legislative intent, co-sponsored by myself and Councilmember Herbold.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Herbold, for your work back in the budget and on this legislation.

That slide requested recommendations for Seattle City Light and Seattle Public Utilities to improve and increase enrollment in the utility discount program and other assistance for low-income customer households in Seattle.

The two departments, Seattle City Light and Seattle Public Utilities, worked together through an interdepartmental team and out of that work came recommendations to expand and streamline access to emergency assistance for utility bills again I think the general public when they receive a bill they don't distinguish whether or not it's a Seattle City light bill or public utilities.

It's all city government and we want to make sure that we're streamlining access to assistance programs for families throughout our region.

We have been able to now incorporate recommendations both for Seattle City Light through my office and Seattle Public Utilities through Councilmember Herbold's office and and integrate these updates into one bill for both utilities.

Three pieces I'd like to highlight.

One is that we are extending eligibility to more people by raising the qualifying income level from 70% of the area median income to 80% of the area median income.

We are also increasing the number of times per year emergency assistance is available to families with children from once per year to at least twice per year and increasing the maximum credit or assistance for these families from 50% of the bill to 100% of the bill up to $200.

And I think these go nice with the policy we talked about this morning and last week in our committee about changing the approach and ways that we're engaging with customers as well.

So they know various options for paying their utility bills without it appearing to be in a threatening manner.

So people know how many options they have and how we as a public utility want to work with them to make sure bills get paid.

I would love to hear if Councilmember Herbold has anything to add to this as well, because I think we have an amendment.

Councilmember Herbold.

I appreciate it.

So we have a proposed substitute that would allow customers to receive emergency assistance without yet having set up a payment plan, but have indicated to SPU that they're in need of assistance.

There is some language in the current Seattle Municipal Code that requires the customer to have set up a payment plan in order to access assistance.

That is not a requirement.

The language in the settlement code creates a barrier.

And there may be some instances, not only would it be a barrier, it just would be unnecessary because they're paying off their entire bill.

And you certainly don't need a payment plan when you're coming current.

I move to amend council bill 11 96 59 by substituting version 2 for version 1a moved and seconded to substitute version 2 for version 1a and thanks for explaining the contents as well this morning during the council briefing customer her world any questions on the amendment only all those in favor of the amendment please say aye aye opposed the ayes have it unanimously uh any more discussion on the based legislation as amended.

Council Member Mosqueda, we're good?

No, I'm good, thank you.

Okay, any questions or comments before we vote?

If not, please call the roll on the passage of the amended bill.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

O'Brien?

Aye.

Pacheco?

Aye.

Sawant?

Aye.

Bagshaw?

Aye.

Herbold?

Aye.

Juarez?

Aye.

President Harrell?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Bill passed and the Chair will sign it.

Please read agenda item number 12.

Agenda item 12, Council Bill 119635 relating to the City Light Department and the Office of Housing, transferring jurisdiction of the former Loyal Heights and Finney Substation properties from the City Light Department to the Office of Housing for the purpose of developing permanent affordable home ownership.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Council Member Esqueda.

Thank you, Mr. President.

This is the grand finale to the grand finale of City Light bills and efforts coming out of the Housing, Health, Energy, and Workers' Rights Committee.

This legislation and the subsequent housing that will be built as a result of this legislation really stems from the work that you all supported last year.

The two pieces of legislation that I sponsored in 2018 that said if we have surplus property in the city, whether it's at Seattle City Light or any other department, we should be maintaining that land in public hands at the city and building affordable housing on it.

We were able to do this because of the work of the state legislature, who passed in 2018 House Bill 2382, giving Washington the jurisdiction to express the express authority to sell, transfer, or lease public surplus property at no cost or low cost.

to other public entities for the purpose of providing affordable housing.

So I want to thank Representative Ryu, former Speaker Frank Chopp, who led the efforts on this.

And we know that this is critically important right now as we think about the overall cost of land in this city continuing to skyrocket.

There is a premium on Seattle's real estate market and the ability to convey underutilized public land removes a major barrier to the creation of affordable housing and community-driven development, to the tune of about a 15% reduction in the cost of overall construction of housing.

When we build on publicly owned surplus property, we're helping to maintain keeping land in public hands and meet the city's growing need for more affordable homes.

reduce displacement, and help address the affordability crisis that many of our families are facing.

I'm really excited about this piece of legislation in front of you, and I think that it is important to note where these parcels are as we think about increasing access to high-opportunity neighborhoods.

The sites include Finney Ridge and Loyal Heights.

These are currently vacant, unused parcels of property and access to high opportunity neighborhoods.

So think about bus lanes and schools and childcare and parks.

This is really an area that I think if we get more folks the ability to live in these neighborhoods and, for example, here have permanently affordable home ownership opportunities, We're creating a true transformation in our city that reflects the values of the original intent, which was to help more people be able to stay in the city, to have affordable options, and ideally be able to have a smaller commute to their work or to have greater stability.

in their community overall.

We also know that it's not just about where you live and getting from your workplace to home, it's about access to childcare and health clinics, libraries, and so much more, public spaces.

We have deliberately been working through the Office of Housing to make sure that as we create additional housing opportunities, we are looking at helping to serve those who are at most risk of displacement through affirmative marketing, and community preference policies that we also included in the disposition policy.

This is a really great opportunity for us to, basically there's two parcels here.

One piece relates to city-owned, sorry, to one thing that we're doing is moving land from the City of Seattle's City Light Department to the Office of Housing, and we're gonna be partnering then when the land gets transferred to Office of Housing, with Homestead Community Land Trust and Habitat for Humanity to invest in creating at least additional 19 condominiums in Finney Ridge and eight family-sized townhomes in Loyal Heights.

These properties will allow for us to create more homes that will be brought online faster at lower cost and allow the public investment to be spread further.

Thank you again to the partnership of the Washington State Legislature for expressly saying that we have this authority.

People questioned it in the past.

They passed House Bill 2382 to make it very clear.

And here we are at the City of Seattle, the first city to pass into legislation the ability to transfer land at low cost or no cost.

And here we are now, the first city, again, to enact the tenants of that House Bill that sent that state bill and to make sure that we actualize creating affordable housing throughout Seattle.

So I'm hoping this is the first of many and really excited to see the disposition policies coming into fruition and action here.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

Any questions or comments?

If not, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

O'Brien?

Aye.

Pacheco?

Aye.

Sawant?

Aye.

Bagshaw?

Aye.

Herbold?

Aye.

Morris?

Aye.

President Harrell?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill pass and the chair will sign it.

Please read agenda item 13.

Agenda item 13 appointment 1429 reappointment of Leon Garnett as members City Light Review Panel for term to April 12th 2021. The committee recommends the appointment be confirmed.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Oops, excuse me.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Mr. Garnett is the Chief Operating Officer at Bird Bar Place, an organization that works directly with low-income utility customers in administering the federally sponsored Low-Income Home Emergency Assistance Program, or LIHEAP.

LIHEAP serves over 5,000 city-like customers each year who live at or below 125% of the federal poverty level.

In his over 15 years at Bird Bar, Leon has worked directly with clients to evaluate and improve program effectiveness.

His work also provides him with unique understanding of customer needs related to energy use and consumption.

This is Mr. Garnett's second term in position seven.

Looking to see if he's here.

He was at our committee last week, and he is serving in the low-income customer service representative role.

He has served on the Seattle City Light Review Panel since 2016, and we're really excited about his participation.

Thank you very much.

Any other questions or comments on this legislation?

Council Member Sawant.

Just wanted to add that Leon Garnett has been a very important member of the Central District community in general, but especially in relation to the utility discount program of City Light and in fact played an an important role when we, when I was chairing the Energy Committee, when we tried to and succeeded in making the utility discount program primarily opt-out rather than opt-in, because studies, sociological studies show that when subsidized, subsidy programs for low-income households are opt-in, the rate at which households enroll is much lower than if the system automatically enrolls them in and makes it an opt-out program, which was a key component of expanding the utility discount program to far more than it was, it used to be, to enroll as many eligible households as possible.

So, I'm happy to vote yes on this.

Thank you for the comments.

Very good.

Any other questions or comments?

Those in favor of confirming the appointment, please vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed vote no.

The motion carries.

The appointment is confirmed.

Please read the report of the Sustainability and Transportation Committee.

The report of the Sustainability and Transportation Committee agenda item 14, Council Bill 119614, Vacating Car Place North between North 31st Street and North 35th Street on the petition of Seattle Public Utilities.

Committee recommends the bill pass.

Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you.

So there's a street vacation for Seattle Public Utilities.

This is the North Transfer Station.

This has been going on for a number of years.

Folks may recall that years ago, before the rebuild, there was a street that was to the, what direction?

That would be the east of the existing transfer station, and there was a request to vacate that and buy the parcels on the other side of that street to be able to have a larger footprint for the The transfer station that work has all been done.

They've met their public benefit requirements including purchasing a parcel and kitty corner installing and maintaining in perpetuity Playground there.

They also have other public benefits including a viewing room above the above the what do they call it the no no tip floor or something and then the also some public space on the east side of the property and This would be the final action we take, just certifying that they've met their requirement and the street would be vacated.

Thank you.

Any questions or comments?

If not, please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

O'Brien.

Aye.

Pacheco.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

Bagshaw.

Aye.

Herbold.

Aye.

Juarez.

Aye.

President Harrell.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Bill passes and Chair will sign it.

Please read the next agenda item.

Agenda item 15, resolution 31908 requesting the Seattle Department of Transportation develop policy options for the maintenance and existing sidewalks creating create a public education program on snow and ice removal responsibilities and developed a program to enforce snow and ice removal requirements by private property owners.

Committee recommends the resolution be adopted.

Thank you.

I'm excited to bring this resolution forward.

This is a piece of legislation that Councilmember Herbold led on with community members.

So Councilmember Herbold, if you'd like to speak to it, if you're up to it.

Thank you.

I think I'll muddle through.

I appreciate the opportunity to do so.

This resolution requests that SDOT develop policy options for the maintenance of sidewalks, creating a public education program on snow and ice removal responsibilities and request SDOT to prepare a report on how SDOT enforces the section of the municipal code requiring snow and ice removal as well as ways to consider how to clear ways of clearing the sidewalks by commercial property owners within 12 hours of a snow event.

In the sustainability transportation Committee, we saw two short films from Rooted in Rights about the impacts of sidewalks with changes in height on disabled persons and the impact of snow and ice where a disabled person was unable to leave home, as we heard today again, and access transit for eight days.

The resolution requests that the public education program begin no later than November 1st, 2019. This is the public education program related to the responsibilities to remove ice.

as well as exploring distribution of information through utility bills and social media and through other traditional media sources.

The resolution highlights the fact that there are 156,000 sidewalk issues that the city is aware of from the 2017 sidewalk assessment.

93,000 sidewalk issues are height differences.

38,000 sidewalk issues are surface conditions.

20,000 sidewalk conditions are obstructions.

The resolution requests that SDOT examine the sidewalk maintenance program in other cities, specifically referencing Denver's work.

And in Denver, property owners are responsible for the repair and maintenance of sidewalks adjacent to their properties.

But to help with repairs, the city offers extended repayment assistance and affordability discounts for property owners who qualify.

Additional points point to the insufficiency of our move levy to address the sheer number of sidewalk problems that have been identified.

The move levy commitment is to repair up to 225 blocks of damaged sidewalks.

And as mentioned, there are over 156,000 issues.

In asking that SDOT develop policy options for the maintenance of sidewalks, we're looking to be much more effective in addressing this problem and responsive to our communities who really rely on our sidewalks to assist in mobility and just getting around.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Any other questions or comments on the legislation, Council Member O'Brien?

I really appreciate Councilmember Herbold's leadership on this and really appreciate hearing from so many advocates the urgency and need to do some work here.

Additionally, the experience that so many folks had during the snowstorm last year, we don't get those every year, which I think speaks to some of the challenges that we're not prepared in the way that we need to be.

And so I think especially calling out, coming up with some new policies.

Our current requirement is that the property owner is responsible for shoveling snow.

There's really no enforcement of that, and I'm not sure the city would enforce on someone who maybe isn't physically capable of shoveling their sidewalk for whatever reason.

And so we have a policy that maybe sounds good on paper, but at the end of the day, results in kind of a mishmash of what happens in a snow or ice event.

And so, not that there's gonna be an easy solution or an obvious solution, but this is something that absolutely needs a better policy than what we currently have today.

So thrilled to support this and thanks for everybody's work on it.

Thank you, Cast Member Bryan.

Okay, and thank you for staying here and your strong advocacy as said by my colleagues.

There's no other comments or questions.

Those in favor of adopting the resolution, please vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed vote no.

The motion carries and the resolution is adopted and the chair will sign it.

Please read the next agenda item.

Agenda item 16, resolution 31909, requesting the Seattle Department of Transportation develop a traffic signals policy.

The committee recommends the resolution be adopted as amended.

Council Member O'Brien.

Thank you very much.

In public comment today, we heard something that reflected my reality too, which was there's not a policy for signal timing.

And in fact, in talking to the folks at Seattle Department of Transportation, they believe that if this passes, or when they hopefully adopt one sometime next year, it may be the first in the nation where there's an actual signal policy, which is kind of a crazy reality.

But obviously, it's an industry that has evolved over time, and we're at a place now with technology that folks are making pretty important decisions on as best they can with their experiences, a traffic engineer who's at an intersection.

And as we also heard in public comment, it's really hard to change something when you have to track down dozens of different traffic engineers to try to figure out what happened, as opposed to have a single policy that says, you should have so many seconds to cross an intersection based on the width.

And that should be determined by figuring out the various types of users and ensuring that everyone has enough time to safely cross an intersection.

Or maybe there's different conditions in different places.

And so no doubt that it's a complex field to get into, but having a policy that says how we make those decisions provides a level of transparency at a bare minimum that gets us going.

And then hopefully with that transparency comes a commitment to continually look and revise to make sure that it's working to meet the needs of all users as opposed to just the ones that today we can kind of measure, which tend to be big, multi-thousand pounds of metal are the things that we can measure best.

Thank you, Councilmember O'Brien.

Any questions or comments?

Councilmember Paxson.

Just comments, and Councilmember O'Brien, I appreciate your leadership on this, but I also want to say thanks to Rooted in Rights.

It's made a big difference to see your little videos, and I just encourage you for that.

And of course, Gordon from our Seattle neighborhood, Greenways, your work and making it much more visible.

whether it's greenways or separated protected bicycle lanes has really made a difference as well.

I'm really surprised that you say that, first of all, that we would be the first, because I look at some of the NACTO principles, and it strikes me that many cities have done something similar to this.

But whatever, it's great timing for us to get engaged.

And I really want to acknowledge and say thank you on your 1, 2, 3, 4. six whereas in there that you actually mention age-friendly cities.

So thank you for doing that and I hope somebody will continue to carry this on next year.

I'll help.

Thank you.

And I just want to say again, thank you.

This legislation and the preceding legislation on snow and ice removal, for me at least, it really gets to the heart of equity.

Looking at it at a lens of others than just our lens and And while there might be rules and guidelines and best practices, I don't think that they're the kinds of policies that really drive equity in this kind of work.

And so I'm going to look forward to seeing the policies developed from the sidelines, but thank you for bringing this legislation forward.

Okay.

No other comments.

Those in favor of adopting the resolution, please vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed vote no.

The motion carries.

The resolution is adopted and chair will sign it.

Please read item 17 through 19.

Agenda item 17 through 19 appointments 1421 through 1423 reappointments of Carla D Salter, Aaron Ting, and Alex Wakeman Rouse as members of Seattle Transit Advisory Board for term to August 2nd, 2021. The committee recommends the appointments be confirmed.

Yes, Member O'Brien.

Thank you.

These are all reappointments to the Seattle Transit Advisory Board.

Quickly, Carla Salter is also known as the bus chick.

She has a long history of advocacy through her writing and blogging.

She currently teaches English.

Erin has been on the board and helped grow the Transit Benefit District to serve 71% of Seattle households.

and Alex, who works on federal policy on physical infrastructure issues, but her passion is ensuring Seattle's an inclusive, vibrant city.

All do a great job.

I'm excited to have them back.

Very good.

Any questions or comments?

Those in favor of confirming the appointments, please vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed vote no.

The motion carries.

The appointments are confirmed.

Please read items 20 through 21.

20 and 21 appointments, 1427 and 1424 appointments of Benjamin Piestis and Andrea Ley as members of Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board for term to August 31st, 2021. The committee recommends that these appointments be confirmed.

Council Member O'Brien.

Thank you.

So these are new appointments.

Both excited to have folks bring in their expertise to this board.

Benjamin works in the public schools as a bilingual instructional assistant.

And Andrea has worked in consulting using data and metrics to help evaluate programs.

Both of their expertise will be valuable on the Bank Advisory Board.

Thank you much.

Any questions or comments?

Those in favor of confirming the appointments, please vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed vote no.

The motion carries and appointments are confirmed.

That concludes our agenda for today.

Is there any further business to come before the council?

You've got one on your left.

Council Member O'Brien.

I would ask colleagues to be excused on October 7th and October 14th.

Second.

Moved and seconded that Council Member O'Brien be excused on the 7th and the 14th of October.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

The excuse is granted.

Council Member Bryan.

Just I'm going to do my best to call in for at least one agenda item next week.

But I can only do that with your all support to suspend the rules and allow that to happen.

So we'll see how that plays out next Monday.

Very good.

We're our technologists are prepared.

So we'll see how that goes.

With that we stand adjourned and everyone have a great rest of the day.

Thank you.

you