Seattle City Council Sustainability & Renters' Rights Committee 3/23/21

Good afternoon, everyone.

This is the regularly scheduled meeting of the Sustainability and Renters' Rights Committee of the Seattle City Council.

Today is Tuesday, March 21st, 2021. The time is 2.06 p.m.

I am the chair of the committee, Councilmember Kshama Sawant.

Will the clerk, Ted Verdone, from my office please call the roll?

Kshama Sawant?

Present.

Councilmember Morales?

Council Member Juarez?

Here.

Council Member Lewis?

Present.

Council Member Peterson?

Here.

Five present.

Thank you and thank you to council members for being here at this committee and also our presenters will be coming up very shortly.

We have several important discussions on today's agenda.

First, we will bring a briefing on the end of lease loophole in Seattle's Just Cause eviction protections and how that loophole was closed in federal way.

We will also look at the current House Bill 1236, which institutes just cost protection statewide, which is a step forward from the status quo but contains seriously significant and troubling loopholes, especially the loophole exempting initial term leases, which was proposed by Democratic Representative Strom Peterson and approved by the House.

This means any tenant in their first term lease in an apartment would not be covered by Just Cause protections.

Also troubling is a loophole that allows landlords to evict tenants for an undefined economic or business reason.

The intention for this briefing is to provide the committee and members of the public with background information to benefit future meetings which I plan to organize in this committee to discuss with renters and community organizers.

As I've said yesterday at the briefing of the city council, as chair of the sustainability and renters rights committee, We are committed to closing the end of lease loophole this year.

And this is something my office has spent a lot of time over the last years, including with former Councilmember Nicola Carter.

Unlike the current House Bill 1236, the legislation that my office wants to bring forward will contain no loopholes, no exceptions, every tenant should be covered by just cost protections, but for that we will need a renters rights movement that will have to fight against big corporate landlords because without that fighting strategy we will not be able to win what we want to win and we will end up getting what ended up happening with the State House bill.

I've asked that central staff along with Ted Verdone from my office draft legislation to extend just-cause protections to all renters whether in month-to-month agreements or term leases.

and whether the lease is an initial one or a renewal.

And the federal way law enacted by voter initiative serves as a very good template.

I welcome all committee members, as I said in my press release this afternoon, who would like to fight for just cause protections and removing all loopholes.

I especially wanted to recognize Council Member Morales, whose office has been discussing just cause and other measures with community members and has expressed interest in collaborating with our office and with our community.

I wholeheartedly welcome that.

And I hope that we can move forward soon on that alongside other renters' rights also.

I would really urge members of the public to read the press release I sent this afternoon, which talked about the right to counsel that is coming up and just cause, but also other renters' rights that we need to pass in our path towards having a real full-fledged tenants' bill of rights, including rent control.

Next, the committee today will hear from the Office of Sustainability and Environment about Seattle's greenhouse gas inventory and their work addressing climate change this year.

After OSC presents, we will meet with and vote to confirm the first group of appointees to Seattle's Green New Deal Oversight Board.

There are four appointments already for both today who are long-term climate organizers who have proven themselves to be real advocates organizing for a Green New Deal, Matt Remley and Rachel Heaton from Mazaska Talks.

Jess Wallach from 350 Seattle and Debolina Banerjee from Puget Sound SAGE.

In addition, we will discuss with people we look forward to appointing in the near future, Christophe Strauss from UAW 4121 and the Blue Green Alliance and Christina Chu from the Sunrise Movement.

Finally, we hope that all the appointees and future appointees to the Green New Deal Oversight Board.

We'll stick around for a final agenda item to discuss organizing for a Green New Deal in Seattle, what we need to do to electrify the infrastructure in Seattle to stop burning fossil fuels for transportation and buildings.

Ultimately, the only way to address climate change is to do a massive investment in rebuilding the infrastructure of our society to electrify heat, shipping, manufacturing, and transportation, and to generate that electricity with wind, solar, hydro, and other climate-neutral energy sources.

Some of you may have seen my op-ed in the Urbanist yesterday where I noted that the recent PSE gas fire in the Central District in District 3, a near disaster averted only thanks to the expert and, to be honest, courageous intervention by Union Fire Department and PSE workers because that is dangerous work.

This was a warning sign that we need to get off fracked for-profit gas.

In researching for this op-ed, my office learned that fully two-thirds of PSC's energy generation is from gas and coal.

This is just stunning.

This for-profit company is literally making hundreds of millions in profits for their executives and major shareholders while destroying our planet and, of course, putting the lives of their workers and the community in peril.

In contrast, publicly owned Seattle City Light generates nearly 90% of its energy from renewables.

And this is all precisely why our tax Amazon movement fought last year to tax the largest businesses to impart fund Green New Deal projects to get us away from planet destroying energy systems.

The initial tax Amazon investments will begin next year funding building retrofits.

But this has to be just a start because we know much more is needed.

We know we need to even increase the big business taxes.

And frankly, the businesses that will be taxed, many of those have profiteered even during this pandemic.

But we will need to do that in order to have a much larger investment in clean energy, which will also be a public union jobs program that will be necessary as part of the recovery from the economic consequences of the pandemic.

This year, we will also need to meet the struggle to make sure that the planned investment from the Amazon tax in the Green New Deal actually happen and don't end up getting raided to cover for the political establishment's failure to tax big business to prevent austerity during the recession.

In other words, we want to prevent austerity.

We want the budget to be fully funded for our needs all the way from parks to affordable housing.

And we need funding to make the Green New Deal advancements also possible.

Before we begin all those items, we have public comment.

Ted, please read the names of each person who signed up, and also let us know how many people are signed up.

And each person will have two minutes.

There are two people signed up for public comment.

Angie Gerald, followed by Matthew Wilder.

You need to press star six to unmute yourself.

Angie Gerald, you should be able to speak now.

But you will need to hit star six.

Should we go to Matthew Wilder?

Go ahead.

Is that Matthew?

Thanks.

My name is Matt.

I'm a renter in District 3. I'm really excited that the Renter's Rights Committee, chaired by Council Member Swann, is going to be presenting on the loopholes, the just cause protections for renters who are facing eviction.

These loopholes have existed for decades because the original law that was passed in the 80s gave them to the demands of corporate landlords demanding these loopholes.

These loopholes mean that tenants on term leases can be evicted without the landlord being required legally to give a clear reason for why they wanted to do the eviction in the first place.

So, yeah, I want to thank Councilmember Sawant's office and the Renter's Rights Movement, including the Tenants Union, the East Seattle, many labor unions.

And so, of course, we've been fighting for years to close these loopholes and to just cause protections.

Just days ago, a bill in the state house that was meant to close all these loopholes and just cause protections actually ended up with loopholes that do not solve the problems.

And in some ways, they actually make them worse.

And this is when the state legislature is dominated by the Democratic Party.

Corbett landlords, I think, as we all know, are the landlords who are doing most addictions and we're not going to be able to win interest rates victories, whether it means closing these loopholes, the just cause loopholes or.

For winning the right to counsel or things like rent control without a fighting strategy and yeah, that's the only reason that we'll be able to be able to win crucial victories since 2014. by courageously going up against corporate landlords and despite the opposition of even Democrats who say they support them, right those rights, but aren't really willing to go up against corporate landlords.

And again, we saw this last week on Monday when six out of the eight Democrats voted to delay the vote on the Rights Council Bill.

I was on there for public comments.

There was a large contingent of people who were against any loopholes or need testing or eligibility requirements.

There were so many people that I wasn't even able to get on.

I was number 32 or something.

But, yeah, as a community letter that was sent to the council says, meet testing will be very bad.

It will prevent some of the most vulnerable people from being able to access the services that are needed by the council.

Even having to sign a paper stating what your income will be a barrier and often because people when they get to court, they might not remember exactly what their income is and they may feel afraid to sign a piece of paper.

The whole eviction case is going through the court.

Thank you, Matthew.

And do we have Angie now?

Hi, my name is Angie and I'm a small housing provider in the Ballard Phinney area.

I'm calling to note that City Council continues to not include small landlords in the legislative process.

Today's presentation refers to fixed term leases as loopholes, a pejorative and misleading approach.

It lacks recognition of the ownership and management of independent local properties.

Fixed term contracts are a fair and transparent way for tenants and housing providers to manage their business relationships.

and for small property owners to manage their risks and responsibilities over the years.

This committee is called Renters' Rights and the commission that feeds legislative feedback to it is also called Renters' Rights.

In slides posted for today's presentation it is notable that local landlords are not included.

No one is conducting outreach or analysis with us using the RRIO database nor inviting us to speak to council.

Seattle's small housing providers don't get email reminders with prepared speaking points and half hour training calls to prepare testimony prior to the meeting beginning.

So our city will have fewer of us and that's not a good thing.

Seattle's constantly changing laws have made it clear that risk complexity costs and stress are uncontrollable factors for small local owners.

Many of our new laws are too onerous to apply to public housing providers while broadly impacting mom and pops.

People are selling their rental units and otherwise removing them from the market.

Your policies are creating advantages for deep-pocketed corporate investors and are increasingly prohibitive for small ones.

Today's discussion is not about loopholes.

It's about public control of private property and discouraging community members from operating affordable long-term rentals in Seattle.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ted were there anybody else signed up for public comment.

There are no other people on public comment.

Okay.

Thank you to the people who spoke in public comment.

And I, because there's nobody else signed up, I will close the public comment and go on to our first item on the agenda, which is a briefing on just cause eviction protections from Ted Verdone in my council office.

And this item is scheduled to be a relatively short item because we want to get an overview in preparation for discussions in subsequent committee meetings.

So, Ted, if you want to line up the presentation while I'm speaking.

As I said earlier, my office is absolutely committed to closing the loopholes in Seattle's Just Cause protections this year.

We have that on the work program for this committee this year.

We are hoping to bring a community panels of renters and organizers to advocate for legislation.

And we have always welcomed small landlords who want to stand with renters against unfair evictions and for renters rights as a whole to also contact us.

In fact, there are actually several small landlords who have signed our petitions, including for right to counsel, which was a petition that was organized in the grassroots by Real Change, Be Seattle, Socialist Alternative, perhaps other organizations were part of it as well.

And I believe close to 200 people have signed that petition.

So it's an example.

And also in the eviction moratorium petitions that my office organized, there were several small landlords who signed up saying, I don't evict my tenants.

I've never evicted tenants.

And that I'm opposed to corporate landlords evicting tenants.

And I think, yeah, it's important to point out that The renters' rights laws that my office has worked on, that renters' rights movements have advocated for, have not affected small landlords adversely.

It is precisely meant to address the fact that corporate landlords, big real estate holders who are the most evicting landlords.

So all of these loopholes do need to be closed.

So please, Ted, start by introducing yourself for the record and then get started on the presentation.

Ted Rodone, Office of Council Member Shana Salant.

And as was mentioned, this is a presentation about the just cause eviction protections and closing the end of lease loopholes and other loopholes that do exist in those protections.

In Seattle, there is something called the Just Cause Eviction Ordinance, and that bans evictions unless the reason for the eviction is on a specified list of what's called just causes.

If somebody does not pay their rent, there is a process for that could be a just cause for eviction, although there's also the opportunity for somebody to get caught up on their rent according to this just cause eviction ordinance as an example of the reasons on that list.

In Washington State, outside of Seattle, in most parts of Washington State, there is no protection like that whatsoever.

In most parts of Washington State, renters can be evicted with 20 days' notice in what's called a no-cause eviction, in which the landlord does not even need to say a reason for the eviction.

They do not need to make anything up.

They can just say, you're evicted and that's it.

There are some cities that have just cause eviction protections like Seattle, like Burien, like Federal Way, which I'll mention in a moment.

There is a bill going through the state legislature right now, House Bill 1236, which could create some just cause eviction protection statewide, though it now also has loopholes, which we'll talk about shortly.

In 2019, Federal Way, renters in Federal Way passed a ballot initiative through a grassroots movement.

This was organized by Washington Can, labor unions, other renter rights activists.

They gathered the signatures to put this initiative on the ballot, knocked on doors, and eventually got it passed.

And it created the strongest eviction, just cause eviction protections that exist in Washington State.

And we'll also talk about that bill as a model of what could be possible.

So this presentation specifically about the end of lease loophole which exists in Seattle.

But it's based on the legal complications that arise from state law it's not specific to Seattle's law.

But in Seattle, the Just Cause protections do not stop landlords from refusing to renew a renter's lease.

They prevent landlords from evicting people in the middle of the lease or people on month-to-month leases without any good cause, but they don't protect people at the end of the lease from just having their leases not renewed for no reason whatsoever.

The in this committee the sustainability and renters rights committee, it does, as was mentioned, it does have a work plan, closing that loophole this year in 2021 and I'm sure council members can speak to that.

Federal Way had a creative way of addressing that end-of-lease loophole.

The Stable Homes Initiative protects renters from no-cause evictions.

It also closes that loophole by saying that, quote, between 60 and 90 days prior to the expiration of the existing rental term, the landlord must offer a tenant the opportunity to enter into a new rental agreement or to extend the existing rental agreement.

Essentially, you never get to that end of a lease situation without good cause because of this portion of the Stable Homes Initiative, which is a really good approach to closing that loophole.

The corporate landlord lobby did do basically everything they could do to stop this initiative from being enacted.

Not only did they campaign against its passage, but they sued to attempt to keep it off the ballot, failed to do that.

And once it was passed by voters, they sued to try and prevent it from going into effect.

And that lawsuit was launched in December of 2019 and is still going on.

And the trial date is currently set for July 12 of this year.

So that will hopefully be resolved in favor of the renters shortly.

Washington state House bill 1236. So this creates some just cause eviction protection statewide and we should keep in mind that the status quo that this is going that this is coming from is the statewide.

Rental laws are so stacked against tenants that right now a renter who has done nothing wrong can be evicted with only 20 days notice.

In many ways, and this statewide bill, it does speak to the end of lease loophole.

It does say that at the end of some leases, they need to be renewed or they become month-to-month, except it allows landlords to evict without cause after the initial lease.

And as rents have gone up so rapidly, many, many renters are on their first lease.

And this loophole is not closed for the first lease in its current form.

House Bill 1236 was passed by the House.

It's now in the Senate in the Rules Committee.

There are other differences between 1236 and Seattle's just cause eviction laws that would be worth the committee understanding.

1236 has, in many ways, a longer list of reasons why that landlords are allowed to use to evict people, including some reasons that are quite loosely defined.

For example, a legitimate economic or business reason is a reason why evictions would be allowed under House Bill 1236. And there's not any definition of what counts as a legitimate economic or business reason.

There are other things that were put into 1236 as amendments in the House as it was being voted on.

For example, if a tenant has been required to register as a sex offender, they can be evicted for that reason.

And there are other differences between Seattle's eviction.

There are other defenses against eviction that exist in Seattle that are not considered by House Bill 1236. Like the ban on winter evictions that grassroots movement one and Council Member Sawant's office put forward at the beginning of 2020 that passed that ban on winter evictions is in Seattle's law that's not covered by 1236. And there is the, in Seattle there is a, defense against evictions for the first six months after the eviction moratorium ends.

If you're being evicted for COVID-related economic hardship, that's an issue that there are other bills in Olympia that are discussing that issue, but it's not covered by this bill.

Before you go on, I believe Council Member Juarez has a point.

I did.

Thank you.

I was trying to get, I apologize for not using the hand thing.

I was raising my hand, but you didn't see me, Madam chair.

Just so I'm clear, clear on that first, on that first slide, when you were going back to the just cause eviction and end of lease loopholes.

So yeah.

So basically what you're saying then is that you want to give the renter a right to, if you will, like a rollover rental option?

A month-to-month.

Yeah, they've been either rolling over into month-to-month or having a renewed lease.

Maybe it becomes another 12-month term or however, but one way or the other.

Okay.

I just want to get the language correct.

Okay.

That's what I was clarifying.

Thank you.

And actually, just on that question from Councillor Morris, that is what you were pointing out, that in a federal way, that's the way they wrote the language, right?

That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure I knew the answer.

Right.

Can you confirm that, that's how they did it in a federal way?

Yeah.

Here it says, the landlord must offer the tenant the opportunity to enter into a new rental agreement or extend the existing rental agreement.

Oh, there it is.

Okay.

I was looking at that language.

Okay.

But it's basically a right to a rollover option.

And unless, I mean, you can't just say you have to go because your lease is up.

You got to give them, you can't just boot them.

They can say, look at by, by right.

I kind of, I kind of assumed this right of tenancy and unless you have a good reason and I want to extend it either month to month or a lease, I should be allowed that opportunity.

Right.

Okay.

If you're a renter in good standing.

And yeah, if the landlord is still going to continue to rent that unit, then yes, that you should have the right to write your first use.

Yeah.

Right.

First refusal.

Okay, thank you.

I think this is the slide that we're on.

So, so far in Council Member Selwyn's office, we've investigated closing this end of lease loophole for several years, including monitoring the Federal Way Stable Housing Initiative that we've discussed so far and these Just Cause eviction ordinance attempts statewide.

There's the current bill, House Bill 1236 that we discussed today, but also over the past two years, there have been attempts to create just cause eviction protection statewide that have not succeeded in passing, but bills of that nature have been discussed in Olympia.

We've also, of course, discussed with community and our organizers and renters and met with the city attorney's office to discuss those issues.

And we're obviously quite excited to have the opportunity to finally close this loophole in 12 – sorry, 2021 as federal ways legislation becomes finalized and also as state bills work their way through the legislature.

So the next steps For the upcoming sustainability and renter rights committee meetings is as Councilmember silence said in the introduction.

This committee will hear from renters and community organizers about closing end of lease loopholes and other improvements to Seattle's just cause eviction protections will monitor the progress of federal way stable homes initiative and the progress of house bill.

1236, hopefully advocate for those really glaring loopholes in 1236 to be closed so the best just cause protections can exist statewide.

And we'll ultimately discuss and vote on legislation to strengthen just cause eviction protections in Seattle.

Thank you, Ted.

I believe that was your last slide, right?

Yes.

Okay, and I just wanted to clarify for anybody who was looking at the presentation that we had shared before the when the agenda was published.

We have since the presentation that was just provided was an updated version because it was since we published the agenda that we found out from Um, staff about the new amendments that had passed in the state house bill, which really just changed the character of the bill entirely as, um, as, uh, uh, the presentation show just now from Ted.

In fact, both Council Member Herbold and I spoke to it yesterday in the legislative agenda briefing that the City Council had from staff about the state bill.

And in fact, just to quote Council Member Herbold, who I thought described it really well, is, you know, she's referring to the Seattle loophole, which is basically people who are in term leases, renters who are in term leases, don't have just cost protections.

And that's, and I actually had a question about that, and I don't know if Ted has an answer to it, but something that we should research, I think, through this committee.

But as was stated by Council Member Herbold, it actually, The bill in the state legislature no longer fixes the Seattle loophole, which is what the original version would have done, but actually it places the problem language in the state law.

So, you know, in other words, yes, right now in the state, the status quo is that no renters really have just cost protections because you can be evicted with notice of less than 20 days.

At the same time, what this state law currently does is it introduces highly problematic language.

And as far as Seattle is concerned, it does not provide fixing the loophole that we have been looking for.

It would be ideal if the state law itself covered and offered full-fledged, non-loophole, just-cost protections for all people in the state.

That would be ideal.

But that has not happened.

So I agree with Council Member Herbold that this is quite problematic.

But on that point, on one of the main loopholes that has been introduced in the state law where people on term leases do have just cause protection except for if they're on an initial lease.

But that really is problematic because what's to prevent landlords from evicting people in the initial lease because that's the loophole.

But I think a numerical question, the statistical question that we need to ask is what percentage of tenants in Seattle are on average on term leases every year.

We spoke to organizers in B Seattle and they believe that it's the majority of renters in Seattle who are term leases.

I just wanted to give Ted a chance to let us know if there's any research we have from our office about that.

I don't have those numbers, but I'm happy to look them up and provide them to the committee when we get them.

That'll be really good because it will give us a sense of what proportion of Seattle residents would be affected potentially by the exclusion of first-time term leases.

And also that would give us a guide as to what kind of law we should pass in Seattle to close the loopholes.

I'm looking for Zoom hands.

Council Member Morales, go ahead.

Did that work?

Am I unmuted?

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you, Councilmember Sawant.

I want to thank you and your staff for all the work that you've done following these various pieces of legislation and sharing that information with us, especially on the state legislation.

I think it's really important to close the extermination loophole because we know it leaves tenants without any sort of just cause protection.

And I just want to also thank you for your continued focus on this issue.

We have to bring just cause protections to all tenants, regardless of the lease term or type.

And it's something that we've also been working on since I took office, which is not as long as you.

But nevertheless, I think it's really important for us to continue this work.

And just as I had mentioned in briefing yesterday, My office started these conversations before the COVID pandemic began, and so we restarted at the beginning of this year.

My staff has been working with printers and organizers and advocates and attorneys from the Stay Healthy Coalition.

to bring some legislation before council for the end of the eviction moratorium.

So I do want to let our committee colleagues know that we've been meeting with law and central staff to move forward on this.

Last week, Asha from central staff started drafting some legislation on behalf of our office, and She will hopefully have that to us soon.

The stakeholders that we've been working with, and we've drafted our base legislation in consultation with them, but out of respect for their planning process, the group isn't really ready to share the legislation yet.

But I do want to let our committee members know that as soon as that's ready for sharing, we will have that out to you as soon as possible.

I do want to say, finally, this is an important step in fixing many of the issues that our Just Cause Eviction Ordinance has, and we need it before the end of the moratorium.

And our community members want it written so that it withstands any kind of challenge.

So we are working diligently and meticulously to make sure that community gets what they want.

We want to make sure that it reflects their wishes and that our council colleagues get their questions answered so that we can pass this legislation when it comes for us.

I look forward to this conversation and Councilmember Sawant, I know my staff has spoken to your staff to just express our desire to work closely with you on this, but I just want to say personally in this open meeting that we're really looking forward to working with you and to trying to get this done so that we can make sure our community members have the protection they deserve and that we are fixing this and piece of art just cause eviction ordinance.

Thank you, Councilman Morales.

And as I've said before, we are very happy to work together with your office.

I'm glad you're supporting this.

And it's not a question of longevity on the council.

It's a question of having elected representatives willing to fight corporate landlords and willing to stand with renters.

So I welcome you and any other council member who wants to do what we have done in the last seven years, which is genuinely take on the power of corporate landlords, but not as an individual council office but really organizing renters, which was the only basis for us to win.

really victories that were not thought of as possible.

I mean, we won the move-in fee cap and payment plan, which doesn't sound, I mean, when I describe it, it doesn't sound sexy, but the number of renters who have come up to me just randomly at grocery stores or while going on a walk saying that the move-in fee cap and payment plan made a huge difference to them just to be able to move into an apartment and stop their couch surfing episodes is just, it's just overwhelming the number of renters who have given us that feedback.

But there was an example of a law that we were able to win only because we organized with Washington Community Action Network, with SCA, Seattle Education Association, WOSI, Socialist Alternative, and renters who are not affiliated with the organization but wanted to fight for it, including actually tech workers.

that also who are high salaried but they're very young, they have no savings, the move in fee cap and payment plan made a huge difference to them.

So it also ended up creating unity between more highly paid workers and less paid, lower paid workers.

Similarly, we won the Carl Hagelin law as well.

And actually too numerous to mention here.

So closing the just cause loopholes is crucial.

And I'll really agree with you that we want to make sure that it withstands any challenge, but we're not going to be able to do it through legalistic measures.

It has to be a strong law, legally speaking, but at the end of the day, every renters rights law has been challenged in court and has withstood because of the high level of community support and I think that's our task as well, building that community support.

through renter organizing and recognizing that there's no option but to fight corporate landlords.

Since we are over time, I will move on to the next item because we'll come back to the discussion obviously in subsequent committees.

Our next agenda item will be a discussion with the Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment about their greenhouse gas inventory.

which essentially tracks every metric ton of CO2 and other greenhouse gases that cause climate change that are produced in Seattle.

They will talk about their findings and about their work for the coming year.

I would also like to recognize that over the last year, OSC staff have run a hugely important grocery voucher program in Seattle, which has helped thousands of families to stay fed, especially in this time of pandemic.

That was an emergency task they took on during the pandemic, which is not usually their job and was a lot of work, but it was very important.

And my office really appreciates all the work that the staff have done to make that a success.

Would our presenters please introduce yourselves and then take it away?

Sure.

Thank you so much, Council Member Sawant.

I am Michelle Caulfield.

I am the interim, the new interim director, newly interim director for the Office of Sustainability and Environment.

Good afternoon.

My name is Liliana Ayala, and I'm the Climate Justice Director at the Office of Sustainability and Environment.

Good afternoon, everyone.

This is Ani Krishna.

I use he, him pronouns, and I am the Climate Data and Policy Manager on Lilly's team.

Good afternoon.

Buenas tardes.

My name is Jose Manuel Vasquez, and I am the new Green New Deal advisor.

All right, so we've got our team together.

I will kick us off.

I want to first start by saying thank you, Councilmember Sawant, and thank you, Councilmember Committee members.

In particular, Councilmember Sawant, thank you for recognizing the work of the Emergency Grocery Voucher Program.

I want to also call out that that has been a really important partnership with council and it feels really great to be able to pivot and serve the needs of our communities during a really difficult time.

Also going to call out our former director, Jessica Finkhoven, who was a big champion for that program as well.

And of course, the mayor who led that to be launched in March soon after the pandemic hit.

So thank you so much for your time.

We're really excited to be here.

I know our office, the Office of Sustainability and Environment hasn't been before this committee for quite some time.

So it's really an honor to be here.

And it's also an honor to be here with this amazing team from the Office of Sustainability and Environment.

You're going to hear from all of us today.

Why don't we focus on, yeah, so here's our agenda for what we hope to cover.

We're going to focus our presentation on OSC's climate and environmental justice work today.

Liliana will kick us off to help introduce you to OSC's growing climate justice team beyond who you just see here.

Ani is going to walk you through findings of the greenhouse gas inventory.

Jose, our newest staff member, is going to talk about the Green New Deal partnership work that we are embarking on with council.

And I will close with some highlights of OSC's current work.

Liliana, I will turn it over to you.

Thank you so much, Michelle.

Appreciate that.

Good afternoon, council members.

I'll be providing an overview of our climate justice work and talk a little bit about some of our priorities that we have lined up this year.

Regarding our approach to climate justice, the Office of Sustainability and Environment is building on the foundation of our equity and environment initiative to more closely align the guiding principles and strategies outlined in the equity and environment agenda with our work to address climate change.

It is clear to us at OSC that the work that we lead to address climate change must also yield solutions that center the health and well-being of people and planet through economic opportunity while actively seeking to dismantle institutionalized and systemic racism by putting forth solutions that center racial equity.

Those are the principles and values that guide our work.

I'd like to start by talking a little bit about the staff that's working to support both our equity and environment initiative and the Green New Deal for Seattle.

First, I want to recognize I am incredibly honored to work with such an amazing team of brilliant and passionate people at OSCE.

The folks that are supporting the Equity and Environment Initiative and our Green New Deal work have dynamic expertise and experience in environmental justice, climate justice, youth development, immigrant and refugee rights, data analytics, and policy, and so much more.

We work in an interdisciplinary fashion.

And we partner with colleagues across OSCE and with external stakeholders and our city colleagues to inform and create strategies that are intersectional and that advance environmental and climate justice.

So I just want to shine a light on these incredible folks for just a minute.

I myself have been at OSCE for a little over a year and a half, and I've been in the Climate Justice Director role for a year.

And Ani Krishnan, who's with us today, is our Climate and Data Policy Manager and oversees the city's greenhouse gas inventory, which we'll talk about, and our climate data reporting, as well as some work linked to the Mayor's Green New Deal Executive Order, which we'll also talk a little bit more about.

Jimena Fonseca Morales supports the important coordination work to support our Environmental Justice Committee and the Environmental Justice Grant Fund, and is also the co-chair of OSCE's Racial Equity Change Team alongside Ani.

And then just five weeks ago, we've onboarded Lisa Chen as our new equity and environment manager.

She oversees the strategic development and direction of the Environmental Justice Grant Fund, the Environmental Justice Committee, and is responsible for the strategic oversight and coordination between the Environmental Justice Committee, as well as the Green New Deal Oversight Board.

And then three weeks ago, we've onboarded Jose Vasquez who has joined the team as our Green New Deal advisor.

And Jose will speak a little bit more about his role later on in the presentation.

But I would like to mention that he comes to us with really great experience staffing commissions and community-based initiatives from the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.

Jose was also a founding member of OSCE's Environmental Justice Committee.

And Jose, Lisa, and I were directly involved in the development of the equity and environment initiative as community leaders before we started at the city.

So it's really a blessing to be able to work again with these two amazing folks.

This year marks five years since the release of the equity and environment agenda.

And since that time, OSC has been humble to deeply, to deepen our partnerships with Seattle's black indigenous and communities of color through our programs.

If you go to the next slide, we have an incredible Environmental Justice Committee who's working with OSC on topics related to food justice and equitable pathways for youth of color into green jobs.

Those are their priorities this year.

And so far this year, the committee has provided input on the expansion process of the Fresh Bucks Neighborhood Grocer Program.

And through the Environmental Justice Fund and our partnership with King Conservation District, we've distributed over a million dollars to support environmental justice and environmental protection work led by and for communities of color.

And this year, we'll be working to stand up the Green New Deal Oversight Board, a Green New Deal interdepartmental team, as well as develop key climate indicators that will inform a public-facing dashboard.

We'll also be working to support other important climate action work that OSC is partnering with other departments on, which Michelle will discuss later on in the presentation.

So I just wanted to provide that overview for us and say that we're truly excited to work with you all on council and with the new members of the Green New Deal Oversight Board to develop a vision for climate justice for Seattle's communities.

Thank you.

Thank you, Lily.

And everyone, this is Ani here.

Good afternoon.

I'm going to be walking you through our most recent greenhouse gas inventory report.

We'll discuss some of the changes that we made on the back end in terms of how we collect and analyze the data, some updates to our web presence, and then finally talk about what our 2018 inventory numbers are telling us.

So data structure migration, this is something that we embarked on over the past couple of years.

Our inventory reports have traditionally been very time-consuming to prepare.

For every inventory year, there are countless data sources to revisit, Excel files to update, and visuals to recreate.

And most of this work has happened manually.

So in an effort to improve this process, we migrated our data structure from exclusively Excel to a combination of Excel and Power BI, which is a tool that's similar to Tableau and is available to use free for city employees.

And what we've been able to achieve through this transition is just better efficiency at collecting data, ease of replicating charts and graphics for future inventory years, packing a lot more information into those visuals, and with the end goal of making that information more accessible to everyone, our constituents, our program policy creators, and so on.

And this migration also gave us the ingredients we needed to really revamp our web presence.

So we went from what was a very static performance monitoring web page, where there's a brief little paragraph about our emissions and links to our PDF reports, to a much more dynamic website where users can interact with the data through responsive visuals, the ones that we've developed in Power BI.

learn about the context of our missions reporting, and then there are key actions that we're undertaking without necessarily needing to download the report.

So all of this stuff is on our website, but for the purposes of this presentation, I'm going to walk you through a couple of those, a few of those visuals, just to show you what they're about.

So, this first one plots the percentage change of emissions along with population and GDP from our baseline year of 2008 all the way up to 2018, which was our most recent inventory year.

What we're seeing is modest decreases in emissions over the past decade despite the fact and economy has really skyrocketed.

This next visual shows us those same emission trends categorized by what we call our three core sectors, which are buildings, transportation, and waste.

And you can see the relative difference in contribution of emissions based on the size of these colored areas.

We've got buildings down below in purple, transportation in blue, and waste is that little sliver of yellow at the top.

And the cool thing about these visuals is that users are able to filter through depending on the sector that they want to look at, whether they want to look at just core versus expanded emissions, and also select the specific year for which they want this text to update by.

So all of this Stuff is easily accessible on our website.

And then moving on to the next visual.

We can kind of see this overall breakdown of our core emissions by sector.

And again, users have the ability to drill down to specific sectors by.

clicking on those buttons on the left for example we click on the buildings button it takes them to the buildings specific visual where we have you see here on the next slide what that looks like and just a little bit more detailed information for that sector so what we're seeing here on this slide is our emissions in the buildings residential on the left, and the fuel source of those emissions on the right.

And one of the key things we want to highlight in this particular slide is the interaction between these two visuals.

So if the user clicks, for example, as I've taken the screenshot, the user clicks on fossil gas, which shows 86% of our emissions come from fossil gas in the building sector.

It highlights the corresponding portion of those emissions by sector.

So this sort of interactivity exists across all of the dashboards, all of the visuals within the dashboard on the website.

Just wanted to showcase that and also use that particular point as a segue to really what the key insights are that we noticed from 2016 to 2018, which are two inventory years.

Overall, our emissions across those 1.1%.

But the really the big news is in our building sector because building sector emissions rose by over 8%.

And this primarily happens due to an increase in fossil gas use.

And one of the key points that we always like to emphasize here is drawing that connection between actual energy consumed in our buildings by fuel source and their resulting emissions.

And this graphic on the right tries to show that sort of discrepancy.

We get the majority of our energy use from electricity, but that electricity contributes very little in terms that 104,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent, all of that is offset anyway.

And what that means is that we get about 43% of our energy from fossil gas, but that gas is responsible for 86 or 94%, depending on whether you're counting city light offsets or not.

that huge and overwhelming majority of our emissions in the building sector.

So anytime our fossil gas use increases, our building sector emissions increase almost hand in hand.

And so we really need to think about tackling that problem front and center.

In our transportation sector, our emissions reduced by about 2.4%.

And we think this is due to slightly more efficient miles per gallon values that we got from WSDOT and less vehicle miles traveled per resident.

What's important to note here is that our transportation data is modeled and not measured.

So there is some uncertainty whether this model, which was, by the way, last updated in 2014, actually takes into account recent trends in road transport, like ride share, delivery services, and the like.

So that reduction value should be looked at with that caveat in mind.

And then finally, waste emissions dropped by almost 10%, which is a testament really to the good work that our public utilities department has been doing on composting and recycling efforts.

And it's So we're not really accounting for the emissions that take place when you purchase a product and it's shipped to you from abroad and all of that.

So the manufacturing costs, emissions of things that occur outside city limits are not included in this particular inventory report.

So where does that, where do those numbers leave us?

We know what our emissions reduction targets are through the climate action planning process.

We're shooting for a 58% reduction by 2030, which has been supplanted by the goal in the Green New Deal, which is going to We're trying to shoot for Seattle being a fossil fuel-free city by 2030, net carbon neutrality by 2050. And we've reinforced those targets through all of our commitments to climate planning.

But despite our best efforts, our rate of reduction needs to be a whole lot faster than what it currently is if we want to get to our 2030 target.

So what this chart is showing us is that we have reduced our emissions, and that, again, remember, despite experiencing an increase in population and GDP, but we need to be at 17 times our current annual reduction rate for total core emissions to get to our target.

That same 17X number applies even to our building sector emissions.

It's 30X for our transportation sector emissions.

So, you know, we know what we have to do.

And, you know, pointing back to Council Member Salon's point about electrification.

We need that across both of these sectors and both transportation and our building sectors.

And that's really how we're going to get to our goals.

And, you know, both Jose and Michelle are going to talk about that in a little bit more detail.

And I also just want to end this.

data section by acknowledging that not hitting our targets affects our BIPOC communities disproportionately, right?

We know that the most significant predictor of a person living near contaminated air, water, or soil is race.

We also know that this is especially true in Seattle, where 58% of the population that lives within one mile of the Superfund boundary are people of color.

And so we just want to acknowledge that that all the work that we're doing is in centering racial equity in our efforts.

And with that, maybe, I wonder if this is a good moment to pause and take questions specifically on the data before we dive into the next section.

Yeah, I think the statistics that you have provided are, I mean, they're accurate, but they're just, it's really stark.

And I feel like the, Yeah, I always have a problem with reconciling the steep progress that needs to be made that is not being made with the small amounts of progress that we are making and then sort of celebrating it.

I think every progress we can make is crucial.

But I think your slide, if you can go back to that slide, I don't know which number it was.

Yeah.

both those slides actually, which show the core emissions and also the building and yeah, all of those slides.

I mean, the steepness of that curve that we have to undertake and comparing that to the shallowness of what has been achieved.

I mean, that is just dark.

I think that if we're talking about our planet survival, It is simply not enough.

And I wonder if you could talk a little bit more about what are the aggressive moves the city needs to make in order to address this.

And this is also in light of the fact that the transportation, as you correctly have on your slide, is one of the major sources.

But it is not due to a lack of, the commitment of ordinary people that this hasn't happened.

A lot of people actually, even when bus hours have reduced over the last decade or so, have ridership per hour or per year, whatever you want to measure it, has actually gone up.

And people are more committed than they were before.

So it's really not a problem of ordinary people understanding how important this is.

It's just very hard for people to completely make the switch to public transportation, because it's just not at the point where it needs to be, unlike some other cities where it is pretty dramatically different.

But this is obviously linked to the global climate challenge.

It's not just Seattle.

But in Seattle, to get to the 58% reduction that you have talked about, How can you or are you able to quantify how much the city will, for example, need to reduce its dependence on PSE gas?

I mean, that's a concrete question because concretely, we will need to move away from fat gas.

That's one concrete thing.

Concretely, we will need to dramatically increase investments in public transportation in order to make that change possible.

Concretely, there will be, you know, need to do building retrofits, you know, so each of these requires concrete moves for the city to make, so if you can talk about that.

Sure.

And Michelle, I do want to recognize that you will be diving into some of our specific efforts.

And I think I can broadly mention council member that for our building sector here.

I think you're absolutely right.

We need to essentially eliminate fossil gas use in our existing residential and commercial buildings.

One of the wins that we had recently was our recently passed energy code, which bans fossil gas use in large commercial buildings.

The biggest piece of the pie is in existing buildings, and we have to tackle that.

And on the transportation side, we really need to be taking a sort of dual-pronged approach to both reduce on-road VMTs as well as broadly electrifying the VMTs that remain across various modes.

But I do want to pause and see if Michelle has anything to add to that.

No, I mean, I think that's exactly right.

And I think this is why we're so excited about a kind of a community-wide partnership to look at how do we take some of these steps.

I know that we've made some progress over time, but you get to a point where you've done all the low-hanging fruit.

So the next step is real deep systems change.

And I think part of what we're trying to do with our climate justice work and our environmental justice work is making sure that we make these deep shifts in our economy in ways that don't burden indigenous and people of color communities that we set up the right kinds of tools and infrastructure and resources to help make these transitions happen.

And so, you know, we are talking about real systems change, and it is change that will require not just the City of Seattle, it will require King County, it requires the state, it requires the federal government, it requires all sectors of our economy, including the voices of those most impacted by climate injustice.

So I feel and the electrification, you know, mentions that you were making earlier Council Member Swan is exactly, you'll see those themes in the things that we are doing, and we are making progress, but you're right, there's a lot more that needs to be made.

And that's definitely should be done in partnership across the community.

Any other questions on the data before we move on to the next portion?

I don't see any hands up, so please go ahead.

Great.

So really quickly, I think we're going to dive into the Green New Deal work, and Jose is going to talk about this.

But one of the initiatives that is related to the inventory that I'd like to mention really quickly is the fact that we are developing these key climate indicators with the view of collecting more frequent and granular climate data.

You might be wondering why we're sitting here telling you about a 2018 data update when it's 2021. And we recognize that that sort of constrains our planning as well.

So we're on the lookout for more frequent data that we can kind of rely on and report on more frequently, like ideally in a quarterly basis.

And we also want to contextualize, knowing fully well that climate Change doesn't affect everyone equally.

We want to contextualize this data with equity metrics, things like our race and social equity index that the Office of Planning and Community Development has put together and adding in constituent stories that really, you know, create a narrative for why it is important for us to tackle these issues.

And with that, I'll pass it over to Jose.

We'll talk more eloquently about our Green New Deal work.

Yes, thank you, Annie.

And thank you, everybody.

Thank you, council members, for having us here.

I am extremely excited to have joined this team, not just as somebody who was part of those initial conversations and the development of the equity and environment agenda for the city of Seattle, but also as somebody who grew up literally three blocks from a Superfund site in South Park.

This work is deeply personal, and that's why I'm excited to now have joined here the climate justice team.

to help set up the Green New Deal Oversight Board and help move forward Green New Deal work across the city.

Here at OSC, I know we're all really excited now that we're building out our team, and as you've heard, having some very lofty goals ahead of us to bring together that partnership and bring those voices of those communities most impacted by climate change are communities of color, Black, Indigenous, people of color, immigrants, refugees, individuals and families who come from low-income communities.

youth, elders, and workers who are harmed first by the worsening climate change.

And every year we see new data that keeps coming out that is showing more and more drastically how urgent this work is and how intentionally we need to be at including those expertise and lived experiences of those impacted first and foremost in this work.

We're really excited to be leading this work also to bring together new economic opportunities as we shift to a new green economy and as we move forward to implement a lot of these policy recommendations, budget recommendations that are going to come out of the Green New Deal Oversight Board.

We definitely want to continue leading these efforts alongside our Office of Economic Development, Seattle Public Utilities, and other departments across the city through our Green New Deal IDT.

alongside the oversight board, which we're hoping to start a new, an open call for applications launching actually tomorrow.

So we're really excited to announce that.

For me, three weeks in, we're getting ready to open, open call for applications for 11 of our current 19 seats that we have for the Green New Deal oversight board, who will be helping move this work forward.

And if we move to the next slide real quick, I'll give a little bit of an overview of what that application process looks like.

We're currently looking for applicants who want to join the to help us as the city of Seattle define what constitutes a policy program or project that advances the Green New Deal for Seattle.

Also looking for proposals on new policies and programs to advance the Green New Deal for Seattle and support the planning and implementing a lot of the actions.

Some of the actions you've heard here, but also we want to bring in new ideas from community, from those communities that are directly impacted to help achieve our goal of Seattle becoming a climate pollution-free by 2030 in making those city budget and legislative recommendations to us through the Green New Deal Oversight Board.

So the Green New Deal Oversight Board will be made up of 19 members appointed by both the mayor's office and city council.

We're delighted to announce that today.

Well, tomorrow we're launching an open application call for 11 of those 19 seats.

A few of them will be appointed today during today's council meeting, council members, so once office has already initiated a process for some of those appointments, and we'll look forward to continuing that partnership with our council members office and the mayor's office.

to fill the remaining seats of that board.

We're currently looking for to fill 11 of the vacancies that are available, three from frontline communities that are directly impacted by climate change, one tribal representative, two youth, two representatives from organizations that are deeply involved in environmental justice, three union representatives from the labor movement, and two specialist positions designated for representatives with experience in greenhouse gas reduction and climate resiliency strategies relevant to cities.

And one final position for work somebody who specializes in workforce training.

And we're looking forward to bring these representatives together to help move this work forward.

And as I mentioned earlier, we're really excited to announce that tomorrow we're going to be opening up the application for about three and a half weeks before we do our application review and interview process to hopefully have before council our recommended appointments.

Hopefully sometime during the month of May to hopefully achieve our goal of having our first Green New Deal oversight board meeting in June.

Fingers crossed that that goes through successfully.

And with that, I want to also take a minute to pause and see if there's any questions about the work we have in front of us to fill these 19 seats for the Green New Deal Oversight Board or any other questions in general.

Thank you for that presentation.

And yes, we will come to some of the appointments in a few minutes.

And I know Council Member Morales has a question or comment.

Before that, I was wondering if any of you have an estimate of the number of jobs that would be created, including apprenticeship opportunities with an electrification program that is on the scale that we need.

And when I say scale that we need, I mean, the goals that we need to reach.

in order to actually address climate change.

So the three key graphs that you have on that basis, not on a feel good for all of us at the city to feel good, but what actually we need.

And as you said, the communities that are most immediately affected are very low income communities, communities of color.

And so it's important that the organizations, many of whom are also still involved in the fight against climate change in Seattle were also And successfully led the priority higher apprenticeship, you know, laws that we worked on in the city a few years ago.

And it was, yeah, my office is honored to be with them alongside on that.

But given all of that, I think the question of jobs in sort of a climate renewal kind of approach is crucial because we need to unite the climate justice movement and the labor movement.

And that's why it's important, for example, in the positions that are open that we're going to talk about, there are also labor positions because we need to have a just transition for fossil fuel workers.

And in fact, one of the things we noted through our research in the PSC fire that happened in the Central District, something that was highlighted tremendously through that incident and also the Greenwood incidents a few years ago, is how dangerous the jobs are for the workers themselves in many of these fossil fuel industries.

And in fact, we have a friend who works at the plant in Anacortes who says that the fossil fuel workers there, they call that whole factory the bomb, because every day on a daily basis, they have incidents that require them to evacuate, but many of them are not reported actually by the companies.

And so they also play fast and loose with safety laws as well.

And so given all of this, the question of jobs is absolutely paramount if we are to build a powerful movement.

So if you can give us a sense of if we had a full-fledged electrification program, what's the estimate?

And it's fine if you don't have it now, but just to go back and look at that.

Thank you so much for that, Council Member Swan.

I think you're absolutely right.

We are so excited to have Jose on board who has some experience in workforce.

And I feel like working with labor and the workforce job transition is sort of the next frontier of the climate work.

And I wanna call out a couple things that are happening.

I don't have that information for you right now, but a couple of the things just for council members to be aware of, there is a fossil, that I believe is on the slide under the electrification slide that's coming later that the office of economic development has been working on.

And I believe that's slated to come to council the end of this month, if not April, but I'm sorry to say, I'm not exactly sure which committee that reports up to.

So that is one study that is in draft form and being reviewed and will be in all of our hands very soon.

Another thing I'll mention is that through some of the electrification work that we're doing to looking at strategies for electrifying existing buildings, there is some grant funding and partnership work that we're doing with Emerald Cities to look at what are the workforce opportunities with electrification in buildings.

And that is on our work plan to do this year.

So we will have data through that study as well.

And then I know that there's one more, another related study, but it's not so much about jobs, but it's just like the ways that we subsidize fossil fuels in our programs and policies.

That's also gonna be part of the work that OSC is leading this year.

But I've written down a note on that call for the jobs and what data we have on jobs and with a full electrification plan.

And I definitely feel like we will come back to you with any information we have right now.

And we definitely will be sharing and working with you on those studies as they get underway this year.

Thank you so much.

I really appreciate that.

And I'm really looking forward to following up with you.

So Michelle, thank you.

Council member Morales is next and don't see any other hands up yet.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

I want to first just welcome all the new folks on board.

It's really exciting to see and congratulations to OSC for creating this amazing team.

I know Liliana and Lisa and we'll say from previous work.

So it's good to see everybody on board here.

Just following up on the last point, the fossil fuel study is being conducted by OED.

That will be coming to my committee next month.

It was a little bit delayed because the whole point of it is to get an understanding of what jobs are related.

to the fossil fuel industry and it was actually missing a component of the transportation sector.

So they had to go back and add an additional element to the work, but that should be done next, not next week, next month.

So I'm looking forward to hearing from them.

And then I just wanted to sort of echo the sentiment here, which is that I'm really, you know, when we see that we have to, you know, our current annual reduction rate needs to accelerate 17 times what it currently is, if we're going to reach our 2030 goals, that is That is a damning statement.

And so we have some serious work to do to figure out what we are going to be able to do at the city.

And as you said, Michelle, you know, at different jurisdictional levels.

And I'm really glad to see that this Green New Deal team is coming together and that we're going to be working sort of cross departmentally and cross jurisdictionally to really try to figure this out, because There's a lot of work to do.

And at the same time, we need to make sure that we are bringing in young people, bringing in labor, bringing in folks who can take advantage of new technologies and new kind of manufacturing and infrastructure development, and also make sure that the folks who are currently employed in sectors that we are trying to phase out have access to new training and new understanding as well.

The reality is that people are going to lose their jobs as we make this transition, and we need to make sure that we're doing everything we can to get them access to training and to keep them in good paying jobs that can help them support their families and that they get benefits and all the other things that come with having a good union job in these sectors.

So we have a lot of work to do, and I'm excited to see all the folks on board and eager to get started with all of you.

Thank you.

Thank you, council member.

I think, yeah, I don't see anybody else looking to speak.

So how about we, Michelle, I really appreciate if you can follow up with my office on some of those things that we discussed.

And I think the prospect of a genuine Green New Deal jobs program is going to be, I think, a really, sort of important plank of winning people over into making this kind of change.

So I hope we can come back to those concrete discussions in upcoming committee meetings.

And I really appreciate everybody's presentation and welcome everybody who's just got into the Office of Sustainability and Environment.

And really this is going to be crucial, not just for our city, but for our planet.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

And thank you for your leadership.

I know we are probably short on time.

Is it time to move to a next agenda item or should I walk through some of the ongoing work that we're doing right now that could serve as kind of the foundation and the infrastructure for some of the new partnership work that we're all doing?

Oh, yes.

Sorry, I was I blindsided myself.

Yes, absolutely.

You should go ahead with that.

And and then after that, we will do the appointments.

OK, I will try to be quick and kind of talk through this at a high level.

I think again, I think this is just really helpful to talk about what we are working on this year.

This will look at this as serving as good, solid infrastructure for what we've done and where are the areas that we can do more collectively as a community.

I'm gonna focus on the climate actions in buildings and transportation because we saw from Ani's presentation, that is where the majority of our carbon pollution is coming from.

We can go to the next slide, which will focus on buildings.

And so I just wanna note that we've had a building tune-up program in place since 2019. That is a law that requires large commercial and multifamily buildings to do operational and low cost fixes to reduce emissions in their building.

I wanna say we're really proud that we just hit the 500 mark of this program.

So we are in the third cohort of four cohorts that are doing these tune-ups.

And the other thing we're really proud of is 98% of the buildings over 100,000 square feet are compliant with this law, which I find just outstanding considering the year that we have all had.

The team has just done a lot to provide specialized engagement and assistance with these businesses.

to connect them actually with resources to help them comply with this law early.

I wanted to note relating jobs to our team has been focused on a several year partnership with South Seattle College.

They have a sustainable building science technology program.

Over the last three years we've been engaging with students who are getting certified through that program.

It's a Bachelor of Applied Science that they get when they come out of that program and so We've worked with over 60 students from the program in the last few years.

Majority of those folks have been either people of color or women.

So that's been really exciting and are connecting those folks to real world experience working on doing assessments with under-resourced businesses.

I want to just hit on our leadership in our own buildings.

So we continue to lead the way with reducing emissions in city buildings.

There's a few exciting projects that we've engaged in, including putting solar on the brig and Magnuson Park and some really strategic, ooh, sorry, some really strategic and targeted investments in city buildings that are leased by community-based organizations providing critical community services, such as food banks or senior services or meal programs.

So we've been making investments in those buildings that are eventually being transferred over to these community folks, and they are gonna be left with buildings that energy costs and more efficient equipment to serve the community needs.

And then there is a focus and we've been talking about electrification and the path is electrification.

We have 20 projects underway, electrification projects underway in 20 of our buildings.

And per the Mayor's 2020 Green New Deal executive order, all new city buildings are required to operate without fossil fuels.

We can move to the next slide, which is looking at not just city buildings, but the rest of the buildings in our community and the plan to electrify those.

I want to note that in 2019, the state passed a clean buildings law, which sets some energy targets for existing buildings to reduce carbon emissions and energy use from those buildings.

Compliance for the largest start in 2026. And there are incentives available right now to help businesses comply early.

The work of our team this year is partnering with Seattle City Light and other partners to really look at how can we support the business community here, comply with this law early.

We are prioritizing nonprofits and we are also prioritizing building owners that are serving black, indigenous and people of color communities.

But I wanna note the state standards are not enough to get Seattle where it needs to be to make our buildings carbon neutral.

And so we have completed some, preliminary technical work on what a more aggressive building performance standard might look like.

We'll be happy to share that work later as it's ready.

But we are in the process right now of working with partners like the Northwest Energy Coalition and Emerald Cities, as I mentioned before, to really engage stakeholders around the technical, financial, operational, equity, and other challenges in sort of doing this next step of compliance, which will cost money, and we wanna make sure we do it right.

And so we're working with those folks to really understand those challenges and build a policy that is successful, as well as looking at those workforce opportunities.

In terms of our residential buildings, homes in particular, we have been working to phase out dirty oil heat since 2017. We've helped about 700 households convert from heating oil to efficient heat pumps.

As you know, in 2019, Mayor Durkin put forward a heating oil tax to help expand the rebates and to also pay 100% of the conversions in households with lower incomes.

We have put this implementation of this tax has been on pause due to COVID.

And I know we'll be coming back to you in June with kind of a game plan for what it looks like moving forward, given what's going on in our community.

In the meantime, we'll continue with the rebate program, and we have some partnerships with the Office of Housing to do conversions on 15 low-income homes.

And then Ani talked about the new commercial code, so I don't need to get into that at this point, but it will eliminate gas from most water and space heating systems for commercial and multifamily buildings.

And just want to call out a specific thank you to Council on your partnership to work with the mayor on passing this groundbreaking legislation.

Last month, it was February 1st, and it was just really exciting for me.

I was less involved in this, but kind of watching from the sides to see just a strong coalition of labor, of environment, and affordable housing providers sort of speaking out in support of this legislation.

Next slide will just be our transportation work.

It's not just transportation work, but we're shifting to transportation work.

So our kind of core strategies in addressing transportation emissions are reducing drive alone trips, increasing sustainable modes and electrifying all vehicles that remain as quickly as we can.

You know, we are in SDOT, our Seattle Department of Transportation is doing a lot of the mode and drive alone work.

The Office of Sustainability and Environment has been continuing to explore road pricing as a possible tool for helping us achieve our goals.

And just want to say our community engagement efforts on that were paused last year, just out of respect for COVID and things folks were going through.

Um, but we have recently kicked off, um, engagement with equity leaders in the City, um, our more formal equity advisory boards.

And, um, really, the question we're exploring in these conversations is, can road pricing strategies improve mobility, you know, address this climate crisis quickly and advance equity?

And I just want to say, I know that the Green New Deal resolution, um, asked this very question.

So we do look forward to to engaging with you all and with the Green New Deal Advisory Board on this very question and any opportunities around a policy like that.

The last slide on transportation is just about our transportation electrification strategy.

So we know last week the mayor released the transportation electrification blueprint, and this blueprint involves multiple city departments engaged in it.

So the Office of Sustainability and Environment the Department of Transportation and Seattle City Light.

And it really intersects and centers on four core areas of work in the near term.

Infrastructure, so making sure that we're leveraging the utility and private sector investments as this technology is rapidly changing in the private sector.

We wanna make sure that we are prepared for it.

Innovative policies, so what are the ways that we can look at reducing fossil fuels from transportation through policy means?

And we know there's a bill, active bill at the state right now looking at some of that.

You know, equitable mobility, making sure that as we do this work, that clean and efficient transportation is available to those most impacted by climate impacts.

And then again, workforce is a big theme here.

How are we looking at connecting new jobs that might come from transportation electrification to those who need those jobs?

And I know, I want to say, I know our team is actively scheduling briefings with many of you on this new transportation electrification blueprint.

And so we do really look forward to sharing more with the team that's leading that effort.

I did want to just highlight here some of the actions that we are working on this year as part of that blueprint with existing budget and in our work plans.

And so there's where you see the fossil fuel transition study that Council Member Morales mentioned that OED is working on.

So the last slide, just wanted to touch a little bit about the broader work that OSC is doing.

And we already talked a bit about our food work, but You know, I will just say 2020 was a really unprecedented year for all of us and really across all of our work.

We really strive to leverage existing programs and systems to develop racially equitable ways to respond to the pandemic, to address community need and to support our staff as workers who are also going through a lot.

As we move into 2021 in the food area, we're gonna continue to partner with human services division on the emergency feeding task force to really bring a racial equity lens and understand what are the gaps still and how do we best fill those gaps for access to healthy food.

And we already talked about thanking council and the partnership on the emergency grocery vouchers.

I wanna just say we are in the process of completing a racial equity toolkit on that rapid response program.

And we're really proud to say that 70% of the enrollees in the emergency grocery voucher self identify as black, indigenous and people of color.

that we were able to do that in such a quick turnaround and just build on the racial equity work that we've been doing as part of our Fresh Bucks program.

So I wanna mention, we talked about expanding Fresh Bucks.

Fresh Bucks currently serves 12,000 households with a $40 voucher a month to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables.

And that currently is available at 30 participating retailers, four of which are BIPOC-owned community grocers.

And so next week, we are going to be releasing an application to expand that retailer network with the idea of adding 8 to 11 new grocers, including those that serve BIPOC communities.

And so we will make sure when that application is ready to be live, we will share that with you and all your offices so you can share that in your networks.

We're really excited to grow this network.

And then the last thing, or the second to last thing I wanna mention is, Jose talked about growing up in South Park.

So we can talk about the Duwamish Valley program.

So OSC is still very active in implementing the Duwamish Valley Action Plan.

And we did a lot of really amazing response efforts in the Duwamish Valley as well to support Duwamish Valley families with food and with business reopening support.

We were able to quickly pivot some of our budget to meet the needs of those communities.

The exciting thing this year that's just kicking off in the Duwamish Valley is we've received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

And that is to really look at how do we advance climate adaptation and anti-displacement in an area of our city that is most vulnerable to sea level rise and flood impact.

So we are kicking off work across departments and with community to look at what are our responses to that and that will, which will be coming later in a way that brings people into solutions and prioritizes keeping people and businesses in place.

And then last but not least, OSC is engaged in urban forestry work, and I wanted to just highlight a few of the items that will be coming to the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee.

We have an update to our urban forest management plan.

And that had a big focus on reaching out to environmental justice communities who hadn't been engaged in previous plan efforts.

And then we are partnered with Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections around tree protection, tree protection enhancements.

And I believe our staff lead is joining SDCI at the LEND Committee tomorrow to brief that committee on updates to those tree protections.

And, you know, we've been building environmental justice partnerships and we also staff the Urban Forestry Commission.

So I know we've brought a lot of content and a lot of information to you.

We want to thank you for your time and we will end here.

See if there's any additional questions.

Thank you so much.

We obviously have to come back to many of these points in subsequent discussions, so I really appreciate that overview.

I'm not seeing any hands, and I don't mean to underestimate the importance of all the points that you've brought up.

We need to come back to these, but just in the interest of time and our Green New Deal advisory board nominees who have been waiting for a while.

If everyone's okay with this, I will move on to the next item.

Thank you, Michelle, and thank you everybody for being here.

And my office, of course, will be following up with you on these crucial aspects of really addressing climate change, and I appreciate your commitment towards that goal.

Our next item is appointments to the Green New Deal oversight board.

And we are honored to speak with several community organizers who have powerful experience advocating for the Green New Deal.

And after we vote on these appointments, we will have a broader discussion about the struggle for climate justice in Seattle.

So we will ask all the Green New Deal appointees to stick around for the discussion.

And I would also just say, just because it's almost 3.40, Maybe if you can keep comments in the appointment section shorter so that we can get to the more substantive discussion where we do want the appointees to participate as well.

So as we discussed during the presentation just now from the OSC.

There are four people whose appointments to the GND oversight board.

We will move for a vote today.

Matt Tremblay, Rachel Heaton, Debolina Banerjee, Jess Wallach.

And there are two individuals whose appointments are not ready for a vote yet, but we are excited about them.

We hope to vote to appoint them in the future.

So we will have the opportunity to meet them today, Christophe Strauss and Christina Chu.

I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing anybody's name.

So I'll give a chance for the appointees to introduce themselves and to avoid the awkwardness of everybody politely waiting for the other to speak up.

I'll just call on each appointee and future appointee.

When I call on your name, please introduce yourself very briefly, just with your name, your affiliations, and your work organizing climate change, and what you hope to do on the Green New Deal Advisory Board.

So I'll start with Matt Remley.

Welcome, Matt.

Hello, and thank you for opportunity to share here today.

Good afternoon, everybody.

My name, my English name is Matt Rimley.

My Lakota name is Wakianwanataan.

I'm a D2 resident.

I live in Beacon Hill, South Beacon Hill in the Holly Park New Holly neighborhood.

And in terms of work, co-founder of a divestment reinvestment group called Mazaska Talks along with Rachel Heaton.

And we've been focusing on fossil fuel issues for past several years in supporting communities and coming up with strategies to address whether it's pipelines, fracking, mining whatsoever in their communities.

For the City of Seattle, I have been blessed to have the opportunity to work alongside several folks here today with former Council Member O'Brien on the drafting of the Green New Deal resolution, as well as the ordinance.

And following that, having the opportunity to work with Council Member Sawant on the big business tax Amazon, leading into work with Council Member Mosqueda for jumpstart and really pushing to ensure, and I think Council Member Sawant for hearing our voices back during the tax Amazon that in order to achieve many of the goals of the Green New Deal, it's gonna require investment.

And so we are honored that, excuse me, that was included in there, that a true investment into electrification, weatherization and other sort of green infrastructure projects.

Happy to be here and thank you for the appointment nomination.

Thank you so much, Matt.

Next, we have Rachel Heaton.

Hi, everybody.

My name is Rachel Heaton.

I am a member of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and I'm also a descendant of the Duwamish people, the original people of the area that we all know as Seattle.

My family, personally, my family's beginnings trace back to the shores of Lake Union.

They were well-known basket weavers and then eventually made the transition out to Muckleshoot, which is actually one of the, is the only federally recognized tribe that's within the city of Seattle limit in terms of UNA, usual and accustomed lands.

I'm also with Matt Rimley, the co-founder of Mazza Scott Talks, and he covered a little bit of who we are and our involvement.

Yes, we're a native organization, and we provide tools to cities, schools, communities, anyone who's trying to remove monies away from the fossil fuel industry, and then also dealing with other issues that are intersectional within that.

I have spoke at the United Nations in Switzerland and the Hague and the Netherlands about our native people and the issues that we face regarding safe, clean water.

Also, the bank's involvement of the harm that they cause our communities, my people, and ultimately the world at whole.

And again, due to their investments of what they continue to fund.

And so we also work to establish solutions.

So if you've heard the discussion of public banking and working to put money back into our communities, which would ultimately, again, do the discussion of the Green New Deal and implementing those.

So part of why I feel it's such an important, for one, being a native woman on this committee is super important to me, addressing our communities.

If we look back at The first original Green New Deal was presented back in 1933 by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

And at that time, it didn't include our vulnerable communities.

It didn't include indigenous people.

It didn't include communities of color.

It didn't include other classes that would eventually come into play, such as disability and homelessness.

So those weren't issued.

So being a woman of color and being able to be on here with each of you is truly an honor.

And I'm thankful for all of the ones that I've got to do work with.

I've got to do so much work with Council Member Sawant and in supporting the Amazon tax and all of the work that we've done over the years.

And so I'm honored to be here and I'm honored to just contribute in a way that is truly providing equity and just a better place to live for the average person.

So thank you.

Thank you so much, Rachel and Matt, both of you for being here.

And I just wanted to make a special mention as Matt and Rachel themselves mentioned as to how many years we have been building a movement together, led in part by indigenous community members and really It should be mentioned, all this really started with Matt contacting our office to pass the Indigenous Day resolution, which is where this all began.

And then, of course, we went from there to really passing the very important no DAPL, no Dakota Access Pipeline resolution, the legislation to get the city to divest from Wells Fargo, which, of course, was the first step.

But then the next step is to have a city-owned bank, public bank, and we I have learned from the multiple city study that was released two years ago that actually it is financially viable to do that.

Other cities have been exploring it.

So Matt and Rachel, just a note for us to come back to that.

We should be pursuing that and make sure that that happens.

And we do the part two of that.

struggle to divest from fossil fuel-based institutions.

So I really just wanted to recognize how much our communities have done to push these questions forward.

And I've recognized that the fight against climate change is very much linked with the fight for indigenous rights and cultural rights and the question of ending economic injustice as well.

So next, I will welcome Debolina Banerjee.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Debolina Banerjee.

I use she, her pronouns.

I am from Puget Sound SAGE.

At SAGE, I work on policy and research analysis for the Climate Justice Program, and I also support campaigns and coalitions.

I feel very honored and appreciative of all of you for nominating me to this board.

As I said, I will be representing SAGE on this board.

For those of you who do not know, Puget Sound SAGE is a majority women of color-led organization, and we serve the interests of Black, Indigenous, and low-income communities of color, workers, labor unions, immigrants, and refugees, primarily in South Seattle and South King County.

And we work in partnership and coalitions with our communities to advocate for racially just and equitable policies.

We at SAGE, we believe that the Green New Deal can serve as a visionary and multi-issue policy vehicle that can build bold steps to end Seattle's climate pollution.

It can commit to transitioning to a fully renewable energy grid.

We can create safe living wage jobs, union jobs, address affordable housing, affordable and accessible public transportation, community control development, and corporate accountability.

On a personal level, I'm driven by the values that we can achieve a Green New Deal by following the just transition of moving away from an extractive system to a regenerative one.

Honestly, the timing is not just right.

It is overdue.

We have the urgency and we feel the urgency.

Right now, we have a nation that's divided on racial and economic justice values.

We have climate change.

Scientists have given us like 12 years.

Now it's 11 years, probably.

And we have the pandemic still going on.

Yeah, as an oversight member, oversight board member, I do want to intentionally bring my skills and experience in organizing research and policy analysis to push for the city to make decisions together so we can achieve our goal of racially just and equitable outcomes for climate and environment.

I personally have been a long time climate and economic justice advocate.

I have worked with communities in my home country of India, as well as here in Seattle.

And I'm also a new mom to a 15 month old.

So I'm just more than committed to bring all my energy and commitment to this work and just create a better world for the future generations.

I'm delighted to be part of this group and really looking forward to working together.

Thank you so much, Debolina, really much appreciated all your comments.

And I think what you said highlighted two things especially.

One is that the climate crisis and capitalism, they're both, it's a global system and it's a global crisis.

And I think your presence here and mine also from India and we have so many indigenous people here.

I think it really shows the confluence of activism across national borders as it needs to be.

And that's so your voice on the board will be very crucial.

And the other point you highlighted is how urgent this crisis is.

The scientists have given us a very short timeline We really cannot possibly underestimate how dire this situation is.

So genuinely appreciate you bringing that point.

And I have no doubt that you will continue to advocate for that on that board.

Next, we have Jess Wallach.

Welcome, Jess.

Thank you so much.

I'm trying to find the video button.

Great.

Thanks Council Member Swann.

Hi everyone.

My name is Jess Wallach.

I'm a D6 resident and also a campaigns co-director with 350 Seattle.

Really honored to be here today and really excited to see the Green New Deal Oversight Board coming to life.

It's been yeah two years coming and several budget fights.

So I'm here repping 350 Seattle and we're a grassroots climate group that's aligned with other local movements for racial social and economic justice.

We organize for transformative climate action at the scale of the crisis.

and for solutions rooted in the lived experience of those most impacted.

And back in 2019 in partnership with Got Green we co-launched the community campaign for Seattle's Green New Deal.

Our vision for Seattle's Green New Deal is a climate justice and jobs program.

And so we're building people power to win community investments that create healthy resilient neighborhoods thousands of good union jobs and eliminate our city's climate pollution by 2030. What this looks like is transformative investments in citywide union-built affordable housing coupled with strong anti-displacement measures, free and all-electric transit, buildings powered by 100% clean energy, and healthy and thriving neighborhoods for all Seattle residents.

I don't know about you, but that sounds like a city I want to live in.

So, you know, since 2019, 350 Seattle has worked in coalition with a number of partners here.

and others to craft and pass the city's Green New Deal resolution, to win a progressive revenue measure, the tax Amazon jumpstart Seattle measure that equitably funds Green New Deal solutions like affordable housing and transitioning low income homes off of fossil fuels, to mobilize community support behind the recent energy code updates and more.

This is just the beginning.

And as you heard from the really excellent presentation by OSC staff, we have a lot of work to do, especially when you consider that Seattle is one of the wealthiest cities one of the wealthiest countries, most responsible for global climate pollution.

So I'm really excited to be here today and honored to be part of the Green New Deal Oversight Board and help make sure that Seattle is doing our part to take care of our people and contribute to global action on climate change.

Thank you, Jess.

Really appreciate you highlighting also that we are in one of the wealthiest cities in the wealthiest country in the world, which is also bears the most responsibility for the share in overall emissions and how much that also means the responsibility on our shoulders to address it.

And as you said, this is two years coming through several budget fights for having set up this advisory board.

And so I share your excitement.

So those were the presentations from the appointees whose votes that we're planning to bring forward today.

But we also wanted to hear from two individuals that, as I said, that we hope will be appointed soon.

So I wanted to welcome Christina Chu.

Please go ahead, Christina.

Hi, everyone.

Thank you for having me here.

My name is Christina.

I use the she series pronouns and I currently have residency in District 3, but at this time I am home with my parents in New York.

I am very much new to, I guess, like the government space and also have recently started taking part in organizing with the Sunrise Movement in Seattle.

And this is largely what I'm hoping to bring forth as a key piece to the oversight board is leveraging and representing and being a liaison between the board as well as Sunrise Seattle.

Outside of this grassroots efforts, I am currently employed as an engineer.

I'm studying environmental engineering and working for a consulting firm that is based in downtown Seattle.

So that's it for me, and I'm excited to continue working with everyone here.

Thank you, Christina.

And I just wanted to add to what Christina said in introduction is also the really the crucial importance of, you know, she said she organizes with the Sunrise Movement, but that highlights the crucial importance of really bringing together young people.

You know millions of young people actually need to be on the front lines and they are the most motivated because that is it's going the younger generations are going to be the ones most affected by the climate crisis so it's crucial to have the voice of the sunrise moment also here.

And as many of the people who are listening will share this sentiment that I'm about to express, which is that one of the most exciting moments of the climate justice movement was when the young people of the Sunrise Movement were joined by Congress member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a peaceful occupation of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

And I think that showed that young people really have a desire to shake things up in order to get sort of the, you know, the leaders of our institutions to pay attention.

So really appreciate that, Christina.

And then next we have Christophe Strauss.

Please go ahead, Christophe.

Good afternoon, council members and OST staff.

And thank you, council members, to want your office for the invitation and opportunity to share my experience and interest for the Green New Deal Oversight Board.

My name is Christophe Strauss.

I'm a D3 resident and a graduate student at the University of Washington, Seattle campus.

where I'm studying urban planning and public policy with a focus on equitable and sustainable planning policy and development.

In my studies, I'm currently a part of a student team working with the Office of Planning and Community Development to further integrate climate resilience and environmental justice into the city's comprehensive plan update.

In my job at the University of Washington's Sustainability Office, I've supported the development and now the implementation of the university's Sustainability Action Plan.

I'm a member of UAW 4121, the Graduate and Academic Student Employees Union at UW, where I work with the Climate Justice Work Group, which organizes and advocates to advance climate, social, and environmental justice policies at the UW, city, county, and state levels.

I represent UAW 4121 as a steering committee member with the Climate Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy, which is a Washington state climate and justice policy advocacy coalition.

During the 2021 legislative session, the Climate Alliance has been advocating for the resilient future platform to craft policy for a carbon-neutral COVID recovery.

In my role with UW-412, I also act as a representative for the Washington chapter of the Blue-Green Alliance, a national labor coalition working on labor policies for a just transition to a clean energy economy.

Currently, the Blue-Green Alliance has been organizing around their Solidarity for Climate Action platform, which is a comprehensive plan put forward by America's largest unions to address the dual crises of climate change and economic equality.

I'd like to serve on the Green New Deal Oversight Board because I believe that to confront the climate crisis and COVID economic recovery, the city needs to develop Green New Deal ordinances, policies, and jobs that establish a just transition to a carbon neutral economy.

And that to implement these Green New Deal policies, the city will need union solidarity that supports the just transition for union jobs in the King County and Washington State Labor Councils.

To build working class power, we must forge coalitions with unions and climate justice movements that will organize and advocate in solidarity for equitable Green New Deal ordinances, policies, and jobs.

These coalitions will then help craft policies at the city and also pass legislation at the state level like the Worker Protection Act and the PRO Act at the national level to ensure workers have the right to organize, bargain, and litigate for their collective needs.

I also believe that the city should continue to pursue all the tools available to ensure that corporations, including utilities who derive their wealth from our communities, pay into a green revolving fund or some sort of green municipal bond to help pay for Green New Deal programs.

I look forward to the opportunity to meet with all of you in person at some point and work with all of you toward a future that will ensure a just transition for all workers and investments in electrification of buildings, transportation, carbon neutral infrastructure and supply chains to ameliorate the historic social, economic and environmental justices.

And it would be an honor and a privilege to be able to serve as a labor representative on the Grenada Oversight Board.

So thank you for the time and for letting me share my interest and passion for this role.

Thank you so much for stuff really agree with all the points you made and also we just wanted to recognize that your union UAW 4121 has been on the front line on many different issues, not only climate justice, but as you said, really brings forward the point about the need for just transition for fossil fuel workers and to make sure that we really build a strong unity, because without that, we won't be able to win climate justice.

We need the labor movement on the front lines with us.

And in that context, I also wanted to share with members of the public that there are three, there are a total of four positions, I believe, to be appointed through labor and I have personally reached out to the leaders at the MLK Labor Council as well, Nicole Grant and Katie Garrow, urging that they also give us some insight and recommendations into what their ideas might be about people who could be appointed as well.

So I'm really looking forward to just really vibrant work from all the appointees as a whole.

Do council members have questions or comments in relation to the appointments?

I don't see anybody raising their hand, so I will go ahead and Just waiting for a second to see if there's anybody.

Okay.

I don't see anyone.

So since there are no questions or comments, we will move to a vote.

As I said, there are five, sorry, four appointments that we are moving to a vote, although there were five on the agenda because we wanted to give the MLK the county labor council more time to discuss the appointments that are reserved on positions that are reserved for labor representatives.

But I certainly greatly appreciate Christophe and Christina being here regardless, because it was important to hear from them.

So I will read those four in for the record and then move them for a vote.

Appointment 1842, appointment of Debolina Banerjee as member of Green New Deal Oversight Board for a term to April 30th, 2022. Appointment 1843, appointment of Matt Remley as member of Green New Deal Oversight Board for a term to April 30th, 2023. Appointment 1845, appointment of Jess Wallach as member of Green New Deal Oversight Board for a term to April 30th, 2022. And appointment 1846, appointment of Rachel Heaton as member of Green New Deal Oversight Board for a term to April 30th, 2023. I move confirmation of appointments 1842, 1843, 1845, and 1846. Do I have a second?

Second.

Thank you.

Actually, we have to read the roll.

So Ted, please call the roll.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Juarez?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Five in favor.

Thank you, Council Members.

Really happy that these appointments will move forward to the City Council for a final vote.

Um, just noting how late the time is, I wanted to propose tentatively that we, because the discussion for the last item is extremely important.

It is. a presentation from Green New Deal activists about climate justice.

And I recognize that everybody's here.

And if we postpone this item, you will have to come back again.

I mean, we want you back again.

But I feel like we will be able to do more justice to the discussion on climate justice if we don't try to rush through in the remaining time.

So if there are no objections, I will I'll propose that we have this discussion at an upcoming committee and we will make sure, my staff will make sure to connect with all of the activists so that we have you back and make sure that it works for your calendar.

If there are no objections from any committee members.

I don't see any objections from committee members and with great thanks to all the participants in today's meeting, including everybody who was here for the appointments and also the presenters from the Office of Sustainability and Environment and thanking all council member committee members.

I will, if there are no other comments, adjourn the meeting.

The committee is adjourned, thank you.

Thank you.