missing title

All right, good afternoon.

Is my mic on?

Check one, check two.

Good afternoon.

The February 3rd, 2026 meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It is 2.03 p.m.

I am Joy Hollingsworth, Council President.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Rink?

Present.

Council Member Rivera?

Present.

Council Member Saka?

Here.

Council Member Strauss?

Here.

Council Member Foster?

Here.

Council Member Juarez.

Here.

Council Member Kettle.

Here.

Council Member Lynn.

Here.

Council President Hollingsworth.

Here.

Nine present.

Awesome colleagues.

I'm having a little technical difficulties on my computer.

So if you all raise your hands or you have something to say, please just raise it.

I'll keep looking down on the dais left and right.

So we're riding dirty a little bit on here.

So at this time, we're gonna open up the hybrid public comment period.

Public comment is limited to items on today's agenda or the introduction or referral calendar or within the council's work plan.

Clerk, how many speakers are signed up today?

I know I have 13. and then you'll do account there and we'll account online as well.

We have 18 in person and one remote.

Awesome.

And I see two other folks signing up, which is great.

So we're going to give everyone two minutes today because we're under 30 people.

So we'll do two minutes.

And we'll start with the in-person speakers first.

So we'll do every in-speaker first and then we'll go and move online.

And clerk, I will hand over to you to do the instructions and I will call the names.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of their time.

Speakers' mics will be muted if they do not end their comments within the allotted time to allow us to call on the next speaker.

Awesome, so first one I'm gonna call in threes, okay, for people to come up.

So you can come up in threes.

We have Miss Donita Sinclair.

We have Mr. Zimmerman, Alex Zimmerman, and Miss Yvette Dynish, followed by Rose and Lorenda.

Those are the five right now.

So Donita, Alex Zimmerman, Yvette Dynish, Rose, and Lorenda.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Can you hear me?

So my name is Donita Sinclair, and I'm the mother of Horace Lorenzo Anderson, and my son was murdered in CHOP, 2020. And I'm here of evidence, evidently saying, well, public safety is not working.

Two minutes, number one, is not going to give us the satisfaction saying that we get to express what's going on in our community.

We just watched two kids get murdered, slandered, and I see you guys sitting around here, kiki-ing and ha-ha-ing.

It's not funny.

I'm asking what are you guys gonna do today?

What actions?

Why is this not full with the chief of police and some type of accountability?

When kids is getting murdered in broad daylight and we guys are sitting up around here acting like, I mean, you're gonna be next.

Is that what we waiting on?

Because I'm asking you to take this serious.

I shouldn't be having to come up here.

I came to read the speech, but my heart's not even allowing me to.

When are you guys gonna start being human beings?

When is our children gonna be started being treated like human beings?

It's not about rioting and protesting.

We're talking about public safety.

I don't know how many minutes I got left.

I'll go, okay, I got two or three or whatever.

But I'm just telling you guys, please take this serious.

What steps, what actions?

We know Ms. Katie done been in the office only for 30 days, but public safety should have been a number one priority.

I wouldn't ask you guys to come to a meeting unless public safety's in the building.

So I'm asking you guys, take your job seriously, or your kids will be next.

Look at it.

This is not a game.

This is not a game.

I hope when you guys go back home, you do feel like shit.

Don't feel like you're doing your job.

Feel you failed us.

Because you have been.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Donita.

Next we...

No, you're good.

You're good.

You're good.

You're good.

You're good.

Mr. Zimmerman, you are next, followed by Yvette Dynish.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, my name Alex Zimmerman and I'm very good with the statement that has come from Consul Juarez, you know what it means, abolish ICE and fuck ICE.

It's a very good statement.

I only don't understand why Consul Juarez for many years cut me and stop me, fuck me in every meeting.

Why are you doing this?

because you are a fucking Nazi pig or you are a fucking Dory Antissimite or you are a fucking crazy, stupid animal.

Do a point of order, please.

Why are you doing this?

Hold on.

We're going to pause time.

Let's pause time so we're not going into your time.

Council Member Juarez.

Point of order for Mr. Excuse me.

I lost my voice there.

Mr. Zimmerman, personal attacks.

Excuse me. on individual council members is not allowed.

So I'm asking that we put on the record for the first time, because he has two more chances, and then he will be banned from city council.

I don't have the rules in front of me, but I think we know what the rules are.

Mr. Ziripman knows what they are.

So with that, Councilmember, I would ask that he not attack individual Councilmembers.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Juarez.

I'm sorry, I just lost my glass.

No worries.

We'll restart the time.

If you could refrain from attacking Councilmembers, that would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not attacking.

I support her statement.

Okay.

We'll start.

Hold on.

We'll start your time, Mr. Zimmerman.

Go ahead.

I support her statement.

Abolish us.

In fact, I support her statement.

That's a good statement.

I support this statement because she have right for statement.

I have right for statement too.

Or we have different standards.

You, my employee, don't forget.

You work for me, for a thousand people.

You're not a boss.

I'm your boss.

They're your boss.

You forgot about this.

It's a problem that we have.

So women, what is talk before, talk about exactly in hot potato.

It's a problem that we have right now.

You're doing nothing.

For 30 years, crime go up and up.

Black community out from Seattle.

No one black man in Seattle and no one black man in Bellevue right now.

We live in Bellevue for 40 years.

Where is black community?

Why are you starting acting like a Nazi pig, huh?

What is, you don't have law, you have rules?

She's absolutely right.

We have everything.

Seattle never for 40 years, what is I hear?

Use love and constitution.

You don't know what does mean love and constitution.

You hear into this idiot who talking to you everything what they want.

Demonstration in street, many demonstrations.

I never see one demonstration.

I talked to you before, 500 homeless die every year for 30 years.

You have demonstration from this idiot?

No, never.

500, 15,000.

And for 30 years you cannot fix this problem.

I told you many times.

This problem fixes this problem very easy.

Give me a chance.

Explain to you detail of this project, what is will bring everybody on the roof.

Personal room.

You don't do anything.

Thank you.

Next we have Ms.

Yvette Dynish followed by Rose and Larenda.

Good afternoon, council members.

Glad to be here.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I also want to speak on...

all the legitimate drama surrounding ICE and all those thousands and hundreds of people who are marching in protest of ICE, I would like to see them show up at our public schools as a vanguard and stay there until school starts and when it ends every single day.

And I would also like our community Well, back up a little bit.

I appreciate what she's saying about what you are doing for our community.

What is the community doing for our community?

I would like to see more organizations of the South, and particularly like Larry Wilmore's Fathers and Sons Together, Brothers United in Leadership Development, and find out what, talk to the kids on the street.

Talk to the guidance counselors.

Use their guidance to see what we could do as a community to help keep our children safe.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Yvette.

Next, we have Rose, followed by Lorinda, followed by Del Johnson.

Hello, Rose, welcome.

Hello.

This last week, Mayor Wilson made statements and talked about concrete action she was gonna take against ICE.

ICE is something that was welcomed to the community.

I think that this is, I was also, was very appreciative of the council members that spoke about it.

I believe it was Council Member Kettle had the comments about it, Council Member Rink that's been speaking about it, Lynn and Foster for quite some time.

This is a good first step.

There is more steps to be had.

Mayor Wilson says that she is going to talk about surveillance later this week and what she is going to take.

It is important that we talk about cameras.

It's important that we talk about the fact that right now ICE is trying to use our phones to track our entire communities, because it doesn't matter if we ban license plates if they can track all of our phones and tell us where we are going.

It is so much more than that.

I would also like to say that it's important for you all to pass on to the mayor, if at all possible, that it's okay to make press statements.

People want to see you all.

They want to see the mayor.

They want to feel that there is something more going on, a personal connection.

Showing up for a couple of speeches occasionally is good, but that's not what people need.

tell them the actions, meet with people.

There are individuals who are suffering and hearing, and people see the city office, the city hall as a closed off prison that most people can't ever access, that they can't ever have a part in.

We need to see the individuals here in the city council and the mayor meeting with the individuals in our communities and talking to them as individuals and making them feel safe, because right now everybody's fucking scared.

and that is how things are and they're going to continue to be for the foreseeable until individuals meet with them and show that things are going to change.

Good actions happen, but you have to tell people in the communities what is going to happen and encourage them to take further actions.

The whistle communities are great, people meeting up is great, but we also need to have you all spirulating the efforts that you can to make people feel like they are here in Seattle and they will be safe when they come here for refuge.

Thank you, Rose.

Next we have Lorenda, followed by Dale, followed by Mari, and then Bennett.

So we have Lorenda.

Did I say your name right?

Lorenda, M-Y-R-E-S.

Lorenda?

Yes.

Oh, I'm sorry.

How you doing, Ms. Lorenda?

Welcome.

So my name is Lorenda, and my last name is Myers.

Myers.

And I'm showing up here, first of all, just to meet you all.

and secondly, I'm standing up here on behalf of the children.

I believe that this meeting should have more people of color here.

I'm a black woman and I'm seeing no results, no results.

And these are like children, but when we say children, the age is getting lower, younger and younger and younger.

And as I age, I am not okay with that.

and I just wanted to say that it's not to knock you all, but as you're introducing yourself to us, I'm introducing myself to you all to find out what's the agenda and how is it gonna work.

That's it.

Thank you, Ms. Lorenda.

Next we have Dale Johnson, followed by Mari, followed by Bennett.

Oops, I'm not next.

Dale Johnson.

Okay.

Hi, Dale, welcome.

Hello, welcome.

How are you doing?

My name is Del Johnson.

I'm an engineer.

I have more than 25 years of utility experience, 10 years at Seattle City Light, and I'm a Protect 17 member.

I remember the day that Dawn talked to us about employee misconduct.

There was a report that was released about our crews that were drinking on the job, hazing, and sexual harassment.

and she had that difficult conversation with us and I remember that took a lot of courage.

And she looked at us and said that we have to do better.

Our culture has to be better.

We need to have tough conversations and we need to, you know, basically work better with our coworkers.

She didn't blame anybody.

She didn't point fingers, but most of that, all of that misconduct happened before she was even our GM.

She didn't point the fingers at anybody.

She stood up and took accountability and told us what we needed to do to move forward.

And after that conversation, I thought, you know, I didn't have anything to do with that misconduct, but I need to do better.

I need to be a better communicator.

I need to have the hard conversations with my co-worker.

And I need to be accountable for what I do.

And it just kind of hit me that difficult conversations are hard to have.

And so in the last two weeks, I've talked to a lot of people.

Jen Chan's name has come up a lot.

And a lot of people said that they think that Jen fired our boss.

We've been asking to meet with Jen, but she hasn't met with us.

And so I really want to meet with Jen and the mayor because PROTECT 17 elected the mayor.

So basically, that's why I'm here.

And I'll continue to come back until we have a meeting with Jen and the mayor.

And thank you for your time.

Thank you, Dale.

Next we have Mari, followed by Bennett, Howard Gale, and Adriana.

Hi, council members, council president, congratulations on your election.

I'm here to just introduce myself for new business coming up actually in front of council member Lynn's committee and I've requested a meeting with him.

Council member, thank you for agreeing to meet with me.

Just to introduce myself and my little group, I'm the president of Lake Union Live Aboard Association, which represents little tiny house Little tiny houseboats, is that better?

I put my card in the box and it'll be copied to all of you, just so you can get a hold of me when you need to go through the shoreline management plan, which is coming up before your committee at some point.

We were the ones who held it up 10 years ago from its being approved because of the issues that we raised.

And the council has, the city has been sued nine times by members of my group and we've won.

So I think what I'd like to see with this new council and this new mayor is that we get included before it gets too far beyond this.

I went over the advisory committees that we have in the city, 71 advisory committees and commissions, and not one involving the maritime community.

And yet this is a maritime city.

You have everything from the arboretum to the zoo in alphabetical order, but nothing for maritime.

In the last administration, two port commissioners set as executives in the mayor's office.

So obviously, the port commission is the big dog on the block.

But who uses our waters?

Everybody from the port and the big ships down to kayakers and paddleboarders.

So as a group, we all have an interest in the shoreline.

So I would urge you to create a commission or an advisory committee at the very least so that we can have a say before the management plan gets to the council.

Thank you very much.

Thank you so much.

Next we have Bennett, bless you.

Next we have Bennett followed by Howard, Gail and Adriana.

Welcome Bennett.

Thank you, Council President Hollingsworth.

I want to reiterate once again, I think that my understanding under City Council rules, section 11, subsection C and D, there is no rule against a public commenter asking a question and then giving over part of their time for a council member to answer the question.

Not only there's no rule against it, I sincerely believe that would be, in some cases, a more productive use of public comment time.

Subject to the constraints, you've got two minutes, everybody has to be civil, but under those rules, there's no particular reason that you can't use the time to ask a question and get an answer.

I had a question for Council Member Rivera.

She left.

So we'll switch it up, because it doesn't have to be the chair of the meeting who's being asked a question.

Bob, I know that you know these microphones are on during public comment.

If you're one of the newer people, ask Bob how he knows that.

Now, during the discussion around the surveillance cameras, some people had mentioned that studies had shown that they've phrased it as surveillance does not reduce crime in the city.

I looked up the studies they were referencing.

It appeared to say specifically that surveillance doesn't reduce violent crime, but it does reduce property crime.

and that does sort of intuitively match what you'd expect because violent crime is more impulsive.

People aren't thinking whether there's a camera there.

Property crime might involve a little more forethought.

Oh, there's a camera over here.

I should focus on this area over here.

Let me ask, do you think the intent of the surveillance system is more about deterring violent crime or do you agree that surveillance only deters property crime but that is the point of this system?

There is no rule.

that says you can't answer.

Thank you, Bennett.

What I did hear, thank you Bennett.

Next we have Mr. Howard Gale.

And before you start, Council Member Kettle just said that he's available for Public Safety Committee during that time to be engaging in these conversations.

So just wanted to throw that out to you Bennett.

Mr. Howard Gale, followed by Adriana.

Good afternoon.

We've had 15 months since Trump was elected to get ready for the days that we are facing.

and yet we have preferred no legislation or resolutions that actually affirmatively require SPD officers to protect people.

Instead, what we get after I asked five months ago, 36 District Democrats put forth potential legislation for having SPD officers protect people.

Instead, we get what is Council Bill 121158, which simply reiterates a horrifying and inappropriate law that's on the books, which is that Seattle police officers are exempt from not engaging in talking about a person's legal status if they have reasonable suspicion to believe that they've previously been deported, are again president of the United States, or committing or have committed a criminal law violation.

That, in this point in time, is horrific.

That means an ICE officer can walk up to an SPD officer and say, that person is a member of Trandiagua, that person is a criminal, is a felon, and we need to go after them.

This needs to actually be changed, but instead of changing it, it's simply being reiterated at this point in time.

I'd like to point out, Council Member Foster, you did talk in council briefing yesterday about the fact that the Somali community was terrorized at the end of December by a right-wing provocateur.

That is not the story.

The story is not that there's right-wing provocateurs who will always be with us.

The story is the SPD, seven, eight, nine, 10 officers came on the scene, and when the guy had brandished a firearm, they did nothing.

That's the story.

The story is back in September, an SPD officer was nonchalant when confronted with someone who's potentially an ICE officer and said, I don't care.

So we have lots of stories of SPD officers failing to...

Thank you, Mr. Gill.

Thank you, Mr. Gill.

Thank you, Mr. Gill.

Next we have Adriana.

Is Adriana here?

It might be Adriana?

Oh, yes, the last one.

Figueroa?

Figueroa.

Jody, can you put it to four minutes, please?

Thank you.

So there's a translator here.

We're going to do four minutes.

Hello.

Welcome.

And we'll do four minutes, so we have the translation opportunity as well.

Welcome, you all.

And you can use both microphones.

Thank you.

Hola, muy buenas tardes.

Hi, good afternoon.

Mi nombre es Adriana Figueira.

My name is Adriana Figueira.

Director de Comunidad Sin Fronteras.

I'm the director of Community Without Borders.

Y también miembro de otras organizaciones muy importantes que apoyan la comunidad migrante.

I'm also a member of many other organizations who support the migrant community.

Hoy vengo con la intención de llevar la voz de mi comunidad.

Today I come with the intention of sharing my community's voice.

En especial la comunidad migrante venezolana.

Especially the Venezuelan migrant community.

I want you to know that I'm also afraid.

But I still came to this meeting.

In the last few days, I got to meet Alexis in these places.

I was really moved by the testimony that she gave.

actually felt identified, seen.

I felt like I was with family, like at home.

That we were passing through a similar situation.

For us right now, it's very complicated.

because outside of just the forced migration that we experience, we are passing through persecution by ICE.

That means that lots of families

are finding themselves in difficult situations that are diverse and complex, coming due to, has to do with housing, with health, and even migratory status.

In that moment I asked Alexis to have a meeting with you one-on-one.

I actually also sent an email.

Because you gave me your email.

This was a bit strange.

The response that I got.

Because as I mentioned earlier, I felt like there was a lot of empathy from before.

The response I got was that she's very busy and that she couldn't assist me at that time.

That possibly the services would come at the end of January or beginning of February.

Services such as lawyer, legal aid,

and also the possibility for resources for housing.

My question is the following.

What job is so large when the promise is to support the community and especially the migrant community?

I present to you part of my community that would also like to give testimony today.

Good afternoon, my name is Myrlen Moreno.

I'm a migrant who crossed the border with my husband and with my daughter.

to really save our lives and to find safety.

And we're passing through a situation right now where my daughter is being processed through a separate case from ours.

Even though she is here with her family.

She already had her first court where she had to go as an unaccompanied minor by herself and we felt so much fear for her.

In this situation we feel even more vulnerable now.

Because we're running the risk that my daughter will be deported without her parents.

Going with the fear, knowing that ICE might be there to even detain us as well.

And we're going to our courts and following all the steps because we want to follow with the law.

But we don't feel safe.

We're not able to go with a lawyer.

Thanks to the organizations that are here with us today, we feel a little bit safer because they come with us.

But either way, we still feel very unsafe.

So sharing my situation, I ask, why do we have to live in fear and be so afraid when we came here looking for safety Please, no more persecution, no more ICE.

We came here to find safety.

We're asylum seekers because of the situations back in our home country.

Thank you for listening.

I just want to say my situation and what we're going through isn't just.

It's not right.

Ice out.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm representing Comunidad Sin Fronteras, Community Without Borders, and I've been in this country for three years.

These last few months have been really heavy for me, especially after my surgery where they had to remove my entire left breast due to cancer.

Right now, I do not have medical insurance.

that would cover many procedures that I actually still need.

It's difficult for me to work.

I don't have a way to pay my rent.

I actually owe two months.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

I'm also under a lot of stress right now.

I had some work, but just this December they've cut me down to very, very few days.

I feel nervous to go out of my house and onto the street to even look for work because of ICE.

I can also apply through my phone but because I don't have the funds to actually cover my phone bill, I actually am not able to follow through with those applications.

And I want to work, I actually really want to find a job, but I need you to get ice out of the community.

To be able to actually go out into the city, make a life, be able to move around without living in fear.

And to be able to cover the basic needs.

Ahorita mismo debo el alquiler porque no estaba trabajando por el...

Ayer y en estos días tuvieron muchos redadas cerca de la casa y uno tiene que estar escondido.

I wasn't able to cover this month's rent and in fact just a few days ago there was ice all around my house and like in the area that I'm living in and so you're basically just inside living in fear.

You're scared.

So we want you to really take our word for what we're saying and have unity with us in getting ice out of our communities.

And secondly, to support us with the resources to be able to cover our rent even for one or two months while we try to find work.

We actually really want to work.

We don't want to be a burden.

If you can get ice out of our city, we can live it more peacefully.

Thank you.

We also just want to quickly share that we want support with two petitions that we have.

I know it's complicated to talk about ICE.

We know that you might not have jurisdiction on all the areas to make moves in this situation.

But I think you should make the effort to do what you can.

But in the meantime, I think you have some of the context for even what's happening in our home country in Venezuela.

The transitions that are happening there are not going to happen overnight.

In the meantime, our home is in this country.

And so as I repeat, we have two petitions that we need support with.

We need resources to be able to find legal aid for our immigration cases.

And also support with resources for housing.

Thank you very much.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Next we have Jonathan and then followed by Cassandra and then Aries.

and I know we have more people that have signed up as well.

Welcome Mr. Jonathan.

Hello.

First, I want to start off by grounding ourselves.

Yesterday was December, or sorry, it was February 2nd and this is back in December 2nd, we had seen that Christian Nelson was murdered by SPD and that they shot up an apartment building and they sent a resident to the hospital and this was the context for my organization, SARPR, to launch a campaign, Justice for Christian Nelson and Jack Pillay Lee campaign.

And since then, we have continued to come back, we have continued to be more organized, and now, as ICE has begun to hit the streets, we have launched another campaign.

This is our ICE out of Seattle campaign, with some demands such as end surveillance now, ICE off city grounds now, service is not surveillance, and as well some other points.

But I wanted to echo on the other public commenter where he is actually able to engage with council members.

So I wanted to do something similar.

And to who I want to ask directly is to Joy Hollensworth.

And I just wanted to pose this in terms of directly, does it make sense to have Robert Kettle, who is a war criminal, to be the chair of public safety for the city of Seattle?

Now, I'll give you maybe like three seconds to answer yes or no.

If you don't wanna answer, that's totally fine, because you are sitting right next to him, so I do understand that dynamic, so I'll just give you a quick count.

So, no answer.

But regardless, you know, I think it doesn't make sense to have a war criminal serving to protect other criminals on the city of Seattle.

He was very happy when he voted to renew their contract and give them less accountability.

And, you know, I think at the end of the day, I understand that these council members in front of me live on the streets of Seattle

Thank you, Mr. Jonathan.

Thank you, Jonathan.

Thank you, Jonathan.

Thank you, Jonathan.

Next, we have Cassandra, followed by Aries, followed by Keandre.

Hi, Cassandra.

Hi again.

I only have two minutes this time.

I'm Cassandra.

As you all saw, I work very closely with the migrant community.

I'm also part of a migrant-led organization called Capibara Colectiva.

We're part of the International League of People's Struggle, who's here today.

We're also part of the International Migrants Alliance.

and alongside the migrants that you saw, these women have been fighting for housing and for resources for migrants for quite a few years.

They're actually a large part of the reason why the WAMAS program even exists in Washington state.

They've had meetings with the governor of this state, with folks at the county level, and they spoke today at the city to really share their testimonies.

In regards to what Mirlen shared, I think the one detail that I want to uplift is that her daughter who has to go into court alone is six years old, which is disturbing that children have to go into court and represent themselves.

But we're also seeing the increase in ICE raids.

We know that we have one of the largest detention centers in this state, and we know that ICE in our communities is putting everyone at risk.

and we are seeing what's happening in Minneapolis.

We also have seen what's happened in this state and so we're here as the International Migrants Alliance, as the International League of People Struggle, as just many grassroots organizations to please do your jobs, do go beyond what your jobs can do and really kick ICE out of Seattle.

Thank you.

Thank you, Aris.

Next we have Keandre followed by Lady Scribe and then Solomon.

Uh, uh, Keandre?

Yep, welcome.

Hello, City Council, thank you for having me here.

I, um, saw that Rivera, uh, Councilmember Rivera, um, put out their, um, legislation for protecting immigrants out forth, um, and I wanted to focus on Section B, uh, Seattle police officers are exempt from limitations imposed by subsection 4.18.

with respect to a person whom the officer has reasonable suspicion to believe that one, has previously been deported, two, is again present in the United States, or three, committing or has committed a felony.

I wanted to ask, what is reasonable suspicion?

and how exactly does giving the SPD already a organization that a lot of the community members don't feel safe with, how is this either helping them and making us feel safer?

Perfect, all right, thank you.

And Katie Wilson's promise to do something she said that she was going to focus on a $4 million allocation to affected communities.

How do we know where this money is going?

Because as we just heard, we have community members who aren't able to get housing, who aren't able to pay insurance and medical bills.

So how can we actually make sure that money gets back into the community?

Perfect, thank you.

We need services guys, not surveillance.

You know, there's so much money that could be allocated to the affected communities and again, we don't know where the money is going and we don't know how we're made any safer because of it.

So, thank you.

Thank you, Keandre.

Next we have Lady Scribe.

For the record, the legislation that Council Member Rivera has put forth is going to our Public Safety Committee.

That committee meets on February 10th at 9.30.

The $4 million that was actually allocated, it was a...

council member Rink amendment from council that was passed last year, goes directly to Office of Immigrant and Refugee Services, who then figures out the RFP for those funds.

And I know that is oversight that can happen at council and with the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Services and with the mayor's office as well.

But those are great questions and really appreciate you bringing those up.

But I just wanted just to provide that information for you as well.

I can answer, I'm not sure I can answer the questions after.

I just wanted to give those, those are the concrete facts on those.

Thank you, Keandre.

Miss Lady Scribe followed by Solomon, only one winner, Prince?

Only one wiser Prince than Nathan and then Ariel.

Okay, yes, my name is Lady Scribe.

I am a legacy resident of Seattle and the founder of the Seattle Sound Music Awards Family Foundation.

I've probably rallied for a lot of you guys.

I have shown up, and this is something that we are definitely asking in community to get to our mayor's office.

We understand that it is shortly, you know, a little bit over, 30-day transition.

We get it, but we need immediate funding right now to be released.

We don't need any more circles to go through the council and say, hey, we don't know.

We need a million dollars.

We want a million dollars.

We will email you guys individually everything that we're asking for, but we need this money released so we can have a black Seattle to black Seattle conversation.

This is not a Seattle conversation.

And trust that with the deaths of our youth in Rainier Beach, we cannot continuously asking people outside of ourselves to handle situations that we need to handle ourselves.

And I want ICE out too.

I'm afraid for my son who's filming to get on the bus for years going to school.

I'm afraid every time, but I can't hinder him in growing as a young black man.

I have to pray and hope that he comes home safely.

Even in the winter, I have to tell him, do not wear your hoodie.

This conversation, when I say I want ice out too, this is our passport initiative as well.

We as black, indigenous Americans are the only ones here that aren't protected.

Our immigrants and our refugees come here with two and three passports.

My mother's Jamaican and African, my brethren, we are all here, we understand it, but I'm literally talking to those born in Seattle, those born in America, black residents, we are unprotected.

We do not have passports, so if we get picked up, where do we go?

We cannot fly out of SEA.

We don't have $45.

We're going to be sitting over there for two more hours trying to verify ourselves.

We need the city of Seattle to react.

I know that I'm out of time, but I will, again, email you guys.

I get so wrapped up and emotional because we need to be able to have a voice here for black Seattle.

Please support us with the money behind us.

Thank you.

Thank you, ladies.

Next we have Solomon, followed by Nathan, followed by Ariel.

Aries, it is.

No, Aurelie.

Aurelie.

A-R-I-B-S.

A-U-R-A-L-E-E, Rose.

Aurelie, Rose.

Aurelie, Rose.

Give me one second, Solomon.

Okay, next I have Solomon, who's here.

I have Nathan.

Is Nathan here to the left?

And then Aurelie Rose, A-U-R-A-L-E-E.

Is that you?

Oh, I'm sorry.

Thank you so much, Aurelie Rose.

I do not have you.

You can still sign up if you want.

Right after.

What's your name?

Oh, I might have met Kassan.

I might have Ares.

Okay, I see.

You were number 26. Okay, after Solomon, you will be next.

That's my bad.

And Solomon?

Yep.

Only one of Wiser.

You just had a birthday?

Who, me?

Yeah, did you?

I got a birthday coming in a couple of weeks.

Okay, never mind.

I'm sorry.

All right, my bad.

All right.

Yes, my name is Solomon, only one wiser prince.

I am the founder of the non-profit Christ organization and also co-founder of Three Kings Dojo, which is a boxing gym, and the Aurora Avenue corridor of North Seattle.

I am a Seattle Central District native, so I am from this city of Seattle, okay?

What I'm here to do is I'm trying to call for funding for the Three Kings Dojo to allocate for at-risk youth in the community, okay?

Access and equity, what we're asking for is just a simple way, okay, to have structure and discipline that I provide at my boxing gym as a safe place to be for these kids, but cost is the barrier.

City funding would allow us to offer free or low-cost training so finances never decide whether a child gets mentorship, discipline, and they will have a positive outlet.

Violence prevention and public safety is also what we offer with having this gym.

We all know that hours after school are the most critical.

That's when kids are most vulnerable to negative influences.

Boxing isn't about fighting.

It's about self-control, accountability, and respect.

Every hour a child is in our gym is an hour they are not in the streets.

We have proven grassroots impact.

We're not a pop-up program.

We are rooted right here in the community.

Families trust us.

Kids show us consistently.

Coaches know their names.

City investment wouldn't be starting something new.

It would be strengthening what's already working.

What funding directly supports is...

safety, equipment and stable facility access.

That stability allows us to be consistent and consistency is what changes lives.

Accountability and outcomes.

We believe in accountability.

We track attendance, participation and youth progress.

We see improvement in discipling and confidence, school engagement and behavior.

This is a smart investment with the measure outcomes.

I just got one more.

When you invest in our youth, you invest in safer neighborhoods, stronger families, and a healthier Seattle.

We are asking the city to stand with us so every child, regardless of their zip code or income level, has a fighting chance in life to succeed.

And that's on Christy.

Thank you, Solomon.

Next, we have Aries, followed by Nathan, and then Arlie.

Welcome, Aries.

And I apologize, I skipped over you.

My bad.

All right, thank you for the grace.

Any microphone you want.

All right, as we stated last time, we are back with more people, more demands, well, the same demands.

These are the people directly impacted by the decisions that you guys are not making.

We are here with more organizations.

They actually are right outside with Capabara and some other organizations to stand here and prove that we, the people of the community, are having to stand up and unite because you guys aren't making the right decisions.

You guys aren't actually helping the community with the demands that we are asking.

It has been one month since Christian Nelson was murdered by the Seattle police during a mental health crisis.

We are here to demand that we expedite, that you guys expedite our demands to protect the people of our city.

We need ice off city grounds.

We need ice out now.

We need service, not surveillance.

And we're asking that the $4 million that was directed should be directed to the people directly impacted by this, not the organizations.

As we said last time, if our demands are not met, we will be back again with more people, the same demands until you guys actually fix it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Aris.

Next we have Nathan, followed by Aurelie.

So Nathan, followed by Aurelie.

All right.

So Seattle's a city of immigrants and transplants.

That's what we've always been.

And one of the great things about this city is that no matter when you moved here, no matter when you came here, you're still part of the city.

I think it's worth noting that majority of our council members chose to live in Seattle.

They weren't born here, and that is a good thing because we're a city that welcomes you.

But we don't welcome ICE in this city because they're trying to destroy our communities and tear families apart, and that's wrong.

In this country, you have First Amendment rights, Second Amendment rights, Fourth Amendment rights, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Tenth Amendment rights.

Alex Preddy and Renee Goode were exercising their rights.

You don't have to agree with what they did to respect their rights to do it.

I don't agree with Alex Zimmerman's words, but he has the right to speak.

It's the same idea.

They were not criminals.

They were not doing anything wrong.

They were defending people in their community that were being targeted by masked Gestapo agents.

There is no world in which you can justify what happened to them.

And I just want to say everybody here needs to keep exercising their constitutionally protected rights.

We cannot comply in advance with this regime.

We need to read the Epstein files.

We need to keep speaking out and saying what we think, because that is what he wants to take away from us.

Don't comply in advance.

Resist the coup.

Read the Epstein files.

Keep criticizing Trump.

This regime is about to fall, and it's because we will not stand for it.

How many people here are gonna stand for Trump's abuses of our Constitution?

I don't think anyone here is gonna stand for that.

I don't think anyone up here believes in that.

We disagree on a variety of issues, but we all agree that the First Amendment is important, that immigrants belong in our communities, and that these raids are wrong.

ice out now and just for Renee, Alex and Keith Porter.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Nathan.

Next we have Arlie followed by RC and then we have more and then we'll switch to online.

Welcome Arlie.

I'm sorry.

I just said Arlie.

Welcome.

And you can do any mic you want that works for you.

Thank you for having me.

My name is Ara Lee Rose.

I'm a Pacific Northwest native Ottawa and resident of First Hill Seattle.

The University of Washington and its affiliated campuses are irresponsibly developing next generation energy weapons and pervasive surveillance technologies.

Unavoidable knowledge for every citizen in this city, you should know about the radioactive chemicals seeping into our land.

I've hereby submitted a formal complaint and hereby demand a comprehensive independent investigation by the Sheriff's Internal Investigations Unit and the OLEO into these allegations of misconduct and potential misuse of surveillance and advanced technologies and flagrant violations of my civil rights.

When I sought assistance via email, Joy assured me of a follow-up call only to tell me she couldn't help me.

Furthermore, 250 years later, I'm here on American soil.

I'm also a great-granddaughter of our first American General of the Army.

so here I am 250 years later being surveilled by my ex and it's not only me, 10,000 can query this database and search you and you and you and me and Black Lives Matter and Congress and anybody they want, survivors, protesters, people who are fleeing from domestic violence, I've had to do that, they can go into shelters and it's profoundly dangerous and frankly indefensible to permit someone like my ex with the EPA to check out a weapon from the Sheriff's Department and who has assault four on his record and violent tendencies.

And this arrangement imperils innocent lives and systematically erodes any of our remaining public confidence and are profoundly flawed- Thank you, Aurelie.

Thank you so much.

We have three last in-person speakers before we jump to online.

We have RC followed by Keisha McGee and then Liz Park.

And you can use either microphone, RC, anyone you want.

R.C.

City Council, good afternoon.

My name is R.C.

Demings.

I'm a Seattle native.

I graduated from Garfield High School many moons ago, and I want to share a few things with you, please.

Prevention and intervention is primary enforcement.

Prevention and intervention will stop enforcement if it's used properly.

We need everyone in the community to play a part in intervention.

These things should be everyone's responsibility.

This clearly means that we must support our chief and his command staff.

This is a man who prioritizes prevention and intervention, knowing that he understands the responsibility of enforcement.

He's determined to do it the right way.

I learned this from John Frederick Hayes, who served 39 years in every community for Seattle Police Department, and it does work.

Sean Barnes is trying to do the same thing, so let's please give him a time and a chance to come out with effective outcomes.

John Hayes was at Rainier Beach High School yesterday, and he spoke to the group of kids and told them to make sure that every kid that you interact with doesn't get into trouble.

He also told these kids that the best revenge is massive success.

And if we believe in that, then no crimes would be committed.

I want to thank all of you Seattle City Councilmen and people who came out to the Renner Beach area this past weekend.

It was a great tragedy.

But guess what?

If our minds can't conceive it, our hearts can't believe it, with God's help we can achieve it.

We got to put our best foot forward and we better do things to stand in our communities.

Like yesterday, between Friday and yesterday is like two to three hundred people out there.

If the person that saw that before it happened would have saw all of us there, there's no way it would have happened.

And Joy, I'm going to give you a pass today.

You know why?

I'm glad you asked.

I know you were busy and you would have came out if you had a chance and so forth.

And I do get that.

I do understand that.

And lean on us too, because we're coming to you.

So then therefore it's your turn to come to us to help facilitate.

Thank you, RC.

Next we have, and it's good to see you, RC.

Next we have Keisha McGee.

Is Keisha McGee here?

I think I saw her sign up, Keisha McGee.

I'll say that again, Keisha McGee.

No, okay, Liz Park.

Liz Park, welcome and thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Liz, and I am here to represent the International League of People's Struggle, a global grassroots alliance of migrant workers and peasant and many other pro-people organizations.

I am here to uplift the calls of the very people in this room who are here with you to stand and to demand from you more.

It is the people in this room who make this city run.

It is the people in this room who should have the power.

It is the people in this room that put you in your seats.

These are the people who make it possible for us to enjoy our morning coffees, the food on our tables, the clothes on our backs.

So if you didn't know, Recently, the UW Center for Human Rights put out a report on how the Department of Licensing is working with ICE to surveil the community to make it more effective to kidnap our community members.

This is why, and this is exactly why, we cannot have more CCTVs in our community.

And as people who sit on the city council, it is why you must also do everything that you can to reverse this, because we cannot have more surveillance in our community.

More CCTVs, more surveillance is not what's going to make our city safer.

We have seen it before in history, right?

The people need health care.

They need education.

They need services.

They need housing.

They need surveillance, or they need services, not surveillance.

And so we're urging you today for the city to take a stance because you here must take a stance because the people are taking a stand.

The people who elected you are taking a stand.

Every day in the streets, they are building community response networks in their schools, in their workplaces.

People are, you know, urging you to take and do more, you know, in the seat of power that you are in.

So thank you.

Thank you, Liz.

No, Nikisha's not, okay, awesome.

Thank you for that.

We're gonna go to online now.

David Haynes, please press star six to unmute yourself.

Just one.

Hi, thank you, David Haynes.

There was 133 homicides in 2025 in Baltimore, and there was 311 shootings.

and just this year alone, there were seven deaths in 16 days.

And our city government, acting like the best practices are copying blue cities of elsewhere, are applying gun violence prevention based on Baltimore.

And we know that in our budget in Seattle, there are certain people who are going around to nonprofits that are paying gun-toting criminals to relocate to a different city if they don't retaliate.

And other people in this city are being paid two months' rent and a bunch of food from the grocery store because going to the food bank for the criminals is beneath them.

And it's all based on the idea that they're going to go out and rob somebody to make the rent.

So gun violence prevention is failing miserably.

but because it's a different city that the Human Services Department wanted to go travel to to justify coming back with some working vacation.

We have to put up with the same bad policies that are running interference for evil criminals.

And, you know, we still have a homeless crisis here in Seattle.

We have a housing crisis that's been sabotaged by the landlords on the city council who put restrictions on the comprehensive plan.

And we have a public safety crisis where you all are prioritizing repeat offenders that are connected to the criminal underworld who are conducting uncivil war in the community, yet you pride yourself on racially discriminating against innocent, white, houseless citizens who are subhuman mistreated and discriminated against.

and we have a Main Street reactivation crisis because the police chief thinks that he's the smartest guy in town when it comes to manipulating the perceptions of safety by lying about the 911 crime hotspots.

He just keeps sweeping to another part of the neighborhood.

Thank you, Mr. Haynes.

Are there any more additional speakers that have signed up?

I just want to scan the room.

Are there any more additional speakers that have not signed up who would like to speak at all?

Okay, awesome.

So that is going to, we've reached the end of the list of our registered speakers and the public comment period is now closed.

I do wanna sincerely thank all the people that came in today.

I know that there's people that are always watching online.

There's people that watch this video later on in the evening or down the line.

the people who have sent in public comments via email.

Maybe it's the folks that we meet on the street as well.

And also folks that we get to meet every single day, the community as a whole and there's a ton of people.

And so public comment happens in so many different ways.

And I just wanna thank everyone for their public comment regarding the current issues that are going on in our city as well.

And so we're gonna transition from our public comment into some of our agenda.

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

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

If there's any objection.

We will now consider the consent calendar and these are the items on the consent calendar.

The minutes of January 27th, 2026 and Council Bill 121-157.

Are there any items council members would like to remove from today's consent calendar?

Hearing none, I'm gonna move to adopt the consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and second to adopt the consent calendar.

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

Council member Rink?

Council member Rivera?

Aye.

Council member Saka?

Aye.

Council member Strauss?

Aye.

Councilmember Foster?

Aye.

Councilmember Juarez?

Aye.

Councilmember Kettle?

Aye.

Councilmember Lin?

Yes.

Council President Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The consent calendar items are adopted.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes and legislation on the consent calendar on my behalf?

There are no committee reports for presentation today and there were no items removed from the consent calendar.

There's no resolution for introduction today.

Are there any further, I believe Council Member Juarez, you have further comment or business?

Yes, I do.

Before I do that, though, Madam President, if you would let me just make as a personal point of privilege, I'd just like to make a remark.

I do respect people's First Amendment rights to come to the People's House to share their thoughts on public comment on anything, not just including the agenda, particularly what's going on in our city.

What I wanted to share, and I apologize, I was choking on my water when I couldn't get the words out, it is the inappropriate remarks and the personal attacks and the vulgarity and the inflammatory language based on race, gender, ethnicity that some of us endure on a daily basis and that's what I find unacceptable because when people come here and take the time to come to public comment in the People's House We want to hear your words.

I learned so much today from individuals that showed up, and I want to thank you for that, and that's what I listened for.

It's unfortunate that people come here to attack our ethnicity, our background, and make those personal attacks public, and that's what saddens me.

So with that, I just wanted to clear the record on that because I couldn't speak before because I was choking on my water.

And then I also wanted to make a clear again for the record that Mr. Zimmerman now has on the record been warned.

So he has two more opportunities and he knows how we do this.

So I wanted to make sure that's clear.

Okay, with that being said, thank you for indulging me, Madam President.

I'm requesting to be excused next Tuesday from Seattle City Council, February 10th.

Are there any objections?

I'm not going to object, so you are excused.

Council Member Strauss, I see your hand raised.

Thank you, Council President.

Also requesting to be excused from the City Council meeting on February 10th.

Awesome, are there any objections to Council Member Strauss being excused from February 10th?

You are excused.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Council President.

Yes, the same for me, except for two weeks from today on the 17th of February.

February 17th, are there any, is there any objections?

Seeing none, you are excused, Councilmember Kettle.

Are there, is there any further items to come before the council today for this meeting?

I'll look left and right, my computer turned on magically, so I'm no longer writing blind.

We're good, okay.

All right, awesome.

Again, I want to thank the public commenters for coming out.

We had different types of voices today, which is all within the purview of this council.

I wanna continue to invite people to come to public comment because this is your opportunity to be able to have, to be able to, for the record, state what you're feeling and to, what you're feeling and then also within the purview of this committee.

I'll continue just to ask, you'll always be treated with kindness when you walk through these doors, we'll always be respectful.

We just ask the same in return as well and we just wanna continue this process and so we just thank everyone for that.

So with that, it is 314 and this meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.