Select Committee on Civic Arenas on 9/14/2018

Thank you.

Good morning, everybody.

Good morning.

Yeah, I was hoping to hear something back.

So before we begin, can I hear it for the Storm?

Yes.

Third WNBA championship.

I just want you to know at the last council meeting I did call it that we do it in three and we did so I did win a hundred dollars on that bet so from Councilmember Harrell so let's see let's do a call to order we did our good morning this is a select committee on civic arenas it will now come to order it is Friday September 14th The time is now 941. I'm Councilmember Deborah Juarez, co-chair of the committee.

I want to thank my other co-chair, Council President Harrell, for being here today as well, who worked with us on this process.

I want to thank the councilmembers that are here today.

That would be Councilmember Mosqueda, Councilmember Bagshaw, Councilmember Johnson, Councilmember Herbold, and Councilmember Gonzalez.

Thank you for being here this morning.

A particular thank you to Councilmember Johnson and Bagshaw and President Harrell, who are also part of the client group that helped us through this long process.

I understand that we do have to do public comment.

And how many people have 27?

We have 27 people signed up for public comment.

So before I go any further, as you all know, Since there's 27 people, I'm gonna actually hold you all to one minute and we'll call you in groups of four.

And we have two matters on the agenda, only two.

And that is, the first one is Council Bill 119344, an ordinance pertaining to the admission tax revenue.

And then item number two, Council Bill 119345, and ordinance related to Key Arena and the authorizing the renovation of Key Arena.

So those are the only two matters.

So we're gonna call you up in groups of four, and if you can come up to microphones one and two, I'd ask that you speak to the matters on the agenda, that you are respectful, and I'd like to also let people know that we, and welcome, we have the Washington Wild Girls Hockey Team.

Will you guys wanna raise your hand?

Yay.

We have been coming to just about every one of our public hearings and being supportive of young women in hockey, and I want to thank you, young women, for always being here.

I really appreciate your support.

Okay, with that, is there anything else my colleagues want to say?

All right.

Let's start with public comment.

The first four, please approach the dais.

We have Todd Lewicki, Alice Lockhart, Stacy Foster, and Kevin Malcassini.

Good morning.

I want to thank this committee and the chairperson.

We also want to thank Marshall and Robert and the city attorneys for so much hard work and dedication to get us to this moment.

We want to thank the resident organizations.

We've worked so hard over the last months to try and not mitigate but to truly build partnerships that are going to last through the term of this agreement.

We want to thank our neighbors.

They've been understanding.

They've been understanding that there's going to be construction, but on the other side of it, something truly magnificent, a world-class arena, music, NHL hockey, and someday the return of the NBA.

I'm so proud of what you've done here, the impact you're going to have on jobs, youth care, the Council of Giving.

We're creating a gathering place for all of Seattle to come and a place where lifetime memories will be made.

I want to thank the 32,000 fans who gave flight to this dream.

We will not let you down.

There's work to be done.

There's a council vote.

In three weeks, I stand up and represent this city in front of the NHL Executive Committee.

But today is a major milestone, bringing a 14-year journey to a conclusion.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, sir.

Next.

Good morning, Council.

I'm Alice Lockhart with 350 Seattle, as you know.

Last week, Councilmember O'Brien asked some great questions about mode share for the arena.

This week, he is in California working with other electeds to stave off irreversible and catastrophic climate change.

I know you are all with him in spirit and willing to do your part.

The current arena EIS and AIMP stand to increase Seattle's greenhouse gas by nearly a percentage point as stated in the EIS.

And this is largely through car and ride hailing mode share of over 50% targeted through 2035. In today's proceedings, Would it be possible to honor the work being done in California by Council starting a conversation about mode share and how to bake in accountability for a mode share shift of 10 percent per year starting in 2020 in keeping with the urgency of the climate threat?

This is the least we can do.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Stacy Foster, and I'll cut to the chase by just saying I join in Chairman Juarez's thanks, and I appreciate all the work that's been done.

I represent the Seattle Children's Theater.

I testified last week and asked for some particular changes to be made.

I thank Councilmember Herbold who is going to introduce an amendment this morning that will address some of our concerns.

So I ask each of you and the full council to carefully consider and support Councilmember Herbold's amendment.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Thank you so much for hearing from us today.

My name is Kevin Malgasini, the Managing Director at Seattle Children's Theatre, and I first want to start by thanking you, the Council, along with Kristen and Robert and Marshall and OVG for being such thoughtful partners as we find a solution that works really well for the entire community.

I'm confident that the relationships and communication pathways that have been opened through this process will help us navigate the immense unknowns that are still on the table, but I thank everyone for coming to the table and continuing to communicate, and we're excited about the future vibrancy with OVG and the NHL as part of the resident organizations at Seattle Center.

I'm concerned that all organizations remain healthy and strong through that period.

So as you go through the process today, I just asked you to consider making sure that we set up a system that really works for all the organizations at Seattle Center.

Thank you very much.

All right, the next group, we have Alex Zimmerman, WWFHA.

Please state your name.

Rick Browning and Megan Wade.

Hi, my name Alex Zimmerman.

For 30 years, I live in this city, I never see one contract that is made government with corporation who need rape of people in this Seattle.

And 700,000 freaking idiot who live in this city, very happy with this Dory Consul, who always approve everything.

It's very unique situation we have.

Is this not only my professional opinion?

It's a dozen professional opinion around the United States.

We have a government who totally corrupt to the bones a ordinary crook and briber.

It's exactly what's happened.

And I told you before, this contract was to be checked by people who live in the city, professional like me.

Mr. Zerman, please speak to the matters on the agenda.

I talk about this.

Are you a crook?

Okay, I'm deeming you disruptive.

Shut off the mic.

Nagin, cut.

It's done.

I'm going to ask you to be removed.

Council Member Gonzalez?

Yeah, Chair Morales, I just wanted to acknowledge that under our council rules, particularly section 11, which discusses disruptions of city council meetings and committee meetings, there's a particularly relevant rule that I think is implicated by virtue of the fact that you just found Mr. Simon disruptive.

And when we look at section 11D, subsection H, it provides that behavior that intentionally disrupts disturbs or otherwise impedes attendance or participation at a council or committee meeting is deemed to be disruptive.

So I would concur in your conclusion that the behavior that we just saw could intentionally disrupt, disturb, or otherwise impede attendance.

We do have children in attendance.

Today and I as I was watching the audience during that testimony.

I saw many people Cringing and otherwise feeling slightly uncomfortable.

So I appreciate your determination that that was disruptive behavior and Merited exclusion from the chambers as a result of the behavior after not heeding your warning this morning and just appreciate your compliance and consistency in applying the council rules

Councilmember Gonzalez, I want to thank you for that.

And again, I want to, some of you, if this is your first time being here, I want to assure you that Seattle City Council and the Chambers is a safe place.

It's a place that we come to hear the public, to hear what your concerns are on the matters on the agenda.

And I want to thank you all for being so patient.

I'm going to ask the Curie to have a discussion with Mr. Zimmerman and his behavior outside of these glass walls, as you can see.

So with that, we'll move forward.

And I apologize for the disruption.

Go ahead.

Good morning, Council.

I brought today several of our girls from Western Washington Female Hockey Association, and what they'd like to do is just explain what hockey means to them.

Might have to pull down the mic.

I think hockey is really fun.

And what hockey means to me is I just love playing it.

It's so much fun.

Hello, I love hockey because it gives me something to look forward to after a really stressful day, because I am in high school.

And yeah, it just gives me something to look forward to after those hard days.

Yeah.

Hi, I like hockey because it provides me with opportunities in life, and it also gives me many friendships that I'll hold on to forever.

Hi, my name's Jen Wood, and I'm a Seattle resident and a parent of two Seattle Public School students who both play hockey.

And the arena and the expansion of hockey in the area is going to be hugely beneficial for girls, especially.

We're working toward that.

But I start girls every day.

I've started over 1,000 girls in this area.

And we're just going to keep growing.

And it's an amazing opportunity for all the children and the girls, especially.

Thank you very much.

We have four people who want to come up.

Good morning.

I'm Rick Browning, a local architect.

I'm here representing AIA Seattle, almost 2,500 design professional members strong.

And I must say, that's an impossible act to follow.

Thank you for keeping the Seattle Center vibrant and relevant.

It's certainly something the EIA supports.

For better or for worse, the EIS is almost behind us now.

You've heard an earful about multimodal concerns in that document and the chapter does support some of those concerns.

We signed on to the letter with the Uptown Alliance that you received about the draft.

But it is time to move on.

It is time to look at documents like the NODO map.

We see some very promising projects there.

We ask for your support and implementation of those.

Thank you.

I look forward to working with you on it.

You want to call forward names so quickly?

Okay, go ahead.

Hi, my name is Meg Wade.

I'm with 350 Seattle.

Nice to see you all again.

I just want to reiterate our strong support for many of the multimodal recommendations that have been made by the Uptown Alliance, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, and others.

And maybe paint a picture of what that could actually look like.

Before I returned to the Northwest, I lived in Chicago for a stint.

We had some major hockey wins back in the last decade, a couple different Stanley Cup wins, and there were two million people in the street outside that arena and in downtown Chicago.

Two million people out there celebrating.

There was no space for cars to move around.

And so if we think about what this looks like when it's a success, if we think about the success of this arena, we need to plan for people to move around, for people to be out there on foot.

And I hope that you'll help us keep moving that vision forward.

Thank you.

Thank you.

When we call you in groups of four, can you queue up at the microphone?

That just makes it quicker.

Go ahead.

The next group is Jean Charette, Emily Michelle, Andrea Friedland, and Carolyn Mabby.

Hi.

Good morning and thank you.

I was here six months ago and you may recall I had a poster with me that I brought and now I even have something better.

Someone live, my daughter Gigi, who's as fierce on the eyes as she is adorable.

And she has a jersey for Council Member Juarez.

Yay!

Do I have to report that?

Is that against the law?

Is it under 50?

Say yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yay.

Thank you.

Since I didn't get a Seattle Storm t-shirt.

or a bobblehead.

Gigi was fortunate to participate in an NWHL camp this summer.

We're originally from New York City.

We've been in Seattle for five years and they also are looking to develop two new franchises and they're moving west.

So I want to say that this is one of the best investments we can make.

This will have returns for generations to come.

There's no doubt in my mind.

I'm confident this council will iron out all logistics for KeyArena and look forward to attending.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi.

Hi, my name is Emily Jo Michelle.

I just wanted to voice my support for the arena plan based on.

I'm noticing your T-shirt.

Yeah, you know, excited about it.

I came last week.

I'm really excited about the plans.

I'm born and raised Seattleite, a huge attendee of junior hockey in the area.

I fly around the country to see hockey during the year, and I'm very excited to fly less.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning, City Council.

My name is Carolyn Mawby.

I live in Uptown.

I chose to move to Uptown about six years ago because of the walkability.

Changes in Uptown are going to mean increased traffic.

I am asking the City to refrain from implementing more adaptive signals until they measure and mitigate pedestrian delay.

This is extremely important to me because I am an avid walker.

I feel that adaptive signaling along the Mercer Corridor has already made it more difficult and less safe for pedestrians in Uptown.

With adaptive signals, pedestrians are now permitted only 14 to 16 seconds to legally cross the street.

As I age, this is more and more of a concern.

More importantly, it has emboldened some of the cars driving along the Mercer Corridor.

They are cutting into crosswalks, making it less safe for pedestrians.

My understanding is the City of Seattle is trying to move more people away from cars.

In doing this, I feel you need to listen to the needs and concerns of pedestrians in the area.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Andrea Friedland, Business Representative for International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Local Number 15. I come before you, as I always have, to remind you of the individuals who are impacted by this.

We know we're going to take a little bit of a hit the next two years, but everything is very promising that this is going to work out and there are going to be some great jobs for all of our workers.

at the new key arena.

I want to thank the council.

We're very pleased with the amendment that's been proposed to keep you guys in the loop.

So we know you're watching.

Our thanks to everybody at Seattle Center for all their hard work to take care of our workers.

during the next two years.

Our thanks to Robert and Marshall and the team that's been negotiating and our thanks to the Oakview group for all of their engagement with us.

We're very much looking forward to working with you.

Thank you.

Next group we have Clara Cantor, Ashraf Hashem, Matthew Hoff, Reese Tanimura.

Hi.

Hello.

My name is Clara Cantor.

I'm a community organizer with Seattle Neighborhood Greenways.

First, I'd like to just thank all the members of council here today for all of your time and energy spent on the transportation issues of this project.

I'm also here to push council for more aggressive mode share goals and to fund the transportation mitigations that will make those goals possible and achievable.

Specifically, investments now in walking and biking infrastructure will improve the transportation experience for everyone attending events at the arena and moving throughout the neighborhood.

It'll minimize the negative impacts on the neighborhood, increase interactions between event attendees and local businesses, and have the largest possible impact for the dollars spent in terms of transportation mitigations that you are considering.

The NHL Seattle found that 40% of its expected attendees live within four miles of the arena, which is very easy walking and biking distance.

That's a full 5,000 more people than was estimated in the EIS that could potentially be walking and biking if it were a comfortable and efficient experience.

People's experiences visiting the arena are dictated by their experiences getting there, and the arena's success in this city is going to be dictated by its transportation planning.

Thank you very much.

Good morning council members.

My name is Ashraf Hashem, Executive Director of the Vera Project.

I want to start by thanking the council for its guiding principles, the Seattle Center for its facilitation, and OVG for its commitment to keep us thriving during construction and operation of this fantastic new arena.

We're so happy to have the opportunity to stay engaged in this process and to develop powerful, fruitful more partnerships for years to come.

Namely, the collaboration and communication from Morgan and Todd from OVG and NHL Seattle has made us feel confident that we're able to continue our programs uninterrupted.

So thank you for that.

Thank you also for the addition of the most recent proposed amendments.

We agree that the marketing to keep us, to keep the public informed of sustained vibrancy of the Seattle Center throughout the construction is a priority and that along with the emphasis on Seattle Center-run and resident org health during construction is a key piece to keep us thriving.

As well as the additional two members of the giving council to keep the community fund as equitable as possible.

Thank you for that.

Thank you also for your time.

We're excited to see this project move forward on schedule and the arrival of this magnificent new arena to Seattle Center campus and our new neighbors.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

That was really quick and snappy.

Thank you.

Got a lot in there in a minute.

Go ahead, sir.

It's Matthew Hoff.

I'm speaking to you as a resident of Lower Queen Anne and an avid hockey fan and hockey player.

I'm just expressing my full support for continued approval of the arena project.

I'm excited for the new feature of my current neighbourhood, but I do understand the transportation concerns as I have to drive through Mercer every day.

I do hope the City Council continues to study methods to improve access to the arena.

including helping Sound Transit in any way they can to speed up the light rail and also bus access, pedestrian access, et cetera.

But overall, I am very happy with how the process has gone and I'm looking forward to the end of this long process so we can finally watch some hockey.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Sir?

I'm sorry.

Ma'am?

Aloha council members.

My name is Reece Tanimura from Northwest Folklife and I appeared last week.

So I want to thank some of you for responding to the follow-up comments that I sent to your staff and yourselves.

I would like to register my support.

Thank you to Lisa Herbold for presenting some amendments that responds to these concerns and so I'd like to present our support for those amendments.

I still have a concern that one of the particular points about the Exhibit G has not really been addressed.

Our concern is that the specific language in that exhibit sort of inhibits the further negotiation of our ability to run revenue streams as vendors along the 2nd Avenue corridor.

That's Exhibit G in the Development Agreement.

So just to consider that.

I also just want to register that understanding that this has been a very quick process, that it has been very difficult and I think maybe not always as transparent as we have hoped or that some have viewed it to be able to respond to the things that have happened and come up and documents that have been produced and to just register that our hope that in the future that we have more time to respond to these things.

Thank you very much.

The next group, we have Gordon Padelford, Christine Logan, Michael Murphy, Mike McQuade.

Hello.

Good morning, Council.

My name's Gordon Padelford.

I'm the Executive Director of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways.

Just want to point out a few quick statistics.

One is that the last census was 22, no, sorry, 19% of people were walking from District 3 and District 7 to work, which is pretty amazing, 17%.

In 2017, they did an intercept survey in South Lake Union, finding 22% of people walking around the neighborhood.

And as Claire already said, we know that 40% of season ticket holders who put down money for season tickets are within four miles.

So that's an amazing opportunity to get people to the new arena by walking and biking.

And we can build a transportation system that sees that opportunity and reflects our values.

But we can't do it if we continue to double down on adaptive signals that, to this date, cannot analyze and prioritize people walking and biking and taking transit.

So I hope as Council moves forward, we'll think about how do we improve the walking and biking and transit access to the arena.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning.

My name is Christine Logan.

I'm Director of Operations at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, also on the board of the Southlake Union Community Council, and I serve as a voting member on its Transportation Committee.

We have reviewed the EIS, and we believe it was thoughtful and complete.

and we believe it looked at the environmental impacts and is appropriately mitigating them.

Of particular concern, we ask this body to continue to collaborate with the private-public partnerships, community groups, and the business community, particularly as we look at the $40 million that is allocated as investment in transportation in North Downtown and Sulu, which will be particularly impacted by the arena.

We have an excellent opportunity before us where we can truly impact the ongoing transit and mobility-related projects and ensure that we don't miss this opportunity.

So effective transportation planning is absolutely essential to our future success, and we encourage you to continue to look at alternative modes of travel, like the streetcar, trolleys, monorail, water taxis, foot taxis, et cetera.

Given the large volumes of pedestrian traffic...

I'm going to need you to wrap it up.

Okay, we want to make sure that you do strongly consider adaptive signal controls as we have many patients and businesses where we do need cars to flow through the Mercer off-ramp.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Good morning.

My name is Michael Murphy.

I'm the project coordinator for the Washington State Convention Center Addition Project.

So I've recently gone through the EIS process and know how daunting it can be.

Having reviewed the KeyArena EIS, I confidently say it was thorough, thoughtful, well-coordinated, and complete.

I believe that OVG has adequately considered the many environmental impacts and is implementing appropriate mitigation.

I've been extremely impressed with OVG and find them to be genuine and transparent.

I ask this committee to continue to encourage coordination across city departments, by and between our many community groups, public-private partnerships, as well as the business community.

Also of significant concern is OVG's $40 million in funds allocated to SDOT that remain in the immediate neighborhoods.

At this critical juncture for the city, it's important that we have effective transportation planning.

It's absolutely essential for Seattle's future.

Given the large volumes of pedestrian traffic, the convergence of mass transit in and around the arena and in north downtown as a result of upzoning, I strongly encourage fully funded adaptive signal controls.

It's essential for both the safety of individuals but also efficient movement of all modes, pedestrian, cyclist, auto, and transit.

Please vote yes and encourage full council support on September 24th.

Thank you.

Good morning, Councilmembers.

My name is Mike McQuaid.

I'm the chair of the South Lake Union Community Council.

It's immediate past president.

I also serve on the city's arena redevelopment community advisory group, and I'm a lifelong Seattleite.

We've taken a look at the EIS.

We feel that it's thorough, transparent.

OVG is absolutely genuine in the way it's taken a neighborhood-first approach to this project.

and we thoroughly support its findings and have confidence in it.

Last night, I had an opportunity to visit with two former Western Hockey League teammates of mine here in Seattle, Mitch Wilson and Jake.

Mitch had played with the great one, Wayne Gretzky, and had an opportunity to skate with Gordie Howe.

Jake has his name on the Stanley Cup.

Both agree that without Seattle and without hockey, they would not have had the opportunities in life that were really evident with the Washington Wild this morning in terms of what they're looking forward to.

We also agreed that this project is more than an arena development, but a world-class community and civic advancement catalyst.

And as Todd alluded to, very much of a neighborhood first approach.

Very excited about it.

I expect this will inspire and deliver dividends well beyond Stanley Cup pursuits, NBA and WA championships, and great music.

Please vote yes today.

Encourage your colleagues of full council to vote yes.

And let's lead by being an inspiration and a catalyst to young people and others in Seattle through this project.

Thank you.

The next group, we have Andy Cole, Vicki Clark, Johnny Wilder, Christopher Hoffman.

For the next four coming up, the reason why I'm trying to be a stickler on the one minute is we have a lot of documents and amendments in front of us, so I'm not trying to be rude.

I'm trying to be fair to everybody.

So if you can queue up for the next four people, one minute.

go ahead what just know she'll start the clock for you don't worry it's okay okay hey my name is Andy Cole and I'm the Seattle resident small business owner league manager of the Greater Seattle Hockey League which has 1,400 players playing all around the area I noticed in perusing the documents this morning about a little bit about the admissions tax I think that's a great move that a percentage, it looks like, of the admissions tax is going to go to support local arts.

I've got kids in Northwest Choirs, Broadway Bound, they perform at the Symphony.

It's good to know that those groups are going to benefit too.

They also play hockey.

I got one in Seattle Junior, one in Washington Wild.

NHL Seattle coming to town is going to increase and grow and make hockey really fun.

We look forward to how exciting that's going to be.

Oh, I wanted to mention we did our biannual draft last night, and I've got all these new people coming to town.

We had people from Dallas, Michigan, Massachusetts, Sweden, all joined the league, all excited about the team coming to town.

And thanks for your support for this deal.

Thank you.

Good morning, Vicki Clark, Cascade Bicycle Club.

We at Cascade share in the excitement about the vibrancy a renovated key arena will bring, excuse me, to Uptown and the city.

I want to highlight this morning the dissonance between the FEIS's conservative estimates of how people will get to the game in the coming years and the city's vision and policies for mobility.

The next phase of planning documents are an opportunity to address that dissonance.

Here's why that matters.

If we just assume that people will drive to the game, it's the only option we'll create for them.

It's up to the city and OVG to work to make possible a game day where walking, biking, and taking transit to the game are intuitive and safe.

It's not just about keeping the neighborhood from being clogged by cars, but by working to create a transportation, excuse me, by working to create transportation access to KeyArena that's affordable, equitable, and fair.

Completing the foreshore bike connections that surround the arena will connect Uptown and the arena to the nearby neighborhoods via the basic bike network.

Two of these connections are merely upgrades in quality of the existing bike lanes.

Bike facilities on segments of Thomas, Broad, Roy, and Fifth are essential for people to get to the game.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Johnny Wilder.

I came here to Seattle in 1991 to start a newspaper called The Stranger with a bunch of friends of mine.

And we've been a pain in your butt the whole time, so good for them.

I wasn't going to say that.

During my time there, I bike commuted in 1991, and Seattle was truly the Wild West for bike riders.

Things have gotten so much better, and that's because of you.

You've built an amazing bicycling infrastructure in this city, and I just want to thank you for that.

It seems like a lot of people are talking about adaptive traffic signals.

I used to be young and could ride around and have a lot of fun.

Now I'm old, and I walk.

I don't own a car, and I ride a bike.

And let me tell you, trying to balance on a bike, waiting for a traffic signal on Mercer to change, it feels like a half hour.

And I have to breathe car exhaust, and I don't like it, and I'm done, thanks.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Christopher Hoffman with Sale Neighborhood Greenways in 350 Seattle.

So I live about two miles from City Hall.

This morning I was running late, so the only thing that I really could do to get here on time was to ride my bike, because it's clearly the fastest way to get here.

But if I had a choice, I probably would choose many other, I would choose to walk or to take transit if I'm coming here because the ride is not particularly pleasant.

So when you're designing, when you're building a new building, then the decisions that are made about do we use adaptive signaling, do we put in more bike lanes and make things friendly for pedestrians are going to make people's decisions, whether they want to drive or whether they want to bike.

It's really in your hands.

And I strongly encourage you to require the developer to put in bike and pedestrian improvements before they open the building.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

For this last group, we'll have James Lobb, Marguerite Richard, Barb Larimer, Carrie Fariar, and Doug Corley to come to the dais.

Okay, go ahead.

Hi, James Lobb, Pottery Northwest.

And once again, I just want to thank the city and Oak View Group for the attention that you've given to everybody involved in this process.

I think us at Pottery Northwest and Arts and Culture feel that our voices have been heard.

And I just want to ask that that continue through the construction process and into the future so that we can continue to contribute to the vibrancy of Seattle Center.

Thank you.

If you could queue up at the microphone, it's just a lot quicker.

Are those the last two?

We have Marguerite Richard, Barb Larimer, Kerry Farriar, and Doug Corley.

Hello, Council.

Thank you so much.

My name is Kelly Farriar.

I'm the Executive Artistic Director with Northwest Folklife.

Thank you all for your work.

Thank you all for working with the organizations, both at Seattle Center and surrounding.

We work with over 100 different communities that come and share in the vibrancy at Seattle Center.

And I ask of you today to consider how all of this is moving so quickly through the social justice component of this agreement.

How can we work to really have a clear and defined timeline for those communications to go out to our public?

Yesterday, I sent out an email to thousands of our partners and communities, letting them know up front some of the expectations that they can have as they move forward to come and celebrate at the Northwest Folklife Festival.

And I ask for you to look at the timeline and to look at how we can be transparent moving forward in such a quick process, knowing that we just received some updates last evening to review and to start communicating.

Thank you.

Yes, I'm, I'm Ms. Rashard here.

And I have a card here.

So when I don't have an opportunity to speak in here, I go and take this over here.

And because I don't get any responses from this, I continue to use my free speech up under the Constitution.

And so if you or any of you have a problem with that, It's a good lesson for the young people about how we're still living through this hell and degradation where our rights are being violated.

And that if we can't come in and address you like Senator McCain, dead and gone, he said he was against abuse of power, of government.

Okay, and he was a senator.

So how much more do you think that people are not gonna come down here and exercise their judgment in terms of what is going on in a place where they live?

I mean, this is kind of facetious to not speak about the problems that are going on.

And yes, civic arenas, they have a place for these young people.

They do.

Hi, I'm Barb Larimer.

I'm a 37-year resident of the city of Seattle.

I've spent my entire professional career here.

I'm a downtown resident, and I'm also a member of the Children's Theatre Board.

I echo my colleagues' thanks and support to Robert and Marshall and the teams at the city and the teams at OVG who have been working with us and all of the nonprofits at the Seattle Center on these important issues.

and helping us work through the impact of construction and beyond the operation of the center.

We serve 150,000 people from across the region from all walks of life.

Each year, just at the Seattle Children's Theater, we're working very hard to anticipate and work through the impact on our financial revenue and our audiences.

As you might guess, we operate on a very, very thin margin with no room for error, and our budgets are not nearly as big as sports teams.

I ask that all of you as city council members share in the responsibility that we're all feeling and taking and ensuring that our organization and the other nonprofits at the Seattle Center survive the renovation of the arena.

Our arts organizations are also very important parts of our vibrancy in our region, so thank you very much.

Good morning.

My name is Doug Corley.

I'm the president of Snoking Amateur Hockey Association over on the east side.

We're the largest youth hockey organization in the region, actually in the entire state of Washington, and I want to enthusiastically continue my support for OVG.

When they did their ticket announcement, I was number 7993. So I'm not sure if I'm going to get tickets, but I'm super excited to be able to have the opportunity, as are the rest of our membership.

We see this project as an opportunity for introduction to the great lifelong sport of hockey.

It's not just a youth, not just the girls, but the entire community.

We estimate that there's 60,000 young people within the Seattle City area that have never been to a hockey game.

And we want to see that change because we see them as an opportunity to grow the sport with their parents, the grandparents, and the parents who haven't had kids yet.

So with that, I hope you vote yes.

And I appreciate your time.

Thank you very much.

All right, so that concludes public comment.

I need to make a few comments.

I actually skipped over the chair's report to just go right into public comment.

I want to make a few, state a few issues before we move forward.

This is the fifth meeting of the select committee since the MOU was signed by council and signed by the mayor and the OVG group on December 6. I should note that this council has been working on this issue since the winter of 2016 and went into 2017 and now it is September 2018. So it has not been a quick process by any means.

Last week, we received a presentation on two proposed ordinances.

That would be Council Bill 119344, which expands the use admissions tax revenue.

That is one council bill.

The second one is Council Bill 119345, which includes three transaction documents.

The development, the lease, and the integration agreement.

I should note for purposes, for those of you following along, that the second item, Council Bill 119345, that there will be six amendments to that, and we'll go through that in a moment.

There will be a lot of shuffling the paper here today, so I'm going to make, hopefully we can keep track and keep up.

I want to thank, well, I'll come back to a few quick thank yous, and then I want to get right into it.

Today is the final day for reviewing these documents.

Therefore, we will have a discussion about your proposed amendments and possible vote on Council Bill 119344 and Council Bill 119345. Obviously, we'll do the amendments first, and at the very end, we will vote on each bill separately.

As you know, these two bills represent the arrangement between the City of Seattle and ArenaCo to redevelop Key Arena into a first-class sports and entertainment facility.

Our Central Staff Director, Kirsten Armstead, there she is, already at the table, has been working tirelessly, and that is an understatement, with each of you and your offices to gather proposed amendments, which she and the City's Law Department took back to ArenaCo for final negotiations.

In fact, one time I called and Kirsten was sending me text or emails at one in the morning.

We are currently on track to take action at full city council on Monday, September 24th.

So, we've already gone through public comments.

So, at that point, I'm going to have Nagin please read items one and two into the record, and can we please have the rest of our guests come sit at the table and introduce themselves, and then we'll go through a high-level summary of the proposed amendments.

And Kirsten, you will take us through these, and then you'll also identify the documents.

All right.

Council Bill 119344, an ordinance pertaining to admission tax revenue received by the city, amending section 5.40.120 of the Seattle Municipal Code to revise uses of admission tax revenue.

Second item is Council Bill 119345, an ordinance related to Key Arena, authorizing the renovation of Key Arena into a world-class multipurpose sports and entertainment arena at Seattle Center, including its design, construction, lease, financing, and future operation, authorizing the mayor to execute agreements with Seattle Arena Company LLC for the renovation and lease of the arena, including a lease agreement, a development agreement, an integration agreement, and other related agreements, exempting the renovation and future operation of the arena from the requirements of Chapter 20.47 of the Seattle Municipal Code, authorizing the Seattle Center Director to execute future joint purchasing agreements with Seattle Arena Company, notwithstanding Seattle Municipal Code Chapter 20.60, and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts.

So I've been asked to just start this discussion by providing a high-level overview of the eight amendments that you have before us.

The first one is regarding the admissions tax revenues, and the other seven pertain to the transaction documents, as Madam Chair mentioned.

Before we go into each of those discussions, I just want to orient you to the matrix that we have handed out and made available to the public.

It is also up on the screen.

Pardon me.

It's really nice to have what's there over there.

Good.

Okay.

And I know that the type is a little bit small, but that material is on large paper here out in the audience if you need them.

In going through each of these amendments, it's always difficult to know, you know, what was current law, what was changed, you know, by the executive and ARENA Co. as transmitted by the executive.

And then, of course, now we've got council members who are making amendments.

So this matrix for each of the bills identifies the amendment or the amendments, and in the middle column, It shows you what those changes are and then in the far right-hand corner, I mean far right-hand column, it speaks to the effects of the proposed amendments.

And I would just say that there's eight pages and I think that we can start the discussion.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

So thank you for your summary.

So we will now consider the two council bills that have already been run into the record.

And let's start with, and I would just share with my colleagues, because there's a lot of paper.

This is basically your best cheat sheet, because it explains everything.

And it also references the documents you'll need to look at.

So we'll start with Council Bill 11934, the admission tax.

I'm going to open the floor for amendments.

First of all, I move the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 119344.

Second.

The motion is moved and seconded.

I will now consider amendments.

Are there any amendments on the floor at this time?

I believe Council Member Herbold and Johnson.

Yes, thank you.

I'd like to move Amendment 1.

Second.

All right, with that we can have a discussion.

Thank you so much.

So some background on this amendment is that in 2009 the City Council initiated the process of gradually dedicating admissions tax revenues to the Office of Arts and Culture as a dedicated funding source with the intention that we would have a gradual increase to 100%.

In subsequent council actions in 2015 for the year 2016, 80% of admission tax revenues went to the Office of Arts and Culture.

In 2017, it was 90%.

And in 2018, it was 100%.

The agreement with ArenaCode dedicates some projected increased admission tax revenues at the Arena site to the project.

So the Seattle Municipal Code section 5.40.120 must be changed to reflect this.

The proposed language in the original bill was a little bit confusing.

It had a couple of specific issues that this amendment addresses.

The original bill could be interpreted as implying that the admission tax revenues could be used for contracts with other sports organizations.

That was not the intent.

But as it was written, it was unclear.

And in 10 years, people may not know the background of the council's work on the admissions tax from 2009 to 2018. amendment addresses that issue.

Secondly, it adds in the issue of contracts and puts all of the arts and cultural funding specifically under contracts because some funding is used for things like adding art space to King Street Station, which may not fall under contracts per se.

So in closing, the proposed amendment specifies that the new use for admissions tax revenue applies only to the lease agreement for the arena and only with respect to admissions tax generated through operations of the new arena.

It eliminates the confusing addition of the word contracts.

And as noted in the effect of the amendment section in the document before you, the amendment allows council to use some of new admissions tax from arena operations for rent adjustment payments while reserving the first 1.3 million dollars in admissions tax revenue generated at the arena plus all other admission tax revenues in the city to be appropriated to the office of arts and culture.

Thank you, Councilor Herbold.

Councilor Johnson?

I just want to echo my support for this amendment and reinforce that statement about having the effective baseline be that $1.3 million.

I think that that's a critical element of this.

There's an expectation that we set with the admissions tax through our budget process that you excellently outlined.

And I think that this amendment language removes the ambiguity around that admissions tax revenue and guarantees that that first $1.3 million of funding that would be generated by the ad tax continues in the way that we presumed it would had we not renovated the arena.

So I think it's a really good amendment, very clear and clarified.

I think very well and happy to support.

All right.

So with that, I'm going to ask Kirsten if she and our council staff to brief us any follow-up questions or overview and then we'll move to a vote.

So Council Member Herbold touched on every single point that I was going to touch on and did it very well.

I would just add that the changes that are being proposed here are technical in nature and in no way changes the material terms of what OVG and the city had agreed to.

So with that, unless there's any other questions, I think that completes the presentation.

I do have one.

You may want to put this off.

for a few moments because there are other amendments.

But I'm wondering, as you're going through this, if you can talk a little bit about agreements that have already been reached with our art organizations.

Council Member Herbold has always been a super advocate to promote the arts.

We've done a lot with Uptown right now with the art and culture overlay.

I'm wondering if you could please just address, maybe before we get to some of the different amendments as well, What has been negotiated right now?

What are the commitments to our art organizations and to the other campus organizations?

In terms of the community benefits or in terms of the 1.3 million that the city...

Actually, I'd like to get our arms around the whole thing because I know we've got community benefits, we've got millions of dollars that are on the table that we've been negotiating.

I'm just wondering if you could lay the table for that.

So I think that the easiest way to do that is if you could refer back to the notebooks that I handed out last week behind tabs three and tabs four.

There are a number of documents that were prepared by city staff and that summarize the community benefits via tables and matrixes.

And I would be happy to walk those through with you at probably a different time, unless there's something specific.

So what I'm trying to get to is there's been a lot of work to make sure that people's voices are being heard, that there's an opportunity for disputes, which we will have further conversations when we get to amendment number five.

And I just want to make sure that it's clear what work has been going on so that it doesn't appear that anybody's been left out.

That's what I'm trying to get to.

What I can say is to piggyback on Mr. Laiweke's earlier public comment, there have been city executives and OVG and ArenaCo employees who have been working diligently together and with all of the resident organizations, tenants, neighborhood associations, apartment buildings, you know, the list goes on.

And I think that as we have heard in previous committee meetings, these individuals have been an open book in terms of identifying, you know, addressing the concerns.

They have put together very specific committee meetings and held weekly, bi-weekly, monthly meetings in order to discuss issues.

I think that in this agreement, if you'll recall, there is funding by the Arena Co.

Company to hire a community liaison.

Seattle Center is hiring its ombudsman in order to make sure or facilitate the conversations between the various groups.

And of course, all of the written concerns and complaints that have come through the executive and to council have been shared with council members.

We have done our best to respond to those concerns.

Okay, so with that, is there anything else from our colleagues?

All right, let's move for a vote.

The motion has been moved and seconded.

The question under consideration is amendment of Council Bill 119344, presented by Council Member Herbold and Johnson.

If there's no further discussion, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed?

No, the ayes have it.

So, that motion passes and we will consider the final action at the very end, is that correct, clerk?

At the end of the...

the end of this process, so that amendment passes as amended, correct?

Correct.

All right, so let's move to, this gets a little bit trickier, we will move to council bill number item two on the agenda, council bill 119345. You'll hear me say that number a lot, but again, this is the council bill that includes the three transaction documents that you've all been hearing about for 18 months, the lease agreement, the development agreement, and the integration agreement.

So with that, I'm going to read my script, and then I'm going to kind of go and explain where we're headed with this next amendment.

I move the committee recommend passage of council bill 119345. Motion has been moved and seconded.

I will now consider amendments.

There are now, in regards to this item number two, I believe we have six amendments.

We have seven total, I thought.

Oh, seven.

There are seven that are listed in the matrix.

Okay, we'll come back to that.

Okay, there are seven that are listed in the matrix.

The first four are mine.

So I'm going to start with the very first one.

So this is an amendment one.

to Council Bill 119345 regarding the three transaction documents.

It's a technical amendment.

I'm going to ask my colleagues, I refer to your first handout.

It's handout number one.

It's the one that has the colored lines on it.

This is really key.

I want to thank you, Kirsten, for teeing that up for me.

These are the exhibits.

And I just want to just do a quick, very quick explain what this is.

And you can tell from the chart above, how it's broken down into the amendment, the amendment language, and then the effect of the amendment.

On August 29th, we received exhibits, seven exhibits for the lease agreement, three exhibits for the development agreement, and four exhibits for the integration agreements.

Between the dates of September 7th to September 11th, we received an additional 10 exhibits on the lease agreement, an additional 15 exhibits on the development agreement and an additional one agreement on the integration agreement.

So we started out with 14 exhibits on August 29th.

As of today's date, we added another 26. And if my math is correct, we are now up to 40 exhibits.

Is that correct?

That's what this chart reflects.

So with that, I'm going to let Kirsten Okay.

Talk us through the first part, correct?

Terrific.

So you have the three packets, one with the blue, one with the green, one with the yellow.

To state it very simply, the exhibits that were not included at the time of transmittal back on August 29th have since been included.

And this inclusion will represent the new starting base, substitute bill for which the remaining amendments will be considered.

So I want to make that really clear.

I would just say that the exhibits are not in any way changing the business terms or the commitments that have been laid out in all of the three transaction documents.

supplementary information and or clarifications, maps, matrices, and other information that are technical in nature that the law department and OVG worked very diligently to complete along with our outside counsel and others.

So this is a technical amendment including all of the remaining exhibits.

All right.

Any discussion?

Council Member Herbold.

I just want to state for the record that I understand the date that we're identifying these as received is 9-7, that the council did not have these exhibits in our committee discussion on the 7th.

That's correct.

These were not available at last Friday's meeting.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So anything else?

All right.

So the motion has moved and seconded.

So this amendment number one, I wish you looked at the handout on number one.

If there's no further discussion, any further?

Nope.

All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, no.

The ayes have it.

So the motion passes.

The amendment passes as amended.

Correct?

The attachment, right?

Did I say that right?

So I can cross that one off.

Yes?

Okay.

So the amendment passes as amended.

Okay.

I need some help with that.

Okay, so let's move to amendment number two.

Now, this one's a little trickier.

This one has a handout as well, and it's called handout number two.

And let me just briefly review this, and then I'm going to hand it over to Councilmember, not Councilmember, Kirsten Storstedt.

So again, and thank you, Kirsten, for making sure that what you'll see is a kind of rhythm here.

Everything will start with the lease, the development, and the integration agreement.

In handout number two, You have attached the lease, the development, the integration agreement.

So these, let me explain what's going on here.

So I'm gonna move, we're gonna be amending.

The attachment, so that would be 2A, referring to the lease agreement, amending attachment 2B, which is referring to the development agreement, and amending 2C, which is referring to the integration agreement.

So, I'm sorry.

Oh, sorry, before you get a little further, I don't have a handout to, is it in?

You mean amendment two?

So do you have the packet information?

No.

Sorry, you were supposed to have.

Yeah, we do not.

I received at the beginning of the meeting handout one that included the 1A, 1B, 1C, but don't have these materials.

I apologize for interrupting you, Chair Juarez, but I was struggling to follow along what you were saying without the documents.

Thank you.

And please bear with me.

We had a quick change at 8 o'clock this morning and renumbering, so.

Yeah, no need to apologize.

I just wanted to make sure that you were aware that some of us did not have the set.

OK, thank you.

So what you'll find in, again, amending Amendment 2, an attachment to a lease agreement.

An example is, and you can see when you look at the effect of the amendment, it'll tell you what's going on there.

They have them listed.

Like an example is, I'm not going to go through all of them, but this is how I figured it out, and then it's easier to follow.

If you look at in your handout, you have all these documents.

You have the lease, the development agreement, and the integration agreement.

And what we did is we basically pulled out the corresponding pages to the issues identified in the quote unquote effect of amendment box.

So on page 24 in your packet under the lease agreement, it defines qualified financial institution.

On page 64 and 69, it defines disposition of insurance proceeds, and I'm not going to go through all this.

I'm just giving you this as an example.

Going to amending attachment 2B under the development agreement, that just syncs up the leasehold mortgagee's rights, and it tells you it's in article 17, and then what page is it, and we've attached those pages.

pages 9, 14, 37, 38, et cetera.

Number three, amending attachment 2C, which is the integration agreement.

It's the same as above.

Technical edits, article 15. And again, we just pulled out pages 37 and then 54 to 56. And that's what you have in your packet on your handout two.

Is that correct?

And now I'm going to hand it to Kirsten.

Okay, so Amendment 2 makes clarification, as Madam Chair mentioned, to the three transaction documents.

The beige handout are all of the proposed amendments related to the qualified financial institution, as well as technical changes to Article 9, Insurance, Article 10, Casualty Damage, Destruction, and Restoration, Article 11, Condemnation, and so on.

So this amends the lease agreement version 2 to align, clarify, and facilitate ArenaCo's lender financing.

I should begin by saying that in many ways this amendment is also very technical.

These are changes that help align the documents, for example, the development agreement with the lease agreement and or make technical changes to sync up the business terms.

So the second aspect of Amendment 2 has to do with the pink papers, and that makes technical edits to sync up the leasehold mortgagee rights and the rights under the lease agreement, as well as the purple paper, which does exactly the same thing.

So again, technical edits to sync up the leasehold mortgagee's rights with the rights under the lease agreement.

These amendments relate to commercial financing, which will allow the lender to know the scope and priority of its notice and cure rights before the city should take action that could impair the lender's collateral for its loans, such as terminating the arena lease.

All of this has been approved by the city's inside and our outside council.

All right, thank you.

Thank you, Director Arstead.

So, are there any other questions?

Councilmember Johnson.

Thanks.

You know, I just think in the interest of transparency of having just been handed these documents, I just want to make sure that we're asking a couple of questions to make sure that the public understands exactly what action we're trying to take.

As I read through these three pieces of paper, Kirsten, related to Amendment 2, they do seem very technical in nature, and they seem to relate to something we term the leasehold mortgagee.

And I just want to make sure, because it's not defined in these documents in any way that I could find in my cursory review in the last five minutes, the leasehold mortgagee is effectively a private financier of the construction of this project.

Do I have that correct?

That's correct, the lender.

So what we are effectively doing is truing up through these amendments some technical legal language related to any lender that may be working with the Arena Co. as it relates to the financing of this project.

Correct?

Correct.

And in our review, based on our financial documents that our consultant has obtained, we have a guarantee from the ArenaCo and its subsidiary ownerships that they have assets that are In excess of the 700 million dollar estimates that would be required in order to do reconstruction of the arena The collateral the collateral.

Thank you.

So, um So that gives me some confidence now having had that background and defined what a leasehold mortgagee is To vote for this amendment and just wanted to make sure that I have those questions on the record madam chair.

Thanks.

Thank you any other Did I did I do a motion to?

Okay, thank you.

So I did the motion to, okay, so the motion has been moved and seconded.

No, oh.

So I make the, yeah, go ahead.

I move amendment two as described.

Thank you.

Second.

Is there any further discussion?

I have one of the points that Councilmember Johnson just brought up I think is really worthy for us to delve into for just a moment more and that is that this agreement and especially the financials have been work through for the last year and we had outside specialists that were helping us.

People and our folks from New York City in particular that delved into this for us.

I really appreciated the fact that We had done that.

He's reported to us within the last two weeks.

Has anything changed since then other than these technical amendments that we're talking about?

No.

In terms of Mr. Abrams' input and analysis and his conclusions, no, nothing has changed.

Thank you.

Okay, so we already have it.

Amendment number two was moved.

We already had it seconded.

Yes, let's go to a vote.

All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, no.

Ayes have it.

The amended amendment passes, thank you.

The problem is, is I can't think of myself in the third person.

That's what I'm struggling with here.

I'm looking at my, Council Member Harrell has a trick for me, but I'm not gonna say what he shared with me.

Council Member Harrell always thinks of himself in the third person, so we're good.

Okay, so we are now gonna move to amendment number three, which is also mine.

I'm going to do a quick little overview, then I'm going to hand it over to Kirsten Arstad, our director.

Amendment number three is amending notice.

That's the sections in all three transaction documents.

Basically, the city will receive official notice along with the city attorney's office and the mayor's office.

This is similar to the work we did on amendment number two in the issue of notice.

All pages that relate to that topic are listed in that particular section.

So in the lease it's in section four, in the development agreement it's in subsection 17.8, and in the integration agreement it is in subsection 15.8.

Kirsten?

So you covered that very well, and I would just add that Council Member Juarez felt that it was important that if the city attorney's office and the mayor's office were receiving notices related to problems associated with the contract and or the building itself, that the council be notified at the same time.

Great, thank you.

Any questions, concerns?

No, it's good.

I'll move to accept amendment number three as described.

The motion has been moved and seconded.

Thank you, co-chair Harrell.

Is there any further discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say no.

The ayes have it.

So we'll move forward.

Number four, amendment number four.

Again, this one is mine.

This is a little interesting.

This will take a little bit of time, but I'm going to do a quick overview, and then I'm going to again hand it to Director Archstead.

This is to amend the lease agreement and to expand the giving council from nine members to 11. Now we would have a total of 11 voting members and one non-voting member.

That would include the two Two people who are the tenants, one NHL seat, one national team, Seattle Storm Seat winner.

Did I say that right?

Two members from the local community organizations, two from Seattle Center resident organizations, and two at large members approved by Seattle City Council, and one at large mutually appointed by tenant and the mayor, which would equal total of 11. And the reason why I was proposing this, the two additional members to the giving council, which will be responsible for administering the community fund created by the tenant, which is OVG.

These two members would be at large.

These two would be approved by Seattle City Council.

I'm proposing this amendment to ensure the council as the elected representative body of the people has a voice in the choice of members on the giving council.

The Giving Council and the Community Fund are critical components of this project.

Before I urge your support, I just want to do a few notes here that some of you have known since the last 18 months.

I continue to believe and continue to promote that the Seattle Center and its benefits should go through all of the City of Seattle, not any just particular neighborhood or any particular sports team or any particular tenant.

This is a new shift in how we look at public benefits for the City of Seattle and certainly for the, not only the community, but certainly for the region.

And I wanted those two additional seats so that Seattle City Council has an opportunity, now that we're in a district system, not any particular district, that all of Seattle is represented at the table when we look at this money and how it's going to be dispersed to non-profit and community organizations.

That is in person.

Okay.

So, in a nutshell, Changing the nine voting members to 11 voting members, those two new voting members will have, will be representing the city, the region at large to reflect the chair's priority that this arena benefit not just those in the surrounding neighborhood, but all of Seattle.

Thank you.

Council Member, I was gonna call you O'Brien.

It's okay.

I've been called worse.

This amendment doesn't change any of the underlying assumptions that members of the giving council are prohibited from receiving funds appropriated by the giving council, correct?

This proposed amendment makes no such changes.

So we still have that requirement.

All we're doing is basically upping the number of folks that are sitting at that table from 9 to 11. Correct.

All right, any other discussion?

No, but I thank you for bringing that up.

That was going to be my clarification as well, that people who are sitting on this are not going to be recipients of the giving council money.

And we just went through many months of conversation around that.

So I appreciate it, and I certainly support your expansion of this committee, Council Member Warras.

Thank you.

I'll move to amend amendment number four, as stated.

Second.

Motion is moved and seconded.

Any other questions?

OK.

All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed?

Wow, thank you.

Eyes have it.

All right.

Let's go to amendment number five.

I'm actually going to request this one be withdrawn and I'd like to just speak for a moment about why.

Okay.

So I had conversations with a number of our friends in the community, and they had raised some concerns that I wanted to address publicly.

One was that they wanted to make sure that their voices were heard as we were putting together a marketing plan.

activity plan during construction, because it is true that Uptown, Belltown, Southlake Union are going to be impacted by this.

And the businesses, the people who are living around the area are likewise going to be impacted.

And they wanted to make sure that their voices were heard throughout construction.

Frankly, just as they have been heard during this period of time, when we have been negotiating the contracts.

They asked if we would put some amending language into the contract documents and I was totally convinced by my favorite lawyers that putting them in this document was not the right place to put them because the underlying documents themselves pertain to negotiations between the city and OVG, not between the city and people who are either on Seattle Center campus or the neighborhoods.

So I had asked Mr. Nelms, and I want to say thank you, Robert, for just clarifying how this is going to work in the future.

And I want to say very respectfully that I thank you.

You have responded to them as I had requested.

And if I may just read a couple of paragraphs here.

where Mr. Nellivan says that Seattle Center has successfully demonstrated the ability to balance the interests and needs of its many tenant organizations and community partners over the years.

We accomplished this through our longtime efforts to build transparent, effective channels of communication and engagement.

And then skipping, my pledge will be to continuously balance your interests and needs and work to reach positive outcomes.

In the unlikely event that a dispute rises to a level that cannot be handled between us as reasonable partners, I will take the matter to the deputy mayor or designee for final resolution.

And that's what I had asked for.

Let's just be clear about what's going on.

I have all the faith in the world that we are partners now.

We're not adversaries.

We're trying to make this project the most amazingly spectacular arena in the United States.

And only if we're working with our community are we going to accomplish that.

So, I believe we're going to be there, I believe, and we'll totally keep an eye on the fact that the Community Coordinating Committee will continue to be included.

Voices will be included.

I know we have community outreach people.

Morgan, you're here today.

Emily East, I just want to acknowledge the work that you've done with the community.

I see Rick Cooper, and I'm sure that Debbie Frost was hiding back there somewhere or at least listening.

You and Mike McQuaid and our Belltown folks have been very, very honorable, reasonable, and I know that we're going to continue to work there.

So for those reasons and the fact that I've got trust in the partnership, I am withdrawing that proposed amendment, Council Chair Juarez.

Thank you, Councilor Bagshaw.

Okay, so let's move to Amendment 6. Amendment 6 is, let me make a few comments, is to Councilmember Herbold.

This is an amendment to the Development Agreement Exhibit E in the Construction Impact Mitigation.

And I will, the floor is yours, Council Member Herbold.

Thank you.

So there are two separate aspects to this proposed amendment.

The first part of this amendment, and the non-controversial part, is to include language regarding the marketing campaign, which requires advance notice of the marketing campaign of four weeks prior to construction.

The second aspect of this amendment would be to require OVG to create a mitigation fund, which impacted tenants can apply to in order to be compensated for the loss of projected revenue, specifically due to construction impacts.

The amendment does not identify an amount.

It gives the flexibility to OVG to determine how to dispense it.

But it was a concept that was brought to me specifically by Seattle Children's Theater and has been echoed as a need by other tenants.

Kirsten, central staff director, reached out to OVG to find out what they thought about this amendment.

And they responded that they object to this amendment except for the requirement that the marketing campaign include notices as provided under section 2.3.

They go on to say that they feel that the mitigation fund is a completely new business ask and that they can't continue to take significant new terms back to all of the stakeholders to meet the transaction timeline required to bring the NHL back to Seattle on time.

And more fundamentally, they believe that there's no additional room in the budget for additional financial contributions to Seattle Center.

Again, this amendment doesn't identify a dollar amount for mitigation fund.

It requires the fund be established.

I concede that it is a new economic condition, but I would also say that the marketing plan, the identification of $500,000 is also a new financial condition that was not contained in the MOU.

I'm uncertain at what opportunity I, as a council member representing the arts interest in the city, had to bring this forward as something that should have been negotiated, much like the marketing plan needs were.

That said, given that OVG is opposing this part of the amendment.

And I don't anticipate support for this part of the amendment given the statements from OVG about the implications of this amendment on the deal.

And I certainly, you know, don't want to put us in the position where the deal is spoiled because of my identification of what I think is a really important need.

I'm going to proceed with just the non-controversial part of the amendment and I'm sending out, distributing a new version.

And so would you just read what the new version is?

Absolutely.

It simply adds under 10.0, under marketing and promotion, that such marketing campaign shall include robust public notice similar to notice provided under 2.3.

And so the effect of the arena would require ArenaCode to include public notifications provided under 2.3.

There's been concern about the timing of the marketing campaign and that it really, it's important that it begin before, well before the beginning of construction.

So basically, similar to notice provided under 2.3 is four weeks before construction.

So if I can have some clarification just for me, or if anyone else, what we originally got, it looks like you left the marketing promotion on your amendment six.

So you're striking, which is on the grid up here, you're striking the bottom two, the number one and number two that were originally that you handed out to us.

I'm withdrawing it.

I'm withdrawing, I'm sorry.

On the response from OVG.

Okay, so I just want to make sure because that'll determine whether or not you get a second.

So what I'm understanding is you are withdrawing

One and two from our original.

I passed out the amendment that I'm moving.

I know, I realize that, but you just gave it to us, so I just want to make sure I have clarification.

Because that is going to determine how we vote and whether or not you get a second.

Yeah, you don't even need to look at the stuff on your grid.

This is the amendment I'm moving.

The proposed amendment to the development agreement to Exhibit E.

words such marketing campaign shall include robust public notice similar to notice provided under 2.3 to section 10.0.

Got it.

Thank you.

Anything else?

I'd like to actually second the motion and as I second that motion I want to thank you for once again being I think as concerned as is all we are about the mitigation impacts.

And I think this council has demonstrated, and prior councils demonstrated over the course of even light rail construction, as an example, when we set up a $50 million fund to mitigate the impacts of light rail construction, when we looked at the project on 23rd Avenue.

I looked at the impact on a lot of minority-owned businesses, and we looked at mitigation efforts and put funding that we should always be concerned about the impacts.

This particular deal is no different, but we have a lot of community benefits.

I think we've worked strenuously on trying to achieve, and so I appreciate you withdrawing that portion, and certainly I second the notice requirement.

We want to make sure that the marketing campaign is successful and our small businesses and medium-sized businesses are being able to still conduct business so I second that.

I'd just like and Kirsten maybe you can answer this and maybe we need to ask Robert to take a microphone as well.

My amendment which I withdrew really put the onus back on the on Robert as a Seattle Center but also our our community committee, the community coordinating committee, to have, make sure their voices are heard on this, that a marketing campaign is done in a very robust way.

And I just wonder if there's been further conversations about what that looks like, because clearly, who's all included, and keeping the businesses and the residential organizations feeling alive and well during construction is critical, but I want to know.

how we're going to go about doing that, and is there something, Councilmember Herbold, that you are, besides public notice, is there something there that we should know that you are anticipating or that you're going to request the community to do?

Is there something I'm going to request the committee to do?

No.

I mean just in terms of how this comes forward.

So let me speak to Councilmember Herbold's proposed amendment as she just described.

Originally, as shown up on the screen and in your matrix, there were a couple of aspects.

She is only keeping the requirement that the marketing campaign will be done in a manner that's as robust and similar to the notice that's being provided under Section 2.3.

So if you go back to the agreement, you can look at the 2.3 having to do with ArenaCo's obligations with regard to marketing and keeping people notified.

So the difference between this amendment and the one that you withdrew was the one that you withdrew had Seattle Center keeping the, requiring the Seattle Center to keep folks informed.

This one, ArenaCo says we will be happy to make sure that we perform a robust campaign.

Okay.

This is really focused on ArenaCo's responsibilities then and not the Seattle Center as a whole.

And that's your intention, Councilmember Herbold?

Yes.

Okay.

All right.

With that, before we, I want to just say a few words.

First of all, I want to thank Councilmember Herbold.

We had a brief discussion this morning.

I always appreciate that she has a voice and is always making that very clear to us what her concerns are, and thank you very much.

So with that, we already had a, the motion had been moved and seconded.

Is there any further discussion?

All right, let's vote.

All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, no.

The ayes have it.

The amendment passes as amended.

Okay.

Let's go to amendment number seven.

I'm going to do a quick little overview, and then I'm going to hand it to the sponsor, and then I'm going to have Kirsten do some follow-up.

This is Amendment 7 to Council Bill 119345, being proposed by Councilmember Herboldt.

Again, it's to amend the Development Agreement, Exhibit E, the same exhibit we were discussing, just got done discussing, the Construction Impact Mitigation Plan.

That is Section 7.6, and the mitigation for adjacent and on-site uses.

And with that, I'll let the sponsor move forward.

Councilmember Herboldt.

Thank you.

Again, this is an amendment that I am now withdrawing, similar to some of the transportation type changes that we were asked to pursue, things like mode shift goals.

Those are things that have been identified.

in the EIS is needing mitigation.

And specifically, this relates to the noise impacts that the EIS has identified.

And in this case, as it relates specifically to noise, the EIS found that the noise impacts to Seattle Children's Theater would be significant, but they could be reduced to less than significant with implementation of noise mitigation measures.

And the noise mitigation measures related to Seattle Children's Theater are going to be addressed through conditions to the MUP.

So again, this is very similar to some of the things that we'd asked about related to the transportation impacts.

Those are things that will be addressed in conditioning the MUP.

You're withdrawing Amendment 7?

I am.

And let me tell you this, I wish you would have told me sooner because I spent...

A lot of time this morning going back and rereading the Exhibit E and going back to look at whether or not, and of course I pulled up, that my understanding is that the noise impacts on Seattle Children's Theater is already addressed in Section 3.2, page 13 of the Construction Impact Mitigation Plan, Exhibit E, to the development agreement.

But thank you.

So we have that withdrawn, so there's nothing to vote on on that.

So let me look at my notes here because I'm still, so.

We go back to a vote on the final vote.

The final vote.

OK, so we'll start with the final vote as amended.

And let's start with the very first one.

That was the Council Bill 119344, the admission tax revenue as amended.

Those, I believe, have to be individual votes.

Clerk, will you call the roll?

Is that right?

We do a voice for both?

Because we're on a committee.

It's the amendment, right?

No, it's withdrawn.

Right.

Oh, so it's.

Yeah, I thought it was a committee, so we could do it at a committee.

Oh, we can do it in committee.

Got it.

So it's just a confusing because we're up on the dais.

Yeah, that's why we're all.

Thank you, Councilman Gonzalez.

I'm not the only one confused.

OK, so we don't have to do an individual roll call.

Sorry, everybody.

So let's start with, let me say it again, final vote of Council Bill 119344. As amended, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed?

No, the ayes have it.

The motion has been seconded and it passes, correct?

Okay.

Second one, second item on the agenda, Council Bill 119345, that is the one that included the transaction documents and all the amendments, so that as amended.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those as opposed, no.

The ayes have it.

The motion passes and the committee...

Does there have to be a motion and a second or can she just call for the vote as a committee?

I can't just call for the...

It's a form of a motion, correct?

So it has to be moved and seconded.

So...

And I didn't think we did it for the first one.

I thought.

Got it.

So the motion passes and the committee will recommend.

No, the motion.

Go ahead co-chair.

Okay, so I'll move to pass Council Bill 119344 as amended.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

The moved and seconded Council Bill 119344 pass.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

I move to pass Council Bill 119345 as amended.

All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

That council bill is passed as well.

I'm just done.

Thank you, co-chair.

Finally, dang.

It's slow playing you.

OK, so with that.

Madam Chair.

Yes.

Is this the opportunity for speeches?

This is the opportunity before we adjourn for God help us all.

going on for 18 months.

Put the clock on.

Let me just add that and then you can talk.

Won't conclude, I won't adjourn, but I'll just let you know this will go to full council on Monday September 24th and Councilmember Johnson you have the floor.

Thank you very much.

Most of my fellow transit nerds have left the So I'm not going to get into the details of the council chambers, but I just wanted to address a couple of things that came up during public comment and talk a little bit about.

The ways that I'm hoping we as a city can address some of those concerns related to transportation.

So within the transactional documents that we have now just There wasn't really a very appropriate place for us to manage some of the issues that had come up during the course of public comment on this topic.

And so I'm proposing that the council introduce a resolution that we'll plan to walk on to the council calendar next Monday and ideally have a vote the following Monday alongside the transactional documents that'll do a couple of things.

One, there are a lot of transportation projects that we've referenced, both in this committee and in other committees, and they kind of fall in three separate buckets.

There's a set of projects that the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections is going to require through the State Environmental Policy Act for Oak View to to build during the course of construction.

Then there's a set of projects that we're going to pay for using a $40 million transportation mitigation fund.

And then there's other general city dollars that we use to pay for transportation projects.

In the midst of that, there's also a set of project lists.

affiliated with each of those buckets.

There's projects that are going to be associated with the FEIS SEPA mitigation.

There's projects that we outline and call out in the NODO map.

There are other projects that are happening in the uptown neighborhood like metro, sound transit projects, and other city projects.

Obviously, the best way for us to mitigate a lot of the concerns that folks have heard in community is to make sure that anybody who's working on the construction side or working at the arena once it's concluded can get there very easily.

So, basic investments in infrastructure, be it transit, biking, and walking are the best way to make sure that the employees and the construction workers can get to the campus.

It means that it's also going to be a lot easier for Washington Wild to take over a whole section one night on opening night of the NHL.

So we need a way for the council to identify clearly the individual projects, where they're funded from, and the timing around the construction of those projects.

And so what I'm working on is a council resolution that'll require some sort of reporting out to either the full council or the committee, either that's the arena committee or the sustainability and transportation committee, that asks the Seattle Center, the Seattle Department of Transportation, the folks from the Department of Construction and Inspections, and other city entities to provide us with just a coordinated list of transportation projects, of funding sources, and a set of goals that we're trying to achieve with those projects.

Those goals ideally will be tied to a couple of other things, the requirements that the city has for Oak View as you construct the project, and then also, The master plan that we've got for transportation elements once the project is open and the arena is under development, the arena has a bunch of stuff there.

So we, this is a really long-winded way of saying there's a plan, I think, for us, but we need to make sure that we're very clearly articulating that plan.

for clearly articulating the funding associated with that and the timeline of those projects.

That doesn't have a home in any of the transactional documents in any way, shape, or form, and it shouldn't, because it's really about city process and city funding sources.

So I'm going to, with the Council President's approval, try to walk on a resolution on Monday, which we will then vote on the following Monday, that addresses some of those main concerns that have come up from community members.

Thank you for letting me pontificate for a moment, Chair Walz.

I hope you run that by me as well besides the council president.

I thought that every decision related to this project was inherently run by you anyway.

So that was just a part of my operating assumptions.

Thank you, Councilman Johnson.

Anyone else?

Go ahead, Councilmember Mosqueda.

Thank you, Chair Juarez.

Also, thank you to Councilmember Harrell, Council President Harrell for all your work on this.

I've had the benefit of coming into this conversation at the tail end and I understand the sweat, tears, and blood that it took to get us here and just want to thank the community at large because what I hear from constituents repeatedly is this is the model.

This is how we do it right.

This is how we make sure that the community is heard, that residents are heard, that bikers, that walkers are heard, that union representatives and workers are heard.

And I'm really excited about the opportunity that this arena presents itself.

I will not be able to be here on the 24th as I will be out of town.

So I want to just express my support now and say thank you for all your hard work on this.

If I were here, I would be a full-throated support for this effort that you've put forward.

And I also want to express my support for the work that Councilmember Johnson just outlined as well.

I would be fully supportive of the resolution and hope to weigh in with my support next week when I see it.

We want to make sure that this is a place where every kiddo, family worker, senior team can go by any mode of transportation and feel safe in getting to the arena.

I currently bike to the Sounders game while I live around the corner from the key arena and anticipate that I'll be walking or biking there.

No matter where I live in Seattle, since I'm a renter, I'm sure we'll be moving frequently, but no matter where I live, I want to be able to bike there safely.

So I'm fully supportive of the ability to make sure that all ages, languages, abilities, races, ethnicities, genders, can bike, walk, and use multimodal transportation to get there so they can enjoy the fruits of this incredible committee's labor.

So thank you for all your work, and while I won't be there, fully supportive of all this effort.

Thank you, Councilor Mosqueda.

Anyone else?

Yeah, one quick thank you.

Maybe this is a long thank you, but I suspect that we're going to be talking a lot more on the 24th, but Council Member Juarez, I believe that you and your staff have in conjunction with our Council Central staff leader have done a model job on this.

And it's something that I hope that we will emulate in the future for any project of this size.

And Council President Harrell, the fact that you set up this joint committee and gave Councilmember Juarez authority to be working with everybody who's in the front row back there.

I want to acknowledge that.

And working with the community has been an amazing pleasure for me because nobody's let up.

You know, that gas pedal has been to the floor throughout.

And I do appreciate what we are doing now with the transportation and the mobility study.

I wish Alan Hart were here.

I learned a ton from him about a year ago on what to request.

and tying into the age-friendly work that we're doing, making sure that people can walk, bike, get there safely, but also buy their car if they need it.

And I know many of you have heard my stories before that I'd be walking and riding my bike everywhere all the time, but I have a husband who has muscular dystrophy.

And as this is getting worse, we need to figure out ways for people that have disabilities to be able to get to the games as well.

And I have to say thank you to our arena partners, because all the way through, you've been looking at ways where people can make and be part of this without feeling like they're left out.

So big thanks on that for our age-friendly efforts.

And, you know, Robert and Marshall, Greg in the front row, Francesca.

just the fact that you have been here with us for almost two years now.

I mean, it goes back two and a half years ago for many of us who are here on the dais.

But I have been a fan of Seattle Center and Key Arena for so many decades.

And this is going to bring Seattle Center back to being the center of Seattle.

And with the work that you are doing, including art and culture, being able to invite our school district back in as well, all the work that has been done for labor, including them, making sure that people are not left out.

We have done something, I think, here that is, it's really a world-changing effort, and I'm very grateful to you.

So, I'm sure that there'll be a lot more words between now and the 24th, but thank you really, truly all for all the good work that you have done.

Thank you, Councilmember Bagshaw.

Council President Harrell.

So, the big speeches will be on the 24th.

Not from me.

Not for you.

But in all seriousness, I want to thank Kirsten, outstanding work from you and your team.

Oakview Group and affiliated members and organizations, just outstanding work.

And Chair, whereas I'm going to reserve the story about when we thought about a select committee for the 24th.

But in all seriousness, you've taken ownership of the project.

You were extremely thorough.

About midway through this lengthy project, it became crystal clear that you and your staff relating no stones unturned, or asking the tough questions and making sure you protected the residents and business in Seattle.

And the fact that even yesterday there was no EIS appeals was sort of a testament to not only the commitment that Oak View and others have shown, but your steadfast leadership.

So again, on the 24th, we have seven votes.

I think we're in pretty good shape.

But one thing I've learned in this job is You always have to be expected for the unexpected.

But I'm very, very pleased with where we reached.

At the beginning, you knew it was going to be a very difficult challenge.

This presented everyone, environmental issues, transportation issues, economic development issues, neighborhood issues, et cetera.

So thank you for being such a strong colleague, and I'm really proud to support you.

Thank you, President Harrell.

I'm just going to just wrap up real quick.

First, I want to thank my colleagues, but before we go any further, I really want to thank Director Arstad.

She's a phenomenal, phenomenal director.

Could not have done it without her.

And I feel like I won an award, but I didn't.

I want to thank the OVG people.

I want to thank Marshall and all of you folks, and law.

We had great law, good legal advice.

And so, I will leave it at that.

And so, before we adjourn, well, I will move to adjourn.

This concludes our meeting for 2018 until September 24th.

And again, thank you everyone for your hard work.

And with that, we stand adjourned.

Thank you.