Seattle City Council 4/12/21

Good afternoon, everyone.

Welcome back.

The April 12th, 2021 meeting of the Seattle City Council will now come to order.

It's two o'clock p.m.

I'm Lorena Gonzalez, president of the council.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Sawant?

Present.

Herbold?

Here.

Thank you.

Juarez?

Here.

Lewis?

Present.

Morales.

Here.

Mosqueda.

Present.

Peterson.

Here.

Council President Gonzalez.

Here.

Eight present.

Thank you so much.

Colleagues, as I mentioned in council briefing, we do have a presentation today.

As we are all aware, Council Member Sawant was not able to be with us this morning, but she is here this afternoon.

And so as a result of not being with us this morning, she didn't have an opportunity to state her preference.

As it relates to her signature on this proclamation, I did want to recognize Council Member Sawant, who is with us this afternoon, in order to allow her to state in open session whether or not she would like to have her signature added to the proclamation.

Thank you, President Gonzalez.

And yes, please add my name.

Thank you so much.

I'm glad we were able to get that across the finish line.

Colleagues, before us today is a proclamation for Kim Pham, founder and publisher of Northwest Vietnamese News.

Kim recently passed on March 30th and leaves behind a legacy of community building and dedicating his life to the Vietnamese American community of Seattle and beyond.

He is survived by his wife and three children.

Kim fled Vietnam in 1979 by boat with his wife and daughter and never forgot to advocate for other immigrant and refugee communities.

He connected and bridged generations and was a community giant through a long life of service and publishing the longest running Vietnamese language newspaper in Washington State.

Kim Pham was tireless in his work to keep his community informed and was often at important events for the Vietnamese American community and lived to see Tommy Le's family get justice.

Kim was an inspiration and mentor to many in the Vietnamese community across many generations and beyond.

He supported the efforts of others in community building, including the launch of other ethnic media outlets like Room 10 News, which serves the local Somali community in the Seattle area.

Kim was a storyteller and tremendous advocate for so many.

His memoir will be published by Kai Tree Publishing.

We are joined this afternoon by his son, Dan Pham, to receive the proclamation.

Finally, I'll share some of his words as shared by local journalist A.C.

Nguyen in remembering Kim Pham.

Quote, sometimes there are things we face that are insurmountable.

Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we become dispersed anyway, and I don't want to pass the buck onto the younger generation, so we have to keep on pushing for more.

My two wishes are that we have a strong voice so that people know that we are here, that we are devoted to this country.

This place is our home.

My other wish is that Vietnamese will broaden their vision for themselves.

Parents need to teach their kids the importance of having a voice and of civic involvement.

There's more to life than just being a doctor or software engineer or just changing jobs that bring financial success.

We have people with the talent and endurance to be community and political leaders.

We need to encourage them because when we teach people to just allow life to just happen to them, it's a loss and a waste.

We need more representation.

Beautiful words for us to think of this afternoon as we reflect on the loss of Kim Pham, but also celebrate the legacy that he has left behind for us all here in our community.

As I mentioned in council briefing this morning, This proclamation was written in English and translated into Vietnamese and our signature will be added to both versions and presented to his son who is with us today.

Before we do hear from our guest, I do want to allow any other council members who wish to make comments as it relates to this proclamation an opportunity to do so.

Are there any additional comments on the proclamation from my colleagues?

It looks like there's no additional comments, so I'm going to go ahead and suspend the rules.

If there's no objection, the council rules will be suspended to allow Kim Pham's son, Don Pham, to accept the proclamation and provide remarks.

Hearing no objection, the council rules are suspended.

I want to welcome our guest, Mr. Pham, to the city council meeting.

You are recognized here to accept this proclamation and to make remarks.

to us and the members of the viewing public.

Welcome.

Thank you.

This is a fairly unusual place for me today because even though my father ran a newspaper, he never liked to be in front of the camera.

I filmed over 200 news stories with him in a language I never really understood.

And one of my duties was to make sure that he was always outside of the frame because he didn't want to be there.

When COVID hit this past year, it was really hard for the community in addition to the struggles that newspapers have already been going with.

There were no events to cover because all the events were closed down.

Our advertisers were primarily in the service sector, which was hardest hit by the pandemic.

And it was really tempting for us to just, you know, retire and just closed down.

But my dad, he wanted to keep going despite all of that and just not because it was his job, but to provide the service for the community.

And even after he had a heart attack in December, he, like the next week, he was right at his desk again, still working on that front page.

Like he kept doing that, right?

As long as he could still stand.

So now for him to be honored after all that work, trying to serve the community by the community, it's really amazing.

And I don't know if he would have been surprised or not, but I definitely don't think that this is something he would have ever expected.

So thank you.

Thank you so much.

He was always very humble and loved being in the background with his camera wherever he went.

And so I know that he never really appreciated the limelight, but I am really humbled to have an opportunity to recognize his legacy as someone who whose parents were immigrants to this country and who, you know, we grew up speaking Spanish in our home.

And for me, it's really important to acknowledge the legends in our immigrant refugee community and the legacy that they leave behind.

And my thoughts are with you and with all of your family and your loved ones as you continue to both mourn, but more importantly, celebrate the legacy of your father.

Huge, huge legacy that he has left in our region.

And I mentioned this in council briefing this morning, but of course, Northwest Vietnamese News is the largest Vietnamese news outlet outside of Vietnam, and it is because of him and all of your tireless work to serve the Vietnamese community, that that is the fact and that's the case.

So I look forward to many, many years of additional contribution from you all and our deepest condolences to you and your loved ones in this really difficult moment.

So thank you for being with us.

Thank you.

Okay.

Colleagues, we're gonna go ahead and continue with other items of business on our agenda.

And the next item is approval of the minutes.

The minutes of the city council meeting of April 5th, 2021 have been reviewed.

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

Hearing no objection, the minutes are now being signed.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes?

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

Hearing no objection, the agenda, excuse me, hearing no objection, the introduction and referral calendar is adopted.

If there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Public comment.

Colleagues, at this time, we will open the remote public comment period for items on the City Council agenda, introduction and referral calendar, and the Council's work program.

I want to thank everyone for their ongoing patience and cooperation as we continue to operate this system in a remote fashion.

It does remain the strong intent of the City Council to have remote public comment regularly included on meeting agendas.

However, as a reminder, the City Council reserves the right to end or eliminate these public comment periods at any point if we deem that the system is being abused or is no longer suitable for allowing our meetings to be conducted efficiently and effectively.

I'll moderate today's public comment period in the following manner.

The public comment period for this meeting is 20 minutes, and each speaker will be given two minutes to speak.

Speakers will be called on in the order in which they registered to provide public comment on the council's website.

Each speaker must call in from the phone number used for this registration.

and they must also use the meeting phone number, ID, and passcode that was emailed to them upon confirmation.

This is different than the general meeting listen line call-in information.

Again, I will call on each speaker by name and in the order in which they registered on the council's website.

If you've not yet registered to speak but would like to, You can sign up before the end of public comment by going to the council's website at seattle.gov forward councils slash council.

Sorry about that.

And the public comment link is also listed on today's agenda.

Once I call a speaker's name, staff will unmute the appropriate microphone, and you will hear an automatic prompt if you have been unmuted.

That will be your cue that it is your turn to speak, but before you speak, you must press star six.

Please begin speaking by stating your name and the item that you are addressing.

As a reminder, public comment should relate to an item on today's agenda, the introduction referral calendar, or the council's work program.

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

Once you hear the chime, we'd ask that you begin to wrap up your public comment.

And if you don't wrap up your public comment at the end of the allotted time provided, your microphone will be muted in order to allow us to call on the next speaker.

Once you've completed your public comment, we ask that you please disconnect from the line.

And if you plan to continue following this meeting, you can do so via Seattle Channel or the listening options listed on the agenda.

Okay, and then just as a reminder, again, for those who are waiting to give public comment, if you appear as, if you, I'm gonna call your name if you appear as not present.

If you are not present, you need to look at the email confirmation that you received for public comment today and make sure that you are calling in to the number that was provided to you, not to the listening line.

and that you are calling in with the exact phone number that you registered with.

So again, I will call your name, even if you are showing as not present on my end.

And if I do indicate that you are registered but not present, that'll be your cue to double check that you are calling into the right number with the number that you registered with.

So first up, We have Howard Gale followed by Peter Condit.

Good afternoon.

Howard Gale District 7 speaking on continuing police abuse and failed accountability.

Virtually all the horrible abuse meted out to the public of the people of Seattle by SPD officers has now escaped accountability as we are well past the 180 day mark for investigation and discipline.

The lesson learned by the SPD, if you engage in abuse and massive infringement of First Amendment rights, do so in an overwhelming manner, which swamps whatever tiny bit of accountability the system even pretends to afford.

More than 10 months after the murder of George Floyd and with four people killed by the SPD during these last 12 months, the city council has consistently failed to deliver on police accountability.

We are just days away from marking the one year anniversary of the SPD murder of Sean Furr and weeks away from the one year anniversary of the SPD murder of Terry Kaver.

The OPA has already issued its findings in the fir case, with the murder deemed to be, quote, within policy, unquote.

All the oversight bodies, the OPA, the CPC, and the OIG, have failed to even suggest changes of policies that can guarantee these abuses will not continue.

Only 100% civilian-led investigations and discipline can guarantee community safety.

The complete lack of action by the council and by Seattle's police oversight bodies guarantees more police abuse in the weeks to come as Black Lives Matter protests will resume with the conclusion of the George Floyd murder trial and the anniversary of his murder just weeks away.

This is on the immediate horizon.

How can you ignore it?

As we approach the one-year mark post-George Floyd, it is clear the council will not deliver on its promises of 50% or any significant amount of defunding, nor on its promise to limit weapons used by the SPD to abuse us.

Does Seattle not at least deserve what is 100% achievable by you now?

Full civilian control, police oversight, moving beyond police investigating police in a failed bureaucratized system.

It is happening in Nashville, Oakland, Portland, Oregon, and other US cities.

Why not here?

Next up is Peter Condit, followed by Trevona Thompson-Wiley.

Good morning, Council, or good afternoon, rather.

My name is Peter Condit.

I'm calling from District 4. I appreciate all the things Howard said.

I also support police accountability and want to stress doing that through the budget.

But first, I urge Council to say no to $150,000 in more funding for SPD that is contained within Council Bill 12-0029.

I am in support of the Massage Parlor Outreach Project and other Asian Americans in Seattle.

who are asking for investment in community-based safety initiatives, and I oppose hate crime legislation and the expansion of funding for any new positions at SPD.

Quote-unquote, anti-hate crime bills that come with the consequence of bolstering white supremacy and policing put our community more at risk of violence.

Seattle cannot afford to expand SPD because SPD is not able to deliver community safety.

The issue of SBD funding is one I've called about many times in the past.

I also urge you to not repay SBD for their excessive violent use of overtime last summer.

Council Bill 119981 needs to be amended to hold SBD fully accountable for their $5.4 million overspend.

Anything less signals a willingness to tolerate SBD's violence against peaceful protesters and is not the full accountability to which we need you to hold the police department.

There cannot be police accountability without budget accountability.

The $5.4 million of overtime spending needs to go instead to participatory budgeting as you promised in December.

And lastly, we need you to approve a spending plan for participatory budgeting so that those funds can start moving into community.

Thank you for listening.

Black Lives Matter, Defund SPD.

Thank you.

Next up is Trevona, followed by Debra Frausto.

Hi, my name is Trevona Thompson-Wiley.

I have called this line many a time because as a black woman, I am so tired of police continuing to abuse folks.

I'm calling to say no to the 150K that is supposed to go to SPD and the CB 120029. I'm in support of the Massage Parlor Outreach Project and other Asian Americans in Seattle who are seeking for actual investments in community-based safety initiatives and opposing hate crime legislation and opposing expansion of funding for any new positions at SPD.

The Massage Parlor Outreach Project is calling out the bill's attempt to divide communities of color and aware that anti-hate crime bills come with the consequence of blustering white supremacy and policing rather than opposite.

Seattle cannot afford to expand SPD because SPD has not been able to deliver community safety.

I also would like to add just because you have a Black Lives Matter sign on your lawn or there's no human that's illegal you actually need to do what is right and stop funding institutions that brutalize those folks.

Trust in policing is at an all-time low and for good reason.

The past year alone provide like proves that hundreds upon hundreds of documented examples of violence towards peaceful citizens and selective enforcement of the law in Seattle and nationally.

The public is well well informed by the evidence of our own eyes and our bodies that policing is just not the way and that we need to defund this institution that continuously harms BIPOC folks.

There was a shooting just last just yesterday outside of Minneapolis where again a 20-year-old Black man who was killed by the hands of the police.

The police are not the way for public safety.

We need to invest in community basic needs and actually develop harm reduction programs to actually help folks.

I'm calling also to tell the city council to stand up on your word of you saying that you're here for the Black community and put that 5.4 million into PB and I relinquish the rest of my time.

Thank you.

Next up is Deborah followed by Rosanna C.

Thank you.

My name's Deborah Frosto.

I am a longtime resident of Uptown, and I'm here today representing Uptown Alliance, our neighborhood community organization that was established in 1999. We're asking for your support of Resolution 32001 in support of the city's use of Uptown as our neighborhood name.

Over the past number of years, we have laid the groundwork for Uptown's recognition.

Metro displays Uptown on their rapid ride the buses, the city's work on the urban design framework, design guidelines, read zone, were all designated for Uptown.

The Uptown Arts District was created by the city in 2017. Marketing and branding guidelines have been developed through a community process.

All of this important work leading to the resolution in front of you today.

Because in the next six months, we hope to see the return of visitors to Seattle Center and new fans around the new fans from the entire region to events at the Climate Pledge Arena.

To reduce confusion and unnecessary traffic and getting people to this regional asset and our neighborhood, we need help in updating mapping, wayfinding, and location services such as Google Maps, Uber, Lyft, and eventually the Seattle Center slash Uptown SD3 station.

There will always be friends who are sentimental and calling our neighborhood Lower Queen Anne and that's okay.

But Uptown is Uptown, a growing urban neighborhood with its unique character that its businesses and residents love.

Thank you and please support.

And I do apologize if I have a duplicate registration to speak.

Thank you very much.

That's okay, Deborah.

Thanks so much.

Better to be duplicated than missed.

Next up is Rosanna, followed by Flora Wright.

Hello, council members.

My name is Rosanna Zee, and I am on the core team with the Massage Parlor Outreach Project, or MPOP.

Here to speak about the proposed legislation, Council Bill 120029. We have seen the amendments moving the position of bias crimes prevention coordinators from SPD to Department of Neighborhoods and want to reiterate that this position, regardless of department, should not report to or have any affiliation with SPD.

How this position functions needs to center the most marginalized in our community.

Massage parlor workers, sex workers, the unhoused, undocumented, working class, and elders.

In fact, until the city is able to clarify the selection rules and affiliations of this position, MPOP is against these allocations entirely.

If this new position is to be under the Department of Neighborhoods, the funding should still come from the SPD budget and not the general fund.

Additionally, there has been still no formal communication between City Council and MPOP, despite a presentation on April 6th from the Finance and Housing Committee claiming cooperation.

We demand that you retract this claim and provide transparency about community engagement efforts.

Stop co-opting our ideas and language and listen to the demands and our needs.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak.

Thank you.

Next up is Flora, followed by Julia Buck.

Hello, I'm Flora Wright, a resident of District 3. I'm calling to oppose 120029, which would provide SPD with $150,000 funding for a new position increasing their budget.

It would also add a paid position to the Office of Employee Ombuds, which would implement the mayor's executive order that suggests expansion of misdemeanor prosecution with regards to hate crimes.

This gives prosecutors a way to enhance sentencing and will likely be used against the same communities that already experience the most policing and criminalization.

There's no evidence that this has a deterrent effect, and it's been continuously denounced as a solution to violence.

This legislation exploits tragedy to push expansion of policing in the criminal legal system.

More white supremacy will not solve white supremacist violence.

Massage Parlor Outreach Project and Chinatown International District Coalition have jointly stated that solidarity with massage parlor workers needs an end to police patrols and raids in the international district.

They've also pointed out the increased policing of the ID is inherently part of the mayor and chief of police's vision to gentrify this area of the city and push out massage parlor workers to appease white gentrifiers.

Speaking of police raids in the ID, let's remember an example in 2018. SPD raided 11 massage parlors to supposedly rescue 26 Chinese women.

They were in reality displaced, lost their income and housing, and had their cash savings and belongings confiscated.

Sex workers are regularly harassed and arrested by police, not protected.

Increased policing compound danger and harms workers' safety, agency, and income, increasing their vulnerability to exploitation and gendered violence.

I join everyone today who comments saying no new positions at SPD, no more funding for SPD, no position should be used to pursue hate crime legislation.

Instead, support community-based initiatives.

I yield my time.

Thank you.

Next up is Julia Buck followed by Zach Cooper.

Good afternoon, Council.

My name is Julia Buck calling in from District 6. I'm calling in to express my opposition to two bills this afternoon.

Council Bill 120029 regarding creating an additional police position to patrol the Central District International District.

I joined in solidarity with the Massage Parlor Outreach Project and the Chinatown International District Coalition to say that this is not a solution, particularly for people who are vulnerable to police harassment and abuse as massage parlor workers and undocumented workers are.

I would urge the Council not to pass this bill, particularly as the two organizations' names were placed on it without prior consultation.

I'm also calling to oppose Council Bill 120030, which would reduce the revenue from the Amazon I am gravely concerned about the use of hours worked in Seattle, particularly as, you know, the tax applies to workers who make over $200,000 a year.

This seems as though it incentivizes, you know, living in the suburbs and working from home as a way to reduce tax liability, and I'm tremendously concerned about that.

I also believe that we need to invest in both decarbonization of home heating and social housing desperately.

And I'm very concerned and saddened that our Amazon tax, which I thought was well written, is now being watered down.

Thank you so much for your time.

Have a good day.

Thank you.

Next up is Zach And I am showing that Lisa Power registered, but Lisa, you are showing up as not present on my end.

So please confirm that you've called into the correct number using the exact number that you pre-registered with.

And if you show up as present, I will come back to you and call on you.

But first up is Zach Cooper.

And again, Lisa Power, you are showing up as not present on my side and you'll need to Confirm all those details before I can call on you.

Zach, please.

Good afternoon.

Zach Cooper speaking on the matter of Resolution 32001. I live and have a business in Seattle's neighborhood Uptown.

I urge the City Council to approve Resolution 32001 in support of the Uptown neighborhood name designation.

Even though Uptown is one of Seattle's oldest neighborhoods, too many continue to misidentify Uptown.

It not only works against the community's efforts to distinguish itself as an urban center, home for art, culture, eclectic restaurants and shops, but both ethnically and social economy, diverse residents.

But it also can create uncertainty on how businesses should identify and market themselves to current and potential customers.

People rely on online mapping services to help with wayfinding, trip planning and discovering new businesses.

But when online map services like Google Maps and Apple Maps continue to misidentify Uptown, it can create confusion for visitors and businesses.

Ensuring that online map platforms correctly identify the Uptown neighborhood is essential to attracting new customers and directing customers to my storefront.

Having the City Council approve this resolution is critical to confirm Uptown's identity for residents, businesses, and visitors.

This is essential for businesses just like mine because an eyewear gallery in Uptown requires customers to visit us in person to select their frames and have them fitted properly.

And it is more important than ever that the City make clear under no certain terms that this is the Uptown neighborhood and that I and other Uptown businesses move toward recovering from the economic effects of COVID and we want to make it as easy as possible for customers to locate us when we are able to, and visit our shops.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Again, still showing up as not present on my end is Lisa Power.

But next and present is Coco Weber followed by Elisa Nader.

Thank you, Council.

I'm calling today about CB 120029. State-sanctioned violence always begins somewhere behind a desk with meetings and documents, sometimes with resolutions and bills handed down from the executive, put up for a vote by a council.

And that is exactly what CB 120029 is attempting to do with the portion slipped in that calls for more policing in the CID and the expansion of hate crime legislation.

This addition to the bill was done under the guise of safety for the community, yet against the wishes of the very community it purports to protect, community advocates such as the Massage Parlor Outreach Project are outraged and have called the addition of police funding a co-optation.

The use of the pain of a multiply marginalized community are AAPI brothers and sisters and specifically the pain of the massage parlor community to feed the mayor's endless thirst for money for policing is deplorable.

May we all remember in this moment the SPD is still under the consent decree due to civil rights violations which they've been unable to ameliorate since the 2011 investigation and lawsuit.

under which when the Department of Justice charged SPD and Seattle with, quote, unjustified use of impact weapons, unjustified escalation of minor encounters into forced events, particularly with individuals with mental illness or those under the influence of alcohol or drugs, unjustified use of force against persons who are restrained or simply exercising their First Amendment rights, and unjustified use of force by multiple officers, end quote, from the consent decree.

Please say no to $150,000 for SPD and any expansion of hate crime legislation in CB12-0029.

The safety and well-being of our community that you're trying to care for depend upon it.

Further, as someone who was violently attacked by SPD while exercising my right to protest, I ask you to vehemently not lay down to SPD violence on protesters billed as overtime.

Keep your promise and keep $5.4 million towards real public safety with the people's participatory budget.

Thank you.

I yield my time.

Thank you.

Next up is Alyssa Nader followed by Rick Hooper.

Hi, I'm calling in as an Asian American resident of District 4. I condemn Council Bill 120029 and urge City Council not to allocate $150,000 to increasing SPD funding and police patrols of the International District in CD.

I'm calling in support of the Massage Parlor Outreach Project.

And as a member of the Asian American community, I call for the defunding of SPD and reallocation of funds to community-based solutions.

Time and time again, we've seen the police not keeping communities of color safe, and especially the most marginalized Asian communities, including sex workers, massage workers, immigrants, and trans individuals.

We've seen the police in our own community kill Tommy Lee for a pen.

They've killed 26-year-old Jesse Sere.

So we do not believe that the police can keep our own communities safe and the communities of our black and brown siblings as well.

And so I condemn being a model minority and upholding oppressive systems that increase white supremacy.

Like someone said before, we cannot solve violence caused by white supremacy by upholding institutions that continue to oppress our communities.

And so, again, strongly urge City Council not to increase SPD funding and also In the recent weeks we've seen like cops on horses and so we do not want that.

Okay sorry bye.

Thank you so much.

Next up is Rick Hooper followed by Sam Suka.

Hello my name is Rick Hooper president of Uptown Alliance.

I'm commenting on agenda item number 22 resolution 32001. Uptown Alliance has worked closely with the city on today's resolution first at the suggestion of Department of Neighborhoods and then with Council Member Lewis's office.

Uptown has been called Uptown for decades designated the Uptown Urban Center by the city for comprehensive planning purposes more than 20 years ago.

Uptown is one of six urban centers so designated by the city.

Despite that official name by the city mislabeling and confusion continues.

Are we Uptown or are we lower Queen Anne.

We are definitely Uptown.

Names matter and correctly identifying Uptown promotes civic pride and a sense of place for residents businesses visitors and the city especially as the new climate pledge arena is about to open.

The resolution seeks to reduce confusion by providing appropriate notification to online mapping wayfinding and location services.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Thank you so much for calling in.

Next up is Sam Suka, followed by BJ Last.

And Nathaniel Steiner, you are showing up as registered, but not present on my end.

Again, please confirm that you are calling into the appropriate number and not the listening line with the number that you registered with.

But for now, we will hear from Sam.

Welcome.

Thank you, Council President Gonzalez and members of the committee.

For the record, my name is Sam Suyoka.

and I'm testifying in opposition to Council Bill 120029. I'm a second year law student at Yale University and I'm also a third generation Japanese-American.

This bill is aimed at addressing the spike in hate crimes against Asian-Americans.

As a third generation Japanese-American I've watched my community grieve the deaths of the victims in Atlanta and the numerous attacks against our elders.

In my culture an attack on our elders is quite literally an attack on our history.

language and tradition.

My elders are the closest link that I have to my culture and heritage and I take these attacks very seriously.

However weaponizing Asian hate crimes to bolster law enforcement funding which will harm the Black community Indigenous community and the Hispanic community is reprehensible.

While I understand the intent behind this bill I'm appalled by how out of touch of reality it is.

And I cannot believe that this would be introduced after the reckoning you all experienced this past summer.

As you all well know six Seattle police officers are being investigated for being at a January 6th insurrection.

It is illogical to fund an outwardly racist department to fight against hate crimes when that very law enforcement body engages in state-sanctioned hate crimes against the community.

This bill will put money into the pockets of SPD before SPD has taken any accountability for their actions this summer while 6 SPD officers are suing to have their names hidden for attending an attack on the government and while they continue to disproportionately enforce the law against Black and Indigenous people in Washington.

For these reasons I urge you to please kill the bill and vote no or at the very least put forward an amendment to strike Section 2 and any other votes that increase the power and funding of SBDO prosecutors.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling in today.

Again, Nathaniel Steiner, you are registered, but showing up is not present.

If you call into the correct number, we'll make sure to call on you.

Next up is BJ Last, followed by Emily Graham.

Hello, my name is BJ last a valid resident and small business owner.

I'm calling in support of this massage parlor outreach project and Chinatown international district coalition's request to reject CB 120029 due to the new SPD positions and extensions of hate crime legislation.

The mayor proposed these items without talking to the massage parlor outreach project or the Chinatown international district coalition.

I encourage the council to reject these unilateral requests by the mayor, which co-opt community organizations without consulting them, and to listen to the requests of the community.

I also encourage the council to reject CB 120030, which would potentially gut the jumpstart tax by allowing employers to only pay tax on the percent of time the Seattle-based employees work in Seattle.

This would allow companies to circumvent the jumpstart tax by having their executives work or claiming they work the majority of time outside of Seattle.

So if an executive lives in Medina and does 90% of their work from home, like many did last year due to COVID, then 90% of that executive salary would be exempt from the jumpstart tax.

So reject CB12-0030 and preserve the jumpstart tax.

Thank you.

I yield my time.

Thank you.

Next up is Emily followed by David Haynes.

Hi, my name is Emily Graham and I am a resident of District 3. I am calling in support of the Massage Parlor Outreach Project and the Chinatown International District Coalition in stating that while anti-Asian hate is a huge problem that should be addressed, increased policing and $150,000 police grant is not the answer to this problem.

Mayor Durkin and Chief Diaz's proposal to add patrols to the International District is not the solution the community wants or needs and community organizations were not consulted in making this proposal.

The Seattle Police Department does not create public safety and we all saw last summer how little regard the police have for the health of community members.

Expanding policing in the International District has been opposed by community organizations and the demand to defund SPD still stands.

This would move us in exactly the opposite direction.

Increasing policing will harm the very communities that the mayor and police chief claim to want to protect.

And those communities have directly rejected this proposal.

A more helpful solution would be to divert this $150,000 to housing initiatives in this in this Chinatown International District or to use these funds for participatory budgeting which would allow the community to make their own decisions about their public safety.

I would also like to say while I'm here that I do not support any weakening of the jumpstart tax surrounding work from home.

I didn't know about that before this call but would love to keep that strong as well.

Thank you.

I yield my time.

Thank you.

Next up is David Haynes followed by Montserrat de Castro.

David if you're still with us just make sure you hit star six.

I am not hearing David.

IT, is David still with us?

Hello, can you hear me?

Oh, yep.

Hello.

Go ahead.

Yeah, I would like to address the fact that we need to replace the interim police chief and have better trained police officers because we still have a problem with societal implosion and the cops have already exempted these people who are destroying other people's lives and now you're expecting them to go out and do outreach for the sex workers and they're probably intimidated by some of their underworld bosses and I think we need a more effective ideal of public safety where those who are making it unsafe still need to be addressed and maybe sent on a different path away from the local neighborhood that they seem to conduct uncivil war with.

But I also want to point out that with maybe the American recovery money, we need to solve the homeless crisis.

And I think this city is willing and motivated enough.

if they could understand that we need a 21st century housing, commercial and school buildout in all 50 states and territories to alleviate the oppressive choices in 20th century rundown real estate that's shaking everybody down.

It's making it a living hell to stay at home and work for certain people because they're too close to the road, the bus stop, the FAA flight pattern, the train station, what have you.

But we have a real concern in our society where it's become modern third world.

And I think we need better leadership, especially at the police department, because every time there's a concern or a problem, no cop is going to respond unless you claim they got a weapon.

And there's people that are destroying people's lives daily, enlisted nonviolent.

and we see the implosion.

I've witnessed predators all around the neighborhood and they do not take no for an answer.

You gotta ball your fist up and go hostile to get them away from you.

And sometimes there's these vulnerable women who've been targeted by the police because they're homeless, because somebody called the cops on them.

And then they'll refuse services and outreach.

And then these evil kidnappers take them to these meth houses and rape them and sell them to the underworld.

We need better policing.

Thank you.

Next up is Montserrat.

My name is Monashree DeCastro.

I'm a resident of District 7, and I'm appalled that the City Council would consider giving more money to SPD as a result of anti-Asian hate crimes.

$150,000 towards a Bryant Crime Prevention Coordinator position with an SPD is not what we want.

As an actual member of Seattle's Asian community, please listen to us.

I know firsthand that SPD does not keep our community safe.

I grew up watching them target people like my family my entire life.

Not many people know his name, but SPD killed Antonio Dunsmore, the son of a Filipina woman, for having a clear toy water gun and never received justice.

He was shot 19 times at Garfield Community Center.

If you don't know his name, look him up.

Antonio Dunsmore is just one example of SPD being harmful to the Asian community here in Seattle.

And more money towards the police department did not help keep our people and the Fajkaut workers safe.

The police put more fear into our communities.

To use our pain and grief that we are experiencing as a community right now in order to give more money to literal murderers is a slap in the face and truly hurtful during a time when we are in an immense fear for ourselves and our families.

Invest that money in our communities, not in the police department.

We do not want more money for the police.

We do not need more policing to keep us safe.

We do not need more policing to keep us safe.

We want support, defund SPD, stop white supremacy, support massage parlor workers, and support the Asian community.

I yield my time.

Thank you for calling in today.

OK, the only two individuals on my call-in sheet that show up as not present are Lisa Power and Nathaniel Steiner.

And I am asking IT to confirm that those two individuals are still not present.

There are no other public comment registrants.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate that.

OK, with that being said, colleagues, we're going to go ahead and close out our public comment period and go ahead and begin on other items of business on our agenda for today.

Give me just a moment here.

OK, first up is payment of the bills.

Will the clerk please read the title?

Council Bill 12031. an ordinance appropriating money to pay certain audited claims for the week of March 29th, 2021 through April 2nd, 2021, and ordering the payment thereof.

Thank you.

I move to pass Council Bill 12031. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded.

The bill pass.

Are there any comments?

Hearing no comments, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

So on.

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson?

Yes.

Council President Gonzales?

Aye.

Ayton Saver?

None opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Will the clerk please read the short title of Item 1 into the record.

The report of the Transportation and Utilities Committee, Agenda Item 1, Council Bill 120013, an ordinance relating to the Department of Transportation, authorizing the director of the Department of Transportation to accept the donation of real property via quick claim deed from the Seattle Parks Foundation, a Washington nonprofit corporation, and placing the real property rights conveyed by such deed under the jurisdiction of the Seattle Department of Transportation to be used as part of the Lake City Living Memorial Triangle, the committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Council Member Peterson, you're the chair of this committee, and I'm going to hand it over to you in order to provide the committee's report.

Thank you, Council President.

This bill passed unanimously out of our committee, and if it's all right, Council President, I know Council Member Juarez may wish to speak to this as a co-sponsor, and it's in her district.

Would you like to have Council Member Juarez address it before you do?

Yes, please.

Councilmember Juarez, please.

Thank you.

So, first of all, thank you, Councilmember Peterson, for inviting me to your committee last week where we had the folks there, and I'll just briefly describe a little bit of that for today's hearing or today's council meeting.

So, as you know, Council Bill 120013 seeks to expand the size of the Lake City Memorial Triangle through a land transfer from the Seattle Parks Foundation to Seattle, the Department of Transportation.

As I shared in committee last week, Council Member Peterson's committee, we had a presentation from Chuck Debbie and Jen Seba regarding what happened, the senseless violence on March 27th, 2019. And as we all know, and I shared, and Council Member Peterson did as well, that on that day, a man with a gun shot four people.

One of those, four of those people, one of them was Deborah Judd, who is a teacher who survived.

One was Eric Stark, who was a Metro bus driver.

The other two, unfortunately, we lost and we met their family was Mr. Richard Lee and Mr. Robert Hassan.

And we know that that impacted not just the entire neighborhood and community, but the city of Seattle as well.

So in the aftermath, we worked with the Lake City Neighborhood Alliance and other community partners to coordinate a memorial and plan for what we now call the Living Memorial Triangle.

right at Sandpoint and Barlett Avenue.

I was there yesterday and took some pictures and took a picture of the poem that was written.

So anyway, several Seattle city departments have helped prop up this effort, including the Department of Neighborhoods, Seattle Department of Transportation, King County Metro, the City Arborist, and the Mayor's Office.

And this occurred in the Cedar Park community.

And we worked with a representative from Amazon met with the steering committee, and offered to donate 75,000 to purchase a parcel of land adjacent to the original site in order to expand the size of the memorial, which was done.

Amazon originally donated the land to the Seattle Parks Foundation with an understanding that SDOT would eventually manage the land as they're better equipped to do so.

So my final thoughts about this story, it is about community resiliency and healing and out of the traumatic events of March 27th, 2019, We feel that there's been new bonds and friendships that have formed with all these community groups, the Lake City community, D5 community, the North End, the Cedar Park community.

A big thank you to the Parks Foundation, Councilmember Peterson, and to Amazon.

help us get where we are today.

As I shared, I was there yesterday and it's just a really beautiful, it's a really beautiful site.

And so it will be maintained.

The neighborhood group will provide donated labor for the site development.

It will continue to maintain the triangle with watering, monthly work parties, and mullings.

If you get an opportunity to come up that way it would be wonderful if you could see that site that the community came together to pay for.

to honor these people that were killed senselessly by gun violence.

And with that, do I make the motion to move or does Council Member Peterson?

No motion is required.

Oh, that's right.

Okay.

So thank you.

Yeah, of course.

Colleagues, are there any additional comments on Council Bill 120013?

All right, I don't see anyone wanting to make any additional comments, so I will ask that the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Sawant?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Yes.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

8 in favor, 9 opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Will the clerk read the short title of item 2 into the record?

Agenda item 2, an ordinance relating Council Bill 120014, an ordinance relating to the City Light Department and Seattle Public Utilities transferring partial jurisdiction of a portion of City Lights Georgetown Steam Plant flume property to Seattle Public Utilities for maintenance, repair, replacement, and operation of public stormwater drainage infrastructure.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you so much.

Council Member Peterson, back to you.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, Council Bill 12014 is a step toward completing the Georgetown to South Park Trail.

The benefits of that non-motorized connection have been reinforced by the traffic impacts in the area due to the temporary closure of the West Seattle High Bridge.

In 2012, Seattle Public Utilities built a storm drain in the Georgetown neighborhood, but City Light retained ownership.

This council bill partially transfers jurisdiction from City Light to Seattle Public Utilities so that Seattle Public Utilities can continue to maintain the storm drain.

future legislation will transfer the City Light property to Seattle Parks and the Seattle Department of Transportation, and will provide City Light funds not only for a segment of the trail, but also for a new dog park in exchange for City Light acquiring another property near their south service center.

But this legislation before us today is simply transferring partial jurisdiction of the Georgetown property from City Light to Seattle Public Utilities.

It was recommended unanimously by our Transportation Utilities Committee.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Council Member Peterson.

Are there any additional comments?

Hearing no additional comments, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Sawant?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Flores?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson?

Yes.

Council President Gonzales?

Aye.

Aiden, in favor?

None opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes and the chair will sign out.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Will the clerk please read items 3 through 5 into the record.

Agenda items 3 through 5 appointments 1847 through 1849. The reappointment of Akshali Gandhi as member of Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board for a term to March 31st 2022. And the reappointments of Ong Yong Ko and Maria Sumner as members Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board for terms to March 31st 2023. The committee recommends the appointments be confirmed.

Thank you so much.

Council Member Peterson, you're the chair of this committee, and I'm going to hand it over to you to provide the committee's report.

I do understand that you have a motion to make here, but I figured we can talk about the underlying appointments first, and then we will take up the procedural motion if that's all right with you.

Yes, thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, these are three appointments to the Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board.

I know pedestrian safety is a priority for all of us, and I want to thank Akshali Gandhi, Hanjun Koh, and Maria Sumner for their service to Seattle, and congratulate them on receiving a unanimous recommendation from our committee.

All three individuals are qualified and eager to serve the city.

I will make a motion to amend the roster.

I'll move to amend appointments 1847, 1848, and 1849 by amending the roster of each appointment packet as presented on the recently distributed amendment by the city clerk's office.

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

Is there a second for that amendment?

Second.

great.

It's been moved and seconded to amend appointments 1847 through 1849 as presented on the recently distributed amendment.

Council Member Peterson, anything else to add?

No, thank you.

Okay.

Colleagues, any questions or comments on the, are there any, I'm sorry, I'm supposed to ask, are there any comments or council members who wish to consider one or all amendments separately?

Hearing no such desire, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the amendments?

Sawant?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson?

Yes.

Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries.

The amendment to the appointments is adopted and the amended appointments are now before the council.

Are there any further comments on the appointments as amended?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointments 1847 through 1849?

Swant?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson?

Yes.

Council President Gonzales?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the appointments are confirmed as amended.

Okay, will the clerk please read item six into the record?

The report of the Finance and Housing Committee, agenda item six, Council Bill 120030, An ordinance relating to taxation, amending the payroll expense tax on persons engaging in business in Seattle, amending section 5.38.020 of the Seattle Municipal Code, and adding a new section 5.38.025 to the Seattle Municipal Code.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you so much, Council Member Mosqueda, Chair of the committee.

I'm going to hand it over to you to provide the committee report.

Thank you very much, Council President.

Appreciate your consideration of this legislation in front of us, which passed out of the Finance and Housing Committee unanimously and encourages the full council's passage of this bill as to amend our jumpstart ordinance.

Council colleagues, I think it's important to offer some clarification at the top of the comments that I'd like to make today to make sure that there's not any inaccurate understandings of the legislation in front of us.

To be very clear, Legislation in front of us is addressing the jumpstart legislation that we proudly passed last year to raise over $214 million for investments in housing and homelessness, Green New Deal investments, equitable development and economic resiliency investments.

The proposal in front of us does not change the underlying bill.

As the sponsor of Jump Start, I would be the first one to step up and speak out if this addressed any watering down or decrease in our Jump Start proposal.

And in fact, what we heard during the presentation last week from our finance and administrative offices and from the central staff is that this does not change the estimates that the city can reasonably that we were already using and really excited about the opportunity to continue to make sure that the underlying bill is implementable and it is so that we do have millions of dollars to rely on for housing and human services, for Green New Deal investments, equitable development, and economic resiliency.

Colleagues, Council Bill 12030 is an amendment to the Jump Start legislation that passed a year ago and is a direct result of the work that we've done through rulemaking led by Finance and Administrative Services to better understand how the bill can be applied to payers.

Specifically, this adds an option for those payers.

They could continue to select the current predominantly assigned calculation, or they could choose a method that would allow the businesses to allocate employee payroll expenses based on hours worked in Seattle in proportion to the employee's total hour worked.

To reiterate, the business would be able to use this original payroll assessment methodology if they chose to do so, which I know many employers are in the midst of doing and have a preference of doing, but it also would allow for those employers who voice interest during rulemaking to be able to have an hourly ratio option.

One example that was raised public testimony was an executive who spends 10% of their time working in Seattle and 90% not in Seattle, that somehow this amendment would mean that 90% of that salary would not be included.

Actually, the opposite is true here.

If an employer who had that exact scenario chose to use the payroll hourly option, they would be paying on that 10%.

And under our current scenario, they wouldn't be paying on anything at all because they have to hit over a 50% threshold for predominantly assigned.

So it really does help us even out the way in which employers are which option is best for them and still not undermine the initial investments that our jumpstart payroll tax is going to go fund.

It is also, I think, an important way for us to honor the hard work that went into passing the payroll tax.

I want to thank Councilmembers Sawant and Morales for their similarly drafted legislation previously I want to thank all of the councilmembers for your unanimous a initial investment that we're going to be able to put towards housing and homelessness, Green New Deal, and equitable development efforts.

But this is over 20 years.

And it's similar to the amount that we're so excited about with ARPA.

So imagine an American Rescue Plan Act every year for the next 20 years.

community in front of us.

And making sure that we're there after the ink is dry, so that it is implementable, it is workable for those who are paying, is exactly how we're going to make sure that those millions are there so that we can invest in these core services.

And as a reminder, over 60% of the funds that we bring in are going directly to housing and homelessness, the most pressing issue in our community.

I want to thank councilmembers for your support last year, and thank also Director Glenn Lee, the finance director, who led the rulemaking effort for continuing to provide feedback to us on how to make sure that this is implementable and truly workable.

Thanks as well to Dan Eder from Central South for his work on this, and Sajal Parikh for her ongoing work on jumpstart-related issues.

Thanks, Council President.

I am excited to make this addition to the bill, and recognizing that this does not undermine or change or weaken the Jump Start legislation that we all passed last year.

Thank you so much, Council Member Mosqueda, for those comments.

Are there any additional comments?

Okay, hearing no additional comments on the bill, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Sawant?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Thank you.

Peterson?

Yes.

Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?

Okay, moving on to item seven.

Will the clerk please read item seven into the record?

Agenda item seven, council bill 120018, an ordinance relating to grant funds from non-city sources amending ordinance 126237, which adopted the 2021 budget authorizing the mayor or mayor's designees to accept specified grants and execute related agreements for and on behalf of the city.

The committee recommends the bill pass as amended.

Thank you so much.

Council Member Esqueda, back to you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council President.

Council colleagues, this bill also passed unanimously out of the Finance and Housing Committee with the recommendation to the full council that we pass it.

This bill authorizes the acceptance of renter assistance dollars, which was authorized by Congress last December, to make sure that the city receives these funds and that we provide relief in the form of rental assistance up to $22.7 million.

This aid is critical as we continue to close.

on the economic impact of COVID-19, the impact that it's had on residents across the city, and as we move to provide additional rental relief before the end of the state's eviction on moratorium, currently slated to end after June.

Through the assistance that we are able to offer today, we will help to prevent additional and unnecessary evictions from happening at a time when residents need help the most.

In terms of the need that's currently out there, we know that United Way currently has a wait list of over 2,000 people from the last round of rental assistance.

We know that the last census poll survey showed that there was even more than 13,000 renters in Seattle who were behind on rental assistance in their first week of March.

average assistance has been between $2,200 and $3,000, sometimes up to $5,000 per applicant per family.

This means that we're able to serve thousands of new residents.

On a conservative estimate, we think we'll be able to serve an additional 6,000 to 9,000 renters across the city with this funds.

I'm especially excited about funding that's included for community-based organizations, specifically community-based organizations that have stepped up during this time of COVID to provide rental assistance to those most impacted by the consequences of COVID.

That includes organizations led by and serving communities of color.

And looking at those who are more likely to be displaced and affected by the economic consequences of COVID, this makes sure that folks have dollars directly in hand to respond to community needs with trusted community voices through those community-based organizations.

I am thankful for this assistance, and we also know that there is much more to come as we consider the American Rescue Plan Act dollars over the next two months in front of us.

Again, the committee unanimously recommends passage of this bill, and I support it.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Council Member Mosqueda, for those comments.

Are there any additional comments on the bill?

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

and housing committee that I think strengthened the bill in front of us in terms of reporting back and oversight and making sure that those who are working with community-based organizations can be able to access these dollars for things like paying internet.

We know if you can't keep your internet, you often can't keep your job, and then you can't keep your home.

So thank you both, Councilmember Herbold and Councilmember Peterson, for the amendments that you brought forward.

Thank you.

Are there any additional comments on the bill?

Hearing no additional comments on the bill, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Sawant?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Will the clerk please read item eight into the record.

Agenda item eight, council bill 120029, an ordinance amending ordinance 126237, which adopted the 2021 budget, changing appropriations to various departments and budget control levels, and from various funds in the budget and adding provisions, all by a three-quarter vote of the City Council, the committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you so much.

I'm going to hand it back over to Council Member Mosqueda to walk us through this piece of legislation.

Thank you very much, Council President.

Colleagues, last Tuesday, this bill was considered in the Finance and Housing Committee and it we would continue to work on it before today's vote.

The legislation complements the Seattle City Council's statement to unequivocally condemn the rising anti-Asian hate crimes, to stand in solidarity with Seattle's Asian American community, and to acknowledge the long history of anti-Asian racism locally here in Seattle and in our region.

The statement that we signed not only condemned these acts, but also said that words need more than just pen on a piece of paper.

We need to make sure that there's dollars going into investing in upstream solutions as well, and to supporting organizations who directly work within and are led by our Asian American community.

I'm excited about the legislation in front of us in its amended form before we finally pass it today.

I believe that you will see that I want to start by saying thank you to the city of Seattle for their support of this bill.

It follows through on the statement that the Seattle City Council passed and is a beginning point to the conversation about upstream investments and creating greater safety and security and opportunities, especially in light of the rising anti-agent hate crimes.

As you heard in our committee on Tuesday, we had individuals from the mayor's office, including from the Human Services Department, Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, the City's Budget Office, and the Office of the Employee Ombud to present on the proposed package.

Again, the legislation that we heard in committee was the bill exactly as transmitted by the mayor, and there was a number of questions and concerns about the $150,000 for the position I think that what you heard explicitly from us in committee was a commitment to address those concerns before today's final vote, and that's what we will have the chance to accomplish with today's amendments.

I'm also very sympathetic to the concerns that were brought up in today's public comment and during the public comment in my committee last week, especially about misrepresentation from organizations who are listed on the slides.

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I'm going to be reaching out to the mayor's office.

I'm going to be reaching out to the mayor's office.

I'm going to be reaching out to the mayor's office.

I'm going to be reaching out to the mayor's office.

I'm going to be reaching out to the mayor's office.

I'm going to be reaching out to the mayor's office.

I'm going to be reaching out to the mayor's office.

I'm going to be reaching out to the mayor's office.

I'm going to be reaching out to the mayor's office.

I'm going to be reaching out to the mayor's office.

I'm going to be reaching out to the mayor's office.

I'm going to be reaching out to the mayor's office.

I'm going to be reaching out to the mayor's office.

I'm going to be reaching out to the mayor's office.

I have two amendments for today's consideration and I will save my comments on those.

I will speak to technical amendment which is amendment number one when appropriate.

those clarifying remarks and an explanation of that bill.

I'm going to actually go ahead and suggest that we take up the amendments first, and then we can have debate on the bill as amended.

So I'm going to hand it back over to you to make your motion for the council to consider Amendment 1.

Thank you very much, Council President.

I move the council amend Council Bill 120029, amendment number 1. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to amend the bill as presented on amendment 1. Council Member Muscat, I'm going to hand it back over to you to give us a quick description of what is largely a technical amendment.

Thank you very much and thank you colleagues.

I saw many of you seconding that even though your audio was not working.

This is a small technical amendments from the central staff.

I want to thank Ali Panucci for leading on trying to get the language cleaned up a little bit, and also Asha Mukunandram, who provided additional technical cleanup before today's meeting.

It's an effort to make sure that the recital language is correct, that there's the correct amount of funds listed in the provided bill for the Office of that was included in the technical amendment.

We also included a number of minor updates, which was listed at 50,000, which needed to be listed at 100,000, and a few minor copy edits that were included as well in this technical amendment.

laptop that might be interfering.

It's a post-it note.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

I think we got the gist of what you were saying, but I did want to make sure that interference was dealt with.

Okay.

Colleagues, any comments, any additional comments on Amendment 1?

Hearing no additional comments on Amendment 1, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of Amendment 1?

Yes.

Yes.

Lewis.

Yes.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Council President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Great, thank you so much.

The motion carries.

The amendment is adopted and the amended bill is before the council.

I have an additional amendment, so I'll go ahead and move that and then ask for a second.

I move to amend Council Bill 120029 as presented on Amendment 2 on the agenda.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you so much.

It's been moved and seconded to amend the bill as presented on Amendment 2. As co-sponsor of this amendment, I'll go ahead and address it first, and then we can open up the floor to comments.

Again, colleagues, as I shared earlier this morning that we voted the bill out of Finance and Housing Committee last week, adopting Amendment 2 is a modification to the bill.

I think there was universal expression of whether or not the $150,000 allocation in a bill that is intended to fund community-based safety initiatives to the tune of $1.5 million was housed in the right department.

Many of us expressed concerns and asked a lot of questions about whether it was appropriate to, in this legislation, have $150,000 allocation and appropriation to the Seattle Police Department for purposes of a bias crime prevention coordinator, which again, is a civilian position, but nonetheless within the Seattle Police Department budget.

I had spent quite a bit of time asking questions and trying to understand the policy choices that the executive made in terms of appropriating those $150,000 again, out of the full $1.5 million to SPD, as opposed to choosing to house a position that would help with community safety needs directly within the community, similar to what we did with the public safety coordinator position that is currently housed at SCIPTA.

So as a result of that conversation and continuing to look at the appropriations bill and considering many of the email correspondence we've received and much of the public testimony.

I decided to pursue together with Councilmember Mosqueda in her office, thank you so much for your partnership on this amendment, an opportunity for us to make a modification to Council Bill 120029 via Amendment 2 that would allocate $150,000 to the Department of Neighborhoods and that $150,000 would fund a CID-based that would serve the community safety needs of all Asian American Pacific Islander Americans in the city.

Again, this would build off of the public safety coordinator efforts that the council has undertaken in the past.

It would not be used to fund an SPD position.

And again, this would be housed within community via the Department of Neighborhood to, again, complement the intent and the desire to have a robust set of community safety-based alternatives that would serve the needs of the AAPI community in the aftermath and the ongoing reality around anti-Asian violence within our communities.

So I think this strikes a good balance.

and again, meets the intended goal of meeting those community safety needs from a community-based perspective.

And I would encourage all of my colleagues to vote in favor of it.

Are there any other comments, customer?

Ms. Gaeta, did you want to add anything to that amendment?

Okay.

Any other comments or questions on Amendment 2?

Hearing no additional comments, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of Amendment 2?

Yes.

Herbold.

Yes.

Juarez.

Aye.

Lewis.

Yes.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Council President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries, amendment two is adopted, and the amended bill is before the council.

Are there any additional comments on the bill as amended?

All right, Council Member Esqueda, you get the last word as the lead sponsor here.

Oh, Council Member Herbold, sorry, I did not see your hand.

I'm sorry, go ahead.

Okay, I think I was a little slow on the job.

I definitely want to give Ms. Mosqueda the last word since you and she are the co-sponsors.

I do want to just speak very quickly to the numbers for 2020 for reported hate and bias crimes reported to police in Seattle.

We know that those bias incidents that are actually reported to police is that those numbers are up 63% from 2019 and nearly four times the rate from 2015. Those are incidents, again, that are reported to the police department.

They're not all incidents that occur, of course.

I actually spoke with one of my neighbors this weekend, an elder in our community, about his own experiences earlier this month having anti-Asian slurs shouted at him while walking through our neighborhood park.

and how unsafe he felt in that experience.

One of the key points from a city auditor's report on hate crimes is that many are not reported.

And for this reason, it's really important that we include we support ways to include reports from trusted community organizations.

And for this reason, last year, the council included some SOCR funds for community-based organizations to respond to hate violence.

Those funds were never provided.

And so I'm really, really glad that this is identified as one of the sources for this funding.

Further, in a Danny Westy article this weekend, he quoted a hate crime victim expressing skepticism about the usefulness of standard punishments through the criminal justice system.

This person said, at the end of the day, if he goes to jail, he still comes out as a racist full of hate.

Nothing's changed.

He didn't learn anything.

There was no rehab in it.

So to me, it's pointless.

Council has also asked SOCR to consider using a portion of a million dollars that we provided in the past for funding community-based organizations developing a restorative justice program specifically for individuals who commit hate or bias crimes.

And though SOCR used a community process for determining the spending in the past and this approach wasn't selected, I just want to lift this up as yet another opportunity for Seattle to perhaps pursue some really, I think, forward-looking approaches for how to address our own increase in bias and hate crimes by centering the experiences of victims, but also recognizing the harms that people perpetrating hate crimes face when they continue to go through their lives with hate in their hearts.

And I really hope that we can be on the leading edge of developing restorative justice approaches for these crimes.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Herbold, for those remarks and for sharing that very powerful testimonial.

Are there any additional comments on the bill?

I'm not seeing anyone else raise their hand.

I just in before I hand it back over to Councilor Muscat I also want to express my support for this bill and for this effort.

I think it is important for us to not just, again, say words that are supportive and stand in solidarity with the AAPI community, but I also think that it's important for us to make concrete investments in the community that are really going to be harm reduction approaches, as well as approaches that are designed to build the resiliency within the API community.

So I am honored to be one of the two co-sponsors of this important legislation.

And I know that as we continue our ARPA federal dollar conversations, there will be opportunities for us to continue to have conversations about how to meet the needs of immigrants and refugees and their families in the context of violence that they continue to be a target of.

One of the things that I will preview for you now is that in the spirit of hearing from many members in the community about the fact that they are not willing to report these crimes, that also comes up a lot in deportation proceedings and in other immigration proceedings when people are subjected to gender-based violence.

And we have heard loudly and clearly from members of the community as well as leaders within the Office of Immigrant Refugee Affairs that one of the major needs and gaps is how to best assess and connect people within the AAPI community in particular to people who will advocate for them when and if they are experiencing gender-based violence.

And so I look forward to continuing to work with you all, with the budget chair, and with members in the community to identify resources during our budget deliberation process to meet those particular needs as well.

But I think this is an initial important investment of $1.5 million that we are and I appreciate the partnership of the mayor and appreciate the partnership of Councilmember Mosqueda in moving this through the process in a very deliberative manner and in a way that is still going to meet the urgency of now.

With that being said, I'm going to hand it back over to Councilmember Mosqueda to close us out so we can take a vote on this bill.

that we signed on to in our council message from last month.

There's still a little bit of interference.

So maybe get a little closer.

There we go.

Try again.

Can you hear me now?

I think we can.

OK, just throw your hands up if you can't hear me.

I think what's most important is getting this legislation passed.

So happy to get cut off if you can't hear me.

Just to reiterate a few of the comments from our statement that the council signed on to together, as I think this is a important next step to that statement.

We said in our statement that there is a collective responsibility, not only to sound the alarm on hate crimes, but to continue our work to systemically uproot racism, xenophobia, and hate from our city.

Many in the Asian-American community have asked for us to be an ally in calling out this violence and to understand the root cause of this violence by acknowledging the long history of anti-Asian racism and develop community-centric solutions to address systemic inequality, prioritize safety within our communities, and foster solidarity.

We went on to say, while there may be calls for more policing to strengthen laws and sentencing to punish those committing hate crimes, the council hears the call to rely on something other than a response using the criminal legal system, given that the use of the criminal legal system may only perpetuate deeply entrenched inequities and racism.

Instead, we must commit to further addressing root causes of violence so that we can achieve public safety for all our community members.

I bring that up to reiterate our commitment to this joint effort in both investing upstream in solutions to create greater safety and stability, addressing the root causes of racism and hate crimes, and also by noting that it is beyond just statements of solidarity.

This is about investments.

So today, through this legislation, as a follow-up from the statement that we made with the amendments that were just adopted here today, I believe we're making progress on not just standing in solidarity, but investing in upstream solutions to create greater stability and address some of the root causes, as we called for in our statement that was largely influenced by the folks from Stop AAPI Hate.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you so much, Council Member Mosqueda, for those closing remarks.

With that being said, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the amended bill?

Sawant?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Yes.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Yes.

Peterson.

Yes.

Council President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes as amended and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?

Will the clerk please read item nine into the record?

Agenda item nine, appointment 1831, appointment of Dan Torres as member, Sweetened Beverage Tax Community Advisory Board, for a term to August 31st, 2021. The committee recommends the appointment be confirmed.

Thank you.

Council Member Mosqueda, this is also part of your committee report, so I'm going to hand it back over to you.

Thank you, Council President.

This appointment is a mayoral appointment to the Sweetened Beverage Tax Community Advisory Board for the Early Learning position.

A little background on Mr. Torres.

He has dedicated his career to supporting families and promoting equity.

Mr. Torres works at the Bezos Family Foundation where he has worked with Vroom program that provides science-based tools for families and caregivers to further child development.

He has served as the Executive Director of the Washington State's Essentials for Childhood Initiative.

He served as the Director of Policy and Partnership at Thrive Washington, where he helped to develop and lead their legislative agenda.

The committee unanimously recommends appointment of Dan Torres to the Sweetened Beverage Tax Community Advisory Board for a term beginning August 31st.

Wonderful.

Thank you so much.

Are there any additional comments on the appointment?

Hearing no additional comments, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointment 1831. Salant?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Aye.

Peterson?

Aye.

Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

8 in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries, and the appointment is confirmed.

Will the clerk please read item 10 into the record?

Agenda item 10, appointment 1859, appointment of Joel Shapiro as member, Labor Standards Advisory Commission, for a term to April 30, 2023. The committee recommends the appointment be confirmed.

Thank you so much.

Council Member Mosqueda, back to you to walk us through this amendment.

I mean, appointment.

Sorry.

Thank you, Council President.

Mr. Shapiro is an appointee from the Labor Standards Advisory Commission.

Joel Shapiro is one of the founders and co-CEOs of Dumpling.

Dumpling aims to level the playing field for workers in the gig economy through an ownership model that allows personal shoppers to start their own grocery delivery business.

Personal shoppers set their own price, work with the clients they want to work with, and earn significantly more with a traditional app-based gig work platform.

Prior to founding Dumpling, Mr. Shapiro served for over 10 years at the national instruments in various product, market, and business development roles.

And Mr. Shapiro holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Tennessee and an MBA from the University of Texas.

the committee unanimously recommends passage of Mr. Shapiro to the Labor Standards Advisory Commission.

And I want to thank the Labor Standards Advisory Board members themselves, including Liz and Gay, who came and presented during committee.

It was wonderful to see them.

Thanks so much, Council Member Mosqueda.

Are there any additional comments on the appointment?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointment 1859. Salant.

Yes.

Herbold.

Yes.

Juarez.

Aye.

Lewis.

Yes.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Yes.

Peterson.

Yes.

Council President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the appointment is confirmed.

Will the clerk read item 11 into the record?

The report of the city council agenda item 11, clerk file 314471, Seattle Information and Technology Department request for a six month extension for the filing of the group for surveillance impact report due on March 1st, 2021.

Thank you so much.

I move to approve and file clerk file 314471. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to approve and file clerk file 314471. Councilmember Peterson, you're the sponsor of this item, so I'm going to hand it back over to you to walk us through the clerk file.

Thank you, Council President.

I can address both clerk files 314471 and then the next one on the agenda, 314472. They go together.

They both involve technology.

I know we'll take two separate votes, but as chair of the Transportation Utilities Committee, which includes technology, I received a request from Seattle Information Technology Department for an extension to complete the so-called Group 4 surveillance impact reports.

And to provide some context on this timing, we are still in the middle of approving the Group 2 surveillance impact report.

So this extension actually works well from our perspective as well.

Pursuant to the surveillance ordinance 125679, in September of last year, when we all hoped the COVID restrictions might not continue as long as they have, We have granted a six-month extension.

The department's asking, with the support of the Community Surveillance Working Group, to extend this deadline for an additional six months to complete the review and engagement process, which has been hampered by the COVID pandemic.

I support this extension and the corresponding revisions to the master list of technologies, which is the subject of the next clerk file.

Thank you so much, Council Member Peterson for that.

Are there any additional comments on Clerk File 314471?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the approval and filing of the clerk file?

Sawant?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Council President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The motion passes and the clerk file is approved and filed.

Will the clerk read item 12 into the record?

Agenda item 12, clerk file 314472, master list of surveillance technologies, revised March 2021.

Thank you.

I move to file clerk file 314472. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded.

To file clerk file 314472, Council Member Peterson, anything else to add on this item?

No, thank you.

OK.

Any other comments on the clerk file?

Hearing no additional comments, will the clerk please call the roll on the filing of the clerk file?

DeWant?

Yes.

Herbold?

Whereas I. Lewis.

Yes.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda I. Peterson I. Council President Gonzalez I even favor and oppose the motion passes and the clerk file is filed.

Will the clerk please read items 13 through 21 into the record.

Agenda items 13 through 21, appointments 1850 through 1858. The appointments of Ahana Roy, Angelica Vanezuela, and Samara Weijia-Sakera as members, Seattle Youth Commission for terms to August 31st, 2021, and the appointments of Elsa Acepa, Eleanor Sanami, Diego Escami-Hedger, Idhil Hyde, Leah Scott, and Lincoln Hillard-Willmore as members, Seattle Youth Commission for terms for terms to August 31st, 2022. Thank you.

For that, I will move to confirm appointments 1850 through 1858.

Is there a second?

It's been moved and seconded to confirm the appointments.

Colleagues, again, as a reminder, Council Member Strauss is excused from today's full council meeting as a result of serving jury duty.

So we do wanna thank him for fulfilling his jury duty obligations.

In his stead will be Council Member Mosqueda, who is going to address these items.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Thank you, Madam President.

On behalf of Councilmember Strauss, I want to give you a little context to these appointees in front of us.

There are nine appointments, all of them to the Seattle Youth Commission.

Seattle Youth Commission is made up of 15 teenagers who advise the city on policies and connect youth to local elected officials.

First, Ana Roy is a mayoral appointee from Olympic Heights.

Ana is motivated to serve by commitment to human rights, particularly racial equity, gender equity, and LGBTQ rights.

Angelica Valenzuela is a mayoral appointee from Haler Lake.

Angelica is particularly interested in climate change, human rights, homelessness, and the education system.

Samara Wajekera is a city council appointee from Victoria Heights.

Samara is seeking to have an active role in influencing public policy and is focused on equity in education, conservation, racial equity, youth poverty, and homelessness.

Elsa Asefa is a mayoral appointee from Lake City.

Elsa was inspired to serve by the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as by her desire to end poverty and improve public safety.

Eleanor Sinameh is a mayoral appointee from Bryant.

Eleanor is involved in the community as a volunteer with Teen Tix, T-E-E-N-T-I-X, and is seeking to continue that service on the Youth Commission.

Diego Escamé-Hedger is a city council appointee from Fauntleroy.

Diego wants to bring his lived experience as one of the few people of color at his high school to combat racism from the Youth Commission.

And Elda, sorry, Edhil Hyad is a mayor appointee from Jenkins Parks who wants to serve on the commission to help enact real change within the community and advance environmental justice and racial equity.

Leah Scott is a mayoral appointee from Maple Leaf.

Leah has advocated for educational improvements both at Seattle Public Schools and North Seattle College and wants to bring that experience to the Youth Commission.

And finally, Lincoln Hillard-Willmore is a mayoral appointee from Rainier Valley.

Lincoln has said he wants to use his time on the Youth Commission to uplift African-American history, address gun violence, and advocate for more resources for Rainier Beach High School.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you so much, Council Member Mosqueda, for that report and for stepping in for Council Member Strauss.

Really appreciate it.

Are there any additional comments?

Hearing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the confirmation of appointments 1850 through 1858?

Sawant?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Aye.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales.

Yes.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

Peterson.

Aye.

Council President Gonzalez.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the appointments are confirmed.

Will the clerk please, thank you so much.

Will the clerk please read item 22 into the record.

Adoption of other resolutions, agenda item 22, resolution 32001, a resolution supporting the Uptown Neighborhood I'm requesting that city departments and other parties use the correct name for Uptown.

Thank you so much.

I move to adopt Resolution 32001. Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded to adopt the resolution.

Council Member Lewis, as sponsor of the resolution, I'm going to hand it over to you to walk us through the resolution.

Thank you, Madam President.

Since we're getting to the end of the meeting here, I'll be brief on this and appreciate the Council's indulgence on bringing this forward on a rather crowded docket today.

You know, as someone who has spent a lot of my life in Seattle as a Seattle native around the Uptown neighborhood, going to high school at the Center School, going to the Seattle Repertory Theater, listening to KUOW, which is now ensconced on the Seattle Center campus in the heart of Uptown.

It's a neighborhood that really means a lot to me and I have really enjoyed representing it and working with a lot of the people who testified today at public comment who are involved in the neighborhood and have been big boosters in its evolution over the last decade that has really been very dramatic.

I can't believe I'm at the part of my life where I'm making kind of those old guy who's lived in the city for a while anecdotes.

But I remember back when Queen Anne and Mercer was an intersection with a kid valley at it and not a whole lot else.

Now that neighborhood is growing considerably.

There's a very large amount of new housing density moving into the neighborhood, which is bringing a new dynamism and a younger cohort of folks living there who are bringing their creativity to contribute to the very arts-focused community in Uptown in addition to the amenities that I mentioned earlier, the Seattle Opera and the Seattle Center, soon the epicenter of hockey in the Pacific Northwest with Climate Pledge Arena.

And as a result of all those things, forging a very unique and separate identity, from the Queen Anne neighborhood, which I also have the great privilege to represent.

The name Uptown, I think, is the suitable brand to really put a stamp on this dynamism, to recognize it as this community goes forward, to really shape a future for that corner of the city, and very proud to represent them.

I want to thank Daniela Suarez on my staff, who all put this together and really do a lot of work with the constituencies involved.

I want to thank Rick Hooper, who called in with Uptown Alliance, as well as Deborah Fosto and all the other great constituents who are really working every day to make Uptown a very special place.

And I hope this resolution will assist in your efforts to move forward.

So with that, Madam Chair, I don't have any additional comments.

Great.

Thank you so much, Council Member Lewis.

Are there any additional comments on the resolution?

Hearing no additional comments, will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the resolution?

Sawant?

Yes.

Herbold?

Yes.

Juarez?

Yes.

Lewis?

Yes.

Morales?

Yes.

Mosqueda?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Council President Gonzalez?

Aye.

8 in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries.

The resolution is adopted and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?

Other business?

Is there any further business to come before the council?

Councilor Mosqueda, please.

Thank you very much, Madam President.

I Council Member Juarez.

We'll appreciate this.

I missed two opportunities today.

Thank you.

So I want to thank Fadi Deh and Aretha for their work on the API Community Investments Bill and Andrew for the work that he did on the Rental Assistance Amendments.

Thank you very much.

And I'd also like to ask with the council's permission that I be excused on Monday, April 26 from full council.

Okay.

Is there any, did you say April 26?

Yes.

And just from full council?

And council briefing too, please.

Okay.

If there is no objection, Council Member Mosquitto will be excused on Monday, April 26th from full council and council briefing.

Hearing no objection, Council Member Mosquitto will be excused on April 26th.

Is there any other further business to come before the council?

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

Our next regularly scheduled city council meeting is on Monday, April 19th, 2021 at two o'clock p.m.

I hope that you all have a wonderful afternoon and enjoy some of this glorious sunshine, wearing your masks and staying socially distanced.

So thank you so much.

We are adjourned.