City Council 10/18/22

You can begin now.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Today is October 18th.

The time is 201. The City Council will come to order.

I am Deborah Juarez.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Peterson.

Present.

Council Member Sawant.

Present.

Council Member Strauss.

Present.

Council Member Herbold.

Council Member Lewis.

Present.

Councilmember Morales.

Councilmember Mosqueda.

Present.

Councilmember Nelson.

Present.

Council President Juarez.

Present.

Seven present.

I'm here too.

Oh hi Councilmember Herbold is here.

Good, thank you.

OK, so moving on in our agenda, we have no presentations for today.

Moving on to public comments.

As you know, colleagues, we will do the hybrid public comment period today.

We have three remote speakers and three in-person speakers.

Correct, Madam Clerk?

That is correct.

OK, we're going to start with the in-person speakers today.

And each speaker will have 2 minutes and Madam clerk, I'm going to hand it off to you to do the recording for the directions and we'll go from there.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, Seattle.

We are the Emerald City, the City of Flowers and the City of Goodwill, built on indigenous land, the traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples.

The Seattle City Council welcomes remote public comment and is eager to hear from residents of our city.

If you would like to be a speaker and provide a verbal public comment, you may register two hours prior to the meeting via the Seattle City Council website.

Here's some information about the public comment proceedings.

Speakers are called upon in the order in which they registered on the Council's website.

Each speaker must call in from the phone number provided when they registered online and used the meeting ID and passcode that was emailed upon confirmation.

If you did not receive an email confirmation, please check your spam or junk mail folders.

A reminder, the speaker meeting ID is different from the general listen line meeting ID provided on the agenda.

Once a speaker's name is called, the speaker's microphone will be unmuted and an automatic prompt will say, the host would like you to unmute your microphone.

That is your cue that it's your turn to speak.

At that time, you must press star six.

You will then hear a prompt of, you are unmuted.

Be sure your phone is unmuted on your end so that you will be heard.

As a speaker, you should begin by stating your name and the item that you are addressing.

A chime will sound when 10 seconds are left in your allotted time as a gentle reminder to wrap up your public comments.

At the end of the allotted time, your microphone will be muted, and the next speaker registered will be called.

Once speakers have completed providing public comment, please disconnect from the public comment line and join us by following the meeting via Seattle Channel Broadcast or through the listening line option listed on the agenda.

The council reserves the right to eliminate public comment if the system is being abused or if the process impedes the council's ability to conduct its business on behalf of residents of the city.

Any offensive language that is disruptive to these proceedings or that is not focused on an appropriate topic as specified in Council rules may lead to the speaker being muted by the presiding officer.

Our hope is to provide an opportunity for productive discussions that will assist our orderly consideration of issues before the Council.

The public comment period is now open.

and we will begin with the first speaker on the list.

Please remember to press star six after you hear the prompt of, you have been unmuted.

Thank you, Seattle.

Thank you, Sharon.

For remote, excuse me, we are now going to begin public comment.

Before we begin, please note that items 1 and 2 on the agenda are quasi-judicial items, and the City Council cannot accept public comment on these two agenda items.

Again, agenda items 1 and 2. Our first in-person speaker is Mike Asai.

Good afternoon.

My name is Mike Asai, pioneer in Washington State Medical Cannabis.

I am the Vice President of Black Excellence in Cannabis, a nonprofit organization fighting for inclusion.

House Bill 2870, Social Equity and Cannabis, would not exist if Peter Manning, President of Black Excellence in Cannabis, had not spoke up in 2015 regarding the lack of Black inclusion in the legal cannabis industry.

Council Member Mosqueda, you are fully aware of Peters and I history in Washington State Cannabis.

Council Member Mosqueda, you and I are geoduck alumni.

We treat each other with high respect.

Recent articles state Black Excellence in Cannabis was present for the historical signing of social equity in cannabis by Mayor Harrell.

This was completely false.

Black Excellence in Cannabis was not present.

We were simply an afterthought.

Jamal Crawford is a pioneer of Rainier Beach Boys Basketball.

It would make sense for him to be part of the groundbreaking for a new Rainier Beach High School along with Mayor Harrell.

You would think Peter Manning, a medical cannabis pioneer, along with myself, would be respected and receive an invite to the signing.

This question was asked by a real change journalist, where are the black pioneers?

But instead there was the illusion with handpicked blacks who are only there to be servants.

Having a seat at the table for future City of Seattle Social Equity and Cannabis Dialogue is fine, but the question is what will the city do to undo the harm from the unjust closures by the city in 2015-2016?

Seeing City of Seattle employees who were directly connected to the unjust closures of Black-owned dispensaries present at a Social Equity Cannabis signing is a slap to the face, bringing the past trauma back to the forefront.

City of Seattle seems to be completely out of touch with the community and Black pioneers.

We would not stand for illusion of inclusion.

Council Member Sawant, you have been very outspoken regarding social injustice to Blacks.

We have reached out to you several months ago and have not heard back.

I don't like how you guys cut me off with like two seconds left.

It's just real disrespect.

You've been here, you spoke for one minute,

very cordial, but to cut me off with a few seconds left, it's just disrespectful.

And I want that to be known.

Our next speaker is Peter Manning.

Hi, I'm Peter Manning with Black Excellence in Cannabis.

I really don't like to use titles, but one thing I will use in my war chest is the fact that social equity was brought to the forefront by myself in 2014. I noticed there was an indescribable, there was a lack of inclusion of black and brown in the cannabis industry in the state of Washington.

I pitched this argument to the LCB and to the governor's agency's office.

I kept up the fight and got the notion or was tried, I was given the notion that I was under some type of delusion.

Clear as day, there is no black or brown representation in the cannabis industry.

To have a city council person, to have someone from the mayor's office, go before the media and say that we were at some event, which we weren't, for some social equity signing, which was an insult to us as an organization.

It's an insult to us black and brown people.

I cannot wait for the media to get ahold of this, to dig into it, to sink their teeth in it.

Because recently, I just read an article where it talked about marginalization.

It was a commissioner.

It was a group of them who had quit.

And the same thing that they spoke of that I spoke of here before, the problem is when people talk about us and don't include us in the conversation, as if we're incompetent to stand or to recognize social inequality in our communities.

Council Member Mosqueda, Breonna Taylor, we recognize the inequality in our community.

We don't need you to put a black face or brown face on a white agenda.

We need you to understand that there's a real agenda about a lack of inclusion in this cannabis industry in Washington.

And we're gonna stand here and we're gonna scream it from the highest point.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Marguerite Richard.

Yes, my name is Marguerite Richard and I stand in.

My name is Marguerite Richard and I stand in solidarity of the people in LA County that chose to step forward as a result of what Lori Martinez said.

Now back to this, I'm holding Exhibit A because of the fact that our free speech is still being chopped up, okay?

So we have Alex Zimmerman, and I'm not defending him, I'm defending the Constitution in which Judge Brown stated, You don't have to like me and I don't have to like you, but I do have to enforce the Constitution of the United States.

So as long as I'm not threatening and I'm not yelling fire in a building that's not on fire, then you can say whatever you need to say.

And that's kind of like what the outskirts have done with me ever since I've been testifying.

So I come here and I, you know, I don't know if I created a problem.

I don't think so.

I think that it's off balance, just like how they talk about the chickens coming home to roost because of what happened in LA County.

It was down in the pit somewhere and it had to come forward so we could see the reality of what goes on behind the scenes all the time.

And then you put a sign on the, First floor, Black Lives Matter, and Honorable Michael B. Fuller and myself sitting there.

And then a foreign guard comes up there and causes post-traumatic stress because it happened in June and he was dead in August.

You say, oh, I didn't do it.

Yes, you did.

Because I had never seen him so, so upset in my life out of all the years that I have been knowing him.

Yeah, 21. So that's what I'm saying.

I don't agree with you just trespassing somebody because you didn't like what they said and they weren't threatening.

They were obeying the constitution when they were speaking.

We will now move into remote public comment.

And our first public commenter remotely is Howard Gale.

Thank you.

Mr. Gale.

Good afternoon, Howard Gale, District 7, with seattlestop.org.

Two years after George Floyd, the budget the council is now considering proposes more money for the police and wastes over $11 million on a police accountability system that still has police investigating police.

This is $11 million spent denying victims of police violence any appeals or any semblance of justice or accountability.

This budget provides monies for victims of violence unless that violence is perpetrated by a Seattle police officer.

This budget provides monies to stem gun violence unless that violence is perpetrated by a Seattle police officer.

This bias is embedded throughout our public safety system.

Seattle police do not even count police killings as homicides in our homicide data, though King County and every other state agency reporting these stats, of course, does.

Why defend and support those that perpetrate the violence when they are police and deny their victims and their families any form of support.

Our current accountability systems are not assisting victims with navigating a flawed system, more designed to protect police officers, as opposed to holding them accountable.

Victims complaints are lost in bureaucracy and dismissed the vast majority of the time without any process or right of appeal, despite city law mandating such a process over five years ago.

I want to repeat that in 2017, this council passed a law requiring a right of appeal.

When cases go to OPA, there has been no progress on that.

Nothing has been done.

We need a budget that serves people, especially those injured by how you spend our tax money.

We need monies to support victims of police violence and their families.

And we need a police accountability system that actually holds police accountable.

please go to seattlestop.org to find out how, seattlestop.org.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Joe Kunstler.

Hello, Joe.

Joe?

Mr. Kunstler?

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

Good to hear you, Council President Jurez.

Good to hear your voice and hear you're doing well.

A couple of items.

First this is item, let me check the agenda.

Item K, I think you know personally, but for those council members who don't know, I'm not a big fan of anyone who rolls hate at a public meeting and I find that disruptive and it's been an ongoing issue with this individual and I'm very disappointed as well that the documents related to his appeal and the exclusion letter are not online.

Those documents should be online because I think that there should be public scrutiny of this individual's behavior and the response to it.

And hopefully other governments will copy Seattle's response.

Right now, I'm trying to get the Seattle, sorry, the Puget Sound Regional Council to copy the Sound Transit Rules of Conduct, which was based somewhat on yours and somewhat on community transit.

This individual hate speech makes me want to go from addressing the issues at hand to being protective of council members and staff and as well as a Jewish relative.

And I just really think that he needs to be excluded for life.

He sexually harassed you and Council Member Mosqueda and former Council President Gonzalez in 2019 and yet he's not banned for life.

I don't think that's right.

There's also another issue I have to bring up.

It is my understanding from many social media reports, including a Washington State Coalition of Open Government Key Award winner, I sold a raft carry whose name carries a lot of weight, that Council Member Dan Strauss held a private meeting yesterday and kicked the media out.

And I just find that beneath him, I find that beneath the overwhelming majority of council members, And I hope in my last 30 seconds I can stress to you the importance of respecting the role of the media.

Sometimes the media says and prints things.

Thank you.

That is the last public commenter who is present.

All right.

So, as we stated earlier, we had 3 folks call in and we have 3 people in chambers.

So that does.

We are, we have reached the end in our agenda of the public comment period.

So, on our agenda, I will go to the adoption of the, if there's no objection, the introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.

Not seeing or hearing an objection, the IRC is indeed adopted.

Moving on to adoption of the agenda.

If there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Not seeing or hearing an objection, the agenda is adopted.

Going on to the consent calendar, adoption of the consent calendar.

My understanding is that none of my colleagues have asked that any item be removed.

And so with that, let me briefly suggest our state what is on the consent calendar, the minutes of October 4th, payroll bills, Council Bill 120431 and 120432, Council Bill 120427, and a clerk file, clerk file 314439. Those are the items on the consent calendar.

So moving on, I move to adopt the, I'm sorry, Council Member Morales, you have your hand up.

I'm sorry, Council President.

I just wanted to note that I am here a few minutes late.

Oh, good.

I'm glad.

Thank you.

Let's note that Councillor Morales is indeed present.

Okay, with that, I move to adopt a consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded to adopt a consent calendar.

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

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

And Council President Juarez.

Yes.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, will you please affix my signature to the minutes and the legislation on the consent calendar on my behalf.

Moving on into our agenda to committee reports.

First up out of land use is item number one, and we'll be hearing from Mr. Strauss in a minute.

Madam Clerk, will you please read item one into the record?

Agenda item one, clerk file 314447, application of Isola Homes to rezone a portion of a split zone site located at 7012 Roosevelt Way Northeast.

The committee recommends the city council grant as conditioned the amended clerk file.

Council Member Strauss.

Thank you, Council President.

This clerk file 31447 is a contract rezone of a portion of a split zoned lot in the Roosevelt neighborhood.

The rezone is from low rise one to neighborhood commercial two with a 50 foot height limit and M2 mandatory housing affordability designation.

This parcel will also be included in the Roosevelt station overlay.

And this rezone will allow for the development of 91 units They are choosing to perform on site rather than pay the MHA fee.

SDCI and the hearing examiner recommended approval with conditions as did the land use committee.

The two pieces of legislation that need to be acted on today, the clerk file before us today containing the council's findings, decisions, and conclusion Councilmember Peterson.

The item that is up next is a council bill that would make the rezone effective.

Since this is within Councilmember Peterson's district, if he has anything to share, happy to hear.

He had some nice remarks at the committee.

That is the committee report, Council President.

Thank you, Council President and Land Use Committee Chair Strauss.

I really appreciate Councilmember Strauss providing sufficient time in our Land Use Committee to discuss this project, which is in District 4. Since it's in my council district, I'll briefly explain my position because several constituents did raise questions and concerns about the project over the past several months.

The details matter, you know, in my view it's it's not sufficient to automatically assume that up zoning is always beneficial to the public because each situation is different.

In this case, after much consideration I believe this project will be beneficial.

I believe it's a net positive for the community.

While the project will demolish an empty small business structure and a single family home and several trees, including a large conifer, will be removed.

In exchange, the project would build 91 residential units, not only 84 mercury units, but also seven low income units on site.

And this is a rare example of a for profit real estate developer building those low income housing units right away.

on-site performing instead of writing a check for those to be built later.

This increase in density is not just anywhere, it's directly on our city's frequent transit bus network, just a three-minute walk from a new light rail station.

While this project is asking for a rezone that was not part of the original upzone of the Roosevelt neighborhood, that urban village upzone is more than 10 years old.

It was worth revisiting this on this site.

In addition, the project went through a public process that collected and considered community input.

Overall, with all the trade-offs, I believe this project makes a lot of sense.

While it's not as beneficial as the 254 new low-income housing units just a block away at Cedar Crossing, I believe this rezone will be a net positive for the neighborhood.

Consistent with my vote at committee, I'll be voting yes today on this proposed project.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hey, customer stress before I hand it back over to you 2 quick things.

I understand that this passed out of your committee unanimously.

And I also want to thank you.

I know that you do this.

So, actually, all of you do it at certain times, but I want to thank you is the committee chair for recognizing, deferring to the particular council member whose district a lot of these issues are situated at come through your committee.

that you recognize that and you give that council member an opportunity.

I think that's what's important about the district system.

So thank you for that.

And I just want to encourage my colleagues that anytime you all want to do that is a committee chair to recognize your colleague that represents that district.

Just go ahead and do that.

Don't wait for me to say anything if you got something to say.

Anyway, Councilor Nelson, you have your hand up.

Thank you very much.

I support this legislation.

I I don't know what is happening with that small business that is being that will have to move.

But please do encourage that business and others in the neighborhood when they are facing this kind of situation, that there is there are some grants for tenant improvements if should that business owner find a new place.

Thanks.

Thank you, Councillor Nelson.

Councillor Strauss, would you like to Oh, you have your hand up again, Councilor Peterson?

Yeah, just a point of information.

It is an abandoned storefront.

It's not, there's nobody there right now.

And that was all fine.

It was, there was no problem with that particular small business, but thanks Council Member Nelson.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

Councilor Strauss, do you want to have some closing remarks so we can go to a vote?

Nothing to add.

My colleagues have said it all better than I could have.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the granting, on the granting the clerk file as conditioned.

Council Member Peterson.

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

The motion carries and the clerk file is granted as conditioned.

The chair will sign it and Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the findings, conditions and the decision of the council on my behalf.

All right, let's move on to item number two.

This also will be back to Council Member Strauss, but in a moment.

Madam Clerk, will you please read item number two into the record?

Agenda item number two, Council Bill 120428, relating to land use and zoning, amending Chapter 23.32 of the Seattle Municipal Code at page 43 of the official land use map to rezone the easterly 30 feet of the parcel located at 1007 Northeast 71st Street.

Thank you.

I move to pass Council Bill 120428. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

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

Council Member Strauss, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Council President.

Nothing to add.

All of my remarks on the clerk file apply to this Council Bill as well.

All right.

Anything from any of our other colleagues?

All right.

Not seeing any hands.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes.

The chair will sign it.

And Madam Clerk, will you please fix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?

We've been on to our agenda to the items removed from the consent calendar.

There were no items removed.

Adoption of other resolutions.

We have no other resolutions before us today.

Going on to other business.

We have two items and we will start with council member Herbold, who has a proclamation before us today regarding November as the Family Caregiver Support Month.

Customer Herbold, the floor is yours.

Thank you so much.

This afternoon, I'm asking for your signatures on a proclamation declaring November to be Family Caregiver Support Month.

The mayor is concurring.

There is no presentation scheduled, but this proclamation will be shared in the October 31st edition of the Age Wise Newsletter that the Human Services Department puts out.

My office circulated this proclamation to all council offices last Thursday.

And the proclamation notes that family caregivers are the backbone of our long-term care system.

People who take care of essential tasks for loved ones on a routine basis so that they can remain at home rather than moving to a care facility.

These tasks include personal care, meal prep, medical appointments, household chores, bill paying, errands, repairs, emotional support, and reassurances.

The State Department of Social and Health Services estimates that there are between 180,000 and 255,000 unpaid caregivers in Seattle and King County.

Here at the city, the Aging and Disabilities Services Division of the Human Services Department serves as the area agency on aging for Seattle and King County, and we coordinate and train the Community Living Connections Network providers to answer questions, provide resources related to aging, disabilities, and caregiving.

So our warm thanks to our friends in the Aging and Disability Services, the Human Services Department, and the caregiver support specialists who developed this proclamation.

Thank you.

Any questions?

Hey, Councilor Herbold, you've done this one before, haven't you?

I think I have.

No, I think I've probably done this in past years.

Yeah, thank you for doing that.

Because I think that people really overlook.

I know sometimes when we do these proclamations, some people believe they're just pro forma.

But you're right.

Family caregivers, those are the people that take care of our aunties and our uncles.

And those are the ones that are there because they love them.

And one step away from being homeless when they don't have anywhere to go or anyone to take care of them.

So thank you for that.

I appreciate it.

Are there any other comments or anything that we want to suggest or bring to Councilmember Herbold's attention regarding the proclamation?

Okay, not seeing any or no further discussion, would the clerk please call the roll to determine which Councilmembers would like their signatures affixed to the proclamation declaring November 2022 to be Family Caregiver Support Month in Seattle?

Councilmember Peterson?

Yes.

Councilmember Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

Thank you.

Moving on to our second item.

So this one is mine, Council Member Juarez.

The City Council will now consider an administrative appeal to an exclusion issue to Avram, also known as Alex, Mr. Zimmerman on October 4th, 2022. The question is, shall the decision to exclude this individual from attending council meetings through November 1st, 2022, that's Tuesday, November 1st, 2022 be sustained?

Are there any comments?

Let me just share this again.

During roll call, council members will either vote aye to sustain the exclusion through November 1st, 2022, or vote no to grant the appeal and remove the exclusion.

Are there any questions on this procedural vote?

Okay, not seeing any, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Peterson?

Yes.

Council Member Sawant?

Yes.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

Council Member Morales?

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council President Juarez?

Aye.

Nine in favor, none opposed.

The motion carries and the exclusion will remain in effect until Tuesday, November 1st, 2022. All right, I believe the next matter we have is we are going to go into executive session.

We have no further business, so we're going to go into executive session and I will read our standard legally section that I need to read for the viewing public so they understand why we go into executive session.

Hearing no further business, we will now move into an executive session.

As presiding officer, I am announcing that the Seattle City Council will now convene into executive session.

The purpose of the executive session is to discuss pending potential or actual litigation.

The council's executive session is an opportunity for the council to discuss confidential legal matters with city attorneys as authorized by law.

A legal monitor from the city attorney's office is always present to ensure the council reserves questions of policy for open sessions.

I expect the time of the executive session to end by.

Madam Clerk, I need your help on this.

We're looking at an estimated 40 minutes.

Forty minutes from now is 3.20?

3.20.

Okay.

If the executive session is to be extended beyond that time, I will announce the extension and the expected duration.

At the conclusion of this executive session, this city council meeting will automatically adjourn.

The city council is scheduled to meet on October 25th, which may be canceled.

If the meeting is canceled, the next regular meeting of the Seattle City Council is on November 1st, 2022 at 2 o'clock.

The council is now in executive session.

Council members, please log off this meeting log and also and then log into the executive session Zoom meeting.

Thank you.

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