Good morning, thank you for being here for our council briefing today is December 3rd And we're here for a regular scheduled briefing we do have council members A few who are excused today council members Gonzalez Juarez and so on they're excused from today's meetings and briefings So should be relatively quick just as a footnote.
We have two Committee meetings right after this because of scheduling conflicts it was necessary for me to schedule the select committee on civic arenas right at 10 That shouldn't take too long, but we want to discuss one Piece of legislation that would be up for vote at 2 o'clock this afternoon And then we have a select committee on MHA at 1030 so if this briefing could go relatively brief I think that's why they call them briefings.
That'd be great and And why don't I just go from there and customer?
Thank you We are having our last finance and neighborhoods committee meeting of the year next Wednesday So it's a week from 10 days from now, but we'll have a lot on that agenda fourth quarter supplemental budget package Which we will be voting on that day to move out.
Also, we'll have a fourth quarter employment ordinance animal feeding We'll have the consolidated housing block grant summary and review, three landmark designations, ten appointments to the youth commission.
So if you've got any issues particularly around the budget package, that would be a good place to start.
you want to review or know something about, please let me know before next Wednesday.
Also, I want to thank Council Member Johnson, who's not here yet, but for his kicking off, we had last Wednesday a Lunch and Learn for our all ages and abilities.
This one was on caregiver support, and I had the delight and pleasure of being on jury duty that day.
At 10 to 4 on the second day at the end of our deer I was the first one to be excused from the defense by the defense big surprise as a former prosecutor And also, I just want to acknowledge that I will be gone this Thursday afternoon Friday morning at the Association of Washington cities.
Okay, very good comes my herbal
Thank you.
As far as items that I have on the full council agenda from the Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development, Arts Committee, we have three Seattle Music Commission reappointments.
They are all council reappointments.
And then we will also have a council bill that gives the authority to the Office of Arts and Culture to set fees and charges for cultural spaces owned or operated by the Office of Arts and Culture.
Currently, that authority is limited in the Seattle Municipal Code only to Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute.
They'd like the flexibility to also charge rental fees for the facility at the King Street Station.
Also this week on Thursday, my committee is going to be hosting a Lunch and Learn regarding recommendations from Seattle's re-entry work group.
The Seattle re-entry work group was created by Council Resolution 31637, spearheaded by Council President Harrell, and it's really focused on coordinating and strengthening the city's efforts.
to assist reentry for folks who are coming into the community out of incarceration.
The work group itself is composed of community and institutional stakeholders that are working on these issues and they will together be joining us on Thursday at noon.
I'm happy to, I didn't print out copies of the report, it's a long report, but I'm happy to send folks copies of the report in advance.
Also, as far as regional committee meetings, I have to attend this week.
We've got the Economic Development Board and the Regional Water Quality Committee meeting coming up this week.
And then I want to just make mention, I think before we're done here, hopefully, We'll be getting a copy of a proclamation for Human Rights Day that I'd like to distribute for signatures, although not all of us are here, but we can get started.
And this is a proclamation for Human Rights Day, and I will be presenting the proclamation on behalf of the city on Thursday, the commemoration for the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
I have office hours next Friday the 14th at the South Park Community Center from 2 to 7. And then just a brief announcement I'd like to share with you.
Today is the first day that our city council meetings will be available via closed captioning.
The Seattle Channel has been testing this capability for the previous week and this new work is that the Seattle Channel is taking on to increase access to council meetings for our hard-of-hearing viewers.
This is a result of a budget action that this council took last year.
year so I'm really excited that all folks in Seattle are going to be able to appreciate Seattle's fantastic civic programming and hopefully in a future budget cycle we'll be able to expand the closed captioning to include all of the Seattle Channels programming not just our fantastic meetings that people love to watch.
Thank you for that announcement.
That's great.
Council Member Esqueda.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Good morning.
There are no items from the Housing, Health, Energy, and Workers' Rights Committee on today's full council agenda.
We will have our first meeting in December on December 6th.
That's this Thursday.
Hope folks might be able to join us if you are interested in discussing the Office of the Ombud.
We have been working diligently with the Seattle Silence Breakers, the Coalition for City Unions, and have also talked to some of the consultants working in our state capitol on their efforts to create a safe and respectful place for people to both come to if they've experienced intimidation or harassment, but also ways in which we can prevent that type of behavior from ever occurring.
So we have some good ideas that we would like to include in the ordinance for the council's consideration.
In addition to that, we will have the two reappointments to the Capitol Hill Housing Improvement Program, eight appointments to the Office of Labor Standards Advisory Committee, and we'll have, as well, a discussion and possible vote on an ordinance on the completion of the joint utility trench in Bothell.
Later this week, I'll be attending the Seattle Planning Commission Neighborhoods for All.
There is going to be a report released at this event, and I'm really excited They're talking about how we can do a better job of not just moving forward on creating affordable housing and more dense housing in the up zones that have been approved, but also throughout Seattle.
And I think there's some really incredible information through the racial equity lens about why it's important to do that in the 86% of land that is currently zoned for single family use and how to do that in a way that promotes green space and character of the neighborhood and livability.
So that will be today later today at 4 o'clock on Tuesday.
I'll be attending an event hosted by OPC DS urban innovation speaker series Entitled we can create more housing choices in lower-density neighborhoods question mark that's in the Bertha Linda's night room and And on Thursday, I'll be speaking at an event that will be a town hall that the state employees, the Washington Federation of State Employees is having to really talk about what's going on with some of the laundry workers at the University of Washington, looking forward to learning more there, and the YMCA Benefits Dinner on the same night.
I believe Council Member Herbold, you will be there as well.
Sorry, I forgot to mention that.
Thank you.
On Friday, I look forward to joining my colleague and Councilmember Bagshaw.
I believe we will both be at the AWC Board of Directors meeting and I'm looking forward to continuing to participate in that effort.
I also wanted to comment on the fact that over the last two weeks, we've really seen headline after headline talk about the climate change that is pressing upon our Communities are not just our country but the globe and the reality that the climate change if we don't course-correct Will have devastating consequences the headlines have talked about increased hurricanes fires severe weather the fact that many of our natural species are really being threatened by the type of climate change that is being imposed upon us.
And not only is it critical for us to recognize this at either the national level, but really we're being called upon at the local level to act with urgency because in this country, we are going backwards in terms of our commitment.
One of the reports that looked at the fourth national climate assessment said that in the Pacific Northwest alone, we could see less snow in the mountains and that decrease in snow could impact our region's water supply and our entire way of life.
That climate change will create damage to our salmon habitat, dry out our farms, harm the region's outdoor industry, and increase wildfire risk.
I think we've all seen the consequences of extreme weather and heat and drought.
and our neighbors to the south in California, where they've had severe fires, and then followed by torrential rain, which creates mudslides.
So I wanted to just bring this up in the context of what we can do in 2019, act with urgency at the local level, especially given our national partners or our federal government has expressed an interest in standing in the way of preventing climate change.
I think we will stand up and show the way.
I think that is a good point.
Thank you.
Did you have something specific you were doing in the first quarter?
Are we working on this?
The one thing I wanted to add is the outreach that we have done, I think they are calling it economics and Paul Roberts from Everett is participating in this as well.
move on in the first quarter of 2019. That's wonderful.
Thank you.
I do have a report as well, if I might, Mr. President, from Councilmember Gonzalez.
Ten appointments, correct?
That's correct a report from the gender equity and safe communities new name new Americans and education committee There will be ten items on the City Council agenda pertaining to this committee and these include eight reappointments I'm sorry eight appointments as well as two reappointments to the Immigrant and Refugee Commission and we wish our colleague.
Good luck in Spain representing us.
Well, all right Thank you very much.
That's my bride Thank you.
Sustainability and Transportation Committee doesn't have anything on this afternoon's agenda, but we have our first meeting in a few months, tomorrow afternoon.
On tomorrow's agenda, we have a number of items.
Six appointments to the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board.
We'll be getting an update on Sound Transit 3's West Seattle and Ballard Link Extension, so we're going to have The elected leadership group did not have a meeting last month, said we had some briefings just to get updated, but we've asked them, Sound Transit, to come to the table tomorrow to kind of walk through kind of where they are in the process, specifically asking them to talk about the racial equity toolkit work that's being done for that whole alignment, or specifically in the Chinatown International District.
So it should be a good discussion on that tomorrow.
We know there's ongoing work there.
We're also going to get an update from SDOT on the levy to move Seattle.
So this is, there's a work plan that was released Thursday afternoon.
This work plan lays out a much higher level of specificity on the remaining six years of the levy and how they're planning to address a variety of things.
One being that SDOT has struggled to get projects out the door at the pace of which the levy anticipated, so how they're adjusting for that.
Two, the construction market has shifted and so things are a lot more expensive today than they were when this levy went out to voters over three years ago.
And three, the federal funding scenarios that were anticipated based on probably a combination of overly ambitious assumptions even at the time.
plus a complete change in the federal funding environment today, have caused them to kind of reshape some things.
So we'll be digging into that.
We've set up a process where we will be essentially, through resolution at some point, blessing this.
We're not going to do that tomorrow, but this will be the first conversation on getting some public discussion about what's in that work plan.
We have a briefing on a council bill related to the State Route 520 project.
This is around an agreement between the city and the state.
Not a vote on that, but just an initial discussion.
And then we have a couple ordinances around street vacations.
The first is completing a street vacation on Harbor Island, the Port of Seattle.
This is a project that I believe is close to two decades in the work.
I believe over those two decades, there have been a couple attempts to finalize it, and for whatever reason, things ran into some hiccups and it got tabled, and then it just didn't come back.
So I feel fairly confident we'll be able to finally resolve this and have it done.
There's nothing substantive policy-wise.
There's just a lot of work back and forth with a variety of I believe pipeline and other owners in there to get some work done that was having trouble in the past So that's been resolved and then we're gonna have a clerk file which is about a vacation in at the Broad Street electrical station up by Seattle Center.
Seattle City Light would like to vacate part of Broad Street.
Broad Street as a whole is being vacated because we're no longer using that.
It's about 3,400 square feet that we go to the station.
We had a conversation back in July, I believe, with Seattle City Light, kind of preliminary, conceptual.
This would approve the clerk file.
The plan is to actually vote on this tomorrow.
And that gives them clarity that this is, if you do what we've told you to do, we will approve this once all that work is done, so.
Can I ask a quick question?
Please.
Council Member O'Brien, I think just west of that substation, there is an alley that is under question.
Will Seattle City Light continue to use that as access to the substation?
Do you know?
I do not know.
I'm trying to picture where the alley is just west of it.
It's in the parking lot where the Ride the Ducks is right now.
Yeah.
And the reason I'm bringing it up is that that is the site, the planned site for the new skate park.
And I think there's been some interest in either moving that access or finding some way that they could exchange property but to make the skate park One that doesn't have to be divided with and this access road for heavy equipment.
So I haven't heard anything about this and I would just like.
I can make a note to ask them what they know about that.
Right.
Just to make sure that they're talking to Seattle Center and to the folks that are working so hard to get this funded.
Yeah.
Well, we would love to see that skate park.
I know we share that goal.
The parcel to the west of the actual substation also has broad street cuts through that.
And this is not vacating that.
It would be the east side of Taylor.
There's a corner that's about 100 by 85 feet that they're talking about vacating.
But I will bring that up in committee.
Great.
I have a feeling that Beverly Burnett is looking to catch our eye.
Hi, Beverly.
Would you like to, Council President Harrell, would it be okay if Beverly came to the microphone?
Please, please, please do.
Hold on one sec.
We're getting the mics turned on.
Are they on?
It's on.
Okay.
Good morning, Beverly Barnett with Seattle Department of Transportation.
So I heard the question on Broad Street and Councilmember O'Brien was talking about a block that's to the east of the proposed skate park.
So the Broad Street vacation that the Transportation Committee will be looking at tomorrow is for just a triangular portion of Broad Street adjacent to the existing Broad Street substation.
On the block to the west, City Light has a facility they call the Annex, and the Broad Street right-of-way that's being looked at for the skate park replacement is adjacent to that facility.
So the alley and access would continue to be a part of any skate park design, but it's actually a block to the west of the substation vacation.
The one that we're talking about today.
Okay.
Thank you very much Beverly.
Great.
I also have some notes here from Councilmember Johnson who's sick this morning and so I I will jump into the Planning, Land Use, and Zoning Committee.
There are six items on this morning's introduction referral calendar, including three appointments to the Seattle Planning Commission, council bill containing amendments to the comprehensive plan to clarify goals around off-street parking, and revise the Ballard-Interbay-North End-MIC boundary to facilitate a MIMP process for the Seattle Pacific University.
That's a major institution master plan process.
There's a council bill granting conditional approval of the UW campus master plan, something that's been going on for a while.
And then clerk file 314410, it's an application from King County Metro to allow a bus layover facility within the WSDOT right-of-way located at 699 East Lake Avenue North.
This application, this is the quasi-judicial announcement I'm making for you all.
This application is now pending for the purposes of the council's quasi-judicial rules.
Council members should avoid communication about the merits of the rezone applications with proponents or opponents of the projects.
If you have questions about the council's quasi-judicial rules, please see Ketil Freeman of our central staff.
The PLUS committee has no items on this afternoon's full agenda.
The next committee meeting is going to be Wednesday, December 5th.
There's seven items on that agenda.
Three appointments to the planning commission, a briefing, public hearing, and possible vote on two amendments to the comprehensive plan.
Those are the two things that are on the referral calendar I mentioned.
A briefing and a possible vote on a bill to implement the transportation level standards, service standards adopted in our comprehensive plan.
and a discussion and possible vote on the U-Dub's MIMP decision.
As a reminder, the U-Dub major institutional master plan is still a quasi-judicial matter, so the council rules related to ex parte communications continue to apply.
Also, the Select Committee on Mandatory Housing Affordability has its next meeting today at 10.30 a.m.
or after the Select Committee on Civic Arenas ends.
We have three items on that agenda.
An overview of the recent hearing examiner ruling on the year-long appeal process to the FEIS for citywide MHA proposal.
A process for consideration of this legislation, which we hope to pass in the first quarter of next year, so as not to lose out on more desperately needed affordable housing.
And a presentation on the displacement analysis for the citywide MHA proposal.
Finally, I am circulating a proclamation on behalf of Councilmember Johnson, who's sick this morning.
This is for Bryant Elementary, which is a Seattle public school in Northeast Seattle.
They are celebrating their 100th anniversary, and we will be presenting this proclamation to Principal Marshall at full council today.
Have you noticed on the proclamation that it's dated for the 13th, which is the actual day that they're holding the celebration?
And I'm not sure if I'm required by council rules to use other council members' puns in their speaking points.
But in absence of clarity, I will follow through with that.
And they're calling it their bricentennial.
So please sign that proclamation or consider it.
Thank you.
All right.
Bricentennial.
We got it.
Okay, so we will, just a reminder, we would like to start at 10 o'clock sharp.
That will be the Select Committee on Civic Arenas right there on the dais.
We'll have Amy Gray from SDOT, Marshall Foster, Liz Sheldon, and our own Kirsten Aristad to answer any questions there.
That should go less than 30 minutes, then we'll move right into the MHA committee meeting after that.
So with that, we stand adjourned, 10 o'clock, a hard start on the dais.
Thank you very much.