City Council 11723

Thank you, IT.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Today is Tuesday, November 7th.

This is the meeting of the Seattle City Council.

It will now come to order.

The time is 2.04.

Apologies for being late.

I'm Deborah Juarez.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Council Member Morales.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Present.

Council Member Nelson.

Present.

Council Member Peterson.

Present.

Council Member Sawant.

Present.

Council Member Strauss.

Present.

Council Member Herbold.

Here.

Council Member Lewis.

Present.

And Council President Juarez.

Here.

Eight present.

Thank you.

If there is no objection, Council Member Morales will be excused from today's Seattle City Council.

Not hearing or seeing an objection, she is indeed excused.

Moving on on our agenda to presentations i'm not aware of any presentations for today.

And we're going to go to public comment, so let me make a few comments before public comment.

Public comment is for today's agenda and we will have a public hearing on agenda item will today in our committee reports, we have four committee reports.

and we have one public hearing on Council Bill 120635 regarding the Seattle Comprehensive Plan.

So that's later on in the agenda.

So those of you who are online or in person, we are gonna have your public hearing regarding that particular bill later on.

I believe it's agenda item H.

So for now, we're just gonna do the basic public comment.

Madam Clerk, I'm gonna have you do the recording because I think we have some new folks here, and I would like everyone to hear the rules about what our instructions are when we provide public comment and our opinion at City Council.

So with that, Madam Clerk, I'm going to hand it over to you, but each speaker will have two minutes.

And please, please, please be mindful of the 10-second counter so you can finish up and wrap up your comments.

We hate having to cut people off.

So with that, Madam Clerk, I'm going to hand it to you for the instructions.

Let me try another version, just a quick second.

If you don't let me if you don't have it, we can.

I'd like to, but if you can't, it's going to.

I know a couple of times we had problems with the recording.

I could go ahead and pretty much say it by heart, but.

Council President Juarez, unfortunately, it's not playing for me at this moment.

If you don't mind providing the quick tips, we also have a script that we can also announce as well, too.

No, I can do it.

Thank you.

Those of you who have heard the recording that Sharon Williams does for Seattle City Council, and we've all been hearing this for years, some of us longer than others.

We ask that when you provide public comment, that you give people an opportunity to share their voice in the city's building, that you allow people the opportunity and the dignity and the respect to let them finish their sentences and their thoughts, even if you disagree.

And that's all we've ever asked is for people to come, provide public comment on the matters of the agenda, our work plan, or any other issues that certainly will come up today in the public hearing.

And again, they're just basic.

basic kindness, basic respect, listening to what other folks have to say, and taking time to hear each other, which I think we don't have a lot of in today's world.

So with that, I hope I've covered the rules.

And with that, Madam Clerk, let's start with our first 10. And did I say remote?

Remote, yes.

Yes, okay.

Let's start with our first 10 remote.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The first speaker remotely is Lana Blinderman.

Lana?

I don't see her title.

Can you hear me?

Oh, there you are.

Go ahead, Lana.

Hi.

Yeah.

Hi.

So I'm calling in support of Councilmember Sawant's resolution proposal to call for ceasefire in Gaza and the return of all hostages.

I am a Jewish, Russian, Israeli-American, and when I see what's going on, it just breaks my heart.

And I think at the very least, we as a city can come out and call for the suffering to stop before some long-term solutions can be found, hopefully.

So I would like to support the resolution and thank you for allowing me to speak.

Thank you.

Our next speaker, our next speaker is Sonia Pona.

We're not on this.

and sonya you might want to press star six to unmute yourself okay hello hi now it works hi i'm sonya pona i really appreciate council members who want showing the leadership of bringing this resolution up today for um a vote and i urge you to vote yes this ceasefire resolution in Gaza condemns the Israeli military assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza.

It also condemns both the methods of terror used by Hamas and the state terrorism of the Israeli government.

The demands are that there's an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to U.S. funding for the Israeli military.

I'm sick to death of giving money to all these other countries when we say we don't have any money for our people here, too.

the safe release of all hostages, the restoration of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.

It affirms the commitment to combat both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in all their forms.

At this point, for an elected official with a public platform to be silent is to be complicit.

You have a duty to vote for this.

The refusal to support an immediate ceasefire is going to have serious consequences for the Democrats in the next election.

Hyde's support has plummeted in the Arab American community, where it was 59% and now it's 17%.

And we're hearing Arab Americans chanting, in November we remember.

No ceasefire, no vote.

Not only has Gaza faced endless bloodshed, there is real danger of a regional war in the Middle East.

For Democrats on the City Council, please, it's your party that is currently representing U.S. imperialism right now.

Biden has blood on his hand, so you need to do the bare minimum and vote yes on this resolution.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jessica Scalazzo.

Hi there.

My name is Jessica Scalzo.

I am a resident in District 3, and I'm calling to encourage the full council to support Shama Sawant's resolution to call for an immediate ceasefire.

And I feel since the 7th of October, I have been very concerned that, well, actually even before that, but even more so since the 7th of October, I've been very concerned that my tax money is supporting Israeli apartheid government, and now even more so the ethnic cleansing and murder of Palestinians.

So that feels like my direct involvement in this conflict.

And I think that creating a statement from the city would help to garner the public opinion that is clear about within our city, within our state, and within the country and around the world that we the people want a ceasefire.

We can join with Providence, Rhode Island in committing to this statement.

And I think it would also help to encourage our own representatives and senators for Washington State that are still struggling to make this statement and call for a ceasefire.

I... I think that's it for me right now.

Please support this resolution.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Preston Sahabu.

Hello, my name is Preston.

I'm a resident of District 4 and an activist with Workers Strike Back.

Democrat Gerald Biden once said, Israel is the best $3 billion investment we make.

or they're not in Israel, the United States of America would need to invent in Israel to protect her interests in the region.

The now president said the quiet part out loud.

United States imperialism cares as little for the safety and security of Jewish and Israeli people as it does for Muslims and Palestinians.

Multinational corporations and defense contractors understand that the billions committed to military aid isn't in the interest of keeping these people safe.

If it were, one would hope that the over $100 billion from the U.S. to the right-wing Israeli state since the 1960s would have been enough.

But the thousands of Jewish and Arab Israelis dead from the brutal attacks by Hamas and the millions trapped in Gaza as the fourth largest military in the world bombards them into sand hour by hour, speaks otherwise.

This is why I am calling in strong support of Socialist Council Member Salwa's powerful resolution on the war in Gaza, and demand that all Democrats on the Council vote yes today.

It not only calls for an immediate ceasefire and condemns these inhumane attacks, but actually gets at the roots of this crisis.

U.S. military aid has been used to support Israel's ongoing occupation of Palestine.

and uh we demand that it uh be repealed immediately no more aid whether emergency or in the future democrats at the federal level are not just supporting it but they are leading the charge um with uh president biden putting together uh billions of dollars to this effect uh to be silent now even at the local level is uh is to be complicit vote yes and

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Mark Taylor Canfield.

My name is Mark Taylor Canfield.

I serve as executive director for the nonprofit news organization Democracy Watch News.

Earlier this year, I presented information on challenges to freedom of the press and the protection of journalists at an international conference on journalism held at The Hague in the Netherlands, sponsored by UNESCO and the Global Fund for Media Development.

So if you want to find out why the United States is ranked 45th in the world in terms of press freedom by Reporters Without Borders, you can read my article at Truthout.

But today I'm speaking in favor of the resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an international advocacy group for reporters, 37 journalists have been killed since the conflict began one month ago.

The group's president, Jody Ginsburg, told CNN and BBC News that this is the most dangerous conflict for journalists since they began keeping records over 30 years ago.

The families of journalists have also been killed and wounded in Gaza.

CPJ has joined with over 200 other groups urging the UN Security Council, the UN Security General, and all world leaders to ensure an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories to prevent further harm to civilians.

Reporters and media workers should never be targeted by military or police forces.

Freedom of the press demands freedom of movement and the safety of journalists.

Reporters should not have to sacrifice their lives in order to do their jobs.

The continued killing of civilians will not benefit either side in this conflict, and this kind of violence will only contribute to the trauma, fear, and hatred already rampant in that area of the world.

It's a humanitarian and human rights disaster.

The madness must stop.

I urge the members of the city council to vote in favor of this resolution to send a clear message to the rest of the world that Seattle supports human rights and peaceful efforts to resolve armed conflicts in Gaza and anywhere in the world they may occur.

I agree with U.S.

Senator Barbara Lee.

The only way we're going to see peace and security and justice for the Israelis and the Palestinian people is through a political and diplomatic

Next speaker is Barbara Finney.

Hello, I'm Barbara Finney, District 5, a retired RN, member of the Federal Workers Union, AFGE, speaking in a personal capacity, calling on you, council, to vote yes on Councilmember Chalmers' to want resolution for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

This is a quote.

One month on, nearly 40,000 casualties in Gaza, 10,000 dead, over one-third of them children, Israeli bombing of hospitals, ambulances, churches, mosques, refugee camps, civilians fleeing on designated routes, homes, journalists, aid workers, critical infrastructure, End quote.

That was tweeted today by Claire Daly, Minister European Parliament for Ireland.

Bombs from Israel have killed 55,513 Palestinian children in one month.

Every 10 minutes, one child in Gaza is killed and two are injured.

Council members Lewis and Strauss have both spoken from the council dais about being new fathers.

I call on you both to support this resolution for the sake of the children still surviving in Gaza.

The brutal disproportionate aggression in Gaza by Israel isn't self-defense.

It's genocide of Palestinians.

Check the UN definition of the word.

And it's bought and paid for by U.S. tax dollars.

Our Seattle household wants no more of our tax dollars going to the military of Israel.

Vote yes on Councilmember Shama Sawant's strong and righteous resolution resolution for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, an end to U.S. funding for the Israeli military, the safe release of all hostages, restoration of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, and an end to the occupation of Palestinian lands.

Vote yes.

Our next speaker is Audrey Kovner.

Good afternoon.

My name is Dr. Audrey Kuzner, and I am chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, and I'm here testifying on behalf of the JCRC to oppose Councilmember Sawant's resolution.

The JCRC is a network of 35 local Jewish organizations and about 30 independent leaders.

As a coalition of organizations, we represent thousands of Seattle residents.

We have two critical reasons for opposing this resolution.

First, the content is inflammatory and does not accurately reflect the situation in the Middle East.

And second, the proper procedure for submitting a resolution was completely bypassed, taking away the public's right to fully participate.

Let me begin with a key point.

Like council members to want, the JCRC and the local Jewish community are devastated by the humanitarian impact of the Hamas war.

We mourn both the loss of thousands of Israelis as well as innocent Palestinians living in Gaza.

No lives should be taken in this manner.

We're also deeply concerned about the rise in anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Arab hate seen in the recent weeks.

However, the content of the resolution is particularly disturbing.

It lacks factual accuracy and can be read as inciting even more violence.

Though claimed to denounce anti-Semitism, it seems to paint Israel as uniquely evil and illegitimate, which can lead to the dehumanization of Jews causing further harm to Jews in Seattle at a time when there's almost daily threats against local Jewish organizations.

With respect to the procedural process, we were surprised to learn only yesterday that this resolution was being brought forth today.

Submitting a resolution with one day's notice on an issue as fraught with tension and controversy as this one does not invite fair and full debate.

In this incredibly challenging time, we need our leaders to demonstrate true empathy and understanding.

If the Seattle City Council is interested in adopting a position on this conflict we are happy to participate and honor the shared humanity of all peoples involved.

We urge a no vote on the.

DIRECTOR HAMPSON- Thank you.

Our next speaker.

Our next speaker is Olivia Mandy.

Olivia Mandy.

Can you hear me?

Yeah, we can hear you, Olivia.

All right.

Hi, my name is Olivia Mantel.

I'm a District 4 voter and local farmer in the area, and I asked the City Council to vote in favor of the resolution brought forward by Councilmember Shama Salant condemning the Israeli military assault on the people of Gaza and urging an immediate ceasefire.

The bloody assault of the right-wing Netanyahu regime has created a horrific humanitarian crisis and blood back to the Palestinian people that has been previously stated already at this meeting.

We need representatives and Democrats like yourselves to come out clearly against the unfettered funding by the Biden administration for arms to Israel and demand an immediate ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to reach the people of Gaza.

I believe that we can full-heartedly acknowledge and condemn the horrors of the attacks by Hamas on the Israeli people, while also condemning the continued oppression and slaughter of the masses of Palestinian people who are bearing the brutal and devastating burden of this crisis.

Young people of this city and older generations of this city are able to understand the complexities of this conflict that have been developing for decades and still demand with utmost conviction that this act of state terrorism by the Israeli state against the Palestinian people be stopped.

I personally find the silence of supposed progressive Democrats in the city and this country to be appalling.

I believe that it is imperative that city council votes in favor of this resolution.

and comes out with a clear public message and demands that push her way out of the devastation of this conflict.

To be silent at this time is to be complicit with the mass murder of Palestinian children, women, and men.

People of this city, young people, people of all walks of life have refused to be silent in the face of this crisis, and I ask that you as city council members also refuse to stay silent in the face of this humanitarian crisis and vote yes on the resolution.

Next speaker is the Reverend Ying, the Reverend Ying.

Go ahead.

Hello, this is the Reverend Angela Ying, senior pastor at Bethany United Church of Christ.

I'm here to share again with everyone ceasefire now in Gaza for our Palestinian and Israeli sisters and brothers.

end the war and the genocide, end Islamophobia, end anti-Semitism.

We have tried for so long, yet the hate continues heartbreakingly through Christian white nationalism and Christian Zionism.

This war on Gaza, as is the one against Ukraine, is about money and domination.

There would be no war if it were about love and love of neighbor, where all human beings know they are created in the image of God, beloved, and have a home and can live safely in their own homelands.

We call upon the ceasefire for your faith, hope, and love are deeply tied into mind where we need collective liberation here and around the world.

Faith leaders of all walks of life have gone to our communities and to the streets here in Seattle, have written, met, and spoken with Senators Murray and Cantwell and our congressmen and congresswomen for a ceasefire now.

We know from history, war kills.

War is not the answer.

Thank you, Councilmember Shama Sawant, for your years of hard work, dedication, and service.

We will continue the struggle for peace and working people everywhere, from our Bethany United Church of Christ and our Community Resilience Hub in Beacon Hill for 40,000s of people, and to a ceasefire in Gaza for our Palestinian and Israeli sisters and brothers.

I end with a world peace prayer.

Lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth, from despair to hope, from fear to trust.

Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace.

Let peace fill our hearts.

Let peace fill our world.

Let peace fill our universe.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Lina Khalaf Tahafah.

And Lina, you might, whoops.

Go ahead.

Hi, my name is Lina Khalaf Tufaha.

Thank you.

My name is Lina Khalaf Tufaha.

I was born here in Seattle.

I'm a graduate of the University of Washington.

I'm a writer and community organizer, and I am a Palestinian American.

I want to speak to you today as a mom.

As a writer, I taught an online workshop for some young students in Gaza six years ago.

And I became friends with many of them on Facebook, and I, over the past few weeks, have watched them all post all of the various family members and friends and teachers and doctors and neighbors of theirs who have been killed.

I just want you to stay with that image as you consider this resolution by Member Shama Sawant that I urge you to support.

Palestinians are dying because of the United States' choice to constantly fund an apartheid regime that is slaughtering them.

It may seem weird to be talking about this at the city level, but it's actually really important at a city level to show leadership and to communicate to all of our Palestinian American neighbors, our Arab American neighbors, our Muslim American neighbors, that the city of Seattle doesn't stand for genocide.

and that the city of Seattle believes a ceasefire immediately now is the only way to move towards peace.

I am so grateful to Shama Sawant for her leadership, and I urge you to vote in favor of the resolution.

We can no longer stand by in silence.

And I want you to know, again, as a mom, that our kids here, our Palestinian American kids here are unsafe.

They're unsafe on university campuses when they speak out.

for justice for their family members and beloved.

They are unsafe on high school campuses.

We feel unsafe in our neighborhoods and in our homes.

It's really important to stand and be counted in times like this.

And I hope that my city shows up for my people.

And our first in-person speaker is Rizwan Samad.

My name is Rizwan Samad, and I'm a co-founder of Vote Muslim America.

First, I want to thank Kshama Swant for bringing this issue up in front of the city of Seattle, council member, and for the Democratic Party.

Unfortunately, I have seen death and destruction in the Bosnian war, and it can mess you up just by seeing the horror of death and destruction.

It is a shame the whole Democratic Party sold their soul and value of life to the Zionist regime, except for a few.

Today I'm ashamed to be a supporter of Democrats while they are sleeping and partying, thousands of civilians getting slaughtered, primarily women and children.

So the Zionist Israeli regime has killed over 10,000 victims.

These devil Israeli Zionists are bombarding hospitals, churches, mosques, ambulance.

And they are just busy doing genocide.

They are doing the same evil shit what Hitler did to them.

Or even worse, everyone in the position and power to say something is quiet.

Shame on them.

We will remember them in the 2024 election.

I just want to tell you, from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

Thank you, thank you.

Our next in-person speaker is Brandon Eng.

Brandon Eng.

And this mic works too.

Greetings, everyone.

It's on.

It should be on.

OK.

So I would like to first address the issue that many ordinary Israeli citizens do not support the actions of the Netanyahu regime, that Hamas does not represent the interests of ordinary Palestinians.

This is not an issue of nation against nation.

It is an issue of imperialism and the fact that our tax money is being used by the Biden administration to fund these atrocities.

Every dollar spent on military funding is a dollar not spent on healthcare, education, and essential infrastructure.

Our schools have been underfunded for far too long, and people have been waiting for too long to get healthcare in our city, throughout our country, and abroad.

We need an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, humanitarian aid, and an absolute termination, termination of military funding, and a redirection of public funds to fund our essential services that we all need.

Our city has crime rate.

If we want to address crime in our city, we need to address affordability.

And our interests are aligned with the interests of ordinary citizens and in other nations, not with those of the imperialist classes.

So an injury to one is an injury to all.

Please vote yes on this resolution.

Thank you.

Next one person speaker is Maddie Damas.

Hi, my name is Maddie, and I'm a Seattle resident.

I want to speak directly to the Democrats at City Council today and demand that you support the resolution being put forward by Councilmember Shama Sawant.

If you think that it is not your responsibility to speak out as members of the Democratic Party and fight for a ceasefire, you are wrong.

It is your party that has been emboldening and enabling the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza by sending billions of dollars to fund Israel's right-wing regime.

Biden has blood on his hands, and by not speaking up and not voting and trying to fight for a ceasefire, you do as well.

His approval ratings are plummeting across the country, and we have seen countless chants at protests of people saying that we will remember this in November.

We're in November right now, and we are turning in our ballots today, and we are looking at what you are doing and how you are voting on this resolution.

Voting yes in favor of this resolution is the absolute bare minimum that you should be doing.

I think Brandon raised an excellent point that every single dollar that is being sent to fund the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza is a dollar that could be spent on things that we have been fighting for in front of you for decades.

decades.

We are fighting for rent control.

We are fighting for affordable housing.

We are fighting for Medicare for all.

And by not speaking up and not fighting for those things, by not fighting for a ceasefire, by not fighting for peace, you are endorsing military funding that is destroying thousands of lives and will continue to do so.

Here is Shirley Henderson.

I am Shirley, and I am a member of Socialist Alternative.

And I am here to demand council Democrats, who have so far remained completely silent on this issue, to publicly vote yes on Councilmember Sawant's resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, an exchange of prisoners, humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, and importantly, an end to US military aid to Israel without watering this down.

I stand in support of this resolution as someone who lived in Jerusalem for three years during the height of the Second Intifada.

I saw firsthand how the Israeli political elite carried out their brutal anti-Palestinian policies and acted to continuously inflame the conflict.

And now, here we are once again with civilians bearing the brunt of the ongoing escalation.

with Palestinian deaths at the hands of Israeli military topping 10,000.

And the majority of those being killed are women, children, and the elderly.

At this point, for a public official to be silent is to be complicit in the face of this state terror against the people of Gaza.

This resolution also importantly commits to fighting Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, which only divide ordinary people.

Because the violence undermines the safety of ordinary people on both sides, and we need to unite against these atrocities.

And in fact, the whole world is rising up against the monstrous crimes being committed against the Palestinian people.

Thank you to Councilmember Sawant for putting forward this resolution.

And Democratic Councilmembers, as so many other speakers have said, it is your party that is currently representing U.S. imperialism.

You have a particular responsibility to stand against the use of our tax dollars going toward Israeli state terror.

We are sick to death of the crocodile tears that there is no funding to support services for our citizens.

Where is your voice?

Do the bare minimum by voting yes on this resolution without watering it down.

Our next speaker, our next speaker is Natalie Bailey.

Natalie Bailey.

Hello, my name is Natalie Bailey, and I'm a member of Socialist Alternative.

Thank you to Socialist Council Member Shama Swant and community members and working people for bringing this resolution forward.

I demand that all Democrats vote yes on the resolution she has put forward.

At this point, an elected official with a public platform to be silent is to be complicit.

Democrats on the city council, you need to do the bare minimum by voting yes on Council Member Swann's resolution.

Gaza has faced endless bloodshed, and there is a real danger of a regional war in the Middle East if we don't have a ceasefire.

The refusal to support an immediate ceasefire will have serious consequences for Democrats in the upcoming election.

In 2020, Biden's support amongst the Arab-American community was 59%.

It has now plummeted to 17%.

As Arab-Americans have been chanting across the country, in November, we remember, and no ceasefire, no vote, which means ceasefire now, not in six months.

The only way to keep ordinary people on both sides safe is to win a ceasefire and then to end the Israeli state occupation.

This will require a fight against US and Western imperialism, starting with a fight to end the billions in military aid to Israel.

We need international mass movements of working class and young people.

We need fundamental change and the end of this decades-long crisis that could only be brought about by movements of working class and poor joined across ethnic and sectarian lines.

fight for both an end to war and build for a struggle for affordable housing, healthcare, good standards of living, and a dignified existence for all.

This will require a global fight back against the billionaire class and their political representatives against the system of capitalism.

Our next speaker is Julian de Puma.

Hello, I'm Julian.

I'm with Socialist Alternative.

I'm here to urge the city council to vote yes on the Gaza ceasefire resolution.

One month in, over 10,000 dead, over 4,000 children, numerous journalists and their families targeted and murdered.

And the response from most Democrats is silence.

Shameful silence.

Our government stands by and enables the Israeli government.

The world sees us giving a solid green light to this ongoing atrocity.

We must demand a ceasefire.

This is not a complicated issue.

A well-armed nation is collectively punishing two million people trapped in a camp like bombing fish in a barrel.

Please vote yes.

Thank you.

Ms. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Zoe Amir.

Hello, I'm Zoe Amer from District 3. In September 2021, in the wake of the George Floyd uprising and police murders in our own city, when violence between the Israeli state and Hamas spiked, the Seattle City Council voted against a resolution brought by Socialist City Council member Sawant's office and refused to divest our own police budget for paying with our tax money for training from the Israeli Defense Force.

leading directly to the gut-wrenching violence we see today.

This is the Democratic Party's war.

The Democrats of the Seattle City Council are not passively, but actively, financially complicit in the deaths of thousands of Palestinian citizens if they refuse to speak out against the military funding of Israel and divest Seattle.

Pass this resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza and join Sawan's office and the people of Seattle to fight for the people's budget, where each year we bring resolutions to divert the police budget away from the IDF and towards human services.

Thank you.

Mia Gardner.

Hi, my name is Nia Gardner, and I'm a Seattleite, and I want to speak to the resolution for ceasefire in Gaza.

This is an important resolution that the Democrats need to take a stand on.

It is impossible for you not to know about the absolutely heinous things happening in Gaza and the atrocities that the Israeli government are committing against the Palestinian people.

You've heard people talk about it today.

You've heard people shout in the streets.

Now is the time to act.

Given the situation, it's ridiculous that most council members have not already taken a stand against it.

Ordinary Palestinian people are getting killed by the violence of the Israeli government, and this has been happening for a long time.

This imperialist occupation is not new, but the widespread outrage should be just one more reason to stand against it.

Now is the time to do something.

This is one part of the issue.

Another crucial part of the issue is the funding of the slaughter by the US government.

This is the direct result of imperial greed from both American and Israeli governments.

If you let it stand, then you are complicit.

And that's what the Democrats on the council are doing today.

That is not what people of the world want, it's not what American people want, and it's not what the people of Seattle that you represent want.

You need to call for a ceasefire immediately, and on top of that, you need to demand that the U.S. stop sending our tax dollars to fund the Israeli military and the killing of Palestinians.

You need to vote yes on the resolution put forward by Socialist Councilmember Sawant.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Hannah Suwabata.

Hannah Suwabata.

Hi, my name is Hannah Suwabata.

I'm a District 3 resident and a member of Workers Strike Back.

And I'm here to demand that all Democrats today vote yes on Councilmember Shama Sawant's resolution.

Over 4,000 children have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military.

UNICEF spokespeople have said Gaza has become a graveyard for children and a living hell for everyone else.

Yet the eight Democrats on the city council have failed to say one word publicly to call for an end to the Israeli government's war on the Palestinian people.

That's absolutely unacceptable.

Working people are demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, an end to U.S. funding for the Israeli military, the safe release of all hostages, the restoration of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.

We condemn both the methods of terror used by Hamas and the state terrorism of the Israeli government.

And we combat Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in all their forms and support both the people in Israel and the people of Palestine to live in peace and security.

As others have said at this point, for any elected official with a public platform to be silent is to be complicit.

Democrats on the city council, it's your party that's currently representing US imperialism right now.

And US imperialism has always been a bipartisan agenda.

Biden has blood on his hands.

And if you don't say anything, you're supporting that.

Over 800 people have written to city council in a single day to support this resolution, and we've seen millions protesting across the world to end this war.

In the US, I think we have an especially important role to play in calling for an end to US military funding to Israel as the single biggest funder of the Israeli military.

And I just wanted to say I completely reject the earlier speaker stating that this content in the resolution is inflammatory, that it will incite more violence.

We've seen protests led by both Jewish and Palestinian working people worldwide opposing the war and occupation, showing it's not inflammatory, it's uniting working people of all stripes across the world.

Thank you.

Our next in-person speaker is Daniel Wang.

I'm also an Amazon warehouse worker and I'd like to start talking a bit about that because the same company that ruthlessly exploits me and almost one million other similar workers saw a business opportunity with the Israeli state back in 2014 when Israel invaded the Gaza Strip and began a new stage of brutal occupation there.

And Amazon and Google's made similar investments, has since poured billions of dollars into developing AI and surveillance tools that have powered the kind of occupation there that Amnesty International has characterized as automated apartheid.

It takes a war economy to run a war machine, and the US ruling class has gone above and beyond to economically support the Israeli war machine.

It's companies like Boeing that are currently getting rich right now, sending missiles abroad, first to the US imperialism's proxy war in Ukraine, and now to Israel to bomb innocents in Gaza, And to the Seattle City Council Democrats here, it is your party and Joe Biden who are pushing for $14 billion in additional US military aid to the state of Israel.

For us working class people here in the States, as other people have mentioned, war abroad means the government's continued war on the poor back home.

Because in order to pay for all that military spending, They will make vicious slashes to other crucial services we have here.

That's why a mass movement is brewing in this country and internationally demanding an immediate ceasefire now and an end to all U.S. military aid to Israel.

And if you are unwilling to vote on this resolution put forward by Shama Sawant demanding these things, if you were going to try watering this down, it clarifies yet again that the Democrats in Seattle City Council do not represent the interests of us working people and instead side with the Democratic Party establishment and its bloodthirsty war machine.

And now go back to remote speakers.

And the first remote speaker is Gwendolyn Hart.

Gwendolyn Hart My name is Gwendolyn Hart.

I'm a resident of District 6 and I'm calling in today to urge all Democrats on the City Council to vote yes on Councilman Russell Walsh's resolution.

In the last month, the Israeli military has killed over 10,000 people in Gaza, including 4,100 children, including infants who never even got to see their first birthday.

But in the wake of this, Biden is sending the Israeli military $14 billion.

I'm sure you've seen the massive anti-war protests in this country and across the world.

Your party will pay a serious price if they support such a flagrant attack on human life.

Any elected official on any level who is not using their platform right now to stand for an immediate ceasefire, who is choosing to stay silent, will be complicit in the bloodshed.

The American people are watching, and we will remember in the polls if you choose to stand on the wrong side of history.

This resolution stands in solidarity with the ordinary people of Israel and Palestine with the aim of ending the brutal occupation which spawned this terror which has destroyed their lives.

Pass it with no compromises, no watering down.

That is the only path to justice.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Kevin Vitz-Huong.

KEVIN VITZ- Hi, I'm Kevin from District 3 WPEA Educators Speaking Personal Capacity.

And I'm calling directly to the council, I'm calling on you to publicly vote yes in support of Council Member Sondland's resolution for immediate ceasefire, releasing hostages, and ending U.S. funding of Israel's military.

The Israeli military has targeted journalists, hospitals, refugee camps, and all will deny aid, food, water, power, and internet.

The scale of this destruction wrought by the bombardment and the decades of occupation and oppression before that would have been impossible without bipartisan U.S. support.

Ordinary Palestinians are not represented by Hamas.

Israeli working people also benefit nothing from this war.

And Biden doesn't care about this at all.

He just wants a military foothold in the region.

Here in Seattle, our schools are being forced to combine grade levels and let special ed teachers go for underfunding.

Counselors have a caseload of over 1,000 students each.

So in Seattle, in the richest country in the world, where the majority of our political establishment here is Democrats, austerity at home, and imperialism abroad.

And like a previous speaker said, your silence here communicates a green light.

By not speaking, you say, hmm, more of this.

Another $14 billion for Israel's war machine, $14 billion for the border wall, $61 billion for Ukraine.

Why not?

What a legacy.

So pass this resolution today and divert police funding in Seattle and corporate windfalls to funding education and critical support services, funding your own city's employees.

What is there to debate here?

Stop supporting slaughter.

It's continued for a month now.

Stop supporting the political parties that enabled this.

The top representative of the Democratic Party, Joe Biden, is enabling this, and no one in this cowardly party has the balls to stand up to him yet.

Vote yes.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Zarefa Baroud.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Zarifa Baroud.

I was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, got my bachelor's and master's from the University of Washington and now pursuing my PhD.

I'm here to talk today as a fellow Seattleite, but also a Gazan.

My family is currently all in the Gaza Strip right now, and in the last month, I've lost over 26 members of my family due to the Israeli bombings that have been funded by the United States.

Eleven members of my family have not been recovered from the rubble, and their dead bodies are underneath the rubble because the United States insists on supporting Israel's slaughter that has been going on for over a month now.

My family in Gaza cannot wait for your perfect political moment to demand a ceasefire.

Today, Palestinian children have young toddlers gathered and held a press conference outside of the Shifa hospital in Gaza that had just been bombed by Israel days before.

And what they did is they pleaded to the world.

They said, our families are being killed.

Our brothers and sisters are being killed.

And they pleaded to the world for their protection.

I urge you to listen to their calls and vote yes on Councilwoman Sawant's powerful resolution calling for a ceasefire.

My family cannot wait anymore.

I do not want to lose any more members of my family.

And please remember that this is not about political convenience.

You represent me and you represent everyone else here speaking with you today.

So not only do I encourage you, but it is in fact your job and your obligation thank you so much remote speaker is joe kunzler joe joe you're on you got a star six

You're not unmuted.

Here you go.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Council President.

Can you hear me now?

We can.

All right, let's get this party started and over with, Council President.

This is a subject I don't really like talking about, but it's good to speak to you, and I want to thank you for your service as Council President because I have a Jewish relative, and there are Jews right now fighting Alex Zimmerman at the Public Disclosure Commission in your defense and in the defense of your colleagues.

For those who don't know, Zimmerman holds anti-Semitic, anti-human hate, and I have not been silent in the face of hate, unlike the proponents of this disarmed Israel resolution.

October 7th deeply hurt me, and to see people rip down posters of the kidnap is anti-Semitic, yet nobody has condemned that misbehavior yet.

Calling for a ceasefire now means that Hamas will violate another ceasefire, as they did in the October 7th massacre where Palestinian terrorists burned alive and killed civilians maliciously as they targeted and bombed Jewish buses in the 1990s.

Israel is doing everything she can to protect journalists, and I mourn the loss of my fellow journalists and other civilians against Hamas using human shields to avoid accountability for October 7th.

Let me be clear, though.

A vote for this resolution will send a clear message to our Jewish warfighters advocating for the Council for Maoism and hate and contempt for campaign finance and transparency that you hate Jews who defend themselves.

So please vote no one still wants to do this resolution, especially you, Council Member Moskweta, because I've done the best for you.

Finally, God bless America, go Seattle, Amory Israel Chai, and Slava Ukrani, because we're not going to give our freedom to some effing terrorists and progressive agitators.

That's it.

That's why Jews fight for freedom everywhere and for everyone.

Go Seattle.

Thank you for your public service.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next remote speaker is Aaron Lugwitz.

Erin, there you go.

You're good.

Hi there.

Hi.

My name is Erin.

I'm a constituent in zip code 98144. And yes, I want to echo a lot of fellow commenters supporting Councilmember Sawant's resolution in support of a ceasefire and further that we stop sending military aid and funds to Israel that are contributing to the genocide of the Palestinian people.

and yes i understand this is city council and not the state or federal government that you all have a platform and a responsibility to make it clear that genocide is wrong additionally boeing has 927 million dollar contract with israel and it has contributed to the murder of over 10 000 palestinians and boeing also gets a 100 million dollar tax break from the state of washington and we shouldn't tolerate this and we should make it clear that palestinian lives matter And further, for over two years, my job has been with an organization in Seattle trying to house our unhoused community members.

And while there are millions of reasons for a ceasefire and an end to aid to Israel, over one million Palestinians are now without homes.

And in the context of Seattle, I am acutely aware of how destabilizing and unjust homelessness is and the unfathomable suffering it causes.

And at the same time, Seattle is not being ruthlessly bombed and we still have running water and doctors and functioning hospitals.

So I can't begin to understand the layers of destabilization that Palestinians are undergoing in all realms of life.

And I urge the council to vote yes on this resolution.

And it's your responsibility as leaders in Seattle to say that we do not support genocide and that Palestinians matter.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Gabriel Mahan.

Hi there.

I'm Gabriel.

I'm a renter in District 3 calling in support of the resolution put forth by socialist council members to want.

I think the resolution is just a really strong statement to the Biden administration that the people of Seattle do not stand for bloodshed.

and that we value Palestinian life just as we would any other.

I disagree with the two claims that the statement is inflammatory.

There's nothing inflammatory about calling for a ceasefire and an end to the war, nor is there anything inflammatory about calling for an end to funding the war.

It's in fact the bare minimum that we can do.

There's nothing justified or right about bombing one of the most densely populated regions of the world, and I think the actions of the Israeli military will do nothing but inflame the conflict.

No matter how you spin it, a no vote today means that you stand in support of the war and in support of the bloodshed.

A no vote makes this war your war and your office as Seattle City Council person complicit in its funding and execution.

I urge you to take a stand, use your voice, and vote yes on this resolution.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Josie Ubeller.

And that's Josie.

Hello, my name is Josie.

Hello, my name is Josie Ebelhaer.

I'm a social worker and I'm a member of the Washington Federation of State Employees, Local 889. And I'm an activist with Worker Strike Back.

I strongly support Councilmember Sawant's resolution calling for a ceasefire and encourage all Democrats on the City Council to vote yes.

It is shameful that Councilmember Sawant is the only member on the City Council speaking loudly on this issue.

This is your party that is continuing the funding of this war and unjust bloodshed.

Over 4,000 children have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military.

How can we sit silently as December only grows?

As a union member, I urge all pro-labor Democrats on the city council to stand with the working people and our union siblings in Palestine and Israel.

Vote yes on council members' launch resolution.

We need a ceasefire now and an end to this violence and suffering.

Our next speaker is Molly Daly.

Hello.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak in front of you remotely anyways.

But more than a year ago, I began learning the truth about what Palestinians have had to endure for decades in their fight against illegal occupation.

but I didn't learn about this on my own.

The only reason I now have this awareness is that I'm here in Seattle.

Here, there are so many different faces, different shades of skin, and so many different people from different backgrounds, heritages, and religions.

It was your people here in Seattle who taught me I need to pay attention, and it is for them that I'm choosing not to be silent today.

There is a huge community of Palestinians and Muslims in Seattle.

These are your people, our community, our friends and neighbors, and it is these people, your people, that are waiting by their phones every day to hear news of their loved ones in Palestine, to hear if they have survived, but also know that if they do, they have no idea what kind of lives they are going to have moving forward.

You have your people here in Seattle watching their family, friends, and people who look like them being indiscriminately murdered.

And you have your people here in Seattle seeing innocents and children dying with the support of our country's administration.

So I'm calling on the City Council of Seattle to honor your people, to represent this community, and vote yes on Councilmember Sawant's resolution.

City Councilmembers, I don't discount the amount of pressure or concern you may feel over this resolution, but regardless of your heritage or your beliefs, we all know that more than 10,000 civilians murdered and the millions being collectively punished is wrong.

Please honor the people of Seattle and condemn the Israeli military assault on innocence.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, before you call the next speaker, I apologize.

I'm trying to get a count here so we can wrap up public comment.

How many folks do we have left remote and how many in person?

If you can just give me a second, I'll get it for you.

I will.

It looks like we have three more remote.

And did you want the in-person count too?

Yes.

29. And we have 29 in-person.

Okay, so this is what we're going to do, we are going to finish up with everyone now from this point for we'll have one minute.

And we will we will stop at 315. So let's try to finish up with the remotes if there's three and then take as many as we can of the in person and see we're at at 315 one minute each.

So, again, folks, I appreciate you coming to city hall.

I ask that you pay attention to the clock.

We now have it down to 1 minute and we've heard you many of you are sharing the same concerns and issues and we thank you for that.

So, with that, Madam clerk, let's start again with the 3 people that are left remote for 1 minute and then let's go to the folks that are in chambers for 1 minute and then we should stop by 315.

Thank you.

Our next remote speaker is Tariq Raouf Arzala.

Actually, that gentleman is showing is not present.

So our next speaker is Jade Weiss.

Hello.

Thank you.

I vehemently support Council Member Swan's resolution.

I urge all of you, especially the Democrats, to vote yes and condemn the Israeli assault on Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank.

I beg you to demand a ceasefire, the safe return of all hostages, including the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners, and an end to the 75-year-long apartheid occupation.

This did not begin on October 7th.

The people and children of Palestine have been enduring unspeakable trauma for decades.

And what we are currently seeing is an abhorrent violation of international law, and the resulting damages will have grave impacts on generations to come.

As a, quote, safe city, there's no excuse why this council should not adopt this resolution and be in full support of immediate humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The continued U.S. military aid to Israel is not being used on, quote, terrorists or, quote, to fight terror.

Rather, it's used to bomb hospitals full of disabled people and infants in the ICU.

This military aid is being used to murder not only members of the press, but also their families, churches, mosques, Ambulances and refugee camps have been attacked in this heartless attempt to grab Indigenous lands.

They are forcibly removing families, whole communities, removing them from...

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Ayesha Khan.

Hello.

Hello.

I'm Ayesha Khan.

I am a doctor.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Hello, can you hear me?

I am calling on the Democrats to support the resolution put forth by Ms. Shama Sawant calling for the ceasefire against the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

It is inhumane and immoral to be silent while witnessing the massacre going on.

I am also asking to allow the release of hostages, allow full-scale humanitarian aid, food, water, medications, and fuel to Gaza and to end the occupation of Palestinian land.

As a doctor, I'm horrified to watch the bombing of hospitals, refugee camps, residential buildings.

No place is safe in Gaza.

Gaza's children are being massacred as we speak.

Gaza's civilians are being massacred.

As doctors, we spend years to treat the outcome of these injuries, operate and rehabilitate humans injured and traumatized by...

Thank you.

Our next remote speaker, and this is our last remote speaker, Joe Sugru.

Joe Sugru.

Hello, my name is Joe Sugru.

I'm a District 4 resident and public school teacher and a rank and file member of the North Shore Education Association.

And I ask that the Democrats actually demand that the Democrats vote yes on this resolution put forward by Councilmember Sawant.

urging for an immediate ceasefire, affirming opposition to Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, and urging Congress to end all military funding to Israel.

The amount of money that the United States, the United States imperialism, is giving Israel to fund this siege is absolutely disgusting, given the outrageous funding crisis that a lot of our public institutions, including public schools, face.

And I also think that the labor movement has a huge role to play in these protests moving forward.

And I urge other rank-and-file union members to get in touch with Council Member Sawant's council office to put forward resolutions like this in their own union locals, just like UAW Local 28 has in California.

Thank you very much.

Our next speaker in person is Jordan Medlock.

Hi, I'm Jordan Medlock, and I demand that all Democrats vote yes on Councilmember Schumann's resolution.

Two-thirds of American protests are growing worldwide, calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Jewish-led protesters blocked Philadelphia's main transit center on Thursday, following last week's massive civil disobedience at New York City's Grand Central Station.

Earlier this week, union members in Ontario, Canada, led a civil disobedience protest outside a company known to sell arms to Israel.

And on Friday, more than 100 Palestinian Jews activists blocked the main entrance to the Tucson office of Raytheon, a major weapons profiteer.

Tens of thousands marched on the streets of Washington, D.C.

on Saturday.

People of all walks of life have joined Palestinians in massive demonstrations that have taken over the streets of London, Rome, Oslo, Cairo, Beirut, Kuala Lumpur.

At this point, for an elected official with a public platform to be silent is to be complicit.

Thank you.

Our next in-person speaker is Bryce Phillips.

Good afternoon, or go ahead, start, I guess.

Good afternoon.

I appreciate the only council member who actually showed up for showing up on this issue.

I openly wonder if the other council members are even wearing pants.

As a Choctaw descendant, as well as on my mother's side, as well as an Irish American on my father's side, I know ethnic cleansing and genocide when I see it.

And I know that this city, home of a lot of technological progress, Sometimes, as Dr. King would say, technological progress outstrips social and moral progress, and that is very evident in this city in more ways than one.

It's time for this council to do the right thing and support this resolution.

Let's be leaders on this issue, and 20 years from now, no one's gonna regret voting for this.

And, you know, these crimes that Israel are committing are war crimes against civilians.

It's not about what side you support in Israel versus Palestine.

There's a lot of complexity there.

What's not complicated is that bombing hospital.

Thank you.

Our next speaker.

Our next speaker is Geras Hunt.

Geras Hunt.

There's only one name on the line, if that helps.

Giraffe hunt.

Okay, so the next person after that is Raghav Kaushik.

and I'm here to speak in support of the resolution calling for a ceasefire sponsored by Shama Sawant.

I would strongly urge the other council members to vote in favor without any watering down.

Consider what Steve Sosby, the founder of the Palestine Children's Relief Fund said, quote, doctors are operating on children without anesthesia, without pain medication.

There's children who are burned from bombing of their homes and the doctors don't have dressings.

They don't have anesthesia.

These kids are getting Tylenol when they have third degree burns all over their bodies, end quote.

These are horrific war crimes.

All of this is supposed to be in the name of the hostages who were captured on October 7th.

But the fact is that the state of Israel doesn't care about the hostages.

Mark Rejev, the advisor to Netanyahu, said that we were putting the lives of the hostages at risk, but that is unfortunately unavoidable.

Cease fire now.

This madness needs to stop.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Hamant H-E-M-A-N-T.

Last name is K-A-R-A-Y-A-L-A.

Hi, I'm Hemant.

I'm a renter in District 3. I urge Democrats to vote for our socialist council member Shama Sawant's resolution to call for an immediate ceasefire, release of all hostages, an end to the military funding to Israel, and an end to the occupation.

Why should American workers support a settler colonial apartheid state?

The money should instead be spent on working class people here or on humanitarian efforts, not on war and colonization of innocent people who did nothing wrong.

Palestinians didn't persecute Jewish people across history.

That was not them.

They did nothing wrong.

Joe Biden is supposed to be a liberal.

How can American liberals so shamelessly support far-right Nathan Yahoo with no red lines when he's literally using biblical language to call for the deaths of innocent civilians and children and women?

That's religious fanaticism.

You can't claim to be a liberal and support fanaticism.

We're calling for genocide using biblical language.

The Democrats will lose in 2024 if they don't do a ceasefire now.

People across the world want an end to this genocide.

The UN and various human rights organizations have been calling this a genocide.

The U.S. is breaking international law and its own law to support this genocide.

It has to stop.

Cease fire now.

Please, if you have a shred of humanity in you, cease fire now.

Thank you.

All right, Madam Clerk, it is 3.15.

Our next speaker is Kristen.

Madam Clerk.

Yes.

Let's make this our last speaker.

President Juarez, a lot of people are here, and there's not very many left.

So can we just finish everybody who's here to speak in person?

They've taken time out of their working.

Yeah, I know that.

Madam Clerk, how many people are physically here?

Last time I counted, you said 29. Right.

So we've got left.

One, two, three, four, five.

We're up to 20. There's 20 left.

Okay, well, we're not going to do 20 speakers, but what I will do, Council Member Sawant, is I will add five more minutes to the clock.

So let's have five or let's go with the next.

But 20 speakers, just 20 minutes, Council President.

We should be able to give 20 minutes more for this issue, whether it's too much bloodshed.

We are going to give five minutes.

With that, Madam Clerk, please call the next speaker.

Please be mindful you have one minute and listen for the 10-second timer.

And let's go until 3.20.

How about this?

How about we go until 3.25?

3.30.

All right.

Let's do that.

3.25.

Let's go.

Thank you.

Our next in-person speaker is Kristen Nguyen.

What's the name?

Okay.

Which number?

Oh, Kristen Nguyen.

Is Christine in here?

Yes, please.

Okay, so just so we can move along, let's go to the next person.

Hala Saleh.

Hala Saleh.

I'm here to call for an immediate yes vote on Councilmember Sawant's resolution.

I'm a Palestinian-American, and two weeks ago, my 16- and 12-year-old sons Noah and Zain Saqala lost over 40 members of their extended family in an Israeli airstrike on their family home in Gaza.

My boys will grow up seeing the Democratic Party as the conductors of this family trauma, and they will not forget that their lives are valued less.

Other people in your constituency will also see this.

The people who have traditionally bolstered the Democratic Party will also see this.

By not voting yes on this resolution, you ensure a continuation and intensification of both Islamophobia and antisemitism.

I will not quote statistics of how many of my people have been massacred just since October 7th, let alone over the last 75 years of military occupation.

Your constituents have information at their fingertips now.

They see what you, as their elected leaders, are creating.

in the world.

The wool has been removed from their eyes and your silence is naked and clear as genocide.

Continuing to aid and abet explicitly stated intent.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Leila Saliba.

Leila Saliba.

Our next speaker is Leila Saliba.

high school, got my degree of public health from UW.

Former nurse, proud SEIU member, turned soccer mom.

Apologies for that.

But I am also an Arab community organizer.

I am one of the Arab Americans who have lost faith in the Democratic Party, partly due to things like Democratic support for privatization of Medicare, but mostly due to this current warmongering.

This resolution is simple.

It's a call to the end of violence.

Please help restore our faith in justice, democracy, and humanity.

If this is not voted on today, please make sure you vote on it today.

Please vote yes, otherwise we will be back speaking more and spending more time here on something that is very basic.

So please, please, please vote yes on this resolution and vote today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Nathan Fisher.

Hello, Nathan Fisher here.

Of course, I'm against the extermination of Palestinian children.

But the fact that we have to come here and tell you guys that it's wrong and lets me know that you guys just need these pink slips.

We are currently building a future without you.

I'm not talking to you.

I'm talking past you.

Keep playing your Angry Birds or ordering on Amazon, whatever you're doing.

We are here to create a system where we see war criminals doing the perp walk.

I want to see a city council that holds Boeing and all of these tech companies doing Pentagon contracts accountable.

I want to see people behind bars for the criminality that we are seeing right now.

I don't want to just see a ceasefire.

We need justice for the Palestinian people and justice for all people.

And the fact that you have to be told and a lot of you guys on your phones just occupied with something else like this doesn't matter to you.

It just lets me know what kind of person you are and history is watching you.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Hi, my name is Sabreen.

I'm a Palestinian American.

I was born here in Seattle.

It's super disheartening to know that year after year I'm watching budget cuts happening.

Nobody in Seattle has access to basic resources because we don't have funding for housing for our houseless community.

We don't have Medicare.

medical resources for folks who are living in Seattle, yet we're funding a genocide for a people thousands of miles away from here.

You guys are funding, you guys are supporting the funding of a military occupation of a people that have been oppressed for 75 years.

But you guys not supporting Sawant's resolution, you are funding the genocide of my people.

And on top of that, my tax dollars go to the genocide of my people.

So I need you guys to cut funding to the Israeli military so I can look at my family in their eyes and tell them that I'm not complicit in the genocide of my own people.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Megan Murphy.

Thanks for introducing this, and I urge you to vote yes.

I've been following Ahmad Manasra on Facebook, and he was 13 years old in Palestine.

He had his cousin killed in front of him.

They were both about 13. And he was laying on the ground with both of his legs broken, and these huge Israeli soldiers threw him in a prison and interrogated him, and the interrogations are on video.

And this was in 2013, and this occupation has been going on for 16 years.

And they put him in a chair inside of a tiny jail cell, and they put hoods on his head so he can't see, and they lock him up to a chair for 24 hours a day.

And then they say he's schizophrenic, and they won't let him out of the prison.

And it's horrific.

And they do this to thousands and thousands of Palestinian children.

Why was this not...

on the cover of CNN the second it happened.

Or the second, on New York Times, it was hidden from the public view because these psychopathic warmongers who are like Jeffrey Dahmer with weapons need to be taken out of power and socialism like Trotsky needs to be reintroduced to society because these people are sick.

Madam Clerk, how are we looking with our speakers?

How are we looking with our speakers?

We have...

Let me get my paperwork straightened out here.

You've got...

16.

Okay, let's go ahead and continue then.

Our next speaker is...

Austin Price.

Hi there.

Yep.

Hi there.

My name is Austin Price.

I'm a District 6 renter and I am just getting up here today to thank Councilmember Sawant for putting this proposition forward and urging all Democrats on the City Council to vote yes.

I don't know what else I can really say that has not been said more eloquently and with much more painstaking closeness to the situation.

It's disgusting that our money goes to fund the bombing of hospitals, the bombing of ambulances, the murder of children, the occupation of land that I'm not going to get into this.

I've got a minute, not even that at this point.

This is 78 years of horror.

But the best I will say is if you don't vote on this, if you don't vote in the affirmative, this is going to be a stain on all of our souls, quite frankly.

There's our money going to this.

And if we don't have the integrity, we're going to lose the box office, Jesus Christ, polling station.

We're going to lose and we're going to deserve to lose, quite frankly.

So vote for this or just watch our ruin.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Katie Dutcher.

Katie Dutcher.

Dutcher.

Hi, I'm Kate, and I'm a Seattle resident.

I would first like to thank Councilmember Sawant for proposing this resolution and for arriving in person when most of the other council members could not even be bothered to turn on their cameras.

The increasing number of deaths in the West Bank is a demonstration that the Netanyahu regime holds nothing but contempt for innocent Palestinians and their own people as they continually escalate the violence and refuse to negotiate for their own civilians.

They do not care about protecting Israeli civilians.

They only care about killing Palestinians.

As U.S. citizens, it is our responsibility to do everything in our power to stop our government when it makes decisions that only serve to spread wanton destruction.

As our representatives, Seattle City Council members hold an even greater responsibility.

I know most Democrats will most likely vote no to this resolution.

They will continue to support their own agendas at the cost of their own constituents, as they did when they refused to vote in favor of rent control.

You failed us then, but I urge you not to fail us now.

We need an immediate ceasefire to bring to an end innocent civilian Palestinian and Israeli casualties.

Thank you.

I believe one speaker in public comment was called out by Linda, but may have missed it.

So with Linda's permission, I'm announcing their name, Prashant Nema.

Thank you, Casimir Salant.

Thank you, President Morris.

Hello, my name is Prashant and I'm here to urge you all the council members to vote in favor of the resolution proposed by council member Shama Sawant.

I demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and I demand an end to U.S. funding for the Israeli military.

I don't want my taxes to be used for causing death and misery in the world.

I demand safe release for all hostages and I demand a restoration of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza and to the end of Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands and the people.

Now, I know how this is going to play.

Some of you will say that it's a very complicated issue.

Some of you will claim that you will invoke both sides at some point.

Let me tell you that this is not a complicated issue, and also that if you do not vote yes, we will be back with more people next time.

Thank you.

So Madam Clerk, how are we looking?

Our next speaker is Jared Sikander, who will be followed by Jordan Kameen.

So Jordan, if you'd like to take the other mic and get people queued up to get through the list.

Hello, my name is Jared Sikander.

I represent the voice of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in the Seattle area.

I want to start by saying thank you to Councilmember Shama Sawant for bringing this resolution forward.

I demand all Democrats vote yes on Shama Sawant's Gaza ceasefire resolution.

As you heard from Seattleites who lost their loved ones in this war, the brutal genocide in Gaza has to stop now.

Israel has mercilessly killed 10,000 civilians, and half of them are children.

Shame.

So it is very important that Seattle City Council join the voices of 200 million Americans who are saying no to this war, who are saying not in my name and demanding an immediate end to this war.

Stop this genocide now.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, this is what we'll do is Madam Clerk.

Madam Clerk, if you guys want to get through the list, we need to get the speakers off.

Let's have a pause here.

We are going to take one more speaker because we have 65 people signed up for the hearing.

We can't hear you, CP.

I'm sorry, then let's just take a pause here.

I don't wanna have to go into a recess.

Let me know when you can hear me and then I will- We can hear you now, Chair.

We can hear you, President Norris.

Thank you.

We will take one more speaker and then we'll close public comment because we have 65 people signed up for the public hearing.

That's gonna happen later on in the agenda.

So we will take this speaker and then we'll move, we'll close public comment.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jordan Kameen.

Hey, I am Jordan Kamen, Seattle Bike Messenger Association and voter district four.

I can't really sum up anything anybody else has said.

I think everybody has spoken really eloquently in favor of Council Member Shama Sawant's resolution, but I felt that I should come down here and say so myself as a member of my communities.

I will say, those of the council members who have your cameras off, I feel disrespected as having spent my time to come down here.

And that was very reassuring, thank you.

And I, I don't know, I just, I wonder how many of you have lost someone and how many of you have kids or parents or families that are at risk of being bombed.

And I want you to think about that when you vote on this resolution.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you, everybody, for your patience.

And thank you.

Thank you, everybody, for your patience.

And thank you, those who came down today to give public comment and those of you who called in.

We reached the end of our allotted time for folks for remote and in-chamber, so public comment is now closed.

Let's move on into our agenda to adoption of the introduction and referral calendar.

I move to adopt the introduction and referral calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It has been moved and seconded to adopt the introduction and referral calendar.

Council Member Sawant, are there any comments?

Thank you, President Juarez.

I move to amend the introduction and referral calendar to introduce a resolution entitled a resolution condemning the Israeli military assault on the people of Gaza, urging an immediate ceasefire, affirming opposition to Islamophobia and anti Semitism and urging the U.

S Congress to end all military funding to Israel and by referring it to the City Council for final action at today's meeting.

Thank you, Councilmember Sawant.

Is there a second to Councilmember Sawant's motion?

Can I motivate my motion?

Yes.

I'm going to allow you to do that, and then I'm going to go ahead and move forward.

Go ahead, Councilman Salant.

Thank you, President Juarez.

I appreciate it.

Imagine if Seattle were Gaza.

The Gaza Strip is almost exactly the same size in square miles of the city of Seattle, but with three times the population.

Gaza is home to 2.3 million people.

If Seattle were Gaza, we could not travel outside the city.

Palestinian people in Gaza are trapped within its boundaries by an air, land, and sea blockade enforced by the Israeli military, the fourth largest military in the world, which is backed by tens of billions of dollars of U.S. imperialism.

Now imagine Seattle's electricity, water, and medical supplies have been cut off, food supplies are dwindling, hospitals have been bombed, with only four left in operation.

And now imagine that the Israeli military has dropped no fewer than 10,000 bombs on this city.

This is what the people of Gaza are experiencing as we speak.

This is what the families of so many of our siblings, like Sister Leila Saliba, Sister Hala Saleh, and Sister Zarifa Baroud, who all spoke today, whose families are facing potential disaster in Gaza, and many have already been killed.

It is frankly an unimaginable human catastrophe, which is why I urge council members to join me in introducing, voting in favor of, and passing this resolution today.

This resolution condemns the brutal Israeli assault on the people of Gaza It demands an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, an end to U.S. funding for the Israeli military, the safe release of all hostages, the restoration of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.

It condemns both the methods of terror used by Hamas and the state terrorism of the Israeli government and affirms commitment to combat Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in all their forms and support for both the people of Israel and Palestine to live in peace and security.

The aims of the Israeli government were made clear after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant declared on October 9, quote, I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip.

There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel.

Everything is closed.

We are fighting human animals, and we will act accordingly, end quote.

That quote is not an aberration.

There are many other similar quotes from the representatives of the right-wing Likud party in power in Israel, and that quote is also exactly what the Israeli military has carried out.

This resolution, as I said before, also condemns the brutal October 7th attack where Hamas killed 1,400 Israelis, including children, women, the elderly, and other civilians, as well as Bedouins and other Arab Israelis, injured over 3,500, and took over 200 as hostages.

Global history decisively shows that violent attacks on innocent and ordinary people do not bring progressive change.

On the contrary, we need an international anti-war movement with the labor movement and rank-and-file workers leading protest and strike actions.

Our movement opposes violent attacks on civilians both in Israel and Palestine, which stands in sharp contrast to the political establishment and their imperialism, which takes every opportunity to dehumanize and ignore the oppression of the Palestinian people.

A staggering 10,000 ordinary people in Gaza have been killed, and over a million have been forced from their homes.

The majority of those killed are women, children, and the elderly.

The Israeli military has bombed hospitals, schools, and community centers.

As others have already said, with over 4,100 children massacred, James Elder, a UNICEF spokesperson, said, the Gaza Strip is now a graveyard for thousands of children.

It is a living hell for everyone else.

As working people also said during public comment, imperialism is a shared agenda for the Republican and the Democratic parties, which are the two big business parties that control this agenda, and Biden has blood on his hands.

Nearly 800 people have sent emails to the city council urging them to vote yes on this resolution.

As Akram Al-Sattari, a journalist and interpreter based in Gaza, said directly to my office in a statement urging the council to vote yes on this resolution, quote, what's happening in Gaza is uncalled for human suffering that has nothing to do with the war between good and evil.

It is a war between unleashed madness and consciousness and common sense.

Civilians are burning the brunt of the ongoing escalation while humanity is facing a difficult test and moral challenge.

The ball is now in your court.

Side with humanity and be there for those who need your humanity most now." This is only a resolution in the city of Seattle and certainly does not have any direct legal authority to force Israel to accept a ceasefire or US Congress to end the billions of dollars in military funding for Israel's weaponry. But this resolution is part of a global movement demanding a ceasefire. This resolution is affirming the sentiments that have been expressed by millions who have marched in dozens of countries around the world. And this movement is having a real impact because it is becoming, it's clear, it's becoming less and less politically viable for Democrats and the Biden administration particularly to continue funding Israel's occupation and oppression of the Palestinians. Two-thirds of Americans support an immediate ceasefire in a poll conducted two weeks ago before the Israeli military escalation, a record high, you know, meaning I'm sure the numbers are going to move even more in the next weeks. A record high, 41 percent, oppose U.S. military aid to Israel, including the overwhelming majority of young people. If you look at polls of young people, the majority are against this war. Biden's approval rating among Democrats has plummeted to a new low in just the last three weeks, and among Arab Americans, Biden's approval has shrunk from 59% in 2020 to just 17% today, with people chanting, quote, no ceasefire, no vote. And as Nihad Awad, the Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said, that means ceasefire now, not several weeks or months from now when there is a real danger of a wider Middle East war. which will shed a lot more blood. However, we also need to be clear that for the capitalist class, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not about race or religion. It is about maintaining an overwhelming military presence for imperialism in the oil-rich Middle East, and all the bloodshed and human suffering is simply collateral damage for the global elite. The war also poses a significant threat, particularly because of the context of heightened tensions and polarizations globally due to the new Cold War between the United States and China, which has already escalated the scale and duration of war in Ukraine. And in this imperialist war between the two blocs, ordinary people in all these countries are getting screwed. These are the forces our movement has to contend with as we fight for an end to the violence. This is why both Democrats and Republicans in Washington, D.C., currently have bills to give the Israeli military an additional $14 billion in weaponry funding, in addition to the $3.2 billion provided every year. I want to thank the many Palestinian, Jewish, and Muslim, and other community members and leaders who worked with my office on this resolution, and to those of you who came to speak in public comment on such short notice, thank you. I also want to thank the nearly 800 people who wrote the city council in support of this resolution in less than a day, in fact, in a matter of hours. As I said, we are a part of the movement in countries around the world. Last but not least, I want to thank the millions of Jewish, Muslim, and all other ethnicities, all of the people who have marched across the world without regard for nationality, ethnicity, and other divisions. As others have said, what's inflammatory is continuing this war. What millions of people are demanding in a united voice is an end to the war and bloodshed. Seattle is not separate from the world, and elected officials here have a duty to vote yes on this resolution. Seattle is home to many people with family and friends in Israel and Palestine, including people in grave danger in Gaza. I urge council members to not delay speaking out on this devastating issue and vote yes. History will judge you, council members. History will judge the Democratic Party. Are you going to represent the madness of US imperialism and the greed of wealthy shareholders and their profits, especially in companies like Raytheon, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin, and of the entire capitalist class? Or are you going to show courage and stand with the tens of millions of ordinary people worldwide who are saying, we need a ceasefire now, we need an end to the occupation, we need an immediate end to U.S. funding for the Israeli military? Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Swann.

Councilor Swann, as a break from protocol, I allowed you to speak to a matter that has not been accepted, but because of the necessity and how important it is to you and to all of us, I wanted to acknowledge and give you that opportunity.

So I procedurally, though, must follow the rules, the Parliamentary Robert's Rules of Order.

So my understanding right now is, though I did give you an opportunity to speak, is that I did not hear a second.

And for that, the motion dies for lack of a second.

So that means for those of you listening, the Councilman was given the opportunity and the grace to share her words.

We will not be addressing or voting on this resolution.

We can't hear you.

We can't hear you.

Okay.

Sorry.

Can you hear me now?

So we will not be voting on this resolution for lack of a second.

So if we were to go, if this were to have been passed or a second, we would have addressed it with other council members and a vote.

And we're not going to do that.

And we're not going to do that on section J of the agenda as well.

So I'm going to try to shorten this.

A lot of people have things to say, and I understand that.

But the motion does fail.

And we're going to move forward on the agenda.

Council Member Hubbell, if this has to do with some of those comments, I'm going to ask that you hold them.

Okay, so go ahead, Council Member, I'm sorry, go ahead, Council Member Wood.

Just to confirm my understanding of what you said, parliamentary procedure does not allow us to speak to the motion if there's no second.

Correct.

I just want to be very clear for the viewing public for why we are not speaking.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council President, I hate to interrupt, but they cannot hear you in Council Chambers at this time.

Okay, so let's take a pause so people can just let me know when, if we have to take a recess, we will.

but I will sit here until we're ready.

Linda in Chambers is asking if that is possible at this moment to allow a quick recess.

All right, let's take, let's see, it is 3.44.

Madam Clerk, would you like a five minute recess or 10?

Thank you.

Five-minute recess.

Thank you.

All right.

Let's do that.

Okay, folks, stay on the line.

We will take a five-minute recess.

We are now in recess.

you

We are coming out of our recess and we're going to get back on our agenda.

We have a public hearing further down the agenda and we have 65 people signed up to speak to that matter.

which is going to be a bit long there.

So I want to thank all of you that spoke.

And I also want to acknowledge that we did give the courtesy of Councilman Sawant to speak to her issue.

But now we're going to move on.

So with that, oh, I see Councilmember Nelson, I see you have your hand up.

I'd like you to be quick because I'd like to move on to our agenda.

But go ahead.

Can you ask, can we confirm that people who showed up to speak at the public hearing in person are still in the audience?

I heard that a lot of people were leaving.

I don't know if I can do that.

President, we don't need to.

That's out of order.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Yeah, I can't do that.

We can't do that right now.

We're just going to have to go with who we have when we get there.

We're not there yet.

That's number five.

We got four other things to get through before we get there.

But the clerks are telling me that there are 65 people who have called in.

Okay.

And so I should just say it right now, based on my discussions with one of the proponents of the item number five, we'll be giving them one minute to speak to their issue.

Okay.

So now that we will now move on.

Yeah, I don't want to do that right now.

So I now move to adopt the introduction referral calendar.

Is there a second?

I got one earlier.

I'm sorry.

Second.

All right.

So now that we're done with that, if there's no objection, the introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.

Moving on, let's go on to our agenda.

President Juarez, I raised my hand because I do have an objection.

Okay.

I think it is really shameful that this city council, which is made up of eight Democrats, is not even able to give a courtesy second so that the vote can happen.

And do you know why?

Because they don't want to be caught in a record, a public record of having voted against a resolution to end the ceasefire.

Okay, Councilor Sawal, I understand that, but we need to move forward.

The motion failed.

And the reason why they are not willing to take a vote is precisely because of something that many of you already said in public comment.

They are all members of the Democratic Party.

In the city council, at the city council level, they pretend that it's all nonpartisan, but they are absolutely partisans, as am I, but I am a socialist.

I am not a member of the Democratic Party.

These are all, they are all expected to be loyal to the agenda of the Democratic Party.

and they will not be caught voting yes on this resolution, but they also don't want to be caught voting no because that will also come with a political price tag.

So we have to make sure that today their refusal to even give us a second to have a vote itself should come with a hefty price tag, not just to these council members, but let's take the message outside.

This is making it very clear the Democratic Party any more than the Republican Party is not the representative of working people, of oppressed people, and against imperialism.

We need a party on the left, a party that is actually opposed to imperialism and actually is opposed to the billionaire class to fund the needs of ordinary people, whether they are American or Israeli or Palestinian, that's the kind of world we need.

And the starting point of that in the United States is for us working people and the labor movement and communities to fight for a new party for the working class.

Thank you, Kelsar Sawant.

Okay, with that, you've noted your objection.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll on the introduction referral calendar?

Councilmember Mesquita.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

No.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

And Council President Juarez.

Yes.

Seven in favor, one opposed.

Thank you.

The introduction and referral calendar is adopted.

All right, now let's move on to, and did I do the agenda monitor?

Okay, I'll do that right now.

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

There's chanting going on, so if you wanted to take a minute, I'll let you know when it stops.

All right.

We'll be back.

God damn these people are shameful.

Okay, it's stopped.

Thank you.

Thank you.

With no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Especially this American Indian woman.

She should be ashamed of her.

Moving on on our agenda.

Shame on you.

Shame on you.

Shame on you.

Yes.

You're black in your hat.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you now.

Great.

Let's move on.

We will now consider the proposed consent calendar.

Items on the consent calendar include the minutes of October 24th, and we have Council Bill's Payroll Bill 120698 and Council Bill 120699. Are there any Council members who would like to remove anything from today's consent calendar?

not seeing any hands, anyone wanting to remove anything, I move to adopt the consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It has been moved and seconded to adopt the consent calendar.

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

Council Member Mesquita?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Sawant.

And Council President Huotis.

Aye.

Seven in favor.

Thank you.

The consent calendar is adopted.

And clerk, please fix my signature to the minutes and legislation on the consent calendar on my behalf.

On our agenda, we're gonna move into committee reports, and we have four, and it looks like they're all Councilmember Strauss's.

So can we read item one into the record, please?

Report of the Land Use Committee.

Agenda Item 1. Clerk File 314474. Application of Acer House LLC for a contract rezone of a site located at 2210 East Cherry Street from Neighborhood Commercial 1 with a 40-foot height limit and M mandatory housing affordability suffix.

The committee recommends that City Council grant as conditioned the clerk file.

Thank you.

Council Member Strauss.

Councilmember Strauss.

All right, Council President, I was just fixing something in my background.

Thank you, colleagues.

This is contract rezone of a site located at 23rd and Union in the Jack.

Sorry, my apologies.

These are these are a little bit mixed up 23rd and Jackson.

The address is 2210 East cherry street.

It's a contract rezone.

The clerk file 314474 relates to council bill 120697. I will address both of these items.

Right now, so we don't have to come back to me, this is a pre proposed rezone of a split zone site rezone will amend both portions of the lot.

To allow the eastern portion, which is in zone neighborhood commercial one with 40 foot height limit and mandatory housing.

suffix the western portion is zone neighborhood commercial one with 40 foot height limit and to mha suffix the proposed rezone would be to neighborhood commercial one.

With a 65-foot height limit, the overall project is approximately 19,000 square feet.

This rezone would facilitate the development of a mixed-use building designed in an Afrofuturist style with 114 apartments and ground floor commercial space.

SDC I recommended approval on June 8, the hearing examiner held an open open record hearing on July 19, and recommended approval on August 17. The land use committee was briefed and recommended conditional approval on October 20. There is an amendment to the Council Bill 120697, which is the executed property use and development agreement the PUDA agreeing to the committee's recommendations.

Thank you, Council President.

Thank you.

Are there any comments regarding this item?

Not seeing any, and I'm guessing Council Member Strauss, you're good on not, you don't need any closing remarks.

Thank you, Council President.

Okay.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the granting of the clerk file?

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Herbal?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

And Council President Juarez?

Aye.

Seven in favor and none opposed.

Thank you.

The clerk file is granted as conditioned, and the chair will sign the findings, conclusions, and decision of the council.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the findings, conclusions, and decision of the council on my behalf?

Moving on to item number two, will you please read item number two into the record?

Agenda item two, clerk file 314513, application of Andrew Kloos to rezone a parcel of land located at 1000 Northeast North Gateway from neighborhood commercial three with a 55 foot height limit and mandatory housing affordability suffix to a neighborhood commercial three with a 65 foot height limit and mandatory housing affordability suffix.

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

Thank you.

Council Member Strauss.

Thank you, Council President.

This is a contract rezone.

The clerk file 314513 relates to Council Bill 120696. So yes, we have four items from Land Use Committee before us today.

It is $2,000.

packages, essentially.

I'm going to address both the clerk file and the council bill right now.

This is a rezone of property in northeast corner of North Gateway and Roosevelt Way up by the QFC.

It's a rezone from Neighborhood Commercial 3 with a 55-foot height limit in M suffix to Neighborhood Commercial 3 with a 65-foot height limit in M1 suffix.

This rezone will facilitate the development of 184-unit affordable housing project with mix of units affordable to households at or below 60 and 80% of the area median income and 28 three-bedroom units.

SDCI and the hearing examiner both recommended approval and there was no appeal of the hearing examiner's decision.

Land use committee was briefed and recommended conditional approval on October 20th.

This also will have an amendment to add the executed property use and development agreement as presented on the agenda.

Thank you, Council President, and no final comments once you're done.

I just want to say thank you because this is in District five and now exactly where the spot is at.

And we had been anticipating this.

So thank you very much.

I didn't think I'd be around to see the day that this would finally happen.

So thank you.

Are there any other comments from my colleagues before we go to a vote?

Not seeing any, will the clerk please call the roll on the granting of the clerk file?

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

And Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Seven in favor and unopposed.

Thank you.

Clerk file is granted as conditioned, and the chair will sign the findings, conclusions, and decision of council.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the findings, conclusion, and decision of the council on my behalf.

Moving on to item number three.

Again, we have Council Member Strauss.

Madam Clerk, can you read item three into the record?

Report of the City Council.

Agenda item three.

Council Bill 120697. relating to land use and zoning amending chapter 23.32 of the Seattle Municipal Code at page 112 of the official land use map to rezone parcels located at 2210 East Cherry Street.

Thank you.

I move to pass Council Bill 120697. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

Council Member Strauss.

Thank you.

I move to amend Council Bill 120697 by substituting Exhibit B with the executed Property Use and Development Agreement as presented on the agenda.

Thank you.

It has been moved and seconded to substitute Exhibit B as presented on the agenda.

Council Member Strauss, do you want to speak to this amendment?

The Property Use and Development Agreement is a contractual contract between just stating that the developer will do what the Council has requested.

So it's more procedural.

I will save my comments the next time around as well.

Okay, thank you.

Will the Clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the amendment?

Council Member Mosqueda?

Aye.

Council Member Nelson?

Aye.

Council Member Peterson?

Aye.

Council Member Strauss?

Yes.

Council Member Herbold?

Yes.

Council Member Lewis?

Yes.

And Council President Juarez?

Aye.

Seven in favor and none opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries.

The amendment is adopted.

And the bill as amended is before the council.

So there's no other comments on the amended bill.

And Council Member Strauss is good with no more closing remarks.

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

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Sawant.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

And Council President Juarez.

Aye.

Seven in favor and end opposed.

Thank you.

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

Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf.

Let's move on to item number four.

Please read item number four into the record.

Agenda item four, Council Bill 120696, relating to land use and zoning, amending Chapter 23.32 of the Seattle Municipal Code at page 16 of the official land use map to rezone the property at 1000 and 1020 Northeast Gateway from Neighborhood Commercial 3.

I move to pass Council Bill 120696. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It has been moved and seconded to pass the bill.

Council Member Strauss, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Council President.

I move to amend Council Bill 120696 by substituting Exhibit B with the Executed Property Use and Development Agreement as presented on the agenda.

The PUDA is the contract between the City and the developer, just stating that they will do what they have said that they will do.

Thank you, Council President.

No further comments needed.

Also, Member Strauss, I think there may be some confusion here because we already did your substitute.

So item four does not show me that you had an amendment to it.

You had an amendment to your item number three, but not four.

Fantastic.

I must be getting confused.

I see the PUDA here.

It was...

This is just a straightforward...

It was already signed, wasn't it?

Yep.

You're good on that one.

So this one was just a straightforward.

There's a second.

You had it.

You spoke to it.

There was no amendment.

I'm guessing you have no closing remarks and I can go to a vote.

Fantastic.

Thank you.

My apologies.

No problem.

For that confusion.

It's my job up here, apparently.

So anyway.

Nothing further.

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

Council Member Mesquita.

Aye.

Council Member Nelson.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Aye.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Council Member Herbold.

Yes.

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

And Council President Huotis.

Aye.

Seven in favor and none opposed.

Thank you.

The bill passes.

The chair will sign it.

And Madam Clerk, please affix my signature to the bill on my behalf.

So now we're going to get to the public hearing, and I have a few comments to say, but first, Madam Clerk, we read item five into the record.

Agenda item five, Council Bill 120635, amending the Seattle Comprehensive Plan to incorporate changes related to a transportation impact fee program proposed as part of the 2022-2023 Comprehensive Plan annual amendment process.

Thank you.

Before I open the public hearing on this item, we will have Ketel Friedman from Council Central Staff provide Council and the public an overview of the bill.

And then we'll allow Council members, if indeed they have questions, to ask them.

Before Ketel begins, I would like to make a few comments, and then I will ask Council Member Herbold, as co-sponsor of the bill, to provide some introductory remarks.

So the process today is...

Council member Herbert will speak.

There'll be a presentation.

Council members can ask questions.

We'll go to a public hearing.

Also, what I wanted to add, and I want to thank central staff and my staff for providing this for me, is a quick overview for those of you, for the public and some of my colleagues as well, The chronology of Council Bill 120635, since there seems to be a little bit of confusion, which I'm sure Councilmember Herbert will respond to a lot of that outstanding history.

But here's some of the chronology that we have dealt with this year, 2023. So March 21, 2023, the Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities Committee received a presentation on a draft impact fee study and reviewed a potential project list for transportation impact fees.

On May 17, 2023, Council Bill 120635 was submitted to the City Clerk sponsored by Councilmember Peterson and Herbolt.

On August 8, 2023, the City Council formally referred Council Bill 12635 to the Land Use Committee.

On September 13th, the Land Use Committee heard Council Bill 120635. At that meeting, Ketel Friedman, our amazing Ketel Friedman from Council Central staff provided a briefing on the bill and it was discussed in committee.

So today, The City Council is conducting a public hearing, which was publicly advertised with 30 days advance notice.

Before we start the public hearing, we will again receive a presentation on the bill by Caleb Friedman of Central Staff.

And again, Council members may then ask Mr. Friedman for questions prior to the start of the public hearing.

Following the presentation and questions, following the presentation, and questions, we will begin the public hearing.

So with that, I'm going to pass it off to Council Member Herbolt, and then we'll go through the process.

Council Member Herbolt.

Thank you so much, Madam President.

I will keep my remarks brief today.

The Council is holding a required public hearing in advance of a Council vote on November 21st.

I wanted to first let everybody know that I will be bringing forward an amendment on November 21st in response to some concerns that have been raised by groups such as Seattle for Everyone, Cascade Bicycle Club, Transportation Choices, The Urbanists, Seattle Subway.

The amendment relates to the current policy and what the policy is proposed to be changed to.

The current policy says consider use of transportation impact fees.

The proposed version of Council Bill 120635 replaces the words consider use of with use.

So it would read use transportation impact fees.

Because of the concern that we've heard from folks, my amendment will return the language where it says use transportation fees to the current language of consider use of.

The ability to enact this amendment with the consider use language and still fulfill the procedural requirement confirms what we've been trying to explain.

With either language, whether it's consider use or use, This bill does not create any obligation to create a transportation impact fee program.

The hearing examiner specifically said, adoption of generalized policies of a comprehensive plan do not require or even guarantee that implementing ordinances be adopted.

There is no imperative nor requirement that the comprehensive plan policies be implemented through subsequent regulations.

They may, but they are not required to.

Nevertheless, the change of the policies is required to have a conversation about a transportation impact fee program.

So as a gesture of good faith, I'm offering this amendment to address the specific concerns of several stakeholders.

The bill before us today does nothing more than add a list of 25 bike, ped, transit, and freight projects to our comprehensive plan and identifies them as eligible for funding under a future transportation impact fee program if one was created the bill restates state law for allowing for exemptions for low-income housing and other public purposes and it describes a possible policy of considering locational discounts for urban centers i can't tell you how many emails we've received commenting on whether or not people want a transportation impact fee or oppose a transportation impact fee.

There is no transportation impact fee proposal before the council today.

People have pointed to the questions about the potential transportation impact fee program as a reason to not support this amendment that would allow discussion of those very questions about transportation impact fees.

Again, any proposal to create such a program would need to be a separate future action.

So for this reason, questions such as how much should a fee be?

Is it good economic sense to enact a fee in this real estate environment?

What else besides affordable housing and childcare facility development could be exempt?

could fees be lower in some areas to incentivize more development how should the fee be collected and at what stage of development these are all questions for another day these are not questions for today we will not even be able to get to the process of having a conversation about these questions until we pass the comprehensive plan amendment those questions and answers would require a separate future process and action asking these questions now in opposition to the amendment is not aligned with the process ahead necessary to deliberate and pass or oppose a transportation impact fee program that's all i've got today um with that um madam president i hand it back to you thank you very much for that and before we move on i see council member mosqueda has her hand up and then we'll we'll i'll give keith the floor counselor mosquito

Thank you very much.

I wasn't actually scheduled to be here today, so this is the only reason that I'm participating in today's conversation because I'm really frustrated, colleagues.

I'm really frustrated that I have spent the last six years on council working hard with my team, led by Erin House, to push and pass pro-housing policies.

And we have done that focus on housing investments directly, and we've done that focusing on amendments to the comprehensive plan.

And I feel like when I ask questions, and this is not targeted at any one person, but when I ask questions, I'm being treated as if it is unreasonable.

These questions are coming from community.

These questions are coming from people who are very interested in wanting to ensure that there's no impediment to building housing.

These questions and concerns are essential for us to address and should have been addressed in a committee setting, not in the middle of budget.

I don't think it should come as any surprise to anyone that there's going to be amendments from me as well.

And I had 20 questions that I raised.

I don't believe those have been shared with the full council.

So I'm happy to start going through those today as part of the conversation that I believe we should be having before we get into the policy content and before we have a robust discussion through the public hearing.

To say that there's been a conversation on this topic for years or to dismiss concerns by saying that the last committee meeting was in the spring is just not good enough.

My questions have not been answered in full, and the concerns that I have are not alleviated.

And since this appears to be the only time I have to air these questions again in the middle of budget at the end of the year, I guess I'm happy to take it.

I want to reiterate my concern around the pace and the timing of this substantive policy and the serious impacts that I think it has on our ability to create the needed housing to alleviate the housing crisis and our impact to communities and i want to again express how i am very open to engaging in the discussion ideally through the land use committee i am a member of that committee and to get into the policy weeds and to have the policy details i don't think it's appropriate to be doing so in the middle of budget obviously in the middle of a Ongoing full council meeting that's already going very long and to do so on such a short timeline, given the complexity and the significance of the policy considerations related to the impact fee legislation.

I believe we need more time to discuss and deliberate on this policy more than just one land use committee meeting and more than this public hearing tonight.

In comparison, when the Council considered and passed the Mandatory Housing Affordability Legislation, or MHA, citywide, we had over 20 committee meetings.

Committee meetings to discuss and understand the policy impacts.

We had community engagement sessions that I joined in on as I came onto Council at the end of 2016. and throughout 2017. And this year we're engaging in a robust discussion around the budget.

We are publishing amendments to the balancing package as we speak, those are being finalized.

We've been in back-to-back meetings throughout the last six weeks on trying to get through the budget process.

And next week, we're expected to have a conversation about amendments.

And then the following week, vote on this legislation in front of us.

I don't think that there's been sufficient time to get into the weeds of this policy conversations while again in the middle of budget and I believe that our our work would be better served by working to develop and pass the 2024 budget in the next month here and focus on this policy next year when the comprehensive plan is up but based on the single discussion we had in the land use committee I did submit around 20 questions to this And the project list, for example, is part of the questions that I had.

I had a number of questions about how this was developed, and it turns out this was developed several years ago.

Some of the project lists on the list in front of us have projects that have already been fully funded since then, and new projects have no doubt emerged.

I also raised questions and concerns around whether or not a racial equity toolkit had been completed and what the racial equity analysis has been since this initial list was developed in 2016. i understand the council has voted to add this the comprehensive plan docketing to request the development of policy for consideration by council however i still think that we need to have time and the ability to do the analysis to understand and deliberate on this and make amendments we i don't think have the ability to do that in the in earnest and with the time it's that it necessitates but even though i am the budget chair i will be also engaging in bringing forward amendments to ensure that we are not not further compromising our ability to build affordable housing this is going to have an impact on our ability to build affordable housing So with that, I see that there's other hands.

I'm happy to ask the questions that I have teed up and would just state that during the land use committee meeting on September 13th, I did pose those 20 questions in public.

I have shared those with central staff.

I appreciate that Ketel from central staff has provided a response to those on October 13th.

that is not sufficient time for either me, my team, or the full council to have a full understanding of what those policy questions are.

And I do have a number of follow-up questions that I'm happy to pose here today.

Again, it was not my intent to even be here today, given everything else that's going on.

And I do appreciate the opportunity that we have with central staff in short notice.

to be able to ask these questions and happy to engage more on some of the questions in front of us.

I'll end with organizations who've raised concern about the legislation in front of us, the potential impact on housing, the concern around the process and timeline, the call for councils to take more time and engage in deep stakeholder engagement include Habitat for Humanity, Sierra Club, Housing Development Consortium, SEIU Healthcare, 1199 Northwest, the Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Urbanists, Sightline Institute, Seattle for Everyone Coalition, and Seattle Tech for Housing.

And with that, Madam President, I'm happy to wait to the appropriate time to ask my 20 or so questions that I still have.

Is there any way you can ask some of those questions offline or is, or we just.

That's the point, Madam President.

We did submit those 20 questions online.

We have received feedback, but I don't even know if that's been shared with the full council.

So again, I think that it would be appropriate to ask those questions and allow for central staff to walk through each of those answers.

I'm counting 20 questions exactly.

And I'm happy to read those again for the record into the public comment here.

But those are the type of things that I think our council should be discussing and deliberating before we are asked to make a vote in just two weeks.

Okay, thank you.

I'm going to let Council Member Strauss, and then I'm going to give the floor, hand the floor over to Mr. Friedman.

But go ahead, Council Member Strauss.

Thank you, Council President.

I know I just need to correct the record.

Council Member Herbold, I appreciate everything that you said.

You did say, though, the questions and answers regarding the rate ordinance are not appropriate today.

That is from my position as your land use chair and in my humble opinion.

I find that to be incorrect and not not correct and so I see your hand going up but what I am here to share with you and colleagues the reason that I am stating that this is not a procedural motion to pass the comp plan without a at least a draft rate ordinance is because every time whether it was mandatory housing affordability whether it was the industrial Maritime work this year or whether it's the major update to the comprehensive plan, when we pass either comprehensive plan amendments that require zoning changes, there's at least a draft or that zoning change in place.

These two things are paired.

That is why I am not viewing what is going on right now as procedural.

And it is, in my opinion, that it is incredibly important that we pass these two things in tandem, even if there's not a permanent or final rate council bill, that there is at least a draft.

So I'm going to leave that there.

All right.

So I'm going to let Council Member Herbolt close us out because she's a sponsor, but I'm just going to add, this is why I don't like it when people walk things on and full council turns into a committee.

So I'm just going to leave it at that.

Council Member Herbolt, go ahead and make your comments and then I'm going to hand it over to Ketel Friedman.

Thank you.

I just want to address the issue of the size of the fee.

The size of the fee is not contemplated with this legislation.

The reference to an MHA-type process and deliberation is not relevant to the comp plan amendment we're making today.

The development of a program, the size of the fee, when the fee would be collected, all of those things are part of the development of a program.

The bill before us does three things.

It amends the comp plan to add a project list to reference state law that says that we can have exemptions and reference the fact that we can have locational discounts.

Everything else comes after that.

And it really upsets me to hear people say that this impacts the cost of affordable housing.

We have not set a fee.

There is no fee set.

So there's no way that we can know whether or not we can set a fee in a way that does not have a negative impact on affordable housing.

And I just really think that we're doing a big disservice to the public by continuing to suggest that we're making those decisions today.

We are not.

We are clearing the way so next year's council can deliberate on whether or not they want to develop a program.

This is a procedural motion and the hearing examiner ruled on that, that this is a procedural action and there is no obligation to create a program.

We will not be in conflict with our comp plan policies if we do not create a program.

We've been waiting to have this hearing.

We've made attempts to have this hearing according to the normal process.

I'm very grateful to Council President Juarez in allowing us to have this hearing today, but it is not our preference either.

Thank you.

Okay.

So I want to add something that we're going to move on.

Ketel, thank you for providing us with the hearing examiner's decision, which you shared with all of council yesterday.

So we all have that.

And also, I just learned, Councilor Mosqueda, your 20 questions are going to be shared with the rest of your colleagues.

So we will all have your questions in front of you.

Will those be shared with members of the public, Madam President?

Like how is central staff going to walk through those to talk about the impact so we all know?

Well, I could ask the clerk if you want me to post your 20 questions online, but as a courtesy, I just got word that from central staff, from Director Handy, that if it makes it easier to go ahead and share those 20 questions with the colleagues, and if you want that posted as well, and we can still entertain the questions that you have today.

I'm just stating that as, so we're all looking at the same questions that you have.

I'm not trying to comment one way or another.

It's as a courtesy.

I just wanted to make sure that you knew that.

Thank you.

Yeah.

And if central staff is able to walk through those questions briefly, that would be great.

Okay.

I'm going to move it forward.

And Councilmember Strauss, I will let you finish when we get done with this and let you kind of wrap it up with us because this is, I understand where your issues are, but the sponsors of this are Councilmember Herbult and Councilmember Peterson, but I will let, at the end, people have their comments and their concerns voiced again.

So with that, Ketel Friedman, you are now recognized to begin your presentation.

Ketel Friedman, Council, Central Staff, and I think what I'll do is just briefly run through the presentation that I gave to the Transportation Committee on September 13th.

Most of that is unchanged.

The only changed circumstance here is that there's an affirmative decision from the hearing examiner.

And then it sounds like there's an interest in walking through the questions that Council Member Mosqueda posted to central staff, and I can briefly run through that as well before the hearing if that is useful to the council members.

I'll share my screen here.

You all should see the presentation from September 11th to the Transportation Committee.

Council Member Herbold has given an accurate description of what the bill does, so most of what I'm going to be providing here is sort of context.

But as the Council knows, deliberation over transportation impact fees has been going on for quite a while.

The Council initiated a conversation about transportation impact fees in 2014. 2018, the Council took a run at amending the comprehensive plan.

There was a SIPA appeal that was ultimately remanded to the Council, and that effort was dormant for a while.

It was initiated again by the two sponsors of the bill last year, and there was again a SIPA appeal, and yesterday there was an affirmative decision.

So now the Council is free to take this up, at least for the moment.

Let's see, face down.

So what are transportation impact fees?

They're fees charged to new development to partially fund the cost of new transportation infrastructure needed to accommodate growth.

They're an authorized fee under the Growth Management Act.

Other transportation impact fees include fees for parks, fire facilities, and schools.

It's essentially a three-step process to implement a transportation impact fee program.

First, you need a rate study.

That was what was briefed from the Transportation Committee in March.

You need to also amend the comprehensive plan to include a project list in the comprehensive plan.

That's sort of where we are now, step two.

And then there is a further step beyond that, which is development and passage of implementing regulations.

So what kind of development could be exempted under the Growth Management Act?

Low-income housing, which is defined as housing serving households with incomes up to 80% of AMI, early learning facilities, and other sort of uses that have a broad public purpose.

Some jurisdictions have exempted accessory dwelling units.

And looking at sort of why they do that, this is a little bit of what I'll go into with respect to Council Member Mosqueda's questions.

The reason that they do that is that they assume that the principal use, the principal single-family residence, is already covered for the purposes of the fee.

How much revenue could a transportation impact fee generate?

It really depends on future decisions made by a future council.

There are sort of two main factors, the fee levels set by the city, so where the city sets a fee below a ceiling that is established by the rate study, and also the rate of future employment and residential growth.

So impact fees are, of course, a lumpy source of revenue.

The city gets revenue, the city would get revenue from an impact fee program only when there is development occurring.

A couple of examples here.

If we were to set a rate similar to Bellingham's, an impact-free program over the course of 10 years would generate approximately $200 million.

If we were to set a rate similar to the Western Washington average, an impact-free program could generate approximately $400 million.

to set an impact rate similar to what Kent charges, generate approximately $760 million over a 10-year period.

If we get to the next slide here, most other jurisdictions in western Washington have transportation impact fee programs.

You could see it's very high-end.

Sammamish and North Bend have fees that actually would exceed the level that the city could set, even if the city wanted to set it at the maximum supportable fee.

At the lower end, there are jurisdictions like Burien.

In the western Washington, now we're just kind of right in there between $4,000 and $6,000, so it's kind of similar to what Mercer Island, Kirkland, and Auburn charge.

So how does the city of Seattle compare to other jurisdictions when it comes to charging fees for system improvements?

So new charges to fund new infrastructure associated with new residential unemployment growth.

We have a couple where there's a pass-through charge.

It's actually not a city charge.

It's a pass-through charge from King County.

to pay for the Brightwater Treatment Plant.

You'll see that that's there in all of these jurisdictions that are in King County.

And the city also has a modest water development charge.

If the city were to implement a transportation impact fee like the Western Washington average, the city would still, at least for single family development, be below what other jurisdictions like Bellevue, Kirkland, and Redmond are charging.

Here's a multifamily comparison.

The city does have system improvement charges for affordable housing.

We, of course, have an inclusionary zoning program.

That's actually not true of other Western Washington jurisdictions, which still are relying on incentive zoning programs.

If the city were to charge a transportation impact fee similar to the Western Washington average, it would put us in about the range of Bellevue and Redmond, but still below what Kirkland charges and what Portland charges.

so what does the proposed what does council 120635 do council member herbal summed it up pretty well it amends the transportation element of the comprehensive plan and a related appendix to identify deficiencies it includes it would include a new a list it does not a new list so it wouldn't actually update the list but it includes a new list of transportation infrastructure projects identified in the right study that would add capacity to help remedy system deficiencies and it would establish policies of considering locational discounts for urban centers and villages and exemptions for low-income housing with learning facilities and other activities with a broad public purpose that's just a recitation of what's allowed under state law It would not.

It's important to be clear about what it would not do.

It would not impose a fee.

So amending the comprehensive plan was a necessary step, but it's not a sufficient step to establishing an impact fee program that would impose a fee on new development.

These were the next steps back in September.

We're having a public hearing now.

And again, the hearing examiner appeal has been resolved.

All right.

I can walk through Council Member Muscata's questions.

You all have them, should have them now in your inbox.

I'll look to you, Council President, to see what you want to do here in the interest of time.

I will, Mr. Freeman.

Ketel, I've got two things to say.

You've been working on this since 2014, correct?

In one way or another.

In 2014, I think I was helping with the budget appropriations that line up the revenue that was used for the initial analysis.

Okay.

And so before we, and thank you for that.

And the chronology, thank you, customer herbal for teeing up and thank you for, for, for disabusing people of what they thought we were doing here today.

And you're right.

We've got all these emails and phone calls thinking we were doing one thing.

I don't know how many times I had to say it.

That's not what we're doing.

so before we do that i'm going to allow my colleagues if they have questions and i should make the announcement cancer mosqueda um not only did we post your email or all your questions and the answers that central staff responded to we also will post that for the public so everybody has it in front of them so now everyone has that i think i had seen it already as well so now we all have that so i'm going to let council member um NELSON, SPEAK, AND THEN IF ANYONE ELSE WANTS TO SPEAK, AND THEN I WILL GO BACK TO THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE TO OPEN IT UP FOR A PUBLIC HEARING.

I KNOW COUNCILMEMBER STRAUSS, YOU HAD YOUR HAND UP EARLIER IN A MINUTE, OR IF YOU'RE GOING TO WAIT UNTIL THE END, LET ME KNOW.

BUT RIGHT NOW, COUNCILMEMBER NELSON.

I HATE TO TAKE TOO MUCH TIME BECAUSE I AM INTERESTED IN HEARING COUNCILMEMBER MOSQUEDA'S QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

following up on something you said, Council President, you said, you asked Ketel if he'd been, you confirmed that he's been involved in for a long time.

Ketel, on page, let's see, four of the hearing examiner's decision, it says on item 12, it says that Mr. Freeman conducts the SEPA review for the legislative branch.

So are you the one that went through the whole checklist?

Because I thought that's usually the SDCI.

So who actually did the checklist?

I understand you're leading on the legislative process.

Yeah, so generally speaking, we try not to do SEPA review because it can be very time consuming.

For instance, the appeal in September took up not only a fair amount of my time, but also Lisha's and Cal's time as well.

When the executive will not perform SEPA review, then we will do it for the council as a last resort.

Typically what that means is that one of us will write the checklist and others of us will issue the SEPA threshold determination.

It's not a frequent thing, but it does occasionally happen.

That was the case here.

occasionally the council elected lead agency for environmental impact statements i can only think of one time that that happened that was with the accessory dwelling unit um eis but there we had some cooperation from opcd as well

Thank you.

Does that answer your question?

Yeah.

So it does call in.

I'm not meaning to impugn your integrity.

I just didn't know if there would ever be like a second opinion or anything like that, just because you're being portrayed in this decision sort of as...

the advocate for one side, but that's fine.

I don't know how common that is.

In your answer to my question about what are the major decisions that this vote this year sets in motion and what happens next year, you said that this does not set a rate.

However, in your response to me, you say that the project list sets the ceiling, right?

And it seems like that's around four based on this presentation, but then this project list is pretty outdated.

So Is that project list set in stone if when we vote on this?

I mean, is that are we endorsing or approving that project list or that can that be switched out and therefore the ceiling changes next year?

I just want to understand how much I have to prepare during budget for this vote on the 21st.

Yeah, so the project list is not updated.

The consultant, Farron Pierce, updated the costs for some of those projects based on sort of changed circumstances since 2018. That was done in consultation with the Seattle Department of Transportation.

um uh so all the projects that are on that project list while there may be some that are currently um in in construction or under funding they're not they're still eligible projects for impact fees um the project list is drawn from adopted modal plans so um you know the transit master plan the pedestrian master plan the bicycle master plan um and also plan also a move seattle vision project so projects that were identified as part of the move seattle planning process but were contemplated for some later phase.

As you all probably know, the city is in the process of updating its modal plans.

The environmental work for that is ongoing.

ESTA recently released a draft environmental impact statement for that work.

But there's not currently a transportation plan that is eligible for council action.

So at some point in the future, if the city does want to continue pursuing transportation impact fees, the council may want to consider updating the project list based on the adopted transportation plan if and when that is ready for council consideration.

um if the city were to do that that would set on probably a new ceiling for a fee so the rate study takes all of these identified projects subtracts out the portion of the projects that are not related to capacity improvements to accommodate new growth and then divides that amount by the total number of expected person trips over the next 10 or 12 years.

And that's how it sets a cost per person trip.

And that is a ceiling above which the city cannot charge a fee.

As a practical matter, in talking to our consultant, she indicated that most jurisdictions charge about 65 percent of the maximum supportable fee.

Others charge the maximum amount.

But that's essentially a policy choice that some future council would have to make.

But the rate study, because it quantifies the cost of all of these projects to accommodate new growth, does set a a ceiling above which the city could not charge a fee um at some point in the future so it sets kind of an outside limit for future discussions about um where to set a fee thank you keitel so um kills our mosquito i'm going to allow you to speak um obviously but i want to make sure we get we have people who have been waiting three hours to speak yeah

So go ahead and then I'll do my official language to open up the public hearing.

Okay, great.

Well, I appreciate that you have shared the 20 questions with the council members and that the questions and answers will be posted as a matter of public record for those who are interested.

I also really appreciate that people are calling and weighing in to have to potentially vote on something in two weeks.

without a committee process is a challenge.

So I thank folks for dialing into the public hearing tonight.

I do think though, Ketel, and I appreciate that you speak fast.

So I think it would be helpful if you don't mind summarizing some of the answers to the questions and notably around the project list as we've raised some questions around that project list already having funds for certain items on that list.

For example, we know that there's a project, the Madison Rapid Ride is on the list that's already fully funded.

And so if you could comment on anything related to the list as you go through those questions, that would be helpful.

And then lastly, regarding whether or not we're making a policy decision today, the policy states that the council will implement impact fees.

So, you know, as you go through your questions as well, that's part of the concern that I still have remaining.

Thank you so much, Kato, for your work on this.

Thank you.

And then go ahead, Council Member Strauss, and then we'll go to the public hearing.

Thank you, Council President.

Did I just hear you correctly that we'll need to update the list in the comprehensive plan?

So we will need to pass an amendment to our amendment to the comp plan next year.

Is that correct?

You may or you may not.

It sort of depends on the appetite of the council next year to pursue transportation impact fees.

and also the status of the update work that SDOT is currently doing on the updates to the modal plans.

So the consolidation of all those modal plans into one transportation plan.

This is consistent with what I was sharing in the land use committee, the last time we had this issue discussed and again why I urge that this is not a procedural step, this is a policy step that we are taking about updating the comprehensive plan.

Because again, if we were to pass the rate ordinance that is associated with this, it would require the same number of votes that it requires to update the comprehensive plan.

In my experience here, we've always done those things in tandem and not separated.

And that is why it is Councilmember Herbold, I see you're shaking your head, but we are going to be in disagreement here, and as the chair of this committee, this is the way I have seen it done.

I know that you have a longer time spending on impact fees than I do, and it is okay for us to be in a different policy position because I am looking at the long road of this.

I'm not against impact fees.

I am not okay with how this is going down right now.

Ketel, With your I'm looking over here at your presentation right now, when you're looking at the cost comparisons, both single family and multifamily, is there a reason that the permit costs were excluded?

Yeah, they're not capital costs.

I mean, they're soft costs associated with the projects.

So what that tries to quantify is not sort of the overall pro forma of a project, but what the system development charges are that are required for each jurisdiction.

So permitting costs are not included in there.

other costs that might be associated with development too like if you're renting the right-of-way because of construction that's not included in there it's just those costs that are required by other jurisdictions for capital improvements to accommodate new development okay and i trust your work keitel but has any have you had a third part maybe this was councilmember nelson's question a minute ago have you had a third party also validate this Yeah, I mean, the genesis of this work is not, I mean, I was able to work off of a work product that was developed as part of the initial review of transportation impact fees.

So there was body work done by Burke and Associates where they looked at not just these jurisdictions but other jurisdictions as well.

So that was the source of these charts.

I updated the cost assumptions, but I had the good fortune of being able to use a work product that had already been developed by a consultant.

MR. Okay.

Thank you, Ketel.

And understanding that this is – we're just doing the public hearing today.

And so I will reserve the rest of my comments.

But colleagues, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

This is the third time we've had a meeting this year about this topic.

Maybe fourth if you consider the walk on to the introduction referral calendar.

And there are more questions left unanswered than we have answered for final passage of this.

So I've got a lot of concerns right now.

Thank you, Council President.

Councilor Mosqueda, can we...

I would like to hear from you but I really want to get to the public hearing.

I understand.

It sounds like we probably won't go through all 20 of those questions, and you're asking for folks to look at them online.

Okay.

And I appreciate that, given the time.

However, I just want to ask two questions then, if I might, Madam President.

And Ketel, you might feel like you just spoke to this, but if I could ask you directly again.

The legislation that is in front of us, my reading is it says that the council will take up impact fees.

Does this direct the council to do that?

It's somewhat more likely that the council will do that, and it does that not by the term consider or use.

It does that by including the project list and the comprehensive plan, which is a required component required by the Growth Management Act for any kind of future consideration of a transportation impact fee program.

People can argue about the semantics of sort of the level of emphasis that is conveyed by consider or use, but generally speaking, our understanding is that it does not compel some future council to take up impact fee implementation legislation.

And that's in part because some language that's in the comprehensive plan, and I mentioned this in my response to your questions, there is essentially a reader's guide to the comprehensive plan that sort of tells readers how to understand policy language.

And it says, Some policies use the word shall, should, ensure, encourage, and so forth.

In general, such words describe the emphasis that the policy places on the action but do not necessarily establish a specific legal duty to perform a particular act, to undertake a program or project, or to achieve a specific result.

So the impact fee, the comp plan amendments make it somewhat more likely by virtue of inclusion of that project list primarily, that a future council could implement a transportation impact fee program, but it does not compel that result.

And my last question is, we've talked about this list being outdated or that at least it was created in 2016. we've talked about how some of the items on this list already have received funding we've also talked about how this list was potentially created in 2016 and needs have changed or a racial equity analysis has has to be updated or actually applied in the first place so i guess when the project lists dictates the fees it will inherently drive the discussion around the fee amount why are we making a decision right now about what is included in that list and thus the fees when we have a list that appears to be outdated

Well, I mean, I think it is up to this council to decide what should be in that project list.

There's a point of departure that is reflected in that rate study, but the rate study is a draft rate study, and that could change as well.

Future councils, as I mentioned, could always change the list as part of the annual comprehensive plan updates.

I'm not sure.

I mean, I think that that's one of the things that's sort of a that's a question that is essentially comes down.

It's a question of legislative deliberation.

You know, do you guys think this is the right list or not?

If you don't think this is the right list, then there are opportunities in the future to update it.

There is a very short period of time between now and the 21st to update the list, and we wouldn't have a great study to affect those changes.

Do it, Councilor Mosquito.

Okay.

All right, thanks.

I'm happy to bring forward some amendment on policy, but I'm not sure we have time to get into the list.

So thanks for allowing me to pull out those two questions, Madam President.

Thank you, Councillor Mosqueda, Councillor Herbolt, and then we will go to public hearing.

Go ahead, Councillor Herbolt, and then we will go to public hearing.

Thanks, and I just want to, again, correct the record.

The original list was created in 2018. I think it was said 2016. It was created in 2018, and it was updated, I believe, in February of this year.

Thank you.

That is correct.

And I actually have that on my notes here.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Okay.

It's been a long day, I know.

And I want to thank you all, particularly those who have called in and showed up to provide public comments.

So let me go ahead and say for the public hearing, the magic words.

As presiding officer, I am now opening the public hearing on Council Bill 120635, relating to amending the Seattle Comprehensive Plan to incorporate changes related to a transportation impact fee program proposed as part of the 2022-2023 comprehensive plan annual amendment process.

Madam Clerk, how many speakers do we have remote and in-person?

In-person on the signup sheet, we have 14. And remote, I believe we had 23, but it looks like a few people dropped off.

So I'm going to go ahead and start.

We are going to have one minute.

And I'm going to go ahead and start with the in-person folks that have been here.

It's been a long day, and I just want to kind of not take up any more time.

So with that, let's start.

And you said we have 23, but you think some dropped off on the remote side?

Yes.

Okay.

Okay.

So why don't we do the first 10 in-person speakers and then let me know where we're at on the remote.

If we need to switch.

Okay, thank you.

Our next, our first in-person speaker is Lisa Nitz.

Unfortunately, she's gone.

The next person is Patrick Foley.

Hi, thank you, Council.

My company, Lake Union Partners, we employ 16 people in Seattle, and we are the creators and builders of the Midtown Square project at 23rd and Union, which is in many ways, it's a market rate project, but it's also a social impact project.

We transacted and brought in partners, affordable partners, Africatown Community Land Trust and Community Roots Housing, and on the full block with them, we're creating projects 100%, 130 affordable housing units, and we did 432. So 580 units total.

Half of the block is affordable.

And I got to tell you guys, we barely made this project work getting the financing for it.

If we were to consider the kind of fees that we're talking about today or even allow them to move forward, I would have to underwrite to that.

that would have added six and a half to $7 million of cost, which would have killed this project.

And all of the cool retailers and shop owners that we have that wouldn't exist today would still be the same place.

So I'm asking you not to consider moving this forward.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next in-person speaker is Sanders Latour.

Hi, my name is Sanders Latour.

I live in District 7, and I'm commenting on Council Bill 120635. I do not support this bill that adds the ability for the next council to add impact fees on building construction.

I support improving bike, walk, and roll infrastructure to make our streets safer for people who don't drive.

I even run the Cars and Bike Lanes Seattle website that collects data on bike lane obstructions so that the Even Better Bike Lanes pilot program is a crowdsourced collection of data on what bike lanes should be upgraded.

The pilot could be benefited by having additional money.

However, again, I do not support this bill.

Branding new renters and owners with these fees, people who are disproportionately younger and more diverse as Seattle has grown, will only make it more difficult for people to move to the city and only continue to intensify a housing crisis.

If the city wants to raise money for infrastructure projects, it should be done through a property tax increase.

This will impact all residents, both people who already live in the city and new residents as they start to occupy newly built housing.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jesse Simpson, who will be followed by Reza Marisha.

Hi, council members.

Good evening.

I'm Jess Simpson, government relations and policy manager for the Housing Development Consortium, representing all the nonprofit affordable housing developers, as well as others working across the sector.

Here to raise my concerns about the transportation impact fee, it's a messy process here.

So I'm just going to speak to the policy itself and our concerns about impact fees and their impact on housing affordability the moment housing developments are facing considerable headwinds to pencil with high interest rates and inflated construction costs and this challenging climate is expected to continue for some time putting an additional fee on housing now could limit new housing when you already have a shortage Impact fees can affect housing supply by driving up cost, producing housing above the return on investment required by those private project funders leading developments to not be constructed.

For the 2023 SEPA hearing, the Mobility Commission, an economic analysis concluding that impact fees could reduce housing production by 15% to 17% affecting MHA fees.

I urge you not to move this policy forward.

Thank you, our next speaker is Nick Jekyll.

Okay, and Reza Marisha.

Hello, council members.

My name is Reza Marashi, and I'm director of government affairs for Kilroy Realty Corporation.

I'm here today to urge you to oppose the adoption of transportation impact fees in Seattle.

This is a substantial vote, and it should be based on today's reality.

We've heard from others about how the fee proposal on the project list is years old, so I don't need to go over that.

But passing this outdated list means that the city has to go back again next year and pass another comp plan amendment to update the project list.

Furthermore, the Growth Management Act says that local code needs to match local comp plan policies.

So if you change the comp plan to include impact fees, then the code will have to follow suit.

So make no mistake, you're making a policy choice today.

Another key difference that folks earlier talked about, we're in a housing crisis here.

So if this impact fees hits developers, that's less MHA money.

Less MHA money means less affordable housing.

And the goal that we all share is not going to be accomplished.

So for those reasons, please oppose impact fees.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Meredith Holzer, Holzmer.

Hello, I'm Meredith Holzmer with Mill Creek Residential, here to speak in opposition of advancing the comp plan amendment for transportation impact fees.

As I stated last month, there's been no outreach to the community on this topic, no info sessions, no opportunities to ask questions or engage in dialogue.

The recitals in the council bill state that the city has provided for public participation, including requirements for early and continuous public participation.

That has not happened at all.

I've also heard the council's argument that this is just an ordinance to update the comp plan, not actual code.

But why would council vote for this comp plan amendment if they didn't intend to follow up with code?

If this comp plan amendment is approved, regardless of the timeline for actual code implementation, the development community, including ourselves, will have to include these fees from the rate study in our underwriting and disclose these fees to our lenders and investors.

To not do so would be fiscally irresponsible.

especially since vesting to impact fees doesn't incur until building permit issuance, which is more than two years after starting a project.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Ian Morrison, followed by Chris Walter.

Thank you, Council Members.

Ian Morrison from McCulloch Hill here on behalf of Pistachio & Associates, a local Seattle-based long-time developer of multifamily housing.

Pistachio has projects all throughout the city, Greenwood, Eastlake, Uptown.

These projects are projects that participate in not only the MHA program, including on-site affordable housing, but also the MFTE program.

And Pistachio has a long history of developing in the city of Seattle.

But given the national and international finance conditions, the challenges of the updated energy code, the last three projects Pasaki has done have unfortunately been outside of the city.

And we would encourage you to not adopt even this comprehensive plan policy, because respectfully, it is substantive policy.

You adopt this, as Mr. Freeman said, it would make it more likely that the next council would adopt impact fees.

That means they need to be factored into this program right now.

The methodology does include a maximum fee is upwards of possibly $8,000 a door for residential.

That would need to be brought into the underwriting.

If that happens right now, projects that already are struggling to pencil will not move forward and we won't meet our housing goals.

So we would ask you to decline to move this forward this session.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Chris Walter, followed by Andy This is not here.

Okay, thank you.

Andy Rondler?

Randles.

Randles, sorry.

Can I just start?

Okay.

I'm here to oppose this motion.

There's no logical reason to include it.

It just adds an expense to building homes.

We know that we make homes more expensive.

We build less of them.

We're in a housing shortage, so...

I don't know why anyone would think it makes sense to include this.

We can increase property taxes to pay for the other transportation, but we can't do that if we don't have the housing there in the first place.

So I'd like to oppose this motion.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jesse Claussen.

Hello council members, Jessie Claassen on behalf of myself and small business owners who will be severely impacted by this policy change.

I feel like I'm in an alternate reality when I hear council members saying that this is not a policy change when the comprehensive plan is actually the city's main policy setting document.

So make no mistake, you are setting policy.

And again, I have never seen the council rush to make such an important policy decision ever.

For MHA, there were three years of outreach to those who would be impacted by MHA fees, which is technically kind of an impact fee on housing and for affordable housing.

And the fact that you're considering adopting a policy that includes a project list that is outdated and you would have to amend the comp plan again next year to effectuate the policy, I've never seen anything like it.

We oppose this.

Please don't do this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Dave Gluger.

All right.

It doesn't look like Dave's here.

Andrew Sang.

Good evening, Council.

My name is Andrew, and I'm here to speak in opposition to the proposed legislation regarding the potential implementation or opening the door to the implementation of transportation impact fees.

So in terms of permitting numbers, the number of new units that are slated to enter development is on a sharp decline.

On a year-over-year basis, we were down 32% versus the same period last year.

and 63 percent versus pre-pandemic numbers uh between pre-pandemic numbers versus 2022. um it doesn't make sense for us to only foist the cost of transportation development on new residents and um you know this is something that i believe should be levied via a broad more broad tax um If there's need to fund local infrastructure, we should be raising taxes broadly and we should not be taxing the very thing that Seattle needs in order to address our ongoing housing crisis.

Please reject this legislation and thank you guys for your time.

Thank you.

The last in-person speaker is Ryan Donahue.

Hello, Council Members.

First off, happy Election Day.

As you know, my name is Ryan Donahue and I'm the Chief Advocacy Officer for Habitat for Humanity, Seattle King and Kittitas County.

However, today I'm here on behalf of Seattle for Everyone as one of the steering committee members.

We actually do continue to oppose this amendment and oppose the imposition of transportation impact fees on new housing.

That being said, I do want to take a moment to thank Council Member Herbolt for her proposed amendment.

particularly around the language of consider and use.

We do appreciate that and do feel like we are being listened to and we do appreciate that effort.

That being said, we are still concerned particularly around the underlying impact of the policy itself.

These fees would I'm sorry, in a letter that was sent by Sightline Institute to the council, used the example of Portland, which clearly showed that imposing impact fees like this would result in less housing production overall, disproportionately more burden on less expensive housing types, and a higher share of the burden falling on renters and new home buyers.

Basically, those who could afford the increase in cost the least.

Thank you, sir.

We'll move to the remote speakers now, and the first person is Matthew Sutherland.

Matthew?

Hi, there you go.

Hi.

Great.

Can you hear me?

Yep.

Perfect.

Hi, my name is Matthew Sutherland.

I'm the advocacy director for Transportation Choices Coalition, a nonprofit that supports safe, equitable, and sustainable transportation for all Washingtonians.

Thanks for the opportunity to weigh in.

We urge Seattle City Council to delay the current consideration of transportation impact fees and instead synchronize work on a new, broader transportation project and revenue strategy timed with the Seattle Transportation Plan funding process, the same level of rigorous community engagement equity analysis.

Of most concern, we oppose the proposed comprehensive plan sex amendment that would change consider use of transportation impact fees to use transportation impact fees.

I'd like to preemptively thank Councilmember Herbold for the amendment altering this language.

I think that's a positive step in the right direction, and thank you for taking community feedback.

We're not opposed to transportation impact fees, and we think there is some interest in a path forward for TIF, especially if there are stronger exemptions for affordable housing, and the language ensures coordination with the STP process.

Thanks.

Appreciate it, Councilmembers and Council President Juarez.

Thanks for the time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Irene Wall.

Irene, are you there?

I am here.

And frankly, it is high time to consider the use of impact fees as an equitable approach to funding needed improvements.

Back in the 90s, when Seattle began its adventure in growth management, we were assured that growth would pay for itself.

That has not happened.

Instead, growth has created an increase in traffic, traffic accidents and fatalities, decaying bridges, rutted arterials, and more demand for pedestrian and ADA facilities.

this council has approved highly favorable tax breaks to developers through the multi-family tax exemption for very little public benefit this has cost the general fund over 172 million in 2022 alone and has put 7.6 billion of exempt assessed value onto regular taxpayers who are also expected to approve the 1 billion dollar housing levy today and another large transportation levy next year It's time to inject some fairness into this equation.

Consideration of transportation impact fees in the comp plan is a step in the right direction.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Suzanne Grant.

Suzanne, you might try pressing star six.

Suzanne, star six.

I see your tile there.

Star six.

Maybe we can move on to the next speaker and come back to Suzanne.

Yeah, let's do that and then we'll come back to Suzanne.

Next speaker is Patrick Taylor.

Hi, my name is Patrick Taylor.

I live in multifamily housing.

I'm also co-chair of the AIA Housing Task Force, as well as the past co-chair of the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board and the representative to the Seattle Lobby Oversight Committee.

I speak today in opposition to the council's rushed amendment to the comp plan.

Our city is in the midst of a housing crisis driven by a shortage of homes.

Impact fees will only make it harder to build housing in the city where it's already difficult and costly to do so.

Impact fees are understandable in greenfield suburbs where infrastructure does not exist, but we're not that.

New urban housing is not an impact but a transportation solution.

It utilizes and, in most cases, improves existing infrastructure while increasing the tax base to pay for upkeep.

It allows people to live closer to their work and places they enjoy.

As our city has grown, more of our residents take transit or walk instead of driving, which is good for the planet and the city.

New housing has transformed autofocused streets into walkable neighborhoods.

We should encourage new homes, not tax them.

The city has unmet transportation needs and cares deeply about making our streets safer, but let's not have it paid for in the backs of renters by discouraging housing driving friends.

If a new tax on housing is a bad idea, then it's a bad idea to put it in the comp plan, especially in a rushed way.

Please ignore your outgoing colleagues' anti-housing efforts and vote no on taxing new homes.

Thank you for the work you do for our city.

Thank you.

And it looks like Suzanne Grant is unmuted now.

Suzanne?

Oh, hello.

You can hear me now.

Okay, great.

I urge you to pass CB-12635 on November 21st.

Yesterday, the hearing examiner dismissed the large developer's appeal of the challenge.

Previous appeals by master builders first delayed the tree ordinance, then wrote the ordinance to benefit them.

I hope you've paid attention to the recent report by Seattle City Auditor who investigated SCCI, alleging that SCCI routinely engaged in nepotism and unethical permitting processes.

Master builders have had a large and unfair influence over rulings made by SCCI, which have resulted in significant loss of urban forests.

Why are developers appealing impact fees?

Impact fees do not interfere with growth.

Public nonprofit and other low-income housing projects could be exempt from these fees.

We all know we need more low-income housing, and we need to leave the mature trees in the ground.

Among many other benefits of and reasons for impact fees, they could help correct the mistakes and oversights that SBCI has been engaging in regarding the illegal cutting of trees by helping to pay for new or replaced trees in upgraded rights-of-way developed projects.

When developers clear lots, they need to end lot sprawl, place buildings next to each other,

DIRECTOR RIVERA- Thank you.

DIRECTOR HAMPSON Sorry we had to cut you off.

Thank you.

So Madam Clerk I understand that's our last speaker.

DIRECTOR RIVERA- We remote we still have a few more.

DIRECTOR HAMPSON Oh we do.

I'm sorry I thought that was our last one.

Okay let's go ahead.

DIRECTOR RIVERA- Okay Brady Brady Nordstrom is our next speaker.

BRADY NORDSTROM Hello can you hear me.

All right.

Hi, my name's Brady Nordstrom.

I'm speaking today on behalf of FutureWise.

In our land use and policy work across the state, FutureWise has supported transportation impact fees in some jurisdictions.

I've limited time today, so I'll just say that our support of this tool has been contextual.

In this case, FutureWise does not support the current transportation impact fee proposal or process, even if this bill is only a step within a larger process.

a lot of people have already hit on a lot of this um there's some timing questions but in particular we're concerned about the impact on mha revenue which is an important part of seattle's affordable housing response and housing creation more broadly um and then uh we do think uh herbal uh councilmember herbal for the the amendment language we are concerned about uh changing that from consider the use of to use transportation impact these And then we do support transportation, adequate transportation funding and recommend an alternative process where we encourage the city to have a broader conversation with more conversation about the trade-offs.

So it looks like I'm out of time, but thanks again.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Lars Erickson.

Go ahead, Lars.

Good evening.

My name is Lars Erickson.

Good evening.

My name is Lars Erickson.

On behalf of the nearly 2,400 members of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, I ask that you please oppose the comp plan amendment related to transportation impact fees for the following reasons.

This process is not merely procedural.

The amendment alone could have a significant effect by signaling to developers that construction is about to get more expensive in Seattle.

Also, we believe the next council will have to act on or remove the amendment to comply with the comprehensive plan.

Most importantly, our city cannot afford to fall short on our housing goals.

We need to produce more housing across the income spectrum by passing measures such as the Seattle housing levy and incentivizing development of all kinds.

Please oppose the comp plan amendment.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Holly Golden.

And Holly, you might try pressing star six to unmute.

Hi, this is Holly Golden.

I'm a land use attorney at Hillis Clark and the Seattle chair of NAEP.

You've heard housing production and housing volumes are already dropping.

Impact fees will make housing more expensive and I'm worried what it would mean for our city.

Comprehensive plan amendment before you is not just a procedural vote.

It's a policy change to the city's long-range planning document.

The amendment adopts the project list that sets the upper fee limit on impact fees and the methodology for calculating the fees.

Those are substantive decisions.

The fee cap will factor into the fee amount.

The project list is a stale product that never underwent meaningful outreach.

If you add cost to housing projects, which will ultimately increase rent levels, then you need to be very thoughtful about where those dollars are going.

It's a trade-off, and the project list and methodology matter.

This is a substantive step towards bad policy.

It's not compelling to say that you'll take the first step because there's still a second step.

Of course, there's questions about whether or not the ultimate policy is a good idea.

You should be clear about where you're going and not rush it.