City of Seattle City Council Special Meeting of June 12, 2018

It took me a while to figure that out.

Okay, good afternoon.

Thank you for being here.

The June 12, 2018 special City Council meeting of the full Seattle City Council come to order.

It's 12.06 p.m.

I'm Bruce Harrell, Council President of the Seattle City Council.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Herbold?

Johnson.

Here.

Juarez.

Here.

Mosqueda.

Here.

O'Brien.

Here.

Sawant.

Here.

Bagshaw.

Here.

Gonzalez.

Here.

President Harrell.

Here.

Eight present.

Thank you very much.

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

Hearing no objection, today's agenda is adopted.

This is a special meeting, and according to the rules, we don't typically take public comment at special meetings, but I think given the circumstances, it's very appropriate to have some public comment here, and so unless there's objection, we will allow public comment.

We typically allow 20 minutes for public comment.

I'm aware that many of you have not had lunch yet, and some of you have a mediation to attend and other matters to go, so we'll try to get through it as efficiently as possible.

So we'll allow 20 minutes, and we're going to take it down to one minute so we can hear from more people.

And I'll just call you out in the order that I have here.

And we'll try to have both mics in place.

So one, two, three, four, that kind of sequence if we can.

So the first person I have So, Madam Clerk, I have a name that's stricken and I want to make sure this person wanted to be stricken and someone didn't strike his name.

So, I'm just going to say the first person was Joe, is it Consul?

Okay, gotcha, gotcha Joe.

Sometimes people inadvertently strike someone else's name.

Thank you, Joe.

So, our first speaker then will be Emerson Johnson followed by Andy Moxley.

Emerson, before you begin, just one moment.

And Andy, can we have you take the other mic, please?

Thank you.

Please proceed.

Hi, my name is Emerson.

I'm a member of Socialist Alternative, and I'm going to be honest.

I'm angry.

Less than a month ago, the Seattle City Council made history in passing the first progressive tax of its kind on the top 3% of businesses to build affordable housing that has inspired working people across the country.

It was the first of many necessary steps needed to address the housing crisis and Seattle's deeply regressive tax structure.

And now, less than a month later, Seven self-proclaimed progressive democratic city council members are going to repeal this tax without even providing an alternative.

So I have to ask these Democrats, what has changed so drastically in the past month about our housing crisis and the tax structure that you are willing to break all the promises you made to us about finding a solution just a few weeks ago?

The thing is, nothing has changed.

What the council is doing is what they have always done, putting profit over people.

That's why we have the housing crisis and the most regressive tax structure in the nation.

You oppose this as progressives, but put to the test, you've chosen the route of capitulation and cowardice.

And for that, we will vote you out.

So I'm going to ask you to stop one more time.

Being disruptive.

Housing is a human right.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

We are making it right.

Housing is a human right.

We are making it right.

So perhaps I should explain what's going to happen this afternoon just so you're on notice.

So the first issue is we're trying to have public comment for one minute.

And so if you exceed the one minute and can't wrap up, you know, shortly thereafter, you'll be disruptive because we're trying to get through the proceedings.

So I'll have to have you removed.

That's the first thing.

The second thing is, that if I can't restore order in council chambers, we will reconvene and meet somewhere else and proceed.

So we'd rather do this in this forum, but we have to get through it.

So everyone has put on notice that if we cannot have Order in the chambers, we will reconvene and we will meet elsewhere.

So now that you're on notice, let's please proceed with one minute if we can.

And following Andy will be Serafina Kabin.

City Council, I am not talking to you, but I have to face you, unfortunately, because this has proven to me what something I already knew is true, that the for-profit housing market cannot actually solve the housing crisis for working people.

It is not just because of the trickle-down economics model not working, but it is because of corporate politicians like the majority of the City Council that are more willing to answer to Jeff Bezos and Amazon than to the will of working people.

And it's actually, despite the progressive credentials of most of this city council, this city council is carrying out the Trump agenda.

And this is not surprising to me because this is a kind of system that elevates corporate politicians like the majority of the city council, an exploitative capitalist system that says we have to settle for politicians like this.

We need a system that puts the needs of working people over corporations, that creates mass union jobs program at the same time as mass investment in public housing and working people get to decide what happens in this community.

If you can't afford that, we can't afford your system, we can't afford your politicians, and if you have problems with this sellout of the majority of the city council, join the fight not only to tax Amazon, but the fight for a better world in a democratic socialist movement.

Following Serafina would be the Hope Coalition, Dennis Saxman.

So my name is Serafina, and just like Emerson, I am angry.

The fact that you are voting today to repeal a tax that less than a month ago you unanimously passed is a complete betrayal to everything that we have fought for.

You are capitulating to big business and somehow expecting the market to provide the solutions that we need.

And that is beyond ridiculous.

It's beyond anything that I have seen.

The market has proven time and time again that it cannot and will not provide a solution to this housing crisis.

We cannot rely on big business and capitalism to magically supply this housing that the homeless of Seattle, that the working people of Seattle need.

We've been looking for decades, for years, to big business and developers to somehow provide these solutions.

They aren't here.

They've proven that they aren't here.

And we need to be taxing these big businesses to provide this housing because we cannot wait another day.

We cannot rely on you.

The fact that we cannot rely on our own city council members to provide this for us means that we need to fight back.

We need to vote you out.

And we need housing today.

Following Dennis will be Claudia Campanelli, and then Erica Neji.

Do you have a group of how many?

Okay, will two minutes suffice?

Okay, let's do it.

Thank you.

I thought we had a housing emergency.

Why are you kicking the can down the road?

This is only a temporary resolution of your problems.

The homeless will not go away.

The homelessness issue will not go away.

Thank you.

I'm Dolly Rainey with the Hope Coalition.

I would like to just remind you how long we have been working on this problem.

There were the 15 years against homelessness.

There's the new resolution for an emergency of homelessness.

We have had three mayors and a practically new city council.

And what has happened is absolutely nothing.

And I really ran to the point where I say we need change on all nine seats.

Thank you.

My name is Matthew Lang, and I'm with the HOPE Coalition.

It's been a long nine months fighting on this, getting this tax passed, and I'm incredibly disappointed in the situation here today.

To assert that corporations cannot afford this tax is absolutely ludicrous.

Every single one of the corporations being affected by this tax are about to receive a 14-point tax break from the Trump administration.

And this head tax would recover about 2% of those savings.

Just the savings from that tax break.

So this repeal, I'm extremely disappointed in that.

And I just, I wonder about the homeless state of emergency.

If it's just that here we are in the city of Seattle paying lip service to a state of emergency, but we're not actually fixing anything.

So my name is John and I'm feeling very deflated today.

I've been helping to organize for the head tax for the last nine months alongside Matthew and a lot of other people in this room.

And to have something happen so quickly, where all of you who have been supporting this thing from day one, or at least throughout the whole process, are just all of a sudden giving up.

Thanks, John.

What kind of message are you trying to send?

I just have one more question.

Do you believe that we can actually end homelessness?

Our next speaker will be Claudia and then Erica Neji.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Claudia Campanile, and I am working with the SOS group for the head tax.

And my husband and I are also partners in the Essential Baking Company.

We employ over 400 people here in the Seattle area.

And I'm also an advocate for the homeless.

And I've been on the Mary's Place board for years.

And our company also supports the homeless.

For example, at the last luncheon, we were with Amazon.

And a lot of people don't know that Amazon did a million-dollar match at our last Mary's Place luncheon.

And they've also dedicated space in their new buildings for the homeless.

And that narrative really hasn't been out lately during this argument.

So it's become increasingly difficult to do business in this city right now with the B&O tax, the $15 an hour wage, and now this.

And so I am so thankful that you are really starting to rethink your positions on this.

And I would like to work with all, I would hope we could all work together on this homeless problem and not just focusing on business and demonizing them because they all need jobs.

Thank you.

Thank you, Claudia.

Our next speaker is Erica.

Following Erica will be Steve.

Following Erica will be Steve.

Is it Merch, I believe?

Steve?

Good afternoon, Council.

I am joined here with a grassroots citizen-led effort that you have continued and failed to, that you continue to ignore.

We live in the neighborhoods that all of you have been elected to represent.

We are unhappy with your continued failed approach to address the myriad of issues facing our beautiful Seattle.

You continue to fund nonprofits that have little to no impact on the homeless crisis, but line the pockets thickly with taxpayer dollars.

You've ignored the hired experts who have told you we have been going in the wrong direction.

You've shunned your citizens and your constituents.

You've shunned business from the conversation.

And you are here today blaming everyone but yourselves for the continued misdirection of our city.

We will not back down.

We are growing and we expect accountable, data-driven results that help the homeless, our drug crisis, and the rampant crime throughout this city.

We will not be ignored any longer.

Hi Council, I'm Steve Murch.

I live in District 4 and I contributed $275 to this initiative and I guess through my taxes also helped pay for some of the red signs we see here too.

As I sat in the park gathering signatures for this grassroots effort that's now at over 45,000 signatures.

Hey!

Not mine.

I heard from dozens.

I assume my time has stopped.

Will you stop your time?

In fact, put about 20 more seconds on there, Joe, if you can.

So, I'm going to politely ask that we not have these outbursts, please.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Okay.

Just start the clock over, Joe.

Please proceed, Steve.

Thank you, Councilman.

I heard from dozens of citizens like me, many of whom are working right now, right, who said, why can't we look to cities like Boston that spend far less per capita on the homeless problem and see a decline?

Mayor Durkan just got back from there.

Maybe we should ask them.

Maybe we should look at the poppy report that we taxpayers paid $200,000 for a couple of years ago.

How are we doing on that?

How are we doing on the full audit of where the homeless dollars are being spent?

The Puget Sound Business Journal said we spend about a billion dollars regionally between private and public efforts.

We're compassionate.

I voted for that $290 million affordable housing levy.

I volunteer for Habitat.

this city, and I want it to be better.

I want us to prioritize this problem.

There's lots of things even in our district, Rob, about the 35th Avenue Repay Project.

That could be reprioritized.

There's 70% disapproval of that.

Effective solutions.

Thank you.

Michael Kneher.

Is there a Michael?

Is it Kneher, I believe?

Okay, thanks, Michael.

And then following Michael will be Phil Cochran.

And then, is it Millie Hall or Julie Hall?

Julie Hall.

Hello, I'm here with Speak Out Seattle, and our grassroots members helped organize this petition drive that gathered over 45,000 signatures.

And I hope that today, this is a sign that you're starting to listen.

Though we remain skeptical as an organization, we do want to participate in making the changes that are needed to bring forward better solutions so that we can help the people on the streets and those who have addictions to drugs.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Let's see, that was Michael.

So we have Phil Cochran, I believe, and then Julie Hall.

If we have a logistical issue with the press and the press needs to come in this area over here, we can allow that.

Apparently, there's been some physical problems with people getting through at the press.

And so I could make an arrangement down here if necessary, only if necessary.

Okay, so we have Mike.

Are you Michael, sir?

No, I'm Phil.

You're Phil.

Okay, so following you, Phil, is Julie Hall.

And please proceed, Phil.

All right.

So, Council Member O'Brien, about a month ago, you met some of us at your town hall meeting.

We kind of felt like you weren't listening to us.

You were deliberately ignoring us.

Are you hearing us now?

We got 45,000 signatures legitimately collected.

Are you receiving us?

Are you starting to hear us?

Because we're fed up.

We want you to start to enforce the law, close the campgrounds, and have some accountability for once.

You guys have wasted hundreds of millions of dollars.

We are done with it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So Julie Hall will be followed by Paul Agee.

Thank you for taking the time to meet with us today.

My name is Julie Hall.

I'm from District 6.

Oh, hello.

There you go.

Thank you, I'm from District 6, my name is Julie Hall.

I am not a paid petition gatherer, I am a volunteer amongst many of these people here.

This is my first time here in City Hall and I'll tell you this, I signed up by mistake because I thought I was just signing in, but here I am speaking in front of everyone and I'm happy to be here.

The reason that I have collected signatures, about 500 myself, and met up with other people like-minded and want to see Actual solutions with the money that's been given the 200 million dollars last year the money from the levy We're tired.

We're tired of not seeing Results we're not seeing results.

We're not knowing where the money is being spent and There's no permanent housing being built No permanent housing Thanks, thank you Polly G will be followed by Rachel Kane

Rachel Kane.

Rachel Kane.

Paul AG.

Only 24 hours ago, we learned this body will vote to repeal the head tax today, a measure where corporations pay their fair share to fund affordable housing and homeless services.

The head tax was debated for months, included public comment, and passed unanimously.

Now backroom deals push a repeal without any debate.

It's no coincidence that this council's most wealthy politician is the one introducing this legislation.

disproportionately taxing the poor and middle class to provide corporate welfare to the rich who pay the least.

My friends, we will regroup.

Let our previous discussions be considered calm and placid compared to the measures that must be put in place for the majority against the opulent minority.

We must escalate our tactics from peaceful protest to non-violent, disruptive, direct confrontation.

Rachel will be Aubrey Pullman.

Following Rachel will be Aubrey Pullman and then Cindy Pierce.

Hi, I'm Rachel Kane.

I'm here on behalf of the members of my union, International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 609s.

A few of you know us.

how many people in my 623 unit can live inside of this town.

We are your custodial.

We are your nutrition services.

We are your security.

We can't afford to live in this town.

I live in the middle of Pioneer Square.

I see the homelessness.

I see what's going on.

I walk through it every day.

What's being done with it?

We actually endorsed this.

My union voted unanimously to endorse this because it's a step forward.

Something needs to give, and you're not giving, you're taking away.

We're done with Trump tactics.

Is this mic on?

Hi, good afternoon.

My name is Aubrey Pullman.

I'm an Amazon employee.

I'm taking time off of work to be here.

I've been here since 9 a.m.

I'm in support of this tax because I want to live in a diverse and inclusive city.

I want lots of housing to be built so that you can be a waiter and live in Seattle.

You can be a plumber or a janitor or a schoolteacher.

I want all kinds of people in the city, not just the rich people.

My neighborhood is...

The housing in my neighborhood has doubled in the last six years.

We bought our house for $300,000.

The ones next to us are being offered at eight and bought for more.

It's unacceptable to me that we have such a housing shortage.

We need a heavy amount of rezoning.

We need lots of affordable housing to be built.

And if it means that I have to get a different job because Amazon moves, I will take that.

Thank you.

Following Sidney Pierce will be Robert Elkins.

Good afternoon, I'm Cindy Pierce with the Neighborhood Safety Alliance.

This is not about big business, and it never has been.

It's always been about you, Council.

It's always been about you and your inability to account for the homeless spending.

The pendulum is just beginning to swing.

A community has been formed that has a lot to say, and it's time you finally start to listen.

I'm very proud to be a part of this new community where there's a group of endless, endless work of volunteers, unpaid volunteers.

Now it's your turn, Council.

Get to work.

And we're here to help.

Thanks.

Robert Elkins.

Robert, are you here?

Okay, Robert, then following you will be Joe Kinsler.

So, Joe.

And Joe, are you here?

Right here, Joe Cutler.

Okay, you're going to be right there at that mic, Joe.

Way to be ready there.

And then, so I'm trying to avoid, I know you're stuck in there.

So, and then after that will be Nowak.

Is it Haley Nowak?

Okay, you're third.

Please proceed.

Hi, good afternoon.

My name's Robert.

I'm a caregiver and I live on Capitol Hill because of affordable housing.

Some year and a half ago, I was an actual alcoholic that couldn't get off a couch and do anything.

Because of affordable housing and because of this opportunity with caregiving, it's allowed me to grow as a person and to have opportunities that I would not have had before that.

And affordable housing has offered many in the same building that same opportunity.

I've seen them grow, and I've seen people throughout my community enjoy that opportunity to be sure.

I'm sorry, I'm really nervous.

But I live in District 3, and I love Seattle.

I moved here four years ago from New York City, where they are now having a gigantic housing crisis as well.

I think we have an opportunity here to actually make a difference.

And if we can do it here, then we can show the rest of the nation how it's done.

And we can't just back off of it.

It's not that easy.

It's really important that we put all we got towards it.

And if that comes from the corporations, then we have to do it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Robert.

Thank you very much.

Thanks for having me on the clock, President Harrell.

It's always a privilege and honor to speak here at the Seattle City Council.

I really hope today is a new beginning of healing and discussion between both these groups because I do not support a tax on jobs, but I also don't support being incompassionate.

Let me tell you what else I don't support.

The personal attacks on Councilmember Reina Gonzalez, who tomorrow morning will take on the NRA to protect every last one of us whether we're against the head tax or for the head tax.

She's also the same one who fought Alex Zimmerman to restore our common so we could have some honest to goodness dialogue and some healing around here because quite frankly the more we talk at each other the harder it's going to get the House of Homeless.

I just wish it would stop.

There's a reason why there are roses on that table, and therefore we need a Gonzales for also having, not just taking on gun responsibility, but not just taking, having the courage to stand up to Alex Zimmerman, but for trying to heal this region, because we need a leader, a real leader, who will take on the challenges, and we need real leadership, not stupid sides paid for by guy-wanna-I-wanna.

Thank you, my time's up, thank you.

All right.

So, following, is it Haley?

Is it Haley?

I'm a member of Socialist Alternative.

This backroom deal is a craven capitulation of threats from big business.

If you want to talk about If you want to talk about evidence-based solutions, the sweeps are nothing but taxpayer-funded cruelty.

The charities don't go far enough.

They don't do, like, it's a Band-Aid solution.

We need permanent, affordable housing.

What happened to this commitment to, let's get it on the ballot, let the voters decide?

You're just afraid that if you give us till November to educate people and fight back against the lies and misinformation from the No Tax on Jobs campaign, you will lose.

You won't be able to get it through.

That's all I got.

Thank you.

Kaylin Nicholson.

Kaylin Nicholson, followed by Pei Wang.

Kaylin, are you here?

And then Pei, are you here?

Take this mic, please.

Well, it looks like P-E-I.

No, that's not it at all.

The last name is Wang, W-A-N-G.

OK, that would be you.

Well, the first name is Pei, correct?

P-E-I?

P-E-I.

Okay, so you don't have to speak.

Did you?

Okay, so then that would be Elizabeth James after Kaylin Nicholson.

The council members already know how this process has played out over the last several months, almost a year, more than a year at this point.

It's been many, many years since we've known that homelessness and housing affordability are a crisis in our city and that the rich are getting richer while everyone else is getting poorer.

But now folks from across the country are actually starting to pay attention to what's happening in Seattle, because the housing crisis is becoming more and more acute all over the place, but particularly in cities that are home to some of the wealthiest corporations in the world, like Seattle.

And you, as you know very well, because you've gotten these emails, after a movement, a grassroots movement, forced you to stand up to Amazon and Jeff Bezos' bullying and pass the first progressive tax in a long, long time in Seattle, you got feedback from people all over the country saying, thank you for taking a stand, thank you for setting a precedent and standing up for low-income and working people and taxing the super-rich and taxing big business.

that we spent months and months and months building, you went through a process of months and months and months and stakeholder committees and studies to come to the conclusion that that tax was needed.

Now in less than 24 hours, less than 24 hours...

Thank you.

So our next speaker is Elizabeth Jaynes.

So I'm going to ask that you stop, otherwise I've got to find you being disruptive.

So will you please...

Security, please have her removed.

Please have her removed.

Please have her removed.

Please have her removed.

Stop the repeal!

No back repeal!

Stop the repeal!

No back repeal!

Stop the repeal!

No back repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

No back repeal!

Stop the repeal!

No back repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal Are you?

So that's not a practice we allow, Ms. James.

So in fact, we're going to allow Elizabeth James to speak.

And if she would like to concede, then I'm just going to go down the list, because that's not a good precedent.

So.

OK, I'll speak.

There you go.

Okay, I'm going to have them stay up with me.

These two ladies were volunteers out at West Seattle and were collecting signatures well over several hundred, I believe, over days and made friends with three real change vendors.

and who signed the petition and were supportive.

And Moxie Media published a picture saying that this is how much she hates homeless people and Heather Wiener of Moxie Media and we've asked her to take it down and she will not even though the real change vendor posted a video in support of the repeal of this head tax.

This is the kind of divisiveness that is not helpful to anyone.

We should all be supportive to have every voice heard, whether we agree or not, and we shouldn't be trying to personally insult people because they have a different opinion.

We're for evidence-based solutions, and we'd be happy to work with you towards those.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Linda Soriano.

Is Linda Soriano here?

Linda Soriano, going once, going twice.

Linda Soriano.

Linda?

I'm sorry.

Linda, you're up.

And then Randy Peter.

Randy, do you mind taking the other mic?

Thank you, sir.

Thank you council.

I'm having a hard time being here because I just, in my heart, I just feel like crying.

My husband and I, I have spent since 1999 in the streets helping whomsoever.

I constantly encounter so many homeless And it just breaks my heart that anybody has to fight for them.

I'm just asking you, please do not repeal this tax.

Without it, where else can we get the money?

Where else?

Some of these Amazon supporters, they say that they do homeless outreach.

They shouldn't have to fight for the right or the ability to do that freely.

And no matter what's going on at their job, they should continue to help the homeless.

So I just want to thank you.

My heart is so heavy right now.

I'm dealing with a homeless person who is living in his wheelchair.

I can tell you so many stories.

If we could just sit one-on-one and your heart will also break for these homeless people.

They're struggling.

They're dying.

Thank you.

And you all already know that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Linda.

Brandi Peter.

You're on, sir.

Seattle is a beautiful city and it needs to run in a good way because people all over the world talk about Seattle.

Since I was 16, I paid taxes.

And the system has to run by people paying taxes.

Some people are exempt, some are not.

And we that make money has to pay taxes so the country would thrive.

Decisions have to be made.

The right decisions have to be made.

Or else, the streets, the homeless.

My wife and I work on the streets and we see this every day.

But we pray that you make the right decisions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We've gotten through two sheets and over 24 people for public comment, so unless there's objection, I'm going to close public comment and move to our first agenda item.

And why don't you read the first agenda item to the record.

Let us be!

Let us be!

Let us be!

Let us be!

Let us be!

We did allow over 30 minutes of public comment, unless our colleagues want, we'll proceed to go ahead and read the first agenda item.

Go ahead and read the first agenda item.

Go ahead and read the first agenda item.

Actually, the only agenda item.

Report of the city council.

Agenda item one council bill one one nine let me let me let me address Let me address the crowd if I may So what is they can't hear me so what is going to happen is if we cannot proceed we're gonna reconvene somewhere else I think many of you I didn't hear a motion and I didn't hear a majority vote to proceed.

So, anticipating this, we may have to reconvene in another spot because I'm not considering having a shot.

Yes, yes, go ahead.

Can I speak?

Yes you may.

Well, President Harreld, I mean, I will make a motion, but I will be also honest that I feel that given that the repeal on such a such hard fought for tax to solve the problem of affordable housing was done in within a day's time with no opportunity for the hundreds of people who fought for the tax to weigh in on it.

I think by default you should allow public comment for as long as is needed, but I will if you need me to make a motion that we allow at least another half an hour of public comment.

So I'm going to take that as a formal motion to extend public comment for 30 minutes.

I'm going to take that as a motion.

I didn't make a motion.

Okay.

And is there for 30 minutes?

I second it.

And there's a second down there.

So is there any debate or discussion on the motion before we call for a vote?

Any questions?

Any debate?

And I'll just sort of see where the votes are.

I will say this, that I think that I've, at least I've tried to, as the officer of the court, to try to make sure we do get as much opinions as possible.

And at some point it just becomes repetitious, to be very honest with you.

A lot of people hate the text, a lot of people love the text, people want it.

We hear the same things over and over, and I just don't know how much value that brings at this point.

Please.

And so I just think it'll be a duplication, and at some point it becomes theater.

I don't think that minds are gonna be changed on where they stand on this text at this point.

However, if it is the will of the majority to hear 30 more minutes of testimony, I certainly will comply with the will of the majority.

So the motion has been made and seconded to extend public comment for 30 minutes.

All those in favor of the motion, raise your hand and say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, raise your hand and say no.

No.

So it passed five to, I couldn't see, five to three.

So we'll extend public comments for 30 minutes.

It's now, 5-4 That's typical around here.

So, okay.

So 1244 will extend it for 30 more minutes pursuant to the motion and we left off with mr. Randy Peter So let's pick it up with Andy Roberto is it and then Lauren Tozy Tozy Andy Roberto is Andy here Okay, Andy and then Lauren Tozy Tozy Tozy, sorry about that

All right, I don't got long.

I'm a dad, so I got a kid to take care of.

What's up, bootlickers?

I haven't seen y'all since the camp out.

I got something to say, right?

I'm tired of this fucking shit.

I'm a father, I'm a veteran, and I'm anarchist.

Those are three people you don't want to piss off, all right?

I'm tired of children getting attacked in the streets.

I'm tired of them sleeping in the fucking streets.

I'm tired of seeing the very people that I swore to defend get attacked by the state.

So like I said out there, y'all need to close your fucking beaks, and start moving your feet, and get shit done, take resources, and put them in the hands of the people who need them.

Alright?

Seriously.

The fuck is wrong with y'all?

Who the fuck are y'all to justify letting people die in the streets with your policies and your laws and your legislation?

How do you justify that, killing people?

I swore to give my life to defend the people from all forms of oppression.

Eventually, this shit's going to stop, because it's our turn.

We won't make excuses for the terror.

Marks.

Our next speaker is Lauren Tazi, followed by Rachel Ledwick.

I do want to remind speakers that we do have children in the audience.

Thank you.

Please, Lauren and then Rachel.

Hello, my name is Lauren Tazi.

I've lived in Seattle since 1980. I celebrated my 21st birthday here and just recently turned 60. And I'm an early childhood educator.

And here are my students right here.

They're all going to kindergarten in the fall.

And I've never been able to own a home in Seattle, especially these days.

And I'm always a few paychecks away from being homeless myself.

And I go without what most people living in comfort simply take for granted.

Now, our state has three very wealthy men, and we all know who they are.

And they're doing extremely well.

And corporations are people now.

They have personhood.

We all pay our taxes.

and they have a corporate responsibility.

And a 3% tax is not going to put them out on the street.

There is a moral imperative here.

We need affordable housing.

Let us be the beacon of light, like the $15 an hour precedent that we set here in Seattle.

I want to know, do you represent the people or do you represent the wealthy people?

Thank you, Lauren.

No, it's not.

I urge you.

No, it is over.

I'm going to say that you're disruptive if you don't sit down.

And the next speaker.

So following Rachel is Adam.

I think it's Adam Kaneda.

Kaneda.

Hi, my name is Rachel Ludwig and I thank the council for all the hard work you've put in on this so far.

I'm a tech worker.

I'm a mother and I've lived in North Beacon Hill since 2010. I'm also an organizer with Seattle Tech for Housing and we are actually part of the problem and we have been driving up housing costs.

We don't intend to but we have and we should be part of the solution.

The EHT is a very small down payment on fixing this and We're not going to solve the affordability crisis without investing in housing.

And we believe that until the city identifies other progressive sources for revenue to fund housing, we cannot get rid of this very, very small big business tax.

I don't believe the EH2 is ever going to be a solution.

I don't think anyone does.

It's not my ideal policy, but it is something, and it's better than nothing.

If we repeal it with no notice and with nothing in place, then, in fact, more people will be homeless longer, and more people will die.

The other day I saw a homeless girl at three years old, the same age as my daughter in Soto, and I think it is immoral that we would repeal this tax that will build housing for people like her without a replacement in place.

Thank you.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

Cutting into the 30 minutes.

Go ahead.

Please proceed, sir.

Hello, my name is Adam Kennedy.

I just want to let you know that I think it's unconscionable that we're considering, sorry, it's unconscionable that we're going to be removing a source of funding without anything else in place.

I agree that it's not the best option, but it's something that we decided we want, or at least you did a little while ago.

And it's just not right for us to kick it away without anything else in place.

Yes, we need other solutions, but we should have them in place before we remove what we've got.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Tay Phoenix.

Now you're up, Tay.

Sorry about that.

So after Tay Phoenix is Steve Hoffman.

He's out in the lobby in the security garden.

Oh, can we allow Steve Hoffman in?

Was Steve Hoffman the person that was there at the Port of Herefonton?

Okay, thank you very much for that help.

So after Steve will be Muffy, Muffy, Sandy, but go ahead.

Tack, you're up.

My name's Tay Phoenix.

I was born and raised here in Seattle.

I am a small business owner.

I am a landlord.

My husband works for Amazon.

And yesterday, I was arrested in Olympia along with 18 other activists because we set up a tent city in the middle of a busy intersection to call attention to this homelessness crisis.

I want to know what you all did yesterday.

Leadership, one of the basic leadership principles is don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

I understand that this is not a perfect solution, but what perfect solution are you proposing to replace this?

I don't see any evidence of that.

This is a good you voted for a month ago.

It's a necessary step.

Please don't vote it out.

And finally, the people who are being disruptive are being disruptive because they are angry.

The system is not working for them and disrupting it is the only thing that they can do.

They're desperate and they're angry and they have a right to be.

Thank you.

Steve Hoffman and Muffy Sund.

Okay, I haven't been here for the whole thing, but my name is Steve Hoffman, and I'm the Freedom Socialist Party candidate for U.S.

Senate.

And one reason I'm running is that we need national solutions for the housing crisis, like redirecting military spending and personnel to build way more public housing.

But repealing the head tax, which is a modest tax that was in place before, is an abolition of the city's responsibility to take meaningful action.

The council needs more backbone and should not cave in to blackmail by corporations and people who have more money than they know what to do with.

Opponents of the tax say that we already spend so much money on homelessness, but they are ignoring the sheer number of working people suffering at the hands of our profit-driven system for providing housing.

Take a stand.

Don't repeal the head tax.

Following Muffy is Cecilia Kingman.

Cecilia Kingman, are you here?

Okay, you'd be next.

I was next.

No, after you.

Okay.

My name is Muffy Sundy and I'm speaking for radical women and I speak vehemently in opposition to repealing this really modest tax on the wealthiest who live among us.

And I think people should see it that way because that's what it is.

And we do this we call for this not because it's the world's best idea, but because it's the only idea that's passed lately I want to let people know some things that i'm sure the council would not doesn't want to hear 65 of the homeless in our city are Women primarily single mothers with children.

This is who is going to be most affected.

And I think the reasoning that I read about from the council was that we don't want to give the Republicans the opportunity to beat us in Olympia.

Really?

What have the Democrats done for us in Olympia?

They should repeat, like, you know, institute an income tax and lift the ban on rent control.

That would help.

Following Cecilia B, I think it's Tim, oh, Tim Eyman.

I'm the Reverend Cecilia Kingman, and I was arrested yesterday in Olympia with the Poor People's Campaign as well.

In my congregation, we have homeless families sleeping in the parking lot every night.

We have children sleeping in the parking lot.

This is a sin in such a rich area as ours, and I believe we have a moral imperative to give all our families a home, all our children homes.

Housing is a human right, and I demand in the name of the Poor and the Poor People's Campaign that is holy, that you do not only not repeal but strengthen this plan.

Thank you to council members Sawant and Mosqueda for standing up and shame, shame on the rest of you for caving to corporate interests.

I beg you in the name of all that is holy, in the name of God, in all her names to do what is just and merciful and right.

Thank you.

Following Tim will be Bill Sampson.

Bill Sampson, please take the middle mic.

My name is Tim Eyman, and today's council vote to repeal the jobs tax is only being done to avoid a public vote on this successful referendum.

It disrespects the voters because it robs them of the right to vote.

Council members' voices were heard when the tax passed.

The mayor's voice was heard when she signed it into law.

The business interests who funded the referendum's signature drive have been loud and clear.

But what about the voters?

Why shouldn't they be heard?

Why are their voices being muzzled?

The initiative and referendum process exists to give the voters the chance to be heard.

Seattle City Council members should not cut out the voters out of the process.

this value in a public vote on a ballot measure because everyone has months to learn about the issue, discuss it, debate it, and then everyone gets a chance to express their own opinion with their own vote.

The mayor and the city council should not take away the people's right to vote.

Let the process proceed as guaranteed by the Constitution.

Let the public discussion over the jobs tax play out and let the voters decide.

Just like bill would be Valerie.

Is it Valerie?

shh shh shh shh h you be something Valerie Shub Schubert?

Okay, we're good.

Hi, my name is Bill Samson.

Thank you for letting me speak today.

I live in District 4 and I support the head tax because I think corporations are not people and the corporations that would be taxed by this measure can certainly afford to pay the small tax and there's people who are struggling on the streets and so the corporations should pay their fair share.

Here I have, and I've also heard of people ask what would be done with the money.

I have a Google Doc here of some programs and activities such as rental housing, operating and services support, immediate housing, shelter, temporary and emergency, safety in place, intersecting needs, workforce stability.

And so for the opponents of this plan, I would like to know what their plan is if they're against this plan.

Thank you.

I'm a resident of low-income housing and I recognize that it's one thing to just get people off the street, that's a good thing, but also the housing that already exists needs to be maintained and I hope that this is being considered in any plan that's made.

I think it might actually be an employment opportunity because there's obviously a need for more people to maintain the low-income housing.

So that's basically what I had to say.

Thank you.

Pam Keeley, followed by Ian Burns, and then Spencer Visek.

Pam, Ian, and Spencer.

My name is Pam Keeley.

I'm a nurse.

Rent and home prices keep rising, and even if they ground to a halt right now, the median Seattle home costs $830,000.

Is it any wonder that the number of people living in cars, tents, and on the streets is also rising?

The employee head tax meant real money for real services and new housing paid for by top-tier companies whose employees live in those $800,000 bungalows.

We are a society in grave trouble when, in spite of such wealth, thousands go unsheltered as fake progressives dither and wilt in the face of corporate tyranny.

You elected officials, seemingly outraged over children ripped from parents at the border, have no trouble sleeping at night while hundreds of kids in your own city go homeless and hungry.

Thank you.

We are ready to fight!

Housing is our human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is our human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is our human right!

Council members, my name is Ian Burns.

I am a rank-and-file member of UAW 4121 and a member of Socialist Alternative.

I am angry and disappointed by yet another betrayal by the Democratic Party in response to strong-armed bullying by big business and disgusting lies spread by reactionary hate groups.

Those council members who are now poised to repeal their own legislation, I say, what have you been doing?

If you supported this legislation, why not work to build and organize the broad public support that exists for the Amazon tax?

Instead of ripping away housing in backroom executive meetings, why not actively work to counter the mountain of lies spread by the No Tax on Jobs campaign?

using your incredible platform and profiles.

It should be clear to all of us that in 2019, we need a fighting progressive alliance that takes no corporate money and that is ready to fight big business head-on and make the city affordable.

Just one sec, Spencer.

Don't start time yet.

Spencer, Emily Johnson, and then Dan, Kara...

Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh, thank you.

Go ahead.

I'm Spencer Visick.

I'm a homeowner in Greenwood.

Hi, Mike.

I'm beside myself with this emergency repeal, 24-hours notice.

Don't repeal.

House our unhoused neighbors.

House my daughter's classmates.

This is unconscionable that we would take away this money when we fought so hard to get it over so many meetings we had, 12 meetings to get here.

not repealed by CHT.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

So I think repealing this tax without a replacement immediately at hand is the worst possible precedent that we could have.

If we, we already watered down this tax because Amazon objected and now we're saying basically you throw pocket change at anything that we do and we'll take it back.

That's a complete nightmare, and it means we have no faith in the people of Seattle.

It means we are letting them seize the narrative, and because we don't want to fight that narrative battle, we can totally fight that narrative battle.

We can win that narrative battle, because Amazon and the other companies that are fighting this are just being bullies.

They need to pay their fair share.

We have to have some faith in the people of Seattle and our ability to stand up to these companies, or we lose everything without even a fight.

So following Dan will be Patrick Burns and then Freeman Ryan.

City Council members, my name is Patrick Burns.

I'm a member of the Freedom Socialist Party and a member of Carpenters Local 30. I am speaking here today to speak against any repeal of this important tax.

You have really lost your moral compass.

You have really lost your way.

You've been forced, you've been pressured by so many groups, by organized labor, by the richest man in the world, the biggest bully in the world.

He is the worst employer in the world.

I was just on the bus on the number seven and I listened to a lady talk, I was listening to her on the phone.

And she's talking to people, talking to her friends and to lawyers saying that I've received eviction notice after eviction notice.

She's scrambling.

to save her, to have a roof over her head.

And when you repeal this today, you have failed that lady, you have failed those children.

I implore you to find a backbone, like Council Member Herbold, like Council Member Sawant.

You need a backbone to fight these bullies who are oppressing our city.

and show that Seattle stands for something so that we can achieve something that no one else has.

Patrick Burns followed by Freeman Ryan.

Is Patrick Burns here?

Oh, I'm sorry, Patrick.

So Freeman Ryan and then Jana

Hey, everybody, my name is Freeman Ryan.

I'm a member of Socialist Alternative.

And after Trump's massive tax cut, which gave Amazon alone $789 million annually, the power of corporations in our society is growing at a skyrocketing rate.

And in Seattle, for years under the pressure of working class movements, elected officials have been forced to listen and do something to slow down the flow of money to the richest in our society.

But often, before this tax, in order to look like they're doing something and simultaneously not anger their corporate backers, they pass sales tax, which affect the poorest in our cities, and property taxes on homeowners.

This tax on Amazon flipped the script.

It taxed the richest in our society, like Bezos, the richest man in the entire world.

He could pay this tax for 1,000 years on his own and still be the seventh richest man in the world.

Whatever happens here today, I want to invite everyone to an event at the Langston Hughes Arts Center at 5 p.m.

on June 30th.

It's the next steps and lessons from this fight, because this is not over.

Thank you.

Bruce Harrell, you are not the decider of this city.

This watered-down version of the EHT was brought by backroom deals, and the repeal is brought down by a backroom deal.

This is us talking.

This is us to be heard.

Gonzales, you said that, to paraphrase, you felt Seattle had its duty to protect the most vulnerable.

Where is that now?

We have people dying, and you don't seem to care.

Lisa Herbold, I am ashamed to live in your district.

I am ashamed that you would vote to repeal this.

This is a watered-down version of someone who has so much money, he wants to explore space travel because he doesn't know what to do with it.

And you don't think it's helpful to help those in our city who are dying and most vulnerable.

We are ready to fight, and housing is a human right.

Okay, so is it Fern Renville Dakota or is it that no that you I'm Dan Kavanaugh I was 39th on the list You're what is your name sir Dan Kavanaugh?

Oh, okay, you okay?

You're up you're up because I skipped past you but hold on one sec Dan I got Fern Renville Dakota and then David Haynes Go ahead

I'm so disappointed.

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

Shame!

Shame!

Shame!

So start the clock, please.

So when the tax on Amazon and big business to fund affordable housing was won, it inspired people across the country and around the world that working people could stand up to one of the biggest corporations in the world and one of the richest men in the world and actually win.

50 cities around the country signed on to a letter urging Seattle to pass the Amazon tax.

San Francisco is talking about a Google tax after the Amazon tax.

And this repeal effort, make no mistake, it is a backroom deal.

It is a corporate sellout.

And I think that if Bruce Harrell wants to repeal the tax on Amazon, we should repeal Bruce Harrell.

I think if Sally Bagshaw wants to gut funding for affordable housing, we should repeal Sally Bagshaw.

I think if Rob Johnson wants to sign the death warrant for homeless people on our streets and send a clear message to the working people in this city who are teetering on the edge of homelessness, that he does not care about them, we should repeal Rob Johnson.

And I think it's no coincidence that the only person on the city council who has...

Thanks, Dan.

Dan, I got to move to the next speaker.

So, I'm going to hold you being disruptive since we're talking at the same time.

...takes no corporate cash, and I want people to imagine what our movement could win if we had not one, but two or three or four people who will fight on behalf...

So, we'll move to the next speaker.

Please have this speaker removed.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, Fern Reveal Dakota.

Is there a Fern Reveal Dakota?

And if there's not, is David Haynes here?

Are you Fern?

I'm Fern.

Thank you, and then we'll go to David Haynes.

Is David here?

Yes.

Okay, please take the other mic.

Please proceed.

Hi, my name is Fern Renville, and I actually know a number of you folks.

I'm not an activist or a socialist or an anarchist.

I'm a teacher who took the day off work to be here.

And I work with Native families in Seattle who are increasingly displaced.

Now, not so very long ago, it was illegal for Native people to spend the night in this city.

What I want to know is how are things different now?

How are things different now?

And here's the other thing, is the world and Seattle and America is looking for the high mark here in Seattle.

They're looking for the high mark.

I'm from South Dakota.

That's my home state.

That's the low mark.

That's what I don't want to be living in.

We're here in Seattle because we believe in progressive values.

Don't disappoint us.

Don't disappoint us.

Thank you.

Following David will be Amy Huntley.

The city council proves they drink alcohol and stall progress and need to be investigated for conducting war on the local poor while treasonously giving sanctuary to customs violators.

As they continue to allow the rating of the property taxes to cover welfare subsidized payments for China shipping, the Dutch rule of law, cruise line currency violators, and the airport discounts for airline donors.

The last two elected liberal perverted mayors have been conducting a war allowing a drinking and thinking city council to create a modern third world on the side of an industrial coal train operation filled with low-level drug pushers conducting uncivil war and being exempted from jail listed nonviolent by the Democrats.

The City Council and Mayor need to be investigated and retired for exempting the low-level drug pushers from jail, who destroy lives daily.

And the cops need to be investigated for not stopping the criminals, but allowing a war to continue on the poor for an out-of-sight, out-of-mind policy.

The City Council created the modern third world on the side of the highway, and if you rescind this while after voting for this, you will prove you all need to be retired due to alcoholics and pill poppers on the City Council.

Thank you, David.

So Amy Huntley will be followed by Jean Callas.

Is Amy here?

Amy?

No Amy?

Okay, so I'll move past Amy and go to Jean Callas and then Sue Hodes.

Is Jean here?

No, no Jean.

So Sue Hodes, followed by Matthew Long.

My name is Sue Hodes, with Housing for All.

And Council Member Harreld, and Council Member Gonzalez, and Council Member O'Brien, I mean, I actually don't believe that you don't want them to go into housing taxes.

We've been talking about that maybe you're afraid that there'll be such a big multi-million dollar campaign that we won't be able to handle it on our side.

And I feel like have more faith in us and in the democratic process.

Some of the time I've had good conversations with the other side when they weren't the real alt-right and had good conversations with people on the street.

And I don't know how we're going to change the actual values if we don't expand who we talk to.

And this resolution, I can't believe I'm saying something to my neighbor's face.

Letting us get out there and talk with the public is a great format for us to bring change in this city.

Thank you.

Matthew long is Matthew long here So I'll tell you what Matthew, what is that person's name?

D hunter Okay, go ahead and get Dean Hunter But we'll I'll just sign him up on this list because we only have a few less And then before that we'll go with Carol Isaac and then Ollie Lee Carol, Ali, and then Dean.

Yes.

I believe in the people.

Okay, I am Carol Isaac and I'm here to say please don't repeal I know that I agree with Sue Hodes that three of you, at least, if not five, have worked very hard on this thing.

So I can't understand why you want to repeal it.

We have delays that are going to kill people, and we know that.

I want to read from the Puget Sound Business Journal of this past week.

Creating rating agencies, excuse me, credit rating agencies, Moody's Investor Service, and Fitch.

These are the big devices we use to learn what we're doing.

Say, Seattle's head tax on large employers won't have a significant effect on the economy, and in fact, will strengthen the city's financial position.

Please.

They do warn us about Amazon.

I won't go into that.

But I want you to know that this tax, if you delay it, every time we delay something...

Thank you.

...we wind up harming people and they die.

Thank you.

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the repeal!

Stop the

Hi, I'm Allie Lee and I wanted to make sure that I have small businesses speak here and I've got Denise Maragucci here with me from Uwajimaya.

So I'm hoping that you'll give her a minute to speak.

Thank you for your time.

So what I'm gonna do here to stay consistent, I'm gonna sign Denise's name.

You're finished speaking, I take it.

Did you want to say any more?

Yeah, I'll say one more thing.

I just want to thank all of the tradesmen, the Teamsters 174, UPS drivers, and all the people in the community for coming together.

So Denise, I put your name after this speaker, and we'll just follow the order.

And did I write it right?

Dean?

D. I'm sorry.

Thank you, D.

Go ahead, D.

Hi, my name is Dee Hunter and I'm a former Amazon employee.

On November 7th in 2017, I was in a domestic situation where I had to up and leave my house immediately and run for my life.

I landed out here in Seattle where I was attacked again.

And that was after being fired from Amazon, who knew my situation.

When I lived in Indiana, I worked on the docks at Amazon.

And I was very, very good at my job.

They made me an ambassador.

I trained people to do the job that I did.

I was even sent to Chicago to do a training.

And when I came out here, I was supposed to go back to the docks, and that didn't happen.

I was put on a job that Amazon already knew that I couldn't do.

And seven days into an accommodation period, seven business days, that they told me I should take in order to get my medical and things together, they terminated my employment without my knowledge.

I got a message on my phone that said, why did you leave us?

And that's how I found out I was terminated.

I just read here on this little piece of paper that last year, or the same year, 2017, Amazon made over $5 billion in profit and did not pay a single solitary tax.

I don't know how people can feel sorry for that.

Our last speaker, Denise Moriguchi.

Good afternoon.

Thank you council members for listening to the public comment.

My name is Denise Moriguchi and I'm with Uwajimaya.

Not Amazon, but Uwajimaya and we will be impacted by this head tax if it went through.

Wajamaya's been around for 90 years.

It was started by my grandfather.

We've been employing people in the Pacific Northwest for 90 years.

We've been feeding the community.

We donate daily to the ACRS Food Bank.

We also support many other organizations that support our community's most vulnerable.

I want Seattle to be a vibrant, beautiful city, just like everyone else.

I don't want people living in tents as well.

I don't want people living on the streets.

But this head tax is not the right answer.

Taxing businesses, small businesses, businesses that have thin margins that aren't Amazon will impact prices, will impact jobs, and that's not the right answer.

So I want to work together to find real solutions, but this employee head tax is not the answer.

So thank you very much for listening, and I hope you consider repealing the head tax today.

Thank you.

Actually got through the entire list, and so why don't you read the agenda item?

Thank you.

Yes, please read the first agenda item.

Agenda item one, council bill 119280, an ordinance relating to taxation, repealing ordinance 125578, relating to adding a new chapter 5.37 employee head hours tax and a new chapter 5.38 to title five of the Seattle Municipal Code introduced June 11, 2018.

Okay, I will formally move it and have a second so we can have some debate before we vote.

So I'll move to pass the one agenda item, Council Bill 119-280, which is a ordinance relating to taxation, repealing ordinance 125-578.

Is there a second?

Okay, discussion?

I think much has been already said about it.

This is not a great day for anyone, but hopefully it's not the end of anything.

It's the beginning of another process And unless there's further comments, I'll be prepared to call for the vote.

The vote was seconded.

So, and just by way of order, I'm not going to be dealing with this disruption.

So, we tried to listen.

Thank you for your comments.

We realize how emotional this is, but we would like to have a little decorum.

So, are there any other comments before we call on a vote?

OK, if there's no comments, I'm going to call for the vote.

It's been moved and seconded.

Are there any comments before we have a vote?

So go ahead.

I'm just waiting for hands.

Council Member Herbold.

So we all know the core underlying issue in Seattle and other high cost cities is that we simply don't have enough housing.

The McKenzie study commissioned by the Chamber of Commerce a couple months ago concluded that King County would need to spend $410 million each year just to house those who are homeless here in January of 2017. And it would take seven years just to catch up with that backlog.

Further, a recent Zillow study shows that a 5% increase in the median rent correlates with a 250% increase in homelessness.

In Seattle, we've had a whole lot of 5% increases.

To those who would say that the City Council is not holding departments and recipients of funding accountable, I say this is a willful ignoring of the facts.

I heard someone testify today that no affordable housing is being built.

Last year, 944 units of deeply affordable housing were built and funded by the city.

In addition, last year, more than 5,000 people were moved out of homelessness into permanent housing.

The fact is, unless we build more affordable housing than we're building today, our progress on addressing homelessness will always be limited, and we will always not be effective in addressing the problem.

To people who are insisting that our policies are creating a free atoll, the data proves otherwise.

The people experiencing homelessness in King County are our neighbors.

83% reported living in King County at the time they became homeless.

Only 6% reported a last home address out of state.

Economist Dick Conway has concluded that across five separate measures, fairness, transparency, adequacy, stability, and economic vitality, Washington State has the most regressive tax structure of any of the 50 states.

Regressive is just shorthand for saying unfair, because people who earn $20,000 a year in this state devote two months every year to pay their yearly tax bill, while the top 1% pay their year's tax bill in just six days.

This regressive state structure leaves us with limited options.

Only four states have no income tax, and six have no corporate income tax, like Washington state has none.

Within our regressive, unfair tax structure, I believe the EHT was truly our best option.

After the Progressive Revenue Task Force recommendations were released, the sponsors of the legislation made several concessions to business.

We heard the concerns of small businesses.

We exempted any business with revenues below $20 million a year so that only 2.5% of businesses would be covered to pay only $0.13 per employee hour.

We heard the concerns of larger businesses who didn't want a payroll tax because they would have to pay more.

So we eliminated the transition to a payroll tax that would be actually fairer to other businesses.

After nine months of meetings, hearings, headlines, an employee hours tax to fund affordable housing and homelessness services had finally passed.

We are finally making progress.

One testifier today said that she feels like crying.

I do too.

However, today, as I take this vote that runs counter to my values as a person, I do so because of an inescapable irony.

The Chamber of Commerce has convinced the vast majority of Seattleites, maybe not the vast majority of people here today, but the vast majority of Seattleites, one, they now believe that increased human suffering in this city is a result of government inefficiency, despite all the things that I've told you about the housing that we build and the people that we shelter.

They now believe, the vast majority of Seattleites believe, that we have to lead first with a regional funding approach that will likely be actually reliant on higher property taxes or sales taxes for all taxpayers, and that that's preferable to getting resources from those most benefiting from income inequality in Seattle paying their share.

This is what the vast majority of Seattle residents believe today.

And we don't have the time and we don't have the resources necessary to change enough minds to be successful at the polls in November.

I am personally no stranger to being out-fundraised.

And in my own case, I was out-fundraised three to one by the chamber, landlord, and developers.

Unfortunately, I and other people, other people who are out there on the streets doing this work, have reached the conclusion that this is not a winnable battle at this time with this particular measure.

The opposition has unlimited resources, and between seeing lots of polling data and conversations this weekend with the campaign Bring Seattle Home, this is the campaign opposing the referendum, and worked myself in elections for many years, the margin is simply too great to overcome.

Again, especially when one side has unlimited options.

People who are saying that we are bowing to political pressure, nothing could be further from the truth.

I am not someone who walks away from what may look like a losing fight, because I understand that sometimes in losing, something really important is built in the campaign.

But I do not believe that that would be the case in this instance.

Instead, my political calculus is that there is so much more to lose between today and November that will hurt our long-term fight for progressive taxation, to address the dire needs of people suffering on our streets.

Having proposed an employee hours tax myself in the 2016 budget that failed, and again in the 2017 budget that failed.

And this time, having worked nine months on this proposal, I say this with an extremely heavy heart.

I do not want the repeal of the employee hours tax to be considered a loss.

It's a temporary setback, and I'm dedicated to finding progressive revenue sources to help combat the homelessness epidemic.

Cities across the country are looking to replicate the employee hours tax to alleviate human suffering in their own high-cost cities.

We have a significant budget hole to fill with today's vote against a permanent fund source.

Both of the homelessness and housing investments we made in last year's budget with one-time funds when the council didn't approve the employee hours tax, and now also for the recent investments initiated by Mayor Durkan for bridge housing, again with one-time funds.

Credit ratings agencies Moody's Investors and Fitch say Seattle's tax on large employers won't have a significant effect on the economy, and in fact it will strengthen the city's position.

But Moody's warns that Amazon's opposition to the tax, now supported by the vast majority of the public, demonstrates the risk of a dominant employer's ability to exercise outsized influence in some government policy decisions.

Ultimately it's completely heartbreaking to me that thousands of people sleeping on the street outside in Seattle tonight and every night are the ones who are going to pay the price of our listening to and acting on the misleading political narrative promoted by big business in Seattle and in particular by the folks who are supporting the referendum.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

So...

Thank you.

Are there any other comments from any of my colleagues?

Any other comments from any of my colleagues?

And Council Member Esqueda.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I really appreciate all of my colleagues.

I appreciate everybody who came to testify.

But I cannot in good conscience vote to repeal this proposal without a replacement strategy.

We need funding.

We need funding desperately to house the homeless.

We need funding to shelter the unsheltered.

We need funding for the critical health services that I know every single one of my council colleagues has advocated for and sees the desperate need for every day on our way to work.

You know, more than two years ago, this city and this county declared a state of emergency.

And I am incredibly concerned that if we delay without a replacement strategy, we will see more months of inaction, months where we could be building housing, months where people will continue to spend the night outside.

months where we should be enacting the housing first strategies recommended in the very poppy report discussed today.

I am concerned that a delay will result in more regressive tax structures because the reality is we have very few tools in our toolkit.

Without progressive revenue options in hand, we are asking working families to pay more in sales tax.

And at the state and county level, we don't have those progressive options and we cannot go back to regressive solutions.

Instead, I'm really hoping that we will find a way for those who've done the best in our city to contribute just a little bit to help with this public health crisis.

That is what the EHT represented.

And let me be very clear.

that the EHT was not a tax on small business, it was not a tax on medium businesses, it was not a tax on non-profits, it was not a tax on jobs.

This was a genuine effort, a compromise, and a much-needed down payment to our housing crisis as every single one of these council members has described throughout the process.

Since 2012, 700 people have died on Seattle's streets.

We cannot let that happen.

In one of the most prosperous cities in the richest nations in this world, we have to step up.

And I get that people are fed up.

I hear you and I'm tired of seeing folks sleep outside on our way to work every day.

We're fed up that there's still individuals outside even despite our best efforts.

We're fed up at the city's growing population that has resulted in additional traffic, congestion, that we see the need for housing that has yet to be built, and that we've pushed folks to the street because we haven't built the affordable housing that we need as the cost of housing continues to increase.

We have priced out residents and we have pushed out our communities, but this was our call to action.

This was our city's response and if I have any sense of where there is commonality is you want to see more.

You want to see folks moved off of the streets and into shelter, out of the parks and into homes.

We cannot move people out of streets and out of parks and into shelters and into homes without additional revenue to meet our city's needs.

We have done a tremendous job and as the newest council member here, I want to applaud the City Council for your work over the last two years to change our approach to dealing with homelessness.

You have exited 9,000 people since 2014 into homes.

5,000 of those you exited in 2017 alone.

And guess what last month's report showed us?

that 3,000 people moved out of homelessness and into homes in the first quarter alone this year.

What you have invested in is working and we need additional revenue to make it possible for more people to find a home.

That's not to say that we can't find improvements, and that's part of what the EHT represented as well.

It was a collective approach to bring all of our voices to the table, to identify ways that we can do more, to make sure that we are filling the gaps and fixing the holes left by the previous administration.

We reformed our contracting process.

Thanks to Councilmember Gonzalez, she pushed forward an auditing process that just showed this morning in Councilmember Herbold's committee that we are doing an effective job, more effective than San Francisco and Austin in terms of the data collection and getting folks into housing.

We have something to be incredibly proud of here in our city, but you have to get the information out and make sure that people have that data.

And I will continue, along with everyone on this council, to fight to make sure that that story is told.

And people say that Seattle's budget has grown.

But the reality is, and what gets omitted all the time, is that the growth in revenue is actually going into utilities.

It's going into police services.

It's not going into housing and homelessness services.

And that's what we need to do.

The truth is that we do not have the resources to create the shelter and the housing needed.

And the truth is, if we want to implement the Poppy Report, we must have dollars in hand to implement the recommended housing-first approach.

And I agree with every frustration you will hear from this council and from the community that we cannot wait.

This process, as Councilmember Herbold mentioned, this iteration of this process alone took us six months.

The frustration that we are hearing from companies who are asking us to push pause, to reset, is the same frustration that they expressed in November 2017. And this council listened.

They brought folks to the table, they created a task force, they invited large business and labor and community and housing advocates to the table, and the large businesses boycotted.

We need folks to show up.

So let me be clear.

Business has always been invited to the table.

And when they boycotted, my door was always open.

I am a collaborator.

I am proactive.

I want solutions.

I am not interested in slamming doors.

And after today, we will continue to find solutions.

But when I see construction jobs being threatened, I will work my ass off to make sure that there is a solution.

And that is what we did.

And within 48 hours of buying off on the proposal that this council unanimously approved, Amazon turned around and funded the opposition.

And I don't care if you're with labor or if you're with business, a hollow handshake and a broken promise is not good practice.

And so I want to make sure...

I want to make sure that we have a conversation about the importance of coming to the table.

I will sit at any task force.

I will work with anybody to find solutions to make sure that not one more person or one more family goes onto the streets and is living outside and dies out there.

And we here, I think, are sending a collective message today that we actually want to find solutions that will be implementable.

We do not want to be here three months later in the same situation, because the folks who have lost in this conversation are the people who line up every day downstairs, the men who sleep downstairs in our basement floor at night.

The people who have lost are the women who line up in Belltown, who wait for a hot meal and try to find a place to sleep every single night.

The people who have won by running this campaign are the large firms like the Morning in America firm that worked with the Trump campaign that was against gay rights, that's against taxes, that was pro-charter.

Those are the folks who won.

The folks who are winning today are the people who said that they were going to do a shock and awe campaign against this city.

Nothing is worth dividing this city over, especially when we have people living outside.

This is not about political games.

This is about policy solutions.

And I will work with everyone on this council and everyone in Seattle to help find a solution.

Because we need a solution for the 400 individuals living in unsanctioned encampments that so many people talked about.

We need solutions for the folks who are going to our libraries every day and using them as day centers because we don't have day centers.

We need solutions for the people who are living in our parks and the park workers who are having to pick up needles instead of clean our parks.

Look, I have a different opinion than my colleague.

I don't think that this was about one corporation.

This is about shared responsibility so we can have greater shared prosperity.

And we need to make sure that as we move forward, that we all come to the table, that we're not just talking the good talk, but we're sitting down and finding solutions, that we have real solutions in a pragmatic way that solves the problems so that we can right-side up our upside-down tax system.

This process that Councilmember Gonzalez and Councilmember Herbold spearheaded for us was inclusive, it was collaborative, it asked for alternatives and ideas to be at the table, and I will continue to work with them in every single one in the city to make sure that we can find those solutions now, because we don't have an alternative that is not a regressive tax system right now, and large corporations who are doing the best in this city, we have asked you to do a small down payment.

a time-limited down payment of five years, 14 cents an hour for our largest corporations that were making more than $20 million a year.

We know it's bad for businesses when people are sleeping outside.

We know it's bad for the health of our local economy.

We are asking you now to step up.

And so, while I'm frustrated that we're in this position, I'm absolutely ready to get to work on Plan B. I am absolutely ready to work with my council colleagues, with the mayor, with labor, with housing advocates, with small and large businesses to find a replacement and to do it immediately.

I specifically want to thank the many small businesses who have stepped up and said, I would be happy to help with the solution because I know that this is bad for business and our community when people are sleeping outside.

How about the large tech companies like Tableau and Redfin who said that they didn't love the EHT, but they knew that there was a crisis out there and wanted to find a solution.

We need your ideas now.

We need ideas that are progressive, not regressive tax systems.

And if you want to have that conversation, let's do it.

Let's step up.

Let's come back to the table and do it with urgency.

For the rest of the folks who have raised objections, what I'm asking folks to do is to think about your role in this as well, because it's not just about revenue, it's about housing solutions.

We need you to say yes to density, yes to rezoning, yes to thinking about being an inclusive Seattle, yes to changes that will allow for more of our community to not get pushed out, displaced, or to live on the streets.

So I'm looking forward to hearing from you, and I'm looking forward to hearing from you very damn soon, because the crisis is now.

We need to make sure also that we don't just pass the buck, because yes, homelessness is much bigger than Seattle's borders.

It is far too big for us to ignore or wait for someone else to pick it up, especially when King County only has regressive tax options in hand.

especially when we continue to have a very small majority in the House and the Senate at the state level, and especially when we see the Trump tax breaks and cuts hurting our ability to fund housing and mental health services.

So I'll end with this.

I am incredibly proud that this council has stood up in the face of intimidation and fear in the past, and I know we can continue to do so and that we will do it again to find a progressive tax system that helps house our homeless.

I am so hopeful and proud of the work that you have done.

I am proud that Seattle is resilient.

I am proud that Seattle is compassionate.

I am proud that Seattle, with labor and business, we have solved some of the toughest problems when it comes to income.

inequality, and I know that by coming back together, we can again do this.

So while I will not be able to support the repeal today, I will be here to be able to find solutions with you, with my colleagues, with the city at large, and we will do so with urgency because we cannot delay.

I believe Councilman Bryan, would you like to speak?

I want to thank everyone who came out to testify today and over the past number of months to help inform the decisions we've been making and are making today.

Really want to thank my two colleagues who've already spoken.

I recognize that you've made different decisions on what you're doing today, but I agree with everything you both have said, and I'm aligned with you.

My analysis is absolutely we need more resources to solve the crisis we're in.

We have to build more housing.

We have to have more emergency shelter and services for folks experiencing homelessness.

There is no way we can do that with existing resources without devastating cuts to other programs that we all rely upon.

And if we need new resources, we absolutely need to make sure we're spending those effectively.

And as my colleagues have said, we have some amazing programs doing great work.

I won't reiterate the whole litany, but last year we invested $93.4 million in affordable housing.

Every dollar the city invested was leveraged with $2.81 of other resources to bring over $300 million investments to affordable housing, which when those buildings are complete will produce and preserve over 1,400 units of affordable housing.

And we know that is not enough.

The crisis today demands more.

We heard from the business consultant, McKinsey.

We've heard from so many others that we need more resources to make this happen.

And where do we get those resources from?

Well, in the last eight months, I've worked on this.

And from my policy analysis, this is the best tool that we have.

We don't have a lot of great revenue options at the city.

And the employee hours tax is the one that makes the most sense.

It's not a perfect tax.

It's the most fair.

And yet here we are where I do not see a path where we can move forward, where six months from now, eight months from now, we will actually have the revenue to do what we need.

And I can't tell you how hard it is for me to say that publicly.

And so I'm in a position where I'm going to vote to repeal this, and I do not have a replacement for you.

But just because I do not have a replacement does not mean that I am going to stand by.

I will start working immediately on finding what the best replacement is.

What this has proven is that various components of our community have the power to stop things.

And what we need, we need people to come together to actually solve things.

And it needs to be progressive, it needs to be significant increase in revenue, it needs to be invested smartly.

And so I'll be voting for the motion today.

Thank you, Councilor O'Brien.

Will there, are there any other comments council members want?

Would anyone else like to speak before customers once councilmember Gonzales, yeah, thank you I

So here we go again.

You know, one of the most frustrating parts of this job is the profound amount of process that needs to happen before we determine that we don't have to be frozen.

And we know what the solutions are in this context.

Council Member Herbold laid them out very beautifully.

Council Member Mosqueda also did a fine job in laying out all of the studies and all of the solutions that those studies have identified over years, years in this city.

And you know, sometimes it sounds real pretty to talk about those solutions and say how we need to do them, but nobody wants to talk about how we pay for it.

No, no.

And here's the reality is that all of the solutions require additional and new revenue.

And we have fought just difficult fights over the last year to finally pass a solution that we thought would generate that revenue, that I still believe could generate that revenue.

I still believe that even though the employee hours tax was not the perfect solution, it was and continues to be a viable solution for us at the city.

There are limited options that we have available to us as a city in terms of generating new revenue that don't require us to further burden homeowners and consumers.

And that's why we chose this particular policy.

It wasn't because we hate one side more than the other or that we hate anybody.

It's because we have a real crisis in our city.

And this was a clear solution to generate the revenue that we needed to be able to meet those needs.

And I, like Council Member O'Brien and Council Member Herbold, have been unable to find a path forward in which we would be able to outfund and out-resource and win this campaign in November.

And that saddens me.

That saddens me.

And sadly, I wish that was true.

Somebody from the audience just said that it's not just about money.

But it is clear in this case that money has funded this campaign to put us in a situation where we are repealing this law.

And that's the truth.

That's the truth.

That's the truth.

And it gives me no pleasure to have to repeal this law because I think this law was well done.

We pursued a process of nine months to do outreach, to talk to people.

to make concessions that we never wanted to make.

And we made those concessions because we felt that the urgency of now to address the reality that people are dying on our streets needed to be addressed.

And it still does.

You're absolutely right.

It still does.

That is the challenge before us.

continue on this city council to fight for solutions that make sense, that will not tear our city apart, and that will help us save the lives that we all know that we need to save.

And that's what we will continue to do.

And I know that this is a hard day for all of us.

This is a defining moment, I believe, in the city of Seattle.

And it is not a good one.

But I know that we are gonna continue to fight to make sure that we have the sense of urgency that was described by Council Member Mosqueda, and that we continue to identify ways to really hold external interest to this city hall accountable, because I am tired of hearing no.

We cannot hear no to solutions we have identified that make sense, that need to be done.

Like my colleagues, I'm going to vote to repeal this law today.

I'm sure that was a surprise to you guys.

And I just, I think we need to continue to make sure that we create space to have this conversation, but it needs to be done in a way where we are still going to act with a sense of urgency.

And for all of those folks who are asking us to exercise fiscal discipline and responsibility, that's exactly what I think this council intends to do this fall.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Gonzalez.

Council Member Sawant, you have the floor.

Council Member Swanchi, you have the floor.

Thank you to all my fellow activists, not only for coming today, but also for the months, and in many cases years, of the organizing and movement building that we have engaged in together.

As the Seattle Times reported recently, nearly 23,000 working families in Seattle are extremely rent burdened, meaning they pay more than half their income on rent.

And as one of my union sisters said today, Who are these people?

These are custodial workers, grocery store workers, educators, cafeteria workers, administrative workers.

Basically, we're talking about all the working people who go to work every day and make the city run and without whom this city would come to a standstill within hours.

We know that rent is skyrocketing.

The median home price is now well over three quarters of a million dollars.

Real change was here today in City Hall, ringing the gong for hours to indicate our thousands of unsheltered neighbors.

Women in black report that already this year, at least 53 people have died simply because they did not have shelter.

The Democratic Party establishment which controls this city has presided over this crisis over decades.

This is not a crisis that happened in a day or a month or a year.

This has been decades in the making.

They have let it worsen with no real solutions.

And we know not only from our knowledge of economics, but we know from common sense, from the status quo, that the only solution to address the affordable housing crisis is for the city to build social housing, which is publicly owned, permanently affordable housing, And we also know that it is completely rational and the only idea to raise revenues is to go to those who have not paid anything close to their fair share, which is big business.

So in the face of decades of inaction by the elected leaders of the Democratic Party, our movement, composed of ordinary people, renters, housing activists, homeless people, we built our movement from the grassroots.

We got organized, we got organized, and we built the people's budget struggle last year, through which we brought 400 people to the public hearing who spoke with one voice.

City Council, do your job.

tax big business so that we can begin to address the affordable housing crisis.

That night, we engaged in peaceful civil disobedience in an overnight occupation of City Hall.

It was because of our courage, determination, and our strategies and political clarity that we then finally came to that unanimous vote on May 14th.

It was because of our leadership as a movement, not the leadership of the politicians of the Democratic Party.

Now, less than a month after that unanimous vote, these council members are going to overturn that hard-won victory of our movement.

No doubt, there were several council members who worked on this, but I don't think this is in any way an appropriate moment for council members to be patting their own backs about the work they did.

It is...

And in fact, in many cases, thousands of activists who have fought year after year, decade after decade, for some social change.

It is their political leadership that leads this way.

And now, enlightening speed, with zero accountability to our movement, zero accountability to renters, zero accountability to the majority of the people in this Seattle who are reeling In this acute affordable housing crisis, these council members are set to destroy within a day's time what hundreds of us spent months fighting for.

Why?

Why are they doing this?

What has changed?

The reality is, all around the country, there is overwhelming support for making the tax structure more progressive and making big business and the rich pay their fair share.

We have actually, throughout this struggle in Seattle, been hearing powerful accounts from working people and the labor movement in many other cities around the country, and even in Canada, who are inspired by this fight to tax Amazon in Seattle and want to do similar things in their cities.

Right after we passed our tax, the mayor of Mountain View, California said, shouldn't we have a Google tax in the cities in the Bay Area?

What is different in Seattle?

Are we expected to believe that Seattle is somehow now more conservative than the rest of the country on this issue?

Of course not.

Seattle is more progressive and has a history of being more progressive than the country at large.

What has happened is there has been a tsunami of propaganda from big business, lies and distortion and misinformation.

And yes, it is true it has had a temporary effect on the public opinion, but I have a newsflash for this council.

This was never going to be easy.

It is no surprise in any way whatsoever that big business has launched a campaign of lies and distortion.

This is what they will do.

To quote Tim Harris from earlier today, any progressive measure you talk about, you will find big business opposing it.

So why is the council stunned that this is happening?

This is exactly the kind of onslaught of lies and distortion and misinformation that came at us when we began building the 15Now campaign.

What would history have looked like at this point if the 15 Now movement had said, the big business is opposing us, they are spreading lies, they are impacting public opinion, let's fold our tent and go home.

What did we do instead?

We built a powerful grassroots movement.

We engaged in a citywide door-knocking campaign.

We had neighborhood meetings.

We had rallies, protest marches, town halls, and we changed public opinion to the point that the vast majority of Seattle and the nation supports $15 an hour.

We not only won $15 here, we have now won $15 in many other cities.

I don't accept, even for a second, this idea that we are now forced to repeal because there is onslaught from big business.

No, while council members were meeting behind closed doors last week, I wasn't among them, to plan this repeal, what was our movement doing?

Our movement was gearing up to begin building that campaign so that we could knock on the doors of tens of thousands of voters throughout the summer and fall so that we can push back against the referendum.

Is there a guarantee that we would have won despite that?

No, of course there's no guarantee, but there was a chance of winning.

And I can tell you something, with this capitulation, there is a guarantee that this will be a massive setback for the movement.

That much is guaranteed.

Many council members have said on various occasions, including in their speeches today, they have indicated that they are forced to do this.

This is the sober, responsible thing to do.

Why stand before you as a council member, as an elected representative, who is completely disagreeing that that is a sober, responsible thing to do?

No, this is a cowardly betrayal of the needs of working people.

The only sober, responsible thing to do is to stand strong on the Amazon tax today and pour our efforts as elected representatives, stand with the movement, stand with the people, and spend the summer and the fall really changing public opinion, which I know can be done.

By walking away from this tax today, this council is forcing upon us the loss of a huge opportunity that our movement had created to finally begin to turn the tide on regressive taxation and the gross underfunding of basic needs like affordable housing.

This is, let's call it what it is, it's a capitulation and it's a betrayal.

And it's a kowtowing to big business and to corporate politicians like Jenny Durkan and Chris Gregoire.

And this is not the first time this has happened.

This is exactly the process through which Washington state ended up getting its regressive tax system through decades of capitulation by Democrats to big business and the Republicans and the right wing by betraying again and again and again working class people.

That is how we, that is why we should not forget the example of Boeing.

Boeing made the same kinds of threats like Amazon and other big businesses are making today, but Boeing did that decade after decade, and the legislature gave to them decade after decade, and the logic was always, well, you can't fight big business, and if they threaten to take away jobs, then we have to accept whatever they want.

Boeing executives got everything that they wanted in the name of not taking away jobs.

And what did they do?

They took the jobs away anyway.

And so I think we have to understand that the logic of bending to big business points only in one direction, which is a race to the bottom for the rest of us.

I have full confidence that if we were to engage in a real public campaign to educate voter opinion, there is no question that working people will be on our side.

Right now, they have been at the receiving end of a systematic corporate and media campaign where they have been told lies after lies.

They've been told this is a tax on jobs.

They've been told that this tax will ultimately end up taxing them.

They've been told the lies.

So I have to say, I'm quite disappointed and upset that council members like Herbold and Gonzalez are ultimately placing the blame on the people, on working people.

This is wrong.

This is wrong.

We should not be blaming elected officials have no business blaming ordinary working people if they don't agree with this tax.

It is because of the onslaught of lies that this has happened and we as working people should have the confidence that we can change the minds of other working people like ourselves because Stop any random person on the street down there and ask them, do you think Amazon pays its fair share?

And they will tell you no.

If you ask them, do you think we need affordable housing?

They will say yes.

Do you think big businesses should be taxed for that?

They will say yes.

And where would we have been if we had used this logic of blaming working people?

Do you think working people agreed immediately on marriage equality, on gay rights, on trans rights, on $15 an hour?

No, we engage in a conversation with them to bring everyone together.

Only weeks ago, Ireland, which has been dominated for decades by the Catholic Church, just engaged in a public referendum which, with flying colors, rejected abortion restrictions and voted for abortion rights.

Every rural county in Ireland voted for abortion rights.

That is how we have seen change happen every single time.

When we go out and base our strength on working people like ourselves and not engage in what I think is magical thinking, that somehow, at some point, you're gonna be able to convince Jeff Bezos and the executives at Starbucks and Facebook to be on your side and to be okay.

So I ask you this, too.

I ask the council this question about strategy as well, and this is a question for our movement.

What is the strategy to go from here?

What is the replacement?

What is the plan B?

It is all very well and good for council members to say that they are willing and excited to work on a plan B, but what is the plan B?

There is no plan B, and as a matter of fact, the only logical solution to this affordable housing crisis is to build social housing by taxing big business, which leads me to the next question about strategy.

Do council members actually believe that by completely capitulating to big business today, somehow we are going to be in a better situation next year to win this?

Or would we have been in a better situation to win this next year even if we had not won on the referendum, but by the end of October we had convinced tens of thousands of people to be on our side to get ready to gear up for a fight next year?

That's the question.

So ultimately, Sisters and brothers, for us, the question is of strategy.

Are we going to engage in this failed strategy of continuing to put our faith in politicians of the Democratic Party, however well-meaning they say they might be, however much they say they want to tax big business to solve the affordable housing crisis?

What is the strategy for our movement?

We are seeing unfolding right in front of our eyes what happens when you put your faith in politicians who are not willing to fight the good fight with us and are worried about what the chamber is saying, worried about what their corporate colleagues are going to say, worried about what Mayor Jenny Durkan is going to say, and putting the blame on working people.

That is the most shameful thing, that saying that working people are no longer on our side.

That is not correct.

And so, ultimately, for us, the lesson here is we cannot put our faith on politicians who are not willing to fight with us, and that is why our movement needs our own independently elected candidates who are willing and able to really fight against big business, who understand that It is magical thinking to believe that somehow you will be able to win attacks like this without making enemies out of Jeff Bezos.

No, Jeff Bezos is our enemy.

He is our enemy.

And we have to fight big business.

The question is, will we have elected representatives who will fight with us?

That is the question for us.

That is why I urge you all to join me on June 30th at 5 p.m.

at Langston Hughes because that is where we will discuss the lessons and the next steps for the Amazon movement.

And I will say one last thing.

For the many who have said, even well-meaning people who have said, well, this is not a perfect solution, but we should still do it.

I beg to differ.

What does it mean for it to not be a perfect solution?

Would it be better if the state legislature and the federal government somehow turned socialist today and really made our lives better?

Of course.

But does it make sense for us to hold our breath that they will do that?

No, absolutely not.

And this tax that we are talking about, the Amazon tax, is from an economist standpoint, and I'm speaking as an economist, is completely progressive.

It is a progressive tax.

It is a progressive tax, and if we are tired of regressive taxation in this state, then any progressive tax is the perfect solution.

So let us not, as a movement, cede that ground.

Don't go door knocking and say, this is not a perfect solution, but will you be with me?

No, say, this is the perfect solution because it is a progressive tax in a state with regressive taxes.

Are you with me so that we can make the lives of working people like yourselves better?

That's the question to ask.

Thank you.

I'm going to ask my colleagues to try to hear what I'm saying.

Try to hear what I'm saying.

It's been moved and seconded.

It has been moved and seconded.

the passage of the bill.

If you can hear me, they can hear me.

That's all I can do.

I can't.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

We are ready to fight.

Housing is a human right.

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

I need to speak first.

I need the members of the public to know that the vote is happening as you're chanting.

So, yes, my name was just called.

Others have already voted.

Please proceed.

Stop the repeal!

No back repeal!

Stop the repeal!

No back repeal!

Stop the repeal!

No back repeal!

Stop the repeal!

No back repeal!

I'll come back.

Gonzalez?

She already voted.

As who would like to sit at the table here?

Restore order.

I vote yes to repeal.

Mr. President, I just want to note that there are some members of the press who were trying to make sure that they could hear, so you had offered the table here.

I'm wondering if you might make the exception so that the press can...

Not at this point.

Thank you for the suggestion.

I just want everybody to know the vote is happening.

My name has been called and I haven't voted yet, but I can't vote without the public actually being engaged on this.

Mr. President, do you mind redoing the vote?

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is a human right!

We are ready to fight!

Housing is Did everybody vote except Council Member Sawant?

Why would you like to vote?

I don't know how to...

I can't speak over this.

I'm not going to wait for him to die now.

Let me check.

Excuse me.

Vote.

Adjourn the meeting.

Adjourn the meeting.

Just adjourn.

One, two, three.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We hear you.

So, we need one more vote.

So, Council Member Suarez, I'm going to ask that you vote because I can't restore order, but we can still proceed.

Council President Harrell is urging me to cast my vote on this legislation, but I don't feel comfortable doing that when members of the public can't hear.

I mean, did you hear other council members vote on that?

So, Council Member Swant, the vote is yours.

The vote has been casted by the other council members.

So, how do you vote?

Well, I think they need to hear other

President Harrell, I think they're asking you to hold the vote again.

No, we actually did vote.

I'm going to ask, if Councilman refused to vote, the votes on the record withstand would be my assumption.

Maybe perhaps the clerk could read the roll and then we can be done.

Well, we've already voted.

We'll read that back.

We will do that.

That makes sense.

But first of all, I think Council Member Swann would like to get her vote on the record and then we'll have the votes read out loud.

Councilmember Sawant.

I'm the only council member left to vote on this.

What does our movement want to do here?

Stop voter repeal!

Stop voter repeal!

I will register a no vote.

I think it's a no vote.

So she voted no.

She voted no.

Record the no.

Stop voter repeal!

Stop voter repeal!

No.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Herbold, vote for aye.

Johnson, vote for aye.

Juarez, vote for aye.

Mosqueda, vote for nay.

O'Brien, vote for aye.

Sawant, vote for nay.

Begshaw, vote for aye.

Gonzalez, vote for aye.

President Harrell, vote for aye.

Seven in favor, two opposed.

So the bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Any further business for the council?

I assume not.

That will stand adjourned.