Thank you.
Good morning.
This is the meeting of the Sustainability and Renter's Rights Committee of the Seattle City Council.
Today is Friday, July 15, 2022, and the time is 9.37 a.m.
I am the chair of the committee, Council Member Kshama Sawant.
Will the clerk, Ted Verdone, from my office please call the roll?
Council Member Sawant?
Present.
Council Member Lewis?
Present.
Council Member Morales?
Here.
Council Member Juarez?
Here.
and Council Member Nelson for a present.
Thank you, Ted, and welcome, members of this committee.
Today, we have two items on the agenda.
First, we will consider and hopefully vote on the appointment of Jessen Farrell to be the Director of the Office of Sustainability and Environment.
She is currently acting as Interim Director.
My office sent her questions last week, and we have heard that she will send – oh, no, we do have answers, actually.
I appreciate Jessen Farrell sending us the responses, and I'm sure we'll hear more from her personally.
this morning, and then the committee will vote on the appointment, sorry, confirmation of five reappointments to the Green New Deal Oversight Board.
Because for all five are reappointments, I don't expect that they will be attending the committee meeting, but, and I assume that it will be a quick agenda item.
Before we begin the discussion on all these appointments, we have public comment.
We, I don't believe there are anybody from Anybody signed up remotely?
And we have two speakers signed up in person here.
Ted, please read their names.
Each person will have two minutes.
Carolyn Malone, followed by Alex Zimmerman.
Go, go, go speak.
Careful, yeah.
Now?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, no, next, next, next.
and hear something.
I'm Carolyn Malone.
I live at 910 Marion Street in Senior Housing.
This is a renter's right issue.
I'm being retaliated against because I protest against Seattle Police being present at my location.
They have no right to be there.
I protest usually at 4th and James, and my rent has been raised astronomically.
That's the handout I gave over there, because whenever I protest, I'm retaliated against by this raised rent.
My rent is $325 a month.
According to that statement, I owe $980.
I paid $325 this month.
I received another statement I didn't have time to copy with $1,305.
I have it here, but I don't have a copy for her.
And so I'm locked out periodically.
I have a fob lock.
It flashes red when I try to get into my housing.
Other tenants are told to shun me, and it's this elder abuse, harassment, bullying that goes on between the manager and Seattle police.
The manager is Nicole Mills, assistant manager.
I asked the assistant manager, why is my rent suddenly jacked up?
She said it's a glitch, but the glitch continues.
I've been there three and a half years.
And I've never been late, always paid the right amount of rent, yet my rent has been distorted to an astronomically high rent.
I talked to Rhonda Walkup, another tenant in a wheelchair.
Her rent is $5,000.
This needs to stop.
I was evicted on the streets for five and a half years.
I don't intend to go back.
Thank you.
Thank you.
What's your name?
Marilyn?
Carolyn.
Carolyn.
Malone.
910 Marion Street.
Thank you.
Can you make sure to talk to Ted after the committee?
Yes, I will.
Thank you.
Our last speaker is Alex Emmerman.
Ah!
My name is Alex Zimmerman, and I want to speak about agenda, your appointment, somebody.
So, from my understanding, for many years, people, what is your appointment, you know what it means, it's all crooked and identical to you.
And I speak with these people for the last 15, 20 years, 100 times, nothing different.
They never listen to one normal, civilized, logical voice, never, never.
So my question right now, how is this possible?
So they crook identical to you because Apple never fallen too much from tree.
And I give you a simple example.
Why you, Consul Savan, don't show us faces?
Why?
Why you don't show us faces?
You pretend be a socialist for working people.
So my analogy right now comes to my head.
Hitler is a working class people too.
He represents socialism in working people.
So why are you acting like a Nazi, like a Hitler?
Why?
Why don't you show my face?
Why don't you come to this meeting every day for the last three months and ask very simple questions?
Where is the problem?
They show your face, don't show my face.
Why?
Why you don't change this?
Are you for working people?
I am a working people.
I'm social security now.
I retired old man.
Where is a problem?
Why you cannot change this ever for your meeting, separate from all crooks, be for people?
Why you cannot doing this?
You see your faces?
Why you see not my faces or her faces?
It's a problem what is we have right now.
So my question to you right now, when you stop acting like a Nazi, Gestapo, freaking socialist.
Is this exactly what has happened?
When you for people, you supposed to be give a chance be equal to everybody.
Thank you very much for your dirty time.
That's our final speaker.
So that's the end of public comment, and we will now begin our first item, which is the appointment of Jessanne Farrell as Director of the Office of Sustainability and Environment.
I believe we have our presenters on Zoom, so please introduce yourselves, and then we can begin the discussion then.
Thank you.
My name is Ariane.
I'm the Chief Equity Officer for Mayor Harrell Administration.
I say good morning, Council Members Sawant and members of the committee.
It's my honor to introduce you today to Jessen Farrell, Mayor Harrell's nominee for Director of the Office of Sustainability and Environment.
If you've worked with Jessen in her previous role as an advocate or as a legislator representing North Seattle, you know how fortunate we are to have this longtime champion for environmental justice, transportation options, and housing access.
Through her work, she has aimed to center the voice of the most marginalized, which as you know, are the people most affected by climate change.
Before Mayor Harrell contemplated referring Justin's nomination for your consideration, he had our office consult with stakeholders, including representatives from 350 Seattle, the Transit Rider Union, Community Passageways, the Housing Development Consortium, Seattle Building Trades, ML King Labor, Climate Solutions, Transportation Choices Coalition, the Green New Deal Oversight Board, and of course, several staff members at the Office of Sustainability and Environment.
We heard loud and clear that Jessen has demonstrated a drive and a commitment to advance climate solutions that will be emulated in cities across the globe.
She's loved by her staff Environmental advocates respect her, and she remains fearless and undaunted in the face of what are almost existential challenges.
I consider myself so fortunate to have the Office of Sustainability and Environment under my portfolio, because it means I have the opportunity to work regularly with a capable, visionary leader who has the credential and community connections to advance real change on issues that affect all of us.
She's already working to elevate the voices of the Green New Deal Oversight Board, enhance access to healthy food, and develop improved energy standards in Seattle's buildings.
And she's just getting started.
It's amazing to see her at work here.
As you consider her nomination today, I trust you'll recognize what an incredible asset we have, where she wakes up every day to serve the people of Seattle.
With that, I'd like to invite Jessen to her introductory remarks.
Jessen.
Thank you so very much.
Good morning, Chair Sawant, Council President Juarez, members of the committee.
For the record, I'm Jessen Farrell.
Interim Director of the Office of Sustainability and Environment, and it is truly a privilege to get to be here today.
I would like to thank Mayor Harrell for this opportunity and thank Chief Equity Officer Emery for her kind remarks, and it truly is a delight to get to work with you on these really important issues.
Thank you very much.
I thought I would spend a few moments talking about how I see my role and vision, and then I really look forward to taking your questions.
and talking today about the office and where we might go as a city.
So first and foremost, I just have to acknowledge it is such an honor to get to work with the passionate and very talented staff at OSC.
They are amazing.
It is an honor to get to work with the amazing community members who wake up every day and further climate justice food access across our city.
and the really wonderful city leaders and folks across departments as we work together to put forward really comprehensive policies that will achieve a healthy and resilient city and advance race and social justice.
So first and foremost, I see my role as supporting this work.
There are already so many good things happening at the Office of Sustainability and Environment, whether it is our food access work, and the great work being done to update our groundbreaking food action plan to expand access to Fresh Bucks and the retailers who are participating, access to healthy and culturally relevant food in schools.
I see myself as supporting our great place-based resiliency work in the Duwamish Valley, implementing the Duwamish Valley Action Plan and our groundbreaking work around a resiliency district there, as well as our work to foster a healthy equitable tree canopy in our city.
And of course, supporting the work that we're doing to advance climate justice and working with the Green New Deal Oversight Board to advance policies that are community centered and about advancing prosperity, to decarbonize transportation and buildings, and build in climate resiliency across the city.
So first and foremost, I see my role as supporting the great work is already being done.
Secondly, I see my role as getting to be a champion for scaling the work that we are doing.
And I'll just talk a little bit about climate to illustrate that.
As we know, it is go time to address the climate crisis.
The hour is really late.
We have tarried.
And the good news, though, is we actually know what to do to reduce emissions.
We know how to do this.
And there are many really great programs that are already happening, whether it is our clean heat, conversion program, thank you council for your support of that, whether it is our work to decarbonize buildings, whether it is the work we're doing on process and the how we do this to center communities and community voices and community solutions.
So it's just to say, we actually know how to do this.
And the challenge now is to put in place the funding and the infrastructure to actually scale the work we're doing so that we can reduce the emissions.
I like to think of it as we need to reduce emissions and increase investments.
And that is really one of my roles I see as I am the director of OSC.
And then the third thing is to really build on the important work that we've been doing to center race and social justice and two specific examples of that.
One, to increase the diversity of our office and to improve our office culture so that BIPOC members of our office feel supported and can thrive.
for the long term as members of the OSC team.
And then secondly, to really integrate climate justice and centering the work of community members and frontline communities in everything we do.
So with that, I will conclude my remarks and I am happy to answer questions and to talk in more detail about any of these things.
Again, thank you for your time and your consideration.
Thank you, Adhiyam and Jessen.
Appreciate those remarks.
I have some remarks to make and also some questions to ask, but I will open it up first to council member, committee members.
Would you like to say anything, President Juarez, Council Member Lewis, Council Member Morales?
Looks like Council Member Morales has her hand up.
All good.
Oh, yes, please.
I'll help you out there.
Thank you.
Thank you, Chair Sawant.
Good morning, Director Farrell.
Nice to see you.
I'm excited about this appointment.
I know you've been working for a very long time on these issues.
I would love to hear just a little bit more.
I feel like just this week as a council we've been talking about climate issues.
We've been talking about making sure that we're addressing climate emissions in our comprehensive plan, we've been talking about it just last night we had a two hour hearing on the parks levy and a lot of people calling in about.
you know, how we decarbonize buildings, heating conversion, how we make sure that we're prioritizing, reducing carbon emissions through our parks levy.
And you've mentioned in your remarks or in your answers to some of the questions, the work with SDOT and making sure that we are increasing transit options and, you know, pedestrian and bicycle options so that we can continue to reduce emissions and really make that choice, the easy choice, which I think we really have to do if we're going to try to move people out of their cars.
I wonder if you could just talk a little bit about your role and the role of OSC because all of our departments have a role to play in this, but I see it really, as you said, as your charge to sort of coordinate all of that work and provide the technical assistance and the deeper knowledge for our departments.
So can you just talk a little bit about how you work with our other city departments so that everybody understands what their department needs to do to prioritize these changes?
That's a great question.
So there are a few different pieces to how I think that works.
And I do think that, you know, OSC is a soft power office without a big capital budget.
Really and truly a lot of our work is as organizers, as supporters, as cheerleaders to really move the ball forward with our colleagues in other departments.
And so one of the things I think that's really important though is to have a clearly articulatable agenda of what it is that we're trying to do.
And while this is still being refined, I think the basic parameters of that is number one, fostering a green and equitable economy.
So as we're making these investments, making sure that we are centering workers, we are centering people who have been left out and that we're building a base of prosperity as we're doing this.
Number two, of course, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and doing it in a way that is in keeping with our goals around race and social justice.
And so that is about working with our partners at SCL, It is about working with our partners at SDOT to put forward plans and programs that are scaled and ambitious that actually get the job done.
And I can talk more specifically about what those are if there's interest.
And then the third thing is climate change is upon us and our communities are already suffering from the effects.
And so we need to be really relentless in our focus in supporting people right now.
And that is about making sure that buildings are cooling in ways that are decarbonized.
It means making sure people have access to tree canopy, cooling, parks, open space.
And in the case of climate emergencies, places like resiliency hubs, that's an emerging conversation in the city and really figuring out how to make places community responsive, recognizing that not every single neighborhood has the same needs.
And again, doing it a way that really is centering environmental health and justice, public space and access and public investments in those things.
So laying out that clear agenda and what it is that we're trying to do to me is really foundational so that we can then start to align our efforts across departments.
And so as we're looking at a parks levy, for example, we can say, how is that furthering climate resilience, how are we building into our parks spaces where people can be safe in a climate emergency?
How are we decarbonizing our own parks facilities?
It also means as we're looking at a comprehensive plan, working with OPCD to add a climate element, thank you to council for your interest and direction on that, but really looking at how we're integrating our land use choices to be making sure that we're, you know, creating the conditions where transportation choices can work.
Transportation choices work best when people are living close to and have access to walking, biking, and transit.
So really integrating land use and our transportation conversation.
So those are a couple of really concrete examples on how I see an agenda that is clearly articulatable and then translated into the work that various departments are doing.
All the while, making sure that we are a conduit and responsive to what community wants and sees and giving that voice and agency to people as we're building out these programs.
Thank you.
Madam Chair, I have one more question if I might.
Yeah, please go ahead.
Thank you so much.
I would be remiss if I didn't as one of the people who helped write our local food action plan in 2012 if I did not ask about it.
You mentioned in your remarks that you're updating it.
And I just want to take a minute to talk about the connection here right as we're talking about Heat waves and, you know, increased carbon emissions and the need to protect our environment, but we're also talking about there was an article in the paper just earlier this week about preserving our food ways and protecting here in the Pacific Northwest protecting, you know, rivers and streams and berries and fish and all of the ways that are that our indigenous community foodways are being preserved.
But for everybody, Washington is one of the epicenters of agriculture, and I know that as we experience climate change across the globe, People are looking to Washington for our food production.
And so anyway, I just wanted to ask for a little bit more information about what is being considered for updating that plan and what the timeline might be.
That's a great question.
Thank you for your leadership in 2012. That was really groundbreaking work that the city did.
Cities had not typically done that at that time.
And it is now more typical for cities to have food action plans.
as we're updating it, it really is building on that history and that willingness to innovate.
So a couple of really, so first I'll just talk briefly about the timeline.
So there is a deep community engagement that is happening right now over the summer.
That is going to inform the draft recommendations that will be available publicly in the fall, and we'll be briefing the council on that.
And then the hope is that the council would adopt by resolution the food action plan in January.
And there are some really exciting things that are going to be a part of it, including specific supports of Indigenous food culture and foodways and how we support and integrate that into the city's food programming and support, how we are increasing agency and decision making and power around food access through our support of Black and Indigenous and other farmers of color within the city.
How are we supporting youth and access to healthy pathways for eating for young people, particularly in our schools and around culturally relevant food, around fresh food, around maintaining food access and some of the barriers around cost.
And then just, you know, improving our Freshbox program, which is really a wonderful program, has a greater need than we fund.
and making sure that we have access to more and more retailers.
And one of the things I'm also interested in is that connection to transportation.
How are we making sure that people have safe, healthy access to stores and shops?
You know, so where are we increasing our pedestrian safety improvements and access for vulnerable users of our transportation system as they're getting to healthy food access?
So those are a few of the pieces that are coming.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Are there questions from other committee members?
I don't see any hands up on the Zoom.
I will go ahead and ask a question.
First of all, thank you for the detailed responses.
that you sent to the questions from my office, Jessen.
One of the questions I asked was, why do you think leaders, including local and national elected officials, have failed to take meaningful action to address the climate crisis, despite the most dire warnings from scientists?
In response, you said something I really agree with.
You said, quote, in spite of the overwhelming scientific consensus about the climate emergency and the broad public support for urgent action, we as a society have failed to take meaningful action in large part because of the systemic power of the fossil fuel industry.
End quote.
That is absolutely, it's a fact.
But he also said something I don't agree with.
You said, quote, fortunately in Seattle, we have found the keys to unlocking progress on climate by taking the economic fight head on with the Green New Deal and flipping the trickle down narrative upside down.
So just to explain where I'm coming from, when we're facing a global existential crisis like the climate catastrophe, I don't think it is good enough for this city to be maybe better than some other cities in some metrics, which obviously is important, but it's simply not enough.
I'm sure scientifically speaking, you'll have to agree that the measure of success in the case of climate change has to be far more sober than that and in line with the devastating statistics.
So I'm not sure I understand how you can say that Seattle has flipped the trickle-down narrative upside down.
Seattle budgeted $6.5 million out of a multibillion-dollar budget for the Green New Deal.
And we know from reports released by the Office of Sustainability and Environment itself that greenhouse gas emissions especially if you look at building emissions and so on, in Seattle have continued to increase, not decrease.
So, if you could just express some thoughts on what you need, what you think that needs to happen to reverse that.
Thank you, and I appreciate that perspective, and I think that you're absolutely right that the depth and urgency of the crisis is deeply profound.
What I would say is that part of that and part of what I hope is that we can take the things that we're, and this will go back to what I said earlier around scale.
It's not that we have solved the problem here.
We have a lot of work to do, but we are doing some experiments and we are doing projects that are showing the way and our challenge now here in the city is to scale them to the size of the problem.
And that is also to recognize, as you really point out, this is a global problem.
It is a national problem.
And yet, that doesn't mean that we don't act in the city and that we don't act as an example and a laboratory.
One of the things that we all know too well is that people can say, well, we shouldn't do anything here in the city because it's a national or global problem.
But really, I think cities are laboratories.
They are places where we get to test what works.
And we can lead by example and in our community of cities, you know, Seattle has been a community of cities through programs like C40 and others to push climate policy that way.
So I really truly agree with you in the depth of the problem and the global nature of the problem.
And yet I think we need to continue to wrestle with the problem locally and do our own work to scale our answers.
Thank you.
And then just one other thing would be great if you express some thoughts about this.
You've said in your responses to the questions that as director of OSC, you will be committed to making the same case for transformational climate investments in our city and region based on the, this is a quote from your responses, based on the three pillars of a clean energy economy, reducing climate pollution, and building healthy communities, all of which I agree with.
But I think, as we all know, those of us who have been in political work, no matter which positions you've taken, anybody has to honestly acknowledge that for anything like transformational climate investments, as you say and as I agree with, cannot be done without inevitably coming into direct conflict with big business and the super-rich, because as you said, you know, it's a systemic power of the fossil fuel industry, and then how it starts manifesting itself in the lower rungs and including in political entities is the main obstacle, not the knowledge of ordinary people.
Ordinary people understand the need to urgently move away from fossil fuels, but these are the barriers.
The barriers are corporate and systemic and political.
So how do you see your role as director of OSCE?
when all of that is true, because if you are to lead on any transformational climate investments for this city, then it will inevitably put you in conflict with major powers in the establishment and in big business.
How will you deal with that?
I mean, just to give you one concrete example, one of the main obstacles for Green New Deal investments is revenues, public revenues.
And that is the primary and the only obstacle is the absolute opposition of big business entities and wealthy entities to pay anything close to their fair share in taxes, whether it's at city level or at the state level.
And also nationally, we know this is true.
So yeah, go ahead.
I will just start by acknowledging that perspective and, you know, really thanking members of this council for the work that has happened to advance progressive tax revenue through the jumpstart tax and other efforts.
And part of the reason I think the Green New Deal has the potential to be so powerful is that it centers a different economic story and it gives us the opportunity to litigate and demonstrate a different economic story that really is about centering workers.
It is about undoing racial harms of the past by focusing on broad-based prosperity and by focusing on partnerships with labor partners and community partners and therefore making investments that are about centering people and the things that we know create economic prosperity, which is broad-based participation, people having well-paying jobs, those things are the things that really create economic prosperity.
And that's why, again, I think one of the things that has been really pernicious over the last 50 years is it's easy to stop environmental regulations just by saying they'll kill jobs, right?
And we know that's not the case, but we're bathed in kind of a mythology where people hear that and are like, oh my gosh, my own economic well-being is so already difficult.
I'm going to vote no on this carbon tax or I'm going to tell my legislator to vote no or not pay attention because you're too busy working.
So to me, the Green New Deal is really important because it gives us a different economic narrative and then actually the policies that go with that.
And so again, I agree with you on the bigger systemic challenges and yet, I think that we have this opportunity to show a different way of doing things and centering the prosperity of regular people as an environmental imperative itself.
Thank you.
I appreciate your responses and the discussion that we were able to have and also the responses you sent in writing.
Are there any other questions or comments from Committee members.
I don't see anything, so I won't delay this further.
If there are no further questions, then I will move appointment 02268, appointment of Jessen Farrell as Director of the Office of Sustainability and Environment.
Can I have a second, please?
Second.
Thank you.
Will Ted Verdone please call the roll?
dead.
Sorry, I was muted.
Council Member Sawant.
Yes.
Council Member Morales.
Yes.
Council Member Juarez.
Aye.
Council Member Lewis.
Yes.
Four in favor.
Thank you, committee members, and thank you, Jess, and congratulations.
This moves to the city council for the full vote, full city council vote on July 26th for final confirmation, and I've no doubt that will pass, so thank you so much.
Thank you, Chair Sawant, and thank you, members of the committee.
I am delighted and looking forward to working with you.
Thank you.
See you later.
So our final item for today is the reappointment of five Green New Deal Oversight Board members.
I'll read them into the record now.
Appointment 02269, reappointment of Debolina Banerjee as member of Green New Deal Oversight Board.
for a term to April 30, 2025, appointment 02270, reappointment of Emily J. Myers for the same board and term, appointment 02271, reappointment of Andrea Ornelas, same appointment 02272, reappointment of Deepa Sivarajan as the same board and term.
to the same board and for the same duration.
Appointment 02273, reappointment of Jess Wallach, same.
So we don't have any presenters to this, am I right?
That's correct.
These are all reappointments.
They all participated in the Green New Deal Oversight Board over the past few months.
It was a short appointment because it was the first appointment.
So the term, their initial terms expired less than a year into their appointments.
Okay.
Thank you for that information, Dad.
So I will now move appointments if there are no objections.
I will now move appointment 02269 through 02273. Can I have a second?
Second.
Thank you, President Juarez.
So will Ted Verdon please call the roll?
Council Member Sala?
Yes.
Council Member Juarez?
Aye.
Council Member Lewis?
Yes.
Council Member Morales?
Yes.
Board, paper.
Thank you, committee members.
Those appointments will move to the full city council meeting on July 26th also for final confirmation.
That was the end of the scheduled agenda.
There are no comments from committee members.
I will go ahead and adjourn the meeting.
Madam chair, before we adjourn, can I say something?
Yes, please.
First of all, I really want to thank you for taking the time to propose the questions to Jessen Farrell on the Office of Sustainability.
Your work since I've been on council has been amazing with the Green New Deal and your efforts and your commitment to keep moving this forward.
And I really always learn something and appreciate something, particularly in the conversation you teed up with Jessen on the Green New Deal.
And there's always this argument that it's always jobs versus the environment.
And so when someone can tackle it from an intellectual level, from a factual level, not just political slogans, but actual dialogue about the data and what it means to this threat that we have in climate change.
So I just wanted to appreciate your intellect and your commitment to moving this forward and being relentless and not letting this go.
So thank you.
Thank you, President Juarez.
I really appreciate those words.
And you're absolutely right.
It's always falsely presented as jobs versus planet.
But we're going to have neither.
And actually, what we need is both.
And that's the only way it can work.
And it's especially relevant to our indigenous communities, in fact, because that choice is posed most sharply and most ruthlessly for the most underrepresented and oppressed communities.
Right.
And so when I hear you, and I've learned a lot from you, But I always, cause you know, I'm older than you.
I always hearken back to a famous Supreme Court case, which I can't remember the top of my head right now.
And I think it was Justice Douglas that, you know, are we gonna wait till we have the last salmon in the river?
And that's from the seventies.
So this is not new to me.
Tribes have been doing this on the forefront with our treaty rights and co-management and all those ways of knowing.
So I'm glad to see that we're having other non-colonial Western ways of thinking.
collectively about the environment.
So thank you.
Absolutely.
That's a great metaphor.
Yeah.
Are we going to wait for the last salmon?
And as you said, that was 50 years ago and here we are, you know?
So yeah, thank you so much and look forward to seeing you all at the next committee meeting adjourned.
Thank you.