Seattle City Council Briefing 1252022

Good afternoon.

Today is December 5, 2022. The council briefing meeting will come to order.

The time is 2.02 PM.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Mosqueda?

Present.

Councilmember Nelson?

Present.

Councilmember Sawant?

Councilmember Strauss?

Present.

Councilmember Morales?

Here.

Council President Pro Tem Peterson.

Present.

I present.

Thank you, and we'll recognize Council Member Sawant when she joins us.

Colleagues, Council President Juarez, Council Member Herbold, and Council Member Lewis are excused from today's council briefing because Council President Juarez is excused.

This is the month of December.

This is when I'm serving as pro tem, so I'll chair today's meeting.

If there's no objection, the minutes of October 3rd, 2022 will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the minutes are adopted.

President Pro Tem report.

And I want to thank Council President staff and the clerks for putting together this script.

On today's agenda, we have a presentation by the YMCA's Get Engaged program and the opportunity to hear briefly from over a dozen Get Engaged appointees.

These are young residents who are stepping up to provide volunteer service on our boards and commissions.

We appreciate their involvement and look forward to learning more today.

We do not have any proclamations or letters for signature today.

Following our individual reports, we will also have an executive session at the end of the meeting on legal matters, which is expected to last about 25 minutes.

As you know, we do not take public comment at council briefings, though we welcome the public to council chambers or to watch online.

Public comment will be accepted, of course, at tomorrow's full council meeting, both in person and online.

On tomorrow's agenda, the consent calendar will include the minutes and the payment of the bills, as well as 19 get engaged appointments.

Also, the consent calendar will be also on the consent calendar will be the fourth quarter employment ordinance, which makes adjustments as recommended by the Seattle Human Resources Department.

This ordinance has been reviewed by Karina Bull on our central staff who has prepared a staff report, which was sent to everyone on Friday.

If you have questions about that item, please do not hesitate to reach out to Karina Bull.

Tomorrow, we will take one vote on all the items on the consent calendar, unless any council member requests that an item be removed for consideration separately.

If so, that item will be taken up at the end of that agenda.

Following tomorrow's consent calendar, we will be voting on one item, which is a resolution regarding universal healthcare.

I believe Council Member Esqueda as a sponsor is likely to speak to that item later today in her remarks.

Information on all the items on tomorrow's agenda that's available online right now.

As a reminder, we will also have a Council briefing next Monday on December 12, and then our final Council meeting of the year on December 13. Both meetings are at 2 p.m.

There are no committees scheduled during the last two weeks of December.

The first Council meeting of the new year will be on Tuesday, January 3 at 2 p.m.

Next item on the agenda, signing of letters and proclamations.

There are no letters or proclamations for signature today.

So we'll jump into item four, which is going to be the most fun for us today.

I want to welcome all the Get Engaged candidates.

Thank you for your willingness to serve Seattle on our boards and commissions to keep us organized and so we can hear the most from you.

We'll first hear from Chase Monroe from the mayor's office, who will then introduce Amani Bender of the YMCA.

Imani will introduce each appointee who will speak about themselves and their interest in serving on their selected board and commission and whatever else they want to share with us.

When we hear from all the appointees, after we hear from them all, we will open up the floor for any brief questions or comments from council members tomorrow afternoon at our full council meeting.

We will vote on these appointments.

So let's let's hear first from Chase Monroe from the mayor's office.

Welcome.

Thank you, Council Member Peterson.

I'm Chase Monroe in the mayor's office, staff, boards of commissions for the mayor.

I just want to say how excited we are up here to present these candidates for the council on your consideration and the great partnership we have with the YMCA.

I know that the mayor values community engagement and mentorship and so excited about this group and this program.

Just a quick shout out, wanted to say thank you to Imani Bender for her work on this, as well as Tal Madsen from the city clerk's office.

So I'll turn it over to Imani, and she will continue introducing these wonderful candidates.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi there.

Yes, my name is Imani, Imani Bender.

Good afternoon.

I am from the Y Social Impact Center.

which is the social services branch of the Y of Greater Seattle.

And we have been partnering with the City of Seattle to facilitate the Get Engaged program since 2001. The program is really an exciting civic engagement program that is dedicated to cultivating our next generation of leaders.

And advocating for the influence of youth voice in civic affairs.

And the wise role in the program is to handle recruiting.

We also connect the various applicants to boards and commissions for the interview process.

And we take part in the interview process as well.

And then once our candidates have been confirmed to the boards or commissions, the Y leads monthly Get Engaged cohort meetings.

And those meetings are really a space for our Get Engaged members to collaborate and, you know, support each other through this very new experience.

as well as sharing ideas and strategies about leadership topics and various issues that are facing our community.

So, you know, I want to say this year's Get Engaged cohort is a bit different from previous years.

We actually have eight individuals, eight out of our 19, who will be seeking reappointment to a board or commission.

And these are individuals who were confirmed as a part of the previous 2021-2022 Get Engaged cohort in late April of this year, actually.

And that confirmation date was pushed back a bit, I think, due to some barriers with the pandemic, involved with the pandemic, as well as the transition in the mayor's office.

And so in an effort to kind of give those folks the most out of the program, they were invited to reapply for this year so they could get more than just those four months as a vested board or commission member.

So you will be hearing from eight individuals who are actually applying for reappointment.

So yeah, with that said, I'll go ahead and get started with our introductions for the 2022-2023 Get Engaged candidates.

I've had the opportunity to meet these individuals and interview them And I have to say they're truly just such an impressive group.

Group composed of students and young professionals from various fields.

And they're all just super motivated and passionate about using their voices to improve public life in Seattle.

So yeah, I'm just very proud to present these candidates to you.

Today we'll have 13 of our 19 Get Engaged members who will be introducing themselves.

And then I will read introductions for these six who were not able to make it today.

Okay.

So with that said, I will go ahead and just get started with our introductions.

Our first get engaged, hopeful get engaged member is Philip Meng.

Philip Meng uses he, him pronouns.

and is looking forward to be appointed to the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners.

Phillip is not here today, so I'll go ahead and read his introduction.

Phillip is a student at the University of Washington and an undergraduate fellow at the Center for Environmental Politics.

He is grateful to be considered for the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners.

Phillip Phillip first developed an interest in parks while working on the parks-related data projects.

He also hopes to draw on his research interests in public opinion and consultations in supporting the board's work facilitating community input for Seattle Parks and Recreation.

Growing up in Washington, our beautiful public spaces have always been important to Phillip, and he would be honored to play a small part in making our parks as welcoming and accessible as they can be.

So that was our introduction for Philip.

Next up, we have Darcy O'Connor.

Darcy, if you'd like to come on and introduce yourself.

Hello, I'm Darcy O'Connor, she, her.

I'm a First Hill resident, and I'm excited about the opportunity to continue with the Seattle Center Advisory Commission.

One of those returning Get Engaged members mentioned.

And I'm looking forward to continue to be able to promote community and inclusion on the campus at Seattle Center.

Thank you.

Thanks, Jesse.

Next up, we have Annie Shaw.

Hello, I'm Annie.

I'm out in Southlake Union.

I'm also a reappointee to the Community Technology Advisory Board.

And I'm a software engineer at a startup, AirShop, and ex-Amazon, so that's why I was in Southlake Union.

But yeah, I'm excited to serve on CTAB because There are a lot of new initiatives coming up, so I'm excited to be able to participate in some of the new digital equity amendments, like grant access, and then being able to meet more of the community interest groups that they bring in.

Thank you.

Next, we have Lydia Felty.

Hi, Lydia Felty, she, her.

I'm a resources coordinator at the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, and I've been appointed to serve on the Renters Commission.

I'm super excited to get more deeply involved in Seattle Civic Affairs by serving on the commission.

I'm a lifelong renter, so I imagine it's not really a surprise that this is something that I care really deeply about, especially thinking about affordable housing and access to the public amenities that I think every person deserves.

And I especially appreciate that the Renters Commission focuses on protections for renters and has a really holistic understanding of issues and policies that affect everyone who rents or who wants to rent.

from lack of affordability to insufficient public transportation, gentrification, systemic barriers that prevent people from securing housing.

So I'm really excited to use my passions in placemaking, land use, and public development to help advocate for the policies and changes needed as part of the next generation of civic and community leaders.

Thank you.

Thanks, Lydia.

Next up, we have Aria Blorchian.

Hello everyone, Aria Blerchian.

I am a candidate for the Bicycle Advisory Board.

I'm excited for the opportunity and look forward to the prospect of working with you all.

For some background, I was born and raised in Southern California, where I also went to university.

And during my time in university, I studied finance and was involved in various advocacy campaigns.

Following graduation, I spent some time in New York and moved in to Seattle in September, 2021, where I work in financial services.

I look forward to the opportunity of working on the Bicycle Advisory Board.

I'm an avid cyclist and soccer player and look forward to helping make transportation more equitable and accessible for all of Seattle's residents.

Thank you.

Next up we have Holt Kafer.

Thanks, Amani.

Hey, my name is Holt.

I use he, him pronouns.

I recently moved to the Madrona neighborhood from Ballard, not so recently, maybe about a year ago.

But I'm excited to apply for a seat on the Pedestrian Advisory Board.

One of my fondest memories from when I was just a little bit younger was taking walks with my family after dinnertime.

We do it maybe three or four times a week.

And I tried to bring that experience to Seattle when I moved here in 2017. But I noticed in both neighborhoods, their public facility can be degraded or there are times where I'll walk and think about accessibility for folks who may need to use mobility devices.

And so I'm interested in understanding how the city thinks about those facilities and seeing how I can impact ensuring that everyone can enjoy our city.

So you can normally find me walking to and from work along Union and Madison, although the weather has prevented me from doing that the past couple of weeks.

I look forward to joining the board.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Rhys McMichael.

Rhys is not here today, so I will be reading his introduction.

Rhys uses he, him pronouns and is looking to be appointed to the Transit Advisory Board.

Rhys is a 24, whoops, is a 24 year old graduate student at the University of Washington and hopes to be appointed to the Transit Advisory Board.

Rhys is interested in serving on the Transit Advisory Board because he believes a well-funded and operated public transit service is critical for improving our city's quality of life, as well as the well-being of every Seattleite.

Reese is a transit-reliant person.

So as a regular public transit user, he is looking forward to having a larger say in how the city of Seattle approaches public transit.

Thank you.

And next up, we have Jake Wall.

Yeah, thanks, Moni.

So my name is Jake Wall, I use he, him, and I live in First Hill.

And I hope to be appointed to the Design Review Board.

So I recently graduated with my master's in architecture from the University of Washington.

And I now work as an architect locally at Johnston Architects on a variety of project types and locations.

As a graduate student, I focused on reimagining housing and mixed use spaces in Seattle alongside some city practicing partners.

When I moved to Seattle a few years back, I was struck by the quality of our urban realm and how it beats the buildings in the city.

I've been impressed by our design community's commitment to innovation, sustainability, and equity for a long time.

And I hope to build on the progress that the city, SDCI, activists, and current board members have made in facilitating our talented local design teams to build the Seattle that we deserve.

I'll bring patience and integrity to the board, and I understand that as board members, we are not meant to be gatekeepers or have more project knowledge than the teams themselves.

Instead, I hope to empower those teams and community partners to be creative, orient the designs toward the community, and refine their concepts.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Molly Spitalnik.

Hi, I'm Molly Spitalnik.

I'm an urban designer at CGF Architects.

I use she, they pronouns, and I am looking for reappointment to the Seattle Design Commission.

So I've been serving for the last nine months on the Design Commission and have appreciated the opportunity to work on capital improvements projects, street and alley vacation applicants as well as Sound Transit's West Seattle to Ballard Link Extension.

I'm looking forward to the potential to continue on that because a lot of those are longer-term projects that go through review in 30, 60, 90 percent.

And because Sound Transit has so many overlaps with the City's goals and is a many-year project, I'm really excited about the opportunity to remain having studied and having coordinated with Sound Transit on some of those potentials, seeing them come back forward as West Seattle to Ballard Link Extension moves forward, and being able to continue to review those projects is something I'm particularly excited about.

Prior to being on the Design Commission and in my professional life, I work as an urban designer for ZGF Architects and have been on the Pike Pine Streetscape and Bicycle Improvements Project, as well as have done transit-oriented development work specifically focused on the availability of affordable housing surrounding our transit stations.

And then I've also had the opportunity to work on some of those sites, currently owned by sound transit for community and groups focusing on community engagement and those areas for groups like Africa town community land trust for the Youth Achievement Center.

And so I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to continue to utilize those community engagement.

learnings, the integration possible between SDOT and Sound Transit to assess some of our future projects coming online in the next year and some of our projects that are continuing through the SDC process.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Dalton Owens.

Hey, everyone.

My name is Dalton Owens, pronounced he, him.

I'm living in the Ballard neighborhood right now.

I'm a graduate of the University of Washington, where I obtained degrees in both urban design and planning and political science in 2021. I'm attending today with the hopes of being appointed to the City of Seattle Planning Commission.

My interest in serving on the Seattle Planning Commission stems from a passion for community involvement.

I strongly believe that successful communities are rooted in community engagement and responsiveness to community needs.

I've called Seattle home for the past five years, and I'm excited for the opportunity to serve a community that's given me so much over the years.

Thank you.

Next, we have Laura Keel.

Laura is not able to attend today, so I will be reading her introduction.

And Laura uses she her pronouns and is hoping to be reappointed to the Urban Forestry Commission.

As an emerging professional interested in the intersection of the natural environment and human experience, Laura is thrilled about the opportunity to participate in direct civic and public action.

Laura believes that the design and planning fields serve people best when community members are at the table with designers collectively creating meaningful spaces.

Laura looks forward to continuing engaging in a network that amplifies young voices while co-creating impactful and meaningful policies and design in the urban realm.

And next up, we have Fiona Murray.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Fiona Murray.

I use she, her pronouns.

I live in East Lake.

I am seeking appointment to the Community Involvement Commission.

And my current job is as an operations and policy analyst working in childcare regulation.

I have sort of a wide variety of experience.

My first career is in arts management.

I've done lots of community involvement, grassroots organizing work.

and work within a legislative body.

I actually interned for the council president and I have a master's degree in public administration from the University of Washington.

I'm really interested and passionate about the power of community involvement to create equitable and just policy development and implementation.

I really think that when we actively engage communities and empower them to be involved and are then responsive to what they tell us in terms of what they want and need for our communities, then our communities are the healthiest and most thriving that we can be.

And I want to be a part of helping facilitate that here in our beautiful city of Seattle.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next, we have Brianna Quandor.

Hello, my name is Brianna quandary my pronouns are she her, and I live in the West Seattle Junction area.

I'm seeking appointment to the Human Rights Commission so thank you all for having me today.

I currently work for the city of Burien as a records coordinator and I'm graduating with my bachelor's in public policy next week actually.

I volunteer with King County's Youth Diversion Program, which I've also done in Pierce County and with the Vera Project.

A lot of my job has been working with diversity, equity, inclusion efforts throughout the city.

I've also had extensive experience working with boards, commissions, and councils.

Throughout my time in school, my interest in human rights has grown a lot.

I'm especially interested and criminal justice reform, along with helping our unhoused community, which matches up with the task force that we have with the Human Rights Commission, the experience that I've had personally.

in school and professionally has made it so I think I'll be able to bring a lot of good experience and a new perspective to the board, to the commission that has gone through a lot of changes as of late.

I think this is a great opportunity for me to continue my involvement in the community, to contribute to the city of Seattle, and also to expand my own knowledge in this field of interest.

So thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you.

Next, we have Mark Schmidt, who is not able to be here today.

Mark uses he him pronouns.

And I'll go ahead and read his introduction.

Mark Schmidt is hoping to be reappointed as a commissioner on the Landmarks Preservation Board.

He has lived in Seattle for the last four years after graduating with an undergraduate degree in computer science and political science.

Since moving here, Mark has been inspired by our citizens' sense of stewardship and participation in the civil process.

Mark is eager to contribute to this process as a commissioner on the Landmarks Preservation Board.

And he looks forward to balancing the needs of a rapidly growing city while preserving our shared history and cultural identity.

And next up, we have Maggie Sean.

Hi.

My name is Maggie Sean.

I have an international tax and finance background.

I am a resident of Lower Queen Anne.

I am seeking appointment to the Pioneer Square Preservation Board.

I've studied the revitalization of European cities and would love to continue in the pursuit of knowledge in this area and continue to have an impact on my community by creating beautiful and sustainable spaces.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next up is Jessica Cottle.

Hello, I'm Jessica Cottle.

I use she and they pronouns.

I live in Lake City.

I work in U District at the Evans School.

I'm seeking reappointment to the Arts Commission.

I feel like the arts and culture sector is where I find a lot of my joy and like to engage with community.

I feel like this is such a wonderful opportunity to blend those interests in policy and governance and the arts.

I'm really looking forward to continue this work.

For this last year, I felt like I've been more of a sponge or observer in ways, but to really get connected, get started, and see a lot of the things that we're already working on really come to fruition.

Thanks for considering me.

Thank you.

Next, we have Afra Mahmood.

Afra is not able to be here today, so I will go ahead and read her introduction.

Afra uses she, her pronouns.

Afra hopes to be reappointed to the Immigrant and Refugee Commission.

Afra is a medical student at the University of Washington School of Medicine and has a background in public health program development.

She has a particular interest in marrying social technology with medical technology to identify opportunities to support the flourishing of immigrants, refugees, and asylees in King County.

The Immigrant and Refugee Commission is an exciting opportunity to collaborate with a team to ensure that community members that often do not have a seat at the decision-making table can have their needs and input acknowledged and responded to.

And next, we have Lillian Williamson, who is not able to be here as well.

And Lillian is looking for reappointment to the Seattle LGBTQ Commission.

Lillian uses she, her pronouns.

Lillian is applying for reappointment to the LGBTQ Plus Commission as a board member at the Washington Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, the former director of the University of Washington's Queer Student Commission, and through her work in youth behavioral health with the Washington Healthcare Authority, Lillian has years of experience serving the LGBTQ plus community in Seattle and Washington.

She looks forward to continuing this work through the LGBTQ plus commission, where she plans to advocate for increased resources in healthcare and housing for LGBTQ plus youth.

Thank you for your time.

And the next we have Teresa Falcisek-Gibbons.

I believe it's here.

Hi, my name's Teresa Gibbons.

I use she, her pronouns and I'm hoping to be appointed to the Seattle Women's Commission.

I grew up in the Seattle area and returned here after graduating college with a bachelor's in political science.

During undergrad, I deliberately took coursework that explored gender-based violence.

accumulating in a thesis project where I proposed a partial policy solution to address human trafficking between the Washington and Oregon border.

My professional experience has been in the tech industry and program management roles where collaboration and strong analytical capabilities are key.

I'm particularly passionate about equitable housing access, and I hope to leverage the professional skills I've developed to contribute to the commission's work promoting affordable housing for women.

I'm motivated by exploring new ideas and being of service.

I look forward to learning from the other commissioners and broadening my engagement in the community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Teresa was the last of our hopeful appointees for the Get Engaged program today.

Thank you so much, Imani, and what an amazing group of appointees.

Thank you to the YMCA for all your work recruiting and to all the appointees.

I mean, obviously, we heard a lot of strong interest in serving on the boards and commissions, but it's the diverse and extensive experience you all bring to the table.

The audience can't see this necessarily, but your clear support of each other as you are all speaking, it's clear that you're all cheering for each other and each other's success and contributions here.

Thank you so much for your willingness to serve.

We'll open it up to the floor, to council members if they want to make any comments or or have any questions for you.

And we've all reviewed your packets, your appointee packets as well.

And we know that we'll be voting on this tomorrow.

So even if there aren't any comments or questions today, oh, we do have, yes, Council Member Strauss.

Thank you, Chair.

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone for your volunteer service.

With your knowledge in each of these boards and commissions, we have better information to act on.

I understand this is volunteer work, and we just appreciate your service to our city, your dedication to our city.

And Dalton, if you see me in the neighborhood, please do tap me on the shoulder.

I work out of D6 halftime.

And was it Holt that moved over to Madison?

Sorry to lose you.

We always welcome folks back to Ballard, though.

Thank you, Councilmember Strauss.

I did see you light up the mention of Ballard a couple times.

That was nice.

Colleagues, any other comments or questions of our amazing appointees?

Okay, well, thank you everybody for joining us today.

What a great turnout and And thank you for contributing to these boards and commissions.

We are going to all be better off with with your contributions.

And thanks again to the YMCA, to the mayor's office.

And we'll look forward to voting on these tomorrow.

OK, thank you, everybody.

OK, colleagues.

It was a great way to start the meeting.

We'll continue with the next item on the agenda.

The review or pre review of city council actions as well as council regional committees.

The order of discussion as we know is established by the rotating roll call for city council meetings.

I'm going to turn it over to the next person.

and then Council Member Morales and then I'll conclude with my remarks and I've got the remarks of Council President Juarez with me.

So Council Member Mosqueda, please.

Thank you very much.

Colleagues, we are not going to have a Finance and Housing Committee meeting in the month of December.

We will reconvene our Finance and Housing Committee meetings beginning again in 23 in January.

The meetings have been previously scheduled for December 7th and December 21st.

Tomorrow at the full council meeting, I look forward to bringing forward the resolution that we circulated last week and has been previously shared as well from community members.

That's resolution 32074. This is a resolution in support of the whole Washington whole Washington State's universal health care initiative and endorses the people's effort to pass the improve Medicare for all through whole Washington statewide initiative, initiative, 1471 1471. The US Senate Bill, Senate Bill 4202, a bill to establish a Medicare for all national health insurance program and US House Resolution 1976, a bill to establish a national Medicare for all insurance program.

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the negative ramifications for all families, individuals, youth, and elders when people do not have access to appropriate health care or health insurance.

In Washington State, 430,000 individuals have no health insurance coverage, and even more, residents are underinsured.

About 105,000 folks are uninsured immigrants who are ineligible for health insurance, and the very few options that exist to individuals who are not eligible for these federal programs are so incredibly costly.

The pandemic has exacerbated this longstanding health disparity with immigrants and people of color disproportionately contracting COVID, being hospitalized and dying from COVID, and excuse me, the pandemic has exacerbated this longstanding health disparity with immigrants and people of color disproportionately contracting COVID, being hospitalized and dying from COVID.

And the impacts are felt not only by those individuals and their family, but the impact is felt in our local economy as well.

We must provide access to healthcare for all.

So this resolution comes together at the request of many community organizations, including the Washington State Democratic Central Committee, The Healthcare is a Human Right Coalition, the Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action, Whole Washington, King County Women's Advisory Board, Washington State's Federation of Democratic Women, Women's Advisory Board to the King County Council, the Healthcare as a Human Rights Coalition, WHOLE Washington, and the 34th Legislative District Democrats Executive Board.

And as you can see from the attachment that was circulated late last week, and also previously circulated by the community partners, it says in part, whereas the Commonwealth Health Fund in the United States has identified that US infant mortality is higher and the lifespan is shorter than other comparable economies that provide universal health care.

Whereas black women face three times the maternal mortality risk as white women in the United States with an overall 23.8 deaths per 100,000 life births for all women.

This statistic is nearly three times higher than the country of France and is the second highest among the industrialized nations.

Whereas the Urban Institute shows that nationwide, according to the poll, Black adults are 50% more likely and Hispanic adults 35% more likely than white adults to owe money for health care.

Women are more likely than men to be in medical debt.

And whereas people of color, people with disabilities, members of the LGBTQI community, women, and low-income workers are most likely to lack affordable comprehensive health care.

So I look forward to all of you having the chance to read through the resolution that we sent around and look forward to continuing to work with the community members that we just listed to explain the benefits not only to individual health and population health, but also to the health of our local economy.

Colleagues, in terms of my calendar today, we had a chance to do things that were getting us back into community after a long budget session.

I had the chance to meet with the members of the regional homelessness authority, members of REACH and LEAD and COLEAD from the Public Defenders Association, as well as the Seattle Housing Authority and many others.

who were part of the daily meetings at the Housing Command Center.

This is an opportunity for the Regional Homelessness Authority led by the Lived Experience Coalition co-chairs to view in real-time responses to encampment needs, including getting folks into housing, not just shelter, but into housing placements.

They walk through each of the locations that the Regional Homelessness Authority is focused on.

and identified ways to get individuals into long-term housing placements and making sure that those housing needs are really in alignment with what individuals need for long-term placement.

For example, if they have a pet, finding a place that will take a pet.

If they have children, really prioritizing, making sure that there's family care available and that the housing offer meets that family's needs.

I had the chance as well to celebrate with them the investments that our budget, the city council made, in addition to what the mayor had proposed and let them know that the majority of the council supported them, supported their efforts to not only support the $88 million that was included in the base budget for the Regional Homelessness Authority, but that we added to it, including the $600,000 to help close the $9.4 million gap in partnership with RHA, more funding for safe lots, more funding for RV storage, more funding for tiny house villages, more funding for hygiene services, and that we supported the Solutions Beyond Removals Unified Care Team approach through the amended aversion in partnership with the mayor's office and regional homelessness authority and community partners, they were very appreciative of the efforts to make sure that people's individual needs, both in terms of housing, care, medication supports, were also being paired with how we ensure that there's a healthy community for everyone with increased garbage cleanup, bathrooms, hand-washing, pest abatement, and year-round cleanings, that will occur.

So cleanings without clearings, solutions beyond removals was something that they very much separated.

celebrated, excuse me.

Tomorrow I will be attending the budget bill signing.

I want to thank the mayor for the really incredible partnership that we've had over the last three months as they transmitted their budget in late September.

We've been meeting frequently with members of the community as well as council members, but in close coordination with the city budget's office and the mayor's office as well.

Tomorrow will be a celebration for those who voted for the budget.

We will have the chance to actually come together and celebrate what we've accomplished together.

I really appreciate that this is an opportunity to lift up where we found common ground and to make sure that we're investing in our city's most vulnerable needs, but also in our economy needs and growing access to housing and health services.

Again, if you didn't catch this from last week, I want to reiterate the mayor's congratulatory message that was transmitted to us and to members of the media, which says, the council embraced the proposed budget's need to invest in improving in public safety, urgent action on housing and homelessness crisis, and recommits to the essential services that residents demand.

The mayor says, I'm grateful for the collaboration of Budget Chair Mosqueda, as I believe our offices set a new standard for transparency and teamwork, assuming positive intent, even when we disagree through our mutual belief in working together.

There is much in this budget to build on, and I look forward to the council's final passage.

As we implement this budget together, we will further demonstrate our One Seattle approach, uniting around common values towards making Seattle safer and more equitable for all.

That is all for me.

And just let you know as well, along with Council Member Strauss, I will be attending the Association of Washington City's Board of Directors meeting on Friday.

Thank you, Council Member Mosqueda.

Council Member Nelson.

Well, hello, everyone.

I am just giving a quick preview of the Economic Development, Technology and City Light Committee meeting, not this Wednesday, but the following Wednesday, December 14th.

I'll, of course, give more information as we approach that.

But briefly, we will be having a briefing discussion and possible vote on two city light easements and on King County's franchise agreement.

And then there will be two appointments to the Music Commission and four reappointments to the Music Commission.

So that is coming up.

And there will be more information, as I said, on the legislation that we'll be hearing I'll provide more information next week during briefings.

There were two events that I wanted to highlight from last Friday.

I attended the 21st Urban League Breakfast.

This one was called the Era of Essential Services.

And if the snow hadn't been such a threat, it would have been the Westin's largest breakfast event ever with 1300 people registered.

But it was a great event.

I learned a lot about their work this past year.

And for those of you who don't know, The Urban League's mission is a vision of equity for all, and the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle empowers those they serve by providing programming and services designed to support and encourage self-sufficiency in all aspects of life.

And their five areas of focus include advocacy and civic engagement, education, housing, public health and workforce development.

So it was it was great to see folks and and the director.

was honored with, Michelle Merriweather was honored with a standing ovation for all of her hard work, especially during the pandemic.

And the keynote address was delivered by Magic Johnson and his family, I didn't know this, there were 10 kids in his family growing up and Urban League was a support for him and actually got him hooked up with two mentors that that ended up giving him a lot of support and encouraged him to get good grades and finish high school and believe in himself and become the tremendous athlete and business owner that he now is.

And then in what appeared to be kind of an unscripted move, he called probably two dozen youth that were in attendance up to the stage and delivered one of the most I don't know, inspiring and touching words of wisdom, encouragement, life lessons.

I don't know, I think that probably half the room was struggling to stay dry-eyed.

But anyway, that was a great event.

I later on, after that, headed down south to the Teamsters Hall to attend the Building and Construction Trades Council's annual holiday party.

best food ever and uh it was good to uh to see folks that I've been corresponding with over the past year just remotely.

So that's it for me and I will now pass it on to the next person.

I believe if that is if Council Member Peterson you're going to be coming up at the end.

Council Member Straus is next.

Council Member Straus if you're ready.

Thank you born ready here in D six, I'll be hosting my next town hall on Wednesday, December 14 at the Green Lake Community Center, we will begin at 6pm and it will last until 730pm I have a tendency of going long attending attendees will have the chance to ask me questions in their own words, I've been hosting these regular in person town halls.

since the summer as COVID's allowed, it's been a great opportunity to see people and hear what's most important to D6 residents.

If you can't attend the town hall, please do sign up for office hours.

I host office hours every week in my D6 office right next to the Ballard Library.

Also happening in D6, the Office of Planning and Community Development is hosting a D6 open house to get your feedback on the major updates to the comprehensive plan.

The open house will be held at Loyal Heights Community Center from 6 p.m.

to 8 p.m.

on December 12th, next Monday.

The Seattle Comprehensive Plan major update guides how our city grows and makes investments to make our city more equitable, livable, sustainable, and resilient.

Earlier this month, the scoping for the EIS to the major update was released.

and presented in committee.

The EIS for the major update will provide the city and our residents the analysis of several alternatives under consideration.

This information will be critical to the decision-making process as we seek to complete the plan by 2024. More than a thousand public comments were received during last summer's public comment period that will help shape the EIS analysis to the major update.

Last summer I requested OPCD extend the public comment period.

I'm thankful for them doing so because it doubled the amount of public comment time available.

OPCD has scheduled several community meetings across the city in the coming weeks where residents can interact one-on-one with our planning staff and participate in small group community conversations about housing, investments, and everything that they want to see in their community.

The December 12. So again for D six, the community, open house for the comprehensive plan major update will be on December 12 at the Loyal Heights Community Center from 6pm to 8pm, and the address is 2101 Northwest 77th Street.

Seattle Washington 98117. This open house is part of the next step of OPCD receiving feedback on the major update to the comprehensive plan.

Hope to see you all there.

Colleagues, I have used our council briefings as an opportunity to share with my D6 residents what I've been working on and D6 specific updates.

As we've not had council briefing in a few months due to budget deliberations, I have too many D6 updates to fit within one council briefing.

which has me thinking about changing my practice of using council briefing as the tool of sharing video updates with D6 residents.

I think I'm going to be changing this to just recording my videos outside of council briefing in order to keep these meetings focused on what is outlined in our agenda as Our city council actions council and regional committees, as it's described in our council rules.

So, here in the land use committee there are no land use related bills on the full council agenda tomorrow, we held our most recent committee last Wednesday November 30, where we voted on one item, the appointment to the equitable development initiative board, John Rodriguez.

His appointment will come to our December 13th full council agenda.

We were briefed on three items, CB 120462, the comprehensive plan amendments, public hearing and briefing.

This is the annual comprehensive plan amendments, not the major update.

We were also briefed on council bill 120464, affordable housing design review exemption for 60% AMI.

and the comprehensive plan scoping report, which met the criteria for lifting the associated proviso that we put on during budget of a year ago.

Our next land use committee will be this Thursday, December 8, and we'll be having a morning not afternoon meeting which means it will be meeting at 930am this Thursday.

Colleagues as you know my preference is to have two meetings on items we vote on.

So this week's committee will primarily focus on voting on the items of discussion we heard last week.

So we plan to vote on Council Bill 120462, the 2022 Annual Comprehensive Plan Amendments, not the not the major update, and we'll also be voting on Council Bill 120464, the Affordable Housing Design Review exemption for 60% AMI.

Council Member Peterson, I think you know I am planning to bring a cleanup bill to our arborist legislation after hearing from High Road Arborists and Plant Amnesty.

If this is ready for discussion this week, I'll add it to the agenda.

If not, we'll save it for January.

It's all information you already know, so happy to work with you there.

And colleagues, that is my report.

I believe I now pass it to Councilmember Morales.

Unless, colleagues, are there any questions?

Seeing none, I will pass it to Councilmember Morales.

Councilmember Morales, good afternoon.

Thank you.

Oh, Councilmember Sawant's not here.

Okay.

Caught me a little off guard there, Councilmember Strauss.

Thank you.

Okay, good afternoon colleagues, I will start with committee updates, the neighborhood education arts and rights committee will be meeting this Friday at 930 in the morning.

We have to, we have four appointments on the agenda to for the Ballard Avenue landmark districts and to for the LGBTQ Commission.

And then we have two bills.

There will be a hearing and discussion on Council Bill 120456, which is the Historic Resource Administration Review, Administrative Review discussion.

That will just be a public hearing.

My plan is to actually move that to a vote at our first meeting in January and then have a full Council then move it to full council later in January.

We'll also be hearing Council Bill 120312, which would adopt controls and incentives for the Seattle First National Bank building.

We had a conversation about this bill before budget and I'm bringing it back now so we can continue that discussion.

Let's see, external committee updates.

Last week, the King County Growth Management Planning Council met to discuss the affordable housing allocation across cities that's required under House Bill 1220 that was passed last year at the state legislature.

The Affordable Housing Committee has been meeting for the last year to discuss the methodology for that allocation and will be voting soon.

They have chosen what they're calling option three as the preferred methodology.

It's really based on the share of new housing growth and makes adjustments for local factors including the ratio of low wage jobs to low wage workers.

the existing share of income-restricted housing, and the existing share of homes that are affordable at or below 80% of AMI.

Our own Office of Housing and OPCD staff advise that this is the best option for increasing housing choices, particularly for low- and moderate-income households in areas that currently have few affordable options available.

And also, this methodology would promote a more equitable distribution of housing choices across jurisdictions.

I will say there was some discussion during the planning council meeting last week.

from a couple of jurisdictions, but the Suburban Cities Association did vote in support of this third option and so my understanding is that the Affordable Housing Committee will be making their final vote and then it will come back to the Growth Management Planning Council.

Um, uh, so I also attended.

Last Thursday I attended OPCD's comprehensive plan listening session, they did hold a session at Langston Hughes so I want to thank the OPCD staff there were lots of folks there.

really sharing their scoping report, and then they broke out into several smaller groups and had facilitated conversations with OPCD staff and community members.

So I'm really glad.

I would encourage all of you, if there is a session being held in your district that you attend, and I know council members shall also be there this week.

But I just wanted to share a few of the things that I heard in the small group that I was sitting in.

Folks were asking for increasing the height of multifamily housing, asking for more services within a walk shed, a 10 or 15 minute walk shed of where people live.

Lots of folks asking for senior housing.

We did have two seniors in our particular group who are interested in having access to housing and being able to walk to get the things that they need.

Lots of interest in more density, particularly in higher income neighborhoods.

Let's see, there was a lot of conversation about anti displacement strategies and folks asking very explicitly for a change to our urban village strategy to allow for more construction in more parts of the city.

And then there was an interesting question about what's missing from your neighborhood.

And some of the things people mentioned were sidewalks transit that is not just about commuting to work but transit that allows people to get across and around their neighborhood and easily access other neighborhoods.

Safe bike racks trash cans.

Safer streets, crosswalks, stop signs.

So really interesting conversations and people are thinking very seriously about what kind of neighborhoods they want to live in.

So it was just, it was really interesting to hear people be very thoughtful and very explicit about the kind of things that they would like to see.

I'm hoping to attend at least another couple of these sessions in different parts of the city because I would suspect that people are mentioning different things in different parts of the city and I'm just curious to hear what other folks are talking about.

Um, okay.

Lastly district updates for me.

This past weekend my staff attended the people of color legislative summit to hear and discuss legislative priorities from advocacy groups and representatives on the state level.

With the new incoming members after the most recent election, members of color will increase from a third to 44% of the House Democratic members, which is very exciting.

Our office works pretty closely with the members of color caucuses.

And so we're excited to continue those discussions, particularly around progressive revenue, affordable housing, educational justice, increasing access to health care, childcare, food security, and immigrant rights, all of the kinds of topics and priorities that were listed in that conversation.

This week I'll be joining a panel discussion with the ACLU of Washington they hold know your rights workshops, and I've been invited to participate on the workshop regarding abortion and charting a path forward.

So, I will be interested to share the stage, the virtual stage with folks on that discussion.

I'll also be hosting the final Seattle within reach coalition meeting for the year to wrap up, have a discussion about our budget wins and to get started on our policy work for next year.

And finally, I'm excited to share that my staff has been working on a CID resource guide, working closely in collaboration with community members and with the Department of Neighborhoods.

The draft is finally done.

It is getting, it's out for translation so that we can print it, hopefully by the end of the year.

And the guide is really intended to support people who are living unhoused in the CID and can also be used by people living and working in the neighborhood and the surrounding areas, as well as social service providers to find in-language services that they can access.

I believe that is all I have this afternoon, unless there are any questions.

Okay, then I will hand it to Council Member Peterson.

Thank you, Council Member Morales, and I'll go ahead and read the Council President's remarks.

One moment.

So from Council President Juarez, she's saying good afternoon, colleagues, and she has a few items to share with you.

There are no items from the Governance, Native Communities, and Tribal Governments Committee on tomorrow's council agenda.

The Governance, Native Communities, and Tribal Governments Committee will meet, the meeting on December 15 will be canceled.

The next Governance, Native Communities, and Tribal Governments meeting will be January 19, 2023. Last week, Council President Juarez's staff met with the Human Services Division regarding impacts stemming from unsanctioned encampments in District 5, in particular, RV encampments in Lake City.

Outreach to residents of these encampments will be the next step to help get people into services and more stable housing.

Last Thursday, Council President Juarez's team celebrated the Seattle Latino Chamber of Commerce and the Seattle Latino Chamber of Commerce received a national award as the Latino Chamber of Commerce of the Year.

So congratulations to them and all the work they do.

They also attended the Sound Transit Ridership and Operations Committee, where Council President received an update on the new fare ambassador program, the OrcaCard 2.0 program, and they discussed metrics on vertical conveyance, so the elevators and escalators in the stations.

Council President Juarez would like to announce that the Seattle Indian Health Board brought its mobile medical clinic to Lake City last week.

And as you know, the Seattle Indian Health Board provides medical services for all people of all ages, ranging from immunizations to exams to diagnosis and treatment of chronic disease.

We're so glad to have their new clinic open in Lake City and welcome their mobile medical clinic, which can easily go where services are most needed.

The week ahead, Council President Juarez's office will be meeting with the new Park Superintendent AP Diaz.

Their office will also be meeting with the Seattle Police Department Chief Adrian Diaz, and they'll be meeting with the Office of Planning and Community Development regarding planning around the 130th Street light rail stop.

Council President Juarez is pleased to add that construction at the 130th Street location is continuing.

The pillars are up and the platform is under construction.

And they're looking forward to being able to use it to get onto light rail.

And that concludes Council President's report.

We'll move on quickly to my report here.

Colleagues, there are no items from the Transportation Seattle Public Utilities Committee on the full council agenda for tomorrow afternoon.

Our next meeting of the Transportation Seattle Public Utilities Committee is tomorrow morning, Tuesday, December 6 at 930 a.m.

We have nine items on our committee agenda.

Five of those items are minor land easements from Seattle Public Utilities.

Of those five items from SPU 3 will require public hearings, so there'll be a lot of parliamentary procedure opening and closing the public hearings.

Council 120429 is a stop related legislation sponsored by customer Strauss, that would make permanent the safe start street eateries program.

We're expecting one technical amendment to this legislation to update the fees.

The agenda will include a choice between two additional amendments, but we'll probably take action just on the reporting requirement amendment that would have asked to report back in a year on the success of the new program.

That's Amendment 3. That's the one we'll likely move in addition to Amendment 1. So Councils 120470 through 120474 are the five pieces of legislation from Seattle Public Utilities, two bills to accept land easements and three bills to relinquish land easements.

The three relinquishments require public hearings.

If there's minimal conversation during the three public hearings, we can suspend the committee rules to vote on those three items on the same day as public hearing.

Council 120477 is about a city compost purchasing agreement.

The legislation is required by state law and encourages the purchase of locally sourced compost and requires the city to conduct educational outreach.

The agenda is updated with a technical amendment to provide a more thorough definition of compost based on the Washington Administrative Code.

Council 120475 is the Cedar River Sockeye Hatchery Intergovernmental Agreement.

That will authorize execution of operations of the hatchery with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Council 120476 is the Duwamish Basin Steward Interlocal Agreement sponsored by Councilmember Herbold.

That would cost, Chair, a new Duwamish Basin Salmon Recovery Steward with King County, Tukwila, and the Port of Seattle.

As we're approaching the end of the year, my hope is to vote out all of these items tomorrow.

Don't anticipate it being controversial.

We will have a special meeting of the Transportation Seattle Public Utilities Committee on Monday, December 12 at 9.30am.

Appreciate everybody trying to attend that.

Because we'll have that special meeting on December 12, we are canceling our January 3rd meeting.

A quick preview of December 12 three items, the regularly scheduled audit plan for SPU that will be conducted by the independent firm Moss Adams, an update on one of the city's largest capital projects the ship canal water quality project.

And an update from our Seattle Department of Transportation on the alley and subterranean street vacations for the Seattle Convention Center expansion.

Please reach out to Seattle Council Central Staff Brian Goodnight covering SPU or Calvin Chow covering SDOT if you have any questions.

And I think Lish Whitson's covering the Seattle Convention Center expansion.

Just a quick note expressing my gratitude to the city's frontline workers, especially the crews from SDOT and SPU for handling the snowy and icy weather from last week.

I connected with our SDOT director, Greg Spatz, both before and after the snow events, and it seems that the city government's response was proactive and thorough in maximizing safety on our city streets during those storm events.

That concludes my report.

If there are no further items, we can move on to Executive Session.

Council Member Nelson.

You just reminded me that I was remiss in thanking City Light Cruise for their hard work.

I did receive several emails that said that power was restored very quickly, and they appreciated being able to see what was going on in their neighborhood.

So, thank you, City Light Cruise.

Thank you very much.

Well, colleagues, if there's no further business for this council briefing, we can now move into executive session.

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

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

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

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

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

And we expect this to go until 335pm.

And.

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

At the conclusion of the executive session, this council briefing meeting will automatically be adjourned.

The next regularly scheduled council briefing meeting is scheduled for December 12, 2022 at 2 p.m.

The council is now in executive session.