Seattle City Council 482019

Good afternoon.

Thank you for being here everybody.

Hello pastor.

How are you the April 8th?

2019 City Council meeting of the full City Council come to order.

It's 2 o'clock p.m I'm Bruce Harrell president of the council the clerk.

Please call the roll Mosqueda here O'Brien here.

So what?

Yeah, thanks.

Ah Gonzales her bold And Harold, eight present.

Very good.

If there's no objection, today's introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, today's introduction and referral calendar is adopted.

And if there's no objection, today's agenda is adopted.

We have a fairly brief agenda today.

Hearing no objection, today's agenda is adopted.

There are no minutes for presentation today.

However, we do have a presentation and we look forward to this.

Council Member Herbold, you have the floor.

I want to start off by thanking the Seattle Women's Commission, the Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence, the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, and the Mayor's Office on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault for their leadership year after year on this issue.

One in four women and one in six men will be affected by sexual assault in their lifetime.

Trans women, particularly trans women of color and people with disabilities, are disproportionately more likely to be victims of sexual assault.

The Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence couches the issue of sexual assault within a greater movement around ending gender-based violence that recognizes that the social and economic conditions in which women, LGBTQ people, people of color, people with disabilities and children are especially vulnerable.

We also know that nationwide research from local Indigenous Health Institute uncovered that only 116 of the more than 5,700 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls were logged in the Department of Justice Missing Persons Database in 2016. This report flushes out the role that institutionalized racism plays in investigations and data collection methods in cases of missing and murdered indigenous women and advocates for greater attention.

It is very important that we make policy locally as well as nationally that addresses sexual assault, harassment, and coercion in the workplace.

domestic and school settings, and places where people are accessing services and programs.

Last year, this council passed legislation to extend the statute of limitations on sexual harassment claims in employment, housing, public accommodations, and contracting investigated by the Office of Civil Rights.

The City Council and the Mayor's Office have also worked in partnership to address discrimination and harassment in city departments.

And per recommendations from an anti-harassment interdepartmental team, a new Office of Employee Ombud was created to assist city employees in understanding their options in working through claims of workplace harassment and discrimination.

Finally, there are several proposals working through the state legislature to remove barriers for people who report sexual assault, ranging from, again, expanding the statute of limitations on sexual assault crimes, to addressing the backlog of over 6,000 untested rape kits, and to improving responses to missing and murdered indigenous women.

We'll be hearing more from the Seattle Women's Commission about details for our annual Denim Day on April 24th.

This day is intended to raise awareness on victim blaming and the importance of that we all take action to end sexual assault and gender-based violence.

And if I could, I'd like to read a few of the recitals, not the whole thing.

Please do.

Thank you so much.

So whereas Sexual Assault Awareness Month was first observed by the United States in April 2001 to raise awareness about sexual assault, to raise awareness about ways to prevent sexual violence and to support survivors, today millions of men, women, children, and people who are gender non-conforming are sexually assaulted and are too often left with little support and few solutions.

We must commit to the elimination and prevention of this hate as well as fight to change all norms that perpetuate discrimination against genderqueer individuals in our city.

And homeless and housing insecure women face unique challenges that affect their well-being, health, and families, including being at high risk for sexual assault and exploitation.

People with disabilities are sexually assaulted seven times more often than people without disabilities.

And we reject violence in all of its forms, especially violence targeting those who identify as women, whether it's in the home, on the streets, in the workplace, in the media, or on internet.

The City of Seattle invests in a comprehensive network of social services and a specialized response to sexual assault that addresses the needs of survivors by providing a 24-hour response system, crisis intervention, information and referrals, and general medical and legal advocacy.

We know that working together to educate our community about sexual violence, supporting survivors when they come forward, and speaking out against harmful attitudes and actions, engaging in best practice sexual violence prevention, and all of this work together helps to end sexual violence.

And efforts to change belief systems and practices that perpetuate sexual violence, especially in targeted vulnerable populations, require the participation of the entire community.

And Seattle must work to become a place where sexual assault is treated as a public health issue, where social perceptions and behaviors around sexual violence are changed, and where survivors can access an array of services that are culturally appropriate and relevant to their needs, and ultimately, where sexual violence decreases in frequency.

Now, therefore, Jenny A. Durkin, Mayor of Seattle, and the Seattle City Council do hereby proclaim April 2019 to be Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

If there's no objection, we'll suspend the rules and love to see the presentation or rather the photograph and hear from a few words from some of our guests.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold, for bringing it.

Would anyone else like to say anything before Council Member Herbold approaches the guests?

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Herbold.

Thanks for everybody pitching in and working on getting this out.

Okay.

Should we proceed?

Okay.

No, we'll have you say it to me.

All right, hello everyone.

My name is Megan Freeney and I'm really excited to be here today on behalf of KSARC and that's King County Sexual Assault Resource Center.

What about it?

It's projecting.

You can get a little closer, but you're projecting fine.

It was just a suggestion.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

So, KSARC is a nonprofit that serves those who have experienced or have been affected by sexual assault.

This past year, they've served 20% more individuals.

That's a huge increase for them, and they do it so well.

They provide counseling services, they provide legal advocacy, and they give people who have experienced sexual assault the opportunity to share their story.

It's difficult to talk about sexual assault.

It's even more difficult to live with it and be isolated and silenced.

I'm grateful to all of you here who are raising awareness, who are open to hearing all of the stories and and supporting those who have experienced sexual assault like myself.

I accepted the burden of striving for change around sexual assault the day that I reported my sexual assault.

I accepted the burden throughout the trial, and I accept the burden every time that I give a speech like this.

It's a large burden, but it's my hope that through legislative change and through an increase in awareness and through more access to services that we can lessen that burden for people who have experience and for people who might experience.

I'm really grateful to all of you for standing with me today and standing with KSARC in declaring April Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you for your courage and commitment and passion.

Thank you, Councilmember Herbold.

Okay, at this time, we will take public comment.

Oh, do we have another guest who'd like to say something?

Please.

Please.

Good afternoon.

My name is Alicia Glenwell.

I'm the Policy and Special Projects Manager for the Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence.

Hi.

The coalition educates, organizes, and leads over 30 gender-based violence agencies in Seattle and King County, all of which touch the lives of sexual assault survivors in our communities.

I'm honored to participate in this event today to declare April Sexual Assault Awareness Month for the City of Seattle.

It would be an understatement to say that the Me Too movement has sparked significant debate in our culture.

Many discuss this era as one in which our shared rules around sexual harassment and assault are evolving, our boundaries are shifting, our definitions of acceptable behavior are changing, As recently as last Wednesday, former Vice President Joe Biden explained away some of his questionable behaviors by citing changing social norms.

But civil rights activist and Me Too founder Tarana Burke first started using the hashtag to highlight the pervasiveness of sexual assault and harassment in 2006, 13 years ago.

In the United States, the first organized effort to decry sexual assault came from five black women testifying before Congress in 1866. about widespread rape of black women by white men during riots following the Civil War.

Social norms defining sexual assault and harassment have not changed.

The use of power, coercion, violence to violate another's physical and emotional boundaries has never been acceptable, and survivors have been telling their stories and calling for justice for generations.

What is changing in this current cultural moment is our society's increasing awareness of the prevalence of these issues, our diminishing tolerance for those who perpetrate sexual harassment and assault, and a growing cry for accountability and justice.

By declaring April Sexual Assault Awareness Month, you send a powerful message that sexual assault is not, and has never been, acceptable in Seattle.

Thank you for this important acknowledgement and for leading on behalf of all survivors in our communities.

Thank you.

Just a taller one.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Daria Farivar.

I am the Chair of Violence Prevention and Justice with the Seattle Women's Commission.

We appreciate this opportunity today.

First, I'd like to thank Council Member Herbald and Gonzalez for their leadership and support and sponsorship on this issue.

I'd also like to thank them for acknowledging the devastating reality that sexual assault is still prevalent and for bringing awareness to the disturbingly high rates in marginalized communities.

Today we reflect on the lives which have been impacted by sexual assault, praise and thank those who support survivors, appreciate those who do prevention work, and take a hard look at our current culture.

We look forward to creating a culture which values prevention, actively stops sexual assault, brings the topic to light, believes and supports survivors.

It's imperative that we educate the public and work with our youth to shift this dangerous culture.

Comprehensive sexual education with affirmative consent curriculum in all schools is crucial to prevention.

If we hope to have a culture which believes and supports survivors, we need to invest in our youth.

In order to properly support survivors, we need to fully fund organizations doing the work, especially those who hire survivors.

We need resources that intentionally work with marginalized communities and can navigate the intersections.

This month is for reflection, praise, awareness, and for changing our future.

Myself and the entire Women's Commission look forward to working together to prevent sexual assault and support survivors in their pursuit to recovery.

We thank you for shining a light on this issue, but we urge you to do more.

We urge you to invest in prevention and recovery resources.

The Seattle Women's Commission looks forward to our continued collaboration in the changing cultural norms and working together to improve our city.

Thank you.

And just very briefly, if I could talk about the Denim Day event that will be happening on April 24th.

We're very excited to be hosting this event in the Bertha Knight Landis Room.

The event will start at 5.30 p.m., go until 7 p.m.

We will have some speakers, including Councilmember Gonzalez and Herbald, and we will have some other organizations speaking as well.

In addition to all of that, we're really excited to say that we will have a display of T-shirts from 50 different survivors.

And through those T-shirts that will be displayed in City Hall, they'll be able to tell their stories and share what's happened to them with the community.

Thank you again for this opportunity.

Thank you.

Thank you again.

So at this time, we'll take public comment on items that appear on today's agenda, our 2019 work program or our introduction referral calendar.

The public comment will be accepted for 20 minutes and we ask that you begin by identifying yourself and the topic you'd like to speak on.

I'll call you out in the order with which you've signed and we'll start off with Mr. Alex Zimmerman and Alex Zimmerman will be followed by Yvette Dinesh.

My name is Alex Zimmerman.

I think I can speak right now about sexual harassment because this is agenda for my understanding.

So first, a little bit confuse me because there's five women and no one man.

So I'm totally confused.

Are thinking women and men equal in America or not?

I, for example, have sexual harassments to me many times, exactly from this council chamber.

And I give you a very simple example.

We have a three brown woman, Gonzales Mosquita, in Juarez, what has trespassed me from every meeting, from every meeting for the last few years.

From every meeting.

It's up to you.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I think we take the issue of sexual harassment very seriously, especially on a day where we are Claiming April 2019 to be awareness day.

This is the second time this Person has indicated that there's been some form of harassment and making light of the issue of sexual harassment Accusing folks because of skin and gender is not appropriate in any regard and today on all days to have this accusation levied against the council I is not appropriate and I don't know what the exact motion is.

Mr. President, but I would say that this type of accusation levied against the three council member and he's done it before is both false and inappropriate on this day so point of order if I can Mr. President.

So the standards are whether he is disrupting the meeting.

He does have a right, a constitutional right, to express his opinion on issues and legislation that we are working on, sexual harassment being one of them.

His opinions, while certainly vulgar and offensive, in my opinion, at least in the Chair's opinion, still fit within the parameters of free speech on a topic we are working on.

But I would ask that you address the issue and not attack our colleagues as you proceed.

But at this point, unless someone determines that he's disruptive, he has a constitutional right to speak on our agenda items.

But I understand your point.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Please proceed, sir.

Yeah, thank you very much.

Yeah, exactly, because it's three women and I am a man, so I feel not comfortable.

This is exactly what I want to explain to you.

So exactly, this come from consul and come to men who come to this place for 10 years, 2,200 times, speak, have nine trespasses for 900 days.

Nobody in America have this.

So this totally confused me, you know what I mean?

But I'm very happy.

So give me a chance right now.

Explain to you.

So my kosher sausage can stay in your throat forever right now, because it's exactly what is supposed to be.

Stop the clock, please.

Now you've crossed the line that has nothing to do with our, and you've been warned that that's disruptive and vulgar speech that has nothing to do with our agenda.

And if I hear that again, you're going to be removed for disruption.

Please proceed, sir.

Stop the clock.

Yes.

I actually find that to be more than offensive.

I found that to be a threat of sexual violence.

And I would ask you as a presiding officer to Treat that behavior accordingly.

I mean this man just threatened to stick his genitals down our throats and I find that to be a gender-based violent threat to Anybody on the city council, but in particular to the women and I'm asking that you find him disruptive and have him removed I'm required to give him one notice Before I remove anyone you've been notified.

I agree with your point.

So you've been put on notice councilmember worse

Thank you.

Council President, I certainly uphold Mr. Zimmerman's First Amendment right, but I can categorically say for the last three and a half years, we have been subject, particularly the three Latina women up here, not only to attacks on our race, but our gender and anything else you can imagine.

And at some point, We have to draw the line, as Councilor González says, that there are actual threats.

There are threats to us based on our gender, on our race, on who we are, and the fact that we sit here.

And I, for one, am tired of it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Morris.

There is a separate security procedure we use for threats.

You've heard, Mr. Zimmerman, that members took those as threats, and so I'm sure beyond this hearing that they will follow through on how we proceed on threats.

You've been put on notice of your disruptive behavior, and so any more outbursts that qualify as disruptive behavior, you will be removed immediately.

You have 29 seconds left, sir.

So I can speak?

Yes, you can.

Okay, thank you very much.

I don't talking about race.

I only give you example.

You know what has happened.

This is pure statistical explanation.

It's nothing to do with personal.

It's talking about situation what is we have here in this council chamber.

This is nothing about woman, brown, white, black, Jew, Catholic on everything.

It's about situation what is we have here.

So we don't have a constitutional right by law in city court speak about everything what is we want.

Thank you very much.

And just so you know your behavior today was deemed threatening by council members and you may want to expect some follow-up on that sir.

We have different opinion is exactly.

Our next speaker will be Yvette Dynas followed by David Haynes.

Good afternoon, council members.

I'm back again addressing the homeless crisis.

Four years into it, there's nothing being resolved.

And the reason I'm more concerned today than ever, I stopped by the Othello Village because I read the paper about there's some drama going on between three of the villages and the low-income housing institute.

So I stopped by to check on their welfare.

There's 20 children living up in there.

When I went there, there was four toddlers under two running around.

There's a dispute going on.

So what I'm asking right now is, can you please mediate or figure out how you can resolve the issue between Lehigh and those tiny villages?

Right now, thank you, my next door community, for stepping up and providing some necessities, toilet paper, cutlery, food, diapers, while it's being worked out.

So whatever you need to do to mediate that situation, please do so.

And also, I want to encourage everyone out there that the reason, how we change the situation, how we make things better is by the power of your vote and your voice.

Vote matters.

Seven of the council positions are up for grabs this year.

Pay attention to the issues, make them clear on what their stand is, and show up and vote.

You can do that online.

And also, if you're homeless, you can vote as well.

So my husband and I are starting a two-year push to register people to vote.

With that said, fix the situation, please, at Othello Village and the other ones.

That is all I have to say for today.

Thank you.

We need city council to demand a weekly update on the homeless crisis with practically a non-stop investigative hearing on the inept government officials hiring unqualified six-figure salary non-profits, hiring ex-addicts who still have conscription to addiction fueled by a welfare job, lying to the homeless about shelter with subhuman services virtually non-existent.

I'm sure you've seen the drama unfold in the newspapers about Sharon Lee of low-income housing who rips off taxpayers, stealing and inflating the cost on Urban Rest Stop, cheating the homeless daily, and Scott Morrow from Sharewheel who keep it cruel, unusual, and subhuman mistreating.

We have societal implosion and innocent people are being forsaken to the exempted drug pushers and predators destroying lives daily.

In fact, Seattle is dying, prove that wraparound services are failing to solve the problem they focus on while discriminating against thousands of innocent, sober, drug-free homeless, discriminated against by social welfare industry, college pukes, miseducated by racist sociology professors.

You know you can tell Seattle allhome.com of the yearly count is a good-for-nothing fraud.

They take months creating a data-collecting, racist-manipulated narrative that fits the treasonous and unconstitutional agenda, working the pay plan at the expense of societal implosion.

We need government officials and the non-profits to be held accountable for their egregious failure to put forth an honest, diligent effort.

And don't believe the suffering has waned because spring is here.

Tyrone Kenny will be our next speaker, followed by the Honorable Michael Fuller.

Also, hi, my name is Tyrone Kenny, and also I'm with Guardia, our non-profit working in the community.

And also we're working in the community, and I'm sitting back looking at this city, and we're doing so much things, we're building so many places, and we are not supporting the ones that don't, that really need.

We're not supporting the homeless people.

And you should've left them in the jungle.

You just should've left them there because you know where they was and you could've then gave them help from there.

You didn't have to move them because they all over the city now.

They are everywhere in this city, on the floor, on the ground, near car lot, even on the road or the street.

People get hit, killed, whatever.

And you waste money and you're asking for money.

And you had a, money for them to do it, but you blow the money.

You blow the money by saying you clean up the city, cleaning up the city, but then they got waste needles and everything else on the floor.

A little kid, I seen a little kid that fell on a needle that a homeless person using and we failed to help the city, right?

We failed to put people in the homes.

What kind of city is this?

We don't take land from everybody.

We take land from the Indians and all of that, and we rape everybody and everything and all kind of like that.

You know, the raping been going on ever since the slaves been coming over.

They raped us and brought us over here in America.

And we fail to understand this thing.

We are so bad.

We are sad peoples of United States of America.

And I'm not no color.

I'm a black man in America being raped and borrowed over here.

by your thoughts and your dreams and what you sold the Indians a dream like they're going to do this and then took their land and then put them on reservations.

How can we say we're a good city?

This is sad, sad city.

Thank you, Mr. Kinney.

Our last speaker to sign up is the Honorable Michael Fuller.

Yes, I'm Honorable Michael Fuller, Siouxite Jewers.

I'm alleging that all nine of y'all is in violation of Margaret Lloyd-Richard's First Amendment right, due process, equal protection of our 14th Amendment right, and procedure due process, and substantive due process, and 42.30 Open Meeting Act.

Bruce Earle, I'm devastated because this sanctuary city would violate H.R.

3003, no sanctuary for criminal acts.

H.R.

304, gate laws.

H.R.

309, enforcement of sanctuary city law.

And that 1962D conspiracy, section 241 conspiracy against civil rights under color of law.

Violation of two years in prison, $250,000 fine, three years of supervised release, and $100 excessive.

And deprivation of rights under the color of law, one year in prison, $250,000 fine, three years of supervised release, and $100 excessive.

Now, Bruce Harrell, don't think that you're above the law.

Under United States v. Lee, 1882, meaning no man in this country is so high to where they're above the law.

Bruce Harrell states Chinatown needs a can, which violates the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which violates United States v. Lee.

1882, Bruce Harrell.

You're not above the law.

But you are pimping, we the people.

Martin Luther Rich was born and raised, but yet and still y'all talking about people of color at the time of war.

Look, Bruce Harrell, it was 2,996 deaths, 2,977 victims, 343 firefighters deaths, and 19 hijackers deaths.

But then you turn around and say one America.

And then in 2010, $11.2 million unauthorized undocumented aid.

And then in 2015, $22.

Bruce Earle, I'm trying to send you to federal prison.

Okay, thank you.

I know you are, thank you.

Okay, so we're going to move on.

It's been noted.

So we're going to move on to payment of bills.

So please read the title.

Council Bill 119492, appropriating money to pay certain claims and ordering the payment thereof.

Okay, I'll move to pass Council Bill 119492. And I'll hope to get a second.

It's been moved and seconded.

The bill passed.

Any further comments?

Please call the roll on the passage of the bill.

Juarez.

Aye.

Mosqueda.

Aye.

O'Brien.

Aye.

Sawant.

Aye.

Begg.

Aye.

Gonzales.

Aye.

Herbold.

Aye.

President Harrell.

Aye.

Eight in favor, none opposed.

The bill passes and the Chair will sign it.

Please read appointments.

Please read items one and two.

The report of the Civic Development, Public Assets, and Native Communities Committee agendas one and two, appointments 1278 and 1279, reappointments of Evan Henley and Kevin McCaffrey's members, Board of Park Commissioners for term to March 31st, 2022. The committee recommends these appointments be confirmed.

Council Member Juarez.

Thank you, Council President.

Evan Huntley is a District 5 resident who has served on the Board for the past three years.

He contributes and is thoughtful and balanced in his approach to issues brought before the Board.

He holds a Master's in Public Administration and Urban Planning.

He grew up in part of the Seattle Parks and Recreation family, participating in programs and coaching tennis.

He has worked for the City of Seattle before as a budget analyst.

He has applied for reappointment to the Board of Parks and Commissioners, and I, for one, am very happy.

So the Committee on Civic Development, Public Assets, and Native Communities made a unanimous recommendation on March 20th that the City Council pass appointment 01278 for Mr. Evan Huntley.

And would you like to read the second one as well?

We read them in together, I believe.

Yes, I will, thank you.

This is the appointment of Ms. Kelly McCaffrey, appointment 01279. Both of these, by the way, are reappointments.

Kelly has served on the board and is applying for a reappointment as well.

I believe she's the board chair.

She has been a fantastic member of the board as she comes well prepared, asks good questions, and thinks critically about issues and ideas before the meetings.

And we have relied on her expertise for at least the last couple of years.

She has a master's degree in public administration with a focus on environmental policy.

She sees park issues through the lens of a mother, a dog owner, a disabled park user, and bikers.

Her work as the chair of the Park District Oversight Committee has been helpful to spearhead correspondence as a liaison for the department in the Park Board of Commissioners, as well as an excellent advisor to myself and our staff.

The Committee on Civic Development, Public Assets, and Native Communities makes a unanimous recommendation that City Council pass the appointment of 01279, Mrs. McCaffrey.

Thank you very much.

Any questions or comments?

If not, those in favor of confirming the appointments, please vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, vote no.

The motion carries.

The appointments are confirmed.

Thank you.

Please read the report of the Sustainability and Transportation Committee.

We could read items three and four.

The report of the Sustainability and Transportation Committee, agenda items three and four, appointments 1280 and 1281, reappointments of Brian A. Estes and Joseph Labacas members, levy to move Seattle Oversight Committee for term to December 31st, 2022. The committee recommends these appointments be confirmed.

Council Member O'Brien.

Thank you.

So O'Brien's retired from King County Government Accountability Office.

He was a volunteer with the Move Seattle Levy campaign.

Joe's a CPA with SSA Marine and a volunteer with West Seattle Bike Connection.

They've both served admirably on the Oversight Committee and proud to reappoint him.

I think they both bring outside expertise and a passion for transportation issues in the city, have been great members, and look forward to their appointment.

Very good.

Any questions or comments?

Okay, those in favor of confirming the appointments, please vote aye.

Aye.

Those opposed vote no.

The motion carries.

Appointments are confirmed.

That concludes our agenda.

Is there any further business to come before the council?

Hearing none, we stand adjourned and everyone have a great rest of the afternoon.

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