Council Press Conferences

Councilmember Andrew J. Lewis (District 7 - Pioneer Square to Magnolia), service providers and members from the business community announce the publication of a University of Washington study demonstrating the effectiveness of the JustCARE model, and provide a tangible example of how 33 individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness on 3rd Avenue downtown were connected with appropriate shelter by JustCARE and voluntarily accepted. The JustCARE model is a team effort combining outreach workers from REACH/Evergreen Treatment Services, a field team from CoLEAD, and hotel-based teams with Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS) & CoLEAD, along with the Wheeler Davis safety team.  The JustCARE alliance coordinates whenever possible with City-funded shelter options via the Human Services Department (HSD).

Speakers include:

Councilmember Andrew J. Lewis, District 7

Katherine Beckett, UW Professor of Sociology 

Nichole Alexander, JustCARE

Dominique Davis, Wheeler Davis Safety Team

SJ Percer, CoLEAD

Rachel Smith, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce 

Rick Yoder, Wild Ginger 

Lou Bond, Melbourne Tower

Chris Park, Downtown Seattle Association

Jesse Benet, Public Defender Association

Councilmember Tammy J. Morales (District 2 - South Seattle & The C/ID), housing advocates, tenant protection groups, renters and community members rallied for new protections for renters on Friday outside of City Hall. Morales introduced new legislation that provides an enhanced eviction defense for renters. The "Sound at Home" legislation provides a defense in eviction court for any renter who has faced a financial hardship caused by the pandemic that would have caused them to fall behind on rent. Speakers include:

Speakers:
Councilmember Tammy J. Morales, District 2
Anquida Adams, Chair of the Seattle Disability Commission & affected renter
Julissa Sanchez, Tenant Organizer at the Tenants Union of Washington
Tram Tran-Larsen, Community Engagement Manager at the Housing Justice Project

Councilmember Dan Strauss (District 6 - Northwest Seattle), chair of the Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee, with the support of area business owners, announces the official extension of the city's existing Café Streets program through May 31, 2022. The program enables restaurants and other retail storefronts to utilize streets outside of their businesses for outdoor dining or displays for an additional year and creates a path to permanency. 

Speakers include:

Councilmember Dan Strauss, City of Seattle

Mike Stewart, Ballard Alliance

Max Genereaux, Hattie's Hat

Hannah Carter, Bitterroot BBQ

Doug Farr, Seattle Farmers Market Association

Anna Zibarts, Disability Rights Washington

Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle), chair of the Council's Sustainability and Renters Rights Committee,  unveils renters' rights legislation. Sawant and community members describe plans to push the City Council to enact residential and commercial rent control, currently banned by state legislation. Sawant also unveils companion legislation to address the growing rent crisis for tenants and struggling small businesses, including requiring landlords to provide 180 days' notice for any rent increases and providing for landlord-paid economic eviction assistance for any tenant who is forced out of their home due to rent increases.

Speakers include:

Councilmember Kshama Sawant, City of Seattle

Shirley Henderson, small business owner

Reverend Dr. Robert Jeffrey, Sr., New Hope Missionary Baptist Church

Jordan Van Voast, homeowner, nonprofit leader, parent, climate justice activist

Amzi Jeffs, union activist, renter

Joe Sugrue, union activist, renter

Castill Hightower, Black Lives Matter activist

Matt Maley, educator, union member, renter

Deyo Esquivel, indigenous community activist, renter

Renée Holmes, Central District renter

Raghav Kaushik, tech worker, homeowner, immigrant community activist

Star Willey. Starbucks worker, trans community activist, renter

Karla Esquivel, business owner

Kailyn Nicholson, Socialist Alternative member, parent, renter

Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle), chair of the Council's Sustainability and Renters Rights Committee, unveils legislation that would prohibit evictions of school children, their families, and educators during the school year. Sawant is joined by Seattle School Board Member Zachary DeWolf, Seattle Education Association educators, Seattle school students, and renter advocates who will explain the devastating impact that evictions have on school children and the urgent need for this legislation.

Speakers include:

Councilmember Kshama Sawant, City of Seattle

Bruce Jackson, Aki Kurose Middle School Seattle Education Association 

Natalya McConnell, Student

Julissa Sanchez, Tenants Union of Washington State

Zachary DeWolf, Seattle School Board

Matt Maley, Seattle Education Association

Councilmember Tammy J. Morales (District 2, South Seattle and the CID), together with community representatives, introduces the scope of work for the first in a series of Tenants' Bill of Rights legislation. The legislation is intended to fix a weakness in the City of Seattle's Just Cause Eviction Ordinance that has, for the last forty years, allowed tenants to be forced from their homes without cause. This legislation aims to ensure that tenants are not removed from their homes without cause following the end of the eviction moratorium, or at any other time in the future.

Speakers include:

Councilmember Tammy J. Morales, City of Seattle

Dulce Gutierrez Vasquez, El Centro de la Raza

Tram Tran-Larsen, Housing Justice Project

Arianna Laureano, Seattle tenant

Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle), chair of the Council's Sustainability and Renters Rights Committee, eviction defense experts, and renter advocates share why the Seattle City Council should vote for Right to Counsel legislation without any means testing or other loopholes.The legislation would for the first time give Seattle tenants the right to legal aid when facing eviction. 

Speakers include:

Councilmember Kshama Sawant, City of Seattle

Jacob Shear, Real Change Real Change Vendor

Sharon Crowley, UAW 

Edmund Witter, Housing Justice Project 

Violet Lavatai, Executive Director, Tenants Union of Washington State 

Maya Garfinkel, Organizing Director, Be:Seattle and coalition member of Stay Housed Stay Healthy

Anastasia Schaadhardt, UAW 4121 member

Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle), chair of the Council's Sustainability and Renters Rights Committee, eviction defense experts, and renter advocates explain why the Seattle City Council should vote for the Right to Counsel legislation without loopholes and resolution to extend the eviction moratorium through 2021.

Speakers include:

Councilmember Kshama Sawant, City of Seattle

Edmund Witter, Housing Justice Project

John Pollock, National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel 

Julissa Sanchez, Tenants Union of Washington State

Sharon Crowley, Seattle Renters Commission & UAW 4121 member

Jacob Shearer, Real Change organizer & Bookworkers Union member

Shirley Henderson, Seattle small business owner  

Council President M. Lorena González and Councilmembers Lisa Herbold and Tammy J. Morales clarify with the public the Council's plan for meaningful community investments this year to improve public safety for everyone, especially BIPOC communities in Seattle. 

The Councilmembers discuss cuts to the Seattle Police Department's Budget during the 2020 summer rebalancing package, and proposed cuts that will be decided on during the fall budget process, which will kick off in September. They also share their vision for a pathway forward during the upcoming fall budget session with the explicit goal to uproot the harmful systems that have continued to oppress Black and Indigenous communities, and also to lay the foundation for new systems to be built that center the humanity, healing, and growth of BIPOC communities.  

Speakers include:

Council President M. Lorena González, City of Seattle

Councilmember Lisa Herbold, City of Seattle

Councilmember Tammy J. Morales, City of Seattle

Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle), chair of the Council's Sustainability and Renters Rights Committee, announces amendments she will introduce at the Friday, July 31, 2020 City Council Budget Committee. The amendments incorporate the Black Lives Matter movement's demands that the remaining 2020 Seattle Police budget be cut by 50%, with those funds invested in Black and Brown working-class communities.

Speakers include:
Councilmember Kshama Sawant, City of Seattle

Sam Sumpter, UAW 4121

Bruce Jackson, Educator

Rev. Dr. Robert Jeffrey, Sr., Pastor, New Hope Missionary Baptist Church 

Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle), chair of the Council's Sustainability and Renters Rights Committee, joins Central District faith leaders, the Low Income Housing Institute, and community activists to unveil demands for social housing. They demand that the city commits to building 1,000 new affordable homes over three years for residents displaced due to gentrification and institutional racism, to be funded by a progressive tax on big business that raises at least $500 million per year.

Speakers include:

Councilmember Kshama Sawant, City of Seattle

Rev. Dr. Robert Jeffrey, New Hope Missionary Baptist Church

Rev. Lawrence Willis, Truevine of Holiness Baptist Church

Rev. Willie Seals, The Christ Spirit Church

Aisaya Corbray, Low Income Housing Institute

Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda (Position 8, Citywide) and a coalition of housing advocates, businesses, labor groups, and community advocates debut a new progressive revenue proposal, called JumpStart Seattle. This plan would respond to the immediate COVID crisis and focus on Seattle's long-term economic revitalization and resiliency by investing in affordable housing and essential city services. Mosqueda walks through how the tax will address the economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, and in later years support existing city services and new affordable housing. 

Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle), chair of the Council's Sustainability and Renters Rights Committee, joins with NAACP leaders and faith and community activists, including family members of African Americans killed by Seattle police to demand that Mayor Durkan and Council immediately cease efforts to end federal oversight the Seattle Police Department.

Speakers include:

Councilmember Kshama Sawant, City of Seattle

Carolyn Riley-Payne, Seattle/King County NAACP

Katrina Johnson, family member of Charleena Lyles

Nikkita Oliver, community organizer

Jason Fuhr, father of Shaun Fuhr

Rev. Angela Ying, Bethany United Church of Christ

Willard Jimmerson, United Better Thinking and King County Zero Youth Detention

K. Wyking Garrett, Africatown Community Land Trust

Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle), chair of the Council's Sustainability and Renters Rights Committee, joins legal experts who question the legality of the cancellation of the City Council's budget committee, which was conducting hearings on the Sawant-Morales Tax Amazon legislation. The legal experts explain why Governor Inslee's Proclamation 20-28, which limits what city councils can legislate on, illegally overreaches his authority, and why Seattle no sound legal justification for canceling hearings on the Tax Amazon legislation. The legislation, co-sponsored by Sawant and Councilmember Tammy Morales, addresses the triple crisis of public health, jobs, and housing affordability driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. Sawant also announces next steps for the Tax Amazon movement.  

Speakers include:
Councilmember Kshama Sawant, City of Seattle

Dmitri Iglitzin, Attorney

Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3 - Central Seattle) local construction workers, and a pair of national experts in economics and employment policy discuss new findings that the Tax Amazon legislation will create or support up to 34,000 jobs in construction and related industries.

Speakers include:

Councilmember Kshama Sawant, City of Seattle

Logan Swan, Ironworkers Local 86

Nathan Morlock, Piledrivers Local 196

Gordon Lafer, Professor, University of Oregon Labor Education and Research Center

Lenore Palladino, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Roosevelt Institute; Political Economy Research Institute

Councilmember Tammy J. Morales (District 2 - South Seattle & Chinatown/Int'l District), along with fellow legislators from across the state, calls on Washington State's Governor and State Legislature to immediately schedule a special session in support of rent and mortgage cancellation and to provide accessible healthcare to everyone facing COVID-19.

Speakers include:

Councilmember Tammy J. Morales, City of Seattle

Deputy Mayor Krystal Marx, City of Burien

Director Brandon Hersey, Seattle Public Schools

Councilmember Kate Burke, City of Spokane

Councilmember Daniel Hammill, City of Bellingham

Councilmember Hollie Huthman, City of Bellingham

Councilmember Varisha Khan, City of Redmond

Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3 - Central Seattle) joins faith leaders from around the region who are calling on City Council to enact legislation to fund emergency COVID relief, social housing construction, and the Green New Deal by taxing Amazon and other big businesses. The Christian, Muslim, and Jewish faith leaders will share a letter signed by more than 70 clergy and faith activists, urging the Council to adopt the legislation sponsored by Councilmember Sawant and Councilmember Tammy J. Morales.

Speakers include:

Councilmember Kshama Sawant, City of Seattle

Rev. Angela Ying, Bethany United Church of Christ

Rev. Robert L. Jeffrey, Sr., New Hope Missionary Baptist Church

Sister Aneelah Afzali, Muslim community

Rabbi David Basior, Kadima Reconstructionist Community

Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3 - Central Seattle) and Councilmember Tammy J. Morales (District 2 - South Seattle & Chinatown/Int'l District) announce an acceleration of legislative plans to provide emergency city relief for low-income households, seniors and workers who are struggling with the economic fallout from COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this year, Sawant and Morales announced a tax proposal  ("Amazon Tax") to fund a massive expansion of social housing and the Green New Deal. On Wednesday, they announced a proposal to accelerate their legislation, with the first-year proceeds going to provide monthly emergency cash assistance up to 100,000 households and individuals impacted by the social and economic consequences resulting from this pandemic.

Speakers include: 

Councilmember Tammy J. Morales

Councilmember Kshama Sawant

Violet Lavatai, Executive Director, Tenant Union of Washington

Amzi Jeffs, UAW 4121, the union of Academic Student Employees and Postdocs at the University of Washington

Matt Smith, Amazon cargo worker

Councilmembers Kshama Sawant (District 3 - Central Seattle) joins Elliott Bay Book Company bookstore workers who just organized a union. 

Speakers include:

Anthony Manno

Lara Kaminoff

Callie Winter

Jacob Schear

Althea Lazzaro

Councilmember Kshama Sawant, City of Seattle

Councilmembers Kshama Sawant (District 3 - Central Seattle) and Tammy J. Morales (District 2 - South Seattle and Chinatown/International District), alongside community members, unveil their jointly-sponsored draft legislation to tax Amazon and other big businesses to fund social housing, the Green New Deal, and related services. The legislation would raise $300 million by taxing the largest businesses to fund permanently affordable social housing and services, as well as retrofitting existing houses to meet energy efficiency standards of the Green New Deal. 

Speakers include

Councilmember Kshama Sawant, City of Seattle

Councilmember Tammy J. Morales, City of Seattle

Rev. Angela Ying, Bethany United Church of Christ   

Kathy Yasi, SEIU Local 925  

Peter Fink, Univ. of Washington student

Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle) announces and details a proposed tax on big business. In December, Sawant won her reelection, calling for an Amazon Tax on big businesses to fund a major expansion in affordable and green social housing, despite unprecedented amounts of corporate PAC money against her campaign.

Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle) alongside union members, renters rights activists, socialists, rank-and-file Democratic party members, and faith leaders, speaks out against the threat of a statewide ban on big business taxes in Seattle, known as "preemption."

Speakers include:

Kshama Sawant, Seattle City Council

Jon Manella, Tenants Union of Washington State

Reverend Angela Ying, Bethany United Church of Christ

Kathy Yasi

Eva Metz

Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle) holds a press conference with activists and community members to demand a city budget that meets human needs, and to reject the Mayor's business-as-usual budget.

Councilmember Kshama Sawant and faith leaders unveil a letter signed by 43 Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist leaders calling on City Council to adopt Sawant's proposal to greatly increase authority and funding for tiny house villages. Under Sawant's proposal, about 1,200 people currently living on the street would get homes in tiny house villages as a step toward permanent, stable housing.

Speakers include:

Councilmember Kshama Sawant, Seattle City Council

Rev. Angela Ying, Bethany United Church of Christ

Rev. Robert L. Jeffrey, Sr., New Hope Missionary Baptist Church

Rev. Lawrence R. Willis, True Vine of Holiness Missionary Baptist Church and Urban League program manager for priority hire jobs program

Melinda Nichols, Vice President, Low Income Housing Institute Board of Directors

Danette Davis and Carol Spaulding, residents of True Hope Village who were previously homeless

Josh Castle, Director of Community Engagement, Low Income Housing Institute

Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle) joins Uber and Lyft drivers to call for at least half of the revenues from Mayor Durkan's proposed ride tax to go to support drivers directly, through the establishment of a Driver Solidarity and Resource Center.

Speakers include:

Councilmember Kshama Sawant, City of Seattle