>> Good afternoon, everybody.
It's Monday, December 12th. The
Seattle city council comes to
order. Before I do that, it's
2:04. Madam clerk, call the
role.
>> Councilmember Nelson.
>> Present.
>> Thank you. Councilmember
Pedersen.
>> Present.
>> Councilmember Sawant.
>> Present.
>> Councilmember Strauss.
>> Present.
>> Councilmember Herbold.
>> Present.
>> Councilmember Lewis.
>> Present. Councilmember
Morales.
>> Here.
>> Council president Juarez.
>> Here.
>> Councilmember Mosqueda has
been excused for the council
briefing. We will move to the
approval. Minutes. If there is
no objection. The April profit
feel minutes of December 5th
will be adopted. Not hearing or
seeing objection, the minutes
are adopted. Moving to the
president's report -- before
the president's report I want
to thank councilmember Pedersen
for serving councilmember pro
tem last Monday and Tuesday.
Thank you very much. I thank my
staff and your staff. I know it
was short notice and I want to
thank you all for -- obviously
things are better when we work
together. Thank you for jumping
in and handling the council
briefing and the council
meeting.
>> Thank you.
>> Okay.
>> All right. So, now that I
got my thank yous out of the
way. Let's go to the
president's report. So, I have
a few items I want to read into
the record so I make sure that
I comment on all of this. So,
on today's agenda, we have a
presentation by the office of
enter governmental relations,
OIR. Regarding the state
legislative agenda for 2023. It
bass boated to all council --
was distributed to all council
office. We added police
investigation of missing Muir
Rouse and indin use people.
Today OIR will present the
agenda and vote and the vote on
the agenda via resolution will
be tomorrow. This will allow
OIR to get ready for the first
day of the legislative session
which I understand is January
9th. We appreciate the work
that director Tarleton does and
I looking forward to learning
more. Following the individual
reports, two executive sessions
on two legal matters. Each of
them is expected to last 20
minutes. If we go beyond 20
minutes I will go back on the
record and extend the tomorrow.
Tomorrow's agenda, the consent
calendar includes the minutes
and payment of bills and three
appointments. In addition, we
will take, as your, one vote on
the consent calendar unless
there is a Councilmember that
would like to remove something
from the calendar that we would
discuss further on in the
agenda. Following the consent
calendar on the agenda, we will
vote on the state legislative
agenda resolution, 32076 which
you all have a copy of which
people can find online as well.
In addition, the land use
committee will have two items
for a final vote and I believe
councilmember Strauss will
speak to those two items today.
Public assets and homeless
committee has one item on the
agenda. Councilmember Lewis
will speak to that.
Transportation has nine items
on the agenda. Councilmember
Pedersen will speak to those
items. We will vote on the
legislative departments racial
equity work plan which was
developed by the legislative
department race and social
justice initiative change team
to improve racial equity in the
legislative department and at
city hall or the city of
Seattle. Information on all the
items on tomorrow's agenda is
available online. As a
reminder, there will be no
council briefings on Monday,
December 19th, Monday December
26th or Monday, January 2nd.
Tomorrow will be the final
council meeting of the year at
2:00. All committees will step
down for the last two weeks of
our December recess. The first
council meeting of the new year
will be Tuesday, January 3rd at
2:00 in the year 2023. The year
flew by. So, with that, moving
on to the agenda, as I chaired,
there is no letters of
proclamation for signature
today. So, moving on to item
number 4, we have our
presenters here and I will let
director Tarleton introduce her
staff so we can discuss the
legislative agenda that will
guide their work in Olympia
during the upcoming state
legislative session. The agenda
before us will be as I shared
earlier, for a vote tomorrow.
Director Tarleton, we are glad
you joined us today with your
staff. Thank you for meeting
with our staff off line a
couple of times in E-mail
exchanges we had and kind of
SHORING up some of the issues
that we wanted to see in the
agenda. I will turn it over to
you and you have the floor and
tell us what we need to no.
>> Thank you, council president
Juarez and the council members
and staff. Central staff and
your individual staff for all
of the work that you have
helped accomplish to prepare
the resolution for the city's
state legislative agenda for
2023 and 2024. I want to
particularly thank you for
being so accessible to our new
state relations director, Samir
Junejo and new legislatively
Asian, Anna Johnson. I know
that the last six to eight
weeks for the two of them have
been a real whirlwind and they
have worked with city
departments, the mayor's office
team as well as the city
council members and the city
council staff to put together a
truly updated legislative
agenda including some executive
highlights to help us all focus
on the work ahead in the 2023
legislative session. I want to
take this moment of personal
privilege to thank the council
president and to thank all of
the council members for the
past year where you have made
yourselves reachable. You have
had open communication with all
of my staff. My deputy
director, Sierra brown has
worked closely with the central
staff and with each of the
staff members in your offices
to make sure that as so many
important issues affecting our
city were unfolding, whether at
the international level, tribal
level, federal level, the
state, operations as well as
our local and regional
partners, you have been there
for us. And I hope all of you
enjoy a very peaceful and rest
full holiday season as we
prepare for 2023. So, I would
like to turn it over to Samir
who will begin the presentation
with Anna and I'm going to let
them drive the train for how we
are going to discuss the agenda
today. Thanks again. Samir,
it's your court.
>> Thank you, Gael and council
president and council members.
I am Samir Junejo, state
relations director for office
of intergovernmental relations.
We will talk briefly about the
2023 legislative session then
get into a short summary of the
2023 legislative agenda and
Anna and I will tag team that.
So, to start, this will be the
first in person session since
2020. Despite that we expect to
hear that many committees will
continue to allow remote
testimony and potentially other
advances from the two hybrid
sessions. This will be a long
session, 105 days, which means
new two-year budgets need to be
adopted. We expect the governor
to release his proposed budget
later this week. That is a
starting point for the
legislature budget and a
preview of the issues that will
be considered during the
session. With respect to the
budget, in November, the state
economic and revenue forecast
council released their revenue
update. Projections for the
current cycle are almost $762
million higher than anticipated
and the state is projecting 680
million more for the '23 to '25
budget cycle. Enthusiasm for
the revenue growth was tempered
by inflation, rising interest
rates and possible recession
and recent technology layoffs.
With respect to change in the
house and senate -- house
democratic leadership largely
unchanged. However, there is a
new minority leader which is
representative Joseph [
Inaudible ] Health committee
assignments have not been
released yet. We expect those
to be unveiled probably this
week. Senate side, senate
democratic leadership largely
unchanged but a new deputy
majority leader, senator Emily
Randolph and a new majority
whip from the 28th district.
The senate committee changes
are as follows. There -- with
retirement of long time Seattle
member senator Ruben Carlisle a
new chair of the energy and
environment and technology
committee. That is another
Seattle delegation member,
senator Joe Nguyen from the
34th district. There is a new
local government land use and
tribal affairs committee will
will be chaired by senator Liz
from the 40th district. There
is a new business financial
services gaming and trade
committee chaired by senator
Derek Stanford of the first
district. And also another
retirement from the delegation
for the retirement of David [
Inaudible ] There is a budget
lead, senator mark from the 5th
district. Moving to the agenda
itself, the process, during the
late summer and fall OIR work
to collect priorities.
>> Could I stop you for one
second.
>> Can you -- are you going to
provide to us -- you shared the
new leadership. Would you
provide us a list of that?
>> Happy to.
>> What district they come from
and all of that. I was trying
to write it down but I couldn't
keep up with you. I didn't mean
to disrupt the flow.
>> Plus for the agenda, as Gael
mentioned we talked to the
executive branch and
legislative branch of the city
and worked for priorities and
you have seen drafts of that
and have been a part of that
process. The agenda itself is
organized under four sections.
Affordable and interconnected
and it is a formal document
that is intentionally brought
to allow the legislative team
to engage on a variety of
topics in Olympia during the
upcoming session. So, what we
will do is highlight some of
the top issues under each
session. I will pass the on to
Anna for the state session.
>> Hey, everyone. My name is
Anna. I am the state budget
liaison for enter government
relations. The state section of
the legislative a Jenga, gun
violence prevention is expected
to be a top priority this
legislative session. The crisis
of gun violence affects Seattle
and Washington state and the
city would support a number of
proposals including the
following. Limiting or banning
assault weapons, holding
negligent gun dealers and
manufacturers civilly liable
for the harms the products
cause. Ininstitute a 10 day
waiting period and requiring a
permit to purchase a firearm.
Funding gun violence programs
and regulating near arms or
other weapons in sensitive
public places and allowing to
build upon statewide standards
and adopt sensible gun
regulations. The city plans to
support efforts to increase
accountability and transparency
of law enforcement including
legislation allowing
independent prosecution of
deadly force. Additionally we
plan to support an increase in
state funding for law
enforcement training including
basic law enforcement academy
and development of regional
training opportunities.
Addressing the inequalities and
loss of rights from the dob V
Jackson will be a top priority
this session and we plan to
support a number of priorities
to protected abortion access,
reproductive health care and
gender affirming care and
legislation plow hinting
hospital mergers that would
diminish access to care. We
expect the legislature to
continue addressing behavioral
health this session and we plan
to support policies to increase
the number of mobile crisis
units and crisis stabilization
facilities and continue the 988
crisis hotline and address the
behavioral health workplace
shortage. Under the vibrant
section of the legislative
agenda, highlights include
revenue for local government.
The city supports adopting tax
measures that lead to equitable
and progressive tax structure
and support preserving and
increasing local funding
authority and healthy streams
for local government. The city
plans to support policies that
provide funding for businesses
restoration and access to
capital including tenant
improvements and facility
repairs and economic recovery
for businesses. The city's top
priority for climate and
environment, salmon recovery,
-- paper and product and
decarbonization of the building
and transportation sectors. The
city plans to help address
student mental health by
supporting additional funding
for mental health and
behavioral health counselors in
schools. Now back to Samir.
>> Thank you, Anna. Special
shout out for Anna. It's her
birthday today. Thank you for
doing this on your birthday.
>> Happy birthday.
>> Next section is housing.
Housing is very likely to be
the top issue next session. A
number of ideas will be
floating around but the city of
Seattle expects to support
housing at all income levels,
efforts to further streamline
the planning and permitting
process and we want to support
addressing barriers to home
ownership and increased tenant
protections. We expect to see
and support a large
unprecedented investment in the
housing trust fund. With regard
to homelessness we will support
continuing the safety
initiative and reforming the
state environmental protection
act to make it easier to cite
shelters and tiny homes. On the
interconnected section, we
expect to see a big focus this
session on Pedersen safety. We
will support funding safe and
accessible crossings and rights
of ways and policies that
reduce dangerous conflicts
between people biking and
walking and supporting policies
that advance transportation
justice that include policies
that reduce traffic stops for
nonmoving traffic violations
and decriminalization of
jaywalking. And that's it for
the 2023 agenda. Happy to
answer any questions.
>> So, at this time,
colleagues, this would be a
great time to go through the 17
pages, very well documented. I
see Councilmember Strauss has
his hand up. Councilmember
Strauss.
>> Thank you to the whole OIR
team. I won't speak to
everything in the document. We
would be here until Sunday and
it's Monday. I will share with
you, I am hoping and intended
to bring an amendment to
tomorrow's full council. My
apologize, council president --
>> I heard.
>> I bet you got two amend
ments tomorrow. Really bad.
That is to say just restating
the city's desire to have lids
over federal interstates and
state highways. So, all along
I-5 we have amazing
opportunities to use lids, SR
520 has a grate lid put in now
and what is really center for
me in this conversation is the
fact that we can use both
public and private resources to
create these lids. We have seen
in Washington, D.C. office
buildings being built over
highways and in other cities
public housing over highways
and in all of these situations
we see a greater
interconnectedness between
neighborhoods when the highways
were built. Please let me know
if you have questions or
concerns about the amendment. I
hope it's a friendly amendment.
>> I would add this, too,
carbon monoxide Strauss. We
Councilmember Strauss. We
explored this with Microsoft
doing the lid and hiring a
person from the city side to
work at Microsoft for their
employees and parking. I have
been a big proponent but I
think we have to look at a
serious public private
partnership because we explored
that opportunity before we did
the John Lewis bridge. We
originally were trying to make
it into a lid but it became a
beautiful bridge instead. But I
am very supportive of that.
Thank you for that. I see that
Councilmember Lewis has his
hand up.
>> Thank you so much, madam
president. This might be a
change of topics. I want to do
a change of topics but I will
take this opportunity to signal
by support for Councilmember
Strauss amendment. But if you
want to stay on the -- if there
are other responses to the lid
amendment, I would rather let
that play out before I ask a
different question so I want to
offer that.
>> I don't see any other lid
supporters yet so go ahead.
>> Great. Thank you so much. So
I want to raise a few things
relevant to the recent [
Inaudible ] For [ Inaudible ] I
want to talk about -- [
Inaudible ] It was something
Councilmember Mosqueda wanted
to bring. She is not here but I
share her interest in this. My
understanding is we are
preempted by the state in
creating a clear ballot order
when we have competing measures
on one ballot. We have to have
that model with the threshold
question and then a second
question where people choose
between two competing measures
rather than the simple
structure envisioned by the
charter that would allow us to
have both measures listed one
after the other and a more
clear ballot structure. My
understanding is that if the
state were to change some
language in RC W-9 A 36071, we
would be able to adopt a more
flexible and clearer ballot
format. I wanted to raise that
here and see if that is on
OIR's agenda or if there is
some change we need to make to
the underlying resolution to
reflect wanting to pursue that
change which I would call a
technical change but some
legislators might have a
different opinion on that.
>> Let me have director
Tarleton respond before we go
to you.
>> Samir and I discussed this.
Perhaps you could refer to the
agenda that may be sufficient,
Councilmember Lewis or we can
look at a technical adjustment.
But, Samir, isn't there a
section where we address
elections, revisions and all of
that.
>> Yeah. We did talk about this
with Councilmember Mosqueda.
This is something that we would
definitely support in the next
session. I think there is part
of the agenda where we refer to
programs that remove barriers
to voting and we feel like this
would fit under that and
something that we would support
in the next session.
>> But Councilmember Lewis'
comment isn't just because it
isn't explicitly written in the
resolution doesn't preclude us
from promoting that so we are
okay there?
>> That is correct. That's what
I thought. That's how it's
always been. Councilmember
Lewis, anything else before I
move to Councilmember Nelson?
>> The only thing that I would
raise, given that we have moved
to a form of rank choice voting
by popular election, the city
may consider supporting the
local option bill that would
allow us to further refine that
new move to rank choice voting.
But that might be a longer
conversation and it might be
best manifested potentially in
its own resolution or with
additional discussion with
council colleagues. I wanted to
raise that since we are on the
topic in open session today
that that might be something
that we pursue.
>> Director tarly son, I
appreciate the comments
councilmember Lewis raised. If
we explore the issue more, what
committee would that go through
on the stateside.
>> State government.
>> Okay.
>> Everything regarding
elections goes through state
government on the house and
senate side.
>> Who chairs that? If you
don't know.
>> I don't know the chair in
the house but the senate I
think is still senator hunt,
isn't it? Sam hunt from
Olympia.
>> Thank you.
>> Open to legislation
regarding elections,
enhancements to improve voter
turnout, voter participation,
remove barriers for entry into
our political system.
>> Thank you. Councilmember
Nelson, did you still want to
comment?
>> Yeah. I was going to have a
question. So, this is it. We
have 16 pages of legislative
agenda and then staff just
distilled it to several
priority pieces. I think that
is informed by what you know of
bills that will be put forward.
This is my first legislative
agenda to approve. That's why
I'm asking the question. If
that's -- if that is the case,
how does one get -- how does a
councilmember get on the
official list of legislation or
issues that you all staff are
going to be spending the
session working on. Because you
have called some and going
forward, if we discuss what we
really have you guys work on,
how does that happen?
>> That's a good question. It
is a process question. Director
Tarleton do you want to respond
how we do this?
>> I am very glad for this
question, especially in open
session, Councilmember Nelson.
As you know, before you may
have had the opportunity to
take a resolution on the
legislative agenda, the
legislative session, especially
a long legislative session has
many bills introduced that are
not -- we are not previewing,
okay. We have no idea what will
happen. And I'm going to let
Samir describe some of this
process that will happen.
Councilmember Nelson, but
important for all of you to
know we may have a 17 page
broad agenda. It is to ensure
that we are trying to
anticipate any number of
policies that could be
introduced in a long session.
It's on average very typical
that up to 600 or 650 pieces of
legislation will be introduced
in the next five to six weeks
of the first part of the
session. And this year we have
-- we have many, many new
legislators elected in 2022.
And those legislators have very
substantial agendas and we have
no idea what policies they
might introduce. Samir, perhaps
you could describe to the
Councilmember some examples of
how we will need to adapt as
policies are introduced.
>> I think adding to that, Gael
mentioned a number of bills
that we have no idea if it will
be introduced. A lot of it is
-- this is also my first
session. I believe a lot of
this will be organic and, you
know, a lot of it will be
reactive to a number of the
bills. So, in terms of what --
the priorities, that is
organic. We have to wait and
see what is dropped and what
will take up in the legislature
but at the same time we have to
make sure that it's an open
minded communication with the
councilmember offices so we
know your priorities and inform
how we prioritize as well. So
--
>> Thank you. Anything else
about that -- Councilmember
Nelson any follow-up? It seems
confusing in the beginning. Is
this 120 day session.
>> 105.
>> We always start off with
this kind of you will like a
blueprint. Then as the bills
come in and they T them off for
us, every week we go through. A
good thing that was helpful for
me is we always keep a copy of
what I mark up for the whole --
what we gave last year. I keep
the paper copy, what got
passed, failed, put it in the
margins, where we supported it,
where you asked us to come down
and provide public comment in
Olympia or on TV. You will have
plenty of opportunity,
Councilmember Nelson to discuss
or promote or elaborate more
and priorities that are
basically our lobbyists do for
us in Washington, D.C -- sorry,
that, too. Leslie. But on the
stateside and that's why I kind
of wanted the list that Samir
shared about -- thank you for
that, too. I try to remember
who chairs what. So, if you put
that together on some of these
issues, particularly when we
know the district, those of us
that know what our district is
here in the city of Seattle but
remembering who is on the 46
and who is chairing what
committee, so that is important
for relationships and
conversations. So, it's
actually pretty fun.
>> Councilmember Nelson and all
of you, one of the most
important things that I learned
in my eight years there is how
crucial it is to know the
priorities of the chair of the
committee. And that has a
tremendously substantial
impact, much as it probably
does with your committee on
chairs that you chair. It has a
real impact on which bills get
heard. I think Councilmember
Nelson, by the end of January,
early February, we will have
what we call the funneling
effect where we will actually
know which pieces of
legislation are still in play
because they will have had to
have been heard by a committee
and moved out of committee. And
that's when you start reducing
the 17 page Broadview of
everything that affects our
770,000 people in the city down
to, okay, what are the 150
pieces of legislation that are
still in play. And that's where
you get to really focus and as
council president said, it
becomes kind of fun.
>> Well, the part I like, we
get to say, okay, this bill has
legs. And these are our
concerns. And this is the
person who is chairing that
committee and this may affect,
obviously, the whole city of
Seattle so we need you to pay
attention. That's always been
kind of like toward the end. I
appreciated that you guys are
there. You just have been there
to answer all of our questions.
With that, I know Councilmember
Pedersen is next -- go ahead.
>> Thank you very much for
answering that process
question. I lived through this
year's session but I didn't --
I haven't been at the table
when the priorities were set by
council. That's why I was
asking that and maybe there
will be, I don't know, when it
comes to things that we might
want our legislators that are
new or priorities like the
voting thing, I think maybe is
there time for us to discuss in
open session what those
priorities are? I don't know
anything about whatever it is
about RCV that you guys were
talking about. But when I hear
clear, flexible and enhanced, I
want details.
>> We will. You bet.
Absolutely.
>> Let's go to Councilmember
Pedersen then Councilmember
Morales.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you to the OIR team
for crafting and stitching
together these ideas and
updates into this document and
thanks to Karina on city
council central staff. Now that
everything is together and we
seat the eat kids merged into
it, I did have a question about
the finished product as a
potential -- I don't know if
it's a discrepancy or not but
your thoughts on this. On page
12 of the document under
affordable city, it talks about
we oppose present em' shown of
local regulations which is
great that we want to do it
ourselves but then on page 11
it talks about -- we support
policies that set a statewide
floor for residential density.
So, I wanted to make sure that
we weren't inviting a state
preemption on residential
density. Maybe I'm
misinterpreting that. And minor
comment about the language
about displacement where it's
considering the impact on
displacement, it would be great
to have a stronger word and
they will address it instead of
consider it. Thank you.
>> Do you want to take that?
>> Go ahead, Samir and Anna. We
had a lot of discussion about
this, Councilmember, thank you.
>> We heard a variety of things
from the departments on
housing, the mayor's office and
various council members. It's
not clear as to what
essentially will happen on
setting the zoning requirements
at the state level. We have
heard various competing bills
that have set various
requirements. So, there is no
one path that we know about
right now, no one path that
people agree on. This is one
that we will be tracking,
tracking the various bills and
the multiple competing bills on
this topic. So, what we will do
is track it and update you on
it and ensuring that we can
come up with a position, if
there is a cohesive position
that we can come up with, we
want to be involved. We want to
be involved because it will
impact the city and impact the
plan greerl as well. We will
100% be tracking in the weekly
briefings to you, updating you
on to see what is actually
moving and not moving.
>> I am going to have Anna and
Samir tracking these pieces of
legislation, Councilmember
Pedersen because the committees
that will be hearing these
bills, the issues will be
disbursed among a number of
committees. As soon as we know
the chairs of the different
committees in the house and
senate, who will be hearing
these pieces of legislation, I
do want to recommend that we
have very specific discussions
with each one of you as well as
with the mayor's office about
how to communicate to the
chairs and to the prime
sponsors of what are the issues
in contention. Because Asa Mir
said, there are very disparate
views in the legislative
environment right now. We don't
know the views of a lot of the
new legislators. That will be a
big factor. We have four new
legislators in the city of
Seattle districts. We want
their opinions and views that
are understood. I look at this
as an evolving discussion and I
believe that the governor's
budget will signal some
important directions that the
executive branch is taking,
that they will be telling the
legislature these are the
directions we are heading in
and that will help us
understand maybe where the
differences of views
materialize.
>> Thank you.
>> Any follow-up, Councilmember
Pedersen before we go to
Councilmember Morales.
>> I had one comment on this
one. Director Tarleton and
others, I share this
information because I have the
privilege and honor of serving
on the association of
Washington cities board where
preemption is a hot topic and
always. Councilmember Pedersen,
just for reference since you
haven't been in those meetings
with me, there is a difference,
the national league of cities
has defined a difference
between preemption and
legislative floor. The two can
be used interchangeably. But
they are very different. And I
want to use note that for the
record here because a
preemption is blanket
disallowing of certain types of
policies within government. A
floor is a graduated or nuanced
level setting for the state.
And, so, if a bill has
graduated rate, say cities of
20,000 have a different policy
objective, then 50,000 is
different than 100,000 or 7
100,000. That is setting a
floor for which cities must
meet certain criteria based
upon their population. We see
this policy making throughout
and that is different than a
blanket preemption saying all
cities must do X, Y or Z. I'm
not here to comment on the
underlying bill but I wanted to
provide that texture to words
that oftentimes are used
interchangeably. Thank you,
friends.
>> Thank you. Councilmember
Morales. Where did you go?
There you are.
>> Thank you, council
president. I first want to
thank our staff, we had lots of
conversations the last several
weeks and I appreciate your
willingness to listen and
incorporate as many of the
different priorities as you can
into the documents. And I just
want to offer my support. I
participated last year, maybe
the year before, particularly
around when issues gun violence
or bills around gun violence
prevention and some of the
reforms were being proposed. I
want to offer my assistance
again if we get to that point
with some of these bills. Then,
similarly with any of the bills
around Dobbs I'm particularly
interested as I know
councilmember Herbold is in the
hospital merger issue and my
third sort of big issue, I
guess, is around neighborhood
planning, land use. Association
the housing, particularly
transportation safety, I'm
really interested in tracking
that with you as well.
>> Thank you. Councilmember
Morales, thank you, I know you
were intrue mental in
discussions particularly what
happened after the Parkland
shootings and I don't think the
public knew that. We have been
sharing the information that
our city passed or the state
passed with our insistence as
well, 20 laws since 2018 after
the Parkland shooting. I think
there was not a lot of
information out there that we
had not responded to school
shootings and that is a
priority. Thank you for that. I
know Councilmember Morales is
following that as well and so
did former council president
Gonzalez. That was a big issue
for her as well. That is still
on our minds about what
happened and the money that we
have in our budget for
counseling and follow-up on
that and take another run at
some of the laws that we pushed
forward last session that did
not pass or close. Maybe a
second bite of the apple, that
would be great. I want to thank
you for that. Is there anything
else from my colleagues before
I hand it over to you before we
direct it out, director
Tarleton. Mr. Strauss, okay.
>> Council president apparently
I have a lot to say today. I
will keep it under 10 minutes,
though. I know that we have a
number of legislators
representing Seattle retiring.
I won't speak to all of them,
that would put me over 10
minutes. I had the privilege to
get to work for senator Frock
and I wanted to take this
moment to recognize him. He is
a thoughtful and considerate
leader that is focused on
policy over politics. There are
a few like him elected much
less alive. I wanted to
recognize him because I learned
a lot working from him and I
find that when we put policy
before politics, we increase
the amount of trust between
people and we are really able
to focus on the solutions that
everyday people need. Thank you
for your work in the city and
state. Thank you, council
president. I will stop talking
until it's my turn to talk.
>> That's fine. Just makes we
laugh. Anybody want to thank
anybody else in the state
legislature for retiring before
we close this out. Nothing
seeing anything else. What I
want to say, Gael -- director
tarly son. As a former state
rep you were phenomenal. Your
knowledge, local, regional,
municipal and tribal, which I
always appreciated with Sierra,
those governments, the subject
matter expertise and your
procedural knowledge. Last year
it was nice with you being here
because you know all these
people, you have been down
there and it's so wonderful to
have you and I truly mean that,
that you know -- you were there
eight years. We spoke when you
were still a representative and
the hard work that you do and
your great staff. I wanted to
share and I don't know if
Sierra wants to way in, we will
go on the fourth or fifth year
to national congress of
American indians in February
and meeting with the
congressional delegation on the
hill again. We usually meet
with -- and tribal leadership
particularly on climate change.
We met with president sharp and
the issue of moving the village
back and all that funding and
some of the other state reps
regarding the money for the
west Seattle bridge. I'm
hoping that our office can
meet, me and one other staff
are going this year. We lay out
who we meet with, the
congressional delegation and
hearing from my colleagues what
they want us to raise and
tribal leadership where we have
interaction and we find
ourselves at the same time
there with the indiginous urban
organizations in Seattle. We
run into Derek vanguard and all
of those folks. Meeting with
the same people for in patient
treatment, health care, climate
change, all of those things,
D.O.T. is a big one, department
of transportation on roads and
issues. We have a lot. This is
my last year here. I'm trying
to get a lot done. And the last
congress of American indians.
Sierra, I know that you prep us
for the meetings with Leslie
poll near before she takes us
up. I don't know if there is
anything you want to add. Other
other friend would go.
>> Our director of federal
affairs Michelle Nance will
support you. Looking forward to
build out an itinerary and
schedule the meetings. Let us
know what you need.
>> You are great, especially
meeting with Leslie. She takes
good care of us in Washington,
D.C. and the issues. You
shepherd the electives and we
don't know what building and
what time. I appreciate that.
Sometimes we are a handful.
>> Appreciate that and I
appreciate everyone including
yourself that take the time to
go to D.C. and lobby on behalf
of the city and hope to support
any of those endeavors.
>> I have to say this, I'm
proud of our two senators.
Senator Murray and senator
Cantwell take the time to meet
with me. I appreciate that.
Nothing wrong with meeting with
a staffer but from my time in
Indian country and working in
the governor's office. I
appreciate that. I know they
are busy people. Thank you very
much. With that, before we move
on, colleagues, anything else
we want to ask of the amazing
OIR staff and their leader
director Tarleton.
>> Councilmember Strauss.
>> I'm joking. We know the
staff makes this whole place
work.
>> I thought we would have
another episode of schoolhouse
rock. Thank you. So, with that,
thank you director. We look
forward to hearing from you
again and we will discuss and
vote on the resolution
tomorrow.
>> Thank you all so much for
your support and thank you for
your time today for this
discussion. We look forward to
tomorrow.
>> Thank you. With that let's
move on to item number 5. This
is where we go and have each
one of you talk to us about
city council actions, what is
going on, your regional
committees and today if there
is anything -- let's see. This
is the line up today. We will
start with Councilmember Nelson
then Councilmember Pedersen,
Councilmember Sawant,
Councilmember Strauss,
Councilmember Herbold,
Councilmember Lewis,
Councilmember Morales and then
me. So, with that,
Councilmember Nelson, please
begin.
>> Hello, everyone. I'm feeling
a little rusty here. So the
economic development technology
and city light committee meets
Wednesday, December 14th at
9:30 in the morning. There are
nine items on the agenda. Don't
be scared. Many of them are
appointments possible vote on
02403 and 2424 appointing
Andrea Friedman and Julius
Caesar Robinson as members of
the Seattle music commission.
We have a discussion and
possible vote on the
reappointment of four people to
the Seattle music commission.
And then there are three pieces
of city light legislation. I
will have a public hearing
briefing discussion and
possible vote on council 120461
authorizing city light to grant
an easement over a portion of
the city's transmission
corridor near 19541 stone
avenue north in shoreline. And
excepting payment for the value
of that easement from the
owners of the adjacent
property. A public hearing
briefing discussion and
possible vote on council bill
120430 authorizing city light
to convey an easement to the
city of shoreline and accepting
payment of fair market value
for the easement then lastly a
briefing discussion and
possible vote on council bill
120481 approving a 10-year
franchise agreement for the use
of the right a way to serve
city light customers in two
areas of unincorporated King
county which are Skyway and
white center. That is the
committee meeting this
Wednesday December 14th.
Reported from last week,
Thursday was a big day for
external events starting with
and addressing the board of the
university district partnership
where they shared the great
news that they received a five
million dollars grant from the
Department of Commerce to
support small business capital
improvements. That is big
money. So, congratulations to
them. I caught the first half
of the ports annual holiday
party which was a classy affair
with amazing cross section of
guests including, of course,
port staff and commissioners,
city of Seattle staff and
departmental leadership, labor,
several regional elected and
lots and lots of folks from the
maritime industry which drives
home the importance of that
sector to the local regional
and state economy. Then finally
end of the night at the 5th
avenue theater for showing of
the whiz. If you haven't seen
it, you should. It was enough
to make me a convert to the art
form, I have to say. Stunning
costumes, dancing, singing,
acting, sumptuous. We --
councilmember Strauss and
Morales and I were invited by
inspire Washington, Manny and
Jesse with inspire Washington.
Before the show there was a
small reception with Bernie
from fifth avenue theater that
made the pitch for -- well,
actually a request that the
city support a request that
they will have before the
legislature this coming session
for a sizable allocation to
help them out. They are still
reeling from frankly audiences
not coming back in full force
since the pandemic and a lot of
delayed costs -- I mean delayed
expenses. I plan to make the
case for that in the
legislative session in the
coming weeks. That was
Thursday. Friday I was joined
by Councilmember Lewis with a
conversation of Kevin who
suffered the sixth break in.
Kevin was representing scores
of small businesses in district
7 where his wife's store was
broken into within days of his.
You know, it was the same
conversation I have had with
small business owners over and
over in every district of the
city for pretty much the past
year. The names and places are
different but the same message
is basically that these small
businesses recognize SPD
staffing shortage but
nonetheless feel abandoned by
the city as they operate within
what they see is the context of
kind of lawlessness and going
on day after day. I credit
Kevin and the other
entrepreneurs not just in his
coalition but everyone I talked
to for continuing to engage
with the city because that's
what small businesses do. They
they don't give up. So, I
welcome the conversations and
frankly feel that they have
spoken and it's now on us to do
something sooner rather than
later. I'm looking at all
possible options including
private security. It's that
bad. I want to note that this
is December when retail stores
make most of the money -- not
most of the money but they
depend on strong receipts in
December to pay their bills for
the whole year. So, I just
wanted to say that I am just
giving voice to what I'm
hearing from them and showing
that, you know, I think that we
are all committed to doing
something to help them out.
Coming up this week, business
impact northwest holiday pop up
party is this Wednesday and I
urge all my colleagues and
staff to attend. You probably
got the invitation. A great way
for us to support the local
business community and the
revitalization of downtown
Seattle. That same day I will
be attending the Seattle
metropolitan chambers elected
official reception on Wednesday
and I hope to meet some of the
new legislators that were
recently elected as director
Tarleton mentioned. There are
many of them. Then I wrap up
the week attending the holiday
party which is always a good
time. Great dancing, food and
conversation. That's it for me.
>> Councilmember Nelson, I
think the chamber party is
Thursday?
>> Good. Excellent. Thursday. I
will see you there. I have been
doing that since budget. All my
-- ask my staff, it's melted in
my mind.
>> Sara is here telling me.
Thank you. Councilmember
Pedersen.
>> Hi again, colleagues. Nine
items from the transportation
Seattle public utilities on the
full council agenda tomorrow
afternoon. The final versions
of all nine council bills were
unanimously' a proved by the
committee. S stop related
legislation support by straws
make permanent the safe start
street program and speaking
about that tomorrow. 120470
through 120474 are five pieces
of legislation from Seattle
public utilities specifically
two bills accept land easement
and three bills relinquish land
easements and while we had
opened the required public
hearings for the three
relinquishments there were no
public commenters on that. They
passed. 124077 is about a city
come porting agreement. That
legislation is required by
state law and encourages the
locally sourced compost and
requires the city to conduct
educational outreach. 12475 is
for the cedar river hatchery
government agreement. This
authorizes execution of the
hatchery with the Washington
state department of fish and
wildlife. 120476 is the
agreement sponsored by
councilmember Herbold, cost
share a new basin salmon with
King county, Tukwila and the
port of Seattle. If you have
any questions before the
council meeting, reach out to
city council central staff.
Many thanks to the committee
members able to attend this
morning's special
transportation and Seattle
public utilities committee. We
had two items planning for the
regularly scheduled financial
audit Seattle public utilities,
$1.3 billion enter Bryce done
by the independent accounting
firm most Adams then one of the
largest capital products, ship
canal water quality project.
The next committee, committee
on January 17th. We are
canceling January 3rd and meet
January 17th. That concludes my
report. Any questions before we
move forward to Councilmember
Pedersen Sawant? Thank you.
>> Good afternoon. No items on
tomorrow's city council agenda
for the interest rate
committee. Now that committee
meetings are restarted
following the end of the budget
deliberations, the committee
will begin considering several
rental rights bills addressing
issues that renters have
raised. I hope the committee
will be able to start
discussing them in January. The
first bill we will discuss will
be a bill for late fees
landlords can charge to prevent
a cycle of debt where renters
fall farther behind. The city
of Auburn limits late fees to
$10 a month choice the standard
that we would like to set in
Seattle as well. Later in 2023
they will discuss the
enforcement of rental rights
laws and legislation for
citywide rent control. Any
questions or comments before I
pass it on to Councilmember
Strauss? I don't see anything.
Councilmember Strauss.
>> Thank you. Let me pull up my
notes. Thank you everyone.
>> Let me get the timeer going.
>> Let me get mine going. I'm
really trying to cut it down
here. I removed colleagues, as
I said last week, I removed all
of my updates that are not time
sensitive to D 6 or anything
full council. Here we go. D 6
residents watching today I will
hold the next town hall
Wednesday December 14th at the
green lake community center. We
will begin at 6:00 P.M. and
last until 7:30 at least.
Attendees will have the chance
to ask me questions in their
own words. I have been hosting
these regular in person town
halls. It's a great opportunity
to see people and hear directly
from them what is most
important to D 6 residents. If
you are not able to attend, I
hold office hours every week.
You can sign up on my website.
Happening today is the office
of planning community
development hosting a D 6 open
house tonight at 6:00 P.M. at
the royal heights community
center at 2101 northwest 77th
street and sound transit is
hosting an open house at Lawton
elementary for inner bay and
Ballard this evening. Before
full council we have a couple
of items from the land use
committee. We held the regular
land use committee this last
week and we had a number of
things that we approved out of
our agenda to come before full
council. We have an appointment
to the equitable initiative.
John received unanimous
approval. The affordable
housing design review exemption
for 60% AMI streamline the
process to ensure affordable
housing process move through
expediently. They were based on
a one year basis in April of
2020 as emergency era
legislation. These emergency
regulation were set to expire
December 30, 2022, 60 days
after the emergency
proclamation ended. During the
time that this legislation was
implemented in our city, we
found this policy reduced the
costs and reduced time for
building and making affordable
housing operational. The bill
before us tomorrow is a
temporary legislation for one
year giving us the time to
craft the permanent legislation
needed. We are declaring a
emergency based on the city's
homelessness emergency as
without adequate affordable
housing, this trends into
making homeless necessary be
achievable to address which is
under the threat to public
health and safety. For
colleagues not on the
committee, when we are not able
to graduate people out of
shelter into affordable or
permanent supportive housing,
we are not able to get people
into shelter. One example I had
for you is when we have
adequate affordable housing and
permanent support of housing,
we could make one tiny home be
able to serve four people in a
year. Currently one to two a
year because we cannot graduate
people into a permanent place
to live. When I worked to
address homelessness Ballard
commons or Woodland park or
other places, what we find is
that shelter is the resource
that determines the amount of
time it takes to address
homelessness. If we are able to
have one tiny home serve four
people per year because we have
adequate affordable housing, we
can address homelessness more
he shish patiently and with
wider scale. The bill before us
tomorrow specifically allows
for developments with at least
40% of units affordable to
households with no greater than
60% of median income to opt out
of design review. They can
waive certain projects opting
out of design review at type
one, nonappealable decisions if
it does not impact the height,
bulk or scale of the
development or result in more
affordable units. This also
requires us to approve a work
program for consideration,
permanent changes to the design
review program, a separate
issue entirely. I want to thank
you for your support in getting
this legislation done. Again,
this bill is set to help us
address homelessness by ex--by
making affordable housing built
faster and with less cost which
allows us to better use our
shelter systems to get people
off the streets. We have on
full council tomorrow, the 2022
comprehensive plan amendments
for the annual comprehensive
plan, not the major update next
year. Many colleagues had ideas
that they wanted included in
these annual updates that were
asked to be held until a major
update. This legislation I was
able to introduce an amendment
regarding lids which I
discussed in our state
legislative agenda and there
was an opportunity to include
that language here as well. At
committee we discussed the
registration bill and
Councilmember Pedersen, I want
to let you know I met with the
representatives from plant
amnesty and other arborists
today. I asked them to meet
with you directly as well. The
draft I brought before
committee still has significant
work that needs to be done
before it can be introduced.
So, I want to make sure that
you have the opportunity to
meet with the folks as well.
When I asked them to -- when I
was going over the bill with
them, it's clear that the final
solution is not identified and,
so, if you meet with them and
are able to see the solution
more clearly, I'm happy to
follow your lead. Just for one
example. One point of confusion
is the words major pruning.
Which has a technical and legal
definition which is different
than what was included in the
original bill. That is close to
the 25% cuts. But the question
is do we use a different word
to represent a diameter cut or
use the technical definition of
major pruning. For reference,
that is one of the questions we
have to unravel. I will
continue to chew on it. There
were significant questions
about how to post and the -- in
order to achieve the out comes
we are trying to achieve. If
you have ideas, happy to follw
your lead. I see pathways
forward. What I'm focused on is
how do we keep arbor rifts
working in the city and how do
they help us to [ Inaudible ]
That's at the end of the day
what I want to see. If you got
ideas stemming from that
meeting I would be interested
to hear them. Tomorrow on full
council, we have the safe start
legislation, the final step in
the pathway to permanency for
making outdoor dining a
permanent piece of the fabric
of Seattle. This legislation
creates that permanent
framework for outdoor dining to
stay and ensure that they are
part of the city's fabric. It
focuses on equity, safety,
access, sustainability and
overall reduce the fees small
businesses have to pay to use
the right-of-way. There are
some places where it increases
the fees. Other secondary fees
that I'm trying to chew on to
make it accessible and less
expensive. I will bring one
amendment because this has been
a conversation regarding the
deadline for outdoor dining
permits within historic
districts. My amendment pushes
their deadline back by six
months. This stems from a
conversation that I had at the
Ballard historic district
meeting. I asked the question
if it was welcome. The answer
back from the historic district
was it doesn't really matter
how we have historic district
outdoor dining wait to be
repermitted, it just needs to
happen. In my conversations
with S dot how do we get them
not to apply right yet, I found
it more simple to put the
amendment forward. We are doing
it because the Ballard historic
district is taking the time
right now to help us develop
and identify how pergolas need
to be build and how they look
in historic disvictims. Once we
have that information it will
be easier to permit the
pergolas in the district. The
state legislative agenda, you
heard I will be bringing an
amendment regarding highway and
interstate lids as described
before. Thank you, colleagues.
That is my report. That was in
nine minutes and 10 seconds.
Colleagues, are there any
questions. Lastly, it's my
parents wedding anniversary.
Happy anniversary, Robert and
Chris, love you all very much.
I will pass it over to
Councilmember Herbold.
>> Fantastic. Thank you so
much. Really appreciate it.
Starting off with full council
items on tomorrow's agenda. We
have council bill 120469. This
legislation implements a
council appropriation of
$500,000 during the -- that we
voted on during the mid-20 21
supplemental budget process to
implement a recommendation of
the inspector general to
increase the amount of storage
space for evidence. This bill
has been expedited to allow the
mayor to sign it by the end of
the year. On Wednesday of last
week, Lisa K of council central
staff sent council members a
memo about the legislation. As
a fun fact, the legislation
that we voted on in 2021 that
allocated allowed for this
500,000 appropriation was made
possible by a council budget
proviso on salary savings. This
was a small of a number of
things that the city council
and the police department and
executive agreed upon as
priorities for use of 2021
savings. Also on full council
agenda tomorrow, councilmember
Pedersen mentioned it. Went
through his committee. A bill
that I sponsored. It's a bill
that works to cost share a
funding for a steward position.
I have been working with the
watershed resource inventory
area and the ports for several
years now to get this funding
for this position and just
really appreciate Councilmember
Pedersen for moving this
forward while I was out sick
last week. Safety and human
services committee is meeting
tomorrow monk at 9:30 A.M.
Items included the appointment
of Adrian as Seattle police
chief. The appointment passed
sent by the mayor as well as
interim chief Diaz responses
are included on the agenda. We
shared them with council
members well in advance and if
the committee votes tomorrow,
the full council should hear
the appointment January 3rd. We
will be appointing, hopefully,
hearing and voting to appoint a
new police commission member.
This is a council appointment
and we will be hearing an
update from the Seattle
department of construction and
inspections and the office of
emergency management on the
development of their
unreinforced masonry program.
The program is the work
deriving from a legislation
that I sponsored and council
passed last year 32033 which
establishes the benchmarks for
the policy development of this
new program. Finally we are
having a public hearing on 2023
draft annual [ Inaudible ] A
couple of other points to make
today, we got some news on the
public health front. This
afternoon, we were informed
that local health officers and
health care leaders are
recommending again wearing
masks indoors. Seattle county
health officer Dr. Jeff has
joined other health officers
and leaders to recommend
masking in public places and
other prevention measures due
to high level of respiratory
viruses and stressing
hospitals. Background, I think
everybody knows communities
across the state and U.S. are
experiencing a surge in both
viral respiratory including
respiratory Saudi Arabia
otherwise known as RSV,
influenza and covid-19. Health
officers and health care
leaders are working to improve
the health of Washington
residents and are recommending
that we wear high quality well
fitting masks when around
others in indoor spaces to
protect against acquiring and
spreading these infections to
others. I met with the [
Inaudible ] This morning. They
asked for council's help in
pushing out the masking message
to the general public but for
the neighborhood in downtown
communities as well. Our local
businesses, our examples of
public gathering places where
people should be beginning to
mask when entering. Everyone is
eligible to stay up to date on
your vaccinations. This is the
most important way to protect
against severe influenza,
included infections. In
addition to RSV and influenza,
we know new covid variants are
taking hold and immunity is
waning from many that have not
received an updated booster
shot. Unfortunately in King
county 26% of eligible people
received all of their
immunizations through the most
current booster. Everyone six
months and older should be
vaccinated against these
diseases and everyone eligible
for an updated booster should
get it now. Another piece of
breaking news in the last
couple of days, the CDC
expanded the use of updated
covid-19 vaccines for children
six months through the age of
five. 6 through 5 years that
completed the primary series
are eligible to receive [
Inaudible ] Two months after
the first primary does and
Pfizer, the children who are
six months through 5 will
receive the Pfizer vaccine
booster as their third primary
dose. Just, again, the surge in
these viruses are creating
illnesses, absenteeism in
school and businesses and also
impact being the overcrowding
of hospitals. So, take every
opportunity to flag this. I
thank you for doing what you
can to help. Moving on to some
of the other areas in my
committee bailiwick, I wanted
to thank Councilmember Nelson
for her report on the visit
with local businesses who are
victims of crime. Take this
opportunity to flag that the
audit that councilmember Lewis
and I sponsored on organize the
retail theft will be delivered
in the first quarter of 2023
and we are eager to learn more
about the recommendations from
the city auditor to help
businesses and all of our
respective business districts
that I hope come out of the
audit. As far as attending
other meetings for regional
committees and committees that
I serve on to represent the
city, last week I attended the
lead policy group quarterly
meeting in addition to several
items we had our good-byes to
King county prosecutor Dan
saddleburg who has been a
member of the lead policy group
for several years. I chaired
the fire department board
meeting. This week I will chair
the quarterly [ Inaudible ] As
far as events this week and
last week, last week I attended
the OMCPD comp meeting in
district one at south Seattle
college. This was the first
comp plan related public
meeting that they have hosted
and there will be several more
in other parts of the city over
the next couple of months. And
also I want to flag that I had
the privilege last week of
going on a short trip to France
as part of the Seattle sister
city program. I had the
privilege and honor to present
on a panel with government
representatives from the cities
of Barcelona [ Inaudible ] And
the world health organization.
I had the opportunity to meet
with mayors to discuss their
budget program, their [
Inaudible ] Cultural district
and met with representatives
from [ Inaudible ] This week,
tonight I am attending a
community meeting for the
safety concerns in
neighborhoods. SDOT and the
police department will be in
attendance as well. And that's
all I have. Do any of my
colleagues have questions or
comments for me? Not seeing
any, thank you very much. I
will pass it on to
Councilmember Lewis.
>> Thank you so much,
Councilmember Herbold. I
apologize. It seems like half
the lightbulbs are out of my
office right now. I will take
this opportunity to signal that
for facilities on council
briefing. Good to see everybody
here. Let's jump into some of
the final updates from the end
of the year. Last week a
meeting of the public assets
and homeless committee. I way
built to thank vice chair
Mosqueda for presiding over
that. More at the end of my
briefing. There was unanimous
recommendation for the
reappointments on tomorrow's
full council add yen day of
Robert flowers and Katie gear
row public facilities district
board for terms ending in July
of 2026. The committee also
unanimously recommended passage
of council bill 120467 which
approves a settlement agreement
with the Washington state
department of transportation.
That agreement is a land swap
involving Parkland associated
with the 520 bridge. I'm happy
to talk one on one with any
members who have additional
questions about that
legislation and appreciate the
committee unanimously passing a
recommendation of that
agreement. On tomorrow's
introduction referral calendar,
I expect some legislation to be
referred to the public asset
and homelessness committee for
meetings in January that
include a measure resulting to
Ben royal hall and repurposing
of concession revenue po Ben
royal hall capital facilities
budget. I plan to hear it as I
indicated on January 18th
assuming it is sent to the
committee. Seattle public
library updates. Program
highlight from the your next
job or YNJ program, a pilot in
2020 in response to the
immediate crisis of job loss in
our community due to covid-19
pandemic and the need to
provide a higher level of
support to those left out of
federal unemployment relief due
to barriers which may include
language, literacy and
accessibility. This program
through the Seattle public
library has been a regional
partnership with snow aisle
libraries and King county
library system and Seattle King
county work source system.
Changes have been made to this
program after the two plus
years of operation including
contracts with community
organization building our
bridge or BOB and changes to
incorporate arabic [ Inaudible
] As languages to expand where
English may not be a first lack
wage. Library hours for the
upcoming holidays. The lie
Baton Rouge rei closed December
24, December 25 and January 1st
in observance of the holidays.
And with that colleagues, I
want to close by thanking
councilmember Mosqueda for
chairing my committee last week
and I want to thank council
president's office and council
president pro tems for excusing
my absence. As some colleagues
may now, my wife Laura and I
welcomed our daughter Vivian
grease Lewis grace Lewis. I was
busy. Mother and daughter are
doing well and appreciate the
support from the legislative
department during this time as
we excitedly welcome Vivian
into this world. And look
forward to a 2023 and more work
before this council when we
reconvene next year. So, thank
you so much and with that
colleagues, any questions on my
presentation?
>> Well, congratulations,
Councilmember Lewis. You look
very rested, I may add. I am
suspicious of that.
>> I think the lighting is
helping in this office to be
candid. No hurry on getting the
bulbs replaced.
>> You get the tax right off.
Well done.
>> Yeah. It was very good of
Vivian that she had the sense
of timing to wait for budget to
be over and that she also is
apparently going to grow up to
be an accountant given the
response that you just raised.
Thank you so much.
>> Congratulations to you and
your new family. Wonderful
news.
>> Appreciate it.
>> Councilmember Morales?
>> Thank you very much. Wishing
your wife a rest full maternity
leave. Better you than me.
That's the only thing I have to
say about that. Okay. Thank you
for the news about the library
lack wages, excited to hear, as
a representative from the south
end I hear why we have some
things translated into some
east African languages but not
others. I'm excited to hear
that we are starting to remedy
that. Let's see, start wearing
my committee update on Friday
last, the neighborhood
education civil rights and arts
committee met. We voted to
recommend four appointments two
for the LGBTQ commission and
two for Ballard avenue landmark
board. Those should be included
for discussion for consent
calendar next week. We had a
hearing as well and discussion
on council bill 120456 which is
an ordinance relating to
administrative review
procedures for historic
preservation districts. We will
discuss this bill again as of
the next committee meeting
January 27th. I expect it will
take a full vote before
bringing it -- vote before
taking it to full council in
early February. We also
discussed council bill 120312
ordinance related to historic
preservation, the bill
regarding controls on the
Seattle first national building
as a landmark in the city.
Colleagues, you realize this
bill was first discussed, you
may recall, in my committee
earlier in the year in the
spring. At that time I delayed
a vote because I was struggling
to understand what benefit
accrues to the city of
protecting a one story building
in the middle of a dense
neighborhood, especially when
we have such a dire need for
the wrapped production of more
housing. This bill will come to
full council with a
recommendations that it not
pass. Colleagues, because this
bill relates to landmark
controls agreed to by the
property owner and the city, I
requested an executive session
later today. Let's see. King
county public health
councilmember Herbold gave the
notice that this past weekend,
12 public health officers did
issue a recommendation that we
return to making. I won't
repeat the information that
Councilmember Herbold provided
except to say that it's not
just covid and RSV, it's the
flu. Folks refer to this as the
triple-demic. The flu in
particular is very dangerous
for children under 5, adults
over 65, those pregnant or
living with an underlying
condition like asthma,
diabetes, heart disease. It's
important that folks get vac
anyone nature. Get the covid
booster and make sure that you
are staying safe and keeping
the rest of the community safe.
One other health related item
as the councilmember with
officers of Mimi grant and
refugee in my committee I want
to note that thanks to the hard
work of our state partners and
immigrant rights advocates, the
U.S. department of health and
human services and the
department of treasury last
week approved the first state
innovation waiver, section 1332
of the affordable care act.
What that means for us is that
starting in 2024 all
Washingtonians regardless of
immigrant status, including
folks undocumented will be able
to get health and dental
coverage through Washington
health pathfinder
>> TOMORROW, AT OUR FULL
COUNCIL MEETING AS COUNCIL
PRESIDENT MENTIONED, I WILL BE
BRINGING A RESOLUTION TO
ENDORSE THE LEGISLATIVE
DEPARTMENTS EQUITY WORKFORCE.
THE TEAM HAS BEEN WORKING ON
THIS WORKPLAN TO SHIFT THE
DEPARTMENT'S CULTURE. THE PLAN
IS COMPLETE. THE CHANGE TEAM
HAS BEEN WORKING VERY HARD .
THEY ARE EAGER TO BEGIN WORK.
WE WILL HAVE A VOTE ON THAT
TOMORROW. I LOOK FORWARD TO
YOUR SUPPORT. AND THEN, JUST A
COUPLE LAST THINGS. DISTRICT,
LAST WEEK I ATTENDED THE YOUTH
BUILD GRADUATION OF 10 YOUNG
PEOPLE AT THE GEORGETOWN
SEATTLE COLLEGE CAMPUSES. IT
IS A TRADE PROGRAM THAT IS
CERTIFIED BY THE STATE. THIS
IS RUN OUT OF SOUTH SEATTLE
COLLEGES GEORGETOWN CAMPUS. OF
THE 260 NATIONAL AFFILIATED
YOUTH PROGRAMS ACROSS THE
COUNTRY, USE CARES YOUTH BUILD
HERE IN SEATTLE IS THE ONLY ONE
SPECIFICALLY RECRUITING YOUNG
PEOPLE EXPERIENCING
HOMELESSNESS. SO I WANTED TO
CONGRATULATE ALL 10 STUDENTS.
ARE TEACHERS DID A GREAT JOB
HIGHLIGHTING THE HARD WORK
THAT THEY WERE DOING OVER THE
LAST SIX MONTHS. THEY HAVE
COMPLETED THEIR GED'S. WE WENT
THROUGH A SIX-MONTH PROGRAM
NOW TO HELP THEM GET INTO UNION
APPRENTICESHIPS IN
CONSTRUCTION TRADES. IT IS
EXCITING TO SEE THAT OUR YOUNG
PEOPLE , PARTICULARLY YOUNG
PEOPLE EXPERIENCING
HOMELESSNESS, HAVE A PATHWAY TO
STABILITY AND, VERY
IMPORTANTLY, CAN GET THE
SKILLS, EDUCATION AND TRAINING
THEY NEED TO PROVIDE FOR
THEMSELVES AND THEIR FAMILIES
IN THE FUTURE. WE WILL CONTINUE
TO WORK IN MY OFFICE WITH YOUTH
BUILD TO REFINE OUR LEGISLATION
THAT WE BEGAN TALKING ABOUT
THIS YEAR , AND I AM LOOKING
FORWARD TO CONTINUING THAT
DISCUSSION NEXT YEAR AND MOVING
THAT POLICY AGAIN TO SEE IF WE
CAN HELP EXPAND OPTIONS FOR
THESE YOUNG PEOPLE. LASTLY, I
WANT TO END BY REMINDING
COLLEAGUES THAT NO LESS THAN 15
PEOPLE WALKING, BIKING,
ROLLING, WERE HIT BY PEOPLE
DRIVING OUR STREETS THIS
WEEKEND. THIS WEEKEND, 15
PEOPLE. THAT FEELS LIKE A REAL
EMERGENCY TO ME. I AM GLAD TO
SEE THAT OUR ADVOCACY IS
HAPPENING AT THE STATE LEVEL AS
IT RELATES TO REDUCING
PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC VIOLENCE.
AND I AM REALLY HOPING THAT WE
CAN HAVE JUST ONE WEEKEND
WITH ZERO FATALITIES OR
INJURIES CAUSED BY PEOPLE
DRIVING IN 2023. I LOOK
FORWARD TO CONTINUING TO WORK
WITH SDOT ON THEIR UPCOMING
ZERO ACTION PLAN, AND JUST
REALLY WANT TO REMIND ALL OF
US, REMIND THE VIEWING PUBLIC
THAT PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO
NAVIGATE THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS.
IT IS RAINY. IT IS DARK VERY
EARLY IN THE DAY. SO, PLEASE
SLOW DOWN. AND REMEMBER THAT
THERE ARE PEOPLE TRYING TO GET
AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOODS WHO
ARE NOT IN CARS. EITHER WAY,
THIS INFORMATION IS REALLY
BEING TRACKED BY ONE JOURNALIST
IN PARTICULAR, RYAN PACKER.
AND I'M HOPING WE CAN ADDRESS
THIS CRISIS WITH THE SAME KIND
OF URGENCY THAT WE SHOWED IN
THE WEST SEATTLE BRIDGE. I AM
HOPING RYAN WILL REALLY DROP
THIS AS A BEAT NEXT YEAR. HE
COVERS A LOT OF OTHER
TRANSPORTATION ISSUES THAT ARE
VERY IMPORTANT. I'M HOPING HE
CAN SPEND HIS ENERGY COVERING
THINGS BESIDES TRAFFIC
FATALITIES. THAT IS ALL I HAVE,
COUNCIL MEMBERS. THANK YOU.
>> THANK YOU, COUNCILMEMBER
MORALES. ARE THERE ANY
QUESTIONS FOR COUNCILMEMBER
MORALES BEFORE I WRAP THIS UP
AND GO TO EXECUTIVE SESSION?
ALL RIGHT, NOT SEEING ANY, I
HAVE A FEW ITEMS I WILL BE
BRIEF. I WILL START WITH MY
COMMITTEE. THE GOVERNANCE
NATIVE COMMUNITIES AND TRIBAL
GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE. THERE ARE
NO ITEMS FROM MY COMMITTEE ON
TOMORROW'S COUNCIL AGENDA. OUR
COMMITTEE IS, OUR COMMITTEE
MEETING SCHEDULED FOR DECEMBER
15th IS CANCELED. THE NEXT
MEETING THAT TRIBAL
GOVERNMENTS AND STATE
COMMUNITIES , JANUARY 19th.
THAT IS A THURSDAY, 2023.
GOING INTO LAST WEEK, LAST WEEK
WE MET WITH REPRESENTATIVES
FROM THE MISSING AND MURDERED
INDIGENOUS WOMEN AND PEOPLE'S
TASK FORCE. THIS MEETING
INCLUDED REPRESENTATIVES FROM
THE SEATTLE POLICE DEPARTMENT
AND THE MAYOR'S OFFICE TO
DISCUSS LOCAL IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE STATE'S NEW M AND IP ALERT
SYSTEM. SECOND, WE MET WITH
OUR NEW SUPERINTENDENT OF
PARKS, AP DIAZ TO DISCUSS NOT
ONLY THE CITYWIDE ISSUES, DEIFY
ISSUES, BUT ALSO THE CLEANUP,
FOCUS ON COMMUNITY CENTERS, THE
NEW COMMUNITYCENTERS THAT ARE
COMING ONLINE, THE RECENTLY
PASSED METROPOLITAN DISTRICT 6
YEAR PLAN, AND SOME OF THE
BUDGET ITEMS WE WANTED TO SEE
CITYWIDE AS WELL AS WITHIN THE
DISTRICT. COMING UP THIS WEEK ,
TOMORROW, WE HAVE THE 2022
ANNUAL EMPLOYEE SERVICE
RECOGNITION AT 10:00 A.M. WHICH
I WILL BE ATTENDING. THIS WILL
BE A VIRTUAL GATHERING TO
RECOGNIZE COUNCIL EMPLOYEES
FOR THEIR SERVICE TO THE CITY.
EVERYONE IS INVITED TO
CELEBRATE THE HARD WORK AND
DEDICATION OF STAFF. WE HAVE
ACHIEVED A SERVICE MILESTONE IN
THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. THE
OFFICE OF THE CITY AUDITOR AND
OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL.
NEXT, ON THURSDAY, WE WILL BE
ATTENDING BOTH THE SOUND
TRANSIT BOARD MEETING AND
SEATTLE CHAMBERS PUBLIC
OFFICIALS RECEPTION. I DON'T
KNOW ABOUT THE SECOND ONE. I'M
STILL TRYING TO FIGURE THAT
OUT. ANY WHO, ONCE AGAIN, ALL
COMMITTEES WILL BE STANDING
DOWN THE LAST TWO WEEKS OF
DECEMBER. THE FIRST COUNCIL
MEETING OF THE NEW YEAR WILL BE
TUESDAY, JANUARY 3rd AT 2:00
P.M. THAT CONCLUDES MY PORTION
OF WHAT I HAD TO SHARE WITH
Y'ALL. NEXT, WE ARE GOING TO GO
INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION. WE HAVE
TWO MATTERS. I'M GOING TO GO
AHEAD AND READ INTO THE RECORD
THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE TO BRING
US INTO THE EXECUTIVE SESSION.
STAY WHERE YOU ARE AT. THERE IS
NOT A SEPARATE CALL OR CALL IN
NUMBER. IF THERE IS NO FURTHER
BUSINESS, WE WILL MOVE TO THE
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 2 EXECUTIVE SESSIONS. THE
PURPOSE OF THE SESSION IS TO
DISCUSS REAL ESTATE TRANSACTION
AND PENDING, POTENTIAL OR
ACTUAL LITIGATION. THE COUNCILS
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 WE WERE
SERVE POLICY FOR OPEN SESSION.
I EXPECT THE TIME OF THE
EXECUTIVE SESSION TO END BY --
MADAM CLERK, YOU MIGHT HAVE TO
HELP ME ON THIS. IF WE DO 20
MINUTES EACH, SHOULD I SAY
THREE, FOUR? WHAT TIME WOULD
THAT BE?
>> THAT LOOKS LIKE THAT WOULD
LAND US AT ABOUT -- IF I'M
DOING MY MATH CORRECTLY, --
>> 40 MINUTES?
>> THAT WOULD BE 8:00?
>> LET'S SAY 4:10.
>> 4:18.
>> SO WE WILL SAY 4:20.
>> OKAY, THANK YOU.
>> OKAY. WE WILL COME OUT OF
EXECUTIVE SESSION UNLESS WE
NEED TO EXTEND IT AT 4:20. AS I
SHARED, IF IT NEEDS TO EXTEND
BEYOND THAT TIME, I WILL
ANNOUNCE THE EXTENSION AND THE
EXTENDED DURATION. AT
CONCLUSION OF EXECUTIVE
SESSIONS, THIS COUNCIL BRIEFING
WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE
ADJOURNED. THE NEXT REGULARLY
SCHEDULED COUNCIL MEETING IS
SCHEDULED FOR JANUARY 9th, 2023
AT 2:00 P.M. THE COUNCIL IS NOW
IN EXECUTIVE SESSION. THANK
YOU.