>>> And to know that
confidential resources for
abused elders are always
available in our community.
Older is both widespread and
also underreported,
confidential and professional
resources for abused elders are
available by calling
1-886-endharm, I welcome
anybody who has questions on
the proclamation.
>> Are there any questions or
comments you would like to make
before we vote on whether or
not you want your signature
fixed ? Okay. I do not see
anybody raising their hand.
With that, will the clerk
please call the roll to
determine which councilmembers
would like their signature
fixed to today's proclamation?
>> Councilman Pedersen .
Councilman Sawant. Councilman
Strauss . Councilman Herbold .
Councilmember Lewis.
Councilman Morales . Council
President source. Fixed to
the proclamation.
>> Thank you Councilman Herbold
for bringing this forward. I
think you bring this forward
every year , is that correct?
>> I don't know if it is every
year, but I have brought this
forward in the past.
>> Elder abuse is a unrelated
or unreported crime. I want to
thank you Max for that. We will
move on with the agenda. Today,
the roll call order as I shared
, Councilman Pedersen will go
first and then we have
Councilman Sawant, Councilman
Strauss, Councilman Morales,
CHAIR Mosqueda, and then me.
With that, Councilman Pedersen,
the floor is yours.
>> Thank you. Good afternoon,
collies. There are no updates
for the utilities committee on
the agenda tomorrow afternoon.
As our Council President noted
tomorrow with full counsel with
120586 with councilmember
Nelson , that Bill incorporates
into our municipal code , law
on drug possession use that was
updated by our governor and
state legislature. Our next
meeting of the transportation
Seattle committee is scheduled
for tomorrow June 6th at 9:30
a.m. We will have three items
on the committee agenda.
Counsel 12505 grants permission
to King County's waste water
treatment to maintain a power
transformer and retaining wall
at 63rd Avenue Southwest
intersected with Beach Drive
Southwest Spokane Street for a
unlimited term , specifying the
conditions under which this is
granted and prepping for the
exceptions. This will support
the operation of the weather
treatment station facility and
the 63rd Avenue of pump
station facilities in West
Seattle. We granted conceptual
approval via 32709 on February
14th of this year. This
counsel the 120585 would
finalize our permission with
the term permanent as crafted
by our Seattle Department of
Transportation. If you have
questions before we vote on
this tomorrow at the committee,
please consult with our counsel
central staff or consult the
memo which is attached to the
committee agenda. Because we
already provided condition of
approval and they have been
met, hopefully we can vote with
SDOT and King County, they
will also have a progress
report from our Seattle
Department of Transportation
regarding the move Seattle
transportation package. We know
the $930 million property tax
approved by voters in November
of 2015 funds transportation
projects. One of our seven
transportation advisory groups
is the oversight committee and
as transportation chair, I
serve on that, which heard a
similar presentation from SDOT
recently. To see what they can
do to finish as many of the
promised projects over the next
18 months before the property
tax expires . Our final item
tomorrow is an overview of
utility taxes with Seattle
Public utilities paid by FARC
the largest share , I would ask
central staff to provide a
taxes 101 presentation mainly
for the general public, though
our colleagues are familiar
with these taxes. The
presentation will inform or
enhance the transparency to
the general public about these
charges that impact everyone's
utility bills, but lower income
residents paying a greater
portion of income while these
taxes are authorized by state
law, the to go above and beyond
the cost of providing services
including drinking water.
Utility bills have been
increasing and they are
aggressive, I wanted to make
sure we shed light for the
general public on how these
utility taxes work.
Colleagues, that is all for my
report. If no questions, I can
turn this over to Councilman
Sawant.
>> Councilman Sawant .
>> Thank you. Good afternoon.
There are appointments from
the sustainability and rights
committee as the president
mentioned on the agenda and the
next regularly scheduled
meeting of the committee on
June 16th will be canceled and
rescheduled at 9:30 a.m. My
office has informed this from
Nelson and Lewis that they are
available, thank you for
caring for other committee
members. That is it for my
report . Assuming there are no
questions, I will hand this
over to Councilman Strauss .
>> Thank you . Good afternoon.
There are no items from the
committee on tomorrow's full
counsel agenda . I will be
speaking on counsel for 120586
. I will distribute a proposed
amendment I plan to bring two
full counsel tomorrow. It is
already on the agenda. It is
attached to the agenda under
amendment A . This highlights
the state legislatures did
commitment and encouragement
with prosecutors and law
enforcement entities with the
treatment services whenever
possible. This includes text
from the RCW. This lifts up
and expands priority treatment
to accountability and as the
state law intends. While I
still have concerns about the
bill tomorrow, I'm not going
to the committee and I'm making
my final decisions. I just
wanted you to be aware of. I
will be forwarding that
shortly. From land-use
committee, there is a special
land-use committee this week
Thursday June 8th. Please be
prepared for longer committee
meetings. This will be before
and this is a two session
meeting much like the bill had
its two parts session for all
of the amendments. First
session is 9:30 a.m. until noon
where we will take a break and
we will pick back up at 1:00
p.m. until completion. We have
eight items on the agenda, five
of which are industrial zoning
package. We also have interim
for confirmation and a bill
regarding teaching thresholds
downtown. Regarding maritime
and industrial changes, the
five bills in committee will
come up on amendments and plan
to vote the bill out of
committee. This would be a
similar format to how we took
amendments on the tree bill as
well as the same procedure
exists today as a shared at
the beginning of April, this is
where we had a amendment
deadline committee and we are
not welcoming this at the full
counsel. At the meeting, I
asked our colleagues if there
were any amendments they
planned to bring that were not
on the list, I did not hear a
yes or no from anyone on the
committee. I'm assuming and
hoping that there are no
lingering things out there.
The amendments will be attached
to the agenda and the fullest
is attached to the previous
agenda. There are a couple of
amendments I have put forward
that I will be calling back .
If you have questions, please
contact them prior to the
committee to save as much
committee time as possible. We
will be hearing a
transportation resolution that
will highlight considerations
we need to take into account
as we plan for zoning changes
occurring in these industrial
zones. We will hear this as an
information item and the
committee will speak and we
will send this to the Council
with the rest of the a
maritime packages. Colleagues,
if you have concerns with this
process, please let me know and
we will do our best to attend
to your concerns. Regarding
director Karen's confirmation,
colleagues might remember we
sent around questions for
acting director Kieren Duncan
goes last August. We have sent
those again and we have worked
closely for over a year , feels
like two years. I have gotten
to see firsthand what a great
city is for this role. Kieren
Dankos has answered the
questions we have sent August
2022. Thank you Councilman
Morales for sending an
additional questions I want.
These questions and actor
Kieren Dankos's responses will
be attached to the agenda. We
will probably keep this week's
meeting light in regards to
his confirmation. He will be
coming back to the committee
for the following meeting on
June 14th. That is where we
will be taking a vote. We have
a packed agenda this week. I
want the colleagues to hear
this twice and please
understand this week is quite
packed. The final bill we will
be hearing this week is the
SEPA thresholds changes for
downtown. We are having a
briefing and discussion on the
thresholds with development in
downtown Seattle under the
state administrative policy
ask. This would exempt
residential buildings with up
to 200 units and buildings up
to 30,000 square feet with
nonresidential space from
environmental view based on
provisions in the Washington
administrative code. This has
been the case in the past
whereas under major updates ,
when we have not met the growth
that is anticipated within
these plans, SEPA is exempt on
projects such as this. Once we
hit the anticipated growth,
then SEPA is put in place on
any future projects. Because
downtown has growth targets,
the thresholds or SEPA are if
a building has 20 residential
units or 12,000 square feet
with a nonresidential space,
they have to go through SEPA,
which adds time and cost. The
proposed new threshold are
needed because downtown
anticipated what was a growth
estimated under the most recent
comprehensive plan. This simply
allows us to revert as if we
did not meet the growth targets
because we know our city is
growing faster than
anticipated. Before downtown
exceeded that level of growth,
projects with 250 residential
units or 30,000 square feet of
nonresidential space were
exempted from review under
SEPA. This legislation, after
the committee this week, will
come back to the land-use
committee on June 14th. I will
ask to suspend the rules to a
vote on the bill in the same
committee because this is
important to reviving
downtown. Thank you Council
President and colleagues.
That's my report. Any
questions?
>> I have one question. So,
you will have an amendment in
the whereas section to counsel
the 120586 , controlled
substance, so you have an
amendment for the whereas
section?
>> That is correct.
>> We will get that at close of
business. Spec that is attached
to the agenda and I will send
an email shortly.
>> Good. I saw that then.
>> I did my homework.
>> Thank you.
>> No further questions, I will
pass this to Councilman
Herbold . Welcome. You are
still on mute .
>> Sorry about that. Many
buttons to push to get back to
the right screen. Thank you so
much , Councilman Strauss.
There are no items from the
public safety human services
committee on tomorrow is full
counsel agenda. The safety and
human services committee is
not meeting this week. The
next meeting will be Tuesday
June 13th . One of the items on
the June 13th agenda will be a
possible vote on the late
equity for human services
workers resolution, counsel
central staff circulated the
introduced version last week
and any amendments are due on
June 6 . There are other items
on the committee agenda. On
lifting of this particular item
for purposes for being
informative and helpful as far
as the deadline for the
amendment process. Seeking any
amendment by June 6th, that
is tomorrow. I'm going to
issue area updates . As we
know, late last month, the city
attorney announced the office
would no longer participate
community court effectively
marketing , marking the end of
the program. I have asked
deputy attorney Lindsay about
their plan to expand free
trial diversion quote for
particularly those defendants
who are able to meaningfully
engage with service providers
and or are able to perform
community service. These
eligible defendants will not
have charges filed if they
meaningfully engage with
designated service providers.
That's the framework as they
have described it for the new
pretrial diversion program. I
have asked for more
information about the new
approach that they are
planning to roll out. In
particular, I have asked what
offenses will be eligible and
whether or not certain prior
convictions and charges will
make some people in eligible
for pretrial diversion. I
have not received any
additional information in
response. More items with the
public safety realm for
updates of Friday morning,
Councilman Strauss joined
members of the peacekeepers
collective for the "wear
orange " day. We presented the
mayor's proclamation for gun
violence awareness day and
public health and folks who are
on hand to give out free
lockboxes for storing firearms
at home. We highlighted the
work of essential partners who
are on the ground working to
disrupt violence with helping
the folks impacted every day.
On a related note , the
location where we were doing
the lockbox giveaway , it has
access for some of the
community violence we have
been seeing around Garfield
high school , both shootings
and threats of violence, SPD
has been working closely with
the Seattle school district to
identify and address ongoing
disputes and SPD has got a
control emphasis in the area.
It is not ideal that we rely
on increasing presence to
address violence, I cannot
tell you that there are
violence disruptors , and safe
passageways and staff
associated with the Seattle
community safe initiative that
are working in collaboration
with SPD to make the young
people will safer in going to
and from school, but also in
strategizing around hotspot
remediation , but again , this
is why it is important to
develop our public safety
network , the human sources
can initiative as well as
implementing the Council
funding for behavioral health
resources and robust
community-based violent
prevention strategies. One
more note in the public safety
area of updates , we are in
CPR awareness week and if you
received CPR training, you
will be increasing commodity
actions of becoming a
long-term survivor. If you
know as a trained person come
on the scene, you should
prompt the PR while emergency
aid is on the way. On the
regional committee updates,
County RHA and fellow members
of the King County regional
homelessness authority approved
the five-year plan last week.
The five year plan calls for a
focus of bringing people
inside. There were a number of
addition and edits to the
plan that were incorporated
thanks to the work of counsel
staff as well as both in my
office working very clearly
stating the region cannot
afford to lose any existing
capacity and temporary housing
of any sort. That language was
intended to address concerns
about reduced commitments to
tiny house villages , including
recovery housing with our
continuum and ensure that new
versions of the plan were
posted publicly will ahead of
our votes to make sure
stakeholders had a chance to
review that in advance. In the
meeting last week that we voted
on the five-year plan, I took
that opportunity to urge the
authority to focus its efforts
on strengthening its
fundamentals before taking a
planned systemwide rebuild of
all of the rebids of the
provider contracts. We know
there is a plan at the RHA to
rebid our contracts , but there
is not a need to do so
immediately while we know our
providers are reporting their
delays with getting RHA
executed. A systemwide rebuild
by design introduced
uncertainty for providers at
the time when we should be
making that quicker and easier
for them to provide services.
Last week , I aided in the
domestic violence prevention
meeting , which I coach there
and they are with the Council
with gun violence awareness
day as well as pride month
and on the human services
gender-based violence awards.
We also heard about Municipal
Court with a class of four
people engaging in commercial
effects. Seeing a tweak on the
regional committee front, I
will be joining the group for
a lead. Members are
representatives of the multiple
jurisdiction departments who
signed on to the memorandum of
understanding and establishing
lead back in 2010. That
includes anyone from King
County executives, King County
and office and the attorney's
office and the prosecutor's
office , this department and
the King County Sheriff's
office. Other highlighted
events coming up that I want
to share with folks that I
will be attending Habitat for
Humanity's this week as well
as meeting with Southwest
precinct captain Rivera and
inspector Judge , and before I
close out, I want to thank the
human services Department '
involvement and engagement at
the refuse to abuse 5K benefit
for the Washington state
demolition against domestic
violence this week. All of the
teams together beginning in
the 5K raised over $70,000 to
approve how communities
respond to domestic violence
and I appreciate HST's
leadership supporting this work
as well as inviting me to
participate in the 5K, greatly
to start the day. Thank you .
That's all I have. If nobody
has questions or comments, that
will be passed on to
councilmember Logan.
>> I have a question to you.
>> I did not run the 5K. I
walked it.
>> I did see the pictures. You
look great in the orange dress.
I have a few questions , and I
know we will have more
discussion but these are
specific questions on the
community cord and city
attorney David since decision,
I think it was May 26 when we
got the announcement that it
will be discontinued by June
12th , and thank you for
following up with deputy
Lindsay about the timeline and
the timeframe with what we are
looking at, so is it fair to
say, or you will be asking
them or the city attorney's to
come to the public safety
committee to brief the Council
about how we will fill that
gap? What will pretrial
diversion look like ? Is that
something you are thinking of
doing, Councilman Herbold ?
>> Before we have learned the
city attorney was terminating
the agreement with Municipal
Court for our community
court, we had already begun to
calendar on my committee agenda
, briefing two councilmembers
on the pretrial diversion
funding that the counsel
provided to expand the 180
program which is for folks
under 25 , the Council provided
funding to expand that for
those over, so we were planning
to have this conversation , but
I think it would be very
na÷ve and unrealistic to expect
the program that we provided
some funding for and will be
able to handle the capacity
associated with the end of
community court, but with all
of that said, there is a plan
to talk about pretrial
diversion and committee and we
have to broaden the
conversation that we already
plan to the what else, what
else are we going to do for
this population?
>> Councilman Herbold, thank
you. I know this is during
other discussions with pretrial
diversion and what we were
doing, so thank you for that,
at least for me, we had a
short time between the
announcement and when that
would end, June 12, so I will
be with and be speaking to
presiding the municipal court
judge because I want to get
some of the judges perspective
in Municipal Court about like
not what you were saying, with
pretrial diversion and if you
will take that out , that was
my question there, so thank you
Mike for answering that. I look
forward to your committee
meetings so I can hear or see
and ask questions about what we
are going to do about that. I
can see Councilmember Lewis
with his hand up .
>> Thank you so much, Council
President. I related with
Councilman Herbold related to
the community court
announcement that I think all
of us as a surprise when the
end of the program was
announced on a Friday afternoon
before a three-day weekend. I
think it would be appropriate
to have a broader inquiry of
the public safety committee as
Councilman Herbold is
anticipating making my time,
not just about potential
success or programs, but just
to put on the record some of
the assumptions and conclusions
of the city attorney's office
that led to their decision to
pull out and candidly an
opportunity for the court to
share in their impression of
how some of those decisions
have been characterized
publicly by the cities
attorney's office. Briefly my
understanding, I think a
briefing committee would be a
better place to air this out
and I will be sending
significant remarks and
requests for questions with
the office in this respect as
well. My understanding is the
fundamental purpose being
quoted as a 77% failure rate
for participants and community
court. It has been a
misleading statistics because
it counts failure to appear at
intake. Failure to appear
for a court summons is
something that would attach to
any program in the Municipal
Court. It is not a unique
challenge for the community
court. To attribute failure to
appear in the data is
misleading. The judge who
presides over the court has
cited that for 75% of the
people who enter the program ,
they completed and 80% of the
people who are successful go on
to not commit any additional
criminal legal system referrals
, those statistics would
indicate that was a successful
program . It is concerning to
me that the decision to pull
out and disrupt that program
has been made without a
well-thought-out plan on what
replaces that, at least in
terms of the information. I
say that knowing that we might
get a reply to a reclining or
reply. The city indicates
their pretrial diversion
concept is further along that
maybe that would has been
publicly made available at this
time, but at this time, it does
not appear that something is in
place to take the inflow of
caseload , and that is
something that has been
considerations for the County
of the court and the flow of
the legal system. I think it
will be appropriate not just
to request answers in a
hearing, but to carve out space
for the municipal court and the
judge has an opportunity to
come present on community
court and the metrics of the
program, which I believe he has
presented on in the past and I
know he has made himself
available to pitch me on in
numerous occasions as well and
I wanted to add that on to the
questions. Thank you so much.
>> I appreciate that. Nothing
further to add , but we will be
circling around with folks who
are interested in planning
that committee discussion.
>> Councilmember Ellis. I
think Councilmember Lewis is
next.
>> It is Councilmember Lewis.
>> Thank you so much, Madame
President. I guess I could
have kept the mic after my
question. Good afternoon,
colleagues. In committee this
week, we will have two
presentations accountable
125-0950, an ordinance relating
to different park operations ,
and we will have a briefing on
the return of the bumbershoot
Festival agreement. This will
be a fun committee meeting for
homelessness on Wednesday. At
this time, I do not anticipate
any other agenda items, but
we will let councilmembers know
if that changes. There is no
claim city data for this week.
Hopefully by the next council
briefing, we will have a double
data so I can be able to fill
in the blank spot from this
afternoon. I'm glad to see
Seattle's park system ranked
number eight in the public land
trust rankings of the park
systems in the U.S. This
represents number nine last
year, and we expect to see the
rating continue to rise given
the investment at the
Metropolitan Park district. Our
liking category is amenities .
As colleagues will remember, we
put a significant investment
into amenities that are on the
pipeline. I look forward to
seeing how that reflects with
our trust ranking in future
years. For now, a huge congrats
to our team and Seattle Parks
and Recreation from going from
number nine to number eight and
hopefully more good news is on
the horizon. Seattle public
library. Celebrate pride month
with the Seattle Public Library
where everyone belongs. Enjoy
a prior dance party, visit the
library pride Fest or waived at
the Seattle Public Library at
the parade. Find some new to
you LGBTQ plus films with
novels and poets at the Seattle
Public Library to check out and
the library works with
organizations and community
members to offer for many
diversities including LGBTQ
plus, patrons and allies and to
offer resources and build
knowledge. You can find events
and resources related to
Seattle Public Library and
their programming at pride at
SPL.ORG.PRIDE. The lights at
the sucker and ballfield at the
playfield are being replaced
with new L.E.D. luminaries.
This project is being
completed with no
interruptions. Just flagging
that for our friends at
Ballard FC. The Interbay
playfield lights are being
replaced and we are looking
forward to the infrastructure
improvement. I wanted to give
a shout out to constituents in
Magnolia and beyond regarding
hunger pull opening dates.
That will open on June 10th at
Seattle Parks and recreation
staff who are repainting the
pool and facilities to prepare
for that date. We have until
June 24th and you will be able
to enjoy one of our marquee
aquatics facilities at Moncur
pool . The terminal 91 bike
path is closed today until
June 9th for Seattle
improvements. That is my final
update for constituents who
might be watching the briefing.
If there are any other
questions or concerns about
anything in advance with the
committee meeting, colleagues,
let me know. I appreciate your
consideration and I will turn
this over to questions. I do
not see any. I will turn this
over to Councilman Morales.
>> Thank you very much
Councilmember Lewis. That
afternoon, colleagues. There
are no items from the
neighborhood's education civil
rights and arts committee on
this week's full agenda. Our
meeting that was scheduled for
tonight is canceled. Our next
meeting will be June 23rd at
9:30. I have a short update
this week. Last week , I was
joined in my office here by the
fifth , a fifth grade class
from Maple elementary. I went
to visit them last year and
they decided they wanted to
come and visit us. I want to
thank Carrie and Chal for
organizing a tour for the
entire legislative department.
They got to me central
staffers and clerks. I want to
thank Angela and Janet who
took time to show the students
to see archives. They saw the
first block with Seattle city
ordinances that were hand
written as part of the public
record. They saw several
letters from children of Maple
elementary from the 70s
writing to then mayoral men
asking him to address air
quality and stay safely on
their way to school. That was
interesting. I was honored to
join Mayor Harold in the LGBTQ
commission for the flag
raising ceremony down on the
plaza last week and really
always honored to be in space
with members of the LGBTQ
community and to remind all of
us that there were over 500
pieces of legislation that have
been introduced this year
across the country advocating
for and hate against the
communities. We might think we
are safe here in Seattle, but
we know there are folks that
are being targeted in the
community including in my own
neighborhood, a couple of weeks
ago, there was a series of
meetings just a few blocks
from where I live, and so
there is an investigation
underway, but I want everyone
to be aware and a knowledge
that there is a lot of work to
do in Seattle to make sure
people are not discriminate
against and that their legal
rights are protected. I also
attended the art station last
week to celebrate the 50th
anniversary of the program. I
think it was first in the
nation when it started and an
important program to support
our local artists and the art
sector in the city. This
weekend, as many of you did , I
attended one of the lockbox
giveaway events. I joined the
Southeast safety network, moms
demand action, and others to
give away 100 gun lockboxes at
the Safeway. Since late 2020,
Southeast safety network has
been activating the parking lot
at that safely and working with
King County councilmembers
with the community members and
Safeway to make sure that the
corner is activated. They have
been attending Friday
afternoons and evenings since
then making sure that there
are eyes on the street and that
there are opportunities for you
to come and gather safely. It
has led to a dramatic reduction
in crime and gun violence in
the area and is a good example
of the community solutions that
can provide effective responses
to increase safety. I want to
thank Martin Jackson, Jones
and others who are there every
week making sure our youth
people are safe. I attended a
peace coalition meeting
gathering hall to hear from
the parents. I was joined by
the state senator and a
councilmember. Parents in the
neighborhood are eager for
more support for their
children. They talked a lot
about particularly young
people with special needs who
need more support in their
school system and accessing
things like speech therapy,
ABA therapy as well as
afterschool programs,
late-night teen programs at
our city community centers and
although folks are glad to
have the extra support we
provided for mental health
through other funding last
year, I am regularly hearing
now from families who want to
see an extended commitment to
mental health support and to
see that doubled. There is a
lot of interest in making sure
our young people have the
resources they need in order to
deal with increased anxiety
and depression that we know
people are experiencing. This
is something we need to work
with the school district and
King County public health on,
but folks are interested with
supporting them in that way.
That is all I have. If there
are no questions , I'm not
seeing any. I will hand this
over to councilmember Nelson.
I'm sorry . We all seem to
have forgotten the alphabet.
Councilman Mosqueda.
>> Thank you very much . We
will go back to the Council
President. Colleagues, this is
an exciting week for the
housing levee. We have spent
the last three months and the
year plus in advance of that
with the community technical
advisory committee getting
prepared for this very week for
our housing levee committee to
take a vote on the 2023
housing levee legislation.
Last Wednesday, we had the
select committee on the 2021
housing levee where we had a
briefing and discussion on the
legislation to renew the levee
which affirmsthe mayor's
proposal to invest $970 million
over the next seven years and
to create more permanent
supportive housing expanding
our homeownership investments,
especially for our communities
at risk of displacement and
stabilizing our permanent
supportive housing workforce.
This invests in homelessness
prevention. I want to thank all
of you and the mayor's office
for the work we have done with
the community to make sure we
brought forward a handful of
amendments to focus on serving
communities most impacted by
our homelessness , crisis, our
housing crisis and the
displacement crisis that our
region is facing. On Wednesday
afternoon this week , excuse
me, on Wednesday afternoon last
week, we were joined by
affordable housing for a press
conference to make sure the
community at large knows about
the work that went into
crafting the 2023 housing
levee legislation that is in
front of us this Wednesday.
This included speakers from the
consortium, Habitat for
Humanity, DSC, housing,
community land trust and so
many more. This included
partners from MLK labor and
Seattle building trades, labors
242, carpenters and IBW 46. The
audience , or the group, was
packed with community members
from chief Seattle club, El
Centro, Filipino community of
Seattle and African town
interest. All of this can be
found on Seattle channel. Thank
you for being there. That was
covered well by the press who
were present as well. We were
able to lift up how this
Council, the Mayor's office of
community at large have created
a package that invests not
only in housing units, but the
stability and well-being of
neighbors, workers and
communities who make up the
city. On Wednesday evening,
there was a public hearing on
the 2023 housing levee renewal
legislation. We heard
overwhelming support for the
legislation as proposed. The
three months we have had this
legislation in front of us,
there was only one person that
called in with concerns and
that was last Wednesday.
Unfortunately, they got some
airtime, but it has been
overwhelming support for the
levee. Thank you my to everyone
who has worked with us on this
proposal. This week on
Wednesday, June 7th at 9:30
a.m., we will start with public
comment again. This would
include a briefing of
discussion we have had on the
chair's proposed modification
of the renewal legislation.
This was the substitute bill we
introduced and working in
partnership with my colleagues,
we will have two amendments for
your consideration with
friendly amendments and
encourage a yes with the
sponsors of the image. I want
to thank councilmember Mireles
and councilmember Nelson who
were working with our central
staff on the amendments and
councilmember hurdled worked
with Councilman Herbold's
amendment. Friendly amendments
across the board. These will be
considered on Wednesday prior
to our final consideration of
the subject legislation and
those materials were sent to
you and they were published
last week on Friday, so
everyone has access to the
substitute bill which is the
housing levee legislation
introduced by the chair. The
two amendments that will be
considered on Wednesday
morning, and we will take a
vote on that on Wednesday with
the hope to bring that to full
council on June 13th. This is
a special committee, so that
means it has everybody from
counsel on it and I appreciate
that you all have been actively
engaged in the last three
months. I don't anticipate any
concerns or surprises next
Tuesday when we do the final
passage on June 13th and I
strongly accredit all of you
with your collaborative work
with our community. Those
amendments make a smooth
process. Thank you very much.
It is up to the voters on the
November ballot. On Wednesday,
I will be joining the call
with the Robert Wood Johnson
foundation to discuss housing
issues with folks at the
national level. On Wednesday, I
will be speaking about
democracy vouchers , wearing
our city had. This is a huge
opportunity we have had over
the six years to talk about
democracy vouchers and this
will be the national convening
on reform held in our city and
what a great way to feature the
vouchers on the program and
the impact it has had on
creating opportunities for our
people to participate in our
local electoral process. On
Thursday, I will attend the
Habitat for Humanity
collection. With that, I think
that rounds out our week. I
will note that I am still
concerned about the vote
scheduled for tomorrow. I know
that many folks have had the
chance to ask questions and
try to dig into this a little
bit more but I think this
requires a more detailed
conversation in the community.
I think this is clear that
there are serious policy
impacts. If not policy
impacts, I think they concern
from the physical impact
analysis has not been fully
presented. We have spent the
last four years trying to
decrease our contractual
obligations to pay for beds at
King County, refusing who gets
jail is not just a County issue
went the city has purview of
who gets arrested, those
individuals and up at the
county jail and if we will be
sending out legislation at the
city level to arrest and
prosecute people for simple
possession without really
analyzing what city resources
are needed, redirecting our
city officers and using city
time, we need to spend ample
time at the city to understand
the implications of the
registration. I get the state
legislature had to act , but we
do not have to act. The city
does not have to implement what
the state has passed. It is in
the statue. To the degree where
we need to have condos with the
prosecutor with our priorities
across the region, we should do
that. I think any conversation
about policy implications and
the physical impact on our
city, it would not be
appropriate to move forward on
the legislation. I would rather
have a conversation with the
committee to talk about the
impact of our community who is
dealing with the public health
crisis and the onus of
addiction and make sure we are
not sending these messages to
our officers. I look forward to
having that discussion. I
understand the Council
President has requested us to
do for our science-based and
research questions until
tomorrow. I will be doing that
as well, but I think there are
real consequences for us to
move forward with this policy
and absent detail of discussion
and a policy committee. Thank
you, Madam President.
>> Councilman Mosqueda, I
still have my Seattle housing
cup from 2016 . Now, is it
passes, it will be over 42
years of affordable housing .
In 2016, this past 70%.
Hopefully you will get another
cup.
>> I love that. We can update
those cups to talk about
higher rates of production that
we were able to accomplish, the
public dollar equals public
good. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you so much. Can we
move on? Can we go to
councilmember Nelson?
>> Thank you and welcome back,
President. Tomorrow's agenda ,
I sponsor both 124086 which
would adopt state law making
knowing the possession and
public use with drugs and gross
misdemeanor into their
municipal code. The next
meeting of the economic
development technology and
city light committee will be on
June 14th and will consider
able to authorize city like to
consider moving electrical
distribution facilities in the
neighborhood undergone. There
will be an additional items
TBD. Past meetings , I met
with Beth Knox, President and
CEO of the sports commission
to talk about the economic
development opportunities
surrounding the upcoming
All-Star game facilities and
I'm looking forward to juniors
HBC youth swingman classic , an
annual All-Star experience from
athletes from Division I
programs at historically black
colleges and universities. Side
note to parents, there are
children. I also attended the
Puget Sound regional councils
2023 General assembly which
is a gathering of the lectins
from all member jurisdictions.
It is an annual event but has
not been held in person since
before the pandemic. That was
fun to see people in person.
Mayor Harold welcomed
attendees and one of the
highlights for me was Board
President in King County
councilmember Claudia passing
the baton to vice president
Mayor Becky Erickson to be the
new president after a vote of
the body. Moving on to
meetings this week , I met with
Mike Stewart this morning and
members at the Ballard alliance
and week discussed their
business improvement area
which is set to expire at the
end of the year. My chief of
staff Jeremy moon will attend a
webinar called prove it,
proving the cultural and
economic value of your
nighttime economy . As
nightlife falls under my
purview as economic development
chair , I have been
strategizing all year in ways
in which we can better support
our nightlife community
particularly when it comes to
public safety. On that note,
I'm pleased to announce by
popular demand, SPD is starting
they are joined enforcement
trainings for nightlife
business owners and security
guards on how to lawfully
handle public safety threats
and the first trainings will
begin this month. Jim also
works with nightlife
establishments on permitting
issues and conducts safety
inspections. I want to thank
SPD for this important
program. Finally, the last
thing I will mention is this
Saturday June 10th, I will be
attending the inaugural Pioneer
Square summer market in
Occidental Square Park which
lasts from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00
p.m. The market features up to
six vendors offering handmade
crafts, delicious food and
unique gifts. This is not a
traditional farmers market, but
this is a great opportunity to
support local businesses and
the festival has a really great
lineup of live music with a
diverse range of talented
musicians that will take the
stage all day and they range
from joints Terry Ferreri to
Beverly and Rick Rosado. Check
that out. It is featured on
the city website and I can get
anybody the information if they
want to know more for me. That
is it for me. Any questions?
>> Yes. Councilmember Nelson,
to be fair, Councilman
Mosqueda discussed her position
for a couple of minutes. I know
we said we would not turn this
to a committee hearing, but to
be fair, if there is anything
you wanted to add about the
counsel bill that you are
cosponsoring that you wanted to
spend and I wanted you to get
the opportunity to say
anything as well.
>> I appreciate that, but I
will honor the tradition and
the protocol of briefings and
not engage in a policy
discussion. I think Councilman
Pedersen and I as cosponsors
addressed that and we will have
the discussion tomorrow but
thank you for the opportunity.
>> Thank you.
>> Pardon me?
>> Where was the address?
>> When did you discuss that?
>> She thinks there was a
public conversation publicly.
>> She said she will address
that tomorrow.
>> Okay. I will hold off.
>> Moving forward , all on the
same page. I just wanted to be
fair. I think it is my turn.
>> Yes, it is.
>> There are no items from the
communities and tribal
governments committee on
tomorrow's counsel agenda but
our next meeting will be
Thursday June 15th at 9:30. I
have been out of town and I
want to thank all of you for
covering for me including my
office and thank you to my
colleagues for stepping in
when I cannot be here. Even
though I was gone, Mike, our
office was open . In my
absence, our staff met with HS
the, human services Department
and the homelessness authority
and low income housing
Institute regarding cameras
and tiny house villages and
five, our new district
director Layla GOES-R and I
met with constituents
regarding encampment concerns
as well as a potential tiny
house village in the five
city way. Our staff met with
the South transit CEO and
leadership as part of the North
King County Siberia. Murphy
Bush attended a tour of the
line. Thank you , Murphy. His
policy person and him were on
their with the mayor's office
and represents on the sound
transit board. Our staff
attended a oral argument
hearing in the U.S. District
Court on a joint motion made by
the city of Seattle and the
federal government to approve
an agreement to have partial,
sustained compliance with the
2012 consent decree. Judge
Robart escort is in recess
while the motion remains under
consideration. I'm sure some of
you read the opinions and
comments made. I want to thank
Sarah Mays from my office, my
lead policy person, not only
with the consent decree issues
and CPC, but also the L RPC
and anything public safety
related. Thank you Sarah for
attending the court hearings on
my behalf. Finally, our office
has been working with the North
payment senior housing in the
Northgate neighborhood and we
have learned that a major
private investor will be making
an announcement this week or
the week of June 15th of a
significant contribution to
the expansion of affordable
housing for low income seniors
at Northgate. This is
something we have been working
with and building toward with
a good friend of the five in
the city of Seattle and North
Haven which is the elders , the
elders who are low income and
most of them are on Medicaid,
so we worked with, I forgot , I
forgot, councilmember Johnson,
but we worked hard to upsell
the area and in anticipation
that we could build with North
Haven and it finally is going
to happen. We are excited we
will have more affordable
housing for our elders. It
has been a long time coming.
It shows if you bother people
enough, things will happen.
That will happen and I'm happy
about that. This week , I will
meet with the children's hope
society, they are good friends
of ours. We have been working
with them since the day I got
elected on all kinds of issues.
They are situated in D5 and I
want to thank this counsel and
the budget chair because you
did vote to do partial funding
for them. Our office will also
be meeting with the city
alliance and the parks
department regarding new
center that will be built and
they should have that again. We
have been working on this
since 2015 or 2016. I believe
we will be the first district
to have our new community
center build with affordable
housing and social services
also in the building above it
and next to it. We have been
working on this for a long
time. All of these capital
projects are put off because of
COVID-19 but now we know we
will get back to moving dirt
and building a new community
center and provide affordable
housing and social services in
a hub that is dense with
social services. That is where
our library in pre-K's. Our
food bank is there. I'm excited
about this. This is something
I will be proud of what I can
look back and say I helped with
that. Thank you to everyone in
D5, particularly the parks
department and both directors
working with us and all of the
mayors I have gone through to
raise the money, over 40
million, to get this done.
Next, we will attend a meeting
with CaptainLori agar, the new
captain of the North precinct
as well as the North precinct
advisory Council. We pretty
much attend their meetings, we
have been doing that for years
and making sure we are not
only talking to the North
precinct but we have an idea of
what is going on with the
community and call times. I
still have my meetings with
the chief as well to look at ,
if you have noticed, we have a
dashboard that tells us when
the shootings are and when
neighborhoods are impacted the
most and all those kinds of
issues and focusing on gun
violence and what we can do .
In addition, the office will be
meeting with King County
regarding plans for the
downtown city campus, I don't
know if you all know this but
King County is working with
sound transit on plans to
locate a major light rail hub
closer to downtown to relieve
construction impacts on our
neighbors in Chinatown I.D.,
the international district and
this is another exciting
project and I'm honored I
could be a part of this with my
chief of staff Rendell Swift
and working with Dow
Constantine, the executive and
how we can use this campus as
an alternative for light rails
so we do not disrupt Chinatown.
I'm very happy about that
because that has been a long
time in the making and it is
going to happen. I'm just
happy. Are there any questions
for my colleagues before we
conclude and I read the
executive session script ?
Okay. I don't see any
questions. Let me bring us
into executive session and we
will go from there. If there
is no further business, we have
three matters on the executive
session and as presiding
officer, I'm announcing the
city Council will now convene
into executive session. Purpose
of the executive session is to
discuss pending potential or
actual litigation. The
councils executive session as
an opportunity for counsel to
discuss confidential legal
matters from the city's
attorney's office authorized by
state law. The legal monitor is
always present to ensure the
Council reserves questions of
policy for open session. I
expect the time of the session
to last one hour, so one hour
from now , it will be about
4:15 and I will have Madame
clerk give me a time period
announcement so we will stay
within the one hour hopefully.
If the executive session is to
extend beyond the time, I will
announce the extension and
expect a duration. The
conclusion of the executive
session, this counsel briefing
meeting will automatically be
adjourned. The next regularly
scheduled counsel briefing
meeting is on June 19th at
2:00 . With that, the Seattle
city Council is now in the
executive session.