-Welcome, everyone.
Thank you for attending our press conference this morning.
My name is Aretha Basu.
I am the Political Director
of Puget Sound Sage and Sage Leaders.
I will start our time together this morning
with a land acknowledgement,
and then we will hear from our community partners.
In the Puget Sound region
we are on the ancestral lands of the Coast Salish nations,
including the Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Nisqually,
Stillaguamish, Snohomish, Suquamish, Quileute,
and Tulalip tribes.
We honor with gratitude the land itself
and the diverse Coast Salish people,
many of whom still fight for federal recognition,
who have stewarded this land since time immemorial
and who continue to steward this land today
in resistance to colonization.
I'm here today with this powerful coalition
of community partners to call on the city council and Mayor
to invest in Black, Indigenous,
and People of Color communities here in Seattle.
We call on the city to not do business as usual
and to not balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable
and marginalized in our city.
Organizations here today represent communities
in almost every district of Seattle.
We are all doing the daily work of supporting
our communities to thrive
and grow in the midst of gentrification, poverty,
hardship, and ecological destruction.
The equitable development initiative was fought for
and by communities to provide capital and capacity
support for projects that are needed to sustain us,
childcare centers, senior homes, cultural spaces,
and youth achievement centers, and many, many more.
Our communities know best what we need
and we are here today to say protect funding for EDI
and we are here to hold the city accountable to its own promises.
75% of EDI comes from JumpStart,
a progressive tax on large businesses,
which is another way in we as community members fought for.
And so we are also here today to say defend JumpStart.
EDI, JumpStart, participatory budgeting,
are all examples of revenue
that are designated for community development projects.
This city breaking its promises is nothing new.
First and foremost,
breaking its promise to Duwamish tribe
and then to Black communities, and so on.
This pattern continues years of harm
through anti blackness and white supremacy,
and so is divisions among community members
and organizations.
But today, we are here to say we are standing united
in our demand that resources be protected for BIPOC communities.
As our friends at the Solidarity Budget
have pointed out time and time again,
the city continues to allocate $41.3 million
to the Seattle Police Department for police positions
that have not and cannot be filled.
This does not include the extra 10 million
that goes to redundant line items.
And this money is allowed to carry over year
after year after year.
So explain to me how our communities
and our programs are getting nickeled and dimed
while the police department's budget grows
in the midst of such a massive budget deficit.
How is that equity?
We reject austerity budgeting
that seeks to be balanced on the backs of black
and brown communities.
We reject the illusion of scarcity
and call on the city to find other means of ways
to balance the budget.
We are here today and every day to protect our communities,
EDI funding, JumpStart, and all community investments.
We will now hear from our community partners
and we'll start with Ken Workman from the Duwamish tribe.
Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Thank you.
[ Speaking native language ]
I am Workman of the Duwamish tribe.
[ Speaking native language ]
And great, great, great, great grandson of Chief Si'ahl.
172 years ago, my grandfather stood on the shores
of Alki Beach and he said...
[ Speaking native language ]
Come ashore my friends onto this ancient land of the Duwamish.
He did not say, come ashore only you people
that look a certain way,
only you people that speak in a certain way.
He said everybody is welcome here.
And so the Duwamish have benefited from this program,
from this EDI program.
And so I am here to speak to you today in our own words,
in our own way,
that we, as native indigenous people,
would honor the city for continuing
to honor their promises to us as Native people
and to support EDI in its original format
and that we reject this proposal CB 120774
and additional burdens that would be required by us,
the Duwamish tribe who have benefited from these resources
who may not have benefited,
given this new reporting requirements.
So thank you, and we appreciate your presence.
Thank you.
-Thank you Ken.
My name is Crystal Brown,
I'm the Executive Director for Cultivate South Park.
I'm not normally one to stand up and speak out.
I like to stay in the background,
I like to play the support role.
I feel very privileged, I'm empowered in myself,
I'm very confident,
and Cultivate South Park was lucky enough
to receive funding through the Strategic Investment Fund
through EDI for the project El Barrio.
El Barrio is in the heart of South Park
and it is South Park reimagined.
It's a quarter block
of naturally occurring affordability in community hands
to both preserve and develop for the future.
It's 25,000 square feet,
$5.8 million was raised in less than two years,
and that was through partnerships,
through funding through the city, and philanthropy.
In two and a half years,
we have implemented small scale economic development
through Shop Small South Park,
supporting over 100 vendors and small businesses,
the buildup concert and Art series,
construction of a commercial kitchen and elevator
to support and further small businesses in their development,
and to support space for other CBOs
who do not have space in South Park.
There's not a community center that's active right now,
no other community space,
and we're right on the heart of the Duwamish River
with a lot of great amazing organizations doing
work in community.
We are investing in the spaces we live in,
work in, and deeply care about for generations to come.
And I think that's the important thing,
that we know that what we're doing is empowering our people,
we're empowering community,
and I don't think as the EDI
or strategic investment fund as a handout.
It was really a hand up for the South Park community
and other communities and we're thriving from that,
and in turn,
we're developing empowerment and prosperity for the neighborhood,
which is really for all of us,
and everybody in Seattle and beyond.
Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-[ Speaking native language ]
Hello all, my name is Stephanie Ung,
the co-executive director of Khmer Community
of Seattle King County, or KCSKC.
I'm also a frontline community representative
for the city of Seattle's Green New Deal Oversight board.
I'm here to oppose any amendments or policies
that take away from JumpStart,
the major source of funding
for the equitable development initiative or EDI,
Green New Deal,
affordable housing
and other important investments in the well-being
of our communities.
The community organizations awarding EDI funds
are at the front lines of climate catastrophes,
displacement, political eraser and racism.
These are the last efforts
that should ever be compromised
when seeking to fill a gap in the city's budget.
KCSKC is an EDI grantee in district one,
specifically Southwest Seattle, just North of White Center,
where Khmer families and businesses
settled and thrived since the 1980's.
It remains a cultural hub today but displacement
has spread our community further and further apart.
EDI has been our one hope to build what
our community deserves,
a Khmer owned gathering space for our elders,
youth, and families to be seen,
represented and centered, and for anyone to come learn about
and celebrate who Khmer are.
EDI's origins are rooted in community power and
OPCD staff have been working tirelessly with us
since day one,
helping us navigate the city's landscape,
policies and processes,
and I would not be standing here now if it were not for them.
We are glad to learn
that Councilmember Rivera dropped the spending proviso,
however, the reporting requirement demonstrates
that she and other supporters
preferred to create administrative barriers,
honestly unnecessary headaches, for the communities
who are already taking the city's shortcomings
into their own hands.
A government report will not adequately provide information
that she claims to be curious about.
It will keep relationships between government
and the people transactional and strained.
We urge council to invest their time to visit
and interview each of us
to understand the status of our projects
and what value we bring to the city.
You will then all see the patterns of harm done
that we are turning into healing and blooming.
Thank you. [ Speaking native language ]
-Good morning. My name is Miguel Maestas,
I am with El Centro de la Raza,
the Center for People of All Races.
On behalf of our executive director, Estela Ortega,
and our El Centro community,
I'm here to voice our opposition to any efforts
that will utilize EDI and JumpStart
funding for budget shortfalls.
The equity development initiative provides
vital funding to organizations serving communities of color
to address the affordable housing crisis.
But this funding also represents a basic commitment
to our communities,
to support grassroots efforts in developing
generational assets for the people we serve.
For years El Centro, along with many others,
have raised our voice regarding the inequities
that exist and that have been exacerbated by institutional
and structural racism.
Our organization, like many others,
has struggled for decades
to address the needs of our communities
and we have successfully demonstrated
how to combine affordable housing, childcare,
community, and cultural space
and economic development opportunities to uplift families
and build community.
EDI supports the building of infrastructure
and long term assets that serve communities
and enhance local services and creates thriving communities.
EDI is supporting the construction
of a child development center at El Centro's
for Amigos Beloved Community in Columbia City,
which will have art that reflects Afro-Latino,
indigenous, and mestizo cultures of the Latino community.
These outcomes are a testament to EDI's effectiveness
and demonstrate governance at its best.
You have seen the unified voice
that has risen from our communities in this past week.
EDI is an important city initiative because it says
that Black, indigenous, and communities of color are heard,
acknowledged, and supported.
To withhold EDI funding sends the message
that we will no longer be heard, acknowledged, or supported.
Thank you. Mil gracias.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I'm Leslie Morishita
with Interim Community Development Association,
one of the oldest CVC's in the nation,
with deep roots in the Chinatown International District.
The EDI is providing crucial funding
for reopening beloved legacy business and community
cultural anchor, Busch Garden,
Japanese restaurant and karaoke bar
at our latest affordable housing project, Uncle Bob's Place.
Busch Gardens together with the Bob Santos Community Room
will serve as a community living room.
A third place of sorts for socializing,
celebrating and education,
and as a base for community organizing.
This new community gathering place will bolster
that sense of community and camaraderie
that the original Busch Garden exuded,
and that only comes with time and love.
Where was I?
The community glue to help us carry forward Uncle Bob's legacy
of community organizing
and sustain the community for the struggle for the long haul.
The EDI is also helping Interim CDA acquire an at
risk building in the historic part of the CID.
Helping to keep land in community control
and to keep low income residents culturally appropriate,
community serving small businesses and nonprofits
in the CID where they belong.
We've been fighting displacement and gentrification
for over 55 years and we are not going away.
We are proud to stand together with our brother and
sister EDI organizations committed to the struggle
to ensure our city does not balance the budget
on the backs of BIPOC communities,
but rather stands behind his commitments to invest
in these communities.
Thank you.
-Hello, good morning.
My name is Quynh Pham,
I'm the Executive Director with the Friends of Little Saigon,
a place based community development organization working
to anchor the Vietnamese community in Seattle.
Over the past 12 years,
Little Saigon has lost so many of our cultural,
social, and economic assets in the neighborhood.
The only thing that is giving the community a chance
is the ability to own
and control land for Vietnamese Culture and Economic Center,
a highlight of the Little Saigon Landmark Project
that is funded through EDI. It is through this project
that has given us hope for a brighter future.
EDI provided FLS with capacity building funds
to lead the visioning,
develop partnerships and leverage other resources
so that we're equipped to do the right thing.
And it was also EDI's pre development funds
that is allowing us to find a site and consultants
to do things right.
But we've been on this journey for about six years,
so it takes time and true investment in this process
to produce the equitable outcomes
that we're all looking for.
Our project is only made possible by those
who advocated before us and alongside us.
The Friends of Little Saigon
is also part of the Race and Social Equity Task Force,
RSET, a coalition of leaders from the central district,
Southeast Seattle,
and the Chinatown International District,
who represent neighborhoods historically red lines
in that high displacement risk.
RSET was instrumental in the establishment of Seattle's EDI
during a time where many of our cultural neighborhoods
were facing extinction. At its core,
EDI's investment should reflect the city's race
and social equity mission,
and therefore we should continue to find ways to be accountable,
but also expand and resource EDI
proportionately to the growing need
and realize these projects for our communities.
Thank you.
-Good morning. My name is Ayan Musse.
I am here standing with community
and saying that EDI money is community money at its best.
It's money that not only develops our communities
but gives us a fair chance of developing what
we want to see for our community.
We can say all day every day
what's happening with this money?
But I think we heard community members making it quite clear
that this money takes time.
You cannot build a vision overnight, it takes time.
And when you start questioning money
that was for our community,
you're letting us know what Seattle you want
and who the teams are that you want.
When we talk about redevelopment,
let's be quite honest,
the people that were already developing,
are still going to continue to develop
and they're getting tax breaks all day every day.
Again, this is our money.
I need our money to be our money.
We're not asking, we're letting you know.
We're also letting you know,
don't get comfortable in your positions,
whether you're our mayor or our council.
Get real uncomfortable with being uncomfortable
and understand that community money is exactly that,
community money.
We're not asking permission.
I repeat, we're not asking permission.
We're letting you know, we're asking for accountability.
And we're asking for it in a real way.
Don't say something
and then try to weave your way back out of it.
You've done it one too many times.
Black people have over and over been told and retold something.
Natives have been over and over promised and re-promised.
Not this time though.
We're letting you know the buck stops today
and we are getting our needs met,
whether you like it or not.
And if it means we vote you're behind out,
be prepared for that.
I have absolutely no problem letting you know,
some of you counsel people that are very comfortable,
get uncomfortable.
And some of y'all are running.
Recognize we see you,
how you vote, how you move, it's going to tell us something.
That includes our nice Mayor.
Time's getting ready to be up for you too, my brother.
Time's ticking. Times of the essence.
So our money is our money.
Please, hands off of all of our money.
-Respected council members, my name is Mike Tulee.
I'm the CEO of United Indians of All Tribes Foundation
and I'm here to tell you
that utilizing JumpStart funds to counter the city's
pending $250 million budget deficit is a massive mistake.
As we all know, the general purpose of JumpStart
was to fund initiatives, such as EDI,
as part of the city's economic development plan.
That being said, let me say
that we need to protect EDI's investments into our community,
not eliminate or reduce.
EDI drives economic growth by and for local communities,
especially those that passed city policies marginalized
for decades and decades on end.
EDI creates jobs, supports local businesses,
and makes Sustainable Development real.
And just to give you a little bit of perspective,
we were fortunate to receive EDI funds.
With these funds
we were able to complete the following
important building tasks.
We were able to install much needed restrooms,
added ADA water fountains, replaced sewer line sections,
replaced soffits,
re-installed all cavities needed within our building,
replaced doors and large windows,
added ADA motion sensor doors, outdoor and LED lighting,
replaced HVAC system, installed an ADA lift.
All of these items were not wants, they were needs.
Without these items our building would have been closed today,
had it not been for EDI funds.
Please know that austerity does not work.
We must invest into our minority communities.
Thank you.
-Good morning everyone.
My name is Ubax Gardheere,
I am currently the Director of Investment and Fund
Development for the Cultural Space Agency.
Mission driven cultural real estate development company
that was chartered by the City of Seattle.
We're only two years old,
and before that I was the Division Director
for the Equitable Development Initiative at Office
of Planning and Community Development.
At OPCD we implemented the Equitable Development Fund
and anti-displacement policies to ensure communities of color
who have been historically marginalized
have a seat at the table.
This was co-created by the Race and Social Equity Task Force
before the Comprehensive Plan update was finalized.
An equity analysis was done on the Comprehensive Plan update,
and no matter what growth strategy
the city was going to go with in 20 years,
it was evident, data showed that the communities of color
were not going to be here anymore.
A vision that was written by the city itself included that.
And I want to say,
everybody's talking about racial equity, that is a given.
But EDI has actually already accomplished a lot.
100 million dollars to 45 projects.
Leverage $300 million in less than four years.
One of the projects I was able to visit
before I left is right here in Pioneer Square,
Chief Seattle club, affordable housing, health clinic.
Do you know that you have to raise 50% of the non-residential
before you even qualify to get housing money?
It was co-created by seven directors,
seven directors in Seattle,
in partnership with advisory board and
Race and Social Equity Task Force.
Ethiopian community of Seattle is done.
Filipino community of Seattle is done.
And let's think about 2020 during the racial reckoning,
three city owned properties was transferred
to the Black community.
Let's not forget it's not about district two,
it's about Seattle,
and BIPOC communities,
especially Black and indigenous communities
cannot live in Seattle anymore.
And this funding is actually on the box of!
As we were sitting in our,
in ivory towers, virtual ivory towers,
the community was organized and was deploying money
when COVID hit, so you know that it come from our funding.
A bunch of affordable housing has been already done.
And this is your own, real estate doesn't wait for us.
And if you don't do an RFP process,
if you don't push for the capacity building,
how are they supposed to do the work?
They are developers, they know what they want,
they vision this.
So I'm not going to continue talking about this,
but this is about equitable economic development.
Thank you so much.
And as my sisters here said,
the executive, we are also coming for you, my brother.
You represented District Two
before you became the Mayor of Seattle,
and you are up for reelection next year.
We are organized, as you noticed,
3,000 people within a weekend wrote letters.
200 people.
I waited for three hours, I could not even speak.
So I'm going to leave it at that
and I'm going to invite one of the champion of District Two
for, and Councilmember Morales to the Port right now,
because Rainier Beach Action Coalition was one
of those initial projects,
it needed $3.2 million to acquire their site.
We first gave them a million.
You're saying, why are they sitting on the money?
There is not enough.
So I'm not going to continue come to the Port.
And Councilmember Morales.
Oh, yes, and we have Urban Family.
-Thank you. Thank you, sister. I won't be long before you.
My name is Paul Patu, I'm part of Urban Family.
My wife and I run an organization
in Southeast Seattle.
My message to the council is simple.
Earth, Wind, and Fire.
EDI is really about the ownership of the Earth.
It is the dirt beneath our ground,
it is what gives life and it stabilizes the people
that live on the land.
Without Earth where are we?
How will our families root? My message to the council is,
do not be like the wind that is swayed to and fro.
Vote no on the EDI amendments. The EDI amendment,
the EDI initiative was formed for the people by the people.
We need that initiative to continue the funding,
to continue to flow.
And last but not least, fire.
If you do not vote in favor of the people,
the natural result is fire.
A consuming fire.
My last thing is I want to leave with you a quote,
it's an African proverb that has to do with
how we treat each other.
How we treat the people in our village.
How we treat the least of us.
It is important beyond what the council decides
that we continue to organize
and we continue to put people in seats
that will vote for the people's agenda.
It's important that we continue to come together like this,
but not only when it's time to fight,
but also in times of peace we need to be organizing.
Every season, in and out of season.
We need to be ready to put people in place
that will vote on our behalf.
Last but not least,
this African proverb really touched my heart when I heard it
but it was basically about when a young person is not loved
he will burn the village down just to feel its warmth.
It's important that we pull together in this time
and come together for the things
that are important to our communities.
Thank you.
-Good morning, everyone.
It's great to be here.
Joining this broad coalition of community members,
organizations, advocates, to demand
that the city invest in our Black and Brown communities.
I know that these EDI partners have already discussed
how and why their programs are important,
why this particular program is important.
They've already discussed
why their development projects take time
and have already asked, I'm sure,
why EDI is expected to produce faster
than market rate projects. They may even have asked
why investments in communities of color
is more closely scrutinized than public investment
in South Lake Union or the waterfront,
or any other part of the city.
Or why OPCD as a department is held to accountability
in a different way than other city departments.
As a city we have an obligation to be fair
and consistent across programs and across departments
and we can't play games of divide and conquer,
like taking money away from communities and organizations
that support people of color.
Seattle is the 23rd wealthiest city in the world.
It's the seventh richest city in America,
according to independent research.
There are 54,200 millionaires living in Seattle,
that means there were over 54,000 people in this city
with liquid investable wealth of over a million dollars.
There's also 130 centa-millionaires.
Anybody know what that is?
Somebody who has over $100 million in investable wealth.
And by the way, we also have 11 billionaires in the city.
So we have all this wealth concentrated in our city
and the number of millionaires here is growing.
But over the last 10 years,
we've seen the cost of rent almost double,
and we've seen the number of people living
in our streets skyrocket.
How is that equitable or fair, or just?
And how does that even make sense?
Despite the significant increase in our city's
millionaire population,
our city is essentially facing bankruptcy in several key areas.
Our public schools are about to close
and our general fund has a $250 million deficit.
It pays to be rich in Seattle
and it is very expensive to be poor here.
But it doesn't have to be this way.
When the council passed the JumpStart Payroll Expense tax
in 2021, we brought in $248 million,
and every single year since then,
we have relied on that fund
to invest in the Equitable Development Initiative
and in Green New Deal Initiatives,
and other programs that make the city livable for all of us.
If there's anything I know for sure,
it's that this city won't survive
if we don't implement more progressive revenue in the city.
We are staring down the barrel of an austerity budget
and what we learned this past week
is that when budget cuts are discussed,
programs that support Black and Brown
communities are always first on the chopping block,
and that's not going to stand.
I think we've all seen from this community,
from these partners, from our constituents,
from the people who are living in this housing,
the people who are taking advantage
of the affordable commercial opportunities,
the people who are using the childcare facilities
that are built by these programs.
This is important work.
It's not frivolous, it's not extra, it's basic,
and this is what we should be doing with this funding.
So I want to thank all these community members
for being here,
for stepping into this fight for a better city for all of us.
We need the Mayor and the rest of the council
to show bold leadership and to demonstrate our commitment,
our commitment as a city,
the city of Seattle's commitment
to not balancing this budget on the backs of our Black
and Brown neighbors.
Thank you all for being here.
Thanks to all of you for fighting.
The fight's just starting,
but I want to thank you all for being here.
And we will continue this conversation
throughout the rest of the year. Thank you so much, everybody.
-Thank you again to all the speakers and organizations,
and everyone who spent their weekends organizing.
That is the power of our community.
And thank you for showing up today.
It was early, it was chaotic, we love y'all.
Parking was a mess.
We are united in our call on the city and the Mayor
to not balance the budget on the backs of our communities.
If that's not clear today,
I don't know how much more clear we can be.
We cannot continue the status quo
that sets our communities up to be the first in line to get cut,
but then the last in line for resources.
Hands off EDI, hands off JumpStart investments.
The city is watching. The community is watching.
And we are urging our elected leaders to do the right thing.
This is being on the right side of history.
Thank you for your time today.
We will take some questions.
I'm going to invite my executive director up here
to help field some questions from the media.
If there are any questions.
-We'll do five or six questions from the media.
Just, can you state your name,
what media you're representing, and then your question?
-[ Speaking indistinctly ]
I'm a community member, my name is Castill Hightower.
[ Speaking indistinctly ]
...to just be in solidarity with you all.
I don't know if you all are aware...
[ Speaking indistinctly ]
I just was -- I'm just here to be in solidarity with you all
and to thank you for all your hard work
and to just say thank you.
I don't know if you all are aware of what happened
in March of this year
when Seattle City Council cut funds for victims
of police violence.
It was a program that I was the program manager for
and it put my family into a spiral of helplessness.
So I see a trend of the Seattle City continuing
as you all have continued to say,
balance the budget off of the backs of BIPOC communities,
off of community resources, off of things
that the community needs to have to live and thrive.
And so I just wanted to be here in solidarity,
ask you all if you're aware of that,
and see if y'all are open to any levels of collaboration,
as it seems like we are both fighting for the same things.
-Castill Hightower.
And our speakers, you all can also speak to any questions
that are asked, organically.
-[Speaking indistinctly] PBS.
Obviously Councilmember Rivera responded to last Tuesday
the big showing at the Public Comment,
but lots of folks also said that
the new amendment that she introduced,
it doesn't touch the funding that is sort of --
has new reporting requirements that --
we'll refer to that as burdensome.
I'm just wondering if somebody could expound upon,
say, where the coalition's at on that new amendment
and why you worry about it.
-I actually find it really interesting
that when it's communities of color that get the funding,
we're always questioning them.
Why is that not the same for the taxpayer
that you're giving funding to?
Because when you give a tax break,
that's speaking for itself.
So as much as I agree that there should be oversight,
we need to be honest of who's not getting oversighted.
You have to understand,
I think every person here explained to you
in different ways the stages that the money is at for them.
Not everybody's at the same stage.
So when you look at it, what are we really looking at?
And if you don't have the staffing,
what does that look like?
Does that look like the community
that need the money don't get the money?
So we really need to be careful what we write
and what we think
before we start questioning native community members
whose land you're still standing on
and haven't given any accreditation to,
and Black people who you've already promised money to
that you have no intention of ever giving.
-Thank you, Auntie.
I'll just also add that OPCD and EDI are already over extended
and this level of like extra reporting in scrutinization
could be completely bypassed by the EDI team
just giving a presentation to the city council.
And our concern is that additional scrutiny and
reporting on OPCD and EDI would eventually trickle down
to more barriers for community.
Yeah, thank you.
Guy. -Guy [indistinct]
So we've seen Maritza Rivera kind of
blame misinformation for the backlash.
We've also seen other council members hold
these like 101 council meetings
just to learn the basics of governance.
Do you think leadership council is not up to that --
Like this is out of their depth
in terms of addressing the cities challenges?
And also do you think, again,
do you think they kind of see a double standard
where they're willing to work with corporations
who get the payout bond but they're not necessarily
willing to talk to communities of color in Seattle.
-Thanks, Guy.
-Can I just interrupt, just a little bit?
Thank you. That's a really great question.
Councilmember Rivera was with the Durkan administration.
When EDI and the Safe Strategic Investment Fund,
she was actually part of that.
There is no misinformation.
What has been written is right there.
So when people put things in place and do that,
I think you need to like either say, hey,
I made a mistake and I wasn't informed.
All these projects have been asking for meetings with them
and they didn't bother to meet with them
or go visit their projects.
So that's what I wanted to say.
And I want to add, as far as the capacity building is concerned,
developers, when they're in meetings, they're paid.
But this groups, they are talking about real estate,
negotiating for themselves,
but yet they're not resource to be there.
So all the capacity building contracts
that are two years OPCD
and the executive can direct OPCD
to actually push their money to the people
who are doing the job. -Thank you, Ubax.
Guy, I'll also add that
the executive froze the RFP in January,
and so it's not just the city council,
EDI has not been able to put money into the community,
and that is a decision directly by the executives.
The Mayor, the Mayor. Any other questions?
-Mayor Bruce Harrell.
-Mayor Bruce Harrell has frozen the RFP, everyone.
All right. Are there any other questions?
All right, thank you.
-I also want to add that this funding is capital funding.
Facebook capacity building redevelopment,
$250,000 for redevelopment,
$100 million for affordable housing.
Wyking, you can speak to that.
It takes seven years for affordable housing projects
in Rainier Beach to get access to Office of Housing funding.
When Ethiopian community of Seattle
was ready to move forward
because their community raised the money,
we were told that they need to go back to the line
and wait for seven years. They didn't listen to them.
It took them five years during COVID
and they broke ground last summer.
-I'm going to pause questions actually,
Wyking from Africatown Community Land Trust is here.
And he'll be our last speaker.
-Good morning. Can you hear me?
-Can you actually hold it? -All right.
Can you hear me? All right.
K. Wyking Garrett,
third generation community builder
from the central district. I currently serve
as President and CEO of Africatown Community Land Trust
and a founding member of King County Equity Now.
It's unfortunate to see the city council and Mayor's
administration moving in the same directions
that we see happening at the federal government
with the Supreme Court with attacks
and trying to dial back policies and initiatives
and interventions
to bring some equity and to mitigate centuries and decades
of systemic structural anti-black racism.
The question we have to ask is, is it one Seattle for us too?
Is it one Seattle, a world class city
that's inclusive of the communities of the world
that have made this city or is it one class Seattle?
This is really what is at stake.
The small amount of resources and initiatives
that have been established to repair harm
are now under attack.
And we see that a number of these projects,
many of these projects are black led projects,
which are projects which are striving to make sure
that our community can be a part of the future of this city
as we have been a part of it for over 140 years.
So this really appears to be a significant policy step,
policy direction back to the status quo
of Jim Crow apartheid in Seattle.
So is it one Seattle
or maybe one black person left in Seattle?
That's what we're trying to figure out,
is what these policies are about.
And it also, it seems to be a significant contradiction
or complete opposite of what's said about the funding
for police that are not able to spend their money in time.
Right? What they call the ghost cops, right?
They're going to advocate and allocate more money
for them to have,
even though the money they have hasn't been spent.
But yet when it comes to community creating spaces,
which create safe spaces, which increases public safety,
they take a completely different approach, contradictory.
So we heard a lot of the candidates,
city council candidates come to us in community
and said they're really going to be focused
on continuing to work to make sure that communities,
all of our communities are included.
But again, it's when the rubber hits the road, the policies,
and striving to balance the budget on the backs of blacks
that the budget has been created in this country
for 400 years is again,
seems to be anti-black and anti-inclusion,
and anti-progressive, and anti-liberal,
or giving us the freedom to be in this community.
So the failure to include all communities,
to include our community,
and the economic opportunity and the economic growth,
is the greatest threat to public safety,
and that has been demonstrated over time within the city
where we see those who are most often victims
and arrested
as perpetrators are not thriving economically within the city.
So that's the purpose
of Equitable Development Initiative.
I was a founding member
of the Race and Social Equity Task Force
that helped co-create this initiative as a step.
A step towards making Seattle more inclusive.
So again,
I leave the city council to really consider
much more strongly -- and the Mayor,
is it one Seattle for us too?
Thank you.
-Again, thank you all so much for being here.
We just want to close by reading off the names
of all of our speakers, organizations,
and also all of our co-sponsors for today,
many of whom weren't able to speak
but wanted to show solidarity with us.
So we had the Duwamish tribe, Cultivate South Park,
the Khmer community, El Centro de la Raza,
Interims CDA, Friends of Little Saigon, Africatown,
New Hope Missionary Baptist, Whose Streets?
Our Streets!, United Indians of All Tribes,
and Councilman Morales.
This event was co-sponsored
by the Church Council of Greater Seattle,
Communities Passageways, The Cultural Space Agency,
Multicultural Community Coalition, Puget Sound Sage,
SCIDpda, The South East Effective Development,
the Transit Riders Union, the Wing Luke Museum,
the Indigenous Collective, and 350 Seattle.
Thank you all so much for today.
Get home safe. Bye.