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First, I just want to say
thank you to everyone

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who helped to get us here.

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Thank you to Council Member
Foster, who unfortunately

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is tied up at a council
meeting for her partnership.

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Thank you to City Attorney
Evans for your partnership.

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And thank you to all of the
renters and advocates and

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union members who helped
to get us to this place.

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Thank you also to the landlords
and housing industry folks

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who came to the table.

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Thank you to Seattle Department
of Construction and Inspections

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and other departments who
worked so hard to make

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this legislation a reality.

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And thank you to my team in
the mayor's office, especially

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wanting to call out Matt Carom.

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This legislation is such a team
effort, and it's so great to

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be in a room with so many of the
people who made it possible.

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So this is an especially,
as I think many of you

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know, proud and meaningful
moment for me personally.

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Before stepping into the
mayor's office when I was

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working with the Transit
Riders Union, starting in

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2021, we joined together
with many other community

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organizations to form the Stay
Housed, Stay Healthy Coalition.

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And we were in a moment
coming out of the pandemic

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where eviction moratoriums
were lifting and rents

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started just shooting up.

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And we saw that renters across
our region were in this new

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period of extreme vulnerability,
vulnerable to eviction,

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vulnerable to instability.

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And we worked not just
in Seattle, but across

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King County in multiple
jurisdictions to pass stronger

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renter protection laws.

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We had a lot of success doing
things like requiring longer

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notice of a significant rent
increase, limiting move-in fees.

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And as we were doing that work,
knocking on renters' doors,

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talking with organizations
that were providing support

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for people on the
edge, we heard so many

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stories about junk fees.

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So many stories about
random admin fees when

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you go to renew your lease
or lease signing fees.

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Stories about being charged
for valet garbage service.

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And of course pet rent.

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So many fees.

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And so it is such a
proud moment for me

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to be able to champion
this legislation

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now from the mayor's office.

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And I just want to thank
the Stay Housed, Stay

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Healthy Coalition and
people from all the

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organizations here today
for being at the table

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and co-creating
this legislation.

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It is so strong
because of the work

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that you all did.

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And thanks to that work, yes.

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There's another applause
line coming up here.

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Thanks to your work, starting on
July 1st of next year, we are

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saying goodbye to those fees.

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This legislation obviously is
about fairness and transparency

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in the rental market.

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It's about knowing how
much you're going to pay

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when you sign your lease.

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And it's about affordability.

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It's about being able to
actually find an apartment

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that you can afford because
you know how much it will cost

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before you sign that lease.

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But I really think this is
bigger than that, right?

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We live in a country that is
built around homeownership

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and where most people's only
opportunity to build wealth,

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to build intergenerational
wealth, and to have security for

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themselves in their retirement
comes from owning a home.

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Like, that's the way
we've set up our system.

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And that's a reality, and that
means that it's very important

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that we are trying to make
homeownership more affordable,

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that we're investing in
affordable homeownership

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programs so that more people
have that opportunity.

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But also, we live in a
majority renter city now, and

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that's not going to change.

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Like, that's going to keep
going in that direction.

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And that means that we
need to also affirm that

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renters deserve stability.

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And I say this as a renter
myself, someone who's

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going to be a renter for
the foreseeable future.

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Renters deserve stability,
they deserve to be able to be

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rooted in a neighborhood,
to love their community, to

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want to send their kids to
those schools and to keep

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their kids at those schools,
and to live for decades in

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the same neighborhood
if they want to, right?

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Renting should not be
synonymous with precarity.

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That's what this
legislation is about.

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To build this legislation,
our team reached out to

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jurisdictions and experts
across Washington and

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even across the country,
from Olympia to

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Maryland and beyond.

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And the result is one of
the strongest junk fee bans

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in the whole country.

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Yeah.

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And of course, strong policies
only matter when they're backed

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up by strong enforcement.

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That is why this
legislation includes new

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tools for the Seattle
Department of Construction

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and Inspections, along with
dedicated funding to make sure

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that these protections
actually work in practice.

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We are also so proud to have the
partnership of City Attorney

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Evans to make sure that
when landlords decide

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to break this law, there
is accountability.

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My administration will
continue to deliver policies

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to make living in
Seattle more affordable.

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And I'm proud of this
work and so grateful

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to everyone who's
played a part in it.

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And with that, I was
supposed to hand it over

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to Council Member Foster, and
I don't actually know who

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I'm now handing it over to.

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And with that, I would
love to hand it over

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to City Attorney Evans and
thank her for her partnership

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in developing this legislation.

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Yeah.

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Hi, everyone.

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My name is Erika Evans,
and I'm your elected

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Seattle City Attorney.

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I want to thank Mayor Wilson
and Council Member Foster

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and all of you here
today for your work

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on this such important
legislation.

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It's literally going
to make a difference

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in the lives of so many folks.

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Myself, growing up, my family,
we moved eight times before I

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was 12 and understanding the
impact of housing instability,

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it is so real to so many
people in our city.

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Over 50%, as you all know,

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folks that live in Seattle
are renters and we need

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to be doing everything
within our power to

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protect renters.

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And that's exactly
what this legislation

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does. It's going to
protect our tenants from

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exploitation and give
them transparency.

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You know what it's going to

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also do?

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It's going to protect
the good landlords

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that want to play fair by
the rules and give them

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clarity and rewards on not
having to compete with

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deceptive landlords
doing bad work.

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And for those
deceptive landlords

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that want to do bad work, you
know what you want to nickel

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and dime our renters you want
to mess around you're going to

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find out the city attorney's
office is going to be

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very happy to see you in
court and you're going

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to be the one, guess
what, paying surprise

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fees. We're all
in this together.

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This is our city and
together with this

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fairness, this transparency,
this integrity, it's the

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real foundation of strong
community and a strong

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Seattle. So thank you
everyone and congratulations.

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Thank you so much City Attorney
Evans and now I'm going to

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turn it over to Kate Rubin
of Be:Seattle and the Stay

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Housed, Stay Healthy Coalition.

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Yeah, it's okay.

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Good afternoon.

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Five years ago,
as she mentioned,

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Katie Wilson brought the Stay
Housed, Stay Healthy Coalition

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together to fight for
housing stability

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and stronger renter protections.

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So it's particularly
special to be here today

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with Mayor Wilson to sign
a new protection into law.

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For years, landlords
have used junk fees to

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skirt renter protections,
conceal and drive up

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the cost of housing, and
extract as much as possible

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from renters.

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Banning these
predatory fees gives

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families more predictability
and control over what

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they pay for their homes.

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I want to thank Mayor Wilson
and Councilmember Foster

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for their leadership and
their genuine partnership

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with the coalition.

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Karim Levitas, Matt
McIntosh, and Sage Lawrence

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for the many hours they spent
working side by side with us,

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going back and forth over every
part of this legislation,

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and also our many Stay Housed,
Stay Healthy coalition partners

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who were there every
step of the way

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and carried this campaign
across the finish line.

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This win proves that we can
take on powerful interests.

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We don't have to accept
every new way corporations

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find to profit off of
the things people need

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to survive.

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We can choose people's
ability to afford their

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lives over another revenue
stream for a corporation,

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and we can expect our elected
leaders to use the power we've

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given them to materially
improve people's lives.

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We're energized by what we've
accomplished together, and

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we're really excited
for what comes next.

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Thank you.

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Go Kate.

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Thank you so much, Kate.

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Okay, and then finally, I'm
going to pass over to Lam

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Ho of the Transit Riders
Union and Stay Housed,

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Stay Healthy Coalition.

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It's such a great day, everyone.

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So I hope that you'll
indulge me as I share with

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you my existential crisis.

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So in November, so this is less
than 10 months ago, I met with

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then the head of the Transit
Riders Union to decide whether

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or not I was going to leave
being a lawyer, which I had

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done for almost 20 years
to go back to being a

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community organizer.

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And based upon the vision,

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the commitment, and the
passion that I experienced

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when I met with Mayor Wilson,

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I decided I was going to
leave law and become an

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organizer again.

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There definitely have been days

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when I wonder if I made
the right decision.

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And you know what?

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Today is not one of them.

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I spent 18 years
representing tenants

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who would get completely
trampled in courtrooms,

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in housing court, or
tenants who actually

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could not find lawyers.

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And a lot of times,
we'd take on a case,

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and generally, we'd
basically reject 100 cases

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for every one case that we took.

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And some of those cases,
the law was just bad.

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Like, tenants did not have--
this is in Chicago, where the

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tenant protections actually
are not as strong as we

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have here in Seattle.

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And so for 18 years, I toiled
trying to make a difference,

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trying to make an
impact for renters.

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In less than 10 months,

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Seattle has passed a bold
vision that not only protects

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renters from junk fees
so comprehensively,

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one of the strongest
in the country,

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but as an attorney, I
particularly appreciate

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that the enforcement mechanism,
thanks to Attorney Evans,

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is the strongest of any tenant
protections in our state.

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It's incredible in
less than 10 months

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versus the 18 years

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that I worked with tenants

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it seems like I made a
really good decision

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so I'm standing here

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in addition to my
existential crisis

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so enormously grateful
for the opportunity to be

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part of what has happened So
enormously grateful to Mayor

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Wilson for actually giving me a
job, the Transit Riders Union.

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So grateful to Council
Member Foster and the

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other council members who
voted 8-0 on this fee.

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Actually, I want a special shout
out to Council Member Lin.

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So one of the things that
is incredibly unique to the

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enforcement mechanism is Council
Member Lin worked with us to

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craft a self-advocacy option.

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So not only does this
enforcement mechanism allow

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for attorneys, but it allows
for tenants to defend their

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rights, to protect their
rights without attorneys.

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And speaking as an attorney,
that's an incredibly

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powerful achievement.

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So again, I'm just so
grateful to the Stay Housed,

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Stay Healthy Coalition.

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So Kate, my partner in crime,
the much better half of

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the leadership for the Stay
Housed, Stay Healthy Coalition,

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I appreciate everything that
you've done so tirelessly,

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so much, and every single
organization that was a part

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of this, because you all have
demonstrated to me that the

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power of community, the power
of organizing, working with

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the mayor's office, working
with Karim, working with Matt,

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what we achieved is so much
more powerful, so much more

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efficient and faster than what
I could have done as a lawyer.

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And I thank you so much for
reminding me that I probably

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made the right decision.

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So with that, I just want to
also just want to say there's

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so much more for us to do.

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And I'm so looking forward
to working with everyone

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in this room to protect tenant
protections for at least

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three more years working in
partnership with Mayor Wilson.

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Thank you so much, everyone.

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Okay, we're going to do this.

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Can I have both signing in?