0:16 All right, good afternoon.
0:18 The June 16th meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.
0:21 I'm Joy Hollingsworth, Council President.
0:24 Will the clerk please call the roll?
0:26 Councilmember Foster.
0:29 Councilmember Juarez.
0:33 Councilmember Kettle.
0:42 Councilmember Rivera.
0:47 Councilmember Strauss.
0:50 Councilmember Foster.
0:53 Council President Hollings.
0:58 Councilmember Lynn is excused and Councilmember Warriors' excuse until she gets here.
1:03 If there's no uh hearing no objection, oh, excuse me, if there's no objection, uh Councilmember Lynn will be excused from today's city council meeting.
1:12 Hearing no objection, Councilmember Lynn is excused from today's council meeting.
1:16 Uh for the record, Councilmember Wars has joined us for the meeting as well.
1:20 Uh, colleagues, today the council will present a proclamation recognizing June 16th to be Connor Dossa Holland Day.
1:28 First, I will share some comments, and then I will open the floor to comments uh to my colleagues before suspending the rules.
1:36 Um, and we're also going to take a roll call to sign the proclamation as well.
1:42 Um, so uh so before you today is a proclamation for your consideration that would proclaim June 16th as Connor Dossa Hollanday in the city of Seattle.
1:53 Connor was born on May 31st, 2001.
1:56 He was a proud South with the F, South End kid who had beautiful blue eyes, blondish hair, a heart stopping smile, and a heart of gold.
2:05 Connor brought humor, levitativity, joy into every room that he entered.
2:10 He was kind, he also made people feel very welcomed.
2:14 He was a son, a brother, a grandson, he was a boyfriend, he was a student athlete, he was a mentor, and he was a friend who embodied leadership and service to others.
2:25 Connor was a proud graduate of Rainer Beach High School, where he served as class president, football captain, and honor student.
2:33 He later attended the University of Washington, pursuing his dream of becoming an attorney and using his talents to advocate for justice for his community.
2:42 One of Connor's peers asked him two questions.
2:44 I read this in an article.
2:46 What is your future?
2:47 Connor responded, very simple change the world.
2:51 Our systems are wrong.
2:52 I'll figure that out later, but it will be one step at a time.
2:56 That answer tells you everything you need to know about who Connor was.
3:00 He had faith, and he knew it was a process.
3:04 Connor's life was tragically cut short on Mother's Day on May 10th, 2020.
3:09 I had the opportunity to coach Connor when he was in middle school back in sixth and seventh grade.
3:15 And back then, Connor was still trying to figure out who he was.
3:18 He had a little bit of swag.
3:20 Uh he had a buzz cut, so he didn't have that beautiful hair that he had to the side.
3:25 He was rocking that side swoosh uh in in high school, but he was curious and he asked questions.
3:32 So you couldn't just tell Connor, rebound and be strong with the ball.
3:36 He wanted to know why.
3:38 He wanted to understand how it impacted the team.
3:41 He wanted to understand the bigger picture.
3:44 Looking back, that curiosity became one of his greatest strengths.
3:47 He was always learning, he was always trying to understand systems, people, and how he could contribute where he fit in.
3:54 And one thing that we knew about Connor was that he loved black women.
3:58 And I say love black women, and black women love them some Connor too.
4:05 Little white chocolate didn't hurt nobody, right?
4:08 We know that was Connor.
4:10 We're gonna be see, we're gonna be real up here, right?
4:13 Um his smile, his haircut, his confidence, his personality.
4:18 He had the recipe that worked.
4:20 But what I know for certain is that Connor was a great gift to our community.
4:25 He was a great gift to Raynor Beach.
4:26 He was a great gift to Seattle.
4:28 And I want to share a few words from coaches who knew him through the after school program that I worked at.
4:33 Coach Josh Martinez said, Connor was a young man who always radiated positive vibes, always meeting anyone and everyone with sincere friendly energy and a welcoming smile.
4:45 He was gracious and kind, and that vitality permeated everyone, uh every space that he entered.
4:51 His character made those around him happy, smile and laugh, and I became a better coach and a better person, having spent time around an upbeat aura that Connor gave everyone.
5:03 People like Connor are never forgotten.
4:59 Last but not least, Coach Zach Townsend said.
5:10 Connor was a young man who lit up a room with this smile, had an infectious personality and was a leader amongst his peers, whether it was in after school programs, tutoring sessions, or on the basketball court, he was always working his hardest to maximize his potential and lead by example.
5:24 His sense of humor and ability to engage with others in a positive way is what I remember most about Connor.
5:30 Today we are honored to be joined by Connor's family, his mother, Alicia, and his father, James, uh, his grandmother, Miss Linda, his sister Kira, his niece, um uh uh Giselle.
5:45 Sorry, Giselle, his brother uh Alex is here.
5:49 Um I know there's more family members, so I apologize.
5:51 I know I miss some more, and I know that the family will tell us who.
5:54 Um, but there are friends and loved ones here who continue to carry on his legacy forward.
5:59 Uh to the Dasa Holland family, thank you for sharing Connor with all of us.
6:03 Thank you for turning unimaginable grief into purpose, advocacy, and love for the community.
6:09 And so today, colleagues, through this proclamation, we take one small step in ensuring that his story, his impact, and legacy are never forgotten.
6:17 So, colleagues, I respectfully ask for your support on this proclamation for June 16th as Connor Dasa Holland Day.
6:24 And I will stop now to see if there's anybody who would like to say any few words before we call the role for signatures.
6:34 You can say how you love black women too, because Connor.
6:37 No, I'm just playing.
6:39 Um, we will now take the role uh who would like to sign on to the proclamation, and then we will suspend the rules and present it to the family for a few words.
6:49 Councilmember Foster.
6:52 Councilmember Juarez.
6:59 Councilmember Kettle.
7:04 Councilmember Rafara.
7:09 Councilmember Strauss.
7:12 Council President Hollingsworth.
7:15 Eight signatures will be affixed.
7:18 Uh, thank you, colleagues.
7:19 We will now suspend the rules because now we have proclaimed it to be Connor Dassa Holland Day.
7:53 Oh, this is uh, this is pretty awesome.
7:57 Speaking to the mic.
8:00 Um when Connor was killed.
8:04 Um my biggest worry is that he'd be forgotten, you know.
8:08 But like this is amazing.
8:12 We um we've known Joy a long time, so this is this is amazing.
8:18 This makes me feel good.
8:19 Um, makes his family feel good.
8:21 Um, we uh we lost a shining star.
8:24 I thought for sure one day he'd be up here with you guys.
8:28 He was he was amazing.
8:30 Um we miss him dearly.
8:32 It's been six years.
8:33 His murder is still unsolved.
8:37 We uh Seattle, we need to do better.
8:40 That's that's pretty much all I have to say.
8:42 Um, he's had probably six friends since his passing that have been shot and killed in Seattle.
8:49 Um, there's a there's definitely an epidemic going on with gun violence, and we need to do better.
8:57 Um, we still live in Rainer Beach.
8:59 He was shot in Rainer Beach.
9:01 People ask, how come you guys haven't left.
9:04 We are Rainer Beach.
9:06 Connor was raining a beach.
9:07 What how can we leave our home?
9:10 Um the support we got from our neighborhood was beyond anything you can imagine.
9:18 I mean, those are our people.
9:19 So, you know, we're here, we're not going anywhere.
9:23 Um, but thank you guys.
9:25 Um, I just wanted to come and say thank you guys.
9:37 This is uh, well, first, thank you to my family and everyone that's here.
9:41 We uh like my dad said, we've got an overwhelming support ever since we lost Connor.
9:46 Um we lost him so close to his birthday in the month of May, and around our other siblings as well, that this gives us a day to actually be joyous and happy.
9:55 If I cry, it's happy tears.
9:57 Um we miss him a lot, and I'm wearing the shirt of our neighborhood, and it represents part of him because I knew he would have worked in the neighborhood one day doing something with after he graduated.
10:10 You know, I thought he was gonna be not just recognized by us as someone great but recognized by the city, and this gives us that opportunity.
10:20 So thank you again.
10:43 You gonna stay with me?
10:49 Uh my name is Alicia Dassa.
10:53 You use that microphone, whichever one works.
10:55 This one's for the for the shorter people in the room.
11:02 I'll start by saying thank you.
11:07 Um I do a lot of public speaking, and you wouldn't know that right now.
11:17 Uh but I grew up in Seattle.
11:27 And Jimmy grew up in Seattle.
11:33 We made a conscious decision to raise our kids here.
11:40 Sorry, we pull it together.
11:44 I remember coming home from road trips or just being gone.
11:49 And the smell of the city and the rain, and when you drive up and see the R on the brewery, you know you're home.
12:04 And I remember when Tullys took over the brewery, and I was horrified.
12:11 And I remember thinking, how will I know I'm home?
12:20 I never wanted to move from here.
12:24 I would always go on trips and be so happy to come back because Seattle's always been home.
12:34 When Connor was killed, we had a family meeting to decide if we would stay in the house because he was killed right in front of our house.
12:45 And nobody wanted to leave.
12:48 And so six years later we're still there.
12:54 And six years later, it's been about I would say at least 12 funerals for kids that have stayed the night at our house, for kids that played sports with our kids.
13:09 And most recently, this last Saturday, Connor's best friend, who was also his birthday twin.
13:21 I've run out of things to say.
13:24 I've run out of a shock.
13:26 I've run out of tears, which is weird because I'm crying right now.
13:38 But as parents who lose their kids, you have to decide every day that you're gonna get out of bed.
13:48 You have to decide every day that you're still gonna be a person and a parent and a wife, and go to work and do all the things that you have to do to make the rest of your life work.
14:03 And even though you're making that decision, Connor's still just right here, like in your peripheral all day because you think about it constantly, and it's such a strange thing to have this idea that you're gonna see your kid graduate from college, see your kid get married, and have grandkids, and our granddaughter's here today, in case you missed her, she's in the front row.
14:41 Um he didn't ever got to be her uncle, and that's hard.
14:55 Connor was bright, he stood out.
15:01 He loved this city, he loved Rainier Beach, it's our home, and it's still our home.
15:13 And the city of Seattle is still home, but it's not the home we grew up in, we have to do better.
15:28 We have to do something different, I don't want to sound like the old person that says our music was better than the new music, but what I will say is I used to be okay with my kids riding the bus.
15:51 Now we pay $13 a day for our daughter to take an Uber to school.
15:55 It's two blocks from our house, because I can't let her walk.
16:09 We have amazing community support.
16:12 And standing here in front of you today, I know that we have your support as well.
16:19 Thank you for making us feel like Connor won't be forgotten, and also just remember that when all these kids are being killed, the South End matters as much as the rest of the city.
16:49 We should be celebrated for what we are.
16:54 93 languages spoken in 98118.
16:58 One of the most diverse zip codes in the country.
17:11 And as we move forward, just remember us when you're voting on things and thinking about things.
17:58 Are there any other speakers that we have from your family at all?
18:06 Um thank you for allowing uh the council to honor Connor.
18:11 And his legacy will never be forgotten.
18:14 Um he will always stay on the top of our mind.
18:16 I also like to recognize we have Amar uh Murphy Payne's family here as well.
18:21 We know that uh James was here.
18:23 Uh, your family was here for their proclamation.
18:25 Um, those were two lives taken too short, and um also both of them are unsolved as well.
18:28 Um, and that is something that I know uh is in the front of people's mind, not the back of the mind, front of the people's mind a lot.
18:29 So um, we're just so grateful to be able to honor honor honor our guy Connor.
18:44 My guy Connor, okay.
18:46 I say I say he's mine, my baby.
18:48 Okay, he was mine with his buzz cut.
18:50 Um, but our baby uh Connor.
18:53 Thank you all so much.
18:55 And we are so grateful to be able to celebrate this with you all.
19:00 Um, and so now we're gonna move into uh we transition into our public uh comment uh piece.
19:07 If there's no other further comments, um we're gonna move into our public comment period.
19:12 Um, and so we'll open up the hybrid public comment period where anyone can speak to anything within the council's purview.
19:19 Um, and I don't know how many speakers that we have right now.
19:28 So everyone's gonna get two minutes.
19:29 We have under 20 per council rules.
19:31 If it's one to 30, it's under 20, or excuse me, under 30.
19:34 Everyone gets two minutes.
19:36 Will the clerk please read the um public comment rules?
19:42 Speakers will be called in the order in which they're registered.
19:46 Speakers will hear it chime when 10 seconds are left of their time.
19:50 Speakers' mics will be muted if they do not end their comments within the allotted time to allow us to call on the next speaker.
20:00 Uh, we'll start with the speakers in person.
20:02 If you are online, we'll come to you second.
20:04 Uh, because right now I believe we have 10 in person.
20:07 One right now, and one remote.
20:09 Uh first we have David Haynes, Mr.
20:28 You know, with all the tragedies, you would think that the council in the city hall would like take police reform with priority to like shut down the evil low-level drug pushers that escalated a majority of the violence in this country and in this city.
20:43 But you all have sabotage the integrity of police reform.
20:47 And I'm really sorry for your all's loss.
20:49 You know, it just it's revolting to me that we have virtually nothing to improve our community as it continues to implode, but they have all this built in the budget policies that are left over from Jenny Durkin, who sabotaged police reform that made it unsafe.
21:04 With Ed Murray, the pedophile who made it unsafe, with Bruce Harrell, who ran interference for all the BIPOC repeat offenders who are being prioritized for housing and services, while council wants to use people's tragedy to purchase single.
21:16 How much you care until it comes to keeping the police chief honest about his lack of efforts to shut down the evil predatory drug pushers all throughout our community who keep getting exempted from jail because they don't get the proper scrutiny, but yet you all want to keep spending money on running interference for the evil pieces of shit that are undermining the integrity of the community and the health and happiness of it and ruining the pursuits of happiness on it, but yet because some black and brown drug pushers think they're so cool that they get a pass from being thrown in jail, and yet council wants to continue to allow for the abuse of our community because of your all's cowardice capitulations to a police chief who's too chicken shit to shut down all the pimps and pushers in Aurora and said y'all want to message to them to give them a heads up so they go someplace else and fuck up the rest of the community.
22:05 You all should all be kicked out because you keep repeating the same racist policies of Bruce Harrell, who fucked up our society royally as the worst city council member who approved a legalizing and exempting drug pushers under 3.5 grams.
22:20 And because of all the low-level drug pushers, they've been exempted, there's all this escalation of violence, and you all want to fucking blame like the wrong root cause.
22:31 You need to shut down the evil adult to keep you.
22:33 Thank you for your time, Mr.
22:36 Haynes, thank you for your time.
22:38 Thank you for your time.
22:42 David Haynes, this is your official warning.
22:46 This is on the record that you were asked to end your comments, and you continue to be disruptive in our chambers.
22:54 We'll now call on the next registered speaker.
22:57 Haynes, you are now causing a disruption.
23:04 Haynes, this is your final warning to please exit.
23:08 Please exit the chambers.
23:12 We will now move on to our next registered speaker.
23:16 Our next speaker is Jeff Rogers and then Clive Hayward.
23:26 I've been here once before.
23:28 I just want to honor you, first of all.
23:31 You have a very hard job.
23:32 I'm sorry you have to listen to that.
23:35 Umor's mom's still ringing in me.
23:41 And I want to honor and bless that family.
23:44 And there is something I am bringing.
23:46 I'm not really asking for anything or a change.
23:51 Some of the folks I'm with are working with Joy and some initiatives around homelessness.
23:56 I just bring one thing, and that is I have um I'm connected to many in the marketplace through a nonprofit.
24:03 It has several thousand business leaders in the city.
24:06 And if any of you have a constituent um in one of your precincts that is in business that would like to get together, Joy has my contact.
24:17 I'll stay till the end.
24:18 I'll give you my card because we want to partner with the council and with the city for the changes that they talked about.
24:26 Um, because we're not segmented.
24:29 People like to divide us in all sorts of ways.
24:32 But we're all part of Seattle.
24:33 I'm a fifth generation Seattle person.
24:36 Uh my dad's business was down the street.
24:39 I was born at Swedish hospital.
24:41 Um, so I'm really local.
24:43 I want to see Seattle thrive.
24:45 So, my my simple question or ask would be if there's someone in your purview that you work with that's in business that wants to meet and say, how could we be part of the solution here?
24:57 I'd be happy to meet with them, talk with them, advance what you're trying to do, and hopefully be a bridge.
25:04 So, again, thank you for the opportunity.
25:06 It's good to see many of you.
25:07 I've been traveling.
25:08 We're trying to come on a regular basis to be part of the solution.
25:25 Council members, my name is Clive Hayward.
25:28 I'm a law-abiding Seattle resident, property owner in District 7, and I've performed magic on the waterfront for 11 years with no documented business or public complaints.
25:42 On Friday, June 12th, all designated protected speech locations were occupied.
25:49 I set up in a free, safe location that I've used hundreds of times in the past without issue.
26:03 Security called Seattle Police Department.
26:07 After SPD arrived, I said I would move if exclusion was being threatened.
26:14 Security excluded me anyways.
26:17 The exclusion notice states the violation is refusal to recolocate into a designated expression space.
26:25 Not obstruction, not a safety issue, not an uncontrolled crowd.
26:30 The next step is a criminal trespass enforcement against me for exercising free speech in a public space.
26:39 Please review this before it becomes a criminal arrest case and a civil rights lawsuit.
26:50 Next we have Roberto, followed by Paul, and then Jim Baines.
27:00 That means that I'm a full-time professional street magician.
27:05 That means I make a living performing my magic show for donations in public places, and that includes the waterfront.
27:14 Uh my show brings people together from all different backgrounds, classes.
27:19 Whether you're rich, poor, or even homeless, you can watch my show.
27:23 Seattle has been my home every summer for the past five years.
27:27 I love my profession and I love Seattle.
27:29 When a city enforces overly restrictive laws on street performers, it pushes me and other performers out of here.
27:37 I understand that there has to be order, but when restrictions go beyond reasonable crowd safety and noise concerns, it kills the culture.
27:45 Passionate performers bring to the city.
27:48 Pike Place Market embraces street performers.
27:51 Please consider protecting buskers' rights in the Seattle Center, the waterfront, and all other traditional public forums in the city.
27:59 No artist should be criminalized for exercising their rights.
28:03 Thank you, Roberto.
28:04 Next we have Paul, followed by Jim and then Kendall.
28:10 Hi, I'm Paul Tomlinson.
28:12 I've been here before, kind of a representative of churches and business.
28:16 And I hope you guys are proud of yourself.
28:24 But you're doing a good job here with that.
28:26 But I'm changing my what I was gonna say a little bit based about Connor.
28:31 I've spent time working down the Rainier Valley, walking kids to high school.
28:41 And uh it's exciting to know that if we come together in the church in business and start working together and supporting you and finding out what your questions are, we can make a lot of change here.
28:53 We see some changes even down there right now.
28:55 And tomorrow morning I have a uh meeting with uh uh Urban Impact, which is down in that area, as we try to put, as I spoke last time about neighborhoods and coming together and working with situations like the family spoke to, and we can do it.
29:11 And we need we need to be proud of the fact that we're doing a good job in what you're doing with uh football and people, we've got people in the church welcoming our neighbors coming in from different countries, even as we speak today.
29:24 And uh I just left a business meeting with Jeff and some others of saying how can we come together in the business community as well as the church to support what you're doing?
29:32 We're not gonna agree with everything, and you can't agree with everything, but we can certainly work together, and you're making really good efforts to change the city where it needs to be.
29:42 Just as I walked down here, there were two police officers over a man, probably a fentanyl case just right across the street that they were actually helping him, and they called an aid car, and it was exciting to see how that's working together.
29:55 There's problems, but they're all solvable, and we hope we can bring some of that together as we work together.
30:01 Thank you for your service.
30:07 Uh, next we have, thank you, Paul.
30:09 Next we have Jim Baines, followed by Kendall, uh Shawi, Shawnee.
30:15 Excuse me, uh, Keith, and then Keandre.
30:23 Um, my name is Jim Baines.
30:25 I'm a member of the American Party of Labor.
30:27 Today I'm here to speak on the Seattle Social Housing Developer, which on face is a program that clears the way for thousands of Seattleites to escape the exploitative relationship between landlord and renter.
30:38 This program has been so successful that we saw over 10,000 applicants for the first building of 150 units.
30:45 This is just a small step towards housing justice that we must not settle for.
30:49 The proposed amendments today open the charter, uh, vote on the charter, leave open the possibility that this initiative is undermined by private capital and private interest, though.
31:00 My concern starts with the amendment to section four, where rents must no longer be set based on operations, maintenance, and loan service only, but those factors are now just considerations for how the developer will set rents.
31:14 What other considerations will there be?
31:16 Market rate, rates that are set by landlords and developers looking to extort workers for all they can manage.
31:22 Instead of these considerations, why don't we tie rents to the income of tenants?
31:26 Why don't we make housing truly affordable for the working class?
31:31 Then in section six, we go from a clear, unambiguous text that development must be permanently protected from being sold or transferred to a private entity or private uh public-private partnership.
31:45 Clear, unambiguous, now adds a monstrosity of legalese and exemptions, which read: Except that as to any property or other interest, public developer may mortgage lease assigned revenues to creditors, record restrictive covenants, or grant deeds of trust and consent to any transfer of such property by operation of law by foreclosure or in lieu of foreclosure, subject to any recorded regulatory or other covenant requirement for use of this property.
32:14 What does this exactly mean?
32:16 Will properties that the developer acquire be subject to pre-existing restrictive covenants, restrictive covenants that prevent building uh grocery stores in the case of pre-existing grocery stores, like on the Fred Meyer in Lake City.
32:35 Next, we have Kendall, followed by Sean.
32:39 Sean and then Keith and then Keandre.
32:42 Good afternoon, Council.
32:44 I'm a candidate member with the American Party of Labor.
32:46 And over the weekend, I noticed, and a lot of other people noticed, uh, the installment of designated protest zones.
32:54 Uh someone argued that this is un-American, uh, seeing how the First Amendment protects peaceful protests throughout the United States.
33:03 But I would argue that this is the most American thing that Seattle has done in a while.
33:08 To welcome visitors from around the world with the assurance that protected protests can and will be suppressed, if not in designated zones, is very reflective of the attitude the Trump administration has had about protesting.
33:22 Additionally, it's reflective of how Seattle has treated its constituents at protest.
33:26 Uh, specifically with how the cops have had have repeatedly attacked people for using their protected right to protest, to perform, and to speak.
33:36 And you have emboldened SPD to become judge and jury on these matters.
33:40 Speaking of the cops, while I was there, there were dozens of cops just sitting around doing absolutely jack shit.
33:49 Uh they're they're wasting money.
33:52 Y'all are wasting money to appease spog while we apparently have too many deficits for social programs.
33:58 That's absolutely ridiculous.
34:00 There's no, there's no need to embolden cops that aren't gonna do anything.
34:04 They're sitting on their bikes.
34:05 I mean, the uh, if I'm not mistaken, the starting pay for cops is around a hundred thousand dollars.
34:11 And so I go down there and I count every single cop.
34:14 100, 200, 300, millions of dollars standing around doing jack shit.
34:20 We don't need more cops on the streets.
34:22 We don't need to suppress speech, we don't need to suppress protests.
34:26 We need social reforms.
34:28 We need social programs like y'all promised.
34:34 Next, we have Sean, followed by Keith, and then Keondre.
34:43 Good afternoon, Council.
34:45 My name is Shawnee Davis, founder of Home 1816.
34:48 Coming here today and even just hearing the story of Connor, I'm an RB Viking, graduated, lived in the neighborhood, and so it's just a blessing to be able to, you know, pray with the family out there.
34:57 I didn't know them, but it's touching because, like, you know, being here from the church and in the ministry, people get weary when they hear about the church, but the church is there to advocate for what's going on around the area.
35:07 It's about locking arms with the neighborhood and just being the light in those dark places to see how we can be able to help people that are going through hard times because of violence or even homelessness and being able to create different um opportunities so that these things don't happen.
35:21 Those are the things that we are called for in the church to make sure that Christ has called us to like take care of the widows, take care of the homeless and being able to do that.
35:28 And so with home 1816, my company, we do rally for change to partner with different apartment communities and create different programs so that we're able to um cancel things like isolation that happens in the um in people.
35:42 You know, there's a lot of uh isolation that happens and it brings to loneliness and things of that nature.
35:46 And so it's just having that accountability to check on people, and that's one thing that we do in Seattle.
35:50 And so being here today and seeing about this proclamation that you created, not only for Connor, but it seems like somebody else that was here, that's great because like I prayed over the mother about her being able to link arms.
36:00 She mentioned 12 other people had passed away from the time that her son had passed away and different violence that was happening in her neighborhood.
36:07 But I know that God, you know, is giving her the strength to be able to link arms with those other families to to eradicate change, and so that's again what me and my organization do here in the city.
36:18 We have um apartment buildings in South Lake Union area and over in Bellevue and Kirkland and continuing to grow, but then even be in the avenue to create different platforms to rally people together in the church to just be in there from our outreach and our ministries and being able to move forth in that area.
36:34 So I just want to bless what you guys are doing, and thank you.
36:29 That was just good to see today.
36:39 Thank you, Shawnee.
36:40 Uh next we have Keith Miller, followed by Keandre.
36:52 My name is Keith Miller, and I've run a private family residential interior design firm based in downtown Seattle and now in Queen Anne for over 30 years.
37:04 The diversity in people and commerce nestled in a landscape so striking.
37:10 Each of you serving us are doing incredible work caring for our city.
37:13 And I'm present here today to thank you deeply for your hard work.
37:18 I'm also a visionary.
37:21 It's my job to look at surroundings that promote human thriving and bring them into livable and vigorating reality.
37:28 I'm gathering a cohort of thinkers to respond to the difficulties we face as a city with beauty and stewardship, engaging with the city through management of our landscape byways that have fallen away from care.
37:42 I'm creating a movement called Grassroots that will promote natural, sustainable beauty to our city's streetscapes, partnering with the city's programs already in place, keeping it free to the city with volunteer movements like my friends under a Suarez's We Heart Seattle partnership.
38:01 I'm grateful for what you're doing.
38:03 I'm looking forward to enjoying a more beautiful Seattle as we grow together.
38:08 Uh, next we have Kiandre, and then we'll go online.
38:11 Uh, do we have we probably have some more in-person speakers?
38:14 Bennett, are you signed up?
38:19 I moved to Seattle around two and a half years ago with nothing but the clothes on my back.
38:24 I was excited because Seattle was hailed as as left as you could get in the country.
38:30 I only wish that Seattle was the socialist paradise conservatives like David Haynes thought it was.
38:36 In these two years, I have learned and changed so much.
38:40 I've seen the neighborhood in which I live in Chinatown be underserved, where people don't even report to the police because they rarely ever show up.
38:48 All this, uh, while all this is happening, people are taking advantage of people with language barriers, um, like business owners and uh who live there as well.
39:00 I've seen SBD stop essential resources like the care unit from going out and aiding communities like mine.
39:08 I've seen SPD brutalized protesters in Capitol Hill last year, and in two days will be the uh nine years since Charlena Lyles was shot and killed by SBD, to which the city council uh during that time said never again.
39:22 In that time, eight people who were in mental health crisis were killed uh killed by SPD, most of which were black.
39:28 Terry Craver, Danny Rodriguez, Ryan Smith, Derek Hayden, Urban Shahi, Roberto Palo, uh, Jack Pillale, and Christian Nelson.
39:40 I've seen the current mayor, Poe that she wants to help the unhoused community by introducing tiny homes.
39:46 But in the six months of her mayoral, he has swept over 2,000 structures.
39:51 I've seen the constant hate and threats the trans community received here in a city that is supposed to be a refuge for them.
39:59 We need to stop pretending like Seattle does not have a problem with accountability.
40:05 The city council needs to stop pretending that proclamations and resolutions do any do anything because they don't save lives and they don't keep people safe.
40:14 The mayor and the city council have a responsibility to protect the most vulnerable Citizens and keep SPD accountable, and clearly that have not been done.
40:25 We will now go to online speakers.
40:28 So first off, we have Rose.
40:30 Please press star six to unmute yourself.
40:32 Then we have Nathan Wall, Jeff, and then Peter.
40:37 Hello, my name is Grove.
40:40 It has been just over a month since the murder of Juniper Blessing, a trans woman who is at UW.
40:47 In that time, we have seen the murder of many trans people since.
40:52 There was seven murders of trans people that happened in April, seven that happened in May, and two black trans women were killed in the South last week.
41:01 One was a trans woman named Peaches who died in her cell under suspicious circumstances.
40:59 And nobody will say what happened.
40:59 But that's how these things work.
41:12 Another was one of the loveliest trans women described by people who are new in Louisiana.
41:17 Trans people are being hunted throughout certain parts of our society and especially more dangerous parts of the country.
41:24 Mississippi passed a law in May saying that not only do they not recommend do they not recognize gender markers from other states.
41:32 If you are found with an improper gender marker, they will arrest you and they will report you to ICE.
41:38 This is happening in our country right now.
41:41 A similar law without the ICE requirement was passed in Tennessee.
41:44 We have two weeks until the Idaho transfect in Idaho.
41:52 We are seeing this happen nationwide.
41:55 And alongside all of this, there are people setting up cemeteries and names on the doors of Cal Anderson on the pump house as people go missing in our community.
42:06 There is people disappearing left and right, people being murdered, and there needs to be action by the city to help trans people.
42:18 Because right now we feel alone.
42:22 We feel like nobody is there for us.
42:24 We feel like we are completely abandoned and things are getting worse.
42:28 We had the emergency declaration that was proposed by the LGPT commission, and nothing has come of it.
42:35 We need you all and the mayor to get on board because this is starting to get really bad, and if we don't, it's going to get worse.
42:46 Uh, if there's no objection, Councilmember Rivera will be excused uh for the rest of the meeting.
42:51 Hearing none, Councilmember Rivera is excused.
42:53 Next we have Nathan Wall followed by Jeff.
42:56 We don't see them not present.
42:58 I'll call you all again.
43:00 Nathan Wall, Jeff, and Peter.
43:03 Is there any more speakers signed up that are in chambers?
43:07 We'll double check just to wait.
43:08 Give us a second before we transition from.
43:14 Uh, well, first off, thank you all for coming down and doing public comment.
43:20 Like all public comment that we get, we really appreciate Benett.
43:26 Did you want to sign up before we close it?
43:31 I thought I had time to go get water, but everybody else in the hallway isn't insane.
43:34 No, they're not present.
43:36 That's why we wait.
43:38 Because we haven't closed the public comment period.
43:41 I'm just talking about data centers, okay.
43:48 And then we'll close public comment period.
43:51 So I did want to add something to the discussion last week about uh data centers.
43:57 I do think that you reached the correct.
44:00 Give us one second.
44:02 We'll do two minutes.
44:05 I don't have access to the timer now.
44:08 I'll just I'll time myself.
44:10 Stop in exactly two minutes, I promise.
44:12 Give us one second.
44:13 We're gonna keep the timer.
44:17 Give us one second.
44:19 You can go ahead and start.
44:21 When you start, it will go.
44:23 Thank you, counsel.
44:24 I wanted to add something to the discussion about data centers last week, because first of all, I do think it would be short-term moratorium was the correct decision, but it's the one year murder moratorium this is usually going to come up again.
44:37 So I think there is room for a more nuanced discussion about this.
44:42 I think that a lot of people's uh revulsion, frankly, toward AI is based on the fact that most visible aspects of it that we see are the most harmful.
44:51 There's people using AI to generate hoaxes and deceptive content on the internet, or people using AI to power bots that just argue with each other online to generate controversy and generate ad avenue for the people riding the bots.
45:02 That's the kind of stuff that is most visible to the average person.
45:06 There is obviously a lot of stuff behind the scenes that is very beneficial.
45:09 It's used in medical research to solve things like protein voting problems.
45:12 There have been some recent articles about how AI has been powering the search for new antibiotics.
45:18 I'm not an expert at this.
45:19 It has to do with the nature of the problem where old school researchers had to manually come up with new molecule configurations that the success rate was a very low percentage, but AI can do the work that the humans were doing orders of magnitude faster than they were ever doing before.
45:35 There are real beneficial uses to AI.
45:38 Now it's true that a data center can have negative impacts on the people living on the properties around where the data center is built, but I think the correct choice there is to simply make sure we compensate all those people if that happens.
45:50 If they think that an eminent domain purchase of their house is not um not enough money, I mean you can pay them two, three times what eminent domain would have paid for their house.
45:59 This is a historically unprecedented situation.
46:01 You could way overpay them for the value of their house.
46:04 And even after factoring in those costs, if you're using the AI for purposes that benefit humanity, we will still come out way ahead even after buying out everybody's house.
46:12 So we're at the move.
46:14 So on a lighter note, I hope hope you all enjoyed the first ever World Cup game in Seattle.
46:21 Except I know Rob didn't enjoy the game because it was uh time you'll never figure out the punchline.
46:33 Thank you, Bennett.
46:38 Thank you, Bennett.
46:38 Um, so now officially the public if there's no public comments, uh, it is closed now.
46:44 So thank you, Bennett.
46:46 Pardon, is there somebody online?
46:52 Okay, we had uh they were not present.
46:54 Now they're present, okay.
46:58 Star 6 unmute yourself.
47:04 Hi, I'm sorry about that.
47:05 I had great service and then it cut out the second I needed it.
47:08 Um, that's not the first time it's happened.
47:10 I wasn't gonna call in today.
47:12 Um, I'm in Montana, I don't have great service.
47:14 Um, but as I was leaving Minneapolis this morning, I became aware that ICE and DHS and HSI arrested 15 people for exercising their right to protest during Operation Metro Surge.
47:26 And then um, when those people went to the courthouse to protest, they were met with tear gas and pepper spray.
47:33 Um, there is no way we can allow these folks to be on our streets in any way, shape, or form, um, especially when they are working in service of a dying pedophile or criminal president.
47:44 Um, nobody lives forever, but what you do does live on and what you do during this fascist regime will live on.
47:51 So you do what you can to oppose this and please show up at Federal Building Fridays every day at 9 a.m.
47:57 at the federal building, every Friday, not every day.
47:59 That wouldn't make sense.
48:00 Thank you very much.
48:05 Is that all the public commenters?
48:08 It's now officially closed.
48:10 Um, we want to thank everyone for coming down in person and then signing up online for your time and your energy.
48:16 Always giving us feedback through emails and every which way that we receive public comment.
48:20 So we're really grateful for that.
48:21 And then now we're gonna transition into our meeting.
48:23 And if there's no objection, the introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.
48:28 Hearing no objection, the introduction and referral calendar is adopted.
48:32 Uh if there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.
48:35 Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.
48:38 We're now going to consider the consent calendar.
48:39 Consent calendar has minutes of June 9th, 2026.
48:43 Council Bill 121 227, payment of the bills.
48:46 10 appointments from the governance and utilities committee.
48:49 Are there any items council members would like to remove from today's consent calendar?
48:55 Seeing none and hearing none, I move to adopt the consent calendar.
49:02 It's been moved and second to adopt the consent calendar.
49:04 Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the consent calendar?
49:08 Councilmember Foster.
49:11 Councilmember Juarez.
49:14 Councilmember Kettle.
49:16 Councilmember Rink.
49:19 Councilmember Saka.
49:22 Councilmember Strauss.
49:25 Council President Hollingsworth.
49:28 Seven in favor, none opposed.
49:29 Consent calendar is adopted.
49:31 We'll now uh will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes and legislation on the consent calendar on my behalf.
49:37 Uh clerk, will you please read item number one into the record?
49:41 The report of the governance and utilities committee, gender item one, council bill one two one two two one relating to Seattle Public Utilities, authorizing general manager and chief executive officer of Seattle Public Utilities to enter into a contract with waste management of Washington Incorporation to provide recycling processing services for the city of Seattle.
49:58 The committee recommends that the bill pass.
50:00 As chair of the committee, I'm gonna provide the committee report.
50:03 This is recycling contract that authorizes Seattle Public Utilities to enter into a contract with waste management to provide recycling processing services for the city.
50:14 Seattle currently contracts with Republic Services, and that started in 2009.
50:19 However, the current contract terms are outdated and insufficient.
50:23 Uh waste management scored higher on both the technical price uh in the RFP valuation.
50:28 This contract is estimated to be the cost 6.4 million dollars in 2027.
50:34 Uh colleagues, I urge your support.
50:35 Uh it passed five in favor out of committee, none opposed.
50:38 Are there any comments before us before we take a vote?
50:43 Uh will the clerk please call the role in the passage of the bill.
50:47 Councilmember Foster.
50:51 Yes, Councilmember, thank you.
50:53 Councilmember Juarez.
50:55 Councilmember Kettle?
50:58 Councilmember Rink.
51:00 Councilmember Saka.
51:02 Councilmember Strauss.
51:04 Council President Hollingsworth.
51:07 Seven in favor, none opposed.
51:08 Thank you, colleagues.
51:10 The chair will sign it.
51:11 Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?
51:16 Will the clerk please read item number two into the record?
51:18 The housing arts and civil rights committee.
51:20 Agenda item two, resolution 32209.
51:23 Resolution approving the proposed charter amendments recommended by the board of the Seattle Social Housing Developer.
51:29 The committee recommends the resolution be adopted.
51:32 Councilmember Foster is chair of the committee.
51:34 You're recognized to give the committee report.
51:36 Thank you so much, Council President, and thank you, colleagues.
51:39 Um I am so excited to sponsor the resolution adopting changes to the charter, which passed unanimously last week through the Housing Arts and Civil Rights Committee.
51:48 Um these this resolution approves changes that were recommended to us by the board of the Seattle Social Housing Developer, and they are designed to help the developer successfully deliver on the promise of permanently affordable housing through social housing in our city.
52:02 Um these changes do a few key things, including allowing the social housing developer to allow rental rates to be based on more than just the cost of building operations.
52:12 This allows for cross-subsidization of buildings or the use of building revenue to support bond payments.
52:18 This facilitates the ability for the social housing developer to create condominium structures for properties, which um is really exciting because that is an important tool so that they can create buildings that are attractive to residents, including other um potential ground floor uses, which we believe really supports livability at the same time that it supports affordability.
52:38 Um and uh lastly, this allows the social housing developer to use properties for debt collateral if if needed, uh which is an important tool in um housing development and management.
52:50 So we I want to appreciate um Jen LeBrec from Central Staff as well as the CEO of the social, the interme CEO of the social housing developer, Tiffany McCoy, and the folks from House Our Neighbors who worked really closely with us on these changes and support them.
53:04 Um and we believe this charter change is really critical to the long-term success of the Seattle Social Housing Developer.
53:10 So with that, colleagues, I ask for your support.
53:14 Thank you, Councilmember Foster.
53:15 Are there any comments on the bill before us?
53:20 Just want to send a gratitude thank you, Councilmember Foster.
53:23 I said in committee for your leadership on this.
53:25 Uh steering this through committee and then getting it here to full council.
53:28 Really appreciate that.
53:30 Uh okay, we'll go ahead.
53:32 Will the clerk please call the roll on resolution?
53:35 I said bill on the resolution.
53:37 Councilmember Foster.
53:40 Councilmember Juarez.
53:42 Councilmember Kettle.
53:44 Councilmember Rink.
53:47 Councilmember Saka.
53:50 Councilmember Strauss.
53:52 Council President Hollingsworth.
53:55 Seven in favor, none opposed.
53:57 Resolution is adopted.
53:58 The chair will sign it.
53:59 Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?
54:03 Colleagues, there were no items removed from the consent calendar.
54:06 There's not a resolution for introduction and adoption today, but I do know council member.
54:10 We have two other two other items, other business items.
54:15 So we have Councilmember Rink has a proclamation proclaiming June 26 to be Seattle Trans Pride for signature today.
54:21 Councilmember Rink, you're recognized to lead the discussion on the proclamation.
54:26 Thank you so much, Council President.
54:27 Uh, colleagues, as stated, um, I have the incredible honor of bringing forward for your signature a proclamation for Seattle Trans Pride.
54:29 So last year I was able to present this proclamation to Seattle Trans Pride on behalf of my office.
54:41 So excited to bring it forward today for a full council.
54:44 Trans Pride Seattle is a truly incredible and beautiful free annual festival celebrating Trans Life and Community.
54:52 Gender Justice League has been producing this event for years.
54:56 Now this year will actually be the 14th year for this event.
55:00 So wanted to take a moment to thank the organizers and volunteers and groups who are supporting initiatives and festivals like this for our two spirit trans and gender diverse communities.
55:09 So colleagues, I'm asking for your signature today.
55:11 I will be presenting this proclamation in community next Friday at Volunteer Park.
55:16 So if you want to hear me read the full proclamation, I invite you to uh attend uh Trans Pride Seattle this year.
55:24 Thank you, Councilmember Rink.
55:26 Are there any comments regarding the proclamation before us before I ask the clerk to uh take the signatures?
55:33 Seeing thank you, Councilmember Rink, for your leadership on this and um also the presentation that you'll do at Volunteer Park as well.
55:40 Seeing there's no further discussion on the proclamation, will the court please call the roll to determine which council members would like their signatures affixed to the proclamation?
55:49 Councilmember Foster, yes.
55:51 Councilmember Juarez.
55:54 Councilmember Kettle.
55:56 Councilmember Rink.
55:58 Councilmember Saka.
56:01 Councilmember Strauss.
56:03 Council President Hollingsworth.
56:07 Seven signatures will be affixed.
56:10 Um, next, Councilmember, that's one one hell of a headset you got there.
56:16 Thought you like worked at NASA giving us instructions about the rocket landing.
56:21 Yeah, she landed in a plane or she in a tower.
56:26 I was thinking more Twitch streamer, Council President, but I'll take NASA.
56:31 You're giving us the coordinates for the go no go.
56:35 Uh Councilmember Strauss, other business.
56:37 Uh thank you, Council President.
56:39 I request to be excused from next week's full council meeting.
56:43 I'm pulling up the date right now because I will be at the Association of Washington Cities Conference as part of our duties for uh as a board member of AWC on behalf of the city of Seattle.
56:55 So that is requesting to be excused June 23rd, 2026.
57:00 Here uh are there any objections for Council Member Strauss to be excused for his duties at the associated Washington Cities?
57:10 Hearing no objection, Councilmember Strauss, you are excused.
57:15 Uh Councilmember Rink.
57:18 Thank you, President Council President.
57:20 Um I just had a couple of comments today to put on the public record um since we did have a removal of an item that we were supposed to vote on today.
57:28 So just want to provide uh some rationale to the public on that.
57:31 Um on June 5th, uh the Human Services Labor and Economic Development Committee, we unanimously voted to recommend the passage of resolution 3207 adopting BIA policy updates at the Office of Economic Development.
57:45 Unfortunately, at the quarterly meeting of the city's BIAs last week, after our committee meeting, but before this meeting, there were several member organizations that identified some minor edits they wanted to see.
57:56 So our office is working in close collaboration with OED and the BIA leadership to make needed edits, and we'll likely bring those forward as a technical amendment to the legislation at full of at a full council meeting later this month.
58:09 So I want to assure everyone that the edits requested are essentially to clarify language and do not substantively change the policy nor the city's guidelines for BIA creation or renewals.
58:19 My team is happy to brief any office uh that has questions about these changes.
58:23 So just wanted to get that on the record.
58:25 Thank you, Council President.
58:27 Thank you for your leadership on that, Councilmember Rink, um, and for your extra time spending on that piece as well, making sure all parties are um address and and get some of those concerns and changes there.
58:38 So thank you for that.
58:40 Um is there any further business to come for the council before we adjourn?
58:47 It's a traffic controller, is who you look like.
58:50 Yeah, NASA air traffic controller.
58:52 Um, so uh just for heads up, we do have to come back here at four o'clock.
58:57 We cannot start the parks district meeting early.
59:00 Um, so we have to come back at four o'clock for our parks district meeting.
59:04 Uh so just a heads up to our colleagues because I know you'll say, can we just do it now?
59:08 We have to wait till four.
58:59 Uh we have reached the end of today's agenda.
59:12 The next city council meeting will be June 23rd at 2 p.m.
59:17 Um, before we adjourn really quick.
59:19 Uh obviously, June 19th, which is Friday, is Juneteenth, that we'll be celebrating.
59:25 Uh, which is uh really special, obviously, to the African American community.
59:30 Um, there are different celebrations throughout the city.
59:32 I saw there's one at South Park, there's something in the CD, there's something in the South End, there's stuff in Tacoma, they're all over celebrating Juneteenth, which is a celebration of freedom, obviously for our African American uh community, and just encourage everyone to continue to uh know your history, know your greatness as history is always being uh a race in this country, making sure that we know that black history is also American history, just like Asian history, just like everyone's history, it is American history, and that's really important for us uh to understand because if you know your history, you will not repeat bad things.
1:00:06 Uh, other than that, uh we have now reached the end of our meeting.
1:00:11 Hearing no further business, we are adjourned.