Uh
now I recording in progress.
Now I call to order the Shoreline City Council
17, 2026, will you please
join the council for the flag salute.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United
States of America to the republic for which it
stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty
and justice
Thank you. Well, the clerk please call the roll.
Mayor Robertson, Deputy Mayor Pobee
Councilmember Snyder. Here
Councilmember Roberts Councilmember Ademasu present.
Councilmember Mark present Councilmember Scully present.
Is there a motion to excuse That are
missing members. I move to excuse
Mayor Robertson and Deputy Mayor Pobee for personal reasons. Second.
Thank you. Uh, if there are no objections, the
motion shall pass by unanimous consent.
Our first item on the agenda, the first item
is approval of tonight's agenda Are there any objections
or comments? Seeing none, the agenda
is adopted by unanimous consent
Next is a report from the acting city
manager, Mr. Branstetter. Good evening, counsel.
I have a few updates to share this statement. First, here's a quick update
on our community emergency response team, also
known as CERT. The October Cert basics course is building
up fast. There are only a few spots left. This
free 3 day course is open to Shoreline community members and city
staff. Registration is required so if you're interested, please sign up using
the QR code on your screen. We've had a great response to this training
and staff is already looking into offering another cert course
in late 26 or early 27. There's another
free preparedness opportunity coming up in January, the
disaster preparedness and survival course will teach more hands-on skills
for getting ready for responding to and recovering from emergencies.
Earlier this month, Shoreline
hosted a special pickleball event to celebrate National Pickleball Day
partnering with diversity and inclusion in pickleball. Over
150 people joined throughout the day, and more than 20 volunteers
coaches, and helpers made the event possible. We also gave out
over 35 donated paddles for participants
to take home. The event was free and brought together players of all
ages, backgrounds and experience levels. I'd like to thank recreation
supervisor Angie Rance and
recreation specialist Mary Anne Johnson for helping bring together this partnership
to Shoreline, as well as Sue Goodwin and all the DIIAP volunteers who made this day
a great success. The event is a great example
of equity in action through recreation. It removed, excuse me
it removed barriers and created a welcoming space for everyone where everyone
could join in.
At Celebrate Shoreline this past
weekend, staff continued our community education around the new roundabouts at
the 140 5th Street Interchange, as you can see in this photo, some
of our young residents really enjoyed testing the roundabout layout
with model cars. It turned out to be a great way to bring families over to our table.
While kids tried out the roadway, parents had the opportunity
to ask staff questions about lane choices yielding, and
how to safely navigate the new interchange. These kinds
of hands-on conversations are especially helpful as drivers get used to the
new roadway and we'll continue looking for opportunities
to make this transition easier.
Looking ahead, are our last energized shoreline workshop
of 2026 is tomorrow evening, August 18th, from 6:30
to 7:30 at City Hall. Residents can learn about heat pump technology.
Ways to save energy. Available rebates
and financing and incentives that could save them up to $6000 on a qualifying
heat pump. The workshop is available in person and online.
If you're coming in person, you can register at the door
For more information or to register, please
visit shorelinewah.gov/goelectric.
We have two shoreline walk events happening this week. Join our
walk leaders on Tuesday for the Meridian Trail
Meridian Park loop walk and Saturday for the Lake Ballinger
Interurban Trail Walk. These guided walks are a great
way to explore shorelines neighborhoods, parks, and community
destinations. To learn more or to sign up for a walk, visit
shorelinewah.gov/shorelinewalks
And finally I have just a few public reminders to share
Counsel will be on break the rest of the summer, so the next city council meeting will take
place on Monday
September 14th at 7 p.m. here in the council chambers. The planning
commission will meet on Thursday, September 3rd, also in the
city council chambers at 7 p.m. And the parks, recreation
and Cultural services tree board's next meeting is Thursday
September 24th at 7 p.m. in conference
room 303 at City Hall. Meeting details, agenda
and additional information can be found
at shorelinewah.gov/calendar. This concludes the city manager's report.
Thank you, Mr. Branstadter. Uh, are there
any council reports? This evening.
Councilmember Ademasu.
Thank you. I I
attended Washington's water future, virtual
input session and
local governments. You also can make
public comment on Department of Ecology's website through
August 31st with your comments on our water future. Thank you.
Seeing no other hands indicating that
for a council report, next on the agenda is
public comment. This is the opportunity for members
of the public to address the city council on agenda items or
other matter pertaining to city business for a 3 minutes or less, depending on
the number of people wishing to speak. The total public
comment period will be no more than 30 minutes if more than 10 people
are assigned, are assigned up to speak. Each speaker will be allocated 2 minutes.
Please note there is also an opportunity to speak after
agenda item 8A this evening. Action
of resolution number 567. Miss Hardy, how
many individuals have signed up to speak. I have
6 speakers for general comment.
Uh, thank you. That means each speaker will get 3 minutes.
Um, before we begin, I'd like to ask our audience to
refrain from clapping, booing, or other outbursts. We want
to make sure every speaker feels safe and respected while sharing
their perspective regardless of whether the room agrees with them.
Thank you for helping us keep this space neutral
productive, and welcoming. The clerk will call on
each person in-person speakers first and remote
speakers second when it is your turn, please state your name, city, residence, and
any organization represented. Please be advised that your testimony is being recarded.
Ms. Hardy, could you please call the first speaker. For
a general comment, our first speakers are
Violet Kay, Amber, and Bonnie Berry.
You'll speak at this podium here.
Thank you.
Testing, OK. Hello, I'm
Violet Kawaguchi. I am the executive director of
the Kawaguchi O'Connor Initiative. We are a Washington state 501c3
that helps transgender individuals flee legislatively hostile states
and settle here in Washington. I would like to thank the
council for taking a stance on trans rights
and that trans people should be included in the city
of Shoreline. Brian Haywood's initiatives and the people who support them
are dangerous. One of the people that, Brian
Haywood strongly associates with, is named Ary Hoffman, and she has been
he has been known to go into local parks to
intimidate people who are advocates for
trans rights or just people in general. These include parts of children
at them. These are not people that represent the views of
the shoreline that I live in, and I thank
the council for sticking up for its trans constituents.
But, uh, yeah. Thank
you. Uh, is it correct you live in Shoreline? Yeah, I live
uh, thank you. Thank you very much.
Hello. Welcome. Uh
hi, I'm Ember. I live in
the Ballard area, um, I fled here to
like this to Washington, like 3
years ago, fleeing the fleeing
the absolute hate of
like anti-trans legislation and if
if I return, I will likely
be arrested and sent to jail
for fucking sorry, excuse me. Um, for nothing
and the official policy of the
US prison system is literally
to forcefully de-transition
anyone they have in their custody, the
federal prison system, um, and that's
And just being arrested for using
Just the bathroom for 5 years being arrested
for 5 years, that's just, you can, and
then you can put it together
I, the first thing that they ever did
in my home state of Utah to chip
away at our rights was
was to ban trans people from sports
and don't even give them an inch. Uh
fortify Washington.
Support resolution 567.
Thank you.
Bonnie Berry, Kathleen Russell, then Janelle Kimmerly.
Welcome. Hi, Bonnie
Berry Shoreline. I'm going to do my best to read this off my phone.
Shoot, OK, um, I wanted to
talk about um the
Design engineering contract for Westminster sidewalks and
just remind you of some comments that have
So in May of 2021
um, Deputy, um, Keith Scully agreed
that flexibility in sidewalk design can be
useful preserving mature trees. February 2022
council members acknowledged the difficulty of
balancing the community's desires with the goal of making shoreline walkable
safe, and accessible. accessible to all
providing opportunities to reduce impacts to climate change
through preservation of trees.
September 2023, Councilmember Mork
stated trees are an asset that increase
in value the bigger they are, and since then, the city
now has an inventory of the street trees with
street valuations requested on all public works projects.
March 2024, Councilmember
Scully stated that he wants to make sure existing mature trees are included in
the balance of roadway projects as proposed
to prioritizeizing wider sidewalks.
And uh Mayor Roberts at the time stated his support
for tree replacement in capital projects.
April 2024, Councilmember Adam Masu
questioned whether Sidewalk widths can be narrowed
to preserve trees in general and councilmember
Pobee stated that we have an opportunity and
a responsibility to save trees for generations to come.
June 2024 councilmember Po
Pobee expressed that trees are natural assets
and sidewalks are just capitalized assets that belong to the community.
And just last week
councilmember Ademasu and
Mork commented about public street trees to be removed along
North 175th corridor for the phase phase
1 renovation without a 1 to
1 tree replacement. This conversation has been going on
since 2021 and yet limited progress has been
made on retaining trees at public work projects
Westminster Way. is an opportunity
for counsel to approve the design engineering
contract that actually demonstrates this can be done.
Thank you.
Welcome. Hello counsel
Janelle Kemmerling, resident of Shoreline.
It's apparent from reading ongoing reports
and comments regarding Theresa versus
sidewalks that some people and organizations continue
to focus on their own single interests. You
have heard from Doctor Kathleen Wolf that
trees and housing can and must coexist.
You know from the experience with Washdot
on Dayton Avenue that money can be saved
by retaining existing trees instead of
installing man-made stormwater infrastructure.
Remember, the 2018 bond issue was money
voted for sidewalks. It was not voted for shared use paths
or bike lanes. Save
Shoreline trees supports the bike network
but must we pour more and more concrete
concrete, hardscape into high walls.
We must not write off living in a city among trees
that benefit all who live in the city by saying it is just a
handful of trees, and there are other trees on land outside the city.
Taking down a handful here and a
handful there equals no trees left in the city.
Is it not possible for folks to
come together with their combined intellect and a
purpose of preserving and increasing shorelines tree canopy
as presented in the 2044 comprehensive plan.
For the good of everyone. Please.
Thank you. Welcome.
Thank you.
Kathleen Russell, resident of Shoreline on behalf of
Safe Shoreline Trees. My comment pertains to the
consent calendar item F. I live along
Westminster Way north and it has definitely become
a speedway. In considering the new sidewalk
we all agree it needs to be safe.
As we understand bike lanes are an additional budget
to what voters approved in 2018
At the council workshop on March 7
2026, Kevin Hickinbottom, urban
forestry supervisor, provided information about appraising the
value of Shoreline's 19,000 street trees.
While a citywide evaluation was
not deemed efficient, counsel was provided the
option of quote. Performing
tree appraisals on a project by project basis as
part of an arborist report. We ask
council to request the reprised value of trees that
are slated to be removed along. Westminster
Way north as part of the Arborist report and that
the valuation be available before the project
reaches 30% design. In addition we ask that
a Permitrex walkway which would
protect the roots and preserve trees be installed along a
segment of Westminster Way. The permit
track installed along Dayton Avenue North at 155th, eliminated the
need for stormwater infrastructure.
Which the 91 trees provide.
Two questions. First, would a permit
track installation along Westminster Way from 150th
to 153rd, where most of the tall trees
are located, eliminate the need for the 6 ft wide or 6
ft tall concrete walls. Second
would tree retention eliminate the need for
an underground stormwater system. These these
savings could possibly fund the Permitrac sidewalk.
Thank you for your consideration of these requests
Thank you. The last speaker I've signed
up is Guinevere Gulsdottir.
Hi, thank you. Uh, my name is
Guinevere God'sdotterer. I'm a trans woman from Seattle. Um
I wanna say that I'm here, uh, in support of
the resolution. I think it was 5:09.
The one that's under
consideration, um.
567 brought forth by a council members Roberts and Mork, I want to thank
you for bringing that forth. Um
Yeah, there is a trans genocide going
on in this country.
If I were in Idaho right now, I would be in prison
for using the bathroom. Uh, it is a
felony on the 2nd offense for a trans person to use the bathroom aligning with their
identity in Idaho. Uh, and because of Idaho's three strikes law, if
you use the bathroom 4 times, you can go to prison
for life. That's just next door
Um, so I just want to impress on everyone that
the gravity of the situation that we're facing. Um
I myself everyday face jeers
and taunts on the sidewalk here in Seattle
sometimes threats of rape, sometimes threats of
grievous bodily harm in Seattle supposedly
the wokest city in America
um, I was maced just 3 nights ago while waiting at a bus
stop, just for waiting at a bus stop while trains in the
university district. Um, This
cross contains the ashes of my mother. Uh, she
just died two weeks ago. She was a proud gay woman.
And she drank herself to death because of the
decades of oppression that she
faced as a cis gay woman. Um
and the, uh, The oppression that faces trans
women and especially trans women of color is far
worse than that. Um, so thank you for
your support, and I hope you pass this resolution.
Thank you.
Uh, is there anyone else
? OK, last one, last one, I think I'm AJ Randall on the shoreline resident.
Um, I mean, the first thing I have to say is that spaces can't
be neutral. We're, we're talking about neutrality. Don't clap. We've got to make sure
everyone feels safe. Um, there is no
neutrality between people who want to eliminate you from public life. If you
if I said, if I said I wanted you dead and you said
I wanted to live, what's the middle ground there? OK.
I don't see trans people on this council. I don't know. You know
obviously I'm not going to transvestigate anybody here, but nobody's talked about that
It's pretty obvious in politics today. I don't know how many of you have trans friends
I don't know how many of you have friends who are trans who would actually say, you know
what
that person's a close friend of mine. I don't know. I'm not gonna say one way or another,
but
I can tell you I have a lot. My partner's trans. I'm surrounded by trans people
and it is very difficult for me to live like day to day knowing what
is happening throughout this community. How many are fleeing here from Texas
from Utah, from Florida, from everywhere throughout
this country and like I have housed two of them in the last 3 years in my home with no
support from anybody but myself paying for them from the cash I made from my tech shitty
tech bro job out of Seattle, but like nobody, the fact that again
like this, we're talking about just stopping
these bullshit, um, totally frivolous waste of our time that
are, wow, this genocide is happening. Like that is
a minimum. I really, again, I'm I'm begging you to figure something out
that's more than that. Seattle just passed a bill to allocate
funds 3000. Awesome. That's great. That's the a starting point. You want to
give that to nonprofits, whatever, I don't know. I think we can build better
services for trans people. I think we can help them get their medical care. I think we
can
figure out housing. Housing is like a big deal. food, stuff like that. We're
losing federal benefits for things like SNAP. Like I, I had to go
on unemployment like benefits like I haven't been able to get a job after getting fired from
a
tech job 9 months ago. Like it works for 6 weeks or 2 months. It's nothing. Like
trans people have a way more difficult time getting a job than I do as
a 15 year tech career. I can go get some shitty job. I can absolutely pay for myself. They
can't get Amazon jobs. They get discriminated everywhere. Like if you
do not understand how hard it is for trans people, just like they said in communities. That
are
highly progressive, considered the leftmost places in this country, then
you really do not understand the struggle that is actually in these streets, and I'm
asking you and begging you to like really focus more on that. So pass this
do whatever, um, but we need to go way, way farther, and I hope that people are talking about
it
especially the people that are running for other offices, because when you run for other
offices and
you're not solving these major problems, man, it makes me feel like you're, that's what's
important to
you. So anyway, have a good day y'all. Thank you.
Welcome. Um,
Lake Buchanan, Meridian Park represent.
Trans people in Idaho now face prison time for using the correct bathroom. 1700 trans
folks in Kansas woke up one day in February to find out their driver's licenses had been
revoked with no warning or notice. The Trump administration is currently
trying to
force medical providers across the country to turn over private medical information
about
gender-affirming care and the people receiving it. A naive reading of
initiatives 001 and 638 might suggest that they are mild by comparison
but they are quite simply the thin end of the wedge, that is
the conservative movement's ongoing efforts at trans. Genocide. This is
not hyperbole. The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide
defines the term to include causing serious bodily or mental harm
to members of the group deliberately inflicting on the group
conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. We have seen
numerous
instances of all of these actions attempted and carried out by conservatives over the
past
10 or 12 years, to say nothing of the escalation in anti-trans violence at the hands
of non-state actors in March, the
Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security
issued its red flag alert
about anti-trans genocide in the United States
Brian Haywood and his hateful ilk know that they can't push as hard in
Washington as they've pushed in other states. They know that they don't have the support for
their
real aims, so they feign concern about fairness in youth sports, though I
ask what's fair about telling a kid that they can't play with their friends because of
how they were born. parental rights, though I must point out that if your child
doesn't feel safe telling you who they are, you have fundamentally failed as a
parent
They don't care about the health or well-being of kids. They only care about hurting
trans people. They frame their detractors as predators and groomers. As a
trans person, I can assure you trans people do not want your cis kids
to become trans. We just want your trans kids to survive
Over the last year or two, the Puget Sound region has seen tens
of thousands of trans refugees come here fleeing right-wing violence and hate.
Seeking some measure of safety in our community because our community
is one of the last safe refuges in the country for trans people
and as bad as things have been getting in the United States, much of the rest of the
world is even worse. The trans community needs all the help and support we can
get. It's bad out there, and Brian Haywood and his lot would love nothing more
than to make it just as bad here. Do not let them
even start because they will not stop with destroying the
trans community just as they didn't in 1933.
Protect trans kids, pass Resolution 567
as amended by Councilmember Roberts. Thank you, Councilmembers Roberts and
Mark. And for any of my fellow transgender folks here or listening
elsewhere or watching the recording, Dora Richter lived.
Thank you. Welcome.
Hi, um, I'm here to
say support trans people first need your name
and state of city of residence. Yes
uh, I'm Lou and I'm from Seattle, uh, but I'm
speaking here for, I know a lot of trans people
in Shoreline and um I've gathered that the
culture here is a little more repressive than it is in Seattle
especially trans people of color I know
here experience like. A lot of racism here
uh, transphobia is more prevalent here, and
We know that Seattle has a cost of living, like
it's quite high to live in Seattle
A lot of places around Seattle that where it's cheaper to
live is where plenty of people go just
because that's affordable for them
Um, there is a trans
refugee crisis, and it's not just a Seattle thing
Trans people don't just live in Seattle, they live here. And the
most vocal of us might be from Seattle. Seattle, but In order
for you, this culture of
like being actually decent with trans, can't just stop
at Seattle. Washington as a whole
needs to be fortified and feel safe for the trans
people leaving all of these states that are
against us or
Like, I think I'd like um
saw a thing about how like
trees struggle if there's only like one, but if it's in a forest
it can actually thrive. We can't have just like
these little specks. where we're safe
The more we concentrate our right
rights and cultural changes to be
good for us, the more we as
an entire community survive, and it's very much a survival thing
and that's why you hear people being
very angry. It is survival. It is life or death for us
So please continue, um, thank you for the people who
put in, uh, put out this proposal to oppose this.
Uh, I know Brian's
friend Ari. I've seen her. She's going to
be in Redmond with Brian Haywood, and she
Or he, he's a de-transitioner, but he takes
estrogen, but I will respect he
will, um, he's talking with Brian Haywood
in Redmond on an anti-trans thing. So,
Like Basically
these like more mild things are
direct friends with the more violent end of this
if not just violent themselves, so
these things work in tandem, um legislatively
even if it seems mild, but out outing people is
not mild. Having that in legislation is not that mild
but it does go tandem with the people pulling guns. Thank you.
Thank you. Is there anyone
else here who would like to speak? Thank
you. Uh, now I would like to ask for approval of
the consent calendar. Is there a motion?
I, I move approval of the consent counter. Second.
Uh, there's been a motion and a
second while the clerk please call the vote. Councilmember
Snyder, Councilmember
Roberts. Councilmember Ademasu, Councilmember Mork
Councilmember Scully. Motion passes 5 to 0.
Now we're moving our
Uh, item 8A.
OK. The next item is
action on resolution number 567 opposing
Washington state ballot initiative
IL 26-638 concerning participation in athletics
at K through 12 public
schools and Washington State Ballot initiative, IL 26-001.
Concerning parental rights relating to their children in
public schools. This item was sponsored by
council members Mork and myself Jim Hammond will present the staff report.
Good evening
uh, counsel, I am. Presenting
remotely today, so forgive me if I struggle
with advancing the slides, uh, but I'm here today to
Present briefly on
uh resolution 567, which by its
terms would um advocate or place this
uh Shoreline City Council in opposition to
two ballot initiatives that are currently on the ballot scheduled for the
November vote, and I am not succeeding in
advancing this. I'm very sorry, Kendall, if I can
have your help. Um, so first of all, just
a background of
uh initiative 26 638
relates to, uh, high school
athletic competitions and it defines the concept
of biologically male and requirements
for uh a sort of a medical evaluation
Uh, next slide.
Um, The, the, the
uh, articulated supporter of the main support argument is fairness in girls' sports
uh, opponents state that the initiative will subject all girls who wish to
play sports to these additional evaluations. The second
initiative, next slide please.
I initiative 26001 and, and this
uh
It will, would reinstate an
earlier initiative that was passed, uh.
Initiative 2081. That was later amended by
the legislature. The changes here would um
Would, uh, essentially allow parents greater
access to what is currently
confidential information in, in student records
and including healthcare records as
well. Next slide, please. Supporters
argue that parents have a right to know what is being discussed with their children
Opponents. I note that not necessarily all
students feel safe at home, and
the current structure gives students a safe place to talk at
high schools, that is to
their benefit, um, next slide, please.
So there was an initial
amendment drafted for the request of council members Roberts
and Mork, uh, subsequently, Councilmember Roberts
made several proposed amendments that would change
the language, shorten it in some cases, certainly, uh, uh.
An effective editorial pen, uh, these next
3 slides highlight what those changes would be.
And so if you can just go through these
three slides slowly, Kendall, uh, this one.
The 3rd whereas clause condenses the language and
makes it clearer. And finally, Kendall, thank you. The next one.
Uh, this one,
Just changes the language and given
uh that, uh, Mr. uh, Councilmember Roberts wished to put
these amendments forward for counsel consideration. Next slide, please.
So, I, as staff, we are not
able to run for electoral issues such as this take
a position ourselves, so are our recommendation is simply that
the council consider this proposed resolution
and uh and take it from there. Next slide, please.
So while we have already heard a comment
from members of the public on this issue
there is, um, formal structure, a public comment period
that would follow now, uh, for any
remaining commenters to to speak, and that
would procede counsel review and potential action on
this. So with that, um, I turn it back to you
Councilmember. Thank you, Mr
Hammond. Uh, Ms. Hardy, is has anybody signed up for this portion?
For public comment. Yes, we have a couple people.
Um, our 1st 3 speakers
will be Jean Norbert Steele
and then Scott Menzies.
Is Gene
still here?
Oh no, Gina is not there.
Looks like she. Left.
some issues with their stomach
OK, we'll start with
Norbert I don't. Hello, my name is Norbert Steele of Shoreline
Um, obviously this, uh, this resolution's a layup, you
should always, uh, you obviously should.
As this resolution to
oppose the reso the upcoming initiatives that are going to
be voted on statewide, I believe. Um, that's
a no-brainer. I do want to touch
on something that I heard one of the previous speakers
say about how they
experience a uh uncomfortable but believable amount
of discrimination here in Shoreline. I've been coming here for 6
months now talking to you guys about all of the things going on in the city
um, you know, just. Signs expressing
solidarity with our immigrant community, constantly being
vandalized around the city, um. I
agree with the sentiments of several other speakers
that although this resolution that I'm assuming you will all agree
to and pass, uh, and thank you, Roberts and Mork for again
putting it forward. I
It is, you know, again, some bare minimum stuff, right
? Like I expect our city to
come out and say this is fucked up and we shouldn't do this. That's like
a baseline for me
um, realistically, I would like to see the city go much further with this sort of
thing and start treating the incidents that are going around
right now, both in terms of, you know
uh, discrimination against trans people and also the activity that
ICE has been displaying in the area. Uh, take this seriously. Uh, as
someone else said, these things are the wedge that
cracks open basically everything and rots our society
I came from Pennsylvania. I came from the Rot. I thought I got out of
the rot. I'm watching the rot creep back into where I live now.
Please. Pass
this resolution and also please
continue to push on other agenda items like
Getting the King County Sheriff's Department to show up to
a hit and run caused by federal officers. Thank you.
Thank you. Welcome.
Good evening. My name is Scott Menzies, a resident
of Shoreline, my organizing project is fortify Washington
Presiding Officer Mork and members of the council, thanks for having us today and
thanks for taking up this for consideration, council members Mork and Roberts, thank you
so much for proposing this.
This is What I heard from
my trans siblings earlier makes my heart hurt.
And I'm I'm
P help put this model resolution together and worked with no
hate in Washington state.
As an ally, I'm here as an ally and I want to see.
Them feel as safe.
As I feel walking down the street. And I know
that I have all of the privileges that make
it easy for me to exist.
In this place. And
Knowing that it's not the case for others, knowing that we have to
Field and waste money and time and energy
and emotion, resisting what are
awful. Horrifying
transphobic, homophobic, misogynistic.
Initiatives is. It hurts, and it is, it hurts
my heart and it is the thin edge of the wedge.
As Megan Rapinoe put it in an article, this is not just about
This is, it starts with the trans folks
and it moves towards constricting
the spaces within which women are even allowed to exist in their sports.
This is the thin edge of the wedge, and we have to
repudiate it in the strongest and most definitive way possible
This is why I feel.
It's important for our city councils in this state to take
this stand. I don't feel us voting is
gonna is gonna be what does it or doesn't do it.
But I feel like Our city
Elected officials whom we elected, who represent us
who are close to us because we live in the same
place. We want to see you stand with us. And so, I wanna say I'm grateful that you
are standing with us on this. I'm here as
an ally. I wish I saw more
allies, that also kind of hurts my heart. But
I know that you will pass this and I
am grateful for that much you know, everybody who's here in support of
this resolution, please raise your hand just so everybody can see. Great.
Thank you. Anybody here for the first time at a city council meeting?
Excellent. Woke in shoreline
great. Welcome. Thank you so much
Thank you so much for your consideration. Um
I appreciate you. Thanks. Thank you. Oh, and this
is actually some more petition signatures.
Thank you. Is there anyone else
that signed up to speak at this moment? Yes, Our
our last two are Lake Buchanan and then Jamie Lee Blake.
Uh, I didn't know how the signups worked, so I've just
you know, the same thing I said before, uh, I do
want to say thank you, Councilmember Roberts for the amendment because while I was
reading through
the initial uh version that would those are basically my concerns, and
they addressed them, so I'm like, cool, good job, um, but yeah
I agree with basically everything everyone has said. This is a no-brainer, and it
is basically table stakes like this we need to be looking for
more to be doing, um, I have been to a couple of
Seattle City Council meetings. I haven't spoken at them because I don't live in Seattle
I live in Shoreline, so I am grateful for the opportunity to Speak
my mind on this, um, but, uh, keep
pushing harder, more this and more. Keep going more
do more, go more
please It's not as eloquent if I don't write it out ahead of time
apparently. Thank you. I agree. Welcome.
Good evening. My name is Jamie Lee Blake. I live in Edmonds
just over the border to the north of Shoreline, but I spend a lot of time in Shoreline.
I came here
anyway because IL 26-638 is
a statewide measure and it doesn't stop at the county line
I'm a transgender woman.
I'm also a mom of 3 teenagers, and I've spent 20 years
as an engineer, which mostly means I've been paid
to read specifications closely and notice what they actually
say, instead of what people say they say. So I read this one.
It doesn't affect only transgender girls
but even if it did. It would be Too much.
Under IL 26 638, any student
who wants to play a girl's sport has to produce
a signed statement from a healthcare provider verifying her sex
The anatomy, genetics, or testosterone levels.
That means genital inspections for
our 110
girls playing middle school and high school sports in the state That's
The sponsors of the Initiatives number, not mine.
Every girl who wants
to play, boys don't have to do this to play boys' sports
and that doesn't get said as much, and I think we should think
about that too, and what that means. Washington has had an inclusive
policy since 2007. It's worked for 20
years. What's changed isn't the sports, it's the politics.
And The doctors note that this initiative requires.
will be a burden on
All girls trying to play sports especially the
most marginalized. With less access to doctors
less able to play sports.
The girls who get questioned first won't be the
trans ones. They will be the CIS
ones, the ones that are a head taller than everyone else
or have short hair, or just look to wrong
to somebody in the stands. The same
instinct runs through IL 26001, which would roll back protections the legislator
added last year after real families like mine testified about what the
original version was doing to their kids.
I know a city resolution doesn't change the policy or take
anything off the ballot. I'm not confused about that, but
when my kid is deciding whether a place is safe.
She isn't reading state law. She's looking at what the people
in charge were willing to say out loud.
So please pass resolution 567, if
you pass it, put it where people will actually see it
the website, the newsletter, not buried in the minutes. Thank you and
thank you again to council members Roberts and Mork for bringing this forward. Thank
you.
Thank you. Is there anybody else who would
like to speak in this public comment period.
Hello, uh,
Um, my name's Oliver Wolf. I'm from North
Seattle, and um. I didn't have
a comment written out today, but um. I
just wanted to speak against a uh a myth that I
haven't really heard challenged yet today. About um
Like, This, this
initiative kind of presupposes a long standing
myth that cisje or that a
transgender women have the same
physical performance as cisgender men. Which Isn't true
for medically transitioning trans women because
Uh, cisgender women don't take
testosterone blockers and transgender women
do usually. Thank you.
Hello, I'm, hello, my name's Violel Kawaguchi
I'm a shoreline resident. I would also like to
point out that people's
hormone levels are variable depending on who they are and
their racial background, testosterone testing
will disproportionately affect cisgender athletes of color because cisgender athletes
of color do on occasion have higher testosterone levels than
average. We see this in Olympic sports. We see this in sports universally
Behind the thin veneer of parental. Concern, there's always an air
of racism and just the most
vile aspects of our country hidden behind every single
thing these people pass or want
to pass. The bone density arguments aren't
even like the two things that I'm
pretty sure the vast majority of what they're harping on is, is trans
people may have higher bone density, and we may
develop muscle mass that we had before better because of predis
or a pre-exposure to testosterone, these are
very nebulous things. They are not well defined. The science is not
there. This initiative is based on nothing and
is purely an excuse to discriminate while giving
nebulous actors, unlimited access to your children under the
guise of keeping them safe. Anyone who is an advocate for
this, anyone who wants this, I would greatly be concerned
about even having that person in my like
group of people, I assume. associate with because on its front
there's nothing about this that even makes any sense to anyone
who knows, like a basic amount of anatomy or
like science as a trans person, when I started HRT 11 years
ago, within months, you want to know what my T levels were
? 17 nanograms per deciliter. That is
significantly below the level of a cis woman
Like these, their arguments don't make sense. They are not seen out in the science
They're not seen out in the performance statistics, one of the most.
the largest anti-trans and sports
advocates Riley Gaines loves to talk about how a
trans person beat her without telling everyone that this trans person didn't
win the race, and Riley Gaines was 3rd, so like
these people are just losers. They're losers
and they want to discriminate against people of color and trans
people and people who they perceive as getting something
that they didn't earn, but they really earned it.
So please do the bare minimum as this gentleman in orange said
and passed this resolution and as a trans
person of color in shoreline, I will say walking to the
one line station right over there. I have had people like yell
at me outside of their cars. I've had people yell racial slurs
at me, old decrepit man in a Charlie Kirk shirt and a MAGA hat
like yelling the teas slur at me. This is like real
like people in Seattle are harassed daily for being trans.
This needs to stop.
Thank you. Is there any other public comment tonight?
Seen none, I will close public comment
and we'll move to counsel action.
Councilmember Roberts, thank you, Presiding Officer
Mark. Uh, I move adoption of resolution number
567 with the amendments that I have proposed.
Second, Motion
in a second. Would you like to speak to your motion, Councilor Roberts.
Uh thank you, Councilmember Mork for
uh, sponsoring this and getting this on the agenda, um.
We have adopted in this council
on this dio, multiple resolutions saying that Shoreland needs to be a
welcoming space for everyone. We
uh, for everyone
for LGBTQIA plus individuals specifically
uh, this is, I think
a continuation of that, those series of resolutions
and because we need to be, and
we ought to be a place where people feel safe. We want people to live here
We want people to feel comfortable uh working here. We want people
comfortable going to school here, and that's something that we.
As elected leaders of this city ought to continue
to push for. As we've heard from public comment, we
are not there yet. There are too many
people, there are too many people who are facing discrimination in their daily
lives. Too many people who face discrimination just existing.
Um, that is a problem. We
and we have a moral responsibility
to say no, that's not what we want, that's not the
values that we want to see in in shoreline.
Now I know that um we do need to do better.
I mean, I, and I think that some of the advocates
who are speaking here today, talking about how
do we make sure that and how do we provide
the resources that people need, so
that that is something we ought to sort of, that's something we need to strive for. It's
not something on our agenda tonight, but that's something we need to continue
to strive for is how do we protect our residents? How do we make sure
that our residents get the support they need. And
It's hard. It is hard to be a child in
This world today. It's especially hard if
they are in transitioning
have transitioned. It is a scary, it is
scary, so individuals who decide and make the
decision to transition, that is not an
easy decision. That is a tough.
Tough, tough. Decision that
people have to make. It is if you are.
People It is
Facing people who do decide to transition
sadly faced this additional discrimination.
They, uh, um, as I said
it's harder, the studies have shown that individuals who
a harder time trying to find work.
That individuals who are trans.
Struggle with lots of things in their daily lives. It's not something
people take lightly if they are in
transition. And it's our job as a country, we should
be letting people live the lives they want to live. If they should not, people should
not
be discriminated against because of the choices that they
make, how they live their lives because individuals
Just want to live, they just want to live their lives. They they want to feel, well, say
feel protected. They want to be supported by their community.
They want to be supported in their schools.
These are things that people want. These are basic needs that people
uh, people want and. It's sad to
see that there are people in this state who want to
enshrine discrimination in our laws. As was said
uh, the initiative around
Sports, it is not the
small handful of trans youth who are participating in sports who are going
to be affected by it. It is going to be the people who are
as was described, uh, as Jamie said
correctly, it's the people who are, it's the people
women of color who are a head taller, who have a a little bit stronger muscle mass
who are seemingly better than everyone
else on the field, who they're the ones who are going to be questioned. That's been
That's been questioned every time for hundreds of years.
Thousands of years. That
is really the people who are going to be affected by this
because it is invasive, and it is discriminatory that
One gender is going to be affected by this, while
another gender is not. That is wrong. Clean
flat wrong.
And then we need to, I mean, the
school counselors, the teachers they know how important this is They know how
important the schools need to be a safe space for everyone
That an ideal world, yes, you should be able to talk
to your parents about who you are and what your true
identity is. That's important, but schools also are
a safe space, need to be a safe space for people. And
this law makes the schools not a safe space. It makes it
a hostile space that anything that
you say can suddenly go right back to a parent. A a
parent who may or may not be supportive.
A parent who may be willing to throw their
child out. We know that and studies show
that people are in who are
kids who are transitioning, who have transitioned, they're the ones who are
more likely, are very likely to be homeless. They're the more likely to
run away. If either
two unfortunately, 2 homelessness or to some other place. And I think for
the people who are, have opened their homes and let
people in and recognize and celebrate who they are
as individuals and not because of us.
So I encouraged and implore my colleagues to
support this, um, and I hope that if
this passes, that the people of
Washington state agree with me and say that this is wrong. These are
not Washington values. These are not shoreline values. So, thank you.
Councilmember Mark. Thank
you, Councilmember Scully. Thanks, and I'll keep this short because this, this is a
slam dunk and what's been said tonight is, is all true. So I'm
I'm bisexual. My part of the rainbow is fairly safe, but I've got a lot of
close friends who are trans, and at age 53, most of my trans friends transitioned a long
time ago, and so they have watched the world get progressively brighter, and
it's
Very unfortunate that they may see the world start to get more dim
with initiatives like this. I just want to share
11 life experience. I had the unfortunate life experience of explaining how difficult it
was to be trans to someone who later turned out to be a trans man, so I
mansplained being trans to a trans man, which is like meta
um, but he's a big bearded dude and I found out he
was trans when he got really upset at signature gatherers on a ferry for the
bathroom band that we, we dealt with years ago, and he said, look, he told me he was trans
and he said
look, this is Homer S for me. I can't leave the house because if I go into a women's room.
room, look at me. There will be screams if I go into
a men's room, you know, that's, you
know, that that's, that's not where I want to be. It's not safe for me to be there. So
I've spent a lot of time talking to folks, not only in Shoreland, but in surrounding
communities, and the good news is there is a strong trans community here, and
what makes my heart glad is when I meet someone who's trans and the households next to them
are
all flying pride flags, even though they are not part of that community, they're just
showing solidarity. The bad news is there is a lot of misunderstanding about.
What these bills are. It's usually posed around safety, which is
ridiculous. And what misses the point is, this isn't aimed at
adults, right? The first measure is aimed at children. And for
me it's especially invidious because it tells a 12 year
old girl that her body has to pass inspection, usually by a man
before she's allowed to participate. I mean that that's that's like 1,80s
1700s thinking. The other
measure about school counselors and and medical professionals. When my
daughter was 12, she cut her hair short and started wearing different clothes, and I
thought
huh, and she told me years later that she had been questioning her gender
identity, and she wasn't ready to talk to me about it. That doesn't make me a bad parent,
that doesn't mean
we have a bad relationship. She just wasn't ready to share with her dad that she was
questioning who
she was. So no kid should be, should know that there is
no safe space, right? There should always be a safe space. All this has been said. Thank
you
for coming, and I'm actually familiar with the Kawaguchi O'Connor Initiative, and thank
you
for doing that. It's making a big difference to a lot of people.
CouncilmanRadamasu. Thank you
Councilmember Mork and Roberts for
bringing this resolution. I'm in full support of the resolution
and I want to every person that physically
came here and Spoke from
your heart and
touched me greatly, um, So,
I just want to reiterate, I oppose
the initiative regarding youth participation in
athletics. It is wrong to victimize trans youth.
And this initiative, as we all know
will subject girls who wish to play sports
in kindergarten through senior year in high school to
the additional medical evaluations. I also oppose
the initiative about parental rights is not
all students are safe at home, and I believe that all students
need safe spaces to talk about private issues that
they are dealing with, and I want to surround everyone with protection and
love. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Snyder.
I'll, I'll do my best to
articulate all of the many thoughts, and I, first
of all, I appreciate everyone who showed up today and who
spoke and also for council members, uh, Mork
and Roberts for Paying attention to what's going on, um.
Uh, I grew up playing sports
My sisters played sports. We all
played softball, um, all through high
school and and uh and even into college
um, uh. You know
the, they weren't always straight. Many
of the players were, were not, and you get questioned
about that, but Those are
our people. I mean that that there's no other way to say it. I mean
uh, they kick at us, so, um.
Uh, All I can think about with
with this regards to the the the initial
bill about girls' sports, uh, it's, you know
it's invasive, it's perverse, it's just
brings to mind. Uh, you know
Doctor Larry Nassar, who was convicted of, you know
molesting all of these
uh, gymnasts, uh, well sometimes while their
parents are standing in the room. And um,
So subjecting girls and
in trans kids. These are girls. These
are kids to anything short, you know, or a
some kind of pelvic exam in
order to decide whether they're
qualified to play sports. I, I mean, it's, it's
it's insidious and and it's
thinly veiled, uh, or it's some kind of attempt to
be legitimized by using some kind of term
like family values, fairness
in sports, uh.
Parental rights, uh, in, in.
When I hear those terms, I just kind
of brace myself because here comes another non-issue making.
It's way as so as though it's some kind of an issue
and it really, really isn't
um, and I'm, I'm very pleased
that uh that this is, we're starting.
With this baseline is Mr. Steele
mentioned earlier, um,
And like everything, like they say, safety first, and that has also
has to do with the, with the 26001
um, initiative that's going to show up, kids don't
always feel safe at home. They need to feel
safe at school talking to a
counselor and um I I know from
kids going, even going to to therapy, you
you hit that 13 year old Mark and, and you can't even uh.
log in onto some
kind of medical to pay the
they're entitled to that privacy. It's not to be shared
with their parents unless they decide they want to share it with
their parents, and um And that needs to be maintained
at our schools as well. So, um.
Again, there's there's a uh, we
have a ways to go and um But
this is a, you have to start somewhere. Thank you.
Thank you. um. Thank you
all for coming. Makes a big difference
to know that there are
people who support what we are trying
to do. Councilmember Roberts, thank you for improving the, um
Resolution And I think I don't
have anything new to say. You have covered it
all, really appreciate it. Uh, now we're at the
point to vote on this
resolution. Um, is there any more discussion, or?
Will the clerk please call them ? I believe
the motion is on the amendment first and then.
I thought that's what uh moved with
his amendment. OK, let's get into the motion. So no, that's all
right. OK. Though thought we had done that
uh, so will the clerk please call the vote.
Uh, Councilmember Snyder. Hi
Councilmember Roberts. Councilmember
Ademasu, Councilmember Mark, a Councilmember Scully, aye.
Thank you. Passed unanimously
5 to 0. With that, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you.