[music] [music]
-- we're going to go ahead and
get started. Bueller. So I
don't want to bang the gavel
hey, council president. Okay.
thank you. That's the first time
I've ever had to use the gavel,
so. Good afternoon, everyone.
the august 11th meeting of the
seattle city council will come
to order. It is 2:06 p.m.. I'm
joy hollingsworth, your council
president. Will the clerk please
call the roll?
-- councilmember foster
councilmember juarez.
-- councilmember kettle here.
-- councilmember lin here.
-- councilmember rinck here.
-- councilmember rivera.
present. Councilmember saka.
councilmember strauss council
president. Hollingsworth.
-- here.
-- seven. Present.
-- awesome councilmember.
councilmember juarez. You said
seven. Present. Okay.
councilmember juarez and
councilmember foster are excused
until they get here. I know they
stepped out today. The council
will present three
proclamations. Will present two.
excuse me, two proclamations.
the first one is presented on
susan hahn appreciation day by
councilmember rinck. And the
second proclamation will be
presented by councilmember saka.
recognizing west seattle little
league day. So we will start
with councilmember rinck.
-- thank you, council president
colleagues. I am so excited to
be presenting this proclamation
today to honor the work of susan
hahn of the seattle channel, the
award winning seattle channel.
-- [applause]
-- now, mayor wilson, along with
eight city councilmembers, have
added their signatures and
proclaimed today, august 11th,
2026, as susan hahn appreciation
day. Now I know I've met susan
in community from labor at
linda's events to also a group
bike ride in chophouse row. But
many know susan out in community
and through her work through
seattle channel, she has
facilitated an empowered
communities and people from
across the city to tell their
stories. So I felt compelled to
bring this proclamation to
fruition after I heard of
susan's retirement from our own
brian callanan. And I want to
give a big thanks to brian for
working with my office in
drafting this proclamation and
bringing us all here today. So
without further ado, I'd like
to read the proclamation, and
then we'll have a couple of
speakers to speak on. Susan hahn
appreciation day, and we will
take a group photo. So whereas
susan hahn, a senior producer at
the seattle channel since 2007,
has retired after an inspiring,
award winning career. And
whereas she was born in london
and raised in singapore and
followed her natural lifelong
curiosity to ask meaningful
questions by pursuing work
overseas in the field of
journalism. Whereas she moved to
the united states in 1987 to
attend the university of
washington, where she earned a
communications degree in 1990.
and whereas she began a career
in broadcast journalism spanning
nearly 40 years, including
nearly two decades at seattle
channel, 15 years as a senior
producer at casey ts9 and as a
researcher at king tv's evening
magazine. And whereas her work
at seattle channel has included
coverage of the pike place
market centennial in 2007, as
well as programs such as art
zone, city stream, community
stories and seattle speaks. And
whereas her ability to speak
four languages english, french,
mandarin and cantonese, and her
international perspective
allowed her to lead production
on a program about seattle
sister cities of knots. And
whereas the bulk of her work at
seattle channel has been
dedicated to producing more than
250 episodes of city inside out,
a public affairs show known for
the tough but fair approach she
developed alongside host kr
douglas and brian callanan. And
whereas she researched topics,
wrote and edited scripts, booked
guests, and became known for
persuading people with opposing
viewpoints to sit down together
for civil conversations about
seattle's biggest and most
controversial issues. From gun
control to homelessness, as well
as spirited debates between
opposing political candidates.
and whereas she has won eight
regional emmy awards and
contributed to seattle channel
station excellence award in
2025, which recognizes
outstanding overall operations,
local programing and community
involvement of a television
station as compared to all
television stations in the
region of washington, idaho,
oregon and montana. And whereas,
she became a u.s. Citizen in
2019 and has had a major
influence far beyond television
with her involvement in the
asian american journalists
association starting in 1991,
where she served as co-president
and has advocated for more asian
american journalists and
journalists of color in
newsrooms. And whereas her
inspiring career and unmatched
contributions have helped shape
the seattle channel into what it
is today, an award winning
municipal government access
television station and digital
media platform that inspires,
informs and connects the seattle
community. Now, therefore, the
mayor and seattle city council
proclaim august 11th, 2026 to be
susan hahn appreciation day.
-- thank you.
-- [applause]
-- awesome. Thank you.
councilmember rinck are there
any other councilmembers that
would like to give comment
before we suspend the rules? So
we're going to go ahead and
suspend the rules. So the
proclamation could be presented.
and then we also have three
guests. We have brian callahan
who's going to speak shannon g.
and then susan herself. Oh there
is someone who wanted oh sorry.
councilmember rivera thank you.
-- thank you, council president.
I just want to say that I was
not present at yesterday's
meeting, but of course, I would
have signed the proclamation. I
really want to congratulate
susan hahn for her service to
the city and at the seattle
channel. So wanted to say that
for the record. And
congratulations to her. Thank
you.
-- cp awesome. Thank you,
councilmember rivera. Okay, so
we'll go ahead and present the
proclamation and then I will
call up brian, are you here?
brian callahan? Callanan I'm
sorry, I always mess up. I'm
sorry. Brian. Yes. Okay,
awesome. Shannon. Then brian and
then susan. Hi, shannon.
welcome. Hey. Hi.
-- I'm shannon g. I'm the
general manager of the seattle
channel, and I am so excited.
that is susan hahn appreciation
day. Every day is susan hahn
appreciation day at the seattle
channel. We are so grateful and
proud to have had susan working
with us and the city of seattle
for nearly two decades. She was
the incomparable senior producer
for our public affairs program,
city inside out, and we all
became sharper, smarter, and
more civically engaged due to
her focus, her persuasive
personality, and her commitment
to finding the voices to speak
about our city. She brought us
all together around that frosted
desk in the seattle channel
studios to discuss, learn and
examine the things that impact
us as a municipality and a
community. I love that this
proclamation is happening here
in chambers, as this is a key
place where susan took her cues
and ran with them, describing
susan as a skilled and trusted
news producer. Doesn't say the
half of it. Her power to turn
the issues discussed in this
building into civic
participation is testament to
her ability to simultaneously
hold clarity and nuance in
complex issues, and her
generosity in inviting many of
us into the discussion helped to
widen our viewpoints and world.
so congratulations to susan
seattle channel. Thanks you for
all your years of service, your
tireless community building, and
your dedication to upholding
media integrity and informing
our city.
-- awesome. Thank you. Shannon.
-- [applause]
-- brian, welcome.
-- brief interlude. Before I
speak
-- hello. I'm josephine chang,
former news reporter at como
reporter at king's evening
magazine. Producer, reporter at
kcts, as well as seattle
channel.
-- I'm lori matsukawa, 36 years
as anchor at king five news.
hello, joy. And also a proud
friend of susan hahn.
-- as you can see, dear city
council, susan has quite a
cheering squad here today.
that's because those of us who
have worked with her and who
have known her for decades,
definitely know that she is
indeed a treasure.
-- at king-tv. Susan was a
producer at evening magazine at
kcts nine. She produced many
award winning documentaries and
shows, and of course here at
seattle channel, where she
produced city inside out, as
well as other emmy award winning
stories and shows
-- hard working, diligent,
creative and thoughtful. Susan
will not quit until the story or
show is booked, until every
component of a shoot is
finalized, until every sentence
of the script is polished, and
until every frame of video is
edited in the best possible way.
given the constraints, she's
really conscientious about
making sure multiple sides of
the story are heard. She is
relentless about excellence in
storytelling, when so much less
than that is considered
acceptable. And she is a strong
advocate for civic journalism.
when there's so much pressure
working against it.
-- we'd like to thank the
seattle city council and
councilmember rinck in
particular for recognizing
susan, who's not only a fine
producer, but she is also a
wife, a mother and a genuine
friend. Thank you so much for
recognizing her.
-- thank you.
-- susan, thank you.
-- [applause]
-- and councilmembers, thank you
for this recognition. During a
busy time. Thank you to
councilmember rinck for
shepherding this through and all
for staff. It's susan hahn
appreciation day, and I
definitely appreciate her. So
for the past 15 years, I've
worked with susan at seattle
channel together. We've
actually produced more than 300
episodes of city inside out.
she's produced more than 500.
so we'll make sure we get that
correction out there. And I'm
talking about conversations with
each of you as candidates. As
you might remember there. I can
say without hesitation that
susan is one of the finest
journalists and colleagues I've
ever known, and a fierce and
loving friend. Before there was
ai, there was susan. If you
wanted the cell phone number of
the press secretary for a
candidate that was on seattle
channel nine years ago, you
would ask susan if you wanted
opposing voices to speak out
about transgender bathrooms or
immigration policy. You'd ask
susan or work to research
issues, book guests with
competing voices to sit next to
each other and sharpen. The
questions that I wrote have set
the standard for fairness at
seattle channel, guests knew
they might face hard questions,
but they also knew they'd be
treated with respect. You don't
often hear that word in relation
to government affairs reporting
in today's world, but susan
lives out that ethic every day.
susan earned eight emmys in
career. In her career, you
probably heard that, but I'd say
at least nine because the emmy
that I won for best tv host a
few years back is completely
thanks to her. I hope her
legacy, though, isn't completely
measured by the awards she won
or her decades of volunteer
service to the asian american
journalists association or the
bellevue school district. Her
legacy is truly all around you.
from informing people about the
work of local government to
educating people about what's on
their ballot. For nearly two
decades, susan always had an
exacting approach on the job
because she knows the work of
public affairs matters. She's
persistent because the public
deserves answers, and she sees
the humanity in every issue,
too. I recall working with her
on a fentanyl documentary three
years ago. She set up an
interview with a mother who had
lost her child to an overdose.
it was susan who talked with
this mother and helped her find
the courage to open the door.
she kept closed to her
daughter's room since her death.
talk to us about how her
daughter died, and tell her
important story to the world.
seattle is better informed
because of susan seattle channel
is stronger because of her and
all of us who have worked beside
her are better because of her
example. I'm going to keep
working on city inside out at
seattle channel to honor
susan's legacy with her spirit
in my heart, susan, you have all
my love and thanks.
congratulations on your
retirement and happy susan hahn
appreciation day. I will
appreciate you for every day to
come. Thank you counsel.
-- thank you brian.
-- [applause]
-- and now we have miss susan
hahn. Welcome your day.
-- thank you.
-- councilmember rinck, first of
all, for this nomination.
where'd she go?
-- [laughter]
-- there you are. I'm just so
thrilled and relieved that the
city council and mayor wilson
found something to agree on.
-- hey, hey
-- [laughter]
-- oh.
-- seriously
-- blown away by this
proclamation. For the last 19
years, my goal as seattle
channel producer has simply
been, to be fair, thorough and
balanced. Journalistic integrity
is my north star, and it means
the world to be recognized for
it. A huge thank you to my
family and friends who have
supported me every step of the
way, including those who are in
the room here today to my first
seattle channel station manager,
gary gibson. Thanks for hiring
me to the amazing seattle
channel team, especially my two
inside out co-hosts, brian
callanan and kr douglas, who are
both here. Thank you so much for
your dedication and hard work
over the years. It's truly been
an honor working with both of
you I'm hopeful the station
will continue its excellent work
and keep winning those emmys.
and to the city employees,
elected officials, and community
members who have said yes to our
interview requests over the
decades, our shows would not
have happened without you. Thank
you very much.
-- awesome. Thank you. Susan.
-- [applause]
-- and.
-- [applause]
-- tep.
-- [applause]
-- joy.
-- [applause]
-- joy.
-- [applause]
-- we're going to take this
microphone and now we're going
to take a group photo. So we'll
have susan and everyone come up
to the front. Not everyone in
the audience, but the folks.
-- [laughter]
-- sorry, just letting you all
know only the only the people
that are coming up, I guess they
know. And then deanna lee will
take a photo. We'll pause here.
it will be quiet.
-- [laughter]
-- thank you, thank you.
-- [laughter]
-- no no no no.
-- [laughter]
-- no, I know.
-- [laughter]
-- what you mean.
-- [laughter]
-- I know what you mean. Yeah.
-- [laughter]
-- thank you for letting us do
this.
-- [laughter]
-- yeah.
-- [laughter]
-- I think we should do two rows
at least.
-- squish, squish.
-- one more on this side.
-- [laughter]
-- who's running the show?
-- [laughter]
-- people in the back.
-- please. Okay, we're gonna
-- so everyone. So everyone. So
if everyone I have. I have a
microphone. Councilmember
kettle. We're good. So this is
what we're going to we're going
to do. We're going to scrunch
in as best as we can. And we're
going to look at this camera
right here at deanna lee. So
we'll scrunch in. We'll scrunch
in, everyone scrunch in as much
as you can.
-- go right here.
-- as much as you can. We're
scrunching in as much as you
can. All the people that might
be a little shorter. You'll be
in front. Okay, awesome
-- [laughter]
-- can I go down?
-- do want to count us down and
tell us what to do?
-- okay.
-- any more triple up
-- all right, here we go. Okay.
-- everybody can look over here
at the camera. I'm going to
take a couple. Try not to blink.
-- hey, susan.
-- [laughter] [applause]
[laughter]
-- I wasn't here yesterday.
-- sounds wrong. So maybe.
-- thank you. All right. Thank
you all for indulging us. For
the record, we also have
councilmember foster and
councilmember juarez who have
joined us. They have been here
for a long time. I apologize, I
did not recognize y'all when
y'all came in.
-- [laughter]
-- oh, this guy, this guy?
-- [laughter]
-- yeah. Thank you guys. Thanks
so much.
-- okay, so now we will
transition and we have one more
proclamation as well. So thank
you all. And then right after
the proclamation, we'll jump
into public comment. So if you
are online and listening, we
have one more proclamation and
we will jump right in online.
councilmember sok,
congratulations, susan and team
in seattle channel. Thank you
for all the work that you all
do. We're so grateful for our
seattle channel, emmy award
winning seattle channel. All
right. Councilmember saka will
now address the proclamation
recognizing august 11th, 2026 to
be west seattle little league
softball day. Councilmember saka
you are recognized.
-- [applause]
-- thank you, madam council
president, colleagues, members
of the public. So today we get
to honor and celebrate
achievement and journalism and
girls softball in west seattle
today, I am incredibly proud to
introduce a proclamation to
celebrate the historic
achievement of the west seattle
little league girls 11 u
softball team for winning the
whole dang thing. The whole
state tournament at this year's
championship. Their hard work,
teamwork and dedication truly
embody the spirit of our
community and that of our city.
they played seven games in seven
days and defeated the same team
that handed them their first and
only loss. Not once, but twice
to claim the state title. And
now I'm honored to read a few
select passages from this
honorary proclamation. I'll just
share that I was a I was a fan.
I'm a fan of all u sports
across district one. I'm a proud
resident of district one, so
I've been following along on
the sidelines, cheering on
reading west seattle blog
articles, articles from west
side seattle about our various
youth sports teams, and really
excited to be able to cheer them
on as a fan. This one is
particularly proud because I got
to cheer them on as a member of
the community and cheer the team
on and the coaches on. As a
proud father of one of the
players. So I'm going to read a
few select passages of this
proclamation right now. Whereas
the west seattle little league
11 u. Girls softball team has
demonstrated exceptional talent,
teamwork, accomplishment and
sportsmanship throughout their
2026 season. And whereas the
team achieved an outstanding
combined record of 55 and ten,
going six and one in the state
tournament, playing seven games
in seven days and securing a
decisive victory to win the 2026
washington state championship.
and whereas this marks the first
ever state championship won by a
west seattle little league
softball team first ever.
-- [applause]
-- one of 23.
-- west seattle little league
teams and the only girls
softball team to earn a state
title. Whereas the girls
captivated the hearts of those
following their historic run,
inspiring a wave of community
pride and excitement in west
seattle and beyond. And now,
therefore, the seattle city
council does hereby proclaim
august 11th, 2026 to be west
seattle little league softball
day.
-- [applause]
-- congratulations on this
historic run, colleagues. I'll
note that not many teams from
the city of seattle little
league or rec teams from the
city of seattle ended up winning
major state championships like
this. And and so we're
incredibly, incredibly proud of
the west seattle little league
team because their
accomplishments and achievements
reflect not only great credit
upon the west seattle community,
but from a citywide perspective
as well. And again, first girls
softball team at in west seattle
history to to do it, joining
only two other baseball teams
over 20 years. So
congratulations. Would love the
opportunity for a few speakers
to say a few words. Madam
council president, if it's
okay. And then we'll present
the proclamation.
-- absolutely. You got it,
councilmember saka I will. I'll
pause here to see if any other
councilmember would like to say
some comments. Councilmember
rivera.
-- thank you, council president.
like the last proclamation, I
was not present when signatures
were needed to be added. So
congratulations. I would have
added my signature had I been
here. And I'm so excited for
you all. Thank you.
-- awesome. Thank you,
councilmember rivera. And then
now, if there are no objections,
I'm going to suspend the rules.
so councilmember saka can
present the proclamation and my
understanding. You have the team
manager, brant here, coaches
brooke fox and james frazier
that are here as well. And then
other speakers.
-- yes, that's correct, madam
council president, shall they
speak first before we do the
official presentation?
-- or you could do the. Yeah.
you could present the
proclamation and then they can
speak whichever whichever way
you'd like.
-- maybe we'll let them speak
first.
-- yeah. All right. So we're
having a team manager brant and
then coaches brooke and james.
welcome.
-- I'm I'm a coach of the west
seattle.
-- talking the microphone brant
or use your coach.
-- I'm the coach of the west
seattle little league along with
coach james and coach brooke
councilmembers, coaches,
families and community members.
thank you for this incredible
honor. On behalf of our u11
girls softball team, we are
proud and grateful to accept
this proclamation recognizing
our state championship season.
these young athletes showed
tremendous dedication, teamwork,
resilience, and sportsmanship
throughout the year. Their
success resulted in countless
hours of effort, along with the
support of their coaches,
parents and the entire
community. Most importantly,
they learned a great thing, a
great thing that can happen when
you work hard, believe in each
other, and have fun along the
way. Thank you for celebrating
these amazing girls and this
special achievement with us. We
are truly honored.
-- awesome. Thank you.
-- [applause]
-- I'm going to let mckenzie
heartbeat now.
-- she is one of our star
pitchers of the team.
-- awesome. Welcome.
-- hello hello. My name is
mackenzie hart and I am one of
the pitchers for the west
seattle little league 11. You
all star state championship
team. Thank you for giving me
the opportunity to share what my
teammates and I accomplished
this season. Last year as the
eight nine, ten year old all
star team, we came just one game
short of our goal. We had a
heartbreaking 2 to 1 loss in the
championship game at the state
tournament. Instead of letting
that loss discourage us, we used
it as motivation. We came back
this year ready to work hard,
play together and give it
everything we had. With the
support of our coaches, parents,
families and friends. We worked
hard all season during the
district and state tournaments.
we played ten games, collected
90 hits and scored 86 runs. We
won the district championship
and headed into state tournament
with a lot of confidence. Our
first state game ended in a
tough 3 to 1 loss, which put us
into the consolation bracket. At
that point, we knew that if we
didn't keep winning, our season
would be over. So we kept
fighting. We played almost every
day. We grew stronger as a team,
supported each other and never
gave up. Then on championship
saturday, we had to win twice to
become state champions. We won
our first game 2 to 1 in an
extra inning thriller. Then we
came back and won again, 4 to 1
to secure the championship. We
finished the district in state
championships with a nine and
one record. We outscored our
opponents 55 to 10 and went six
and one at the state
championship state tournament.
during the state tournament, I
threw 433 pitches, recorded 48
strikeouts and allowed just four
earned runs. But the biggest
accomplishment wasn't the
numbers. We made history as west
seattle's first little league
softball state champions. To my
teammates, I'm so proud of
every one of you. Our
outfielders made game saving
catches. Our infielders made
incredible plays, including some
that I honestly didn't think
were possible. And carmen, our
catcher, caught all seven of our
state tournament games. What
makes this team so special
isn't just that we won, it's
the way we played, the respect
we respected our opponents,
supported each other, stayed
positive through the tough
moments and carried ourselves
with class, dignity wherever we
with whether we won or lost. I
am incredibly proud to have been
part of this team. It has been
an honor and privilege to be the
starting pitcher for the west
seattle little league. 11 you
state championship team. I also
want to thank our coaches,
brant, james and brooke for your
dedication, encouragement and
countless hours you spent
helping us become better players
and better teammates. Thank you
to our parents, families,
friends, and everyone in our
community who supported us,
cheered for us and believed in
us along the way and most of
all, thank you to my teammates
for believing in each other,
fighting for each other, and
never giving up. Last year we
came up one game short. This
year we finished the job. We
didn't just win a championship,
we made west seattle history.
thank you.
-- [applause]
[applause]
-- and then the rules have been
suspended. Councilmember saka
will come to present the
proclamation. And then would you
also like a picture?
councilmember saka as well?
okay, awesome. And then we will
invite the young girls to come
up. We're going to take a photo
to together. So if you all just
start making your way right here
to the right. Just this way,
just follow awesome. And then
right after this photo, we will
jump right into public comment.
okay, awesome. Thank you all. So
we'll come up here, we'll take
a photo with our young girls
from the 11. You the state
championship team. Hey,
congrats. Congrats
-- congratulate. Awesome.
-- you guys, come on.
-- this way. Congratulations.
congrats, congrats, congrats.
thank congratulations. Thank you
thank you.
-- I'm gonna give these to you.
-- okay, guys, come over here.
you guys come over here. Yeah,
yeah. You guys, come over here.
scooch down oh, yeah.
-- [laughter]
-- double up there.
-- [laughter]
-- I'm doubling up. How about
you stand forward and then your
coach can stand.
-- in.
-- the back and then we can get
a little closer. I'm not even.
okay, slide that way. How do we
look? Right.
-- take a couple still smile.
-- perfect. Thank you.
-- [applause]
[applause]
-- so cool.
-- [laughter]
-- that's incredible there.
-- awesome.
-- there we go.
-- congratulations. I heard I
heard the the girls up here
talking about back to back.
that's what I did. I heard I
heard them say back to back
titles. That's what I heard
someone said back to back. Okay,
I know we're going to jump
right into the public comment.
colleagues, at this time, we're
going to open up our favorite
time, which is our hybrid public
comment period. Public comment
is limited to items on today's
agenda. The introduction,
referral calendar and the
council's work program. The
council cannot accept comments
on quasi-judicial items or
campaign related matters. Clerk
how many speakers do we have
signed up today?
-- we have 75 in person and 30
remote.
-- you said 75 in person, 75 in
person, plus 3530 remote. Okay,
awesome. So we are going to go
over time and for that's
allotted for our public comment
period. So I am going to ask my
colleagues, we're going to hear
everyone speak today. Is that
cool? I will not continue to
extend the time. We'll go as
long as it takes. Is that cool?
I'm looking left and right.
awesome. All right. So because
we have over 100 people, we have
about 100 people. We're we are
going to do one minute. If you
have 60 or less, it's less than
one minute. I think that would
just be ridiculous to do. 30s.
so everyone's going to get one
minute. Will the clerk please
read the instructions to the
public comment period?
-- the public period will be
moderated in the following
manner. Speakers will be called
in the order in which they
registered. Speakers will hear a
chime with 10 seconds left of
their time. Speakers will be
muted if they do not in their
comments within the allotted
time, to allow us to call the
next speaker. The public comment
period is now open and will
begin with the first speaker on
the list.
-- awesome. If you're waiting
online, we're going to do the
first 30 in person. We're going
to bounce to you online and
we're going to come back. So if
you're online, we're going to
do 30 in person and then we will
come to you. So that will be
about around 3053 ten is when it
looks like we'll jump back
online. All right, we have
yvette dinish followed by
josephine chang, samantha poe.
then we have powell, julian
mantei el aaron and josh. And I
apologize if I miss if I said
your name wrong, I apologize.
but first we have miss yvette.
come on up. All right.
josephine, samantha. Poe. Paul.
julian mante, el aaron and josh.
-- impressive intended today,
isn't it? I pledge allegiance
to the flag of the united states
of america and to the republic
for which it stands. One nation
under god, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all. I
also want to, in support of
councilmember rivera's urging
the mayor to work with the
national network for safe
communities, widely recognized
for delivering results, I
encourage her and to keep
pushing on that. And there's a
program in philadelphia called
the a gbic that's had very much
success in reducing gun violence
and keeping our kids from dying
unnecessarily. And the only
other thing I have to say is
bravo to the parents and the
support team who support these
girls in becoming state
championship and baseball,
baseball. I wish I'd had those
programs when I was a kid. Girl
sports. Thank you very much.
-- thank you, miss.
-- chair, regarding that
program.
-- thank you, miss yvette. Next
we have josephine, followed by
samantha and po. Josephine chang
here, josephine. No. Okay, next
we have samantha. Samantha.
good. Welcome.
-- hi. Councilmember samantha
grad here on behalf of teamsters
117 in support of the rental
junk fee legislation for many
years as a renter in the city, I
remember that dread and
frustration when your lease was
up and you were trying to figure
out, is it going to go up too
much? I'm not going to be able
to afford my place. You then
have to start looking online,
scouring the internet, trying to
find a place that is in your
price range. You go do the
tours, you find something that
works, you feel that relief
except for weight. When you go
to fill out the paperwork. All
of these surprise fees suddenly
kick it out of your budget. Our
members are feeling that same
squeeze right now. It is
incredibly hard to find that,
and it is incredibly challenging
to go through the entire
process, only to then be met
with that surprise at the end.
we are seeing folks all across
our community experience this
death by a thousand cuts, and
that's what these rental junk
fees feel like. You feel like
you finally found something that
is in your budget, only to then
have the rug pulled out from
you. And it's confusing at
best. And at worst case
scenario, it's dishonest. Please
pass this legislation to ensure
transparency in renting.
-- thank you. Next we have poe,
followed by paul poe, paul
julian is poe polypi. Yeah. All
right. Welcome.
-- thank you.
-- hello, paul. Happy here with
the washington housing alliance
in strong support of the
proposed ban on junk fees. Thank
you, councilmember foster, for
your leadership. And to all five
councilmembers on the committee
who voted yes, please vote yes
today and ensure that no
amendments are added that will
weaken protections, including
anything that allows pet rent or
requires tenants to opt out.
power dynamics are a significant
factor in opt out requirements
for tenants into very difficult
situations. No tenant should be
forced to pay these unfair,
expensive and often deceptive
fees. Renters in seattle are
sharing that fees are oftentimes
added after move in at lease
renewal, trapping tenants who
can't afford to move and the
fees they are, the fees they are
being charged are ridiculous.
seattle renters are paying a fee
to pay rent fees to cover
utilities and management fees,
to submit maintenance requests,
fees that cover their
landlord's insurance and more.
but these are just a few
examples of unfair and costly
fees that tenants are being
forced to pay. You have an
opportunity to stop this today.
please vote yes today and no on
any harmful amendments. Thank
you.
-- thank you. Next we have paul.
paul here. Julian, miss paul
here, paul okay. Welcome. Then
julian, then mante.
-- I'm paul thomas and I'm a
leader of the republican party
of king county. Earlier I came
here to speak about the
corruption and criminality of
the homeless industrial complex.
today I'm going to address
something deeper. Instead of
treating crime and drug
trafficking as matters of law
enforcement, we are treating
these as behavioral health
matters no belief could be more
damaging to our city and its
permissiveness to crime, but
also in its rejection of the
dignity of the criminal by
rejecting the principle of
personal agency and
responsibility. If this
continues and people continue to
think that that's how we solve
the problems, taxpayers who are
now leaving in trickles will
later be leaving in droves,
leaving behind poverty and
misery in our neighborhoods.
-- thank you paul. Next, we have
julian, followed by mandy
julian, followed by monte. And
this is just a just a reminder
when people are speaking, if we
could just be respectful, no
booing. I'm not going to let
them boo you either. So like,
let's just try to keep it cool.
all right. So next we have
julian.
-- I'm julian.
-- julian you're julian
blackthorn.
-- yeah. That's me. Hello.
-- hold on. Julian blackthorn
and then we have manty and then
el, aaron and josh. Julian.
-- hello. My partner and I moved
here in 2014. I am trans and
non-binary and I was raised
maga. We fled florida in the
middle of the night because we
weren't treated like humans.
I've been told my whole growing
up life that seattle was a
liberal paradise, and it sounded
like paradise to me, a place
where queer and trans folks like
me and my partner could be
accepted and just live.
unfortunately, it's truly only
a haven for the richest white,
cisgender gays among us. Anyway,
our car alternator died and I
lost my job. We became houseless
the first time in my life, and
it was 18 months of hell. We got
a hand up from nickelsville and
lived in the same apartment now
for ten years. So why can't we
have trans refugee villages? Why
can't we use the millions of
dollars harold was spending on
sweeping our houseless neighbors
from street to street, when an
inordinate amount of them are
queer and trans, and especially
if they happen to also be black,
indigenous people of color. Why
can't we use some of the
millions going to the cops for
surveillance when it didn't
stop? Juniper blessings, public
murder, nor the shooting
murders? That bit of seattle.
this is one of the richest and
poorest cities in the world. We
need more than 300 for this
influx of refugees, transgender
and otherwise. And an office of
county affairs. Please. You'll
be invested in a poor queer and
trans folks. And we need that
right now. Thank you.
-- thank you, julian. And then l
welcome.
-- you may call me monty. I'm a
spiritual leader in the seattle
trans community. And I am here
to speak truth. Two weeks ago, I
said seattle was like the
innkeeper who promised my people
rooms. Yet when they arrived had
no rooms available. I asked you
for mercy. Now you have shown us
a small mercy. While a pile of
hay in the stable loft may not
be adequate accommodations, it
is, in fact, a room. And it is,
in fact, at the end. For this I
express small gratitude with a
0.3 million equivalent to the
salary of about two and a half
junior police officers. Our
local mutual aid orgs could
house 16 trans people for a
year. To those who complain
about how even this is too much,
I ask you, why do you care about
so much about so little money?
the chief of police alone has 19
million budgeted. The spd
overall, 488 million. Think of
the 20,000 people that money
could be housing rather than
being used to ruin lives with
violence. Yet ruining lives is
what the critics are here to do.
they claim to be budget hawks,
but they are vultures who prey
upon me and my community for fun
and profit. I ask the city
council not to heed the words of
such godless people. Pray they
someday find love and do not
make their shame your own by
countenancing their bloodlust.
and ari, please don't pull guns
on people in the park.
-- so next we have el. Thank you
mantai. Now we have el followed
by aaron and then josh. Welcome.
-- hi. Thank you. I am from
stone soup crew and I am a
transgender refugee. And I'm
here and I'm here to say thank
you to all everybody that's on
this panel. And as a member of
this district, you're going to
vote today on something that's
very near and dear to my heart.
we are a community based
organization in stone soup crew.
every wednesday, we're out there
meeting and greeting and feeding
many of the refugees that are
coming here. Don't tell me that
we're not putting ourselves on
the line, and we deserve our
recognition. And as such, we've
invited you all to our
anniversary dinner that is going
to be held on the 26th of
september. And I put that in
your your basket. And I just
wanted to show something real
quick. This is the stone
donation that I received on
wednesday that was whizzed by my
head on 12th and howl while I
tried to help a unhoused
transgender person. And this is
the reality that we face. We
deserve our place in the sun
too. Thank you for letting me be
among these transgender giants
that are sitting here behind me,
and that will lead this world
someday. Thank you very much.
-- thank you. Next.
-- [applause]
-- josh.
-- hi. Hard to follow that. My
name is josh freese. I'm the
treasurer of seattle's lgbtq
center. And kawaguchi o'connor
initiative at trans faculty
network. My opinions are my own.
you're going to hear you've
already heard some of the the
the experiences, the lived
experiences of trans folks here.
you're going to hear so much
more after me. What I'm going
to tell you right now is the
financial and logistical part.
we are ready for this money that
you appropriated last week. We
have budgetary controls, we have
spending controls. We ready to
deal with hsd grants. So for all
those that are behind me that
say that we don't know how to
spend this money, that we don't
know what to do with it, I say
we're going to show you so much
joy and, and community care than
you'll ever see. And if you
have a question about a budget,
ask me, I can tell you how to
balance a balance sheet. Thank
you.
-- thank you.
-- [applause]
-- josh.
-- [applause]
-- next, we have. Are you are
you, are you aaron. Okay,
awesome. All right. Aaron,
welcome. Before you go, let me
tell the next ten people. So
we'll have jillian, ruth,
craig, we have miss torres. I
can't read your first name. I
apologize, miss torres. We have
michael. Danica, victoria,
rachel, alexia and caroline. You
all are up next. Okay. Welcome.
all right.
-- my name is aaron. I'm here to
talk about the amendment,
allocating funds to provide
resources to trans community. I
am a trans person who relocated
here from the dakotas to find
community and a better life for
myself. I'm not going to lie.
this search for a better
existence has partially eluded
me since losing my corporate
job. It's hard enough to find
consistent work as a trans
person, especially when there is
more variety in a chip aisle
than the city's job market. I
did, however, find community and
I would not be standing here
today if it wasn't for this. I
have met people who are willing
to donate out of pocket what
little money they had to help
trans people with rental
assistance, food, medical costs
and other basic needs. Which
leads to the question what
message does it send that those
with barely ascent to their name
are doing more to help the trans
community than our own
government? You can claim to
care for and protect trans
people, but actions speak louder
than words. I plead with the
city council to find in their
hearts to vote yes on that
amendment.
-- thank you aaron. Next we have
jillian, followed by ruth craig.
welcome.
-- council members. My name is
jillian england. Seattle face is
shrinking business activity,
high office vacancies and rising
property taxes. The commercial
tax base is under pressure, yet
we're being asked to expand
spending on discretionary
programs for a narrow category
of newcomers. While the city's
more core services and fiscal
foundation remain strained.
every new obligation competes
with public safety,
infrastructure and the basic
conditions that keep employers
and residents here. Compassion
that ignores the budget is not
compassion. It is deferred.
costs shifted to the people
already paying higher taxes.
stabilize the tax base first,
then consider expansions.
please. My name is jillian
england. Thank you.
-- thank you jillian. Next we
have ruth, followed by craig.
miss
-- to.
-- the signs be lowered while
I'm talking.
-- they have the freedom to do
that to lift those up. Yeah.
-- it doesn't seem right
because then they're taking
away from my voice.
-- they can't block the person
behind them, but they are
allowed to hold the signs. Okay.
thank you. Ruth.
-- yeah. My name is ruth baraga.
I live in seattle. I reference
the song I t by christine and
the queens on the album chaleur
humaine to my comments on august
4th, this council voted on
amendment 5cb121253 amending
ordinance 127362. This proposal
is about sex and that word
describes both a body type and
an activity. This proposal
adopts the current definition
this week of lgbtq, which
includes something different, an
identity, not an identity that
can be proven through court or
hospital records. Simply the
identity and an individual has
chosen for the day the
equivalent of about 60 single
family homes would donate their
entire hard fought property tax
to fund a slush fund for people
for people who can't even prove
what they are, what they claim
to be.
-- who pot, pot, pies, pot.
pause, pause your time. Hold on.
pause time. We'll put 15
seconds back so she can finish.
I'm just going to ask really
nicely. That would be respectful
to everyone. I will not let them
boo you every. I will not let
anyone get booed no matter what
their comments, how we disagree,
agree, whatever it is, we just
got to be respectful. I, I, I
hear you, I hear you, but I'm
going to protect your right to
speak as well. And I got you. I
hear you all 15 seconds. 15
seconds. You already talked just
15 seconds replaced.
-- I'm being respectful to
everyone.
-- no, just give me one second.
one second. Let let us hold on
one second. We'll start your
time, and then you'll be able to
continue.
-- okay.
-- thank you. Yeah. You're
welcome.
-- so I said, for a slush fund
for people who can't even prove
that they are what they claim to
be, this city already sets aside
millions for the homeless and
more millions for immigrants.
yet this subgroup of people come
asking for a special handout.
they want this money without any
strings and with their own
definition.
-- thank you ruth. You can give
your you can put your comments
in the basket as well. You're
good. No worries. Thank you
ruth. Okay, now we have craig
followed by miss torres.
welcome, craig.
-- thank you, president
hollingsworth. My name is craig
thompson. I'm a long time
advocate and activist on
northwest beacon hill. I am also
called the jungle guy there.
how's that? Thank you. You're
welcome. Okay, so I'm here today
to support councilmember lynn's
amendment to council bill
121253. This would create two
positions that would help
coordinate the outreach and
other efforts that are taking
place today in little saigon.
north rainier the north rainier
valley, and also northwest
beacon hill. These positions
will help make a whole program
possible so that there will be a
public safety component taking
place in our neighborhood, and
there will be real outreach. So
I hope that all of you will
support council lind's
amendment. Thank you.
-- thank you craig. Next, we
have miss torres. I miss.
-- your great.
-- no worries.
-- that's my mouthful.
-- yeah, yeah.
-- hi, everyone. My name is
amarantha torres from the
coalition ending gender based
violence. We support the ban on
hidden fees and amendments a and
e, as well as the amendment
supporting the trans community.
I'll be reading remarks from
tosh hansen, who couldn't be
here today. They support deaf
and deaf blind survivors at
member program. Abused deaf
women's advocacy services in d
five. Tosh says survivors
experienced trauma from the
abuse they go through, including
financial abuse. People who
cause harm will often use
finances to control survivors
and force them to stay in
abusive relationships. This
could look like ruining their
credit, sabotaging their job or
for deaf survivors taking their
monthly social security checks.
sometimes abusers take over
survivors finances so they never
learn how to budget or manage
money sufficiently. The result
is often poor credit,
homelessness and poverty. Most
survivors subsequently struggle
to find stable housing after
fleeing abuse. Add the
exorbitant housing costs in
seattle, and the situation is
often impossible. Oh my gosh,
survivors deserve a transparent
move in process where all fees
are stated clearly. Join our
work to end gender based
violence by leading by example.
do not continue practices that
mirror financial abuse such.
-- thank. Thank you. Thank you
so much. Next we have michael is
michael would. Is michael is
michael woodward here? Michael
michael woodward. No. Okay. Dan.
oh my bad. I'm sorry michael I
missed you.
-- sorry.
-- hello again councilmembers
michael woodward from traction.
I've been living in the world
as a trans man since the 1990s.
I'm here to urge you to vote
yes on cb 121252, as amended
last week, trans displacement is
a civic emergency. You've
already heard the numbers. More
than 50,000 displaced trans
people are already here or on
their way. The need is only
growing. In the three years
since we started this work,
we've received one $10,000
foundation grant for all this
work. Just one. I'm still
standing here as traction sole
paid staff member only because
some individual donors came
through. Just as our account
balances were sliding from black
to red. We all know 30 $300,000
is not enough. But I want to
come back here and thank you. I
want the city to be the first to
say trans people who flee here
deserve help. Sharon mcmahon
wrote the arc of the moral
universe doesn't doesn't bend
itself. Someone has to pull it.
that can be you vote yes. Let us
thank you. Then let us get back
to work. Thank you.
-- thank you michael. Next we
have danica is
-- [applause]
-- danica. I got you danica.
next by victoria. Rachel, alexia
and caroline. Danica. Victoria.
rachel. Alexia. Caroline.
welcome.
-- hello, my name is danica
noble. I spent 20 years with the
federal trade commission and the
last ten years as the chair of
our state bar association's
antitrust, consumer protection
and unfair business practices
section. I am in favor of the
junk fee ban, and it's more than
a question of just an extra fee.
it's more than the invisible
tax raising prices across the
economy. It's more than all the
convenience fees that we've all
paid and have never found
convenient. It asks a question
about whether our markets can be
fair in an increasingly digital
world. And it's something that
we absolutely need. The digital
markets promise transparency for
consumers. Junk fees hide those
and prevent that. Chaircom at
the federal trade commission
assumed 54,000,000 hours would
be saved by a nationwide junk
fee ban. The other problem is it
incentivizes dishonest business
practices and punishes those
that would make those
transparent. So if a consumer
should pay it, they should see
it before they decide to buy.
that's how we make this not
deceptive.
-- thank you danica. Next we
have victoria, followed by
rachel. Alexia. Caroline,
welcome.
-- hello, council. My name is
victoria palmer and I am a
district six resident and
executive board member of the
king county republican party.
I'm here today to speak against
funding for the trans and queer
community, like the $300,000
proposed in today's budget
amendment bill. Cb 121253. Mayor
wilson's office rejected the
request for an emergency.
there's no reason to spend
money. Public money to pay
expenses for what is simply
adults moving to seattle. The
videos I've posted on this
topic have drawn much public
attention and outrage, with over
330 views, 330,000 views on all
platforms. It's time to put an
end to our reputation for being
free at all, and return to
funding projects that build our
cities and our city, and benefit
all gauging by primary election
results. And danny west needs
analysis in the times. This
whole socialist movement thing
actually isn't catching on
here. And while we republicans
don't get much respect in
seattle.
-- thank you victoria. Victoria.
thank you. Thank you so much,
rachel. I, I can I can control
the meeting. Okay. You guys are
all good. Okay. We have rachel
followed by alexia and then
caroline. And then after that,
we'll go to the next ten people
and then we're going to go to
online. So that's 30 in person.
and we'll go online and we'll
come back. Rachel snell welcome.
-- thank you council president
joy hollingsworth and.
-- members of the city council.
my name is rachel snell, and I
am here to advocate for banning
a junk fees in a time where
rents already are unbelievably
expensive. No one should have to
choose between medical bills,
groceries, or rent, let alone
adding junk fees on top of it
all. I mean, are you kidding?
anyway, this piece of
legislation will provide much
needed relief to renters like
myself and many other vendors
that are in this room today, as
well as other people that are
not in this room today. And just
a friendly reminder that to be
an elected official is an honor.
it is an honor to be an elected
official because you are voted
on by the people. And so it is
your job. It is your job to
enact and enforce legislation
that help make improve the lives
of your constituents, not harm
your constituents. Thank you.
-- thank you rachel. Next we
have alexia, followed by
-- [applause]
-- caroline. Alexia. Welcome
then. Caroline. You're up. Thank
you.
-- and hello guys. Hi. My name
is alexia sattler and I'm a
renter living in south lake
union. I urge the council to ban
rental junk fees and take
meaningful action to protect
renters in seattle and oppose
amendment c and d. When I lived
in eastlake, I was charged a $15
administration fee and $50
technology technology fee on top
of the advertised rent, and
these charges may seem small,
but housing is already very
expensive for a lot of people. A
lot of my friends, my coworkers
to for every single apartment I
rented in seattle, I found
myself going back and forth with
property managers trying to
negotiate or question what these
charges were, only to be told
that there was nothing they
could do about it. I'm a college
student with two jobs. This is
this is really unfair. Renters
should not have to fight their
landlords just to understand or
challenge the true cost of their
housing. I ask the council to
stand with the majority of
seattle households who rent
their homes. Please support the
bill to ban rental junk fees and
oppose harmful amendments.
-- thank you alexia. Next we
have. Thank
-- [applause]
-- you.
-- [applause]
-- next, caroline. You go the
next people up before you go.
all right. It's going to be
chris apostate. Did I say that
right? Apostate. Apostate.
anyway. I'm sorry. Anitra.
ivan. Heather. Tennessee aiden.
kristen. Lexi and vera. And I
apologize if I mess up your
name. Caroline. Welcome.
-- hi, council. My name is
caroline russell. I'm a renter
in district three, and I'm here
in support of banning all rental
junk fees. But I want to talk
specifically about pet rent for
a moment. I've been renting in
seattle for seven years, and in
that time I've paid thousands
of dollars in rental fees, with
most of that coming from pet
rent for my cat. She has cost me
as much as $75 a month in pet
rent, despite never doing any
damage to my apartment, let
alone the building itself. This
money has been pure profit for
my landlord. Landlords have
tried to pitch pet rent as an
equity issue to give this fee
the veneer of progressivism, but
it is the poorest and most
marginalized people in the city
who are the most impacted and
the most at risk of eviction
over the inability to pay an
extra monthly fee, especially
since these fees are not covered
by housing vouchers. Pet rent
prices on tenants love for their
pets to extract every last drop
of profit from them. This is a
majority renter city, and we're
all tired of being nickeled and
dimed by landlords. While rent
prices skyrocket and threaten
our housing stability, I urge
you to ban junk fees to pass
amendments a and e and to vote
no on amendments c and d, which
will weaken this bill and hurt
renters and protect trans people
now and forever.
-- thank you
-- [applause]
-- caroline.
-- [applause]
-- chris.
-- it's chris,
-- [applause]
-- chris chris. Paul.
-- good afternoon. And freeman.
-- hold on, hold on one second.
we're looking for chris. Chris
is up next. Chris and then.
-- chris paul said, I'm a renter
living in madison park.
-- yeah. Go ahead.
-- my name is chris. I'm a
renter living in madison park. I
urge the council to support the
proposed ban on rental fees. I
oppose amendments c and d most
renters getting stuck with these
fees don't have the luxury of
taking time out of the middle of
a workday to testify at city
hall, so I want to use my time
for them as much as myself. I
currently pay $30 a month to
keep our cat, which I already
pay a damage deposit for, and
the landlord bears no additional
costs simply for the presence of
my cat in the unit. I also get
charged 250 a month for just
paying the rent, so I'm just
going to surrender the rest of
my time just to say that I
support the bill and oppose the
amendments. And thank you.
-- thank you, chris
-- [applause]
-- apostate.
-- [applause]
-- okay
-- hello. Hi. My name is ari. I
came in to talk about the
$300,000 that you guys want to
give to the trans and queer
community. I just think it's
absolutely ridiculous that in a
city that has a housing crisis,
sex trafficking problem, in a
city that has a serious drug
problem, you guys want to give
$300,000 away in the name of a
fictional genocide that's not
occurring. Okay. I think it's
really insulting to people who
have actually suffered and
attempt by governments to
systemically erase their
existence from this land. I
think it's insulting to this
nation. What's really happened
is trans migrants have moved
from state to state, just like
me. Like I came here ten years
ago for the same thing, just for
opportunity, rebuild my whole
life, found love. But they've
moved because women, adult human
females have said they're not
comfortable with males in their
bathrooms, in their prisons and
their rape shelters. Okay. And
so they've come here to hide so
they can oppress women. That's
what it's really about. And I
just think it's absolutely
ridiculous to see a city council
with this many women on it who
do not know what women are. I
think it's absolutely
ridiculous. You have trump's fbi
breaking up sex.
-- thank you. Thank you, ari.
thank you ari. Next. Thank you
ari. So all right. So we're
going to go to the next speaker.
okay. Anitra is next, followed
by ivan anitra. We're still
doing public comment. Y'all hold
on.
-- we're still speaking in
favor of the junk freeze
legislation. For one thing, all
agreements should be opt in as a
matter of simple fairness, you
shouldn't have to, you know,
sign a lease and find out that
you've obligated yourself to 30
extra expenses that you didn't
know about. And the other thing
I I've had a cat for 30 years.
I'm used to putting a deposit
down. I don't know any apartment
dweller in seattle who takes
their cat outside at all.
there's that cat is in our
apartment. I have a deposit for
any damage it does. I don't need
to be charged for anything. That
cat that happens anywhere
outside the apartment. So keep
it fair. Thank you.
-- thank you. Next we have ivan,
followed by
-- [applause]
-- heather.
-- ivan,
-- ivan, heather. Welcome, ivan.
heather. Tennessee. Aiden.
kristen. Lexi, vera. And then
we'll go online. Welcome.
-- yeah. My name is ivan. I'm
in district five. I am homeless,
but you know, I really would
love to be able to afford rent.
I am on disability, which means
pretty much I can't afford
rent. The landlords are adding
fees and other predatory billing
practices to skirt protections
designed to protect protect
renters from price gouging. And,
you know, like I always say,
jesse james needed a gun
-- thank you. Now we have
heather, followed by tennessee
aiden, kristen, lexi, welcome.
-- hi, my name is heather. I
live in tent city three, located
in district four. Our tagline
today is we can't afford the
rent, so we live in a tent. Urge
the council to take action today
to ban unnecessary housing
costs, but strongly oppose
amendment c and d. My biggest
hurdle in acquiring traditional
housing is rent. There's no way
a single mom with a pet making
less than 60,000 a year can
afford rent in seattle, let
alone pet rent and other
predatory, unnecessary,
unnecessary housing fees. Thank
you so much.
-- awesome. Thank you. Heather,
we have
-- [applause]
-- tennis and did I say your
name right? Tennessee. Yeah.
okay. Awesome. Aiden. Kristen.
lexi. Vera. Welcome.
-- hi, I'm terence macgibbon.
I'm a long time resident of
rainier north. First, I want to
thank councilmembers lin and
foster for all their help in our
neighborhood and stuff. They've
been real champions helping us
out. I'm here to support and
ask you to support amendment a.
I don't have all the answers,
but I will tell you this. This
money is appropriated. You have
myself and the trash walkers
around rainier avenue north. You
have boots on. You know what
I'm saying? Boots on the
pavement, whatever. You'll have
a lot of support from us because
I want to get our neighborhood
back to where it should be. And,
you know, I want to thank a few
people beside the
councilmembers, jenny franco,
adopt a street. You know, tracy
from find to fix it. I'm to find
to fix it. King. And I'm
adopting first street king. So
appreciate all the help that
everybody does. Thank you.
-- thank you king. Next we have
aiden, followed by kristen.
lexi. Vera will go online.
welcome. Hello.
-- my name is aiden. I'm a
renter in district five off of
lake city. And I want to comment
on the junk fee ban, the
proposed ban on junk fee is what
they call an easy win. Make a
little splash in the news about
being a representative. You
know, normal people, your voters
get to keep a little bit of
their hard earned wages on your
behalf. And I'm sorry, how
exactly is my pet supposed to be
paying rent again? Todd the cat
supposed to get a job, I
suppose. Todd the cat needs to
set aside a little money every
month from his social security
check so he can pay his rent.
todd, the cat is going to be
evicted for failing to pay his
rent on time, and needs to plead
his case in court so he can keep
a roof over the head for his 14
kittens. What are we talking
about? What kind of evil dr.
eggman type think type thinks
pet rent is something we would
tolerate. Pets can't pay rent,
pets don't pay rent. Don't let
landlords make up nonsense fees
so they can squeeze every last
dime out of the hardworking
voters of the city. Please vote
yes on amendments a and e, which
will strengthen this bill and
vote no on amendment c and d,
which will weaken renters
protection. Thank you.
-- thank you. Next we have
kristen, followed by lexi and
then
-- [applause]
-- kristen. Welcome and then
lexi and vera.
-- hi.
-- just for the record, my name
is pronounced kirsten kirs.
-- my bad, let's restart our
time.
-- no worries. Restart your
time.
-- okay, restart our time. Okay.
-- starting my time. Okay. I am
an intern at byrd barr place.
it's a nonprofit, and we help
at. We just help the community.
and I'm not speaking on their
behalf, but I'm speaking on what
I see and what I hear from my
own personal experience working
in social services. We get about
one soft numbers. We get about
one four calls asking for rental
assistance due to evictions. So
we are facing a crisis in
housing and evictions right now
in king county right now in
seattle. Not just north, not
just south all over, even in
bellevue, even shoreline. So
it's sort of this western part
of seattle. Anyways, I want to
invest in the community. We want
to invest in the community. So
we can't have these fees
because we want to invest in
families, communities,
education.
-- thank you. Kirsten. Next, we
have lexi, followed by
-- [applause]
-- vera welcome, lexi.
-- hello, I'm lexi salas, I'm a
renter in district three, and
I'm here today to urge our
council to vote to ban junk fees
without amendments. C and d
council president. You met my
dog, zombie. You thought he was
so cool. So please don't make
him pay rent. Seattle is a
majority renter city and it's
about time we have a council
that represents our interests
and doesn't uphold the status
quo, privileging property owners
over tenants for too long,
landlords and developers claim
that any additional protections
for tenants will result in the
sky falling. However, renters in
our city experienced the sky
fall on us whenever we have to
choose between food for our pets
or pet rent. This guy falls on
renters when we are slammed to
pay or vacate notices, and we
don't have money for moving
costs. The sky falls on renters
when we are evicted and left to
fend for ourselves. On the
streets of seattle, the sky
falls disproportionately on
trans renters, which is why the
council must also fund resources
for our trans neighbors. So
seattle city council, you have
the opportunity today to be a
national leader for renters by
banning rental junk fees without
amendments c and d, so please
make the right choice and side
with renters who make up the
majority of our city. Thank you.
-- thank you lexi. Next we have
vera.
-- [applause]
-- welcome
-- hello, my name is vera. I'm
an organizer at got green. And I
urge the council to support the
proposed ban on rental fees
while opposing amendments c and
d through hundreds of
conversations with our working
class black and brown neighbors
in south seattle got green has
heard that rent increases
housing insecurity,
displacement, unsafe and
unhealthy living conditions and
disrespect are what renters
contend with every day.
meanwhile, landlords and real
estate tycoons amass wealth, and
there's less and less public
investment in healthy housing.
landlords have the power to make
business decisions, including
setting rental rates. With that
power, they must bear the costs
and the risks. Just like any
other business, this bill, which
reduces hidden and unnecessary
housing costs, and staffs sdci
to enforce them, is an important
step in the right direction.
support the bill to ban rental
fees and oppose harmful
amendments c and d, and, moving
forward, keep strengthening
rental protections and
enforcement. Thank you. And I
want to say trans rights are
human rights, trans rights
forever
-- thank you.
-- very next we're going to go
-- [applause]
-- online. All right. Now we're
going to go online. So we have
angie, wes, mr. Alvarez, ryan,
you're going to press star six
to unmute yourself. Welcome,
angie star six to unmute
yourself. You're on mute, angie
star six. We'll bump up wet.
oh, there you go. Go ahead.
-- hi. My name is angie. I'm a
small ballard and a co-founder
of seattle grassroots landlords.
we are opposed to the bloated
and flawed rental fee
legislation we participated in
the mayor's charade of a
stakeholder process renters?
excuse me. I just had to run in
from working outside and out of
breath. One moment. Renters
deserve transparency of costs,
not an expensive, over idealized
approach that makes lofty
promises without grounding in
the actual costs, risks, and
complexities of providing rental
housing in seattle, this moved
out of council's committee with
a five zero vote and not one
meeting involving housing
providers or q&a about rental
operations. You haven't even
publicly released the 2025 end
of year real report. This is
poor governance in action.
please vote no. Please work on
collaborative problem solving.
-- thank you, thank you angie.
next we have wes, followed by
mr. Alvarez, star six to unmute
yourself
-- good afternoon, members of
the city council. My name is
west mills and I'm a renter in
northgate with my wife and our
adorable dog. I would have
joined you in person today, but
while I am to the left, I'm also
employed, so I have to call in
during work hours. And thank you
for the auction and committing
to support of the overall
proposal to ban fees, and
particularly in opposition to
amendment p and d, nobody likes
jet skis, and if we did,
everyone would be lining up
singing the praises of comcast
and would speak highly of the
process of financing a car. But
housing is different. I can
choose not to go to some
businesses and ask to have, but
I have to have somewhere to
live. And disclosure is not
enough because by the time we've
gotten 80 pages deep and release
only discover the convenient opt
out for some valuable program or
worse, that a junk fee is
actually required. It's already
too late. My wife and I pay
almost $100 a month to rent. My
dog is unemployed, so we're
covering it for her amenity fees
for things like use of the
building access control system
and charges for common area
stuff. And that's after we've
managed multiple times to beat
back the sneaky opt out, but
only if you notice fees for
stuff like liability. Lake city.
please pass the bill without
amendment and do us the renters
in town.
-- thank you wes. Next we have
mr. Alvarez, followed by ryan,
and then to luna.
-- thank you.
-- I'm strongly against
amendment c and d for the junk
fee legislation. What's most
egregious with the pet rent
carve out is that the amendment
ties it to inflation in the
economy. When do renters get any
such benefit into law? Landlords
don't care about the rates of
unemployment or layoffs, or that
wages don't keep up with sales
taxes, medications, grocery
prices? The rent is always due
no matter what the consumer
price index reports. And so we
have excuse me, and so we have
rent discounts to help with dips
in consumer income. Landlords
should have no such benefit for
themselves. No on all junk fees
that nickel and dime us into
crisis and homelessness. Thank
you. Have a good day.
-- thank you. Next we have ryan,
followed by talena and then
kelsey. Star six to unmute
yourself.
-- hi council, my name is ryan
talon. I'm a registered nurse
at harborview and I'm a renter
in capitol hill. I urge this
council to ban rental junkies
and to oppose amendments c and d
honest markets require honest
pricing. When I moved into my
building, I budgeted carefully
based on the advertised rent,
but hidden pet rent and
recurring administration fees
caught me completely off guard.
the true cost was buried in fine
print, making it impossible to
compare options accurately or
plan my finances. This lack of
transparency hurts renters, and
it distorts the entire housing
market. Banning fees is a simple
step towards a fairer market
where advertised prices reflect
real costs. Renters deserve to
know what housing actually costs
before signing a lease. Please
support this bill to increase
transparency and ban deceptive
junk fees and oppose harmful
amendments. C and d also.
lastly, I just want to say that
the trans community trying to
move seattle by making housing
costs more transparent is a way
to help them. So please support
the legislation.
-- thank you. Thank you. Ryan.
next, we have talena followed by
kelsey, susan.
-- hi. My name is talana read
with the tenants union of
washington state. Please vote
yes on the junk fees ordinance
and reject amendment c and d of
the callers. We get over $200 a
month with different issues and
approximately 80% of those are
about junk fees. Pets do not
have jobs and cannot afford to
pay their rent either. It is
very important to to ensure that
seattle residents are able to
afford the rent. These are
hidden costs that renters are
already paying and renters
deserve straightforward pricing
that reflects what they will
actually be paid out of pocket.
pet rent is predatory. It
exploits the love people have
for their pets, and landlords
should not be allowed to find
new and creative ways to get
money from the people who rely
on them for housing. Please vote
yes on this ordinance.
-- thank you. Next we have
kelsey, followed by susan star
six.
-- hello, my name is kelsey
timmer and I'm a renter in
district three, as well as a
city worker and member of
protect 17. I'm speaking today
to ask city council to support
banning junk fees to support
amendments a and e to allow
renters to be fairly compensated
for harms and to oppose
amendments c and d. It's hard
enough to afford living in the
city I work for, and junk fees
only make it harder to. Junk
fees I have paid the most are
pet rent. Each year I pay over
300 extra dollars in rent
because I have a cat. This just
doesn't make sense. Any extra
risk of damage should be covered
under a refundable pet deposit,
and any utilities. My cat is
somehow using. I'm already
paying for. Pet rent is just one
of many junk fees, and another
excuse for landlords to increase
their revenue, which makes it
harder for people to afford
housing in our city. I urge you,
please support the bill to ban
junk fees, support amendments a
and e and oppose amendments c
and d. Finally, trans rights are
human rights. Please support our
trans neighbors.
-- thank you. Thank you kelsey.
we have susan followed by ken
and then rose. Susan.
-- good afternoon, susan riggs
with the aspca. I'm speaking in
support of rental fees.
ordinance is currently written
and against the proposed
amendment fee. As it stands
today, landlords have at their
disposal both security deposits
and pet deposits to address any
pet related damages.
furthermore, there's little
evidence that landlords incur
widespread pet related costs
that justify ongoing monthly
costs. Specifically, recent
research has found that only 9%
of pets cause any damage, the
majority of which is repaired by
tenants prior to vacancy, with
the average damage costing just
$210, which is easily covered by
the current requirements.
opponents of this ordinance
argue that eliminating pet rent
and nonrefundable fees will
force landlords to raise rent
for everyone. However, data from
denver, colorado, where pet rent
rental fees were capped
effective january 2024, soda
significant reduction in rents
following the law's enactment
and no change in pet friendly
rental inventory. Thank you.
-- thank you susan. Next we have
ken, followed by rose ken star
six.
-- hello, my name.
-- is ken timmons. I strongly
support amendment a to council
bill 121253. I have lived in
mount baker for 34 years. I last
spoke to you on april 7th and
described the crisis in our
neighborhood. Well, the crisis
continues. In the past four
months, we've had arsons,
shootings, overdose deaths, more
encampments, drug dealing, theft
and vandalism to businesses and
property, and a recent home
burglary. And now suspected
prostitution. We have made
multiple 911 calls filed many
scientific reports, and
contacted metro numerous times
to address drug use at our bus
stops. We have been trying to
improve our neighborhood, but we
are exhausted and we are
frustrated. Councilmember
lindsay will bring a focused
effort on a problem that is too
big for us. Pass this amendment.
thank you.
-- thank you. Next we have rose,
followed by steve and then
alice.
-- hello. Thank.
-- you. Council president
hollingsworth. I was able to
meet with your office yesterday
and have some productive
conversations. I look forward to
having more conversations in the
future. The trans community is
in crisis. I came here 20 months
ago hoping that there would be
more support here for the
community, but my, myself and
many others paid out of our
pocket to help the community
with resources that the city
should have been providing.
there are many individuals that
are at the breaking point, both
mentally and financially. We
need the support, and the
support is good that we have
today. We. I would encourage the
council to not just see this as
a one time financial measure,
but to look forward to how we
can help the community going
forward, because this is an
ongoing issue that is only going
to consider. It's only going to
get considerably worse as the
years go on. So please support
our communities. We deserve it.
it is. It is what we all need.
thank you.
-- thank you. Rose. Next we
-- [applause]
-- have steve followed by alice.
welcome, steve.
-- hello. My name is steve. I've
been a resident of north rainier
for 34 years. Today I'm urging
you to support councilman
lynn's amendment a to
supplemental budget to establish
a community fund intended to
bring public safety outreach
programs to our neighborhood on
april 7th, a group of us
attended your council meeting
and presented an impact study
that we conducted along north
rainier. We asked you to address
issues of crime, general safety
and to help dionne house. We now
feel that you've listened to our
concerns because this proposed
amendment addresses these
issues. Councilman lin foster
and hollingsworth, you've been
on the ground in this area many
times, and you understand the
urgency of implementing this
plan. And, councilman strauss,
you've spoken of its success in
other districts and your
willingness to expand to north d
two. We want to thank you all.
we also want you to know that
once this community fund is
established, we're ready to go
to help the outreach staff.
-- thank you. Steve. Next, we
have alice, followed by dr.
janice and then james wu.
-- good afternoon council, this
is alice lockhart calling from
district five. And I wanted very
short to urge you to please pass
the b 12125 for the junk fee ban
and keep it a complete ban by
not passing weakening amendments
I'm sorry, c and d, I believe
the last two amendments. You
know it's the right thing to
do. Stay strong. Thank you so
much.
-- thank you alex. We're gonna
do doctor janice and then james.
and then we're going to come
back in person. So dr. Janice
clark and james wu.
-- good afternoon. I'm dr.
janice clark founder of and
president of safe homes. I rise
today in strong support of the
five appointments to the
indigenous advisory council. And
with deep gratitude to the
department of neighborhoods,
president of seattle council,
mamu and all councilmembers for
their work process that selected
safe homes, women veterans
program pilot for food security
and resiliency initiative, this
pilot, funded through the
sweetened beverage tax, affirms
that food is culturally,
emotionally, and intellectual
nourishment. If these. The
brains and shapes decisions that
affect the safety of those who
live, work and worship in our
city as we move forward, it is
essential that indigenous women
veterans are also identified and
given an opportunity to
participate. Thank you for your
leadership.
-- thank you, dr. Clark. Next,
we have james. Before you start,
james, this is just a time
check. We still have about 60
more speakers. So I'm going to
say the next ten speakers that
are in person. We're going to
have james wu go online but
before. So we can kind of get
set with people in the queue. We
have kate rubin followed by
casey. We have andrea, we have
margaret, we have ben wong,
samuel wolfson, megan, steph,
aaron, and then ruby, rubai,
ruby. So we have those people
that are next. James you will go
and then we'll go to kate rubin.
welcome. James.
-- hello.
-- my name is james wu. I'm a
homeowner in d five. I urge the
council to support 121254 and
the amendments a and e as well
as the budget elements for
transfer refugee funding. I find
it very interesting that only
homeowners get 30 years of
permanently stable housing price
control, but that in the middle
of a housing crisis, a climate
refugee crisis and a refugee
crisis, renters instead get
creatively hidden, layered fees
like pet rent. I also oppose
amendment c and d. I know that
councilmember kettle have no
qualms criticizing fees that
are, quote, one off and
piecemeal as long as they're
called taxes. Last july, he
criticized one off tax
solutions. This march, he railed
on the layering of tax, on tax
and piecemeal taxes. Last month,
he argued taxes are being passed
individually, with no notion of
cumulative financial burden.
well, rental one time off fees
are fees on fees and piecemeal
fees when it's for private
profit, just not to fund public
services. Thank you.
-- thank you james. Next we have
kate rubin, casey, andrea,
margaret, ben. Samuel, megan,
steph, aaron, ruby
-- my name is kate rubin. I am
the co-executive director of
seattle and I am co-facilitator
of the state house stay healthy
coalition, a group of about 40
organizations that have been
working on this bill. The
coalition supports amendments a
and e that would help renters
get some of the money back that
their landlords have taken from
them. And we are opposed to
amendments c and d. We think
that pet rent is exploitative.
there is no justification for
charging renters $300 per year
plus inflation, and there is no
justification for opting renters
into optional fees. We urge you
to stand with renters and pass
this common sense bill. Thank
you.
-- thank you kate. Next, we have
casey, followed by andrea and
then margaret. Welcome.
-- thank you for having us this
afternoon. My name is casey. I
am a vice chair of the seattle
renters commission. I'm also a
member of the state house. Stay
healthy coalition and a former
tenant attorney. I'm asking that
you support this junk fee ban,
with the exception of amendments
c and d. The fact that there's
even a cap that is being
proposed suggests that what
landlords have been charging,
they don't need, and frankly,
they don't need to charge it,
period. They've got security
deposits, they've got pet
deposits. Your landlord can go
after you if there's damage to
the unit. When you move out,
seattle renters spend hundreds,
sometimes thousands of dollars
just to make sure that they can
keep their companion with them.
and for landlords, this is
dollars and cents. But for
renters, this is their home,
their family, and their support.
simply put, pet rent is not
fair. It's a scam. And we ask
that you pass this bill without
c and d.
-- thank you casey.
-- [applause]
-- andrea welcome. Followed by
margaret.
-- hello. My name is andrea and
I am I've been a resident of
renter of in seattle for 19
years. I'm also a proud dues
paying member of the carpenters
union for eight nine years now.
and I'm also a proud, longtime
single mom of a trans young
adult. As other people have
mentioned, junk fees are a way
for landlords to squeeze more
out of us tenants without being
subject to regulation. This
council has the power today to
end that. Starting now. As a
renter and mother of a beloved
trans person, our interests as
as people who are trans, who
love trans people and our
renters should not be pitted
against each other. So I urge
council to grant the proposed
funding for trans support now,
and to look for other ways that
don't. Add to housing costs for
working class people, cis and
trans. Thank
-- [applause]
-- you.
-- [applause]
-- thank you.
-- [applause]
-- followed by ben. Welcome. Hi,
I'm margaret.
-- shoreline from d five and
I'm here in support of
councilmember foster's bill to
prohibit unfair, unregulated
rental fees. So I'm a homeowner
now, but during the 20 years I
was a renter here, landlords did
not use these fees on us. This
is a recent unfair practice that
evades fair market competition
and renter protections.
unpredictable extra fees are a
significant factor in how people
get behind. Get an eviction and
become unhoused. This needs to
stop. Amendment c and d create
unjustifiable loopholes. Please
oppose them. Charging pet rent
is double or triple dipping
because renters already pay two
damage deposits. Insurance
should be an opt in, not a
confusing opt out. You know,
every type of business carries
liability insurance, including
my small business. We work those
costs into the price of our
goods and services. There's no
reason why rental property
businesses need to be any
different. Lastly, there is no
room for hate in seattle. We
love our trans
-- [applause]
-- neighbors.
-- [applause]
-- please fund the budget
amendment.
-- [applause]
-- thank you, thank.
-- you margaret. Next we have
ben followed by samuel. Megan,
stef, aaron. Welcome, ben.
-- hello. My name is ben wong
and I was born and raised in
seattle. And last 20 years been
living in queen anne. And I, I
came here to ask you to please
support the ban on the junk
fees. We need the transparency.
I I've been talking to some
people who. It seems mr. Kettle,
my representative, may have
introduced some amendments that
put loopholes in. As the
previous speaker said, and I'm.
I'm concerned that that might
that might weaken this this
whole ordinance. So I'm. So
please pass it. But without
without any amendments that
would weaken it, which I, I
believe were c and d thank you.
-- thank you. Ben. Next we have
-- [applause]
-- samuel followed by megan
samuel aye samuel here. Samuel
wolfson hey, hey, sam
-- hi council. My name is sam
wolfson. I am a member of the
seattle renters commission and
I'm a renter in district three.
I'm here to urge you to take
action against junk fees imposed
on renters in our city. These
fees allow landlords to
advertise artificially low rent
prices and hide the actual
monthly cost of tenancy. As
someone who is actively working
on finding a new place to live.
the process is already
exhausting enough. The fact that
I can't even put in my budget
and trust that I can actually
afford a place without, you
know, going and digging in and
finding these random fees added
to every listing makes the whole
process even worse. This bill is
good for everybody. Landlords
too, I think, because it creates
mutual understanding of what
fees are actually justifiable,
like utilities and what needs to
just be included in the rent. It
reduces potential conflict
between tenants and landlords
and improves pricing
transparency. Please support
this bill, oppose amendment c
and d, which weaken it and
support amendments a and e,
which strengthen it. Thank you.
also, you should probably just
do whatever the opposite of the
republicans tell you to do.
-- [applause]
-- megan.
-- [applause]
-- is it me? Is it megan? Is it
megan? Megan? Megan. I'm sorry.
megan. Steph. Aaron. Ruby. Go
ahead
-- good afternoon,
councilmembers. My name is megan
nelson representing seattle
humane and a coalition of animal
welfare organizations. We
support cb 121254. Because
unnecessary pet fees create real
barriers to housing and keep
families from staying together.
at seattle humane, about 15% of
pets surrendered to us are given
up due to housing related
challenges, and other shelters
and service providers report
even higher rates. Amendment c
would undermine that goal by
allowing up to $25 per month per
pet in pet rent, an arbitrary
charge not connected to actual
damage or costs. Property owners
are already protected through
pet damage deposits. For many
renters, these added monthly
costs can be the difference
between keeping a pet and
surrendering one. We ask you to
support cb one two, one two,
five four and reject amendment
c.
-- thank you steph and aaron.
steph. Steph come on up. Steph.
steph. And then we have aaron
over here. And then.
-- thank you council. Hi there.
I'm steph hagerty a renter in
seattle. And I'm here on behalf
of myself and my friends who are
teachers, nurses, service
workers and seattle who can't be
here today because trying to
work to pay the bills, pay the
rent, pay the junk fees. So
please support the junk fees,
ban and reject amendments c and
d, which weaken it. Just an
example. One of my friends is a
community mental health
therapist. Very low, makes very
low income, is charged $250 fee
a year just to renew the lease
$60 a month fee to just pay the
rent on the landlord's portal.
landlord business expense list
goes on and on, and the stress
of increasing rent and fees
having to move to find an
affordable place to live impacts
our ability to provide care in
the community. Amendment c, as
others have spoken about,
discriminates against pet
owners. 300 bucks a year for
lower income folks may mean the
difference between paying rent
and being housed with their
animal companions and service
animals. So please keep my
friends housed families
together. Renters are
increasingly your voters and
constituents. Thanks a lot.
please support our trans
community. Too.
-- thank you, thank you. Seth.
-- [applause]
-- aaron, welcome.
-- good afternoon, council
president and councilmembers.
aaron tullock, legislative aide
with fms global strategy,
speaking on behalf of the we
build back better alliance. We
support cb 121254 amendments a
and e as amendment, and we
appreciate councilmember
foster's leadership. We also
value our relationship with
councilmember kettle. However,
we join our coalition partners
in opposing amendment c and d on
pet rent. If a tenant has
already paid a security or pet
deposit to cover potential
damages, an additional $25 a
month fee, $300 a year per pet,
whether any damages occur or
not. For rentals already
struggling in seattle's housing
costs, that is significant,
black households are also more
likely to rent and experience
housing cost burdens, so
additional reoccurring fees can
deepen existing disparities on
renter insurance. Tenants should
be able to choose any qualified
insurer and policy that meets
properties owners. Reasonable
coverage requirements that
protects consumers choice,
competition and affordability.
if the concern is damage,
address damage if the concern is
insurance, establish reasonable
coverage standards. Neither
should become the pathway for
unnecessary recurring costs.
protect housing stability,
preserve consumer choice, reject
c and d.
-- thank you. Thank you aaron.
next we have ruth. Did I say
your name right? Ruby root root.
-- councilmember strauss.
-- ruby ruby ruby. Before you
go, ruby, I'm going to say the
next ten people. So just give me
one second. We have michelle. So
just all y'all are in the queue.
michelle, will, simon, catherine
purple six. Lou. Steve. David
hill, amanda and lee. You all
are next. So that's michelle,
will, simon, catherine, purple
six, lou, steve, david hill,
amanda lin and lee ruby. You are
up. Welcome.
-- thank you.
-- thank you, councilmembers for
your time today. My name is ruby
arora and I'm here on behalf of
woodland park zoo to urge you to
adopt the supplemental budget
ordinance. I'd first like to
thank councilmember kettle for
your attention to the issue of
coyote coexistence in seattle.
we are grateful for your
sponsorship with this important
work. We also want to thank
committee chair strauss and the
finance committee for members of
their support in the
supplemental budget, as well.
this ordinance includes a
reasonable one time funding
15,000 to cover zoo staff. Time
to develop a coyote coexistence
plan for the city with our
mission to save wildlife and
inspire conservation, we are
well positioned to take the lead
on city wide, coordinated
approach to peaceful coyote
coexistence. The plan would be
developed by our resident
carnivore experts, who will
review best practices and work
with key stakeholders to
ultimately create a plan that
could be adopted by the city in
2027. Thank you so much for your
time.
-- thank you.
-- council president has asked
me to read some of the next
names. Michelle kim, please.
-- hi, I'm michelle kim, I live
on north beacon hill. I support.
eddie lin's proposal a to fund
neighborhood coordinators to
help suffering people on the
streets in little saigon and
north beacon hill. I am a cna
and I work with my elders. I am
also autistic. Seattle is a
place I am thriving and I know
the only reason I am thriving is
because of luck. I could easily
be one of the people struggling
in these areas, but I have had
so many serendipitous moments in
my life that have led me to
figure out how to heal eddie lin
is on the right track. This is
the tip of the iceberg. I would
love to see seattle become a
healing city. That would be
something I would be thrilled to
pay taxes for. Thank you.
-- thank
-- [applause]
-- you bill will.
-- will. Hi everyone. First off,
thanks for all the work you're
doing today. It's really does
feel like the people's house
today hearing everyone, whether
you agree with them or not.
it's really important work. So
I'm will oberst I'm a grocery
store worker and a restaurant
worker and a renter in district
three. And as of recently, now a
phd student studying political
science with a un program. So
I'm looking forward to working
with some of you on that later.
but I'm here to support the ban
of junk fees. I think that
transparency and fees is
something that we really need in
the city and in life in general.
so thank you all again for your
work and have a great day.
cheers.
-- [applause]
-- thank you.
-- [applause]
-- okay. Simon thornton, simon.
yeah. Go, simon.
-- hello, councilmembers. My
name is simon thornton. I'm here
to ask you to please support
amendment a to the supplemental
budget. The north beacon hill
and north rainier areas are in
desperate need of service
coordination. Our communities
need relief now, and we are so
grateful that councilmembers lin
and foster have engaged with our
communities and are finding ways
to address these issues with
urgency. They deserve a common
refrain I've heard during these
meetings is that we don't want
more meetings. We want actions.
this amendment is the action
that our community has been
begging for, and so I urge the
rest of council to please vote
yes on amendment a and grant our
neighborhood the relief it
deserves. Thank you.
-- thank you. Simon. Next we
have catherine, followed by
purple six. Welcome, catherine.
-- hi. I'm a member of beacon
hill. I'm a resident of beacon
hill, and I thought there was
going to be a lot of people
talking about this. So I
prepared a statement that's just
very focused and just a snapshot
of the area. I'm a bicycle
commuter commuter, and I'm
always trying to get all of my
community to take their bike
whenever they can. And if you're
coming from beacon hill to go
anywhere in the city, you have
to go through the north beacon
hill, little saigon area, and it
is absolute chaos. And to go
through there unarmed by a car
around me, and to give just the
little snapshot that I prepared
for today, just the other night,
I was going through there and
there was a guy who just
suddenly picked up a giant pipe
from the road and just started
swinging it over his head so
that we had to veer way out of
the way on our bicycles, and
then a police car pulled right
in front of me, and then I had
to swerve around that because he
was dealing with other chaos.
the whole area is dangerous, and
I'm just a small person going
through on my bike. The
residents and the business
owners deserve our attention
from the city and our resources.
-- thank you catherine. Thank
you. Catherine. Next we have.
thank you so much. Next we have
purple six, followed by lou.
welcome. Purple six. Lou, steve,
david, amanda lee.
-- hello. I'm here to talk
about the trans refugee crisis.
I want to thank the council for
doing the barest minimum of
effort in addressing this and
earmarking $300,000. That is
something that should have been
done a year ago. But obviously,
the administration at the time
was not amicable to such
proceedings. I will say that
this is peanut money. This is
such a small amount of money for
this city. You are spending
millions to expand flock
cameras. And in that respect,
anyone here who votes against
such a small amount of money,
the peanut money that my
community needs, anyone who
votes against it is signaling
strongly that they are on the
side of atrocity. They are on
the side of bigotry. They are on
the side of the people who are
brandishing guns on my
community. They are on the side
of a visionary that this country
should have extinguished a long
time ago. So I want you to
understand that as public
servants, we will hold you
accountable.
-- so next we have lou, followed
by steve, david, amanda and lee.
welcome.
-- we've heard.
-- some noise of the right
wingers that are against trans
refugees, I guess. I guess
they're threatened by funding
for care, for life, for housing
because we're fleeing their
culture of death. We're giving
our community space to breathe.
they aren't the ones taking
refugees into their homes.
they're not giving refugees an
actual future. They're not
talking people down from the
suicide that they've invoked. We
are saving people's lives. What
do they have to show? What do we
have to show if we are
intimidated by their noise? The
news is scary, but hesitance in
this moment is death, and the
way to cut through it is action
with our voices resonating
together and saying, no trump.
we choose life, fund. The trans
refugees call on the mayor to
declare a state of emergency and
don't have loopholes.
-- thank you lou. Next we have
steve, followed by david, amanda
lee. Welcome, steve. David,
-- [applause]
-- amanda lee, steve, david,
amanda lee.
-- I'm next right, steve. Thank
god. Okay.
-- got you.
-- the. Hi, my name is steve and
I have lived here in washington
my entire life. I have friends,
close family that are queer,
trans, et cetera. And it's very
just regular inside my life and
inside of their lives as well.
but outside of just a couple of
states that I can count, it's
treated like a much bigger deal.
strangely, folks, young folks
getting kicked out of their
house, the house they grew up
in, getting kicked out of the
state that they grew up in,
having to restart their life or
just start their life at all.
because a lot of them, you know,
they face this kind of stuff
when they're much younger. Of
course, they're coming to a
place like this, you know,
that's it seems like it's
going to be a good, respectful
environment for them. And I
imagine that you guys, you know,
love this community. That's why
you got the jobs. Yeah but they
don't have anything right now.
all they have is themselves and
they deserve so much more. Thank
you.
-- thank you steve. Next we have
david, followed by amanda and
lee, david, amanda and lee,
david, amanda, david hill is
david hill here? Okay. Amanda
and lee. David. Amanda lee. Go
ahead.
-- good afternoon council. My
name is david hill. I live in
district four. I'm the treasurer
of the transit riders union tru
strongly supports council bill
121254 banning rental junk fees
as introduced. Housing stability
is a critical component of
transit justice, and corporate
junk fees are a backdoor way for
property managers to exploit low
housing supply and bypass our
city's renter protections.
again, I urge you to pass the
bill as written and also to
reject amendment. C. This
amendment weaponizes the
legislative process to protect a
corporate cash grab, pet rent.
since 2018, I've paid $4,500 in
pet rent for my dog maggie. That
is over $600 a year for a dog
that doesn't use building
amenities or accrue maintenance
costs, that $4,500 I could have
spent in our local economy.
instead of padding my corporate
landlords balance sheets reject
amendment c penalty discounts
for bad actors, pass a strong
junk fees ban and protect our
trans neighbors.
-- thank you. Thank you david.
next we have amanda, followed by
lee. Is amanda here? Followed by
lee? Welcome.
-- hi councilmembers. My name is
amanda lynn. I'm an organizer
for how's our neighbors? I'm
also a renter in capitol hill.
landlords insist junk fees have
a direct correlation with costs.
the last few months I've
listened to comment after
comments about their costs. I've
also spent years working in
affordable housing and community
development. I know insurance,
maintenance and operating costs
have gone up, but that's not the
whole story. The rental housing
industry tells a very different
story to investors than it tells
to its renters. Its own market
reports show property income is
still growing, and they
celebrate the fact that new
construction has fallen by
nearly 60% because it means even
greater pricing power for
existing landlords in the years
ahead. That's before we even
start discussing how much their
assets and overall wealth are
appreciating. That's far from an
industry on the brink, but the
working class citizens of this
city have been on the brink for
years, and too many of us are
falling off the cliff. That's
why these junk fees matter.
every mandatory fee is one more
dollar transferred from a
working renters paycheck, not to
cover costs, but to grow a
landlord's wealth. Junk fees
aren't providing anything. Ban
them.
-- thank you, thank you.
-- [applause]
-- amanda.
-- [applause]
-- next we have lee. Lee. And
before you go, lee. Okay, we
have about 40 more speakers. So
we have the next ten people up
is morgan shane, a cat. Danny,
lydia, ian, olivia, aaliyah,
daniel and gabriel. You are up
next. Morgan. Shani, cat. Danny.
lydia. Ian. Olivia. Aliyah.
daniel and gabriel. Welcome.
-- hello city council. My name
is lee. I'm a district three
voter. I'm here to support the
lgbt relief funding. You already
heard me speak on the fourth
about my experiences with
discrimination in the workplace.
so this time I want to mention
that right wing streamers like
ari, who, you know, talk trash
on us earlier, were allowed to
harass trans people during trans
pride back in july. They were
trespassing. Spd was called, and
they did not show up $300,000 is
a drop in the bucket compared to
the millions you give spd to
ignore us when we are being
antagonized and filmed by
fascist creeps. Please pass the
funding. Thank you.
-- thank you lee. Next we have
-- [applause]
-- morgan, followed by shani and
then cat. Welcome, morgan.
-- thank you. Thank you.
councilmembers. My name is
morgan. I'm a resident of
district three and an organizer
with the mutual aid network for
trans and intersex individuals
in seattle. I'm here to speak
in support of funding for the
trans community. The most
financially secure trans people
that I know are struggling to
hold on to their jobs and their
houses, and the least
financially secure trans people
that I know are sleeping in
parks and dealing with organized
harassment from right wing
streamers. The situation is
dire. Our our community
struggles to support ourselves
and to support each other. But
it's difficult when there's
pervasive discrimination and
harassment. We. We desperately
need assistance and. And I would
appreciate the council's
funding. Thank you.
-- thank you. Next we have
shani.
-- [applause]
-- welcome and kat. Welcome.
-- hello. My name. Can you hear
me? Yes, ma'am. Hello. My name
is shani. I'm a single mom. I
am in district two. I have lived
in my unit for the past. Since
2014, I've had a pet the entire
time. We've gotten a new
manager. I've never had a
deposit or anything like that.
and now that we have a new
manager, they're using these
fees as a weapon. They are like,
you owe 300 for a deposit and
$35 for rent. And then that's
not fair because you don't give
any notice. Then they backdate
it. I pay my rent on time. I
have to pay a fee because I
write a check, which is unfair.
I have a fee for them just
having to communicate a $50 fee
for them communicating with me,
which is unfair. I have, I'm
feeling targeted and I feel that
it's not fair that they can use
these fees and just throw them
in there at any time that they
want and don't tell you
anything on why they're giving
them to you. So I would really,
really appreciate it if you all
could ban me.
-- thank you. Next we have kat,
-- [applause]
-- followed by danny, lydia,
ian, olivia. Go ahead cat. Thank
you. Yep.
-- good afternoon. Council
president hollingsworth
councilmembers. I'm danny, I'm
the executive director of gender
justice league here in seattle.
and I'm urging your approval of
the $300,000 amendment for the
lgbtq community response to the
trans internal displacement.
city council cannot change the
anti-trans laws that are
sweeping this country. They
can't change federal policy.
but what you can do is help us
support the people that are
arriving because of those
changes. I provided all of your
offices with a white paper that
goes really in depth. I'm not
going to repeat all of the
complexity in those 54 pages. I
do want to share a personal
story that I've not shared.
it's incredibly painful, but I
feel like it is illustrative.
this week is a very painful
anniversary for me. Last year,
my husband died by suicide. He
died by suicide in large part
because he didn't want to
displace for a third time. We
moved from seattle to sweden,
sweden to dc, dc to virginia,
and for him, one more move.
because of the fact that we're
trans and he didn't feel safe
as a federal employee, was one
move too many. I had to bury
him. And then I flew right back
to support people who were
arriving. I do that every day.
gender justice league has seen a
643% increase in survivors who
served over 1000 people in the
last year. And I just want to
share that with you. The stakes
are high and very real. It is
not hyperbolic. People are
dying.
-- thank you danny, thank.
-- you so much.
-- next we have
-- [applause]
-- lydia
-- [applause]
-- and I and just and just hear
me out, y'all. If we do spirit
hands, we can kind of move
through. I know people are
supportive, but. And I don't
want to suppress noise, but I'm
just if we did spirit hands and
and the snaps, that would help.
so I can call the next speaker
in between. Did I skip over cat.
okay. Awesome cat. Thank you,
danny, for that cat. And then
lydia, welcome.
-- thank you. I'm going to
start actually, in the wake of
that story by saying, let's
support our trans community with
dignity and with resource. So
thank you for that story. Good
afternoon, council cat munson.
I'm a new renter in district
four, and I'm also the
community engagement and
advocacy manager at sound
generations, where we support
older adults through meals on
wheels and much, much more. I'm
here in strong support of
councilmember foster's bill to
ban rental junk fees, for low
income older renters. We serve
live on fixed income, so even a
seemingly small hidden fee can
tip the balance towards housing
insecurity. And older adults are
often specifically targeted by
predatory landlords who
capitalize on the fact that
they're much less likely to
move. My own mom, who lived in a
capitol hill housing complex for
like 15 years, fought against
her pet rent for her beloved dog
and companion, phoebe, for much
of the time that she lived
there. So I urge you to pass
this bill and reject amendment c
and d and support our trans
community.
-- thank you kat. Next, we have
lydia, followed by ian. Olivia.
welcome, lydia, ian, olivia.
-- hi, I'm lydia rubenstein,
I'm a renter in district three
and I'm a tenant educator with
the tenants union of washington
state. I'm here in strong
support to ban rental junk fees
and say no to amendment c and d,
that would weaken this in any
way. These rental junk fees
directly threaten our ability as
renters to stay housed,
especially renters using a
voucher, living on fixed
incomes, and anyone living in
affordable housing complexes.
I've seen entire affordable
housing buildings struck with
sudden cable and internet fees
that make it hard to opt out of.
and not only that, but reduce
their access to affordable
internet that the city offers.
I've heard from renters who've
had a pet for years face new
predatory pet rent not as a
result of any damages on the
property, just because a
renowned slumlord in seattle
found pet rent to be the best
way to squeeze more from
renters. This pet rent resulted
in threats of eviction and even
more fees in late fees and
administrative fee charges for
providing notice. Landlords
should not be able to hide rent
increases by inventing new
monthly fees or renaming charges
to avoid accountability. Vote
yes to ban rental junk fees.
-- amendment c.
-- and d.
-- thank you.
-- thank you lydia. Next we have
ian followed by olivia, aaliyah,
daniel, gabriel. Welcome, ian.
-- hello, council. My name was
ian. I am from utah. I moved
here four days ago. I originally
moved here in 2003 with my
family, and I'm here to talk
about the internal trans
displacement. Currently, most of
my friends are very worried
about what utah is like, but
what texas is like about what
other states are like and are in
fear for their access to life
saving medications. Seattle is
something that we look to a lot
as a very important and very
critical hope. So by you guys,
considering the $300,000, I
believe that would be very
beneficial for people in my
community. Thank you.
-- thank you. Ian, welcome to
the 206. We are so happy to have
you. Is olivia here? Yes.
awesome. Welcome, olivia.
-- yes
-- hi city council, my name is
olivia and I'm a worker and
renter living in beacon hill.
I'm here to urge city council
to take action to support the
proposed rental junk fees ban
and vote no on amendment c and d
today. Specifically, amendment c
undermines renter protections
designed to protect renters from
price gouging just so landlords
can make a profit. A proposed
pet rent cap of $25 plus
inflation demonstrates that rent
rent is arbitrary and only
serves to make landlords money.
landlords often say that pets
cause damage beyond the pet
deposits, but a fee like pet
rent isn't even applied to
damages. Renters have to pay for
any damage their pets cause. On
top of paying pet rent and pet
deposit. Although pet rent is
technically a fee and not rent
fees like pet rent raise the
total practical monthly cost of
rent for working people, making
it difficult to find stable and
affordable housing. Please pass
this ordinance without any
weakening amendments. Reject
amendment c and d, and protect
and support our trans neighbors.
-- thank you olivia. Next we
have alya, followed by daniel
and then gabriel. Welcome.
-- hi, council. I want to speak
as a renter in capitol hill,
someone who grew up in queen
anne and as a trans woman in
this community. So I want to
speak in support of the funding
for the trans refuge and the
local orgs that work so hard to
support us as we come here as a
trans woman and as a survivor of
assaults, domestic violence,
rape, and as somebody who's
previously volunteered at
shelters, I'm appalled by some
of the statements we heard today
from the republicans, who I
guess couldn't be bothered to
stick around. But I know also
know that none of those stories
of mine are unique. I don't want
to speak to how hard our lives
can be, or the discrimination
that we very actively face
everywhere in this country,
including in seattle. But I
really do want to speak to is as
a volunteer in open arms, the
attraction local 503. How hard I
see trans refugees working to
build their lives here. We are
constantly applying for jobs. We
are constantly doing everything
we can to build our lives here,
and this funding would just
it's support for a crisis. It
is not anything like a free
handout. Thank you so much for
everyone and for everyone.
-- awesome. Thank you. Next we
have daniel, followed by
gabriel. Daniel, then gabriel.
are you daniel? Yep. Awesome.
welcome. And then gabriel,
thanks. Yep. Welcome.
-- good afternoon council. My
name is daniel gallagher. I'm a
proud resident of district
seven. I develop and operate
affordable and market rate
housing in seattle. And I'm here
to speak on in support of
amendment c and d to c, b
121254. Amendment c allows
apartment owners to charge a
modest fee for pets, adjusted
for inflation, the pet deposit
covers wear and tear and
apartment units, and ensures pet
owners are the ones who pay
instead of passing that cost on
to other renters who choose not
to have a pet. This amendment
helps ensure that the cost of
owning a pet remains the
responsibility of the pet
owners. Certainly, this fee
should be transparently
disclosed, at least signing with
no argument there and adopting
this amendment we believe is
equitable for all renters.
amendment d likewise ensures
that renters get insurance. Too
many times in my buildings, I've
seen renters without rent
insurance be be very financially
damaged by accidents, and we
think amendment d helps support
renters in the long term. Thank
you.
-- thank you daniel. Next we
have gabriel. Is gabriel here?
diaz. Gabriel. No. Okay. So
we'll go to the next ten people
in person and then we're going
to jump back online. So we have
clive is clive here? Welcome.
after clive we have kyle, then
paul. We have edwin. Carl,
halley, guinevere, nina. And
then jeff. Paul. And then
there's a number 64 here. Tyron
is the last name peter. I think
that looks like peter. Welcome,
clive.
-- my name is clive hayward.
I'm a street performer and I've
performed on the seattle
waterfront since 2015. Seattle
center is knowingly and
willfully violating street
performers, first amendment
rights. The city already lost
this fight in 2009 in berger
versus the city of seattle. I
filed multiple formal claims. My
damages continue to accrue. I am
asking council to direct the
city, the seattle center
leadership to train its staff on
performers constitutional rights
and to publicly account for
claims like mine. Seattle center
is responsible for public safety
operations on the waterfront. It
is also supposed to support arts
and culture. This isn't
complicated. Follow the ninth
circuit's ruling. Follow the
constitution.
-- thank you clive. Next we have
kyle, followed by paul welcome.
-- thank you. I'm kyle mcbride
and I live in district four and
as a teenager who wants to
continue to live in the city of
seattle, I have to wake up every
day and know that unlike my
parents, I cannot be sure that
my future is secure. The
exorbitant price of housing that
has caused my generation immense
struggle and junk fees are part
of this problem. About a quarter
of renters in the united states
are part of gen z, while gen z
has a higher debt to income
ratio than the previous
generation, allowing junk fees
is just kicking us while we're
already down. I urge you to vote
for councilwoman foster's bill
to eliminate junk fees.
-- thank you, thank you, kyle.
next we have paul. Paul here.
welcome, paul.
-- hi.
-- so after trump reelection in
just seven months, about one in
every ten trans people moved
state. Rightfully so. In 2025
alone, 109 anti-trans bills were
enacted. They threatened their
access to healthcare, their job,
their safety, their whole
existence as trans people. At
cpac, the objective was made
explicit transgenderism must be
eradicated from public, like
from public life entirely. This
is a quote, the lemkin institute
for for genocide prevention has
raised three red flags regarding
trans genocide in the us. Still,
more than 700,000 trans people
still live in states where the
legal risk to them is deemed
severe or worse. Many of those
people need to move for their
survival, and many don't have
the means. Nobody upend their
life just for hands out. Like
somebody said earlier, we have
to acknowledge the situation. We
have to do the right things. We
have to do more. Thank you.
-- thank you paul. Next we have
pete. I think it's peter tynan.
pete. Is it peter? Is that is it
peter? Yeah. Okay. Awesome. My
bad. Peter. And then followed by
peter eden and then karl.
-- hello city council. Hello,
councilmember rinck. It was good
meeting you the other day. My
name is peter. I am a resident
of ballard, born and raised and
also a veteran. I want to thank
you, councilwoman rinck, for
spearheading this effort that
was brought forward by our
partners in mantis for the sake
of trans survival. I got mixed
up. That's okay. Okay. I love
this city. As we all know,
seattle is a sanctuary city, and
I believe that this status
morally extends not only to
immigrants internationally, but
also to immigrants across this
whole country who are fleeing
violence, such as our trans
friends all across the states
lgbtq volunteer organizations
have helped hundreds of trans
people and lack the capacity to
help hundreds more with
acquiring housing and employment
in seattle. By passing this
legislation, we can direct aid
towards the organizations
providing resources to these
migrants, providing, seeking
safety and giving them a chance
for a new beginning. I was
extremely proud as an american
and as a veteran, and even more
so as a seattleite, to see.
-- thanks. Thank you peter.
thank you know you're good.
thank you. Peter, edin or eden?
is it eden? Edin. Edin is eden
here? No. Karl, are you here?
welcome. Karl and holly. Willis.
-- members of council. My name
is carl nelson. I'm a 17 year
renter in district four.
co-chair and founding member of
the cedar crossing tenants
association and a member of the
board of directors of the
seattle social housing
developer. I'm here today in my
capacity as an individual and a
small business owner to speak in
favor of the legislation banning
junk fees with amendments a and
e, and without amendments c and
d council. Let's be very clear
about what being a landlord or
housing provider actually is. It
is a decision by an individual
or individuals to go into
business and thereby assume the
risks and responsibilities
inherent in any business
venture. It does not entitle
anyone to a certain return on
investment, nor does it make
them exempt from the rules and
expectations of fair behavior.
we expect in any other industry.
arbitrary, hidden or specious
fees like pet rent are annoying
at best and dishonest at worst.
all this legislation does is
make sure consumers are given
the same level of protection
that they would expect in any
other business. I urge the
council to pass this common
sense bill with amendments a and
e, and unamended by c and d
without delay.
-- thank you carl. Next we have
holly, followed by guinevere,
nina and jeff, and we'll go
online. Welcome, holly.
-- good afternoon,
councilmembers. Holly willis
with the seattle king county
coalition on homelessness, and a
renter and pet owner in district
five. I'm here today in strong
support of the junk fee
legislation sponsored by
councilmember foster and in
opposition to amendments c and d
junk fees, including pet rent,
raise costs for renters, often
in ways they don't expect and
can't afford. That leaves
people with few options and
fuels our crisis of people being
evicted into homelessness. Pet
rent is a scam. It should be
banned outright. People would
freak out if a landlord charged
rent to a baby. Why do we allow
them to charge rent to a cat or
a dog? Please take this
afternoon to support renters and
support trans people. Thank you.
-- thank you. Next we have
guinevere, followed by nina and
then jeff. Thank you, holly.
guinevere, welcome
-- thank you. Council, I call on
you today to pass the ban on
junk fees for renters and also,
I believe that even if that ban
were passed, it doesn't ban
rubs, which can pass on hundreds
of dollars of utility fees from
the landlord to the renter. So
we need to ban that as well. And
again, thank you for the 300 000
amended for the trans refugee
crisis. I want you to pass the
budget with that in there. But
again, that's just a start. And
also, I'm aware of the
potential for the city to pass
that $300,000 and then in the
coming months, defund housing by
1 to 5 million so that the trans
people who come here will have
nowhere to live. So I want to be
aware that we're not falling for
the city's tricks on that.
thank you.
-- thank you, guinevere. Next we
have nina, followed by jeff and
guinevere. You always have the
flyest glasses. By the way. The
sunglasses. They're always cool.
nina. Then jeff.
-- hi there.
-- I'm nina, trans woman living
in district five. I'm here to
urge the city council to pass a
b 1212, five three with
amendment five intact. The funds
are already there. The committee
has recommended its passing and
so many here today have
explained the profound effect
this funding will have. I have a
partner that would not be here
were it not for orgs like
traction. Our new sisters,
brothers and all the others can
and will thrive if we survive.
and this funding gives us a
chance to do so. Thank you.
-- thank you nina. Next we have
jeff paul, and then we're going
to jump right online to cliff
cawthorn. Is jeff paul, pardon
me. Jeff is.
-- going to email.
-- oh, email. Okay. Sorry. Thank
you, thank you. Kate. Okay.
we'll jump on to online. So
we'll go to cliff followed by
rachel star six to unmute
yourself. Thank you. Star six we
have about 20 more speakers.
-- there we go. Good afternoon,
council members. Can you all
hear me?
-- yes, yes.
-- oh, perfect. My name is cliff
cawthorn. I'm here today at
seattle residents. And you know
me, my background in housing
policy. I'm here in support of
council bills one 21254. So that
ban junk. I'm also in support
of amendment a and e in strong
opposition to amendment c and d.
so first off thank you,
councilmember foster your
leadership on this. And for
mayor wilson for proposing this
right now. Seattleites like
people across the country are on
the back foot when it comes to
affordability, banning predatory
and deceptive junk fees and
requiring landlords be
transparent are just a no
brainer. These fees do not
contribute tenants well-being.
they cover no real operations
cost uses contribute to homeless
displacement, rising housing
costs and put barriers to
housing for those in place. For
those who are the most
vulnerable in our housing
ecosystem, trans people fleeing
oppressive states, we need to
pass this legislation protecting
empower renters, ensure
transparency from tenants. We
support this legislation. Please
support a.
-- thank you, cliff. Next, we
have rachel raj, followed by
kendra star six. To unmute
yourself.
-- good afternoon,
councilmembers. My name is
rachel raj and I'm the
executive director of seattle
veterinary outreach, a local
nonprofit providing veterinary
care and human services for
people experiencing homelessness
and low income families. I'm
here today on behalf of behalf
of the clients that we work
with, we see firsthand how
difficult it is to access
housing with a pet in 2025, 28%
of the clients we saw came to us
with urgency because they needed
veterinary care to meet
emergency shelters or housing
related vaccine requirements. So
far this year, that number has
increased to 38%. When our
clients are faced with ongoing
pet fees that makes housing out
of their reach, many will choose
to remain unhoused rather than
surrender their companion. I
urge you to include protections
against ongoing pet rental fees.
housing should be accessible,
and no one and no one should
have to choose between a safe
place to live and the pet that
they love. Thank you for your
time.
-- awesome. Thank you rachel.
next, we have kendra, followed
by kendall star six.
-- good afternoon council. My
name is ken. I'm a candidate
member with the american party
of labor, and it is imperative
that you pass this funding for
trans resources, especially
seeing how this council and the
mayor have chosen time and time
again to ignore the trans
community in the past. As a
reminder, council, it is your
duty to protect and provide for
these communities through
programs, through funding, and
through actual human decency,
not just apologies and
sympathies from behind a
microphone. The american party
of labor will continue to ensure
the trans community are able to
defend themselves against those
who wish to harm and erase them
against nazis and against spd
who protect these nazis and have
themselves directly terrorized.
the trans community, as we saw
last may, any further class
treachery and outright apathy
from this council and the city
against these communities will
only strengthen apl's resolve to
guarantee community autonomy by
and through any means necessary.
if you are a member of a
marginalized community, trans or
otherwise, and protect yourself,
contact the american party of
labor. And, in the words of the
dead kennedys, lynch your
landlord. Thank you.
-- thank you ken. Next we have
paul, followed by adrian, paul
-- good afternoon council. My
name is paul stevens and I'm a
renter in district three.
speaking in support for the junk
fee legislation. This issue
directly affects me as I've
always refused to pay these junk
fees. As a result, these
slumlords and credit reporting
companies are falsely portraying
this refusal as rental arrears I
urge the councilmembers to
listen to your constituents and
not the slumlords, who largely
live outside of the city. Shame
on councilmember kettle for
proposing amendments that weaken
this badly needed piece of
legislation not for their
continual malfeasance. This new
legislation would be
unnecessary. It is my
understanding that pet rent is
already illegal under smc seven,
2438 section e one lords have
been blatantly disregarding the
law for far too long. This is
why strong enforcement
mechanisms are needed. Junk fees
are fraudulent and need to be
prosecuted. As such, I strongly
encourage councilmembers to pass
this legislation without any
weakening amendments. Also
support the.
-- thank you. Next we have
andrew lin, followed by lydia
and then cedar star six.
-- good afternoon,
councilmembers. My name is
angelina. I'm a human rights
activist from pierce county
district two. So from this
morning, seattle city council
public safety committee meeting
on the topic of king county
jail, medical referral data,
mentioning by ian goodhue of the
same exam, aka sexual assault
nurse examination and the delays
that can occur. Included in
between the time of initiation
of nurse consultation of the
usual vitals to the certified
licensed nurse trained in a
specific legal task associated
with the steps to do a same
exam. I formally request this
day of august 11th, 2026 for our
standards and laws to allow an
extension for at least seven
days instead of five days for
dna can still be detected via
swabbing, which is the main part
of the exam. Plus, I support
making rent affordable,
including removing pet rent.
thank you.
-- thank you. Next we have
lydia, followed by cedar and
then heather.
-- hi, my name is maria. I'm a
renter in dc as well as a
co-chair of the seattle renters
commission. So renters
commission supports banning junk
fees to reduce hidden and
unnecessary housing costs. As
renter advocates and renters
ourselves, we are no stranger to
the intimate impact of junk fees
on housing stability. This
legislation is about
transparency and predictability,
and it's about upholding the
renter protections that are
designed to protect renters from
price gouging, prevent and
prevent landlords from setting
fair. It does not prevent
landlords from setting fair
market rents or charging for
truly opt in services. As such,
the commission supports
amendment a and e, which
strengthen this legislation and
we oppose amendment c and d,
which create loopholes that
would allow landlords to
continue charging these
unnecessary rental fees. This
comprehensive ban is critical to
ensuring renters have accurate
information about housing that
landlords can compete in a fair
market, and that new protections
are enforceable. We urge you to
pass this ban on rental junk
fees with the strengthening
amendments a and e, and to
reject.
-- awesome. Thank you. Lydia.
next, we have we have eight more
speakers online. This is just a
time check. We have eight more
speakers online. And we have
one, two, three, four, five more
in person. I don't know if
there's any signed up over
there. Okay, so eight online and
then five more in person. So
cedar, you are well, star six
you're up.
-- hello. Can you guys hear me?
-- yes we can. Can you hear me?
loud and clear
-- hi. My name. My name is peter
and I am here to speak on
becoming charges that we are
facing as a country in the midst
of our food financial crisis and
our water crisis due to
surveillance centers and
destroying the water for the
elites in this country, we are
also taking steps to expand our
police surveillance state by
putting up more flock and axon
and alpr cameras that are
further infringing upon our
fourth amendment rights. We
can't ever really seem to find
the money for social programs,
but we can always seem to find
more money to pay the police who
constantly beat our civilians
and many departments, including
bellevue, is actually under
investigation for child sex
trafficking. So we should fund
the police a lot less, and we
should actually put more money
into the farm.
-- thank you. Next we have
heather followed by magdalena.
-- hi. Council president and
councilmembers. I'm heather
smith from capitol hill pike
pine neighborhood. I'm speaking
in support of council bill one
two, one two, five three and
directing funding for community
based violence interrupters to
capitol hill. Just last night,
another person was shot at cal
anderson park. That brings the
number of shootings we have
documented in the greater pike
pine to 2626 in just three
years, all within a very small
geographic area. Our pike pine
community and our nightlife
district in cal anderson park
need a coordinated, sustained
public safety strategy with
consistent resources, clear
responsibility and
accountability. The seattle fire
department and seattle police
department should not be the
only responders to issues around
the clock. Pike pine is also an
important economic driver for
seattle. Violence interrupters
can help identify escalating
conflicts, build relationships
with people at the highest risk
of violence, intervene before.
-- thank you. Heather. Next, we
have magdalena, followed by erin
and elizabeth.
-- am I unmuted?
-- we can hear you.
-- wonderful. Hello, council.
you are legislating right now
for the age, not the hour. The
hour is the empire around us
that is falling, but the age
that is coming is one in which
the city will still exist. In
that time, they will look to the
precedents that you established
during this time of transition.
whether you acknowledge that
transition coming or not, it has
happened to all empires. It will
happen to ours. What legacy will
you leave? When trans people
were priestesses of the temples
of inanna, europeans were still
living in mud huts and figuring
out how to make bronze. We are
the erinyes of the scythians. We
are the galli of the romans. We
have literally always existed,
and we will always exist, and we
will resist these fascists. And
you have to live with us after.
you have to live with the
results. Will you live with a
city that you have brought to
life by saving ours, and the
culture that we bring to create?
have you all.
-- thank you. Magdalena. Next we
have elizabeth, followed by
philip haley and matthew. And
we'll go back to in person
elizabeth, welcome. Star six to
unmute yourself, star six.
you're still on mute. Star six
there you go.
-- hello, hello. Thank you. This
is elizabeth marcus and I am a
resident of the green lake
neighborhood, and I have been a
landlord in the past, and I
strongly oppose junk fees. I
take that as a responsibility to
keep people housed and not as
something to make a profit off
of, at the expense of the people
who need housing. I also
strongly support the funding for
the trans community, and I would
love to say that I oppose this
amendment c and d, thank you so
much.
-- thank you. Elizabeth. Next we
have philip, followed by haley
and then matthew. And then we'll
go to our in person.
I, philip, you might be muted on
your phone, philip, but you are
off mute for us.
-- hi I apologize, can you hear
me now?
-- yes, we can
-- thank you. My name is philip
roth. I am a small landlord in
the ravenna neighborhood. I
would also like to speak out in
opposition to junk fees. As a
property owner, I find myself
lucky enough to help those who
do not own property stay in the
neighborhood at affordable
rates, and contribute to the
culture and diversity of my
neighborhood and the city in
general. I find junk fee is an
exorbitant charges to be
despicable, and I appreciate
everything you're doing to
combat them. I would also note
that any amendments diluting the
strength of that bill are not
wanted. The developers who are
in favor of this, and I and I
work for a developer separately,
are charging simply for their
own profits and.
-- you still have time, philip.
-- I apologize, I thought it
muted me. Yes, I just oppose
this. Thank you.
-- thank you philip. Next we
have haley followed by matthew.
and then we'll go to in person.
-- good afternoon,
councilmembers. My name is haley
and my company is a small
property owner, owner and
manager here in seattle. I'm
speaking today in support of
amendment t. Over the years,
we've invested in tailoring our
buildings to the needs of dog
owners, installing dog runs,
creating relief areas and adding
wash stations to muddy pods
don't end up on the carpet and
consistently cleaning up our
dogs who have accidents in the
elevators and lobbies. These
improvements cost money to
create and maintain, and they
benefit all of the tenants who
have dogs in the whole building.
kent rent it cut rent is how
those tenants pay their fair
share for what they're actually
using it. Without it, I'd have
to fold those costs into rent
for everyone, including tenants
who don't own a pet and never
touch these dog amenities or
require these cleaning services.
that's not fair. It's not
equitable. A small caps monthly
amount tied directly to the
amenities of fair way to do it.
otherwise, we'll have rent 1.5%
across the board. Please support
amendment c. Thank you so much
for your time.
-- thank you. Haley. Next we
have matthew, and then we'll go
right to in our in person
speakers, matthew star six.
-- hi there. I'm calling in
opposition to the funding for
trans refugees. I just don't
fully understand the term
refugee. And I think it's
disparaging to true refugees
from other countries that need
support and need funding. I
don't know why seattle
taxpayers are footing the bill
for people to move within the
same country. And I guess to
what end? I don't really
understand where this funding
will be allocated to and how
$300,000 really would be
supportive if it really is a
crisis as it is being played out
as. So I don't really understand
or support this very small
amount of funding to help a very
small number of people move
within the country.
-- thank you matthew. So now
we're going to go to in person,
we have lydia followed by m, and
we have david haynes, we have
kyle, we have ellen. Lydia,
welcome. Thank you all for your
patience.
-- lydia taylor. Okay. Hello. I
am here to testify in favor of
cb 121254 and banning pet rent
aka anti amendment c of this
bill and banning junk fees,
including amendment d, charging
renters, renter insurance on an
opt out basis. Because I believe
that obfuscates the landlord's
responsibility to the tenants.
there's much I could copy paste
from the seattle.gov office of
the city clerk. Legistar.com.
pages recital section. But
that's 20 minutes I don't have
with this microphone. And I'm
sure the councilors have seen
that document. I would encourage
everyone who hasn't to read it.
it's incredibly insightful.
what I will say is that as a
young progressive voter, this
legislation is exactly the
reason that we voted for the
likes of mayor wilson and bill
sponsor dionne foster to do for
us, because councilor foster
identified unaffordability as a
reason for gentrification of poc
and queer communities in her
campaign for office and and this
bill is simply living up to that
campaign promise to fight
against that in city hall. For
us.
-- thank you. Lydia. Next we
have m is m here thank m left m
okay, next we have david haynes.
welcome. And then we have kyle
and then ellen. Welcome mr.
haynes.
-- hi. How you doing?
-- I'm great. How are you?
-- streaming revolution. Living
a nightmare. Hi. My name is
david haynes. When you exempt
drug pushers from misdemeanor
prosecution, you allow for the
escalation of violence between
rival drug gangs. When you
finance nonprofits in the human
services department to run
interference for bipoc repeat
offending criminals, you
escalate the implosion of our
society and undermine the
integrity of public safety. The
thing is, I came down here today
because we need some legislation
to purge the landlords
sabotaging restrictions on the
comprehensive plan so we can
have a better built back city of
21st century, first world
quality housing that goes higher
than six stories for your
catering to, like watered down,
designed for nonprofits that are
politically connected to
warehouse, echo, third world,
modern inner city real estate.
the thing is, is like you should
be allowed to get your money
back within 24 hours. If you
call the landlord and say, I
want, I'm moving out within 30
days because this place is
double, triple, quadruple
inflated and you should be
allowed to renegotiate the
property value based on 2016,
when john wilson took over.
-- and thank you, david.
-- the property value.
-- thank you, mr. Haynes.
-- thanks. Right off some of the
debt for.
-- the ranch. Thank you, mr.
haynes. Next we have kyle
followed by ellen. Is kyle here?
no. Kyle. Kyle, kyle and then
ellen o'leary. Is ellen o'leary
here? Number 75. No. Okay. And
is there there's no more
speakers over there. And then
there's nothing online. So I
just want to first thank you
all. I know that was a long
public comment period, but it
was very important for us to
hear people's words. I do want
to state, for the record, and
I've told mr. Haynes this, he
always talks about bipoc drug
pushers or black drug pushers.
so just for the record, I had
asked him, it's not actually
nice to say all the time, but
anyways, it's another another
thing. So just want to thank
everyone for being here. Okay.
and for doing public comment.
the people that came down in
person, that stood in line, the
folks that waited on line for
two hours to speak. It's really
important that we heard
everyone, usually public comment
period. We always have scheduled
for an hour, but it was really
important that we listen to
everyone. So we just want to
thank you all. I'm going to
check with my colleagues to see
if they want to take a recess,
or if you all wanted to power
through the recess would be five
minutes. I'm looking left and
right, up, down. Are people just
power through? Are we good?
okay, so I see people saying
press forward with their sword.
okay, let's just jump right
into the meeting. If there's no
objections, we're going to jump
right into the meeting. If
there's no objection, the
introduction and referral
calendar will be adopted.
hearing no objection, the
introduction and referral
calendar is adopted. If there is
no objection, the agenda will be
adopted. Hearing no objection,
the agenda is adopted. We will
now consider the proposed
consent calendar. The items on
the consent calendar include
minutes of august 4th, 2026.
council bill 121271 payment of
the bills, two bills and one
resolution from parks and city
light committee. There are five
appointments from the finance,
native communities and tribal
governments committee, and there
are seven appointments from the
the transportation waterfront
and seattle center committee.
are there any items
councilmembers would like to
remove from today's consent
calendar hearing and seeing
none. I'm going to move to
adopt the consent calendar. Is
there a second? Second. Thank
you. It's been moved and
seconded to adopt the consent
calendar. Will the clerk please
call the roll on the adoption of
the consent calendar?
-- councilmember foster yes.
-- councilmember foster. Thank
you. Councilmember juarez.
councilmember kettle. Aye.
-- councilmember lin
-- yes.
-- councilmember rinck.
-- yes. Councilmember rivera.
-- I councilmember saka I
councilmember strauss I council
president hollingsworth. Yes,
and in favor. None. Opposed.
-- consent. Calendar is adopted.
will the clerk please affix my
signature in the minutes on the
legislation, on the consent
calendar on my behalf? That was
a tongue twister. Will the clerk
please read item number one to
the record
-- the report of the housing,
arts and civil rights committee
agenda item 1121254 relating to
rental agreements. Regulation
requiring disclosure of fees,
prohibiting eliminating certain
fees, requiring retention of
compliance records, expanding
investigation authority, and
establishing new enforcement
mechanisms. The committee
recommends. The bill passes, as
amended.
-- councilmember foster chair of
the committee. You're recognized
to give the report.
-- thank you so I cut my mic.
thank you so much, council
president. And first, I want to
express my appreciation to mayor
wilson and her team, especially
karen levitas, who has spent a
lot of time with our office and
a lot of time leading on this
work. I want to also express my
appreciation to hb harper from
council central staff and sage
lawrence from my team for their
leadership. Thank you to the
many community members to the
state house stay healthy
coalition, to the folks at
seattle humane washington
housing alliance, the small and
large landlords and housing
providers, all of whom have
taken the time to come down and
share their experience and
testify at city hall. It. It's a
lot of work. It's a lot of
energy. And we appreciate each
of you as chair of the housing,
arts and civil rights committee,
I am thrilled to sponsor this
legislation. And lastly, I want
to appreciate my colleagues for
voting this out of committee
with a 5 to 0 vote. So as we've
heard today, hidden fees don't
belong on concert tickets. They
don't belong on airline
tickets, and they certainly
don't belong on the largest
expense that most seattle
families have every month. Their
rent rent is one of the most
important consumer purchases
that people make. And if we
believe in consumer protection
anywhere, we should believe in
it here. And it should also be
one of the most transparent
decisions for people. And a
majority renter city where
housing already stretches
household budgets. Families
deserve to know the real cost of
a rental before they sign a
lease, before they show up and
sit down to put their name on a
paper. Not after. And I myself
am a homeowner, but I still
remember the experience of
finding an apartment, touring a
building, deciding I wanted to
live there, sitting down to sign
a lease, only to realize we were
quite literally signing up for
more than we had originally
bargained for. Because the fees
and costs that we hadn't
anticipated that we then
realized we were going to need
to pay. That shouldn't be an
experience that anybody has.
research from the urban
institute shows that junk fees
can increase renters total
housing costs by 10 to 30%,
making it harder for people to
budget and harder for people to
stay housed. Those added costs
hit hardest for seniors on fixed
incomes. For young people
entering the workforce, working
families and communities that
are most likely to rent. As we
heard earlier today in
washington, black residents are
about twice as likely to rent
than own, meaning these
practices can disproportionately
burden households already facing
barriers to housing stability.
and I believe and we know, that
transparency creates a better
housing market. This legislation
gives renters the ability to
compare homes priced on their
actual cost, not on an
artificially low advertised
price, followed by a list of
surprise charges. It also
creates a level playing field
for landlords who are already
transparent about pricing.
instead of rewarding those who
rely on hidden fees to make
their listings appear more
affordable than they actually
are. And by reducing upfront,
necessary costs, we make it
easier for renters to find
housing without paying hundreds
of dollars just to apply. We. I
know that consumer protections
only work if they are
enforceable, and this bill gives
sdci the teeth to ensure that
they are enforcing the law and
holding people who disregard the
law accountable. We love a snap.
and lastly, I'll just share a
few of the important things that
this bill does, because so much
of the testimony today was
focused on the amendments. We
are prohibiting charging a fee
for paying your rent via check
or ach transfer so that you
don't have to pay just to pay.
we are prohibiting mail and
package fees so renters aren't
price gouged for receiving
orders. We are prohibiting
additional fees for the use of
in-unit appliances, with
exceptions for where state law
allows air conditioning units.
we are prohibiting fees for pet
rent because we know that this.
we are still allowing folks to
charge for damage deposits and
to recover costs of any actual
damage occurred to a unit. We
are also requiring the
disclosure of rental fees in
advertisements and rental
listings up front on any rental
agreement that will allow
renters to be able to compare
and contrast and make informed
decisions about where they live.
and lastly, this bill does allow
for charging optional fees,
provided they are not explicitly
prohibited and are truly opt in
fees, and they align with the
rest of the spirit of the
ordinance. So thank you so much
to everybody who has supported
this. I believe that this bill
is going to result in greater
transparency and greater
affordability for seattle
renters and colleagues. I ask
for your support.
-- thank you. Councilmember
foster. So, colleagues, we have
about I think we have five
amendments. So we're going to
work through those. And then
we'll have time to speak about
the whole bill after it's been
amended. Okay. Or potentially if
it is amended. So I'm going to
jump to councilmember lin pardon
me. We're at ease. One second.
all right. Okay. So I'll
recognize. Yep. I'll recognize.
councilmember. Thank you for
that reminder. I'll recognize
councilmember rivera and then
we'll jump to councilmember lin
about your amendment.
councilmember rivera.
-- thank you, council president
colleagues, because I own a
small rental property that I
share with my family, I'm
unfortunately precluded from
voting on today, from voting on
today's rental fees
legislation. I'm also precluded
from even speaking to the
legislation. I want constituents
who are watching to know that
it's not that I do not want to
represent their interests on
this matter or their views. I'm
just unable to. Colleagues, as
you know, this is an issue that
continues to come up, especially
after council went to district
representation, and it is
different from the position that
has been taken by the state,
where the state legislature is
required to disclose any
conflicts of interest, but
they're not actually prohibited
from voting. While I understand
why we cannot vote or why I
cannot vote, and I will always
abide by ethics rules, it is a
point of concern because I, like
you, have received feedback from
residents on this legislation,
and I do not want constituents
to think that I did not want to
vote on this legislation. Thank
you. Council president.
-- awesome. Thank you,
councilmember rivera, for that.
councilmember lin, you are
recognized to move your
amendment.
-- thank you. I'd like to move
amendment a version one to
council bill one, 21254.
-- second.
-- it's been moved and second
to amend council bill as
presented on amendment a
councilmember lin a sponsor of
the amendment. You are
recognized in order to address
it.
-- thank you so much. And first,
thank you, councilmember foster,
for bringing this legislation
forward. Thanks to everyone that
came to speak today. This
amendment is. I brought an
amendment to the original bill.
and in terms of enforcement, you
know, there's two primary ways
that this bill will be enforced.
there's sdci enforcement, and
then there's the private right
of action. And, you know, and
the private right of action
while it is great that we have
attorney's fees and other
penalties, it still requires
tenants to go to court, which
could be a lengthy process or,
you know, often requires tenants
to, to go seek legal
representation. And so the main
thrust of the original amendment
was to empower tenants to, to,
to make a demand to the, to
their landlord, to, if they were
charged, these fees that were
prohibited and to request
immediate refunds plus double
damages, and to incentivize
landlords to to cure any
violations. And if they did so
within 30 days, then they would
not be subject to the penalties
and attorney's fees. And so the
the idea was that it would
empower tenants and incentivize
landlords to quickly correct any
issues so that tenants wouldn't
have to go to court, landlords
wouldn't have to pay attorneys
fees, and tenants would be
reimbursed quickly after
committee meeting, we spoke with
some tenant advocates and
received feedback that, you
know, if that fee was charged to
one tenant, it was probably
charged to all the other
tenants. And so when a notice
was given to landlord, it should
be deemed constructive notice
for all the tenants in that
building. And with the idea that
if the landlords put on notice,
if they were going to take
advantage of this sort of
alternative dispute process,
they should be refunding those
fees to to all the tenants in
that building, and also be
giving notice to sdci so sdci
can keep track of any violations
in any cures. So that's the
amendment. We also included a
provision that if the landlord
provided charge that same fee
within 24 months, they wouldn't
be able to take advantage of
this additional sort of adr
process. Alternative dispute
process. So that's the
amendment. And if I would love
if you have any questions or
concerns, otherwise, I would
love your support. Thank you.
-- thank you. Councilmember lin
are there any comments regarding
amendment a? Seeing none, do you
have any closing remarks?
councilmember lin no closing
testimony. Okay will the clerk
please call the roll on the
adoption of amendment a.
-- councilmember foster yes.
-- councilmember juarez
councilmember kettle.
-- aye.
-- councilmember lin.
-- yes.
-- councilmember rinck.
-- yes.
-- councilmember rivera.
-- present. Present.
-- councilmember saka. Aye.
councilmember strauss. Council
president hollingsworth.
-- yes
-- eight in favor. None opposed
one abstention.
-- motion carries. Amendment a
is adopted. Councilmember kettle
you are recognized to move your
amendment b.
-- thank you, council president.
I move amendment b version one
to council bill 121254.
-- second.
-- it's been moved and seconded
to amend the bill as presented
on amendment b councilmember
kettle you recognize in order to
address it.
-- thank you. Council president,
and thank you, councilmember
foster and my colleagues. This
amendment is being done for a
few things. One is not long ago,
when we were doing the education
levy implementation, my
colleague was saying it was
important how you talk about
things, and I agreed with her as
it related to that bill and in
all bills, actually. And then
later with sepa and eyes, we
talked about weaponization. And
I spoke to that issue as well.
and I talked about the language
that we use, and it was
interesting to see online in
other places how I was being
mocked for that. But the idea is
to, to raise the discourse, to
have an engagement on the topics
that we're facing. And the term
junk fee is not a formal legal
fee industry standard is a
colloquial phrase. It is not
legal. And this is a legal
document and we should be
looking to place ourselves in a
position where we are engaging
on the topics. And I recognize
from all the different comments,
and I understand 100%. At the
same time, I do recognize, too,
that for those that are
advocating on the other side who
are not often heard here in
chambers, that if you're a
landlord and you're dealing with
issues with pets, that if you're
looking for this, it's the word
junk is pejorative. And it's
like they're doing it for some
reason other than what may be.
and that's not the case.
sometimes it is, but not always.
and I just think that we as a
body should be looking to use
terms that are reflective of our
position and what we're doing
here with legal documents, legal
formality that we're doing, that
we don't use a colloquial term
like junk feeds. And then, you
know, and building on the idea
of weaponization from the sepa
and I's bill, or the idea that
we have to be it's important how
you talk about things. As we
were going through the education
levy implementation that we
raise the, you know, the, the
discourse here and colleagues,
this is the reason for this
amendment solely. And I think
the word junk is not needed. And
it's also a word that, you
know, is not at that level that
we should be doing here in terms
of this legal proceeding that
we're that we're embarked on.
so thank you. And I ask for your
support.
-- thank you. Councilmember
kettle are there comments on
amendment b as presented? Any
comments? Colleagues seeing
none. Okay. Councilmember kettle
do you have any closing remarks?
-- none other than to ask for
the support. And again,
understanding where this is
coming from and how we can move
forward.
-- thank you. Thank you,
councilmember kettle, will the
clerk please call the roll on
adoption of amendment b?
-- councilmember foster no.
-- councilmember juarez.
-- no.
-- councilmember kettle.
-- aye.
-- councilmember lin.
-- yes.
-- councilmember rinck.
-- no.
-- councilmember rivera.
-- present
-- councilmember saka. Aye.
councilmember strauss.
-- no.
-- council president.
hollingsworth.
-- no.
-- that is three in favor, five
opposed and one disqualified.
-- so the motion fails and
amendment b is not adopted.
councilmember kettle you are you
are recognized. So move
amendment c.
-- I'm just taking a moment
council president I move
amendment c version one to
council bill 12125 for second.
-- it's been moved. And second,
to amend the bill as presented
on amendment c councilmember
kettle you're recognized in
order to address it.
-- councilmember I'm requesting
that the rules be suspended to
consider an oral amendment.
-- rules are suspended for an
oral amendment. Oh, excuse me, I
need a second. Is there a
second?
-- second?
-- it's been moved in second
for the rules to be suspended
for an oral amendment or oral
amendment. Excuse me.
councilmember kettle, you are
recognized.
-- council president. I move to
amend amendment c version one by
deleting.
-- I apologize, I got to go
back. My bad. I have to take it
to a vote. Okay, so will the
clerk please call the roll on
the rules being suspended for an
oral amendment?
-- councilmember foster yes.
-- councilmember juarez.
-- yes.
-- councilmember kettle.
-- aye
-- councilmember lin.
-- yes.
-- councilmember. Rinck.
-- yes.
-- councilmember rivera.
-- present.
-- councilmember saka. Aye.
councilmember strauss. Council
president. Hollingsworth.
-- yes.
-- eight in favor none opposed
one disqualified.
-- all right. Rules has been
suspended. Councilmember kettle
you are recognized again.
-- council president, I move to
amend amendment c by deleting a
cat or those three words from
section 11. A.
-- so I'm going to pause here
and be at ease, because I
believe that we would need to
put this up. Do people need to
have this up? No.
-- it's up to the chair
-- do people do people want this
amendment up? Okay. Fair enough.
all right. So amendment, you all
have the amendment in front of
you. I just wanted to do a
transparency for the public. But
that's fine. So go ahead and
repeat that again. Councilmember
kettle. My apologies
-- I move to amend amendment c
by deleting a cat or those three
words from section 11, a.
-- is there a second? Thank you.
is there a second? I will second
it. It's been moved and
seconded for us to remove due to
oral amendment for us to remove
from line a in the in the
amendment to remove a cat or so
a cat or on amendment c, it's
been moved in second
councilmember kettle you are
recognized to address it.
-- thank you. Council president.
I just wanted to say I've been
a renter. I was a renter until
the age of 47. I was also a
landlord for a decade and a
half, from about the age of 35
to 50. And in that time gained a
lot of experience working a lot
of issues as it relates to
landlord tenant that we're
dealing with here today, and
should be also dealing with in
another areas as well. And I
recognize the points that were
made oftentimes here in terms of
general with pets. I should
note, I have two dogs, two
little cairn terriers. And I
also understand from my
experience and also the advocacy
that I've received, again, not
here in council, but from people
like betsy hudson, who gave a
really detailed experience in
terms of working the issue of
pets. I understand the pet
deposit argument and it makes
sense, but that doesn't capture
one challenge that we have with
this bill. We have such a wide
range of renters and rental
agreements. And, you know, in
terms of the types of whether
it's a, you know, massive
building, whether it's a small,
single family home, could be
many types. So I do understand
the deposit argument, but I also
know that damage not seen happen
or attributable to any one
specific dog. It has an impact,
has an impact on the owners, and
it is a cost. And one should
know this is america, that real
estate, this is a business and
these costs will be passed
through. And I just think that
in this situation, in the idea
that this is a common sense fix,
very small amount, and that
otherwise this will be borne by
all tenants. And that in itself
creates its own affordability
challenges. And so I present
this amendment in terms of being
simple and clean, but also
highlighting the challenges that
are seen out there. And those
costs will be passed on. I've
talked to so many different
types of landlords or developers
that work these kinds of even
affordable housing. And they,
they, they talk about the
challenges that they face. And
so with that, that's the
reasoning behind amendment c,
and I ask for your support.
-- thank you. Councilmember
kettle. Councilmember strauss.
-- thank you, council president,
I'm just checking that we are
first going to vote on amending
the amendment, and then we will
vote on the amendment. The
amendment as amended. Is that
correct?
-- that is correct. So right now
we are voting on the amendment
to the amendment, which is the
oral amendment that right now it
is the fee may only be obsessed
or assessed for keeping a cat or
dog. Councilmember kettle
amendment is to remove a cat or.
so right now we will be voting
on to remove a cat or so the new
amendment will say. The fee may
be assessed for keeping a dog.
-- thank you. I really
appreciate this change. I think
that it makes good sense and
I'll use this moment to also
recognize the fact that tomorrow
is kitty hall here at seattle
city hall, where you can adopt a
cat from our fas animal shelter,
as well as if you don't want to
adopt here a cat. We. We also
have dogs. They are at the
animal shelter. Adoptions are
available all week long. Thank
you.
-- thank you. Council.
councilmember strauss. So just
to clarify, team council, we are
voting on the amendment to the
amendment. So we are voting on
to remove a cat or councilmember
foster.
-- thank you, council president.
I'm just I think are you asking
for our comments on the amended
amendment now, or are you asking
for us to hold those.
-- on the comments on the
amendment to the amendment?
-- okay. Thank you. I will I
will be brief in my comments on
the amended amendment. I
councilmember kettle I
appreciate your the verbal
amendment that you're making
today. I do intend to support
the amendment that you were
making, but I do not intend to
support the original amendment,
and I will save my comments for
the original amendment when we
go. Go to that.
-- thank you. Councilmember
foster are there any other
comments to the amendment to the
amendment? This is to remove a
cat or and this is an oral
amendment. We suspended the
rules. Okay. Awesome.
councilmember kettle do you have
any closing? None. Will the
clerk please call the roll on
us? Voting on the amendment to
the amendment which is removing
a cat or
-- councilmember foster.
-- yes.
-- councilmember juarez
councilmember kettle. A
councilmember lin.
-- yes.
-- councilmember rinck.
-- yes.
-- councilmember rivera. Present
councilmember saka. Aye.
-- councilmember strauss aye.
-- council president
hollingsworth.
-- yes.
-- eight in favor. None opposed.
one disqualified.
-- so the motion carries and the
amended the the amendment to the
amendment is adopted. And now we
are going to now talk about
amendment c. So. Councilmember
kettle do you. Nothing further.
okay. Are there any other
colleagues that have any
comments about amendment c?
-- councilmember foster thank
you so much, council president.
first, I want to express my
appreciation to you.
councilmember kettle and I know
you don't sit on the housing
committee, but I do want to
appreciate you and your office
for being responsive and
communicative around the ideas
that you had around the the
underlying legislation. And just
thank you for your transparency
and collaboration there. And
again, for, for the dialing in
and committee today. For me, one
of the important parts of this
conversation is that we are
still allowing the ability for
landlords to use damage
deposits, as
-- well as to recoup any fees to
units for damage incurred by a
pet. And so for that reason, I
will not be supporting this
updated amendment today. Thank
you.
-- thank you. Councilmember
foster. Are there any other
comments regarding amendment c
as amended? Councilmember lin
-- thank you, council president
and councilmember kettle. Thanks
for for bringing this forward.
and for the amendment aye. The
amendment to the amendment I do
you know, I read, you know, some
of the feedback we received,
including betsy hudson's. And,
you know, I do think there are
real costs that landlords face
that are not always captured by
the damaged deposits. And so I
do think that those costs will
be sort of spread out. I don't
know what it's hard to know is
what how much those costs really
are. And but I think we've also
heard from a lot of tenant
advocates that, you know, that
that even if those costs are
spread out, that that is
something that is better than
pet rent itself, that. And so,
you know, and I think about I
have not been a renter for, for
a bit now, but, you know, I do
think pet rent is something that
is relatively new. And, you
know, somehow landlords were
able to get by for, for many,
many years without charging pet
rent or frankly, all these other
fees that we are hopefully
banning today. And so I just
want to say, I appreciate the
concern and the, the intent
behind it, but I won't be
supporting it today.
-- thank you. Councilmember lin,
are there any other comments
regarding amendment c as
amended? We are voting on the
underlying amendment c, as
amended, to the council. Bill
councilmember kettle do you have
any follow up?
-- nothing.
-- okay. Thank you. Will the
clerk please call the roll on?
amended on amendment c as
amended
-- councilmember foster no.
-- councilmember juarez
councilmember kettle. A
councilmember lin.
-- no.
-- councilmember rinck.
-- no.
-- councilmember rivera.
-- present.
-- councilmember saka nay.
councilmember strauss nay.
-- council president
hollingsworth.
-- no.
-- one in favor seven opposed
one disqualified.
-- motion fails. An amendment c
is not adopted. Councilmember
kettle you are recognized to
move amendment d.
-- council president, I move to
amend move amendment d version
one to council bill 12125 for
-- second it's been moved and
second to amend the bill as
presented on amendment d
councilmember kettle you're
recognized in order to address
it.
-- council president, a big
challenge that we have in our
country is financial literacy.
this has come up in many ways.
came up in interview I had on
kow not long ago. The our state
treasurer has been speaking to
the idea of financial literacy,
particularly in the curriculum
at our schools and financial
literacy has many pieces to it,
you know, savings. There's
investments, but it's also
insurance. And being smart and
having that financial literacy.
you know, the insurance piece is
really important. And so this
amendment is forwarded is not
only good governance, but good
practice. And I recognize the
points, but if one reads
mentioned in public comment, but
if you read the amendment, it's
quite straightforward that this
is something that there's no
requirement, but it's
encouraging this because this is
in the good tenants of financial
literacy. So long term. And I
think about, by the way, that
this this shows up in many ways,
christchurch, new zealand, had a
very strong insurance rate. So
when they had their earthquake,
they were able to respond
quickly and better compared to
other cities across the world.
and over time. And, you know, we
are a, you know, a situation
where we could have something
similar to that, you know, I
don't not expecting wildfires,
but, you know, you never know.
insurance is a smart financial
literacy move. And this is
something that, again, is not
mandating it. It's very
straightforward. It's very
simple. And colleagues, I ask
for your support.
-- awesome. Thank you.
councilmember kettle are there
any comments regarding amendment
d? Amendment d? All right.
seeing none one definitely take
this time to thank councilmember
kettle for all your amendments
and hard working thought you put
behind all this well, clerk,
please call the roll. Do you
have any you said no closing
comments. Will the clerk please
call the roll an amendment d.
-- councilmember foster no.
-- councilmember juarez.
-- councilmember juarez no.
-- thank you. Councilmember
kettle.
-- aye.
-- councilmember lin no.
-- councilmember rinck. No.
-- councilmember rivera
-- present.
-- councilmember saka.
-- nay.
-- councilmember strauss.
-- no.
-- council chair. Council
president. Hollingsworth.
-- no.
-- one in favor. One in favor
seven opposed one disqualified.
-- motion fails. Amendment d is
not adopted. Councilmember
foster you are recognized to
move your amendment.
-- I move amendment e. Do I have
a second?
-- second.
-- it's been moved. And second
to amend bill as presented on
amendment e councilmember foster
you recognize in order to
address it.
-- thank you so much, council
president. So this is a
clarification and an update to
an amendment that I brought to
committee. And the spirit of
this is that we wanted to ensure
clarity that sdci has the
authority to seek voluntary
compliance. That's authority
that was already provided to
them elsewhere in our code,
however, we codified that,
bringing it into this portion of
the code, and we did that in an
amendment in committee. We had
some ongoing engagement with
community members following
passing this out of committee
last week. And we are bringing
I'm bringing forth this
amendment to offer a couple of
clarifications and refinements.
so you'll see this language
states that the sdci director
can offer voluntary compliance
at a minimum to include full
reimbursement to all tenants.
this is similar to what we heard
councilmember lin speak to, to
ensure that we are covering
remedies for tenants when
something is done to one tenant.
if the same practice has
happened across the board that
the sdci director can seek that
voluntary compliance across the
board, we are also making a
refinement. I am making a
refinement here that states that
that voluntary compliance can
only be offered to a landlord if
the director has executed
voluntary compliance. No more
than twice in the past three
years. So this is the spirit of
the law, is to ensure that we
have the ability to get
voluntary compliance. However,
the spirit is not intended to
see repeat voluntary compliance
because that's going to
indicate something else going
on. So we are offering this
amendment to clarify and provide
that direction to sdci and
colleagues. I ask for your
support.
-- thank you. Councilmember
fosters are there. Excuse me.
councilmember foster, are there
any comments regarding amendment
e? Seeing none, do you have any
closing comments? Councilmember
foster will the clerk please
call the roll on amendment e?
-- councilmember foster yes.
-- councilmember juarez.
councilmember kettle.
-- aye.
-- councilmember lin yes.
-- councilmember rinck.
-- yes.
-- councilmember rivera present.
councilmember saka.
-- aye.
-- councilmember strauss council
president. Hollingsworth eight
in favor? None opposed one
disqualified.
-- amendment d amendment. The
motion carries. Amendment is
adopted. All right. Colleagues,
are there any other final
comments on the bill as amended?
councilmember foster as sponsor
will hold yours till the end, if
that's cool. And then we'll see
if any other councilmembers have
any comments, and then I'll
throw it to councilmember foster
councilmember kettle.
-- thank you, council president.
I do have a few comments. I'm
just going to add actually a
little bit up front, because I
forgot to mention this, so I'll
mention it now in my hand, I
have the central staff memo on
this bill, council bill 121254,
written by miss harper analyst
and central staff. And I thank
her for this document. It's
interesting if you read this
document, nowhere in this
document do you find the word
junk. I would argue that this
document is being held to a
higher standard than the bill
itself. As respects to the use
of the word junk. And again,
it's important how you talk
about things. It's important to
have a formal legal industry
standard, not colloquial
colloquial phrases. I had three
amendments here, but I also had
two others. I had five total
amendments. The other two
amendments my team worked with
councilmember foster and
councilmember lin's team. I
want to thank them and their
teams for working with my team
on those amendments. There was
no cosponsorship on those, but
again, I appreciate having my
team have the opportunity to
work with councilmember
foster's team and councilmember
lin's team. Rental fee landlord
rent. Tenant is very complex,
and I've been speaking about
affordability a lot,
particularly as it relates to
property taxes, sales taxes,
utility rates and what we do or
do not do ourselves. The county
and the state. But I've also
noted that affordability is not
just for residents, also for
businesses too. And we do have
we need to be mindful of that.
we do have a wide range of
landlords, and we need to ensure
that we make housing available
and affordable, and that is our
north star. And my concern is
those small scale landlords, you
know, sometimes called mom and
pop and the like, because
they're the ones who really
provide those affordable housing
options. And I've seen it so
often here in seattle and in
district seven. I just wanted to
note that. And I also wanted to
note too, that there's more work
to be done. Two years ago, I had
the housing development
consortium in my office, and
they were adamant that we have
to get four bills done. Related
to landlord tenant because the
affordable housing world is
their landlords, too. They're
having a lot of challenges. But
nothing has ever happened with
those bills. This is where we
are in the landlord tenant
world. And I think we need to do
better. I think we need to do
more for all the reasons that
were brought up in public
comment, I should add, and
affordability should be the
baseline on that. But the other
baseline should be transparency.
and transparency is good
governance and good business. So
I recognize people have opinions
about my amendments. The two
that you didn't know and the
three that you do know. But
transparency is key. Again, good
governance and good business.
and so councilmember foster and
colleagues, I will be voting I
on this bill.
-- thank you. Councilmember
kettle councilmember rinck.
-- thank you, council president.
I want to start by thanking the
mayor's office and their team
for working over months
alongside renters and advocates
to shape this legislation from
sending out the renters survey
to understand the landscape of
junk fees to the town halls,
directly engaging with renters.
and I want to also thank
councilmember foster for your
leadership and guiding this
legislation through the housing,
arts and civil rights committee.
today's legislation is about
transparency, fairness and
addressing the cost of living
crisis that is rocking seattle
households. We talk about the
cost of living crisis, sometimes
in an abstract way, but in
reality, when a cost is too
high, when people are nickel and
dimed, that's less money at the
end of the day, to be able to
navigate all the things that
life throws at us, that means
eviction. That means
homelessness. So at the end of
the day, the bill before us is
about transparency. And when the
price of rent for a unit is
advertised as one thing. But
after multiple junk fees are
added on top of that, people
find themselves locked into a
default rent price they can't
afford. And this bill
incentivizes upfront honesty
about how much that rent will
actually be, while still
allowing for necessary fees like
wi-fi, utilities, late fees, and
more. I've talked about this
often, but I'll say it again
I'm a renter. I've rented
seven different apartments in
the city, and I'm sure I'll
rent many more apartments in
this city for the years to come.
and that experience is not
unique by a long shot. So I am
excited today that we are taking
a step further. Renter majority
of our city and for a more
affordable city. Thank you.
-- thank you, councilmember
rinck. Are there any other
comments regarding the bill
before I kick it to the sponsor?
councilmember foster.
-- thank you so much. Council
president, I actually want to
just turn back to councilmember
kettle and say and just say this
to the public. I the work that
our office did on what was
amendment three and then was
amendment e today was made
better by councilmember kettle
office. And I'll say there's
things that we disagree on. And
when we disagree, we disagree.
and the things that we agree on.
I really appreciated your
partnership and want to
acknowledge that because
councilmember kettle was not a
member of that committee, we
weren't able to add his name as
a co-sponsor. But I do think
it's really important to
acknowledge your work and your
leadership there. And it was in
my notes earlier and I forgot to
and I apologize for that. So
thank you for that.
councilmember kettle. And with
that, I have to say, I am just
so excited to get to vote on
this legislation today. Our city
is going to be better because of
the work that this legislation
represents, the transparency
that this is going to bring to
seattle renters the improved
standard that this is going to
mean for folks when they are
shopping around for a place to
live. One of the things that was
really important to me during
this process was actually
hearing from some of our small
housing providers who talked
about how this is going to make
it easier for them to compete on
the market because of the
transparency in this bill. So
renters are going to be able to
look and understand where one
unit has and what another unit
has, and make an informed
decision, and that's good for
that renter and that's good for
that provider who's already
offering that transparency. And
for that provider who doesn't
already have junk fees attached.
so I think the fairness that
we're talking about in this
bill extends to our residents
who are renters, as well as our
residents who are housing
providers. From my vantage
point, this is one of several
pieces of legislation that this
council has worked on that are
going to make improvements to
consumer protections across the
board. So I was really proud a
few weeks ago when we passed,
our homeowner do not solicit
bill that's going to provide
additional protections for
homeowners and really proud to
build on that with this bill
that is going to provide
additional protections and
transparency to renters. So,
again, want to express my
gratitude to mayor wilson and
her team for their work on this.
and, colleagues, I ask for your
support.
-- thank you. Thank you.
councilmember foster will the
clerk please call the roll on
the passage of the bill, as
amended?
-- councilmember foster yes.
-- councilmember juarez.
councilmember kettle.
-- aye.
-- councilmember lin.
-- yes.
-- councilmember rinck.
-- yes.
-- councilmember rivera.
-- present.
-- councilmember saka.
-- aye.
-- councilmember strauss.
council president.
hollingsworth.
-- yes.
-- eight in favor. None opposed
one disqualified.
-- the bill passes, as amended,
and the chair will sign it. Will
the clerk please affix my
signature to the legislation on
my behalf? Congratulations,
councilmember
-- [applause]
-- foster
-- [applause]
-- all right.
-- [applause]
-- now we will will the clerk,
please? That was only item
number
-- [laughter]
-- one.
-- [laughter]
-- will the clerk please just
want to say so. Now, will the
clerk please read item number
two into the record?
-- the report of the financing
of communities and tribal
governments committee agenda
item two. Council bills 121252.
relating to acceptance of
funding from non city sources
authorizing the mayor or the
mayor designee to accept and
authorize expenditures of
specified grants, private
funding and subsidized loans,
and execute, deliver and perform
corresponding agreements. The
committee recommends the bill
pass.
-- councilmember strauss as our
first budget chair. You're
recognized.
-- thank you. I'm going to
address both this bill and the
next bill. So you don't have to
hear from me. Again. This is the
midyear supplemental bill and
the grant acceptance bill. I'm
glad that everyone's staying
for this really important
legislation jeff. Jeff, you're
not leaving yet. Thank you sir.
because right now we are
actually funding universal
school meals. We're funding the
money that councilmember rinck
has allocated to address the
transgender migration here to
seattle. We're doing a lot of
really important work in this
midyear supplemental, and
there's going to be a really
difficult budget ahead. So
please do not think that we are
in a paradise yet. We did have a
good revenue forecast that came
out last week. We had better
than expected, but it wasn't
good, I'll put it that way. So
we're not going backwards, but
we're not moving forwards as
quickly as we want. I do want to
really thank both councilmember
lin and councilmember kettle for
the amendments that they're
bringing forward in this bill
today. Councilmember lin will be
speaking about his amendment in
just a second. I'm going to
speak to it right now so that I
don't have to talk again. I
really think that it is
important that we are supporting
you in the work around the city,
around north beacon hill, around
rainier valley. I also what you
may not be seeing right now is
that there is another outreach
worker being hired for the city
specifically, and that came out
of our budget actions from last
year. And so just again, I want
to thank the community members
from the rainier valley that put
together the packet. I think the
trash pickers was their group.
like, I use that packet as an
example to others throughout the
city of how you need to
demonstrate the need in your
neighborhood. I also want to be
really clear that outreach
workers without shelter or
housing to get people into
cannot actually do their job.
outreach workers are also not
going. The the comment about the
swinging pipe or the police
interaction. Outreach workers
don't solve for that. And it's
also important that we support
you today to have three
dedicated outreach workers right
in that area. There's an
incredible need. There's amazing
community engagement. And so
thank you, councilmember lin,
for all of the adjustments that
you've made. Those are all of
my comments. I'm not going to
have last comments. I just am
really excited to vote on all of
the bills that are still on the
agenda at.
-- awesome. Thank you,
councilmember strauss. So right
now we have comments about the
acceptance funding. All right.
that's what we're voting on.
and then we're going to jump
into the supplemental budget.
councilmember strauss already
talked about that, so we'll
jump right into the amendments.
okay. Will the clerk please call
the roll on the passage of the
bill? And this is the acceptance
of funding from non city
sources. Council bill 121252.
-- councilmember foster.
-- yes.
-- councilmember juarez.
councilmember kettle.
-- aye.
-- councilmember lin.
-- yes.
-- councilmember rinck.
-- yes.
-- councilmember rivera. I
councilmember saka. Aye.
councilmember strauss. I council
president hollingsworth.
-- yes.
-- nine in favor none opposed.
-- awesome. Bill passes chair
will sign the clerk. Please
affix my signature to the
legislation on my behalf. Will
the clerk please read item
number three into the record?
-- agenda item three council
bills 121253. An ordinance
amending ordinance 127362, which
adopted the 2026 budget,
included 2026 through 2031
capital improvement program,
changing appropriations to
various departments and budget
control levels from various
funds in the budget. The
committee recommends the bill
pass, as amended.
-- councilmember strauss. You
already addressed it. Did you
have any comments regarding it?
awesome. We'll jump right into
amendments. Councilmember lin
you are recognized to move your
amendment.
-- I'd like to move amendment
aye version one to council bill
one, two, one, two, five three.
-- second, second.
-- moved and seconded to amend
the bill as presented on
amendment aye. Councilmember
lin. You are recognized.
-- thank you so much,
colleagues. This amendment would
add $500,000 of general fund to
the human service department for
investments in highly impacted
areas, including north beacon
hill, north rainier
neighborhoods. It would fund two
dedicated neighborhood outreach
positions. You know, when I took
came into office in november. It
when. So at the end of last
year's budget, it really
started to get to crisis level
and north beacon hill and north
rainier and, you know, I
appreciate that this typically
would be something that we would
discuss at full budget. And I
know that the full budget is
going to be a hard discussion.
and but the need for bringing it
now in the supplemental budget
is just because these
communities can't wait any
longer. And we've worked very
closely with with hsd, with the
executive department, with the
likely recipient of these funds,
who is ready to hire promptly
and get support to these
communities. I also, again, know
that, again, that that we are
facing a difficult budget
choices and and that all of our
districts have needs. And so I
do not have I understand that
others will be bringing forward
their district priorities as
part of the full budget. Our
list is is pretty short. And
this was a top priority for us.
again, given the urgent needs.
this and youth gun violence down
in rainier beach. So I just want
to make that clear that I
recognize that we are
essentially preloading one of
our my district's top
priorities. And so I just want
to recognize that would be happy
to answer any questions or
concerns if folks have any.
otherwise, I would greatly
appreciate your support.
-- awesome. Thank you.
councilmember lin, are there any
comments regarding councilmember
rivera then? Councilmember
foster.
-- thank you, council president
thank you. Councilmember lin for
your words. And you know, I
understand the needs. I will say
that at committee, I'm going to
say the same thing now that I
said at committee, which is the
purpose of the annual midyear
supplemental budget, is to make
necessary adjustments to the
current year's budget due to
grant acceptances or costs that,
per the city's rcw quote,
cannot reasonably have been
foreseen. And the amendments
adding money then at this point
is really just cutting the line
at the budget process. That's
going to start here in a month.
and we've all already have been
approached by various
organizations and constituents
asking for us to make sure we
don't cut their particular item
that they that they are focused
on in the fall and the budget
that we're going to get in a
month. And so I feel like at
this point, it really is putting
the cart before the horse and
not related to the merits of any
of these ads that were done both
at committee level. And now I'm
not going to be supporting these
amendments because I feel like
these are things that should be
addressed in a month when we
have the budget and we can
figure out what things we're
going to, the mayor's going to
have to make some cuts. So how
are we we going to be able to
fund these things ongoing? And
the last thing I'll say is that
any money that is not spent,
that is considered, quote
unquote, underspend by the end
of the year is money that then
is used to cover that budget
deficit, which at this point in
time, even given friday's
presentation on the forecast, is
still expected to be about 275
million over the biennium. So
for those reasons, I won't be
supporting these particular ads
at this point, but I do
appreciate where you're coming
from. Councilmember lin, and I
look forward to the fall's
budget discussion to see how
we're going to support your
community and the communities
across the city with these
challenges. Thank you.
-- thank you, councilmember
rivera councilmember foster.
-- I thank you, council
president. I will be brief. I
just wanted to express my
gratitude to councilmember lin
for his leadership on this work.
and councilmember lin, you
already mentioned earlier this
year, we had many folks come in
from the north rainier
neighborhood and talk about the
needs in their community,
particularly around mount baker,
and it was a real privilege to
get to join you and several
community or one community
meeting in mount baker and one
community meeting and rainier
beach. And I just think your
leadership has been fantastic,
and I really want to express my
appreciation to you for bringing
this forward, and I look forward
to supporting it. Thank you.
-- thank you, councilmember
foster councilmember kettle.
-- thank you, council president.
I want to thank. Councilmember
lin for this amendment. In my
role as chair of public safety,
I deal with these public safety
challenges and the very ugly
challenges that we have in our
city day in and day out, day in
and day out, and so often in so
many places around the city.
they're very acute. I've done
two public safety walks with
councilmember lin in north
beacon hill, and it's a tragedy
in terms of what the community
needs to have to face. As I
said, related to little saigon
and north aurora in committee.
it's not right and it's not
acceptable so I respect the
point made regarding budget, but
the issue is it's acute and
it's acute. Now. So
councilmember lin, I do support
your amendment. Thank you.
-- thank you. Councilmember
kettle are there any other
comments regarding amendment
aye. Councilmember lin any
closing remarks before we call a
vote?
-- I just want to and I should
have said this in the opening
remarks. Just want to,
regardless of your support for
this amendment or not to
councilmember kettle just want
to say thank you so much for all
the attention you've been
providing to to district two in
particular, doing those safety
walks. And it means a lot. It
means a lot to the community to,
to have you showing up there. So
I just want to put that on the
record. Thank you.
-- awesome. Thank you.
councilmember lin. All right.
well, councilmember rivera.
-- thank you. Cp, I just want to
say again, you know, this is my
position is not on the merits of
these things. And I don't the
characterization that somehow we
need public safety now. And so
without passage of this now
there were I dispute the
characterization. Respectfully.
councilmember kettle, we're all
dealing with public safety
issues across the city. There's
a lot going on in d5, for
instance, and other areas of the
city. So I'm well aware of all
the issues, and I myself am
dealing with some issues in the
d4. So again, it's not on the
merits of the case. I of the of
of the ad, but we're having a
budget in a month here and we're
going to have to all the things
we're doing now, and even the
things we added in this, this
today's meeting, we're going to
have to grapple with all that in
the fall. And that is why I'm
going to be voting no on the
amendment. But I did vote to
pass the mid year in general.
but I just want us to remind us
all that mid year isn't
traditionally used to add new
things, but to take care of the
budget that is today. And then
we use the budget process to do
the next year's budget. Thank
you. Council president.
-- thank you. Councilmember
rivera. Okay, will the clerk
please call the roll on
amendment a.
-- councilmember foster yes.
-- councilmember juarez.
-- councilmember kettle a.
councilmember lin yes.
-- councilmember rinck.
-- yes.
-- councilmember rivera.
-- no.
-- councilmember saka. Aye.
councilmember strauss.
-- aye.
-- council president
hollingsworth eight in favor one
opposed.
-- motion carries. Amendment a
is adopted. Councilmember kettle
will you. I'm going to you for
amendment b.
-- thank you, council president
I first, I would like to request
that the rules be suspended to
consider version two of
amendment b second.
-- awesome. It's been moved in
second and then I actually have
to see if there's objection.
right. So if there's no
objection the rules will be
suspended. Thank you for that.
second councilmember strauss to
allow consideration of amendment
b version two. Is there any
objection. Okay. Hearing no
objection, the rules are
suspended and councilmember
kettle is recognized to move his
amendment.
-- thank you. Council president,
I move to amend council bill
121253 as presented on amendment
b, version two.
-- second.
-- it's been moved and seconded
to amend bill as presented on
amendment b, version two.
councilmember kettle you
recognize in order to address
it.
-- thank you, council president.
we've already heard about north
beacon hill and little saigon,
but the c. More broadly has been
impacted and has been benefiting
from the work that we've done
with our technology program and
also the broader strategic
framework plan that we have. And
this also includes other areas
to include downtown and belltown
and north aurora. And the need
is greater than than we have in
the program. And it's driven by
demonstrated crime data. This is
underwritten by demonstrated
crime data. And so today, we're
facing many public safety
challenges, and we need action
to create a safer seattle. You
know, for those that started in
january 24th, we're well into
our third year. And the only
plan as it relates to public
safety that one could argue is
our own strategic framework plan
for a safer seattle the council
needs to continue to lead on our
current program whole and for
our proviso, we need to lead and
engage with the executive. But
we have to have this program
whole in of itself. And also as
it relates to our proviso, it's
important to keep our proviso
whole. And so for those reasons,
colleagues, I ask for your
support for this amendment.
amendment b
-- are there any. Thank you,
councilmember kettle are there
any comments regarding amendment
b, version two? Councilmember
rinck followed by councilmember
rivera and then councilmember
foster.
-- thank you, council president.
I will be brief and just note,
while I appreciate the revised
amendment before us,
particularly with the language
pertaining to limitations for
cctv installation, operation and
expansion within the capitol
hill neighborhood, I will be
voting no on this amendment
today, primarily because I
believe that is consistent with
prior positions I have taken
against funding cctv technology.
thank you.
-- thank you. Councilmember
rinck councilmember rivera.
-- thank you, council president,
and I appreciate you trying to
add this back in. Councilmember
kettle. We did take some funds
to be able to help support our
colleague council president up
on capitol hill. I think that
this amendment just again, it
adds more into the mid year. And
and I think we need to be taking
this up during the budget
process. I do support cctv. And
so I expect that we're going to
be able to continue that program
with the upcoming budget. But
I'm going to be voting no on
today's amendment for those
reasons.
-- thank you.
-- thank you, councilmember
rivera councilmember foster.
-- thank you so much. Council
president. I will be voting no
on this amendment. I believe
that the use of these dollars
for the purposes as they were
allocated in the committee, to
ensure that we have timely
responsiveness and folks on the
ground in the neighborhood is a
strong use of the funds, and I
look forward to seeing the
impact of that amendment. Thank
you so much.
-- thank you. Councilmember
foster. So I'll are there any
more comments before I speak?
no. Okay. So just two things.
and I and I want to thank. Oh,
there's more people. Okay.
councilmember lin.
-- I'm so sorry. Council
president. Councilmember kettle.
I appreciate your amendment. I
don't think I can be supporting
today, although I will, you
know, the cctv program. I'm
very excited to see the audit
reports that will be coming
hopefully soon, because I think
that that will help our
community. You know, we have a
very divided discussion about
sort of the benefits, the, the
costs, the, the, you know, the
potential risks of our cctv
program. And I'm hoping that
those reports will help us kind
of make decisions based on sort
of what, you know, what we can
learn from the data on those
reports. You know, I do my
community district two is pretty
divided on this issue. We have a
lot of folks who were calling
for cameras after the the
shootings of the two rainier
beach high school students, you
know, there are certainly folks
who who would like to see that
we have cameras in the city.
there are some folks who would
like to see more and then
certainly have heard from the
other side as well. And so while
I'm I'm not going to support
this today, I do understand your
very strong advocacy for the
cctv program. And again, I'm
looking forward to having that
discussion when we have those
reports to to delve into. Thank
you.
-- thank you. Councilmember la.
so colleagues, last week I
brought an amendment that
basically withdrew $250,000 from
the proviso that I did vote on
the previous year for cctv
cameras. I voted on cctv
cameras. People remind me every
day I understand, but I did have
an amendment to withdraw the
$250,000 that would go to boots
on the ground right now in
capitol hill, first hill and our
central district along the
jackson corridor. That will get
started fairly quickly here. And
I can say on the record, in 30
days or less to have people that
are going to be ambassadors on
the hill, which I'm really,
really excited about. And that
program will continue because we
do have some funding from king
county with the crisis care
clinic implementation plan that
our office did also request more
additional funding from them. So
that program will be started.
ambassadors. I also want to
thank councilmember strauss
because ambassadors has always
been in the program, especially
for the first year. And so this
is kind of just a continuation
of that and acceleration. I also
want to thank councilmember
kettle as well. You know, you
worked with me on the amendment
because really the issue with
this for me was the cameras on
capitol hill. What I heard from
community, what is needed right
now, boots on the ground. So I
will be supporting this
amendment today. Looking forward
to the report that's coming
sometime in september or
october. I have no clue. But
this is a provision that does
not allow that expansion in
capitol hill, because we will
have boots on the ground, and
that's what's put in this
amendment. So just wanted to be
clear on that, colleagues,
regarding this amendment, are
there any are there any further
comments? Councilmember kettle.
no, I hear no.
-- councilmember kettle final.
-- are there final? Yeah. My
final I hear councilmember
rivera.
-- just to clarify that the
amendment that you proffered, I
understand, was going to be just
for this year, so we could take
up some work this year that
we're not going to be able to
take up, because they're not
going to be able to get the
staff hired to be able to look
at the cc, you know, to to do
the cctv program this year. And
so the, the, the idea was that
we would get or you want to get
boots on the ground this year.
so that's why I supported that
amendment. But I also support
the ongoing cctv piece. So
again, want to thank you,
councilmember kettle, for
keeping your eye on the prize on
that support that and want to
make sure we can do something
now to support capitol hill.
thanks.
-- awesome. Thank you for that.
councilmember rivera are there
any other comments?
councilmember kettle any closing
remarks before we take the vote?
-- thank you, council president.
I would just note that this
program and our proviso are not
new. They are part of the
current year budget that we all
voted on last fall. And I should
note too, I'll be meeting with
nyu on friday. I have confidence
in the the review, and I'm
confident that should be done in
september. And if the mayor
keeps to her word, I think we
can move forward. So thank you.
-- thank you.
-- council colleagues. I ask for
your vote.
-- thank you, councilmember
kettle will the clerk please
call the roll on amendment b,
version two.
-- councilmember foster
councilmember juarez
councilmember kettle.
-- aye.
-- councilmember lin no.
-- councilmember rinck no.
-- councilmember rivera.
-- no.
-- councilmember saka. Aye.
-- councilmember strauss council
president hollingsworth.
-- yes
-- five in favor four opposed.
-- motion carries. Amendment b
version two is adopted. Are
there any other further comments
as the bill as amendment as
amended. Council bill 121253.
councilmember rinck.
-- thank you. Council president.
to begin, I want to speak
directly to some of the public
comment that we heard today from
the powerful testimony from our
trans neighbors to also the
transphobia that was also heard
in these chambers. And I want to
state to our queer and trans
community directly, you belong
in seattle. I am glad you were
here. You deserve dignity and
respect and we are going to do
the work to live up to our
promise of being a welcoming
city. Thank you, chair strauss,
and the for the committee
sponsorship of the amendment.
and thank you to the finance,
tribal governments and native
communities committee that
unanimously voted to approve my
amendment for $300,000 in one
time funding for the human
services department to grant out
that funding to trusted
community based organizations
supporting queer and transgender
people with essential services,
including shelter and housing
and food support. As stated in
committee last week during last
year's supplemental budget
process, I supported a one time
allocation of $300,000 to the
office of immigrant and refugee
affairs to support urgent and
emerging issues facing our
immigrant and refugee community,
and this amendment, approved
last week, was written in that
same spirit and in response to
the ongoing crisis and
displacement of queer,
transgender and gender
non-conforming people seeking
refuge from hostile
jurisdictions across the country
to just affirm internal
displacement of trans americans
is real. It is being fueled by
elected officials who champion
anti-trans policies and state
legislatures. And so far in
2026, there are now 830 bills
under consideration across the
country that would negatively
impact trans and gender
non-conforming people, and 62
pieces of legislation have
passed this year alone. Now, as
you may recall, council was
briefed on this matter, most
recently during the june select
committee on federal
administration and policy
changes, where we heard directly
from community about urgent
needs for housing, employment,
food and health care support.
but this has been a continuation
of a discussion that began last
year, when we had lavender
rights project, queer power
alliance and pro-choice
washington at the table
discussing access to gender
affirming care. So I'm very
clear that while this one time
funding is not enough to address
the full need, it is a start,
and it signals our commitment
that the city of seattle will
work towards living up to that
promise of being a welcoming
city. So thank you so much again
to the committee for your
support, and I urge you to vote
today.
-- awesome.
-- thank you. Thank you,
councilmember rinck. We have
councilmember kettle followed by
councilmember lin and
councilmember foster.
-- thank you, council president.
I just wanted to speak on
basically the same topic. I
spoke during committee. I was
not here. I was remoting in. I
was out of town. But I do think
it's important. I do come from
a red county of a blue state. I
am a retired military naval
officer and what is happening at
the federal level with respect
to president trump's actions? If
you look at what's happening in
dod with secretary hegseth,
it's appalling. And I think
it's important for somebody
like me looks like me. My
background, where I'm from and
so forth to speak just like I
did over a zoom call, but also
do it in person and so last week
I noted, because, you know,
justin davis, who is part of the
lgbtq plus commission, she wrote
an op ed in the stranger, they
called a guest rant, and it's an
op ed and, and she made that
very clear point that she
didn't come here for some
political ideology. She came
here for survival. And and by
the way, everybody that's here,
when you say that, I recognize
that truth in the comments here
in public comment. And so I
think it's important to say
that in person here in council,
not just coming in over zoom
during a committee meeting. And
so council president, I just
wanted to have the opportunity
to do so. And, you know,
hopefully seattle can be that
welcoming place. And, you know,
finding peace and solace here
and yes, fingers crossed. Thank
you, council president.
-- thank you. Councilmember
kettle. Councilmember lin.
followed by councilmember
foster.
-- thank you, council president
and thank you, councilmember.
kettle. I do think it's really
important to hear that,
especially given your your
background, your years of
service in the military and I
really appreciate that. And just
want to say thank you to
councilmember rinck for all of
your work in this. And also just
want to speak to, you know, I
think I just want to speak to
the contributions of, you know,
it is a difficult thing when
people are fleeing oppression
and violence and so obviously,
we need to do what we can to
support and to be a welcoming
city. But I also just want to
recognize the incredible
contributions of folks that have
already made to our community,
but will continue to make to our
community and will make our
community even stronger in the
long run. So I just want to
speak to that. Thank you.
-- awesome. Thank you.
councilmember lin councilmember
foster.
-- thank you, council president,
trans people belong here,
period.
-- that's it. Oh, that was that
was great. Thank you
councilmember. Thank you,
councilmember foster. I'm
excited to vote on this. Thank
you. Councilmember. We're voting
on the overall bill. I know
we're highlighting the 300,000
for trans community and just
really happy to support that as
well. I know it's a small drop
in the bucket, but I think it's
a great start and we'll continue
to build on that as a council as
well. And I just want to, for
the record, unanimously and I
said this in the finance
committee, this council
supported funding for lavender
rights project last year, and
that was in the consent package.
that was from councilmember
strauss. So thank you for that
as well. So just wanted, you
know, like that we can continue
to build on these investments as
well. So thank you. Okay.
councilmember strauss. Nothing.
all right. So there's no more
comments about item number three
because we have an item number
four to vote on. And there's a
lot of great things in this bill
universal lunches, the voucher
program. There's the boots on
the ground on capitol hill,
councilmember kettle that I know
you're excited about, my friend.
all right, all right. Well, the
clerk, please call the roll.
-- councilmember foster.
-- yes.
-- councilmember juarez.
-- yes.
-- councilmember kettle.
-- aye.
-- councilmember lin.
-- yes.
-- councilmember rinck.
-- yes.
-- councilmember rivera.
-- aye
-- councilmember saka. Aye.
councilmember strauss.
-- I council president.
-- hollingsworth.
-- yes.
-- nine in favor? None. Opposed.
-- bill passes. Chair will sign
it. And will the clerk please
fix my signature on the
legislation on my
-- [applause]
-- behalf?
-- [applause]
-- I'm sure that.
-- was the biggest clap for the
mid supplemental budget
councilmember strauss. All
right.
-- we finish this meeting. It's
545. I appreciate everyone being
here. Can we finish.
-- up, please? Will the clerk
please read item number four
into the record?
-- the report of the
transportation committee, agenda
item four clerk files 314550.
request for modification of
conditional approval of a
petition of swedish health
services to vacate the alley and
block 95. Terry. Second edition
to the city of seattle. The
committee recommends the clerk
files be granted as conditioned.
-- councilmember saka. As chair
of the committee, you're
recognized to present the
committee report.
-- aye.
-- thank you, madam council
president. I am taking the rest
of this meeting remotely because
I'm late to a meeting in west
seattle about traffic safety.
so. But this one should be
brief. It's fairly
straightforward. This pertains
to this specific clerk files a
request for modification of
conditional approval of a
petition of swedish health
services to vacate a specific
alley on first hill. Swedish has
asked to delay construction of a
building until a later date. The
request was heard in our
committee last week, and the
committee was assured that
swedish will deliver the
proposed public benefits, which
will include street
improvements, funding for
improvements to the first hill
park and additional streetscape
improvements at and near the
site itself. I note that this
past committee unanimously and
about to hop on a bus, but. But
I encourage your support. Thank
you.
-- awesome. Thank you,
councilmember saka are there any
comments regarding. Are there
any other comments? All right.
will the clerk please call the
roll on the granting of the
clerk file as conditioned
-- councilmember foster.
-- yes.
-- councilmember juarez.
-- yes.
-- councilmember kettle.
councilmember lin.
-- yes.
-- councilmember rinck.
-- yes.
-- councilmember rivera.
-- aye
-- councilmember saka.
-- aye.
-- councilmember strauss.
council president.
hollingsworth. Yes.
hollingsworth nine in favor none
opposed.
-- clerk files granted as
condition chair will sign it.
the conditions. Will the clerk
please fix my signature on the
city council conditions on my
behalf? There were no removed
items from the consent calendar.
there's not a resolution for
introduction or adoption today.
councilmember juarez and
councilmember strauss. We are
three hours and 45 minutes into
this meeting, and you have
raised your hand. Councilmember
juarez.
-- council president, I would
like to be excused on september
8th. Please.
-- is there a. There? If
there's no objection,
councilmember juarez will be
excused from the september 8th
council meeting. Hearing no
objection. Councilmember juarez
you are excused. Councilmember
strauss.
-- thank you. We had a lot of
people in the chambers earlier
that did not agree with each
other. That is what democracy
looks like. I just this has been
a long day where we've actually
gotten to celebrate towards the
end of this meeting, and I
couldn't go I couldn't end the
day without also acknowledging
that last night there was a man
killed at 85th and 24th. He was
riding a scooter. He's three
years younger than me. It's an
intersection. I ride on a
scooter through all the time.
colleagues, you know that about
22 years ago, I almost died
after being hit by a driver. Our
streets have to be safe from
people dying from serious
injury. I know that rainier
valley has way higher death
rates and serious injury rates
than district six does, but I
just couldn't get through this
day without acknowledging that
we lost somebody last night
unnecessarily because people
were driving dangerously. So if
we could just take a moment. And
then I got one bit of happy news
after that, but I want to take a
minute thank you, colleagues,
and also thank you to jeff for
staying for the rest of that
meeting, but also in the in the
positive news, yesterday we had
orca whales enter into salmon
bay towards the ballard locks.
we have been waiting for them to
come eat these sea lions that
have been eaten, all the fish.
and so I'm just very happy that
we have finally gotten our orca
whales back in salmon bay to
protect our fish. Thank you.
-- thank you, councilmember
-- [laughter]
-- strauss all right. Are there
any other comments? Seeing none.
thank you, colleagues, for a
nice long meeting and thank you
for those comments. We've
reached the end of today's
agenda. The next city council
meeting will be august the 18th
at 2 p.m.. It is our last
council meeting before the
recess, which is on the 21st. So
this is our last council
meeting, and then we'll return
back september 8th. All right.
hearing no further business. Hi,
iv auntie loves you. Will be
further. No further business.
we're adjourned.
-- [music]