City Council 1/20/2026

Awesome.

Good afternoon.

The January 20th, 2026 meeting of the Seattle City Council will come to order.

It's 2.02.

I'm Joy Hollingsworth.

I'm your council president.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council member Vain.

I think that was, can you restart the roll call please?

I'll start it again.

Council member Kettle.

Council Member Lin.

Here.

Council Member Rink.

Present.

Council Member Saka.

Here.

Council Member Foster.

Here.

Council President Hollingsworth.

Here.

Six present.

Awesome, thank you.

And if there's no objection, Council Member Wares will be excused from today's meeting.

Hearing no objection, Council Member Wares is excused.

Also just a reminder, Council Member Strauss and Council Member Rivera are excused as well.

There are no presentations today and colleagues at this time, we're gonna open up the hybrid public comment period.

Public comment is limited to items on today's agenda or whatever is in the purview of the council as well.

So we're looking forward to hearing our comments.

Clerk, how many do we have signed up today?

17 in person, two remote.

Awesome.

So everyone's gonna get two minutes to speak at public comment.

And clerk, will you please read the instructions for the public comment?

Speakers will be called in the order in which they are registered.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of their time.

Speakers' mics will be muted if they do not end their comments within the allotted time to allow us to call on the next speaker.

We'll now begin with our in-person commenters.

Awesome, and I'm gonna read them in threes, so please make your way up to the front.

We have Wendy, next we have Alex, or A-L-E-A, A-L-E-X, it's Alex.

And then next we have Yvette Dynish.

Awesome, welcome Wendy.

Hi, good afternoon.

Is this on?

Yeah.

Really close.

Good afternoon.

My name is Wendy Weicker.

I'm the municipal manager for Republic Services' Soto Recycling Center.

I'm here today because the city's recent Recyclables Processing RFP Award fails the test of fairness, operational logic, and best value for Seattle residents.

Last summer, Republic Services submitted a bid to process up to 100% of the city's volume, while the only other bidder offered to take only 50%.

for the city to now engage 100% contract award with a vendor that only bid on half is a classic bait and switch.

It is not only unfair to the competitive process, we believe it is a violation of the Seattle Municipal Code governing fair and open competition.

This protest isn't just a process dispute, it's also about the pocketbooks of Seattle residents.

Your constituents are already facing unprecedented affordability challenges and rate increases on every service and product they buy.

Without your intervention, this unfair RFP outcome will undoubtedly result in them paying more for recycling too.

Our bid protest is also about the 100 jobs at our South Seattle facility that are now uncertain.

By failing to keep any recycling processing in Soto, the city is directly jeopardizing the stability of 27 high-quality union jobs and 60 WMBE firm employee positions.

These frontline workers' livelihoods are at risk once this work moves outside Seattle city limits.

I am here today to ask you to honor your commitment to labor by protecting these employees who rely on these Seattle jobs to support their families.

On behalf of our employees and Seattle residents, Republic Services urge you to reconsider the insufficient, unfair recycling RFP evaluation process and choose the path that protects local livelihoods, honors fair bidding practices, and maintains our long-term partnership the city has relied on for over three decades.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Wendy.

Next we have Alex followed by Yvette Dynish.

Thank you.

Alex Zimmerman, don't forget I have a last name too.

I'm not an animal.

Thank you, Mr. Zimmerman.

Thank you very much, yeah.

My name is Alexander Zimmerman, and I want to speak to you guys because you make me sick.

For 30-plus years, you don't do nothing what is fixed problem.

No one problem what is half-heavy problem, you fix it.

And I'll give you a couple examples.

Pledging of allegiance.

Why are you not doing this?

Because you're not American.

You belong to Nazi pigs.

I told you this a thousand times.

Number two.

Ten years ago, Gonzalez, and various, make a new rules and you put this rule inside.

Yeah, how you can speak in public meeting.

The only one man that is trespassing is Alex Zimmerman, because I'm a Jew.

They Mexican, I'm a Jew.

What is this, racism?

No, it's normal.

Another point that is absolutely critical.

No, one's stupid, then another.

Right now we have absolutely zero.

You know what it means?

Not because Somalis, I don't, supposed to be, what is you touch a Somalis?

They steal only 10 billion dollars.

It's a poor people, they need money.

You, for example, for sound resistance, stealing 100 billion dollars.

You need, last week, another 35 billion.

So Somalis comparable to you, very nice people, don't touch Somalis with 10 billion dollars stealing.

Good.

About housing, I need housing right now.

I'm senior citizen for many years.

Yes, how I can find housing?

In Seattle, housing authority, in country housing authority.

Thousand and thousand people have apartment.

We pay 2,000 for them each.

They not have ever a document, no green card, no nothing.

Thank you, Mr. Zimmerman.

Next we have Miss Yvette Dynish, followed by Zella.

And if I'm not reading your last name, I can't read your handwriting, so I apologize.

So I don't mean not to call your last name.

Miss Yvette, Zella, and then Jeff Berry.

Good afternoon.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I just came back from my first ever King County Council meeting.

It was rather interesting.

I went there primarily to thank him for a small grant I got in late December that I had to spend down in two weeks, but it was extremely helpful.

Then I also noticed on the rules of conduct that disruptive behavior is so not tolerated, just FYI.

Also regarding the The homeless situation, I read in the Seattle Times that the Queen Anne Inn, which was bought a couple years ago, is still unoccupied and that the builders are saying it'll be $16 million to renovate.

I think that's excessive for an existing building.

I just want to put that out there.

And also regarding those who struggle to stay housed, I would like to suggest that somehow they get money management counseling because they can afford to stay there, but just barely.

In other words, to know how to handle their money right.

And I volunteer to be in that community to help them do that because I'm old school.

I know how to manage my money properly.

According to statistics, I'm poverty stricken, but I have a savings account as well because I know how to work my money.

And then lastly, I wanted to thank you for the community dialogue last week at Rainier Beach.

That was very informative.

It started on time.

It ended on time.

Chief Barnes was there.

Of course, Eddie Lim was there, because that's our district.

And of course, Alexis was there as well.

I'm glad you came.

And I hope that you guys keep doing that, because the community appreciated it.

I know I did.

And I think...

That's it for now.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Miss Yvette.

Next we have Zella, welcome, followed by Jeffrey and then Peter Miller.

Good afternoon, Zella.

Hello, my name is Zella Urquhart.

Some of you may recognize my name as I have been emailing the city council since 2024, asking you to address the constant flagrant violation of noise ordinances by vehicles in my neighborhood.

Then again, maybe you haven't read my emails.

Given that no one has replied or answered my questions, that seems more likely.

I live in Chinatown.

I live on the fourth floor of my building.

From the fourth floor, with the windows closed, I can hear a loud car passing every five minutes and 32 seconds.

every five minutes while I'm trying to sleep, while I'm trying to have a conversation, while I'm trying to watch a movie with friends, while I'm trying to live my life despite these constant interruptions, which the city of Seattle has spent time paying lip service toward fixing.

But laws unenforced functionally do not exist.

and boy, are these laws ever unenforced.

On January 9th, the engine noises seemed particularly bad.

I called the police to ask them to please do something.

That night, I could hear an engine noise every two minutes and 30 seconds.

They lasted for up to a minute.

They filled over 20% of the portion of the night I sampled.

If the police had bothered to show up, it seems likely they could have made a real difference.

Instead, I got a text more than 12 hours after I called letting me know that the police were finally investigating the incident.

I have written to you asking you to install noise traps as New York City, Newport, Albuquerque, Philadelphia, and an increasing number of other cities are doing.

If the police have other priorities, we can automate enforcement rather than just condemning the residents of Chinatown to live under conditions that we have agreed ought to be prohibited.

If you do not believe noise traps to be a good answer, please tell me what solutions you are attempting.

You should have my email address.

Thank you, Zilla.

Next, we have Jeffrey Berry, followed by Peter Miller, and then Amy Kimball.

Hello, Jeff.

Hi.

Good afternoon.

My name is Jeff Berry.

I am a Seattle City Light employee for the past 25 years.

And on Friday, we came to work to a message that our CEO was being replaced.

Shock and disappointment is the least I can say to express that.

Don has been the best CEO that we've had since I've been there.

We don't understand what's going on.

I know the mayor can replace people, but it's my understanding under the Public Disclosure Act that the mayor must notify the council of why this individual is being terminated.

We know it's not performance-based.

So we're at a loss, right?

The best analogy for me to make is we have a head coach who is just getting their team ready to go into the playoffs.

That head coach gets removed and gets replaced by a head coach.

That coach is Major League Baseball and we're playing football.

She's been in this industry for years.

She's got connections.

She's know what she's doing.

She's got a 10-year plan for us.

We're on the right track.

and for the rug to be pulled from underneath us is unacceptable.

We finally had trust in our CEO.

If you don't have trust, you don't have a relationship.

We had transparency from our CEO.

That's always been a huge issue for us at Seattle City Light.

And last but not least, she had a lot of knowledge that's being thrown to the wayside in a replacement named the exact same day as she was terminated by a mayor that's been in office for two weeks.

There's gotta be more to this story.

I think we deserve to know what that is.

But what we would really like is for our CEO to be put back into a rightful place that she deserves.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jeff.

Next we have Peter Miller followed by Amy Kimball.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

I'm Peter Miller.

I'm a resident of West Seattle.

I'm looking forward to seeing you back at Home Depot or the West Seattle Farmers Market where I usually run into you.

I am a four-year employee of Seattle City Light.

I came through the apprentice program, worked my way up through, worked at Woodland Park Zoo before that.

I'm also on the collective bargaining committee for the union that represents the electricians.

And I work with an esteemed group of individuals, most of whom would best be described as tough to get along with.

And last week, when all of us found out about a change in our director, CEO at City Light, I can safely say that I have never seen a group of people who are so difficult to get along with all say the same thing.

We're shocked.

We're dismayed.

And we can't believe what happened.

And we don't know why.

We do know that this person was very, very good for us and to us, to the city, to the city council, to what she's brought forward to this city.

Since 2004, we've had one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight directors.

She has brought stability.

rationality, and more importantly, she listened to us.

She asked us, what is it needs to be done to get City Light back going?

And she listened to us, and I encourage you and ask you to do whatever you can to keep Dawn Lindell on at City Light.

Thank you.

Thank you, Peter.

Next we have Amy, followed by, is it Zomia?

Sophia, I apologize.

And then Andrew.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

Okay.

So I am Amy Kimball.

I'm a professional engineer.

I work for Seattle City Light.

I live in North Seattle and I am part of Protech 17. I'm a bargaining member.

I do all the things.

I have a prepared statement.

that I hope we can get through.

I am letting you know my deep concern and disappointment regarding the recent leadership decision by the mayor to remove the Seattle City Light CEO, Dawn Lindell.

She is one of a few women running municipal utilities in the US.

We at Seattle City Light need Dawn for one more year.

Dawn has been with Seattle City Light for only two years and has accomplished more than any CEO in the last 15 years.

Cleaning up over 20 years of delayed maintenance, postponing projects, Dawn is the first CEO in more than a decade to have a clear positive impact on the utility.

She has dedicated significant time and effort to addressing longstanding issues of sexism, racism, and alcoholism that were ignored by prior leadership at both Seattle City Light and the city for decades.

Under her leadership, Seattle City Light has become a more reputable organization with increased employee engagement and accountability.

She is replacing poles, updating metering systems, FERC relicensing, NERC standards, recabling miles of underground direct Barry cables.

She came to the utility through a vetting process where PROTEC 17 and 77, amongst other unions, were on the panel to elect her.

She has a bachelor's in chemical engineering from Notre Dame, a master's in business administration, has dealt with budgets from $30 million to $1.3 billion, spanning 15 states and 57 hydro dams.

She has the experience.

She has the skills.

She knows what she's doing.

She's met us on the docks with the linemen, and we've had those conversations.

I have yet to have any other CEO do anything like that.

I thank you for your time.

Thank you, Amy.

Thank you all for coming.

Last time I saw someone with your name spelled like Amy like that, she was a really good three-point shooter.

She was a teammate of mine, so I don't know if you can...

Okay, awesome.

Next we have Sophia Montoy, and I apologize if I say your last name wrong, followed by Andrew Ashiofu and then Gabriel Diaz.

Hi, I go by Ember.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak.

I'm one of the countless transgender people who have fled red states to Seattle.

We thought we would be safe here.

However, the fascism has come to threaten us even here.

We'll pause your time.

We're going to start it over.

Pull the microphone closer so we can hear and also at home as well.

You can pull it up too as well.

So if you don't mind starting over, we'll restart your time.

Perfect.

Okay, go right ahead.

Hi, I go by Ember.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak.

I'm one of the countless transgender people who have fled to grad states to Seattle.

We thought we would be safe here.

However, the fascism has come to threaten us even here.

I am an active part of the groups resisting ICE.

Over the past week, we have witnessed ICE drastically increase their illegal kidnappings of not only people of color, but everyone.

Everywhere I go, I see posters for missing persons.

And just yesterday, when I was doing activism, a non-BIPOC American citizen told me how he has been abducted multiple times for literally no reason.

My Mexican-American grandmother is terrified.

As a trans person of Mexican descent, I am terrified.

As you are the city council of this democratic sanctuary city, you all should be terrified because they're going to target you eventually.

ICE is out there right now raiding two high schools and committing multiple crimes against our communities, and they will continue to do so until they are stopped.

Don't you agree we need to stop ICE from violating the Constitution?

Every day, we, the resistance, are doing everything we can to stop ICE, but as private citizens, we cannot do it alone.

I know last year the previous state council passed a law forcing Seattle Police Department to stop helping ICE, but that's not enough.

Please, for the good of the community, make that law the start of an initiative to stop ICE from kidnapping us all and keep the momentum going for me and for everyone.

Thank you.

Thank you, Amber.

Next we have Andrew Ashiofu followed by Gabriel Diaz and then Rose McMurray.

Welcome, Andrew.

And you can do whatever microphone you want.

Is this okay?

We can hear you.

Awesome.

First of all, thank you so much council members.

Once again, my name is Andrew Ashiofu.

for a community member, and I also apologize for speaking out of agenda, but the urgency of this moment demands that I speak today.

Seattle prides itself on being a progressive city, yet whenever it comes to LGBTQIA plus safety and representation, we remain reactive instead of protective.

We wait for harm, for crisis, for headlines, and only then do we respond.

That is not what true leadership is.

On May 24, 2025, members of the queer community were brutalized by the Seattle police, department at Carl Anderson Park, people were arrested and beaten for peacefully standing up against hate groups.

And this week we learned that the Seattle PD sergeant told officers they were past the point of talking and that they were there to, please permit me because this was said publicly, fuck people up.

This is not public safety.

This is a state-sanctioned violence.

And yet, even after moments like this, our city still has no LGBTQIA plus office, no full-time liaison, no structural home for our community's needs.

We're expected to navigate systems that were not built for us.

Immigration, housing, small business supports, childcare, public health.

all without representation at the table.

Our issues are intersectional, but our government treats them as optional.

During the 2025 elections, LGBTQIA voters helped secure progressive wins across the city.

We showed up, we organized, we delivered, but our political power has not been met with political will.

cannot keep reacting after harm is done.

We need a proactive, permanent, accountable structure.

And I want to plead that we should look into having a Seattle City office for LGBTIA issues are a city liaison.

Thank you so much.

You could do better than what we're doing now.

Thank you, Andrew.

Thank you, Andrew.

Next we have Gabriel, Rose, and then Kelsey Burns.

Awesome.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, counsel.

My name is Gabriel Diaz.

I'm going to start today with some audio, actually.

I'm sure it's turned up all the way here.

That is the attitude of Sergeant Matthew Didier of the Community Response Group, whose job it is to handle mass protests.

If you couldn't hear it, he told people he was there too, and I quote, fuck people up and that's what they did.

In release body cam footage, you can see me specifically being tackled from behind.

I'm standing still while being tackled from behind, my arms restrained and then punched in the head and ribs multiple times as I cry out, I'm a medic, I'm a medic.

This was back in May, but I've still not been able to work full time since this day.

SPD brutalized folks, and we need to change.

When people who represent a city go in with a goal to beat people, a stated goal of beating people, it shows that SPD anger will trample our First Amendment rights.

As one of the many victims of that day, I demand you fire the officers in charge that day, including Officer Matthew Didier and Officer Larry Longley, and a full comprehensive view done of that day, because for the review done that day, the Sentinel review, one of the rules of that was absolute privacy.

Nothing that came out that day was supposed to be shared or leaked.

So anything that came out that day, anything that was said, these officers would not have been held accountable.

We need to make sure these officers are held accountable for the harm caused to the community, not just swept under the rug, as happens time and time again, specifically to our trans and queer communities.

The queer community, we also need more LGBT offices.

We need people in an LGBT who know our communities and fight for us.

The queer community of Seattle today cries out, respect our existence or expect our resistance.

No more dead or injured citizens.

Thank you.

Thank you, Gabriel.

Next we have Rose McMurray, followed by Kelsey Burns, followed by Jay Burns.

Is Rose here?

Hi.

No, take your time.

You're all good.

Welcome.

Thank you for coming.

Thank you for having me.

Good afternoon, council.

My name is Rose McMurray.

I'm here to speak today in specific about the comments of Matthew Didier on May 24th of last year.

However, more broadly, I'm here to talk about police accountability.

We live in a nation where police are given a special class above private citizens.

We have seen over the past year a growing threat of unaccountable authorities arresting and kidnapping citizens and have recently escalated to murder.

We are in a city that is supposed to be safe from these things.

However, The comments made and the actions committed by Officer Didier were something akin to premeditated assault.

If anything else did something similar, they would be arrested.

We have seen in this city, we have seen officers in this city have over a decade of complaints and incidents of abuse with no real accountability.

Further, in the past year we have signed a new contract with police that further reduces police accountability as well as, in a separate ordinance, legalized police use of weaponized crowd control that would be considered war crimes if it was used in a foreign country.

Please help us set an example if you wish to be a progressive city, if you wish to be a city that cares about its citizens and cares about the right to protest and work to increase police accountability over the coming years and over your coming terms.

It is essential for the sake of our city and it is essential for the sake of us being able to continue to successfully resist federal incursions by ICE officers and federal assaults against our city.

Thank you so much for your time, and thank you so much for having me.

Thank you, Rose.

Thank you for your comments.

Next, we have Kelsey Burns, followed by Jay Burns, and then followed by...

Roar?

Did I say that?

Roar?

Did I say that right?

I'm so sorry.

Hi, Kelsey.

Welcome.

Hi, I am from District 5. As many of you know, the last City Council negotiated away accountability measures and pushed through the SPOG contract to ensure that the vote happened prior to some people here being seated.

To the few members who listened, shared your experiences and concerns around the lack of accountability in that contract.

Thank you.

On May 24th, SPD pepper sprayed me, beat me, gave me a concussion, broke my glasses, and arrested me on false charges.

The footage of that day blatantly contradicts the arrest documents, My hands were visible and empty during the entirety of the encounter.

I committed no crimes.

Despite this, I was arrested.

I recently saw the lead up to the police violence where Didier made comments clear that they were intending on committing violence with quotes such as, we are done talking, we're here to fuck people up.

So ultimately, I got to spend the weekend in jail, concussed and blind.

My job now takes more hours to complete for the same amount of work at the expense of family time and personal time.

My expectations are that without public pressure or actions from this council, that this type of behavior will continue unchecked.

As we have seen repeatedly, the police will not hold themselves accountable.

I ask that you take this time to actually listen to the voices in this room today and to exert your pressure to publicly push for change.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Kelsey.

Next we have Jay Burns.

Welcome, Jay.

To the three city council members who voted against SPOG, I thank you.

To the new members, I welcome you.

I am a resident of Seattle and a member of this community.

I'm also a victim of police violence.

I'm here to inform you what Seattle Police Department did to me on May 24th, 2025 at Cal Anderson Park.

I was grabbed, pulled to the ground, punched several times in the head by Officer Callie Hinesman.

SPD calls them non-compliance strikes, but I call them multiple MRIs and months of concussion symptoms.

My wrists were twisted in extra tight cuffs that I needed multiple x-rays to make sure there were no fractures.

I was in those cups for many hours, so I'm thankful there's no lasting damage.

I never received medical care while detained, and not until three days later after I was finally released from jail.

For almost 24 hours, I was puking my guts out, but instead of care, I was placed in the solitary cells.

No one came to my cell while I was suffering from the effects of what SPD did.

I didn't even receive a cup for water until the next day when I was moved to the general population.

Imagine being all alone, laying on the floor next to a metal toilet in a cell because you're too sick to move, all because SPD caused a day of violence over three fucking balloons.

If you recognize my story, it's because I spoke these words to the City Council last month, but only a few of you were actually listening.

Bob Kettle.

Joy Hollingsworth.

So now I say again, hold SPD accountable.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jay.

Next we have, is it Rory?

Last names are L-E-G.

Start with the L-E-G.

It's number 14. No, no, no.

You're fine.

Say that again.

Rose Legionnaires.

Rose, I apologize so much.

Welcome, Rose.

Okay.

Last week, there were a lot of people that came and spoke about ICE, as I'm sure you all are aware.

We weren't, we were worried.

We saw the images and the videos that came out from previous weeks.

Things are now ramping up.

There are two schools under lockdown right now in Seattle because of ICE.

There are also people reporting that they are at the Bailey Gadsart School in the Central District, that ICE is showing up.

Last week, Council President Hollingsworth asked people, what do you want us to do about it?

There have been people that have been sending all of you emails this last week about what to do.

I know because I've been one of those people.

I look forward to speaking to any or any, and all anyone, are all individuals that would like to speak about what to do.

There are basic things we can do.

Right now, ICE is tracking all our phone location data and using it to find individuals.

This places all of us at risk.

It places the mayor at risk.

It places undocumented people at risk.

And that needs to be stopped now.

Right now, Amazon is also sharing their ring data with ICE.

That needs to be stopped.

That cannot happen.

Also, license plates readers are also being used as a way to help ICE.

In addition, there's been lots of talking about here about SPD needs to be held accountable.

SPD needs to be held accountable not just, not that it's only just, with how they are brutalizing people, but also with how they are affecting ICE.

Right now, it is being reported that ICE is showing up without license plates at schools, so people can't figure out where these cars are coming from.

It is of utmost importance that we are all holding them accountable as we hold anyone else.

These are masked individuals that we have no idea who they are that are kidnapping people.

And as Congresswoman Jay Appel said this morning, people are even dying in ICE custody.

You have a responsibility to everyone in Seattle, and I expect all of you to be a part of the resolution of helping our community members.

Thank you, Rose.

Next we have Mr. Dean, Alex Dean, welcome.

Next we have Matt and then followed by William.

And then we will switch to online if there's no one else signed up in the front.

Good afternoon, Mr. Dean.

Good afternoon.

We've actually been texting about how to address police brutality in Seattle.

Thank you for that.

I just wanted to talk about what happened with me on May 24th.

I wasn't arrested.

I saw a young woman on the ground being pepper sprayed while she was on the ground.

I ran over and asked the officer to get off of her because there were three people there.

I did not attack them.

My hands were up.

The next thing I knew I was on the ground.

I had been thrown by the throat and I tried to get up.

The officer who had thrown me, instead of attempting to arrest me, immediately put his hands around my throat and began to squeeze.

Next thing I knew was basically being dragged away by four people.

Someone had punched him because they were concerned that he was going to seriously physically harm me.

I don't understand why There has been no action taken.

To be very clear, this is not the first time that information has come out about SPD on 24th going in to do this kind of shit.

They had very clear intent.

They had stated intent.

That intent was overtly criminal, overtly biased policing, and they behaved in a way which was fundamentally unacceptable.

They clearly, by the way they spoke and by the actions they took, did not care about enforcing the law They cared purely about attempting to make a big spectacle for the idea, I'd assume, of either simple sadism or future prevention through an example But that is not how policing works in the United States of America We are not Russia, we are not Iran, we are not North Korea If the police do not want people to do something, they're supposed to talk.

There should have been literally anyone there to de-escalate things, and there wasn't.

Instead, Matt Didier decided that he was gonna go in and have people fuck us up, and so they fucked us up.

I don't get how it is that that is acceptable, and I would really like an immediate address about what is going to be done, not what you can do.

What are you gonna do?

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dean.

Next we have Matt followed by William.

Welcome Matt.

Hello, I'm a resident of D2 and I just wanna just echo some of the points including many of my fellow community members about yes, Ice is an occupying force.

We're seeing that increasingly by the day, but I don't want us to think that that is anything distinct or different from, honestly, the occupying force we have here in fucking Seattle.

I was there back on May 24th, 2025. I saw as many of my community members were assaulted by Seattle PD, as again, someone who's salty is the good name of Matt's, wanted to go in and fuck people up.

And we've seen that they've been handsomely rewarded for that last bar contract.

some of our council members here, I wanna salute for the gumption and resolve they had to say, no, we are not gonna reward this.

For everyone else, I gotta ask you, do you want to address police rioting in your own city?

Do you wanna address the lack of accountability in bodies piling up year after year at the hands of SPD?

Please, start doing something.

Start putting words into actions.

Because the alternative is something that probably none of you would want to see, which is local citizens taking matters in their own hands.

I know it's been many years since the Black Party for Self-Defense had armed patrols, but certainly a lot of community members are thinking, maybe it's about time we start bringing that back.

Do you want us to turn this into a tit-for-tat?

Or do you want to de-escalate your own people?

So please, do the right thing.

Do what's just politically pragmatic into your best interests and start to de-escalate the situation and rein these motherfuckers in.

And I'm speaking to you, particularly Bob Kettle.

Glad I have your attention because you out there while other folks were speaking have been very disrespectful.

So please, now that we have your attention, do fucking something about it.

Thank you, Matt.

Next we have William.

Is William here?

Hello, good afternoon.

Welcome, William.

Afternoon, my name is William Nolan.

I'm a resident of District 2. I was president at Cal Anderson Park on May 24th of last year.

Perhaps because I was not wearing black, I was not arrested or assaulted, but I did see many of my fellow community members, fellow Seattle residents, assaulted and arrested and pepper sprayed and otherwise abused, apparently for the quote unquote crime of wearing black.

It reminded me a lot of what I saw on TV in 1968 when I was 15. I saw police in Chicago beating demonstrators at the Democratic National Convention.

apparently for the crime of being there.

That sort of police over-response is totally unacceptable, especially in a city like ours, which prides itself on being progressive.

You can sort of understand how people would get away with that kind of stuff in Chicago, but that's not what Seattle is like.

So I call on you council members and other city leaders to hold SPD accountable and to take particular action against officers such as Matthew Didier who called for the people under his command that day to exercise violence against citizens of our city and other people, again, apparently for the quote-unquote crime of being black.

So I thank you very much for your attention, and I hope very, very much that something will be done to make police accountable.

Thank you.

Thank you, William.

We're going to now switch to online public commenters.

Public commenters, when you are moved up into the Zoom and you see your name, please press star six to unmute yourself.

And the first one we have Alberto Alvarez.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Lazy cowards who can't even Zoom in to a council meeting.

As our nation descends into fascism, black, brown, and indigenous people are being kidnapped regardless of their immigration status.

Citizen mothers are shot in the face, killed by federal forces.

White military veterans are arrested for peaceful protest and denied due process and access to their lawyer.

Councilmember Kettle, You have a sense of honor and respect for the armed forces.

You seem to hope that somehow men of honor will step up.

Why not be that first man to lead and take action?

Not just a press release with platitudes.

When German Jews were being rounded up and shipped to camps, the Nazis and their SS would have loved to have the level of mass surveillance our city is being strangled with today, only to make the evil of their work that much easier.

What are any of you waiting for?

Where is the line where you will take action?

You need to force a vote on these issues, otherwise you are lazy and the danger to all our communities.

Shame on you.

Shame on you.

Shame on you.

Have a good day.

Next we have David Haynes.

David Haynes, you're present.

Please press star six to unmute yourself.

Hi, thank you, David Haynes.

We still have evil predatory criminals that are conducting uncivil war on the community in Seattle.

and some of them are getting away with it and continuing to implode society and destroy lives and ruin pursuit to happiness.

And many of them have been wrongly listed low level nonviolent.

And it's a concern because Bruce Harrell tainted the integrity of police reform and the budget that you all signed off on.

It is still prioritizing repeat offending criminals.

who are connected to the underworld, who never get questioned to find out where they got the drugs or where their, like, rape house is, to go shut it down and be, like, forthright and diligent in the effort to shut down the evil criminals that are making it unsafe.

But yet we have all this LBGQT overdramatic drama queen showing up, dressed up like women, talking, like, crazy stuff about filling in the blanks of what happened a long time ago that now they're claiming is happening now by acting like ISIS, like the biggest problem in their life and in Seattle's life.

And like, everyone wants to scare all the innocent migrants and not vet some of the customs violators and separate the difference between a cartel member and an innocent migrant.

You all are running interference for everybody.

and it's part of the reason Trump got elected because you are trying to elevate the perverted platform of the progressives to the point of tainting the integrity of policies and squandering millions of dollars and exacerbating the homeless crisis.

I noticed that council already is getting excuses not to show up because they've got more important things to do and you've canceled a bunch of meetings that you're not even going to make an effort as if you're going to let the people suffer another winter with some half-assed efforts in America.

Thank you, Mr. Haynes.

And is that the end of our public?

Okay, awesome.

So we've reached the end of our list of registered speakers and the public comment period has now closed.

I wanna thank everyone for coming.

I will say, I know that there are a lot of emotions so people curse or Mr. Haynes, just trying to direct your comments, not towards people in a derogatory way or anyone.

I know it's freedom of speech, so we'll never suppress that, but just trying to cool temperatures down and make sure that we're respectful of each other.

So just wanted to highlight there.

I believe Council Member Kettle, you have your hand raised.

Thank you, Council President.

First thing I wanted to say in direct response to Mr. Haynes is that welcome to our members here in chamber who are trans or a part of the broader LGBTQ plus community.

You're welcome here and your voice is heard.

That's the first thing I wanted to say.

Second, I am aware There's different pieces with the Cal Anderson protest, the Sentinel review and different pieces that were going into that.

And I do believe that yes, that should be, we have a responsibility in our public safety committee and with this council to do the oversight and to bring to fore that report.

And so my committee has that responsibility.

So I'll be working with our accountability partners who are represented here in part, but others of the accountability program.

because each year I have all three accountability partners come to the Public Safety Committee.

And so we can make essentially the Cal Anderson Report a case study, a focal point of that committee meeting to have them, you know, speak to it, particularly those that have, you know, each accountability partner has different responsibilities, but to speak to that protest, what happened, and then we can use that as a springboard to follow up with Chief Barnes and the Police Department as well.

This is something that we do each year and each year is a little different.

This will be coming our third year.

So my commitment to you is to use this report as a focal point for that meeting with our accountability partners.

We are working the scheduling through quarter one, quarter two.

and so we'll get that scheduled.

And part of the challenge with scheduling quarter one, quarter two is federal law enforcement.

So council president, I just wanted to shift there.

I wanted you, everyone to know, the city to know that we're working this.

I'm working with our select committee chair, council member Rink and her folks, but also in partnership with Mayor Wilson We have our new, what I'm saying, Director of Public Safety, I'm not sure what her exact title will be, Alison Holcomb and Ms. Dugard, Lisa Dugard.

And then separately with Deputy Mayor as well, Brian Serrapp.

And this is in addition to working with Erica Evans, our city attorney, and our in-house counsel, which is really important.

I believe, and this is, we're having meetings today and tomorrow, really important to get the legal baseline set.

And I recognize there's a lot of comments related to the legal pieces of this.

I will say, as a council member's chair of public safety and representing the city of Seattle, I will be engaging with city attorney Evans and our own in-house counsel and legislative department on that baseline.

That is super important.

Separately, we have to have our police department, and they've come out with new guidance.

Here's the big thing, three things.

They need to be engaged, they need to respond to the 911 call that says there's an armed kidnapping at the Home Depot in Aurora.

They need to confirm, they need to confirm the identities and the thing, and document.

As a baseline, we need to have those three elements accomplished.

But there's other actions that we can take too.

I invite everybody to go to the Seattle channel and see our public safety committee meeting from last Tuesday and my chair comment at the very beginning.

I spoke to the various pieces to this and I will say and I recognize that I speak differently.

I support the mayor, I support the city attorney and my colleagues and how they've approached this and how they've made statements about this but I will say I come from my own perspective and piece so I ask that you look at that as a complementing the statements of my colleagues and others within city government.

And I just wanted to speak on those two points, and again, we're doing this in partnership.

And one last thing related to federal law enforcement, and you can listen to Seattle News Views and Brews in their latest episode.

we made such extraordinary efforts regarding technology.

We did things very differently than other jurisdictions did related to technology.

So for like automatic license plate readers, we're not connected to Washington State Department license.

We have closed loop systems.

And so I recognize the concern, and we constantly follow up, but we built such a different system.

So I wanted to say this at the very beginning.

And for the gentleman who spoke in terms of me going outside, I also want to thank, and sorry, Council President, but since I'm speaking to the public comment, I will also add, related to Seattle City Light, I do thank IBW Local 77 and Protech 17 for coming here.

Seattle City Light is a challenge organization.

You heard it in the comments and the pieces that are there.

And this is a very important enterprise to our future as a city.

And we need to take very grave concerns about the challenges that we're facing and how we're addressing those.

And that's where Ms. Lindell comes up, because as you noted in the public comment, there has been progress in working these things, as they said.

And separately, there's good governance angles to this.

Us as a council, we are also the Public Utility Commission, and we have our responsibilities as a city council.

And so I just wanted to close by a quick note that we received on Thursday night by Mr. Miller, who's a journey worker electrician.

It said, someone in the mayor's office has absolutely lost their mind.

Firing Don Lindell is a catastrophic mistake.

Ms. Lindell was well underway to riding a badly listing ship, racked by years of incompetent past mismanagement.

She had the backing of the rank and file union workers, especially the electricians, IBEW Local 77. This is a massive mistake.

and will have negative consequences for the city, especially in the lead up to the World Cup.

The City Council will be well advised to do everything in its power to keep Ms. Lindell at the helm of City Light.

And so, thank you to Mr. Miller for that.

But this also goes to our responsibility.

I talk about responsibility related to the Cal Anderson Report, responsibilities related to federal law enforcement, but we as a body also have responsibilities here and a very important topic for our city.

So, I apologize for going on one extra item, council president, but I think it's important and it also highlights our responsibilities as a council.

So thank you.

And we'll be following up in terms of reporting out like on federal law enforcement and then we'll engage with the accountability partners in terms of the Cal Anderson report.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Kettle.

And if there's no objections, the introduction and referral calendar will be adopted.

Hearing no objections, the introduction and referral calendar is adopted.

And I apologize, I meant to say thank you all, and I would say this every single time, thank you all for taking time out of your day, for coming down here, for expressing and elevating issues that we need to hear about all the time.

You might not get an answer immediately right now, but we will stay engaged and connected and we're all.

always committed.

As you heard, Mr. Dean, he sends me text messages about some of the concerns he has.

I haven't addressed those just yet.

I'm piling all that information, but I encourage you all to send us those information so you can get an answer from us as well.

So I just wanted to, I didn't wanna make such a rigid switch into the agenda.

I wanted to recognize you all for coming, so thank you.

And if there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

We're now gonna consider the proposed consent calendar.

Items on the consent calendar includes the minutes of January 13th, 2026 and council bill 121154. And this is payment of the bills.

Are there any items council members would like to remove from today's consent calendar?

You don't wanna not pay the pills?

I'm just playing.

Hearing none, I move to adopt the consent calendar.

Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and second to adopt the consent calendar.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the adoption of the consent calendar?

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Lynn?

Yes.

Council Member Rink?

Yes.

Council Member Saka?

Aye.

Council Member Foster?

Yes.

Council President Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Six in favor, none opposed.

Awesome, the consent calendar is adopted.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the minutes and legislation on the consent calendar on my behalf?

Will the clerk please read item number one into the record?

Agenda item one, the Report of the Transportation, Waterfront, and Seattle Center Committee.

Council Bill 121-022, granting HST, Lisi, West Seattle, LLC permission to continue maintaining and operating pedestrian skybridge over and across Virginia Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue for a 15-year term.

The committee recommends a bill pass.

Awesome.

Councilmember Saka, as Chair of the Transportation Waterfront and Seattle Center Committee, AKA the STEPS Committee, you are recognized to provide the committee report.

Thank you, Madam Council President.

Colleagues, Council Bill 121022 would renew permission for the Westin Hotel Skybridge over Virginia Street.

The Skybridge connects the hotel to the parking garage, which has approximately 400 spaces.

As a public benefit, the hotel did extensive work to repair and maintain the giant sequoia located in the adjacent area in a triangle at 4th Avenue and Virginia Street.

This work involved updating the irrigation system, improving soil conditions and removing holiday lighting.

If the ordinance is approved, The permit will be in place until 2041 with an option to renew until 2056. So in place until 2041, renewable for another 15 years thereafter.

This ordinance passed committee unanimously.

We ask for your support here today.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you, Council Member Socker.

Are there any comments regarding the bill in front of us?

Awesome.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Oh, there is a comment.

I apologize.

Council Member Kettle.

Council President, I just wanted to note as this is in my district, I said the same thing in Transportation Committee.

I asked for your support colleagues, this is important and as Chair Saka from the committee noted, this is really important for the community in terms of the public offset and support, but also in terms of facilitating different pieces to include ADA kind of access using between the garage and the hotel.

these pieces come up and it's been part of the community for these past 30 years and it needs to really move forward for those reasons.

So I ask for your support.

Awesome.

Thank you, Council Member Kettle.

Are there any additional comments about the bill in front of us?

Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Lin?

Yes.

Council Member Rink?

Yes.

Council Member Saka?

Councilmember Foster?

Yes.

Council President Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Six in favor, none opposed.

Awesome, the bill passes and the chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature on the legislation of my behalf?

Clerk, will you please read item number two into the agenda?

Agenda item two, Council Bill 121-117, vacating the alley in Block 24, errors of Sarah A. Bell, second edition in the Denny Triangle neighborhood and accepting property use and development agreement on the petition of GID Development Group and the Seattle Parks and Recreations Department.

The committee recommends the bill pass.

Thank you.

Councilmember Sacca, as chair of the committee, you are recognized to provide the committee report.

Thank you, Madam Council President.

Colleagues, the proposed bill before us would finalize the vacation of the alley in the block bounded by Westlake Avenue, Ninth Avenue, and Lenora Street.

This specific alley vacation was requested by our own Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation.

and the adjacent private property owner and facilitated the development of the Urban Triangle Park in Denny Triangle.

Beyond development of the park itself, public benefits attached to this specific vacation request include increased plantings around the block and indoor storage space to support the park, when the vacation was initially approved by the council, the council added eight conditions on its approval.

Those conditions have been met and the council, this proposal passed unanimously at the committee level.

We're asking for your support here again today.

Another project in council member Kettles, district seven.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you, council member Saka.

Council member Kettle.

Thank you, Council President.

I just wanted to echo again, following up on Chair Saka's comment in support of this bill, that I, too, as a district representative, I was actually there today, as it turned out, and I saw people enjoying what is essentially a public square, or in this case, a triangle.

These are the pieces that we need with the densification that we saw in South Lake Union.

We need these small green spaces.

We need these public access areas to improve the quality of life.

and that's what it's doing.

I saw it today with people sitting on the benches and enjoying themselves.

It's a fantastic addition to the community and I ask for your support.

Thank you, Council President.

No worries.

Thank you, Council Member Kettle.

Are there any other additional comments?

Any closing, Council Member?

Awesome, okay.

Will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of the bill?

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Lynn?

Yes.

Councilmember Rink?

Yes.

Councilmember Succa?

Aye.

Councilmember Foster?

Yes.

Council President Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Six in favor, none opposed.

Bill passes, chair will sign it.

Will the clerk please affix my signature to the legislation on my behalf?

There were no items removed from the consent calendar and there is no resolution for introduction or adoption today.

Is there any further business to come before the council?

Council member Kettle?

Sorry, council president, hold hand.

I will take a point of personal privilege, his birthday's tomorrow, but wanted to wish Councilmember Sacca a very big happy birthday.

I was reading your bio, cause I knew, obviously I know you, but I didn't realize that you had served in our forces for 10 years.

So that was pretty impressive.

So happy birthday.

I promise you all I won't embarrass you all like that for your birthdays.

I probably will, but anyways, just wanted to say happy birthday, Council Member Saka.

If there's no resolution for introduction and adoption today, is there any more further business from any of the council members?

Ms. Yvette, can we do it after the meeting?

Yeah, we'll do it after the meeting.

Thank you so much.

We have reached today's end of the meeting and the agenda.

The next council meeting is January 27th.

It will be at 2 p.m.

Hearing no further business, we are adjourned.

Thank you.