Speaker 4: The report of the City Council. Agenda item one accessible 119 451 really into land use and zoning w a moratorium on the filing, accepting acceptance, processing and or approval of applications for development in areas currently used as mobile home parks, declaring an emergency and establishing an immediate effective date all by three fourths vote of the City Council
Speaker 1: . And I apologize. I was not clear on my order of the agenda. Councilmember Swan, you have the floor.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Bruno. And and let me just say, I don't blame you all for not knowing that there was not the legislation because this is parliamentary procedure. Why would you know it unless you absolutely have to? And even then, it can be very confusing.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 0: So everybody who's been paying attention to the question of the al-Shabaab mobile home crisis knows what this is about. But I just want to do share to do a three quick stories of what we've heard from our community members at Halcyon. And one of them is Renny Hagan, who's a retired bartender and member of Unite Here, a local aid, who told us about being homeless for years, having lived in a tool shed with no heat or electricity or running water before finding a home at Halcyon, where she now tends a garden and grows vegetables for her neighbors. She told us she would likely be homeless again if the developers succeeded in evicting the mobile home owners. And she says, for seven years I've had the security without worry, and now they're going to take it away. Eloise MIKKELSON, whom you heard from just now, is the retired machinist and member of the Machinists Union, is a painter , musician and grandmother who has lived at Halcyon for 16 years. She says this is a caring community. We look out for one another. Some of us really would have no other place to go. You heard from Wesley Shearer, a former Teamster, who is raising a granddaughter who has special needs. Halcyon is a neighborhood where Wesley and his family feel safety and trust, he says. Help save our community because that's all we have. We know that what happened, as the committee members have said, was this property went on the market for $22 million. Garland based corporate developer named Blue Fawn filed pre-application. The residents have known about this because they got letters in the mail and they got organized. They got they contacted my office and we had an incredibly moving committee meeting on Friday, January 18th, where we had all these testimony and well, not only the residents, but so many of their supporters, some of whom we spoke to, they demanded that council take action. As it was said earlier, this demonstrates what you can accomplish by building a movement. And when that movement has its own voice in City Hall, this is what you can accomplish. You can actually win victories. And let me just say also, it is nice that Yudof is now saying that they will ask you as bank to sell the property to someone who wants to rent it, run it as a mobile home park. But the residents of Halcyon, as those of us who have fought for housing justice for years, no talk is cheap. The residents were promised that their homes wouldn't be saved in the past, but then they were surprised by a notice on their doors last fall, saying that the park was being sold. So we know that we know not to trust empty words. We know we have to continue fighting right the way. And we also know that because of our activism, Blue Farm, that developer has backed off for now. But we know better than to take promises and intentions at face value when a 22 million property sale is on the line. So if you have intent to keep this property as a mobile home park, then they will have no problem with council passing legislation for flowing from this moratorium to designate this region, this property with the manufactured home park designation. And as we've said before, Seattle will not be the first city doing this. The city of Portland has already done that. The Portland City Council unanimously voted last summer to do have a manufactured home mobile home park designation. They are mobile home park communities because there was a widespread demand from from ordinary people. Let's preserve for existing affordable housing. I want to do first of all, I want are a lot of people talking, but I wanted to first of all, congratulate the residents of Halcyon themselves. Can you please give yourself a big hand? And look at this Seattle Times cover page. This. This my dear friend and fellow activist. This is a testimonial to the kind of power you can build. When we get organized collectively and this has happened because we did that not because any one person championed your cause, but you do need your own voice. As at City Hall, as Linda Chase in the article says, there are million there are a million sites where developers can build. There are only two mobile home parks in the city. This is housing for people who don't have a lot of money. This is working class housing. Let's preserve it. And as HBO, they can said in the article, it shouldn't take a crisis for you to do something. It shouldn't take people with gray hair crying on your shoulders while these people with gray hair are done crying. They are now fighting. Thank you, Councilmember O'Brien, for agreeing to co-sponsor the legislation. Thanks. Thanks also to Kendall Freeman and Denver Doan, who did a lot of the work on this and also getting arrested as usual, the council's central staff director. Special thanks to Nick Jones from my office, who spent a lot of time with you all. He's right there. And Jonathan Rosenblum and Saja Soma. And I wanted to join the others who have already said in thanking Unite here. Local eight OPIO Local eight. I am Local 751. The Puget Sound Advocate for Retirement Action, the Vietnamese Seniors Association, Trinity Methodist Church, the Faith Action Network. Reverend Angela Yang of the Bethany United Church of Christ. So many spoke in support of the preservation of this affordable housing. I really thank everybody. I also want her to know that not Paul Bergman is your long time member of the labor movement who's been here at every meeting with you all. You have a lot of support, but let's not stop here. Let's win this moratorium and let's make sure we keep fighting. I do have some closing remarks at the end before we take the vote. Very good.
Speaker 1: Thank you, guys, from Councilmember O'Brien.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Councilmember Swan, thank you so much for your leadership on this. But I really want to give so much credit to the residents of Halcyon for your work to make this possible. In addition to everything that Councilmember Simon said, we have a lot of work to do to protect the remaining two mobile home or manufactured home parks in Seattle. And we have a lot of work to do to ensure that we have enough affordable housing for everyone in our city who needs it. And one of the things that you reminded us all again in your testimony today and last week was this is not just about housing. This is not just about a roof in a wall, but it's about community. And the power of your community has really showed up in amazing ways. And as we continue to build more and more affordable housing, we need to make sure that we're also creating spaces where communities, powerful communities like yours can form, because that's what we need in our city. So thanks for your leadership and work.
Speaker 1: Unless you're any other comments on the base legislation. I believe Councilmember Johnson has an amendment and we could come back to the base legislation for comments as well. So, Councilmember Johnson, you'd like to describe your amendment.
Speaker 7: Thanks. Appreciate that. Council president. As my colleague saw this morning, and for the benefit of the public who've heard this a couple of times, I'll just repeated the amendment that I'm bringing forward this afternoon would make a change to the fifth section of this bill, and it would insert two key concepts. The first concept is that a set of recommendations will be developed by the Office of Planning and Community Development and the Department of Construction and Inspections about what a set of long term proposals could look like for something beyond the moratorium that is being proposed today. And secondly, that that legislation will be transmitted to the committee that has jurisdiction over it, which is currently the planning land use and zoning committee. So those are the two substantive changes to the amendment. I'm happy to answer questions, but I know that our clerk would like me to read the official movement into the records that we have this official in front of us and that I will do. Now I move to amend Council Bill 119451 by substituting Section five as presented on the proposed amendment in front of you.
Speaker 2: Second, as.
Speaker 1: A council member, Johnson has been moved on. Second has made the amendment. Are there any questions? Just on the amendment only. Any questions on the amendment? Or would you like say, any closing remarks on the amendment? Councilman Johnson Councilmember comes from words or some remarks comes from awareness.
Speaker 5: Thank you. First of all, I want to thank Councilor Swan and her staff for bringing this very important issue to city council. And I also want to thank Councilmember Johnson for working with me on doing the making this this amendment. I am proud to co-sponsor this amendment. And I also want to thank, of course, the residents and the 47 people that showed up today and on January 22nd to let us know about the concerns about what goes on in the manufactured home mobile park. Some of the comments that I'm making now I made this morning, and we want you to know that we understand how important it is for this city council, any legislative authority to look at protecting the stock of homes that is manufactured homes in mobile parks, and that we know how important it is that we protect the use of such property. We had an opportunity to look at the law and run these issues by law. We had an opportunity to review the legislation to protect the use of such property over 30 years ago. We had an opportunity to look at the Lynnwood model and the Tumwater ordinance and to understand how the federal courts have upheld the city's rights, the legislative rights to protect the use of such property. Our goals here today are to address the lack of housing for our elders, disabled and marginalized communities. We believe that this is an emergency. Things today are not like they were 30 years ago. Obviously, I think it's important that the people that showed here today, particularly the residents, that this has never been a us against them attitude. This has always been about that we care that we want to know the facts, we want to the legal posture, and we also want to know where we are on solid ground to make sure that it isn't just a moratorium, but that we work towards protecting the land and its use. I want to share that something today that I read and actually last night. And I thought about you folks. You know, being on this job, you make difficult decisions. But this was not a hard one for any of my colleagues, quite frankly. But I want to share a quote, and it's really important for me to share this. Democracy cannot survive in a swamp of mutual contempt. I don't know. This country can survive if we all continue to despise each other. You don't have to change your mind about something. You don't even have to like me. You just have to realize that the person you're talking to is a human being. And sometimes we don't do that. So this issue today has always been about being supportive of particularly our elders. I've been at the Halcyon Park. My staff has been out there. Your circumstances have never been lost on us. And so again, I want to thank Councilmember Swan and her staff. I want to thank, more importantly, the residents. I know US chartered busses to come down here. I want to thank my staff who did all the research and the University of Washington, the people that we spoke to, to make sure we understood. I want to thank Legal for giving us the analysis that we need to make sure that we can make a sound decision that lasts. And, of course, I want to thank my colleagues that have come into my office to ask questions of. Councilmember Bagshaw was out there Saturday, I believe. And you really do have a council that cares. So thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilman. Whereas. But I want to address just the amendment right now. There's been an amendment and it's been second. And I'm going to call on that vote. Would you like to see some more words on that concern?
Speaker 7: Just briefly, you know, I want to offer that as part of public testimony was mentioned, that people are going to be keeping a close eye on me and my committee. And when we're planning to take this up, it's our intention stated in this proposed amendment that we ask for a preliminary list of options to be delivered by April. So if in case people aren't clear enough that we're keeping this as a front burner issue, we're expecting at least a draft list of recommendations to come to us in April with the goal of adopting something before the end of our sort of policy calendar year, which is generally in the September or so time frame. And that's going to include a broad list of options. Many folks have talked about the Portland model, which allows for current property owners to transfer their development rights to other properties. There have been lots of discussions about the access to funds out of Olympia for people to be able to purchase the the land that they sit on for what would effectively be a home ownership opportunity, an edge away type situation. There's a lot of options available to us, so we're going to be discussing this more and looking for recommendations coming as soon as April.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilman Johnson. Okay. So it's been moved on second. And all those in favor of the amendment as articulated by Councilmember Johnson, please say I, I, all the polls say no live. The ayes have it. So now we are back to our base. Legislation as amended would come from our backs. I'd like to say a few words.
Speaker 0: A quick thank you to all of you. I did get a chance to visit on Saturday again, and I just want to very respectfully say thank you for coming and putting your arms around each other because you've created a caring community that really is a.
Speaker 3: Model for others. And I'll be honored to be.
Speaker 0: Voting yes for this moratorium and working with Councilmember Johnson to find the options that will really protect you long.
Speaker 3: Term.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilman Bagshaw. Consumer.
Speaker 6: Herbold Thank you. Just really quickly, I want to just sort of give a nod to your vigilance as somebody who used to herself be an organizer with the tenants union, as Ashfield Dickens was once. And I think Reverend Rich Campbell, I don't know if he's still in the room, was a founder of the tenants union. Vigilance is really important. And a lot of times, so many times the folks who are out there in the community in this case, in in your community or in other cases in apartment buildings, really know more about what's going on than than city government does. And so we really rely on you and your expertize and what you're hearing on the ground from your property managers or or from what what you're seeing from talking to one another. I think that's really important. And thank you, because it's really what's.
Speaker 3: Allowed us.
Speaker 6: To act. If it if it was not for your vigilance, we would actually be very limited in how we could act if this had gone on much further. So thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Okay. I will say a couple of comments and then Councilmember Swan and ask that you close the debate on the issue. I'll simply say, number one, thank you. Thank you very much. I think that your story has resonated throughout the city, and I think that the entire city sort of looked at what you're going through and what you shouldn't have to go through. So I'm I'm excited about the discussions that will take place in a Councilmember Johnson's committee. I also heard that there was a park that has not been kept up to the standards that should be kept and some other things. And so I'm going to anticipate that during our budget deliberations, we'll also look at not just fighting for status quo, but what we can do to be a better partner to you. You are fine residents and fine Seattle folks, and so it's our honor to work with you. Thank you again. Thank you, Councilmember Swan, for your leadership in bringing this to the city's attention. And with that comes from everyone, please close the debate.
Speaker 4: Mr. President, may I make a comment? Oh.
Speaker 1: I. Timing is always off. But, Councilmember, I'm a skater. Thank you. I'm sorry, ma'am.
Speaker 4: Thank you. And I know council members won't want to close. I'll just say a few words. You know, I want to lift up some of the comments that Councilmember Johnson also mentioned in terms of the longer term vision, as we work on a comprehensive plan, it must be comprehensive for every family, for every retiree, for every artist , for every activist in Seattle, so that we have affordable housing for those who are currently here or those who've retired here, and for future families who we want to welcome here as well. I think this conversation today is just another reminder that we need to make sure that we're not only investing in more rent restricted, affordable rental units, but that we're creating more affordable homeownership options for everyone, including mobile units, including first time homebuyer options, including the ability to turn apartments like mine into our first time homebuyer options, and creating more affordable units as we create solutions to address the restrictive zoning that has limited our ability to have homeownership options. I think that we at the city level have been pushing our friends at the state level as well to get additional revenue in hand so that we can build quickly and respond more effectively to the fact that we don't have enough housing in the city, housing for our lower income and working families. And we don't have the opportunity to have lower cost homeownership options through affordable condominiums. This has resulted in people getting pushed into the streets and being people getting pushed out of our city. So I look forward to working with all of you as we talk about scaling up the type of housing that we can create in our city, scaling up to make sure that we're more inclusive city, creating more affordable housing for all working families, and that we look at this through a holistic approach to make sure that we are not responding parcel by parcel, but that we have public policies that reflect the values that working families and retirees ought to be able to live in the city. I'll also be working with you as we respond to the question of why the good sister who just left. She asked, Why are we in the situation where we don't have enough affordable housing in the city? And part of the reason why is because we've been we've had our hands tied for far too long with restrictive lawsuits and dragging seats. We have not been able to respond to the crisis of housing and homelessness. And I think what you're seeing here is not just a response to, say, protect the existing housing, but actually make sure that we have permanent, affordable housing for everyone. So let's make sure that this is the impetus that we need, as someone said, so that there's not an island of affordable housing in the mix of expensive housing and that we actually create affordable housing throughout the city. I'm excited to work with you on some of the pieces that Councilmember Johnson mentioned regarding transfer rights, regarding home away opportunities, and I'm going to be introducing legislation in the next few months that will be the tenant opportunity to purchase act so that when apartments like mine get sold while I'm living there, we get notification so that we can have the opportunity to come together and purchase together and we can have access to those resources to make sure that folks have the opportunity to stay in place so that we can afford our homes. I'm really excited to work with you on all types of affordable housing and to to use this as the impetus for longer term, more robust solutions across our city. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. Can someone get a counselor on this one?
Speaker 0: Thank you. So we we know that we have come this far to win the moratorium, but as you yourself have said, that is not going to be enough. We need to make sure that the manufactured home park zoning designation goes through and that is not going to be automatic. We are going to have to fight for it. And let me tell you, I've been I've been through this routine many, many times in five years now, where it starts a fight, the fight for some sort of justice, whether it's housing, justice, rent or just as a workers, justice starts with ordinary people demanding it. One or two councilmembers supporting it. A lot of you know. Pushback from a lot of corporate politicians, but when they recognize they cannot, then it's all where we always wanted it. So let's be very clear that we are not going to have to we're not going to be able to stop fighting just because we hear a lot of grand speeches today. We know what we're up against. We're up against a city hall that is primarily still let's let's be sober and not complacent, primarily still dominated by politicians who are, you know, serving corporate interests for the most part, and then are pushed into doing the right thing. So let's make sure that we keep building our movement to do the right thing. I really thank the Association of Manufactured Home Owners. I specifically wanted to thank Island Park for all the organizing effort she has done. Not just but Colin, not just in this battle, but you've all already fight fought a lot of battles. And I really urge you all to continue your work in forming your own homeowner's association. In reality, this homeowner's association will be like a branch of the tenants union because you are fighting for working class home ownership, similar, similar to tenants union, fighting for the rental rights of working class people. I really wanted to also thank the Tenants Union and by Seattle and Devon Southern Air who spoke, which really shows that we need to unite our working people, whether they are homeowners or renters. We need to unite us. We need to get united because our enemy is not each other. Our enemy is a corporate developer dominated city, a billionaire dominated city, as Imogene said. And also the fact is that, you know, a lot of politicians will talk about humanity while whose humanity gets lost in all of this. The humanity of ordinary people gets lost. Because when we lose our affordable housing, when we lose our rights, it's our humanity that is put to the test and that, you know, put to question. And that's why we should continue fighting. We should not apologize for fighting because that is the right thing to do. And let's wear it like a badge of honor.
Speaker 1: But any of my I was going to close debate. But implicit in your comments were, I think, baseless insults. If anyone liked to respond to it, I'll I'll let you respond. Otherwise, I'll just call for the vote. So. Okay, so we're going to call for the vote. Please call the role on the passage of the amended Bill.
Speaker 4: Herbold II.
Speaker 3: Johnson Suarez Macheda I O'Brien sir want.
Speaker 0: I.
Speaker 3: Beg John President Harrell all right.
Speaker 4: Eight in favor nine.
Speaker 1: Oppose bill passed and shared with Senate. Please read the next agenda item. You can read the short title.
AN ORDINANCE relating to land use and zoning; adopting a moratorium on the filing, acceptance, processing, and/or approval of applications for development in areas currently used as mobile home parks; declaring an emergency; and establishing an immediate effective date; all by a 3/4 vote of the City Council.