A RESOLUTION requesting that the Washington State Department of Transportation preserve one support pier associated with the Roanoke/R.H. Thomson Expressway; stating the City Council’s intent to fund an engineering study of the pier’s structural integrity; and stating the City Council’s intent that the City accept ownership of the pier.
So the period is closed, so we're ready to vote. Those in favor of adopting the resolution vote i. I. Those opposed vote no. The motion carries the resolution adopted and the chair will sign it. Please read the next gen item to the record. Agenda item three Resolution 31716 requesting that the Washington State Department of Transportation preserve one support pier associated with the Renault Carriage Thomas Expressway, stating the city's city council's intent to fund an engineering study of the pier. Structural integrity and setting this city council's intent that the city accept ownership of the pier. Thank you very much, Councilman. Worse if you. This was first of all, I want to thank former council member Jean Garden. She's still here. I want to thank Jean for coming down today and providing public comment. She was one of the people that I spoke to in promoting this. And the resolution states that we as a city value the history of neighborhoods and grassroots activists coming together to fight for their community. The resolution also calls for an engineering study to determine the stability of the segment to be preserved. I want to thank councilmembers Burgess, O'Brien, Gonzalez, Herbold and Council President Harrell for co-sponsoring this with me. I want to end with a quote from my friend and mentor, King County Councilmember Larry Gossett, who sent us a letter dated October ten, 2016. This is truly a legacy worth of celebration. Keeping a remnant of the abandoned R.H. Thompson Freeway will serve as an important reminder of the power of citizen action and the extraordinary accomplishment of Seattle citizens all those years ago. So with that it passed out of our committee unanimously, and I would like this council to support it as well. Thank you very much, Councilman. Was there any questions or comments from any of my colleagues, Katherine Johnson? Thank you. Council President I just want to echo again for the members of the public some of the issues that I brought up this morning in council briefing. I'm going to be voting for this resolution today, but I have some things that I think we need to put on the record that relate to the resolution. And I want to preface my statements by talking about the commitment that I have to making sure that this project is the most environmentally friendly project, which is a bit of an oxymoron because we're talking about a freeway project. My my history with this project has gone back for more than 30 years. My mom was an organizer for the Earth Day 20 celebration back in Wrightsville in the early 1990s. I spent a lot of time going across this bridge, the 520 bridge, as a youngster growing up on the East Side and in my professional career, spent a lot of my time and energy over the last 12 years trying my hardest to make this 520 bridge project, the most multimodal project that it can be, the skinniest project that it can be. But I think that there are some real questions related to the issues that are outlined in the resolution that still, as of yet , we need to grapple with as a council. Some of those questions include the structural integrity of the the elements that we may be saving. The federally approved record of decision related to this project, which we may be violating with the passage of this ordinance. The existing memorandum of understanding that we have with the State Department of Transportation, which we may be changing as a result of this ordinance. And then also, just generally what other issues we may need to take on in terms of structural deficiencies or ownership should this prove to be the direction that the council wants to go down ? So I strongly support the idea of spending some of our council resources to study the preservation concept. And I think that that's important for us to recognize the history of those brave citizens who fought against the Irish Thompson Expressway and whose legacy. I feel like I work on a daily basis. But I also want us to recognize that there are a lot of outstanding questions that we really need to grapple with as a council after we adopt this legislation. And it may not be as easy as it's outlined today. Thank you, Councilmember Johnson. Any further comments or concerns? If not, I move to adopt resolution 31716. I'm sorry. Oh, I didn't see the hand count. So I'm Herbold. Hey. Yes, thank you. I just wanted to make note of some comments from County Councilmember Larry Gossett about this resolution. He wrote to us late last week and reflected on how, as a young activist and founding member of the University of Washington Black Student Union in the late 1960s, he joined many other Seattle residents in opposing freeways that would have destroyed the heart of Seattle Central District. He writes that he vividly remembers going door to door in the Coleman Judkins neighborhood, joined by members of the Black Panthers and others to collect signatures for petitions and urged residents to make their voices heard at public hearings. He describes the anti freeway movement as an effective, inspiring and amazing example of multiracial unity in Seattle that enabled the coalition of community activists to resist the unnecessary destruction of inner city homes. And I just wanted to take a moment to recognize that this movement not only did it an important thing for making sure that neighborhoods were preserved and that we were challenging the utility of urban freeways and that investment in public dollars, but that this was a really important tool for multiracial community organizing during a time that much of the communities were really struggling with issues related to civil rights. Thank you, Councilman. Horrible. Any further comments? Then I will move to adopt resolution 31716 of those in favor of adopting the resolution. Please vote i i those opposed vote no. The motion carries the resolutions adopted. The chair will sign it. Thank you, Councilmember. Whereas. And before you read the report of the next agenda item from the Energy and Environment Committee, I. Mr. Ward, I do want to say for the record, you are absolutely right. The administrative staff, excluding the council, the full council meeting along with the budget meetings. So we apologize for any confusion there. Those online calendars not legally binding, but still it was a mistake that a person, a human being made. And we apologize for any inconvenience to any party. Thanks for pointing that out, sir. Please read the report of the Energy and Environment Committee.