A RESOLUTION relating to transit funding; declaring The City of Seattle’s resolve to work with King County on a future countywide transit measure, pursue progressive revenue options to replace the sales and use tax, and focus on equity and sustainability concerns.
Will the clerk please read item two into the record? The clerk might be on mute. Thank you. Every part of the City Council Agenda Item two Resolution 31960 relating to transit funding to the City of Seattle resolved to work with King County on a future countywide transit measure. Pursue progressive revenue options to replace the sales and use tax. I focus on equity and sustainability. Thank you, Madam Clerk. I will move to adopt resolution 319860. Is there a second? Second? It's been moved and seconded. And I'm going to go ahead and recognize Councilman Mosqueda, you're as the prime sponsor of the resolution. You are recognized in order to address this item. Thank you, Madam President. In order to put the resolution as amended in front of us, I'd like to move to amend Resolution 31960 by substituting version four for version three. Second, it's been moved and seconded. Thank you to adopt the substitute councilmember Mosqueda. You are recognized in order to address the substitute. Thank you very much. And again, colleagues, I think this is a very exciting vote that we just took. So the resolution here today is coupled with the important piece of legislation that we just voted on to send to the ballots. It's complex in its nature that we're facing economic crisis at the same time that our lower wage households and most vulnerable families will need government services even more so, given the uncertainty that's created due to COVID and the impacts of Initiative 976 on the economic downturn. The proposal that will be on the ballot will be critical to making sure that people can access needed services. But the resolution calls for us to continue to do more. We know that there is uncertainty in economic recovery in front of us. We know that it is important for us to continue to invest in the resiliency of our community and that we can do so as we couple and work together with our county partners. Particularly, it's important for us as a region to continue to invest in our lowest income communities who are disproportionately people of color and disproportionately impacted by COVID and the economic recession and frankly, the inequitable economy that we had prior to COVID. Transit is a lifeline for all of our communities as we try to promote the use of transit and non car modes of transportation. It's important for us to continue to invest in those systems, especially for making sure that lower income folks and all Seattleites are able to access transit in this downturn in spite of lower ridership over the last several months due to COVID since estimate was approved in 2014. Transit ridership has increased significantly in Seattle. We needed the measure that we just passed, and we also need our county partners to continue investing with us to create a progressive system that will directly benefit our entire region, including low income communities. So the resolution that's been put forward in front of us is really a partnership, a partnership with King County, the jurisdictional partners, community advocates, transit advocates to re regionalize transit spending and create a future that is planning for a county wide transit measure. This resolution works towards replacing regressive sales tax and uses taxes in a more progressive way to fund transit services in Seattle with other progressive revenue sources. We've spent a lot of time over the last few weeks talking about the regressive nature of the tools in our tool belt, and we just talked about it this afternoon. The resolution in front of us puts forward our commitment to making sure that future transit packages are moving towards more progressive nature of transit sources, revenue sources for these important transit needs. And we'll also be raising revenues so that we can have a more robust investment in transit services around our region. The resolution, as I mentioned this morning, follows a letter sent by council president council by King County Council President Councilmember Bellucci and signed by Executive Constantine and King County members Coles and Bousquet and the group who affirmed their intention to engage in conversations around regional transportation benefit district conversations. Part of their letter reads Transit has provided much needed mobility options for essential workers and first responders and has helped to ensure that the people throughout King County have had a way to get to essential services, including grocery stores and medical treatment. Even with transit services significantly reduced in response to COVID, the network has continued to function, currently providing more than 125,000 trips a day. During the last few months of the pandemic closures, for instance, we've seen that the routes with the least reduction in ridership have primarily been from those in South Seattle and South King County. Those communities are using transit still to make sure that they can access key, essential trips to workplaces, to shopping, to childcare and other critical services like health care. I'd like to thank Councilmember Peterson for co-sponsoring this resolution and Mayor Durkin for concurring on it, as our understanding is that they will concur. I also want to thank advocates who spent time on both the legislation that we just passed and specifically the resolution in front of us from transportation choices rooted in rights, MLK, Labor and Puget Sound sage also to Blake Trask from Councilmember Paul Duties Office and my office. Thank you to Sigal, Perry and Aaron House for all of their work, both on the resolution and on the previous STB package that we just approved. Really appreciate your work. Thanks to Councilmember Peterson for helping shepherd us to this. Thank you so much. Are there any other comments on the resolution? How's Mercyone? Thank you. I will be voting in favor of this resolution for regional funding for Metro because working class people need transit service beyond Seattle's city limits, and especially as the cost of housing has pushed more and more working people, especially working people of color outside city limits. However, it is also important that we not allow the idea of regional funding to be used. As an excuse by any any any body in the city council to be used as an excuse for opposition to local progressive transit funding options. I'm not implying that this resolution is doing that, but I'm just saying that in general, I think we have to be aware of that because I recall when we started fighting for the Amazon Act in our movement, the Mayor and the Chamber of Commerce immediately responded by saying the issues of housing and homelessness were regional problems, which we don't disagree with. The regional problems, in fact, this is a nation wide problem. And but they said that therefore the city of Seattle should not tax big business to address them. I support the county or state enacting progressive taxes on big business or super rich to fund transit. In fact, I will warmly welcome any such development, but I don't think that given the past decades trajectory, we can we can just wait for them to do so. We will have to continue fighting to implement progressive developer impact fees. And I certainly in my office will be continuing that to fund transit and to use developer impact these funds transit in 2021. And I urge the ordinary people in the movement that we not be sidetracked by the vain hope that we have heard many, many times of progressive county funding or regional funding in general. There any additional comments? Customer referral, please. Thank you. So just real quickly, I want to just speak as a councilmember who represents a district at the southern edge of Seattle that we've really taken a deep, deep dove in our discussions around the Seattle Transportation Benefit District about how bus service doesn't stop at the city limits and the logic for designing routes doesn't necessarily fit with city boundaries. In fact, some of the bus service that very large numbers of people depend on have more stops outside of the city limits than within the city limits. So it's really important in designing this levy and in future levies that we struggle with how to provide service and what level of service for routes that go across the city limits but that our constituents desperately rely on. And this resolution or regional approach to transit funding is really important for that reason and many others as well. Thank you. Thank you so much, Councilmember Herbold. Any other comments on the resolution? Hearing none at the Clark. Please call the role on the adoption of the substitute Morales. Yes. Macheda? Yes. Petersen. Yes. Sarwan. Yes. Strauss. Yes. Lewis. Yes. Herbold. Yes. Whereas. Council President Gonzalez. Yes. Eight in favor, nine opposed. Thank you so much. The motion carries the substitute as adopted in version four of the resolution is before the council. Are there any additional comments on the resolution as amended? Okay. Hearing man, I'd ask that the clerk please call the role on the adoption of the resolution as amended. Morales. Yes. To. Sorry. Yes. Peterson. Yes. Slant? Yes. Strauss. Yes. Lewis. Yes. HERBOLD. Yes. Council President Gonzalez. Yes. Eight in favor and opposed. Thank you, Madam Clerk. The resolution, as amended, is adopted in the chair, will sign it as the clerk sees it. Fix my signature to the legislation on my behalf. Colleagues, really quickly, if there is no objection, Councilmember Juarez will be excused from the remainder of the July 27 city council meeting. Hearing no objection. Councilmember Suarez is excused from the remainder of today's city council meeting. Thank you so much. I'd now ask that the clerk please read agenda item three into the record.