Good afternoon! #AceReporting here for today's council livetweet thread. As always tips are appreciated! (still waiting on a check to clear so) Today's tips will go directly to my groceries and I am looking to collect $40 today.
Venmo: houstonace
CashApp: $Archstar
First item of business is CM Sawant is stating explicitly that she is recusing herself from voting on today's introduction and referral calendar, which includes 119891 - allowing the city to provide legal defense for CM Sawant (the recall Sawant initiative).
Item 2 has just been voted to be removed from today's agenda, which is related to amending the mayor's emergency order relating to capping restaurant delivery and pick-up / commission fees.
And now public comment! First one is always related to what is on the agenda, so we will start there.
First comment is a reminder to defund SPD along with a story of 6 cars being called to arrest a homeless individual who stole food from a Safeway.
Second comment is related to the Hayashi Avenue renaming in Lake City. Their farm (taken during internment) was located where the Lake City Farmer's Market is now. This project was approved by living descendants of the Hayashi's. (to say nothing of reparations...)
Third comment is related to a Small Business Pledge that has 500 signatures (per speaker). I have not seen the pledge so I'm not sure what it does, but it appears (on face) to be an effort to increase policing.
Fourth comment is also related to this business pledge.
"Clean, safe, welcoming" business districts.
(Seems like a lot of anti-homeless rhetoric. Does anyone else know about this?)
Fifth comment is ALSO related to the small business pledge. @KCEquityNow@sharethecities have y'all heard anything about this?
"Our streets will continue to wither away."
Last comment is requesting that the voting age be lowered not just to 16 like similar jurisdictions in the area (I have no knowledge of this), but down to 12.
Now into the first major bill which is related to violations of civil emergency orders, CB 119869. CM Lewis is the prime sponsor.
So it seems like the reason for passing this is that this would provide a clear method of recourse for anyone violating a civil emergency order, the main one of note being the required pay and provisions related to on-demand workers during the pandemic.
Now onto the collective bargaining agreement between the city and the International Machinists; a three year agreement including retroactive wage adjustments.
And it passes! Now onto Item 4, which is related to the renaming of a portion of a street to "Hayashi Avenue." CM Juarez is the prime sponsor.
Resolution passes unanimously!
Now into Agenda 5, the rezonings for affordable housing in the Rainier Beach neighborhood.
Now into the details around the proposed developments, which include some child care. Seems like a quality project!
CM Mosqueda making comments in support of the project and stating that she hopes this council works to ensure projects like this happen more quickly in the future.
(which we stan)
The resolution passes!
And that is all for today, please note that tomorrow there will be a special meeting related to CM Sawant's legal defense. I'll be sure to cover it.
^_^
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
And before I begin, still underemployed and would love to hit $40 for this thread.
venmo: houstonace
CashApp: $Archstar
Ok let's go!
So the first thing I want to do is get a few things out of the way. 1) even though a problem may exist in a similar city (let's say SF for example) it's important to remember that although the problems are similar, given the differences in laws the reasons could be different.
I'm predicting roughly an hour of testimony, if not longer. Then will will have discussion before deliberation on the three bills the mayor vetoed. If these three are not sustained, we will then have a final vote on a compromise bill. More details here:
Since I am clearly feeling some type of way I'm going to spill some tea around the concept of the Pike/Pine superblock, because why not.
Now a few months ago (pre-COVID) at the Pike/Pine Urban Nbhd Council we had an initial conversation around the idea of a superblock. This was spurred by me b/c as ambitious as the CM who proposed this is, as a PPUNC board member I wanted to ensure a process that included...
...the neighborhood and that we were able to self-determine the type of block we would like to see. A notable landlord and former board member (whose name you may know but I will not disclose) mentioned that a number of boutiques were concerned about street closures.