Transcript

The Regular Meeting meeting scheduled for 2025-04-08 at Pier 69

  • Good morning
  • This is Commission President Toshiko Hasegawa convening the regular meeting of April 8, 2025
  • The time is 10:30am we're meeting in person today at the Port of Seattle Headquarters Building Commission Chambers and virtually on Microsoft TeaMS Present with me today are Commissioners Calkins, Cho and Felleman and Mohammed who are currently gathered in executive session awaiting the opening of this public meeting
  • We will now recess into executive session to discuss two items regarding litigation or potential litigation or legal risk for RCW 42, 31,101 I with one of these items also regarding national security per RCW 42
  • 31.101 8-I for approximately 60 minutes
  • We'll reconvene into public session at 12 noon
  • Thank you
  • Good morning
  • This is Commission President Toshiko Hasegawa reconvening the regular meeting of April 8, 2025
  • The time is 12:16 and we are meeting in person today at the Port of Seattle Headquarters Building and Commission Chambers as well as virtually a Microsoft TeaMS Clerk Hart, would you please call the roll for all the attendance
  • Thank you
  • Beginning with Commissioner Calkins here
  • Thank you
  • Commissioner Cho
  • We do expect shortly Commissioner Felleman
  • Commissioner Felleman
  • We'll come back
  • Commissioner Hasegawa
  • Present
  • Thank you
  • Commissioner Mohammad
  • Present
  • Thank you
  • Commissioner Felleman
  • Present
  • Thank you so much
  • We do have a quorum established, Madam Commission President
  • Thank you very much
  • Clerk Hart
  • Just
  • Just a few housekeeping items before we begin
  • For everyone in the meeting room, please do turn your cell phones onto silent
  • And for anyone participating on Microsoft Teams, I ask that you pretty please mute your speakers when not actively speaking or presenting
  • And can you please keep your cameras off unless you are a Commissioner or a member of staff participating virtually and are actively addressing the Commission
  • Members of the public addressing the Commission during public comment may turn on their cameras when their name's called to speak and we'll turn them back off again at the conclusion of their remarks
  • For anyone at the dais, please turn off computer speakers and silence your devices
  • Please note for the record that Commissioner Cho has joined
  • Please also remember to address your request to speak through the chair, that being me, and wait to speak until you have been recognized
  • You'll turn your microphones on and off as needed
  • All of the items noted here today will ensure a speed smoother meeting
  • Thank you very much
  • All votes today will be taken by the roll call method or by general consent
  • So it's clear for anyone participating virtually how the votes are cast
  • Commissioners will say aye or Nay, when their name is called, I'd like to open with an acknowledgement that we are meeting on the ancestral lands and waters of the Coast Salish people with whom we share a commitment to steward these natural resources for ourselves and for future generations
  • This meeting is being digitally recorded and may be viewed or heard at any time on the port's website and may be rebroadcast by King County Television
  • And at this time, I invite you all to please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance
  • I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all
  • Thank you, Commissioners
  • The first item of business today is the approval of the agenda
  • As a reminder, if a Commissioner wishes to make a general comment for or against an item on the consent agenda, it's not necessary to pull that item for a separate discussion
  • Rather, you may offer general supporting or opposing comments later in the meeting
  • Once we get to that part of the agenda, however, it is appropriate, if a Commissioner wants to ask questions of staff or wishes to have a dialogue on a consent agenda item, to request the item be pulled for a separate discussion at this time
  • With that said, Commissioners, is there any items that you'd like to pull from the consent agenda or any additional motions to rearrange the orders of the day hearing? None
  • Commissioners, the question is now on approval of the agenda
  • Is there a motion to approve the agenda? So moved
  • Second, the motion's been made by Commissioner Cho and seconded by Commissioner Felleman
  • Is there any objection to approving the agenda as presented? Seeing none, the agenda is approved
  • Thank you very much
  • The next item on our agenda is the Executive Director's report
  • We have Deputy Executive Director Karen Goon to present
  • Thank you
  • Good afternoon, Commissioners
  • I am sitting in for Executive Director Metruck while he's away on business travel
  • Excuse me
  • I would like to begin my remarks by first wishing a belated Eid Mubarak to all those who celebrate
  • I was personally not able to attend the celebration at SEA last week, but I am glad to hear reports of a successful event
  • Thanks to Commissioner Muhammad for providing remarks
  • I was, however, able to attend last week's Little Goodbye wishing former Managing member Managing Director for Aviation Lance Lyttle best of luck and farewell as he leaves the port to become the Chief Executive Officer for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority
  • I am grateful for Arf Gauss for stepping up to be interim Managing Director for aviation while we begin the process of hiring a permanent replacement
  • I also want to thank Laurel Dunphy for stepping up to be the interim Aviation Chief Operating Officer
  • Continuity of leadership is critical as the airport is ramping up for its biggest spring and summer seasons
  • From Wednesday, April 2 to Monday, April 20, an estimated 2.8 million travelers will travel through SEA
  • The busiest days are the next two Thursdays and Fridays
  • The port's newsroom and social channels are full of tips to help travelers avoid airport congestion and enjoy their journey
  • And undoubtedly some of those travelers are coming here to go on an Alaskan cruise as that season begins this Saturday with the Norwegian Bliss sailing out of Pier 66
  • We always make the point that activity equals jobs
  • That is true across our cruise terminals and our airport
  • And this travel activity supports jobs at restaurants, hotels, museums and attractions across our region
  • And of course, our farms and ranches that provide provisions for the 298 sailings that we anticipate this year
  • This economic activity makes a difference and we are pleased to support it
  • We will have more to share on the environmental and economic development leadership of the 2025 cruise season as we move into the year
  • In other aviation news, starting May 7, 2025, all domestic air travelers aged 18 and over must present a Real ID compliant identification to Board of Domestic Air Flight
  • Washington's enhanced driver's license and enhanced ID cards are Real ID compliant
  • If you are flying domestically and over the age of 18 and you do not have a real ID compliant identification, please bring one of the other acceptable forms of identification, such as a U.S
  • passport or U.S
  • passport card or Permanent resident card
  • Turning your attention to things happening at the federal level, we continue to monitor the evolving policy landscape and its implications for the port
  • Key areas of focus on trade include potential impacts on cargo volumes, pricing of imported goods, airline service tied to international cargo and inbound tourism
  • We also are monitoring the fiscal year 26 budget resolution, which will set the stage for a broader legislative package focused on tax, border and defense policy
  • And we continue to assess the potential impact of executive orders on on the port's operations and activities
  • We will provide updates as new and actionable information becomes available
  • Coming back to local policy issues Yesterday we filed an appeal in the King County Superior Court to overturn the Seattle City Council's decision to permit a major residential development in the heart of the industrial area supporting the Seattle's deep water port
  • The port believes the ordinance is an unlawful spot rezone
  • It appears that substantially all of the developable land covered by the Council's action is controlled by one property owner
  • We felt that we had to take the step because of the harmful effect of the ordinance on maritime and industrial operations, the Port and its coalition partners through this appeal asked for the implementation of the ordinance to be blocked and to be found in violation of the state land use policy
  • These types of appeals are usually conclude in approximately six to nine months, although timing can vary
  • We will keep you informed as the matter continues
  • Before I highlight items on today's meeting agenda, I want to inform you that work is advancing on the Child Care Order passed by the Commission earlier this year
  • Order 202503 directed a feasibility study of a port supported child care center near SEA tailored to airport workers as well as a navigator program help employees access child care subsidies and find flexible care options
  • We are moving forward on both fronts
  • For the Child Care Navigator, this effort will be run through port jobs with the launch goal of May 1st
  • We're working on a contract amendment and expect them to bring on additional expertise
  • Workforce Development is managing the contract and will keep Commission informed as things progress
  • For the Child Care Feasibility Study, funds were approved through the Executive Director Delegation of Authority and the RFP will go out later this month with a consultant selection expected by the summer
  • We're aiming for a competitive process and welcome ideas for broadening outreach
  • Eric Shinfield will serve as the Project Manager for this study
  • Moving to today's Commission meeting, I would like to highlight a few items on our new business agenda
  • Today
  • We will seek your authorization to support more equitable participation in our Airport Dining and Retail program through the Tennant Airport Dining and Retail Shell and Core Renovations project
  • We will also seek your authorization to complete the Concourse a Shared Use Lounge project
  • And finally, we will also seek authorization for the next round of Economic Development Partnership Grants
  • Commissioners, this concludes my remarks
  • Thank you very much
  • Deputy Executive Director Goon, Commission Strategic Advisor, will provide the report
  • Whoops, Sorry, I was off mic
  • Thank you very much, Deputy Executive Director Goon
  • And that brings us on to Committee reports
  • Commission Strategic Advisor Erica Chung will bring us through those reports
  • Thank you
  • Good afternoon, Madam President, Commissioners and Deputy Director Goon
  • I have six committee reports for you today
  • The Audit committee met on March 18th with Commissioner Calkins presiding, Commissioner Mohammad and public member Sarah Holstrom in attendance
  • The Committee received the accountability audit results for 2023 from the Office of the Washington State Auditor
  • Port operations were audited and complied with applicable state laws, regulations and its own policies and provided adequate controls over the safeguarding of public resources
  • The Committee also received updates from the Internal Audit Director on the Director's annual communications to the Committee
  • The internal audit outreach program and on the 2025 internal audit plan
  • An information technology audit regarding the satellite transit system was provided in non public session on March 21, Commissioners Calkins and Felloman attended the Portwide Arts and Culture Board meeting
  • Tommy Gregory, Art Program Manager, gave the committee an overview of this year's major aviation and maritime public art projects and upcoming acquisition
  • The committee discussed and approved Moving forward with the public art collection monograph with more details to be shared at the next committee
  • The Committee is also seeking to fill a vacancy of a public member
  • On March 18, Commissioners Felloman and Cho convened the Aviation Committee
  • Commissioners heard a report on the current status and projective financials of major projects at SEA
  • Commissioners identify the needs to discuss how these projects are prioritized for funding as an entire commission, not just as an aviation committee
  • Commissioners also asked about efforts to improve the accuracy of the airport's automated parking space indicators and staff indicated that they would reply to the commissioners with a summary of the work being done to improve the accuracy of these indicators
  • Commissioner Felleman asked about SEA's projected financial metrics including future costs per employment and passenger facilities charge
  • Revenues and staff followed up with the data
  • On Friday, March 21, Commissioners Calkins and Cho convened the Sustainability, Environment and Climate Committee with two topics on the agenda
  • The Commissioners received a pre season update on the 2025 crew season and its progress towards sustainability objectives including Carnival Cruise agreement to pilot biodiesel or renewable diesel aboard the Princess ship, the shore power availability and shore power capability of ships at Pier 66 and Terminal 91 to reduce carbon emissions
  • Robust discussion ensued on how the biodiesel pilot can offer insights to the regulatory and operational issues, alternative fuel research happening and fuels for long term adoption
  • Commissioners were then briefed on the design findings for the South Concourse Evolution Phase 1 Capital Improvement Project under the Sustainable Evaluation Framework, including staff recommendations on carbon reduction strategies and HVAC options
  • On April 7, Commissioners Falaman and Calkins convened the Waterfront and Industrial Lands Committee meeting
  • There were three briefing items, an update on progress from foreign mobility, an update on Jack Block park improvements and proposed waterfront floodplain updates by the City of Seattle
  • The Highline Forum met on March 26 with commissioners Cho presiding
  • Major topics of the meeting were an update on the START First State Legislative Priorities advocacy effort in Olympia and sharing the results of the assessment for the Port Sound Insulation Repair and Replacement pilot project
  • The Port State Government Relations Manager John Flanagan shared the five priorities the SEA Stakeholder Advisory Roundtable START collectively agreed to pursue at the State Legislature for the benefit of the neighboring communities
  • Then, Port Noise program manager Ryan McMullen reviewed the results from the assessment for the Port Sound Insulation and Repair and Replacement Pilot project and Next Steps
  • He shared that they received over 1,000 responses for the approximately 3,200 households contacted, conducted field assessment and acoustic testing of 30 homes, and reviewed studies of the expected useful life of windows and doors
  • Also, Federal Way Mayor Jim Farrell as the meeting holds, Citi providing an update on the many activities happening in Federal Way Aviation Capital Delivery Director Claire Gallagher reported on the February 26 start meeting and shared that the goal of the upcoming April 23 meeting would be to identify which priorities should be added to the running list for consideration at future START meetings
  • During the round the Table Sharing Commissioner Cho announced the departure of Aviation Managing Director Lance Lyttle for the Greater Orlando Airport
  • This concludes my report
  • Thank you
  • Thank you
  • Erica
  • Are there any follow up questions for my colleagues for Erica regarding committee reports? Seeing none, we'll now continue in our agenda to the public comment portion of our meeting
  • The Port Commission welcomes public comment as an important part of the public process
  • Comments are received and considered by the Commission in its deliberations
  • Before we take public comment, let's take a quick review of our rules for in person and virtual public comment and Clerk Hart can go ahead and play the recorded rules meeting today as noted, public comment is an the Port of Seattle Commission welcomes you to our meeting today
  • As noted, public comment is an important part of the public process and the Port of Seattle Commission thanks you for joining us
  • Before proceeding, we will overview the rules governing public comment for your general information
  • Each speaker will have two minutes to speak unless otherwise revised by the Presiding Officer for the purposes of meeting efficiency and the speaker shall keep their remarks within the allotted time provided a timer will appear on the screen and a buzzer will sound at the end of the Speaker's comment period
  • The Commission accepts comments on items appearing on its agenda and items related to the conduct of Port business
  • Presiding Officer will ask speakers to limit their comments to these topics
  • This rule applies to both introductory and concluding remarks
  • Disruptions of Commission public meetings are prohibited
  • General disruptions include, but are not limited to, the Speaking before being recognized by the Presiding Officer holding or placing banners and signs in the meeting room in a way that endangers others or obstructs the flow of people or view of others at the meeting intentionally disrupting, disturbing or otherwise impeding attendance or participation at a meeting refusing to follow the direction of the Presiding Officer or security personnel attempting to use the comment Time for purposeful delay without conveying a discernible message
  • Using the comment period to assist in the campaign for election of any person to any office or for the promotion of or opposition to any ballot proposition, except when addressing action being taken by the Commission on a ballot proposition appearing on its agenda
  • Directing public comments to the audience, engaging in abusive or harassing behavior, including, but not limited to, derogatory remarks based on age, race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, disability, pregnancy, sex, gender, sexual orientation, transgender status, marital status, or any other category protected by law
  • The use of obscene or profane language and gestures, assaults or other threatening behavior and sexual misconduct or sexual harassment for safety purposes
  • Individuals are asked not to physically approach commissioners or staff at the meeting table during the meeting
  • Individuals may provide written public comment before or after the meeting, and in addition, speakers may offer written materials to the Commission clerk for distribution during their testimony to the Commission
  • A detailed list of the public comment rules is available through the Commission clerk
  • If a meeting is disrupted by an individual in attendance in the meeting room or by an individual providing public comment in person or virtually, the port will impose progressive consequences that may result in exclusion from future meetings
  • Written materials provided to the clerk will be included in today's meeting record
  • The clerk has a list of those prepared to speak
  • When your name is called, please come to the testimony table or unmute yourself
  • If joining, virtually repeat your name for the record and state your topic related to an item on the agenda or related to the conduct of port business
  • For those joining virtually
  • When you have concluded your remarks, please turn off your camera and mute your microphone
  • Our public comment period will now commence
  • Thank you again for joining us today
  • All right, and with that, clerk Hart, will you please take us through those who have signed up in the room to provide public comment? Thank you
  • Would you like me to alternate among the lists? Let's start with those who are in the room
  • Okay
  • Thank you
  • We do have several speakers here today, so from the room, beginning with Peter Schrappen
  • And Peter, I am sorry if I have mispronounced your last name
  • Oh, wonderful
  • And please go ahead and repeat your name for the record and the topic that you're speaking about today related to the conduct of port business or an agenda item before for us
  • Thank you
  • aye.there
  • Peter Schrappen, the no Discharge Zone issue
  • Good afternoon
  • My name is Peter Schrappen
  • I'm the Pacific Region Vice President for the American Waterways Operators
  • AWO is the national trade association for the tugboat, towboat and barge industry, representing over 300 members throughout the United States, including those serving and calling on the Port of Seattle
  • I'm sure you've seen our members moving barges, fueling ships, assisting deep draft vessels coming into port, providing escorting services in Puget Sound for tankers that are in moving petroleum
  • We are an essential sector of the state's $36 billion maritime economy
  • Our members regularly are feature in the Port of Seattle's materials and appear in the states of the State of the Port's address
  • Today I'm joined by Western Towers Rush Shrewsbury who also serves on the AWO Board of Directors
  • I'm sitting in front of you today because the sector's 36
  • This part of the sector's $36 billion economy needs a commercial pump out at the Port of Seattle so vessels can offload sewage in a safe and reliable manner which will help protect Puget Sound's health
  • AWO's exemplary 80 year record reflects its deep commitment to environmental stewardship
  • As an example, AW members are proud of the maritime industry standing as the most sustainable mode of freight transportation and are deeply committed to protecting Washington's waterways
  • But we need your help because of the no Discharge Zones designation that went into effect in 2023
  • Looking at the Marine Exchange's latest data, which I just got Today, there are 18,000 vessels in the last 90 days that have been part of the no Discharge zone traffic and that's zero commercial pump outs that they have access to
  • There are other pump outs coming online in Everett, Anacortes, hopefully Tacoma, but none are in the works of the Port of Seattle
  • And I just wanted to end just wanted to commend working with the staff here, Kelly Goodwin, Joseph Gellings
  • They've really sharpened their pencils and tried to find a spot for the commercial towing industry but have had no success on that front
  • So we just see this as a real need and that's why I wanted to bring this to your attention if it wasn't already
  • So thank you for your time
  • Thank you Pete, Clerk Hart, please introduce the next speaker
  • Yes, thank you
  • From the room, Russell Shrewsburg
  • And Russell, please go ahead and repeat your name for the record and your topic related to the conduct of port business or an agenda item here before us today
  • Today
  • Thank you, Russell Shrewsbury
  • And then no Discharge Zone is the topic
  • Please begin
  • So as my colleague Peter said, there isn't a commercial pump out here in Seattle for any tugs or fishing boats, any of that stuff
  • Port facilities have some pump outs in the marinas, Fisherman's Terminal, harbor island is the other one
  • But Fisherman's Terminal Is too shallow for most tugboats to get to
  • Harbor island has deep water, but the dock's insufficient
  • So we're hoping to see something here in the port where the vessels that we run and operate around the sound can pump out at
  • If I was to run a tug to Everett or Tacoma, that's a three hour each wave run and you're burning tons of fuel to do that
  • So we're just really looking for some support from the port if we can get it
  • And I'm happy to answer any questions you may have
  • Acknowledge not at this time, but thank you very much
  • And we've got your contact information here
  • Appreciate it
  • Thank you very much
  • Continuing with the room we have Jordan Van Vost
  • Welcome Jordan
  • Jordan
  • Repeat your name for the record and your topic please
  • Jordan Van Vos
  • Cruise ships, Cruise industry
  • Good afternoon commissioners
  • My name is Jordan Van Voce
  • It's been just over five years since my colleagues and friends have been coming to these meetings to talk about cruise and urging the port to scale back its involvement with the cruise ship industry based on its many ecological harms, disregard for fair labor practices and for the adverse impacts from over tourism on cities from Seattle and Alaska
  • As of yesterday, atmospheric CO2 measured to 428.57 parts per million and continues to rapidly climb
  • Clean fuels are a great idea, but we need to reduce discretionary emissions now
  • Yes, the cruise industry brings in millions of dollars, but what good is money when summer heat waves are getting worse, our forests are burning, our air quality declining and cruise corporations continue to underpay workers
  • We are complicit in these harms by continuing to promote the cruise industry
  • The port has a legislative mandate to promote economic growth
  • But what does that mean? The word economy comes from the ancient Greek and meant simply the wise management of one's household
  • True stewardship of the economy must take into account the long term stability of the climate, the environment and the people and species of the bioregion
  • Any sober analysis of the cruise ship industry presently would conclude the need to immediately scale back our investment in this harmful industry and seek healthier alternatives
  • Thank you for listening
  • Thank you, Jordan
  • Our next speaker is Iris Antman
  • Iris, please go ahead and repeat your name for the record and your topic related to the conduct of port business or an agenda item before us today
  • Thank you
  • Thank you
  • My name is Iris Antman and I'm going to also speak about the cruise industry
  • It's good to see all of you
  • Good afternoon
  • I'm a member of Seattle Cruise Control speaking today to express My disappointment about the upcoming 2025 cruise season, in which the number of cruises planned will be an increase over last year
  • Even though our climate and environmental crises are worsening, the port is proceeding with business as usual by increasing the number of cruises
  • We understand your mandate is economic expansion, but it's also environmental sustainability
  • You ignore the latter to service the former
  • Tweaking around the edges, such as shore power, is way too little to make a meaningful difference
  • The federal government has once again vowed to pull out of the Paris climate Accord, cut back on EPA programs, vowed to increase oil and gas production and exports, and plans to increase logging here at home
  • We could do something positive to counteract these climate threats
  • Instead of ignoring the multiple harms the cruise industry inflicts on human and animal life, workers, the air and water and the climate
  • The port could encourage people to vacation closer to home, exploring the beautiful places all over America and closer to where they live
  • You can turn your creativity to developing other waterfront activities here in Seattle
  • Ones that support life, health and community, that showcase our beautiful environment and that promote truly sustainable ways to live and recreate
  • Instead, the port seems determined to march into the future with blinders on to the reality of our situation
  • We understand that a decision is to be made shortly about scrubber waste discharge
  • Please don't let scrubber waste be dumped into Coast Salish waters, endangering the health of the water and the marine animals who live here
  • Thank you
  • Thank you, Madam Commissioner President
  • Our next speaker is Stacey Oakes
  • Welcome, Stacey
  • Stacey, if you could repeat your name for the record and your topic, please
  • Good afternoon
  • My name is Stacy Oakes
  • I'm a member of Seattle Cruise Control, and I'll be speaking about cruise ships
  • Why can't we have our goals, our top priorities be about having clean, healthy air to breathe, clean, healthy water, oceans full of thriving SEA creatures, a balance between working and enjoying life, plenty of food for every belly, abundant trees, forests, wetlands and parks
  • And most importantly, protecting and expanding all of these forms of wealth for our children, for our grandchildren, and for all those who come after us
  • Because the primary motivation in capitalism is about making a profit, which means that profit is more important than our health, more important than happiness, more important than keeping orcas and salmon from going extinct, more important than tricking workers with dignity, more important than clean, abundant water, more important than ensuring our children and grandchildren can continue to exist on this beautiful planet
  • And we can't keep embracing this mindset
  • The cruise industry is the epitome of capitalism, of pollution and exploitation, of glorifying Profit at the expense of all else
  • And it's clear that the Port of Seattle is currently glorifying profit at the expense of all else, too
  • Presentations, reports, goals and dreams of expansion only include language about profit, while ignoring the reality of the losses and the deadly trajectory of ever expanding harm
  • Changing course can start with just acknowledging all the harm, with admitting that we need to solve the problem, and with taking steps to meaningfully reduce the harm as soon as possible
  • Like reducing cruise sailings every year
  • Until we can wean ourselves off this toxic industry, we can have better
  • We can be wealthy in ways that truly matter
  • And you all have power to do this
  • Thank you
  • Thank you, Stacey
  • Our next speaker from the room is Amy Farah
  • Welcome, Amy
  • Amy, if you could please go ahead and repeat your name for the record and your topic related to the conduct of port business or in an agenda item, please
  • Thank you
  • Hi, my name is Amy Fair
  • I'm the fourth granddaughter of Chief Tecumseh of Duwamish, also Suquamish, and an enrolled Lummi nation tribal member
  • I'm a relative of the Tlingit and Haida whale clans
  • Today I'm speaking about cruise ships
  • It is emotional for me to stand here, sit here today in a building that is built on top of my people's village sites and ways of life
  • Ways of life that honored the finned ones in a unique way, an indigenous way
  • It is my inherent duty to demand a closer look at how we mitigate this cruise ship industry
  • The long lasting damaging effects of careless and sensitive handling within most of these cruise companies, outside and inside of our US borders are creating global atrocities
  • Our orcas and salmon are near extinction
  • Don't you all want your grandchildren to remember you as someone who stood up to protect our beautiful SEA life? We must stop believing that we are not part of these oceanic ecosystems and that we own the waterways
  • I have watched the ecosystem of our Coast Salish ocean shift into a state of near emergency
  • We cannot claim back the whales once they are gone
  • They are starving
  • In our Coast Salish rivers and oceans we used to have 100 pound king salmon and they are now 20 to 40 pounds
  • Do you think the treated toxic waste These ships release 3, 10, 30 miles out is healthy for our finned relatives? We must have intensified regulations all around
  • Greater fines and regulations not followed
  • And we need to minimize traffic in our waterways
  • I ask you to assert acts of further compassion in your job positions
  • The same compassion you would give your grandchildren, your domesticated four legged give to our voiceless give Also that to our voiceless and our finned ones, the water connects us, it does not divide us
  • We must work together
  • Acm, Haishka, Yohamus
  • Respect
  • Thank you
  • Take care of yourselves
  • Thank you, Amy
  • Our next speaker from the room is Alex Zimmerman
  • Alex, please repeat your name for the record and your agenda topic, your agenda item or a topic related to the conduct of port business
  • Please, your name first
  • Alex, and then I'll start
  • Yeah, my name Alex Zimmerman
  • I am Trump and MAGA member
  • I have 6,000 trespass nobody in human history have this you persecute me five times
  • Okay, Alex, your topic please
  • Yeah, my topic is public comment number 7point number 2
  • I want to speak about something that is absolutely important
  • Oh, but you don't talk about this
  • I'm you not open microphone when I told you, Sir, I have 6,000 day of trespass in five times
  • You prosecute me because I support Trump and MAGA member
  • So I will repeat this now
  • So about public Comment number 2
  • What is we have months ago Trump make executive order about freedom of speech
  • Because everything what is I come here for many years
  • What is the rules? What is you have in your rules in microphone in everybody listen to me
  • Is a pure crime
  • You understand this federal order freedom of speech
  • So you don't have freedom of speech
  • Yeah, you're absolutely right
  • You don't have freedom of speech
  • You're not capitalist
  • No, you're not a capitalist
  • I never respect you like a capitalism
  • Yeah, government corporation
  • $300 million come from federal government rules
  • What is you have right now
  • They smell to me like a damn Nazi Gestapo fascist who bandita rules
  • If we have right now rules what is established months ago
  • But my president, you know what it means support by Congress
  • So right now I demand come back what is we have before for 250 years
  • So you don't need additional freedom of speech
  • Executive order
  • You know what it means because you are Nazi pig
  • You know what this means? You cut everything
  • MR Zimmerman, I cannot allow you to
  • No, this is exactly what is
  • I told you, it's a freedom of speech you cannot use
  • One more warning and I will
  • You cannot use your rules
  • Your rules
  • You're continuing to be disruptive and now I need to continue
  • Please remove yourself from the lectern
  • You're broken federal order now
  • Thank you
  • And at this point I will ask our partners in law enforcement to show you the door
  • For the record, that was two strikes
  • Thank you
  • Thank you, clerk
  • Hart, please introduce our next speaker
  • Thank you
  • Our next speaker from the room is Rick Harlan
  • Rick, I'm sorry if I pronounced your last name incorrectly
  • Welcome Rick and Rick
  • If you could repeat your name for the record and your topic related to the conduct of port business or in an agenda item, please
  • Okay, deep breath
  • My name is Rick Harland or Harland and topic is cruise ship production
  • Greetings
  • As a Seattle resident for over half a century, I offer one word to consider in regards to your cruise ship responsibilities and that is balance
  • I've seen port commissioners and executives come and go despite the very strength of their good intentions
  • The Port of Seattle's port protective balance has gradually shifted to increase protection of large scale economic interests versus protection of public health, water, air and our environmental future
  • Am I saying stop all cruise ships now? No, I'm saying now balance
  • Start immediately with particular reductions regarding cruise ships docking here
  • Definitely don't allow any of them anymore to belch their engines
  • Well docked making progress there with them paying for electricity
  • Great
  • Avoid future environmental harm by mandating docking preferences for cruise ships that significantly reduce their harmful emissions
  • Now here and at SEA ones that you know of quite well
  • Also give docking preference to cruise ships who can prove that they have good wages, benefits and working hours for all their workers
  • We're going in the wrong direction
  • Currently cruise ship sizes and frequency are increasing here again this year
  • This simply must not become expected
  • Status quo habit and addiction
  • Our large and small businesses can live with much fewer and much better cruise ships
  • We can have thriving year round waterfront, local and area businesses in a new direction of balance that is increasingly sustainable for now and for for our responsibilities to future generations
  • After all, like the people saying in Belgium, throughout Belgium in 2012, we're on a planet that has a problem
  • We gotta solve it, get involved and do it now, now, now
  • We need to build a better future and we need to start right now
  • Thank you
  • Thank you, Rick
  • Our next speaker before us here in the room is Mark from ilwu
  • Mark, if you could please repeat your name for the record and your topic please
  • Hello, Mark Elverston, Local 19
  • I'm here on the topic of industrial lands
  • Pier 18, Pier 5 and the East Waterway
  • Good morning commissioners
  • I'm Mark Elverson, president of Local 19 of the IOWU
  • We want to thank CEO Metruck, all of the Commissioners Calkins, Cho, Felleman, Mohamed and Hasegawa for their fight for the industry lands in Sodo
  • The fight will continue
  • The Port of Seattle is the port for the State of Washington and America's inland and farmers
  • Commissioners, we need your help to bring Pier 5 and Pier 18 to full capacity
  • One million TEUs at both piers
  • We are working on new break bulk opportunities in the East Waterway
  • We need a future of protected industrial lands for hundreds of years
  • And looking forward to the first cruise ship of the year this Saturday
  • Thank you
  • Thank you
  • Our next speaker is Ron Manuel
  • Welcome Ron
  • Good afternoon commissioners
  • My name is Ron manwell
  • I'm with ILW Local 19
  • My topic is on cruise ships, container operations, general port business
  • We are the workforce that loads and unloads the cargo that comes in and out of the port
  • I speak today in favor of the current and future cruise business in the Port of Seattle as well as the efforts commissioners and staff have done to try to stop the city council from making the stupid decision to place housing in the worst place in the city for it, the port's heavy haul corridor
  • I have worked on the waterfront close to 40 years
  • I, along with many of my co workers operate the cranes you see along the waterfront unloading all the goods that make modern life possible
  • The clothes you wear, the food you eat, the cars you drive, the electronics all come from the ships and trucks coming in and out of the port
  • When you're on the Argosy tour boats cruising by Pier 5, 18, 30 or 46, we see the children and adults alike wave to us way up in that glass box we sit in
  • We try to always give a friendly wave with our feet
  • Our hands are busy
  • When kids see that we respond to them
  • They jump up and down excitedly
  • This is commerce
  • This is America
  • When we're working on the cruise ships, myself and my co workers operate the forklifts, pallet jacks, shore power connection
  • We handle your luggage and food for this voyage you are taking with your families
  • Many have planned for years to do this
  • While we operate the mobile cranes loading the cargo, we see children in their staterooms on their balconies watching this organized chaos of unloading thousands of people and their luggage, then loading back thousands more, plus all the food and provisions as well as luggage
  • The children laugh and point and wave at us on the dock and in our machines
  • What joy they are having
  • They will later meet up with grandparents that they may never see again
  • Family members who may live in different states or cities
  • These cruises are so much more than a vacation
  • They are family reunions
  • They will meet other kids from around the country and the world
  • What an exciting event for them
  • Please don't let a few protesters take that away from future generations
  • There are about 8 million people in Washington State
  • They overwhelmingly support the ports, the cruise business and the thousands of jobs created and facilitated by Port business 50, 100, 1000 protesters with their props are not represented in the community
  • Please ignore them
  • So, Clerk Kirk, that was 10 speakers on our first page of sign ins
  • I'd like at this time to pivot over to virtual testimony and then we'll resume with in person testimony
  • Thank you
  • Thank you
  • We have Jared Hill joining us virtually
  • Jared, if you're on the line, please go ahead and repeat your name for the record and your topic related to the conduct of port business or an agenda item before us today
  • And we'll go ahead and call for Jared Hill one more time
  • Jared, if you're not there right now, we will make our way back to you
  • And moving to Jen Davis Hayes also joining us virtually
  • Jen, you ready to rock? I am
  • All right, the floor is yours
  • Great
  • Thank you commissioners for the opportunity to speak today
  • My name is Jen Davis Hayes
  • I'm the City of Issaquah's Economic and Housing Development manager and I'm here today to talk about the Port of Seattle's Economic Development Partnership program
  • This program is really important to all the cities in King County and I just want to mention a few things of why it's important to Issaquah and our surrounding cities
  • It has allowed us to be to coordinate regionally around startup425
  • So Issaquah businesses as well as others on the east side are able to grow and we wouldn't be able to offer these services without this regional opportunity
  • We are able to support businesses like Morgan Cosmetics, who's an importer of Argan oil extracts from Morocco who is now also looking at partnering with Botswana to expand the product line
  • So this business is not only focused on the economics that help these growers, but also have a very important social and environmental objectives that are aligned with the port
  • In our cities, we celebrate our local businesses through Issaquah Loyal, our shop local program
  • We also try to connect our creative businesses with some of the more traditional industries around manufacturing and aviation to think about how to grow all of those sectors
  • And we also partner with visit Issaquah to promote tourism and plan to recommend plan to implement recommendations from their destination stewardship
  • In addition to programs that we implement, the program itself encourages best practices among King County cities
  • Thanks to Annie Tran, the port's Economic Development manager
  • I've worked in economic development at municipalities for over 25 years and she is an amazing staff
  • So I ask that you support this Economic Development Partnership program investment that is sparked both economic benefits in Issaquah and throughout the entire county
  • Thank you
  • Thank you, Jen
  • Clerk Hart, can we go back and call on Jared again and see if he's here? Yes, calling for Jared Hill joining us virtually
  • Is he signed on in the room? Actually, I don't believe he was in at check in
  • So we were just waiting for aye
  • to join
  • And that would be with Nicole Suarez
  • Nicole, please go ahead and repeat your name for the record
  • Your topic related to the conduct of port business
  • For an agenda item, please
  • Yes, hello, Nicole Suarez
  • I am from the City of Kenmore, the community and business engagement coordinator with the city and I am here today to speak on the Economic Development City Partnership Program through the Port of Seattle
  • So thank you for your time and just wanted to share that we are at the city are sincerely grateful for the funding provided through the Port of Seattle Economic Development grant prograMS As a small city with very limited staffing and resources for economic development work, the Port of Seattle grant allows us to execute projects that would not have been feasible without this program
  • These initiatives have had a lasting and meaningful impact and have strengthened our partnerships with our local Kidmere business community and beyond
  • So we rely heavily on these grant funds to implement projects that support our local businesses, as I mentioned, and Kenmore's economic growth
  • So in recent years this grant has funded promotion of a new Kenmore October fest event that has drawn tourism and business growth and promotion in our area
  • We've also been able to offer professional photography services for local businesses
  • We have offered a shop local marketing campaigns and have also offered small business consulting and training services
  • So we have, through specifically tourism related efforts, we were able to bolster some tourism elements of our findcnmore.org website which we also promoted our Oktoberfest event on
  • And through that grant funding last year, we were able to add a tourism badge demarking tourism related businesses on the business directory section of the website
  • And we're able to have content from a professional travel writer bulk up our section of Visit Kenmore on that website
  • We are also able to promote the Kenmore Oktoberfest event through wide networks including Seattle Times425, Seattle Met Magazine and more and print 2,500 passport books which encourage visitation and patronage to several local Kenmore businesses
  • Thank you
  • Thank you
  • Our next speaker joining us virtually is Chris Craig
  • Chris, are you there? Yes, you got it
  • Good afternoon commissioners
  • My name is Chris Craig, Economic Development manager with the City of Berrien, here to provide public comment on the Economic Development Partnership program
  • I wanted to start by thanking the Port Commission for continuing to support support the Economic Development Partnership Grant program over the last nine years
  • Burien has participated in this program for all of that time and it continues to be a valuable and integral part of efficiently using the limited funds we have available to improve the lives of Bureau residents, support our local small business community and make burying a welcoming place for travelers through SEATAC International Airport
  • Past projects we have complete have completed have included real estate development programs that have led to more than $75 million in new real estate investments in our Downtown Small Business Assistant program to elevate underserved businesses including creation and marketing of shop localbeerian.com Workforce development programs to support local students in partnership with the Urban League provision of digital marketing training and services for small businesses and micro businesses, and place making efforts including Downtown Wayfinding to provide travelers a more comfortable experience
  • Exploring BRM Programs funded through the grant this year have allowed us to partner regionally with public and private economic development stakeholders including Sound side Alliance for Economic Development, the Small Business Development Center, Greater Seattle Partners, the Urban League, Port of Seattle, Discover, Berean Seattle, Southside Regional Tourism Authority and others
  • These relationships and partnerships often extend well beyond the life cycle of the grant
  • The Port this year also allowed us to attract additional foot traffic in our downtown supporting very successful and well attended seasonal markets funding for the Small Business Development center as they work to provide one on one support for our local businesses and hotel attraction efforts to provide airport travelers with additional lodging options at the airport
  • So thank you again for the Port Commission for the ongoing support for this program
  • Also wanted to relay my appreciation for the Port of Seattle Economic Development staff
  • Special thanks to Annie Tran for their continuing support, diligence and agility in administrating the program so we can continue to make investments to economic prosperity in our community
  • Thank you
  • Thank you, thank you
  • Madam
  • Commission President Jared Hill still has not joined us online
  • We can go back and call for aye
  • at the end of all of this
  • Sounds good
  • Next speaker then is Laura Thomas
  • Laura, please repeat your name for the record and your topic related to the conduct of port business or an agenda item before us today
  • Thank you
  • Good afternoon, this is Laura Thomas from the City of Duval
  • I'm Speaking to item 10C under New Business which is Economic Development City Partnership Dollars
  • We are definitely supported and encourage the reauthorization of funding of these partnership dollars
  • Duval Duvall has participated in this program for several years and it's been very successful for our community and we've also partnered with other Soolamine Cities to connect our communities through tourism and local business advocacy
  • Duvall does not have a lodging tax, so this program is a critical funding source for our business and tourism based projects and events
  • This past year we were able to fund two new events
  • We did Movie at the Farm in partnership with our Historical Society and we had that event at the Duval Farmstead where families were able to enjoy a day at the farm where they learned about historical farming practices, made butter and so much more
  • They also then in the evening watched a movie in the drop in that Sorry in the Suquami Valley with Mount Baker in the backdrop
  • We also held a winter holiday train event in partnership with with local businesses, the Historical Society and the Northwest Art Center
  • We provided rides on a small model train at our historical depot park and then we had activities up at one of our historic buildings on Main street and this included a holiday market at the visitor center
  • Probably most popular obviously was the train ride, but we also had a large Lego play area that was also a big aye.
  • We also include a shop local component with all of our events and all of the dollars that we are grateful for receiving
  • I want to thank you for your time and I hope you visit the Valley soon
  • Thank you
  • Thank you
  • Our next speaker is Lars Erickson joining us virtually
  • Lars, if you could please repeat your name for the record and your topic please for the record
  • Good afternoon, My name is Lars Erickson and I'm here today on behalf of the 2,500 members of the Seattle Metro Chamber
  • Regarding the 25, 2025 cruise season kicking off this weekend, it's important to remember how much the industry impacts Seattle's economy, generating over 900 million in economic activity annually and supporting over 5,500 jobs
  • The economic reach of the cruise industry extends well beyond the local vendors and farmers providing provisions for the initial Cruise
  • On average, 66% of cruise passengers stay at least one night in Seattle and 6% stay three or more nights both before and after their cruise
  • Many of those passengers return for longer stays as downtown revitalizes, the cruise industry has become even more important to local small and mid sized businesses and we appreciate the industry's ongoing investments to develop technologies and practices to reduce emissions and protect our environment
  • A thriving and healthy waterfront is vital for Seattle to remain a dynamic city
  • We look forward to a vibrant 2025 crew season and ongoing partnerships with the Port of Seattle
  • Thank you
  • Thank you
  • And then our next speaker is Sandy Hunt
  • Sandy Please repeat your name for the record and your agenda item or topic related to the conduct of port business, please
  • Certainly
  • Thank you
  • My name is Sandy Hunt and I'm speaking on revising travel and cargo projections for the Port of Seattle in light of Trump administration isolationist and authoritarian policies
  • Actually, the opening marks of your first presenter
  • Okay, so, dear commissioners, I am part of the defenders of Highline Forest, and we urge you to reconsider the current projections for air travel and cargo traffic through SEATAC Airport and the ports for the volume for 2025 and beyond, with analysis and trends transparently communicated to the public
  • While the current forecast anticipates an approximately 2% increase in passenger traffic through the airport, for example, recent data and trends suggest that these estimates may be overly optimistic and require downward revisions
  • Trump isolationist and authoritarian policies are very clearly impacting the Port of Seattle's current projections
  • And this is as a result of, number one, a decline in international travel impacting the number of tourists coming through, which are anticipated to decline in the US by 9.4% to a decline in consumer confidence, which impacts domestic travel
  • Bank of America analysis suggests that a 7.2% drop in airline spending during periods of decline in consumer confidence
  • Three, the ripple effects of tariffs and other Trump economic policies, creating headwinds for economic expansion and increased prices
  • Number five, a decline of international student travel to attend US Institutions of higher education
  • So, given these factors, it is critical that the Port of Seattle formally adopt revisions to air travel and cargo projections
  • This is particularly given the fact that you're doing NEPA and SEPA analysis of your expansions
  • Thank you
  • Thank you, Sandy
  • Our next speaker, Madam Commission President, is Liz Johnson
  • Liz, please go ahead and repeat your name for the record
  • Then we have Nathan Dunn after that
  • Yes, that is correct
  • Calling again
  • Hi
  • There you go
  • Oh, hello
  • Hi
  • My name is Liz Johnson and I am the Senior Director of Tourism Development at Visit Seattle, and I'm here in support of cruise operations in our city
  • Good afternoon, commissioners
  • Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today
  • Cruising generates significant economic opportunity across our region
  • But just as importantly, it represents a shared commitment by the cruise lines and the port to build a future for the city where economic growth, community well being and environmental stewardship can go hand in hand
  • You've heard previous speakers mention the economic impact on our community, so I won't relay those figures again
  • However, I do want to point out that on average, every cruise ship that begins its journey here In Seattle contributes $4.2 million to Washington's economy
  • Those are real dollars going into local communities that support family wage jobs and small business growth
  • When we at Visit Seattle tell the story of this city
  • Cruise is an essential part of that narrative
  • As the gateway to Alaska, Seattle welcomes domestic and international travelers who often extend their stays to explore a destination that may be entirely new to them
  • Cruise doesn't just connect passengers to Alaska, it connects them to it connects them to Seattle's hotels, restaurants, arts neighborhoods
  • And this creates meaningful economic opportunity
  • What's especially clear to me is that the port and the cruise industry prioritize more than just the economic value of the passenger
  • These are they are mindful in their impact on the communities that they touch
  • Through collaboration on shore power, onboard waste management, recycling and other environmental initiatives, they are working together to build a cruise industry that is both economically and environmentally sustainable
  • This commitment ensures that the industry continues to provide financial benefit today while also protecting the natural beauty of our region for future generations
  • We applaud both the port and the cruise lines for setting an example in sustainable cruise operations and for advancing policies that benefit both the environment and the communities that they serve
  • Thank you for your time
  • Thank you
  • And then the last speaker that we have signed up virtually today is Nathan Dom
  • Nathan, please go ahead and repeat your name for the record and your agenda item or topic related to the conduct of port business
  • Please Good afternoon Commissioners
  • I'm Nathan Dahm, Economic Development Manager for Business, City of Shoreline, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to share with you how important this item 10c the port of Seattle Economic Development Partnership Program is to our community
  • We have been an enthusiastic participant in the program since the beginning, leveraging the strengths of our partners in film, music, farmers market, art and local businesses to advance key City Council economic development priorities
  • Our annual Juneteenth Celebration is a great example
  • It never would have been possible without the Economic Development Partnership Program funding for its first two years
  • This well attended event is a real world representation of the City's resolution to become an anti racist community and it includes a black owned business marketplace, music and other performances and free food that is both nourishing and a cultural experience
  • It has deepened relationships between the city and partners like Black Coffee Northwest, which is a thriving local business that is also an economic development accelerator for so many other entrepreneurs of color in our community
  • Similarly, the City partnered with the Ferrain Farmers Market and LGBTQIA plus organizations to host a Pride Celebration which has also become operationalized as an annual representation of city and community commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion
  • Without the financial support of the program, new initiatives like Shoreline's Pride and Juneteenth Events would most likely still just be great ideas we wish we could pursue
  • We and our partners are grateful to the Port of Seattle for enabling us to support and start and amplify these inclusive economic development and activities
  • We in Shoreline feel fortunate to have your staff also to convene and coach and advise and encourage us all in our efforts
  • Thanks to your staff that City of Shoreline has benefited from best practices and expertise of your staff, as well as through collaborative conversations with colleagues in other cities in this network
  • So I applaud the Port for this wonderful program
  • We're grateful for it
  • And I encourage you to consider reauthorizing
  • Thank you
  • Thank you very much
  • So that concludes all the people who have signed up in advance to be able to address the Commission
  • I'm looking around the room to see if there's anybody else in person who did not sign up in advance but would like to provide public comment
  • Is there anybody virtually who did not sign up in advance but would like to address the Commission? And I'm going to do one last call for Jared Hill with that
  • That concludes the public comment section of our of our agenda
  • Clerk Hart, can you give a brief synopsis of any of the written comments that we received? Thank you, Madam Commission President, Members of the Commission Deputy Executive Director, we've received 22 written comments for the meeting today
  • These have been previously distributed to you and will become a part of the meeting record today
  • Several emails were received supporting the reduction and elimination of crews and impacts on the environment caused by crews
  • These were received from Linda Carroll, Aaron Ganty, Jared Howe, Hoa Pantastico, Camille Baldwin, Bonnie Sherry B, Jim Lieberman, I'm sorry
  • Leanna Lang an [email protected] Matt Kalinsky, Rosemary Moore, Peggy Prince, Thea McGilvery, Ilana Shulakshana, Betty Brooking, Jess Wallach, Gabby Connors, Erica Schweitzer and Delia Ward
  • Bob Donegan, Seattle Historic Waterfront association, submitted written comments supporting the economic benefits that cruise has in the region and spoke in support of resuscitating the effort to build a third cruise terminal at T46
  • Doug McIntyre, City of Maple Valley and Chris Pasanetti, City of Imnincla, submitted written comments supporting agenda item 10C, the Ports Economic Development Partnership Grant Program and related 2025-2026 authorization request and spoke to the value of the program and its positive community impacts
  • And that concludes the written comments we've received today
  • Thank you very much
  • Thank you everybody who came for public comment
  • We appreciate your voice
  • All right, the next order of business upon us is the matter of the consent agenda
  • Items on the consent agenda are considered routine and will be adopted by one motion
  • Items removed from the consent agenda will be considered separately immediately after adoption of the remaining consent agenda iteMS So at this time, I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda covering items 8A through E
  • So moved
  • The motion has been made by Commissioner Calkins, is seconded by Commissioner Cho
  • Commissioners, please say
  • Oh, is there any comment? So at this time, I would just like to acknowledge that item 8e is in relating to the matter of the performance rating of our executive director
  • And he's not here with us today because he's conducting official business elsewhere out of town
  • But I just wanted to share with the public that we are proud to give aye
  • an excellent performance rating
  • He is a unique talent that we are lucky to have as our own at the port of Seattle
  • Not only did he establish a strategic plan and all the deliverables for the last year, but he executed on them
  • And that was despite tremendous and unforeseen challenges that were not a part of the strategic plan, not least of which was the matter of the cyber attack
  • The executive director Metruck's leadership, the Port of Seattle, deftly navigated that unprecedented challenge and like a case of spilled milk, cleaned it up so that it could be even better than it was before the attack
  • Now, we're still recovering, but we have identified vulnerabilities and are committed to making sure that we are promoting the safety, well being and security of all of our port community and our operations
  • We are so proud of aye
  • and the culture of inclusion and support that he's provided
  • And also we appreciate how he has been able to demonstrate how Commissioner priorities are built into the strategic plan and being delivered on
  • He is so deserving of this rating, and even though he's not here today, I suspect it's because he doesn't like taking compliments or take nights at being publicly humiliated
  • But we're very proud to put this on the consent agenda for action today
  • Does anybody else have any comments they'd like to make about our executive director's performance? Case of spilled milk
  • I've never heard that one before
  • Supposed to clean it up, so it's cleaner than it was before
  • Got it
  • You never spill milk
  • I can tell
  • All right, so seeing none
  • Clerk Hart, please call the roll
  • And commissioners will say aye or nay when their name is called for the consent agenda
  • Thank you
  • Beginning with Commissioner Calkins
  • Aye
  • Thank you, Commissioner Cho
  • Aye
  • Thank you, Commissioner Felleman
  • Aye
  • Thank you
  • Commissioner Muhammad, Commissioner Mohammad for approval of consent agenda
  • Commissioner Hasegawa
  • Aye
  • Thank you
  • One more time for Commissioner Muhammad
  • And that's four ayes, zero nays for this item
  • The motion carries
  • Thank you very much
  • Commissioner Muhammad, your hand is raised
  • I vote aye
  • Please note that for the record that Commissioner Muhammad voted aye on the passage of the consent agenda
  • Thank you for a 50 vote
  • All right, thank you very much
  • Moving forward in the agenda, that brings us to new business
  • Item 10A is I will actually allow Clerk Hart to read it into the record and then Deputy Executive Director Goon will introduce it
  • Thank you
  • This IS Agenda Item 10A
  • Authorization for the executive director to take all steps necessary to complete the Tennant Airport Dining and Retail shell and core renovations project at the Seattle Tacoma International Airport
  • The requested amount of $10,073,000 and an estimated project cost of $10,373,000
  • Commissioners, this project will create and prepare 18 tenant spaces for lease by demolishing expired spaces and where needed, upgrading base building infrastructure to current code, ultimately delivering consistent cold shell conditions
  • The improvements are designed to lower tenant build out costs, reduce barriers to entry, and support more equitable participation in the AADR program
  • With us today is Kalia Moore, Assistant Director, Airport Dining and Retail, and Randall Anton, Capital Project Manager in the AV Project Management Group
  • Welcome
  • Good afternoon, commissioners and good afternoon, Deputy Director Kuhn
  • My name is Kalia Moore and I am the Assistant Director of Aviation Commercial Management overseeing airport dining and retail, and I am the sponsor of this long awaited project that will be presented today
  • Next slide please
  • Good afternoon, Commissioners
  • My name is Randall Anton
  • I am the project manager for the Tennant Airport Dining and Retail Shell and Core renovations project
  • We're here to request total project authorization in the amount of $10.3 million
  • I'm going to pass it back to Kalia to go over the background and the justification of the project
  • Next slide, please
  • Commissioners, as you may remember, in 2021, ADR hosted a voice of the tenant sessions regarding the design and construction process for tenants and underwent a lean process improvement with various internal stakeholder groups
  • In March of 2022, Commission approved ADR tenant build out analysis which evaluated tenant impacts due to the port process for design and construction, recommended term extensions to affected tenants in lease groups 2 through 4 and provided updates to the best practices as previously adopted by Commission in December of 2021
  • Next slide, please
  • Traditionally, ADR spaces are leased as is
  • State and incoming tenants have been faced with unknown site conditions that have significantly increased design and build out costs
  • This long awaited project tackles challenges that have been faced by many of our ADR tenants throughout their design and construction process, which we've communicated in our ADR Tenant Build Out Analysis but also was identified in the Barriers to Entry study in the 2020 Wimbey Barrier Analysis
  • This is a necessary step as we are nearing the natural expiration of our longest operating tenant spaces within the ADR program
  • This project continues our efforts to removing barriers to entry for new businesses into this market by decreasing costs by approximately 10 to 15%
  • And now I'll turn things back over to Randall to discuss the project scope in more detail
  • Next slide please
  • There are 18 ADR spaces included in the project
  • The scope consists of demoing all 18 spaces into a cold shell that will be funded by expense dollars
  • A cold shell is demoing the walls and ceilings, exposing it to metal studs
  • With the exposure of the walls, the team will then be able to verify which existing port based building infrastructures are not compliant and are in need of updates grades
  • This part of the scope is categorized as potential construction and will be funded by capital dollars
  • Next slide please
  • The map shows the location of all 18 spaces scattered throughout the main terminal
  • The spaces are color coded in the year they expire
  • Blue represents the spaces expiring in 2026, green represents the spaces expiring in 2026 and orange represents the one space expiring in 2028
  • The next slide will break down the spaces expiring each year
  • Next slide please
  • These are the current concepts expiring in the next three years
  • There are 12 spaces expiring in 2026, five spaces expiring in 2027 and one space expiring in 2028
  • Next slide please
  • The estimated total cost of the project is $10.3 million, which includes 300,000 preliminary funds for the notebook, 2.5 million for design and soft cost and 7.5 million for construction
  • 75% of the project will use expense dollars and 25% will use capital
  • The split was based on the actual construction construction cost
  • Demolition scope falls under the expense dollars and construction of port infrastructures falls under the capital capital portion
  • Next slide please
  • The project team just completed the notebook and is set to solicit for design services shortly after commission approval
  • Next slide please
  • The plan is to to execute the Design contract in Q4 of this year to be able to complete design by Q4 of 2026
  • The first set of spaces will be ready for construction in Q1 2027 and with completion of all 18 spaces in Q3 of 2029
  • Next slide, please
  • Thank you for your time
  • Are there any questions for the team? Thank you very much
  • All right, so at this time, I'll turn to my colleagues for any questions and comments they may have, beginning with Commissioner Calkins
  • Quite honestly, I don't
  • I think this is a great plan
  • Happy to support
  • I remember I was a tenant making improvement on a commercial space that I was leasing
  • This was 2007, and we had to do a fair bit of the demo and prep for our renovations
  • And
  • And this was in Pioneer Square
  • And when we did so, we learned that the floor was more like an ocean rather than a nice flat surface
  • And so about a third of our
  • We went about a third over budget because we had to do this, like, super expensive floor prep
  • So I love the idea that we're giving tenants a sort of blank slate to work with, and then there won't be any surprises
  • Well, can't always ensure there won't be any surprise, but it'll be a much lower risk and the ability to really create a budget for their project that's based on being able to see what's there
  • So I love this program
  • Thanks for getting it set up
  • Is there anybody else with questions or comments of staff? Anybody online? I'm going once
  • Okay
  • Commissioner Felleman
  • Yeah
  • I'd just like to express my appreciation as well
  • It's well known that it's very expensive to do construction inside the airport, and not having these unexpected expenses on top of that is a very big contribution to us being able to have a broader segment of the population able to enjoy the benefits of working out of the open
  • So thank you for that
  • Thank you, Commissioner
  • Commissioner Cho? Yeah
  • Sorry, I thought I was good
  • I had a question on the timeline
  • So it looks like this project will commence post World cup, which is good
  • But if I'm understanding the project correctly, you're essentially going to gut the spaces and make it kind of ready for the new tenants that come in, based on the RFPs
  • And so I'm looking at this timeline
  • It says substantial completion is Q3 of 29
  • So is it going to take two years for us to get there, or does that Q3
  • 29 include the new tenants? Q3 2029 is the last space that's going to be demoed out that year
  • So there's going to be substantial completion for the spaces expiring in 2026 with construction in 27
  • So those spaces will be available for design and construction for a new tenant and then follow the same with the following years
  • So it sounds like there's a bit of like a phased approach to this as opposed to doing it in wholesale
  • Okay, that makes sense
  • And obviously, as we phase it in, as we take spaces out, renovate them or whatever you want to call them, they will be empty for that time
  • Is that right? Like they, you know, no one will be occupying those spaces
  • Correct
  • Oh, see, you jumped the gun
  • So there actually is a phased approach to the RFP process as well
  • And I'll be back to you in two weeks to talk about the RFPs that we're going to release right behind that
  • So it won't be a large vacancy of time
  • So we'll actually be phasing them Right
  • In conjunction with that timeframe
  • So there will be some downtime that there always is between the construction periods, but we'll be timing those in conjunction with each other
  • That's why we let you guys do your job
  • That's right
  • Okay
  • Any other questions? Thank you for that line of questioning, Commissioner
  • Commissioner Mohamed
  • Thank you
  • Maybe similar to Commissioner Cho, I'm going to ask a question outside of my lane, but K a big fan of yours
  • Thank you for all the work that you do and how helpful you are to all of the ADR tenants
  • My question is, is so for all of the, all of the individuals or organizations that went through the RFP process and were awarded contracts, are they all moving forward successfully? Is one question that I have
  • And then secondly, if something fails to follow someone or an organization fails to follow through, does the RFP process get reissued? I was recently asked by a constituent, so I'm trying to understand how to best answer that type of question
  • I could obviously redirect them to you, but I was also curious
  • Right
  • So could you clarify as far as when you say when they've gone through the RFP process, they all move forward like they're like a bid, right? Like if they're awarded and they secure a spot inside of the airport, is what I mean, is that helpful? If they've bid and they've been through their construction process or if they bid and then they choose to like, for instance, like withdraw from their
  • Yeah, so we have had that process happen before where someone, for instance, award gets awarded a space and they choose to withdraw from their bid
  • And in that situation, we would put the space back out to bid
  • If there isn't anyone who, for instance, bid on a location, or if there was a second runner up, then we would go with that second person
  • So you would just be dependent on how The RFP process went
  • But in
  • So depending on the situation itself
  • But if they were to be interested in bidding the process, we just bid the location
  • We currently do not have a situation like that
  • Is that correct? We do have a space that we had someone from an RFP process that withdrew from a location and so the space will go back out to rebate
  • Do you have a timeline for that? We will talk about it in two weeks when I come back and talk about the next round of RFPs that we're going to put out
  • Yes, that's really helpful
  • Thank you
  • Absolutely
  • Commissioner Cho, I'm like, am I getting
  • No
  • So I'm noticing that the spaces that we are looking at in this project kind of vary from retail to coffee shops to restaurant space, etc
  • Is the intention to keep those spaces consistent with the use that they are at now or are we looking at kind of reshuffling things? No, we will not be reshuffling
  • We will not be doing what we did in the past old master plan effort
  • So the master plan is complete
  • From that perspective of changing anything category specific, like changing things from retail to food and beverage and food and beverage to retail, that is complete
  • So we will see the same thing happen this time around
  • So anything that is food and beverage today will be food and beverage again
  • Retail today will be retail again
  • Perfect
  • Thank you
  • Absolutely
  • I'll stop asking questions
  • Anybody else with some follow up questions for staff? Seeing none
  • Thank you so very much for the presentation and we can move forward in our agenda
  • Oh, I'm sorry
  • That is an action item, isn't it? Okay, seeing none, I will go
  • Sorry about that
  • Do I have a motion and a second for this item? We'll move second
  • The motion has been made by Commissioner Cho and seconded by Commissioner Calkins with no further discussion or debate on the item
  • Clerk Hart, please call the roll for the vote
  • Thank you
  • Beginning with Commissioner Calkins
  • Aye
  • Thank you, Commissioner Tho
  • Aye
  • Thank you, Commissioner Felleman
  • Aye
  • Thank you, Commissioner Mohammad
  • Aye
  • Thank you, Commissioner Hasekawa
  • Aye
  • Thank you
  • Five ayes, zero nays for this item
  • Thank you very much for the presentation
  • Okay, moving forward, it brings us to item 10B
  • Deputy Executive Director Karen Goon will introduce the item
  • Well, Michelle Hart will read it into the record and Deputy Executive Director Goon will
  • Just a glaring note there that I missed
  • Apologies
  • Oh, no, I'm not even looking at it
  • That's my problem
  • This is agenda item 10B
  • Authorization for the Executive Director to take all steps necessary to complete the concourse A shared use lounge project, Club SEA at the Seattle Tacoma International Airport and to fully authorize the project and execute the construction contract in the requested amount of $24,360,000 and a total estimated project cost of $30,500,000
  • Commissioners, this project will expand our Club SEA shared use Lounge from 4,800 to nearly 14,000 square feet to meet growing passenger demand and deliver a full service modern experience
  • The upgrade will reduce capacity related service denials, enhance customer satisfaction satisfaction and increased non aeronautic revenue potential
  • With us today is Rick Duncan, Director, AV Business and Properties and Erin Gora, Capital program Leader, Project management
  • Thank you
  • Welcome
  • Thank you
  • Good afternoon, commissioners
  • Again, my name is Erin Gora
  • I'm the program leader for the tenant program
  • So I oversee all project management for all of our airport dining and retail concessionaires as well as our airline partners
  • Today we're here to request approval for the total project authorization of $30.5 million for the shared use lounge project, also known as the Club at SEA
  • Next slide please
  • I'll briefly turn it over to Rick, who's going to provide some additional background and justification before we get into some of the project details
  • Next slide please
  • All right
  • Good afternoon
  • So here you see in this graphic is our current lounge inventory
  • At the airport we have multiple airline owned lounges
  • Ours is a common use lounge, which means that we partner with multiple international airlines, the ones that are not a part of alliances
  • We have an operator that operates it, but we do the business decisions on it and we bring in the revenue from it
  • As you probably, if you visited it, you've seen that it's grossly undersized and we are consistently overcrowded
  • And so this has been a long time coming to be able to expand our, our common use lounge to meet the demands not just today, but of the future
  • Especially when we have our south concourse project that is going to shut down that lounge for a while and a lot more international traffic will be pushed to the A concourse
  • So we're pretty excited about this
  • This has been discussed multiple times over the last few years with the Delta tra
  • They're building the shell out and this request is for the interior of the lounge
  • Next slide please
  • And so you see here we have the Today's Club on the A gates and then the future depictions of what they will look like
  • Now this has changed multiple, multiple times and it probably still will as we get into the construction and we try to save every dollar we can, but we will increase the visits by from about 100,000 to 300,000 plus in the next few years
  • All right
  • Okay, back to me
  • So the project is located on Concourse A within the forthcoming new building expansion that is also happening on Concourse A as part of our larger TRA project
  • The top two floors will be occupied by an airline lounge, Whereas the bottom that is highlighted for you in green and blue is going to be the new Club SEA footprint
  • This expansion, as previously mentioned, will take the lounge footprint from 4800 square feet to a limited around 14,000 square feet
  • Next slide please
  • Before we dive into some of the project details today, we wanted to highlight some of the changes since our project notebook and our last Commission authorization back in December of 2021, which was for design
  • The initial design intent was based off of a like for like model that took the four previous Club SEA lounges in which the Port inherited from expired leaseholds of airline lounges and completed only minor aesthetic changes
  • These aesthetic changes consisted of new paint, new lounge signage and any other form of minor repairs that were needed
  • This outdated model was really inadequate to improve upon the customer service and experience and strengthen the Port's ability to attract guests and compete with with larger cardholder lounges or airline lounges
  • These inherited lounges also lacked adequate footprints
  • To address this, the Port elected to upgrade the outdated like for like model and replace it with a full service model to expand upon both the amenities and the overall aesthetics
  • The project scope also shifted from a partial bar and partial kitchen to that floor, full service bar and full service kitchen with upgraded fluorescent lighting to the new LED lighting
  • To offset some of these additional project costs, the project completed numerous value engineering efforts to realign project cost
  • Excuse me, project cost closer to the original project estimate
  • Also noteworthy, we wanted to talk about the direct construction costs and how they have increased from 202021 until now
  • I'll highlight that a little bit more on our next financial slide
  • Lastly, around the 60% design, we switched the project delivery methodology from design bid build to gccm
  • We did this for two critical reasons to have more control over the construction phasing and limit all of the closures to the existing Club SEA while the new one is under construction
  • This is essential as once we start construction, only a wall will separate the existing and occupied lounge from the new one that we are hoping to build
  • Secondly, it allowed the port to complete advanced planning and pre construction activities to better support the project long term
  • Those pre con activities were exceptionally beneficial as we were able to evaluate and mitigate potential issues with long lead items as well as Material availability
  • Next slide please
  • On this cost breakdown, we wanted to also highlight for you guys today
  • When we saw you guys In December of 2021, the total project estimate budget was 24.7 million
  • During that design authorization, design was estimated at approximately $6 million
  • Currently we are in permit review and we anticipate to come in under those projected $6 million design costs which the actuals are closer to 5.6
  • So right now we are looking at a decrease of $478,000 in our original design estimate
  • I want to be clear that unfortunately this is not a project savings as some of our construction costs have increased
  • Today's request for 30.5 million is a $5.8 million increase, or roughly about 23% from the previous project estimate
  • These costs are attributed to two main factors
  • The first one, as I mentioned earlier, the cost to build out per square foot for the shell
  • When we originally estimated this project in 2021, it was approximately $800 per square foot
  • When you compare that to today's cost, a little over $1,000 per square foot
  • That is contributing to some of the cost increases secondarily as well
  • Our construction for direct costs have also increased to support that full service model that we talked about briefly and take all of our partial amenities to those full service amenities for the bars and kitchen as well as upgrading the furniture throughout all of the value engineering that we've done on this project
  • To be really budget conscious, the port wanted to find a happy medium from the high end premium model that was desired with the like for like model that was outdated which is why the project eventually settled on on the model we're presenting to you guys today which is that full service model
  • Next slide
  • Presently the project is wrapping up permit review and we have completed the ports review of the maximum allowable construction cost with our selected GC pending Commission's approval
  • The final step is to execute the contract with our selected GC in advance to construction
  • Next slide
  • Want to highlight some of our big upcoming schedule milestones
  • We are anticipating as I mentioned, to secure our permit shortly and hoping to execute the full on design contract shortly after that later this week
  • We are hoping to start NNTP for construction second quarter of this year and looking for a substantial completion hopefully before FIFA World cup is our anticipated goal, but definitely sometime in Q2 of 2026
  • Next slide
  • Any questions? All right, great
  • So I'll start with Commissioner Cho for questions of staff at this time
  • Thanks for that clarification on the World Cup
  • I think we were all probably asking
  • It's a Q2 and I think the World cup is in July
  • So it's going to be a tight window there, but hopefully very tight window
  • Hopefully we can get that done by then
  • This is a little bit out of the purview of actual construction, but I'm wondering who operates the lounge Club SEA Lounge
  • And are we rebidding that as a result? It is a group airport dimensions
  • We're not rebidding it, but we are working with them to renegotiate some of their agreements we have with our airline partners and our priority pass partner to possibly increase revenues to help pay for this
  • And is it
  • Are we not reviewing it because they're still under contract or
  • Yeah
  • Yeah
  • Okay
  • Do you know when their contract expires by any chance? Not off the top of my head
  • Okay
  • All right
  • That would be helpful information
  • Yeah
  • Yeah, I could get that too
  • That's it for me
  • Thank you
  • Great work on this
  • I'm excited to see it
  • Thank you, Commissioner Kaufman
  • Okay
  • So the
  • Can we talk about the finances a little bit? I'm not sure who wants to swing that 1
  • So roughly $30 million
  • Anticipated revenue over the 20 year projected life of the asset is 267 million minus some expenses for net operating income of 151
  • And it
  • And under that same table it says the net present value is $13.1 million
  • Can somebody help me understand that? I could get you that
  • I'm not off the top of my head
  • That seems really low for
  • Based on what we're showing is net operating income if the cost is only 30
  • Not I shouldn't say only if the capital construction is 30 million and it looks like we're netting 150 over 20 years
  • I don't know how the net present value be
  • We could get a breakdown from the finance group
  • Yeah, I mean it's still positive, but it seems like it should be higher
  • The
  • I guess the reason I'm kind of of thinking along those lines is because we're using I'm sure models based on our estimates of passenger volumes and trends and lounge use
  • And this is clearly an unmet need we hear both nationwide and at SEA that you know, when you go to the airport you see people lined up to get into the lounges
  • Great opportunity to meet passenger
  • You know, there's an amenity that people want more of
  • We have space to do it
  • Let's do it
  • I think it's great
  • I do
  • I'm over the last two months, honestly, I've for the first time in a long time I've been starting to think about when do we really need to start questioning our assumptions for long term growth
  • Because quite, quite honestly because of the significant self imposed headwinds by the federal administration around international travel in particular, which will aye
  • SEA harder than most airports and because of the tariff impacts that are going to, I mean the estimates have gone up 23% you said that's probably not accounting for now tariffs on steel and timber and a lot of energy to go into the cement production
  • And so, you know, I imagine 30 million is based on pre Trump tariffs
  • So this has a lot of leeway to still say yes to
  • I think there's a lot of space in there because it is such a, you know, I'd love to get into this business but I think as we are considering future capital projects, we're really going to need good guidance from Dan Thomas and aye
  • team, aye
  • successor around
  • I think we're just going to have to keep updating forecasts and working with airline partners to understand are they seeing a softening in demand
  • I did in fact talk to one of our airport partners this last week and they've revised their earnings estimates down by 50% already in light of this
  • So I think we just need to be thinking about this and I think this is a, I'm still absolutely positive green light on this one
  • But I think we have to really be conscientious about that moving forward
  • And that was it
  • So thank you
  • And that's a good point
  • And this, the projections of this lounge and the traffic to this lounge are in a constrained environment
  • So, so it's not just, you know, straight up, it is with the constraints of South Concourse project of just not having enough gates to expand the way the airlines might want to
  • But yeah, you are right about the industry and how it ebbs and flows and that we need to probably relook at everything we do with what could happen in the next number of years
  • Thanks
  • Thank you Commissioner
  • My colleagues online Commission Commissioner Felleman, real quick, I don't have that much to add
  • I'm excited to see that we're making progress on this
  • It's, you know, been in development for a while
  • You know, the recent forecast we've seen in airport budgets is concerning and obviously we're going to have to be doing a prioritization effort
  • This one's well down the road already and although it's certainly not cheap, I think it's money well spent
  • So thank you for making progress and it's good to see us having, you know, some control over this service instead of just being a totally privatized operation
  • I think it's a great way to allow multiple airlines to provide this highly sought service
  • So thank you for that work
  • Thank you, Commissioner
  • Commissioner MUHAMMAD no questions
  • But also echo the sentiments of Commissioner Felleman
  • Thank you for the work
  • I just want to emphasize Commissioner Calkins points
  • Also
  • My, my question is what sort of ongoing input do airlines have on this project and how do they provide information that's helpful? Yeah
  • So on this project, you know, we have had conversations with our airline partners that, you know, we'll use the lounge when it comes to, you know, the concerns mentioned earlier about just traffic growth
  • You know, we're our air service development group, our business intelligence group is in constant conversations with them because, you know, that that goes to the larger forecast of the airport itself and the landings
  • And, you know, that does filter down to everything, to our lounge, to, you know, how many bags are going to go through the system
  • So we are in constant contact with them regarding how their forecasts might be going up or down, as much as they could share with us
  • I hope that
  • Does our finance team have any sort of revised risk assessment considering inflation and other factors? Commissioners, we have on our agenda on the 22nd, our 2024 financial report
  • And that would be a good time for Dan and Heidi to take some of your questions and bring back some more information, if that's okay
  • Yeah
  • And not just about this project, but I think holistically about all of the ideas
  • Correct
  • Right
  • And we're looking at the revenue forecast across our lines of business and looking at material costs, construction costs, labor costs, and assessing as much as we can what the impact will be on our schedules and budget
  • And for this item, to 30% million dollars in a project that you're asking us to approve
  • We're hearing assurances from staff that we are in the financial position with all things considered, that we're okay to be able to move forward
  • Correct
  • Yeah
  • Right
  • Okay
  • We may have to make adjustments further down the line when it comes to other capital projects, but that's something that we're always evaluating on a regular basis
  • Yeah
  • And again, it's because things are developing so quickly
  • Absolutely
  • And I want to make sure that we are appropriately responding and not committing ourselves to something that it might not pan out later down the road
  • Understood
  • Well, I think that that'll be an appropriate presentation
  • So with that, are there any other final questions or comments from my colleagues? Seeing none
  • Is there a motion to approve so moved
  • Is there a second? Second? Well, the motion has been made by Commissioner Calkins and seconded by Commissioner Felleman without any further discussions or debate
  • I could look to Clerk Hart to please call the roll this item
  • Thank you
  • Beginning with Commissioner Calkins
  • Aye
  • Thank you
  • Commissioner Cho
  • Aye
  • Thank you
  • Commissioner Felleman
  • Commissioner Felleman
  • Aye
  • Thank you
  • I was going to say a smile doesn't count, sir
  • I understood aye.
  • Commissioner Muhammad
  • I thank you
  • Commissioner Hasegawa
  • Aye
  • Thank you
  • Five ayes
  • The zero nays for this item
  • Then the motion carries
  • Thank you very much
  • Thank you
  • And that brings us on to our next item, which is item 10C
  • Clerk Hart, please read it into the record and the Executive Director Goon will introduce it
  • Thank you
  • Agenda Item 10c
  • Authorization for the Executive Director to execute contract agreements and implement the 2025-26 Economic Development Development Partnership Program with King County cities in an amount not to exceed $1,900,000
  • In authorizing the Executive Director to execute contracts using unutilized program funding to advance regional initiatives to further equitable and innovative economic development initiatives
  • Commissioners, we are requesting commission authorization for the Executive Director to implement the 2025, 2026 Economic Development Partnership Program with King County cities
  • With funding not to exceed 1.9 million
  • This program strengthens regional economic development by supporting city led projects tied to port priorities including small business growth, tourism and workforce development
  • The expanded two year approach will better align with city budget cycles and continue advancing equitable place based economic outcomes across the region
  • Joining us today is Annie Tran, Economic Development Program Manager and she will introduce our panel who are joining us
  • Thank you
  • Welcome
  • All right, Good afternoon, Madam President, Commissioners and Deputy Executive Director Karen Goon
  • We really appreciate your time today and attention to hear about the Economic Development City Partnership grant and what happened in the 2024 cycle along
  • As you already heard, we are also here to request reauthorization for the next two years through 2025 and 2026
  • And today I am so happy to be joined by our city partners visiting us from Carnation, Kent and Renton
  • We will be hearing lots of exciting things that they've been doing with the grant fund
  • Next slide please
  • So again we are here to request authorization of funding in the amount of not to exceed $1.9 million for the next two years to support cities in King County with economic development initiatives
  • Next slide
  • And so, a little bit about the Economic Development City Partnership Program
  • As you may remember, it started in 2016
  • It is a non competitive city funding program that supports local and regional Economic development
  • And at the time and the start of this program, there were very few and limited resources available to support economic development initiatives
  • And unfortunately this still remains to be the case today in this current and economic political climate
  • And while some city partners did have some economic development resources, they also some of their
  • Some of this funding also allowed cities to undertake pilot or new programs and support innovative solutions that their city councils later supported
  • As you may have heard from cities like Shoreline today, in terms of how the program works, the Port of Seattle helps support this essentially gap funding and fund cities based on per capita formulas
  • Some of our smallest cities receive a minimum of $10,000
  • And last year we increased that that funding from 5,000 to $10,000, knowing that there's more needed support for smaller cities
  • And the maximum funding is capped at $60,000
  • For some of our larger cities
  • We work very closely with our city partners to hear about their projects and refine them and work together
  • And so we work with them to ensure that it is tying directly to port business interests
  • Alongside that, cities also must provide a 50% match
  • And for some of our smaller cities, last year we also allowed that up to 50% may be supplemented in in kind resources to reduce further reduce the barriers for smaller cities to participate
  • As you may be well aware, the last four years much of the funding was geared towards like Covid relief recovery
  • And so many of the projects emphasize small business relief, including technical business support, port tourism supporting bilocal and place making initiatives to ensure activation of downtowns
  • Next slide
  • And so this slide is really meant to just show that there are so many different port funding prograMS But specifically today we are focused on the economic development City Partnership program which only allows cities within King County with a population of under 200,000 people to apply
  • And we do work closely with our tourism development team here at the port as well as our OEDI team to communicate and ensure that there's no overlap in terms of who is getting the funding in the projects that are supported
  • Next slide
  • So as a quick summary in terms of what was funded in 2024, as you can see here, there's a range of different types of projects that were supported
  • Small business technical assistance programs, bilocal business attraction to bring new businesses into our region
  • Some custom plans and projects in terms of economic development plans, tourism, workforce development and also business and retention and expansion to ensure that we're supporting our businesses locally
  • As you can see here, 27 cities participated
  • We're very happy with that number
  • We could always do more to increase that there's $800,000 that we distributed
  • Cities also matched that
  • So that resulted in a total of $1.4 million towards supporting economic development initiatives
  • As you can see here, about a third of those projects were dedicated towards small business technical assistance
  • About a fourth of the funding went to support Bilocal and Interestingly enough about 10% were dedicated towards business attraction and promotion and trying to bring new business into our region
  • Next slide
  • So in the next few slides I'll cover some of the small business impacts and as you heard during public comment, a lot of our cities did interesting things and supported our business ecosystem
  • Here, as you can see in this photo, there's the Southside Chamber alongside Goran Contigo who hosted various, you know, business drop ins in SEA-Tac
  • And those are just some of the small examples of what occurred
  • And so as a result over 900 businesses were assisted last year we also added more standardized metrics and so we started counting how many women and minority owned businesses were also assisted
  • So that resulted in a cumulative impact of about 600 businesses
  • Many cities like Burien and Auburn also worked with their small business development centers and supported those
  • And so over 400 hours of one on one business consultation was provided
  • A whole host of events, 75 plus events were hosted and $1.1 million of funding in the form of grants and loans were also distributed to small businesses
  • I should also add that this was only a one year funding cycle and all of these impacts in reality really happened between five to six months given our contracting period and the application period
  • So it's pretty incredible what these cities are doing in that short amount of time
  • Next slide please
  • So again this highlights some of the Bilocal and place making impacts
  • Some of the photos that you see here are the city of Tukwila working with our Somali Independent Business alliance, they hosted a culture fest
  • They also helped businesses get their Google profiles set up so that they have an online presence
  • You'll see Shoreline also hosted their second Pride Parade and farmers market
  • Another photo showing the mini Mercados that were supported in SEATAC with some of the funding
  • All in all, over a thousand businesses participated in these bilocal events and over 27,000 attendees to events
  • We also calculated some of the revenue generated from these events and that amounted to about 33,000
  • So all in all, incredible results from our city partners also supporting women and minority owned businesses
  • Next slide
  • Again, tourism impacts were also incredible
  • We also heard from Kenmore today with their Oktoberfest and another photo
  • You'll see there is from the city of Enumclaw with their Expo Center
  • Over 200,000 attendees attended events
  • You know, visitors visiting from six plus countries and 36 states
  • So incredible tourism impacts and also $3,000 of admission and ticket sales
  • Very incredible work
  • And next slide
  • And so next I will pass it on to our beloved partners from Carnation to share a bit more about how they use the funding to support their prograMS Thank you, Annie
  • Good afternoon Commissioners
  • My name is Rhonda Ender
  • I'm the City Manager for the City of Carnation
  • If you aren't familiar with Carnation, we're a small community in East King County with a population of 2,300
  • In addition to our local community, tourists travel to Carnation for agritourism, recreational opportunities and concerts
  • We are home to many U Pick farms, farm stands, an amusement park, large and small concert venues and hiking, biking and water sport activities
  • First off, I would like to wholeheartedly thank the Port of Seattle for supporting economic development and for providing partnership and resources
  • It's an absolute pleasure working with Annie
  • I want to emphasize the impact that grant funding has on a small city with limited resources
  • It enables Carnation to pursue economic vitality projects that would not otherwise be possible
  • It truly makes a difference for us
  • We are so appreciative of the grant funding minimum being raised this past year and the ability to match with in kind funds
  • These funds make a difference in our ability to serve our community and for tourism attraction
  • So what did we do with the funding? We created a citywide summer events calendar
  • This calendar was so widely used by both locals and visitors that it has become a permanent resource for the City of Carnation
  • We went from offering a summer fun calendar to what we call four seasons of fun all year long in Carnation
  • Additionally, we created four place making events including two music and movie nights in the park, a bounce house event and a splash event pad event
  • These events gave us the opportunity to collaborate with the local Chamber of Commerce, with nonprofits and with two women owned businesses
  • Plus, many attendees visited local restaurants and retailers before and after the events, creating additional economic development opportunities
  • In closing, I would like to express myself sincere thanks for the support on behalf of small cities and to invite all of you to please come and visit Carnation
  • I would be happy to give you a personal tour
  • Thank you
  • All right
  • Thank you so much for that permission
  • And next slide please
  • We'll have
  • We'll have Michelle share with
  • Thank you, Annie
  • Good afternoon Madam Hasegawa Commissioners and Commission staff
  • My name is Michelle Wilmot
  • And I serve as the Economic Development Program Manager for the City of Kent, our state's sixth largest city at about 140,000 people and by some studies one of the most diverse cities in the United States
  • Thank you very much for the opportunity opportunity to share how your investment through the Economic Development Partnership Program is delivering meaningful value to Kent and opening doors for our young people
  • The Port's commitment to economic opportunity is evident not only through its transformative work via the Port Jobs Program, but also through strategic investments like this one that lift communities across King County
  • Like you've heard today, these efforts are creating real career path pathways to whether someone's future lies at the airport or in the heart of Kent Valley's aerospace manufacturing sector
  • In fact, Mayor Ralph just last week recently highlighted this grant during her State of the City address, recognizing the important role it plays in connecting young people to aerospace careers
  • That public acknowledgement reflects how deeply we value the Port's partnership and how committed we we are to sharing its impact with our broader community
  • Kent Valley is Washington's manufacturing heartland
  • Our aerospace sector, this is just the Kent Valley portion, contributes more than $27 billion in annual economic output
  • That's more than Long Beach, California and employs over 31,000 people and that is 30% of our state's aerospace workforce
  • These are high wage, high demand jobs and yet too often manufacturing is seen as a backup plan rather than a first choice career path
  • Thanks to the Port support, the City of Kent was able to partner with the Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee, otherwise known as ajac, to help change that narrative for those unfamiliar AJAC is a state funded training organization that supports small and mid size sized manufacturing companies to build their skilled workforces
  • In 2017 they launched a Youth Apprenticeship program to connect high school students with paid hands on training in aerospace and precision manufacturing
  • With port funded support facilitated by the city
  • AJAC has signed on with Hexcel High Tech Finishes and Blue Origin, our city's largest employer by far as training at agents willing to hire high school apprentices in Kent
  • They've also convened two employer roundtables and are in active conversations with Stoke, Space 3 Sigma Manufacturing, Skookum Manufacturing and Skills, Inc
  • Which is launching a leadership academy in Kent and plan to hire 10 students
  • Educator involvement has also been a huge focus for us
  • AJAC hosted two virtual sessions with Kent School District teachers featuring speakers from Space Northwest and Blue origin
  • And just two weeks ago on March 26, they coordinated a site visit to Elma High School for a full busload of Kent teachers
  • These teachers and Administrators saw youth apprenticeship in action and returned energized to bring this model home
  • Importantly, AJAC has also worked to ensure that apprenticeship is included
  • With input from the Washington State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, they trained educators on how students with a DIS with disabilities or learning disabilities can access additional support to fully participate in career connected learning opportunities
  • A training site has been identified at Kent Meridian High School and interest continues to grow amongst our population
  • We're always working to further support earlier experience exposure to aerospace pathways as well
  • Last summer, the city partnered with the University of Washington and Green River College to support middle school science teachers in the Kent School District through a NASA funded professional development program
  • Teachers toured UW research Labs, worked with PhD students in engineering and computer science and developed new aerospace aligned curriculum now reaching nearly 750 students across four schools
  • By investing in both early inspiration and hands on career training, we're helping create a more connected, equitable workforce pipeline that begins well before high school
  • This initiative also connects to a larger vision for Kent Valley
  • Last fall, the Kent Valley Air and Space Manufacturing Table was launched as an industry led initiative with the cities of Kent, Auburn, Renton and Tukwila along with the Kent School District District, Green River College and Renton Technical Colleges all coming together to support this work
  • The roundtable is designed to serve as a central action focused venue where employers set the direction and educators, government and workforce partners align to help move their priorities forward
  • Together we're tackling issues like standardizing manufacturing programs across the region, expanding classroom to career connections and preparing to host a student expo this fall with hands on projects and career exposure for local students
  • A legislative luncheon is planned for May 22 to bring multiple stakeholder organizations together with elected leaders to advance policy positions as well
  • You'll see how the PORTS project and funding ties in well with all of these efforts
  • Teacher training, youth apprenticeship, employer engagement and the round table all are part of a coordinated regional strategy
  • Our goal is to elevate manufacturing as a first choice career path with out of this world opportunities, strengthen the workforce pipeline for our employers and support the long term vitality of our economy
  • This is how we're building durable partnerships, ensuring our region is responsive to industry needs and positioned for long term economic success
  • I hope you agree your investment is doing except exactly what the dollars were intended to do
  • Strengthen partnerships, expand access, deliver measurable outcomes
  • We're deeply grateful for the Port's support and hope to see this economic development partnership program continue as a vital tool for advancing regional workforce development
  • Your connection or your commitment? Pardon me helps us turn possibility into opportunity for our students, our companies and our communities
  • Thank you so very much
  • I'm happy to take your questions
  • Thank you so much Michelle and next I'll hand it to Amanda from Renton
  • Thank you
  • It's a pleasure to be here
  • My name is Amanda Free, City of Renton Economic Development Director
  • Through this funding we've been able to have focused efforts on strengthening our partnerships with Startup425 through financial support with other east side cities
  • As we heard today from ISSAQUAH, we hosted 10 events in Renton and saw a 63% increase with our local business participation
  • These events provided workshops, networking and advising services to those businesses
  • We have heard from 10 startup businesses that they have either opened or become more active from direct involvement in this program
  • City staff has also created a Doing Business in Renton manual through our Small Business Liaison program with outreach efforts
  • In addition to these partnerships, including our startup 425, we saw a 225% increase in our Economic development e newsletter so we're able to connect and reach more businesses
  • Our other focus through the funding was on the World Cup Legacy Square
  • I'm not sure I'm allowed to say World cup anymore, so Legacy Square we are very excited in Renton about the the creation of the space in an unused vacant lot in our downtown
  • The idea was born out of the World cup coming to the area and Renton being able to host one of the teams at the new Sounders headquarters
  • We are in the final design stages and the square will consist of a stage and a viewing screen, a fut course and along with other park like features that we hope to be a legacy as we move forward after the World Cup
  • The port funds have supported our outreach and public engagement opportunities
  • We hosted an event called Square Talk on August 27 to unveil the plan and ask for public input on activation and place making
  • We look forward to opening the Legacy Square in May 2026 with for the World Cup, FIFA World cup and holding viewing opportunities open to all
  • Our goals remain the same to drive economic vitality and strengthen community connections while having a little fun
  • We deeply appreciate the the funds and your support through this program
  • Thank you Amanda
  • So as you can see
  • Next slide please
  • This program has furthered positive relationships all around from cities from the north, east and South King County and I'm hoping you all can see the return on investment and the deepening ecosystem that's being developed in our region
  • As part of this funding and alongside that as a and I have Been conducting our one on one city meetings with folks to hear their priorities and develop further, you know, connections with them
  • We're hearing time and time again how this funding is a key resource and helping support their local economic development
  • As part of this, we've been able together to be able to develop tangible results and impacts supporting small business development, tourism and place making, as well as supporting our women and minority owned businesses
  • And so alongside that quarterly we try to gather and we also bring key regional economic development partners to the table to be able to hear what's going on
  • Partners like Greater Seattle Partners, Seattle Metro Chamber, the local organizing committee for FIFA, as well as our own tourism development team to build and strengthen those connections even further
  • Next slide
  • So some of the insights, as I might have mentioned earlier, last last year we implemented some more standardized metrics because we really wanted to easily calculate the collective impacts from all the great work that's happening as a result of this grant
  • So that's been a bit more easy to do given there's so many different metrics to measure
  • Alongside that, we've also supported a diverse array of businesses
  • This grant has also helped, as you heard from Rhonda today, support small cities without economic development staff with funding and resources and also access to port staff to brainstorm different ideas and also learn from each other within the network
  • Often we connect cities to each other that we hear and see that are working on similar types of projects so that we can learn and not reinvent the wheel
  • And then another thing we've heard in terms of feedback is that cities really want to understand and know how to best showcase their partnership with the port
  • So as a result of that, we're working very closely with the Port's communications team to provide guidance and branding resources and also a one pager on how we can amplify that great work
  • So I am very proud of all the things that folks are doing across our region
  • Next slide
  • So for 2025 and 2026, we hope with the support of reauthorizing this grant, if possible, we could really strongly emphasize supporting projects and initiatives focused on port related industries, a continuation of that and also supporting our sectors and areas like Aviation, Maritime, Constitution, Construction, trades, Green Jobs and promote the use of the ports facilities and infrastructures through programs like Business Attraction, Business Retention, Bilocal Place, making a new subset of projects
  • We're also adding as Export and Trade Assistance and better align that with other initiatives we support through Greater Seattle Partners with the Greater Seattle Export Accelerator, continuation of technical assistance to small businesses and also as Amanda mentioned, you know, tourism hoping with this grant supporting, you know, through the end of 2026 that offers more opportunities to amplify and support World cup efforts and develop regional tourism campaigns in marketing and also guidance for resources to small businesses to deal with that influx of visitation and additionally workforce development projects and special plans and projects that cities might have next slide
  • So in conclusion, we hope with all that you've heard today, we hope to have support to reauthorize this economic development partnership grant for two years with a longer timeline that really allows cities to implement longer term projects and will continue to serve as a convening resource to city partners and better connect them to other departments within the port that can also help support them
  • So all in all, we are very excited to answer any questions that you may have for us today
  • Thank you
  • All right
  • Thank you very much
  • So with that, I will turn to my colleagues to see what questions are comments you may have for our presenters
  • Commissioner Chao, I don't have any questions
  • Annie, you're quite popular today
  • But let me just say I think this is one of the greatest things that we do here as an organization
  • When we really talk about a rising tide lifting all boats, ensuring that the economic impact of our activities as a port authority reaches all corners of the county, this really is at the tip of the spear
  • But it is really one part of an ecosystem of programs that we've created
  • And Anna, you've mentioned many of them, including the accelerator program for exporting the maritime blue on the startups and then we have the Small Business Connector program
  • And so we have this suite of programs, not to mention South King County Fund, we have a suite of programs here at the Port of Seattle that really tries to fulfill that mission of reaching every corner of the county when it comes to economic development
  • And I love going to speak in front of each of your constituencies and leaders in your respective cities
  • And for me at the end of each presentation to say, and we gave out X dollars on this and this and that and for people to recognize, oh, I know that programming, I didn't know
  • The port with the support of that is really great for all of us and obviously great for you all
  • So just want to say keep up the great work
  • Happy to be supportive of this
  • Thank you all for taking the time to join us today and testify on your positive experience
  • And as always, if there's anything we can do to make the program better and more efficient, I'm sure our staff will get back to you
  • But you're also always welcome to reach out to us directly
  • Thank you
  • Anybody else? Commissioner Calkins and then Commissioner Felleman
  • Fred, you can go first if you want
  • Go for it, Ryan
  • Okay, I'll go
  • Thank you guys for showing up
  • I think I first want to say, I echo Sam's remarks in that it really is a pleasure for us to get to go and spend time in your communities
  • And so I want to offer, extend that invitation too, just to hear from particularly small business folks in the communities who are doing the legwork on developing this kind of economic activity in your communities
  • And I think it also reflects a, you know, as we think about the opportunities we have at science to expand the economic benefit of this incredible tourism economy we have, we really do need to stretch out into other parts of King County
  • And so to hear from Kent incarnation is great, I think
  • Well done, Annie
  • Bringing in just wonderful examples of the kind of impact this work can have
  • And I really loved seeing the slide on the matching funds, too, that show that oftentimes this is catalytic money that would enable something to happen that maybe you just don't quite have the budget to get it over the finish line
  • And we can be that kind of last mile to get you there
  • So all really positive
  • You know, I think we are going to find some in coming years, some moments when budgets are tight
  • And I think it behooves us to remember the
  • How this kind of funding really does have a really strong return on the investment for everyone involved
  • So thank you
  • Thank you
  • Commissioner Felleman
  • You're on mute
  • This never happens, right? I'm sorry
  • Thank you for putting a face on these prograMS It's very much appreciated
  • A couple things
  • One is it's been amazing to see what cities can do when the program was just like one year and such a short time frame to leverage the money and all that
  • And I appreciate, you know, the port, sometimes it's hard to even receive our money
  • So the fact that Annie and others are looking at ways in which, you know, having
  • We've done that, I think with the South King County Fund as well, to make it multi year, allow for, you know, reducing the
  • Or actually increasing the minimum amount that the grant is making it possible for you to benefit from these programs, that's part of the job
  • It's also just important to recognize that this is tax money that we're putting back into the community and that the port doesn't collect property taxes just to
  • To enrich ourselves
  • In fact, that, you know, by leveraging this money to be able to get small businesses this opportunity to Put money back into the community, I think is a great role for us to play
  • But it's at the same time we have to acknowledge that we are stewards of the public fund when we do things like this
  • And thank you for showing us what great investments we're making
  • Commissioner Mohammad thank you
  • I just also wanted to say great presentation
  • It's great to see how this program and the economic development initiatives are driving impactful change
  • And I would say it's modest investment with a powerful ripple effect across the region
  • I also last year had the opportunity to visit cities from Kent Renton to the east side, including Woodinville, and hearing directly from leadership about the impact of these initiatives was really great
  • So I just truly appreciate the insights shared today and for the work that continues, I'm looking forward to supporting this item
  • Thank you
  • Thank you
  • So, just a couple comments of my own and just one question
  • I just want to say how, how wonderful it is to see the way that the Port of Seattle and its meaningful partnerships are able to be able to promote the vitality of the cities across the county to what my colleagues were talking about
  • To know that in many ways, either the airport or the seaport or the point of entry for the influx of our tourism, but to do what we can to push out some of that benefit to the broader parts of the county is something and we've been really intentional about, at least in my experience here
  • To be able to hear from you directly about where the rubber meets the road on a grant program and helping you promote not just tourism but economic development is just really very, very gratifying for me
  • And so I just want to also give a shout out to
  • To the team that's been supporting this program, because coming with the data that demonstrates the different uses is really great
  • Having it demonstrated in an intuitive way through, like the Sunburst graphic, for example, is just really wonderful to have it all broken down here
  • It's great
  • I particularly really like seeing how you're able to collect and report on WIMBEE utilization, for example
  • Those are things that we care about deeply, right? So to have that demonstrated, just
  • Thank you for your diligence
  • Thank you for that transparency
  • I think it tells a really meaningful story about the use of funds
  • I just wanted to say, you know, a long time ago when I worked countywide in communications and outreach engagement, I actually relied upon that very tool that you're so proud of, the events, the summer events calendar
  • It is a public benefit, right? And so it's helpful and useful if people want to know how to get out to these communities that in many ways they're their own micro communities and we don't know how to engage them
  • But we do know this public opportunity where you can go and at least table that was just a wonderful resource
  • And to know that it's expanded to sort of four seasons of fun is really, really wonderful
  • I love that
  • And it's so clear to me the pride that you have in your cities and to bring that back here to us, you know, we just as a countywide entity, it's just, it's just phenomenal
  • So thank you all so much for what you're doing
  • I think we're going to all be proud to support this here today
  • And really with the intentionality that it's going to be a program that works, particularly with the FIFA World cup and the influx of visitation that that's going to bring and making sure that you're all seeing the benefits of that as well
  • So my one question for you is your best recommendations in Renton Kent incarnation for a date night for a restaurant
  • I will jump in
  • So Carnation is home to a lot of music and Miller's is an intimate music venue for about 100 people
  • Fantastic shows
  • So I would recommend going to the Carnation Cafe for dinner, followed by a musical performance at Miller's afterwards, and you're sure to have an amazing time
  • Sounds great
  • Sadly, we don't have a music venue that is intimate
  • We have Showware center, of course
  • But my favorite and most frequent dinner recommendation is a place called Ocedaro Sinaloa for very authentic steak
  • It's a Mexican steakhouse, but it's not like a steakhouse like you think of it
  • It's not, you know, just beans and cheese
  • There's it's very fresh, very delicious, amazing food and even more amazing service
  • So that would be my number one recommendation
  • And it looks very unassuming when you drive by, when you go in
  • It's very magical inside
  • Randomly in the this just happened a couple weeks ago
  • We were in Renton and we ended up having a whole date day
  • So we ended up at the the Landing and did a little shopping and then had a glass of wine at Vino
  • They have a very large selection
  • And then we had dinner at Anchovies and Salt, which is right next to the Hyatt
  • It is phenomenal
  • And then we ended the evening with a dessert at the water table with a beautiful view of Seattle and the water
  • Beautiful
  • An annual visa
  • Salt is located at the same location where we held Our annual State of the Port
  • Perfect
  • It's beautiful
  • Well, thank you all so very much with that, folks
  • No further questions or comments
  • I will see if there's anybody who'd like to make a motion for this item
  • So moved
  • Second
  • Second
  • The motion's been made by Commissioner Choan, seconded by Commissioner Muhammad, and with no further discussion, Clerk Hark
  • Please do
  • Where is she? Right here
  • Please do call the roll for this item
  • Thank you
  • Beginning with Commissioner Calkins
  • Aye
  • Thank you
  • Commissioner Cho
  • Aye
  • Thank you
  • Commissioner Felleman
  • Aye
  • Thank you
  • Commissioner Mohammad
  • Aye
  • Thank you
  • And Commissioner Hasegawa
  • Yay
  • Thank you
  • Five ayes, zero nays for this item
  • Thank you very much
  • And the motion carries
  • Thank you for the presentation
  • Thank you
  • And with that, Commissioners, there is no new business presentation
  • There are no presentations or staff reports scheduled for today
  • I do wonder, are there any referrals to committee or closing comments from my colleagues? Commissioner Calkins, I think I'm speaking for Commissioner Felleman as well, but I would like to follow up on the public comment about the lack of a pump out station in Seattle and would be happy to meet with industry folks and with staff to figure out where we're at on that and what we could do to help galvanize a conversation, whether that's led by the Port of Seattle or some other entity
  • I do recall that I believe it's DNR has a program that Pierce county utilizes
  • And so I'm sure Peter Schrappen would know more information about this
  • But for some reason, we in King County don't have that yet
  • So I would be very interested in learning more about that and addressing that need
  • Commissioner Felleman, thank you
  • I'll follow up on that in just a second
  • But I want to just recognize sort of important of, you know, that the change that we're going to see at the airport with the change in our executive with the replacement of Lance, and look forward to some sort of robust community engagement in that effort
  • I think there's important parts of running the airport, doing the construction, as well as having programs like the START program, which I think Lance was a great steward of also
  • I'm really glad that we were able to give Steve the recognition he deserves
  • Getting us through the
  • What was I calling the cyber pandemic
  • And I think the
  • I also just want to report real quickly
  • We had a trip to Houston to the Port of the Future conference where we learned about e methanol and other very interesting incentive activities
  • It was kind of funny that it was at Houston they have Houston Ship canal tours, which are really industrial wastelands, it looks like
  • I was sort of surprised they'd even let people see it
  • No less, twice a day, five days a week, free boat tours on the ship canal
  • They spend a million dollars a year to share what is a bit of a ghastly sight
  • But I think it's really interesting just in terms of making sure the public knows that they're a port city
  • I think we can take a page
  • Houston relationship
  • No, man, I honestly, it was a little aghast, but it does show a way in which we could help the public better appreciate the patina of rust and the other things that we love so much about the port
  • But with regards to the pump out, this is something I was very much involved with back when we were looking into
  • We actually did a Design for Pier 69 on the apron to the
  • To the north
  • And Lindsey Pulsifer was involved with that
  • And it was determined that there was at a low tide, there was too much headroom to get the sewage up over the top
  • And there were some concerns about the sewage treatment pipes be able to take a concentrated flow
  • I won't get into the details, but an ecology had grants, part of the no discharge zone legislation
  • And so I just emailed Aaron
  • I want to see if that grant program is still in place
  • The Pier 69, you know, as a poet, we could accommodate, but I really think, you know, the tugs are docked over there at harbor island
  • And so I really think it behooves us to make it convenient for the tug operators to be able to easily access that
  • And whether it be at the harbor island marina where, you know, Western Towboat is, and there's facilities around that area or, you know, even facing the north side, which is where I think Crowley and Foss have their assets
  • So this is something that is long overdue
  • I appreciate folks reminding us of this and I think it's something that we, you know, we
  • We can facilitate the industry and protect the environment
  • So I am committed to looking into that further
  • Thanks for reminding us of that need
  • Thank you very much, Commissioner Cho
  • Yeah, thank you
  • You know, it seems like under this administration, every week there's something that we are preoccupied with as commissioners and as an organization
  • Just two weeks ago, I flew to Washington D.C
  • to testify in a public hearing in front of the U.S
  • trade Representative's office on a policy that they would like to implement
  • A million dollar fee on all vessels made by a Chinese manufacturer or operated by a Chinese carrier
  • Last week, the administration announced tariffs on 185 countries and as a port that is tasked with creating economic prosperity in the region
  • This is very concerning for us
  • And it doesn't take an econ major or policy wonk to understand the effects of tariffs not just on consumers in the form of inflation, but on jobs, on people's livelihoods
  • And I'm not one to be performative or virtue signal, but these policies are messing with people's lives
  • People's livelihoods are at stake here
  • The jobs that we will see disappear as a result of decreased business, decreased cargo volumes, the increase in prices, the potential of a recession is really going to be painful for us as a state given that we are the most trade dependent state in the nation
  • 40% of jobs in Washington are dependent on trade
  • And you know, we can debate the merits of whether or not tariffs are good or bad or if trade deficits are good or bad, but the uncertainty that this administration is injecting into the economy by wafting and flipping on tariff rates and who are going to tariff and who are not is really killing any motivation for businesses to proceed in a way that will grow their businesses and grow their base of employers
  • Put the stock market aside for a second and just think about the people and the fear that folks are living under because they're not sure if they're going to wake up to a job tomorrow
  • You know, this president wants to say that he wants to make America great again, but there's just truly nothing great about the approach nor the policies that are being implemented
  • And I sincerely hope that this administration opens their ayes to the, to the flurry of individuals and aye
  • constituents who continue to voice their concern over these policies
  • I think it's fair for me to say that we as an organization are committed to promoting our mission as an economic development agency
  • As you saw today, as we approve these grants for our neighboring cities, that we will steadfast to our values and continue to promote economic prosperity and lift all boats in the region
  • Thank you
  • Thank you
  • It is worthy to note, it is worthy to note that Russia was not amongst those that received tariffs
  • So it is a remarkable exception
  • Okay
  • And Commissioner Muhammad, any closing comments or referrals to committee? I do have one item to refer to committee, but I also just want to say appreciate your comments, Commissioner Cho, that you've just made and echo those same sentiments
  • The item that I would like to refer to committee is
  • I've been receiving a number of questions regarding a badging issue at SEA, particularly related to labor unions, access to secured areas
  • I don't have a full understanding of what all the issues are
  • So I'd like to refer this matter to a committee for a formal briefing and discussion on it
  • Maybe it's the Workforce Development Committee or it's Aviation
  • Chief of Staff Pritchard, I look to you to provide guidance on what the appropriate committee for the item should be, but I would appreciate if Commissioner's got a briefing on it, to better understand exactly what the issues are and what recommendations are from staff
  • I would recommend either Equity Workforce Development or even the Airport Workers Conditions Committee
  • Either one your preference? I think you're on both of those
  • So you'll be sure to get the briefing
  • Which one's meeting sooner? They probably both meet next Tuesday
  • Okay
  • We'll
  • We'll refer to
  • Why don't we do Equity Workforce
  • Equity Workforce Conditions Committee
  • Sounds appropriate
  • Wait, those are combined
  • The
  • The ad hoc committee
  • Okay, great
  • Thank you
  • Does that work for you, Commissioner Muhammad that does
  • Thank you
  • Appreciate that
  • And then your
  • Do you have a comment? No, that's it
  • I don't want to take up too much time
  • Appreciate you all and thanks for running a positive meeting
  • Just a couple closing comments
  • Not to reiterate what Ryan said about or what Commissioner Felleman said about Steve or Executive Director Little or what Commissioner Cho talked about with tariffs, but I did want to let folks know that I made an inquiry to our CEO of the Northwest Seaport alliance and to our Executive Director here at the Port of Seattle just to get an understanding of the legality of the tariffs
  • It seems to me that Congress may have unconstitutionally delegated its tariff setting authority to the President, a position that now has stronger footing in the post Chevron legal landscape, and that a potential lawsuit might seek to invalidate or at minimum, at least, least be able to stall the tariffs, which would be a measure to potentially protect the port's economic interests and assert a critical constitutional check on executive power
  • I also wanted to mention that we have filed suit as the Port of Seattle against the city for what we deem to be an unlawful spot rezone benefiting one millionaire develop billionaire developer
  • And so I would just like to express my support of that and to the coalition members who all have seen the recent action by the City Council to rezone the Soto industrial area for housing as an overreach
  • And then I also wanted to acknowledge one of the other impacts that we're seeing that could impact our industry is that the Trump administration effectively fired everybody in Washington State working at the Federal Maritime and Conciliation Services
  • And so the FMCS is the entity that is responsible for mediating labor disputes
  • And so what we found is that some of our labor partners have to go straight from disagreement to strike, which could cause significant disruptions in the industry
  • And so
  • And I'm grateful to our labor relations team for not only hiring the director at the FMCS to our own team, but looking into the potential for us to be able to lend professional mediation services in the future, should that be a need that we could potentially meet
  • I don't know
  • New line of business for the Port of Seattle Special purpose government
  • And yes, great meeting today
  • Thank you all so very much
  • And
  • And I'll check to see if Deputy Executive Director Goon has any closing comments for the day
  • No
  • Thank you, madam
  • And with that, the time is 2:48
  • And we are adjourned.

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