CITY OF SEATTLE
ORDINANCE __________________
COUNCIL BILL __________________
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AN ORDINANCE relating to the lease of City property; authorizing the Director of Finance and Administrative Services or the Director's designee to execute a 99 year lease agreement with Africatown Community Land Trust for former Fire Station 6 located at 101 23rd Ave, Seattle, WA 98122, for use as the William Grose Center for Cultural Innovation to provide for culturally responsive services that support the African-American community in the Central Area to create pathways to self-determination, and for future development and expanded activation of the property as described in the lease.
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WHEREAS, the Central Area is the historic home of the African-American community in Seattle, with a diverse and inclusive neighborhood with a rich history of civic engagement on matters affecting the Central Area; and
WHEREAS, the cost of rent and economic challenges have resulted in displacement challenges for a number of businesses in the Central District; and
WHEREAS, Africatown Community Land Trust's mission is to acquire, steward, and develop land assets necessary for the African diaspora community to grow and thrive in its historic place in Seattle's Central District; and
WHEREAS, in 2004, the City of Seattle launched the Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI), led by the Office for Civil Rights, with the vision of achieving racial equity in the community and the mission of ending institutional and structural racism in City government and partnering with the community to achieve racial equity across Seattle; and
WHEREAS, the City works to create racial equity by explicitly naming and addressing the historic and current impacts of institutional and structural racism in City policies, procedures, programming, initiatives, and budgetary decisions; and
WHEREAS, Resolution 31577, adopted in May 2015, affirmed that the City's core value of racial and social equity is one of the foundatio...
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