Gmail - Fwd: Suggested talking points, proposed agenda for Monday https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?ui=2&ik=33879c3d8b&jsver=0kP6P... Kshama Sawant Fwd: Suggested talking points, proposed agenda for Monday 1 message Robinson Slote, Dana To: "kshamaatcouncil@gmail.com" Fri, Aug 3, 2018 at 4:42 PM Dana Robinson Slote 206.615.0061 206.423.3220 Begin forwarded message: From: "Robinson Slote, Dana" Date: August 3, 2018 at 12:08:17 PM PDT To: "Bengibbard@mac.com" Subject: Suggested talking points, proposed agenda for Monday Ben -Thanks for your time by phone yesterday. As promised, below you'll find suggested talking points for Monday's Full Council meeting. In short, I summarized many of the themes from an interview you gave in June this year, which seems to fit well with the Resolution and Ordinance CM Sawant will introduce to #SaveTheShowbox Also as discussed: I’ll plan to meet you on the first floor of the City Hall lobby approx. 1230p (LyŌ can bring you to the 5th Ave entrance), and feel free to call if I can help guide you here. We’ll meet first with Sawant for fewer than 15:00; and, Then I’ll take you to O’Brien (Ballard, Fremont) and Herbold (West SeaƩle), followed by Citywide elected Gonzalez & Mosqueda (and the remaining Councilmembers Johnson, Juarez, Bagshaw and Harrell) as Ɵme allows. Public comment begins at 2:00 p.m., so we can decide in advance if you’d still like to speak (and sign you in) or watch from the Green Room. Thank you once again for sharing your time and talent on this important occasion and for this critical cause. Dana Robinson Slote Director of Communication, Seattle City Council O: 206.615.0061 M: 206.423.3220 L: 206.684.8566 ** 1 of 3 8/15/2018, 11:49 AM Gmail - Fwd: Suggested talking points, proposed agenda for Monday 2 of 3 https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?ui=2&ik=33879c3d8b&jsver=0kP6P... Monday, August 6 2:00 p.m. (Two minutes) Thank you President Harrell and members of the City Council. My name is Ben Gibbard. I’m a long time resident of Capitol Hill (CM Sawant’s district) and lead singer for the band Death Cab for Cutie. I’m also an artist who cares deeply about Saving the Showbox. I’m here today to register my support for the Resolution and Ordinance before you to Save the Showbox. Seattle has been transformed into an almost unrecognizable city over the past 15-20 years with the tech boom and especially with the rise of Amazon, we’ve undergone some really rapid changes in the landscape itself -- in the buildings going up and coming down -- and the cultural landscape has changed as well. A lot of the corners of my neighborhood that were less populated - there are now restaurants and bars and people on the street. It’s both a blessing and a curse. I think also for me what has been the most painful is seeing the displacement of both people of color and creative communities from not only this neighborhood but this City. You know, it seemed like in the 90s when you juxtaposed San Francisco and Seattle, San Francisco was going through its first wave of people leaving, with practices spaces being closed and turned into whatever they got turned into. There was a creative class that started to leave SF for Portland or even Seattle. And I think in my naivete at the time I thought that would never happen to Seattle but it certainly has… It’s really difficult to talk about these things without sounding like I’m a “get off my lawn” type of guy. Or because I moved to Seattle in 1999 that someone I have precedence over someone who moved here in 2009. But I think it's true that what gives cities such as Seattle their vibrancy and their appeal are the creative communities that exist and have existed - and hopefully continue to exist -- in those cities. I want Seattle to sustain a vibrant creative community. I think we doing our best collectively to protect that, but when a studio is creeping up to $1500-2000 it’s very difficult for someone to make a living waiting tables and playing in the band. There have been a number of moments -- as I’ve gotten older I’ve become acutely aware of how I connect my memories to my geography. As the landscape of this city changes I’ll walk down Broadway and past a location that used to be a bar I’d frequent with friends or somewhere where I had a beautifully intense conversation...and what was once a dive bar is now a Pilates studio. I didn’t want this to come off as the perspective of someone who is now middle aged complaining about how the city has changed and how it’s not as good as it once was (although that might be my perspective.) But what I want to say is that I’ve noticed as I’ve moved into middle age that I connect my memories to my geography to such an extent that it is as if I have to come to terms with not only the passage of time but coming to terms with losing the people and moments of my life as I walk down a street that is so unfamiliar and so different from how I remember it even ten years ago. Cities are in a constant state of flux, they are constantly changing and they are very difficult to come back to. It can be painful to see your memories so unceremoniously erased from the landscape. Please work with the members of Historic Seattle, and the Landmark Preservation Board and Save the 8/15/2018, 11:49 AM Gmail - Fwd: Suggested talking points, proposed agenda for Monday https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?ui=2&ik=33879c3d8b&jsver=0kP6P... Showbox. Thank you. ### -----Original Message----From: Robinson Slote, Dana Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2018 7:56 AM To: Bengibbard@mac.com Subject: Sawant joins the Showbox fight Crosscut Superb summary, below—and good morning! https://crosscut.com/2018/08/sawant-joins-showbox-fight Dana Robinson Slote 206.615.0061 206.423.3220 3 of 3 8/15/2018, 11:49 AM