appointment he served as the senior urban designer for the city of boulder colorado previously he was the director of land use and planning policy for chicago's development i'm sorry for chicago's department of planning and served as deputy chief of staff to mayor richard daley he also served the city of san francisco as director of special projects for the department of planning and development responsible for implementation of various urban design policies and redevelopment plans and that's sam if you didn't know that already throughout his work in many communities assefa has demonstrated a commitment to creating thriving and livable cities as well as racial and social justice as a core planning principle he brings a broad perspective to seattle having lived and worked in several cities in the u s and abroad he's participated as a speaker and  adviser on urban planning and design issues worldwide including cities in canada the netherlands china ethiopia and australia among others etc has a master's degree in city planning from mit and a bachelor's degree in architecture  what i wanted to do today is just briefly give you my own background in terms of hiring i got into design and architecture and city planning give a brief kind of high the key currents initiatives that my office in the city together are working on to address some of those some of those issues see so i originally came from  and design in drawing since i was about four or five but some of the biggest influence for me at that time other than legalists it was one of my favorite those are my favorite tools but i was very very fascinated by the religious architecture of the coptic church is ethiopia and a lot of the paintings that you find from five six seven hundred years back and i was just really intrigued by the structures themselves and i remember drawing a lot of those when i was a kid and at one point through the i got punished for drawing a building that was so detailed meaning i was in my art class i think it was eighth grade because i just did this time tested drawing for my final class for art and my teacher did not believe i drew it and it was drawn as an ox on a metric it was hard lined in very detail there was a tall building that i see outside my window and but later comes back to haunt to be in a way because of old buildings in san francisco but that's a different story but my influence since i was a kid was just my in intrigue about the built environments and a lot of the monasteries and structures that you find in this incredible places chiseled out of single rock this three story four story buildings are fascinating places in places simple worship as well and they were rich with incredible paintings and frescoes and it was a significant influence on me and i always wanted to be an architect since i was a kid and that's what i wanted to do and fast forward came to this country early one nine hundred eighty s and i was fascinated by chicago as well and in terms of its sort of history of architecture and that's where oh where i wanted to go and study architecture on resources so i worked for a person who had very very rich clients who would build anything you sketch in your draw and it was a wonderful place when you come out of architecture school to actually design something and  gets built but i soon found out that that was not i think about four years or so i found out that that was not what i wanted to do there was a lot of waste that i actually observed within the office it was very focused on design which i loved but it was not only focused so there was something missing and that's when i started pursuing studies in city planning and decided to go to study architecture city planning and in my graduate school i also got exposed to political issues and when i was going to undergrad grad school in the early ninety's up on tire parts i movement was hot specially at mit and i joined a group while i was still doing my master's planning process and getting engaged in exposed to community planning process which architecture oftentimes doesn't give you that now architects have to be versed in all of that and when i was going to architecture school in the eighty's you focused on design and you going to be a stock that's when you get out and i was kind of the that dream that graduate school kind of shaped my thinking about  city planning and it wasn't until i got some for cisco and started working in a an architecture firm that was looking to start a planning practice that i really got into the idea of community engagement same issues of equity and the immense responsibility that policymakers or designers or planners have in terms of the impacts that they have to make and hardest point shipyard if you know san francisco the southeastern part of the city york bay few hundred point is where the largest concentration of african americans came to build ships in the fifty's sixty's and seventy's and they  orange it's a five hundred acre land that was sitting there on by the military by the navy that was doing it wasn't being used at all other than three hundred artists who have studios there the neighborhood was not engaged in its the african americans who came to build ships and that site were not actually allowed to get there because the navy owned it and the only people who had access were mostly white artists who used studios in existing buildings so came out of skidmore one of the first female principals in skidmore in boston was really interested in getting planning practice in and in this farm and she and i worked a lot redevelopment agency the nancy pelosi who was representing that area that this should be a superfund sites it has significant amount of contamination bed that it should be part of the superfund site but their way we were able to do that is we really got the community engaged but for about a year and a half or two years almost a free process about what planning means and what kind of vision that they could have for that place in the future and we did this planning game and cut out cards and colored cards forms you know shapes through experience help the community groups and advisory group be able to express their ideas for the shipyard that actually led to not only putting the site of superfund site in and get over two hundred million dollars from the federal government initially to start cleaning it up but also to get the city to adopted be developed with communities vision and one of the other things we did there was they were all this kids who lived in the hill so hottest point shipyard would have never had a chance to see the water they never came down to the to the shipyard so we would bring  regularly with the artists would work with the young kids to come out and learn about what climbing is what the shipyard is and we designed this games for them but they cut out like lego pieces the shape of the city how it grew over time and the way they also came to the waterfront so they've never been to that area and we thought that was really important at the time because by that time planning process get implemented any planning it would be twenty thirty forty years when this kids grow up so that was an important component getting even the decision makers to actually open up in time so they're at what should happen they're getting the kids involved so that was kind of what really got me started in getting planning more in site so a lot of the community ownership is reflected in in the built environment today now i'm here in seattle and one of the most important cities in the country a city that i actually for years  compared notes when i was in san francisco about ideas about planning seattle is it has a long history and before you know from the gold rush through danny regrade it had significant impacts on the culture but also the built environment because of its history it's definitely one of the most spectacular places in its natural setting but a lot of the city policies have  's and what it indicates in color the rich or inch in yellow are places that are red lined as a clique or undesirable places but they also happen to be where people of color only choices where they could live for the most part because of a lot of redlining policies and what's interesting is you know that racial segregation legally doesn't exist today but a lot of the and what's interesting is it's not that different so if you look at the yellow and red areas in that happens to be where most of the people of color african americans and immigrants today live and those areas happen also happens to be some of the areas that are the most underserved or less access to opportunities so it's interesting so those policy decisions that we made wayne end up in the past still shape the it's just mind boggling one of the most progressive cities that you know of seattle and with that kind of legacy in history today the city as everybody knows is booming and it is growing very fast changes that we're experiencing in the growth that we're experiencing in the cities growing really fast bet driven obviously by the tech quarrelled and information industry it is which that is taking place in seattle is just mind boggling can have experienced it in san francisco in the mid to late ninety's and early two thousand but the rates here in the last twenty years and in the last five years so it's been significant and of course it's reflected in it's on affordability as well when the current mayor created the office of planning and community development there are a couple of major things that he wanted to focus one to figure out how a department could help coordinate city departments so that we could all equitably and we address issues of equity and affordab that you see that one on the left less meant risks in the city so the city did analysis throughout the city and identified areas that for a number of reasons are through displacement there's no surprise there interest interesting read that map more or less correlates to the map that i showed from the one nine hundred thirty s again the legacy of the decisions that we've made you know thirty forty fifty sixty years ago still place out so displacement through risk on the left and access to opportunity risk so they mapped out areas that neighborhoods are not the neighborhoods that do not have access to stores or roadways or infrastructure and the reason that is an accomplishment is that that then has to inform the decisions and policy decisions that we make that issues so if race our important components of our decisions and policies moving forward so growth with could be one of the changes that has taken place in seattle over the last ten fifteen years we also have growing in our immigrant population as well what is interesting is one in five satellites are born elsewhere a lot of stuff it can immigrants  to seattle made seattle their home so we have a lot of different changes since shifts that are taking place that is important that we have dress as we if we want to be if you want to grow equitably driven projects an idea swear communities in the southeastern part of seattle central district chinatown international district felts these are the types of projects and pump ideas that they feel would help retain some of their culture but also their economic viability in the city so the city it's a community driven planning about the city sort of adopted it created the plan as a road address opportunities or any number of changes that address equity within that area and within that in addition troops significant amount of house in lead be in a lot of work that the city initiative my office as well as five six other departments are working together to figure out what that means and we put together an advisory board and we're actually be beginning to start funding projects that  community initiated and again that is also informed by this idea of we need to invest in equity based on information and data that we have through the community from t equity and livability cities because of the immense growth and interest we need more hot sync specially affordable housing but in order to do that we also need to address the house needs in general as well so the m h a if you haven't heard that mandatory housing affordability and hala program looks at the sort of a fifty thousand goal over the next ten years of thirty thousand of a market rates twenty thousand affordable and to reach there with multiple policies and funding mechanisms so the city is collaboratively working to address those issues one component of one a number of areas and capture that to actually build affordable housing strew out the city and there are a number of programs that city departments are working on design excellence design guidelines are an important component as well in terms of cultural expression of places you heard just earlier about the margaret talked about the central district design guidelines also very important components of cultural expression of places in the city zoning policies owning developments creates a standards but at the end of the day the architects and people who implement the projects are going to be able to express and artists what is what would be reflective of the culture of a place so that it's an important component  and give example why that is important just using chicago went millennium park in chicago was built about ten years ago it had a lot of components it was invision the living room of the city that it should be welcoming hey if this is an art pieces should be reflective of who lives in the city so they took over two thousand faces of chicago it's in a they have to be they reached out to every neighborhood organization that important is when you see kids there in the summer from every part of chicago it's important that they see themselves in the images we put out in public places and this has been incredibly effective  hundred but when you see this kids playing out there it's important that they see themselves in that and oftentimes it's really interesting you see this kids every now and then they stop  and check out whose face is coming up and they go for the water but there is a message there from about art so design guidelines are important from about perspective as well in terms of where they're implemented and why so in the central districts i won't go into it but it is no secret that we are losing our african american population in that in that district interestingly even though the city overall is becoming more diverse because of people coming from all over the place in east africa and the african american population is  facilitator in those kinds of engagements to create the design guidelines are an important part of the city's in the neighborhoods policies the twenty third avenue action plan it also includes significant amount of re e to address some of the affordability issues that use that process to actually impact community ownership in properties like the liberty bank building that capitol and design is i think the city put in about twelve million dollars but what is more important is that community groups are the ones who actually initiated the ideas now there are a number of them it on center currently we work with again africa tahn in a number of the community groups to figure out how community ownership with private developments could actually take place and to take advantage of the rezoning that we are working on as we res implement those policies that should be done in an equitable way and in a way that should benefit the communities i want to go in the design guidelines who are hoping in the next month or so about to be completed and it becomes for the first time i think the area will have its own design review board and specific design guidelines to address some of the cultural issues chinatown international district that's another area that we have significant focus multipart mental which is you know a piece of it is within the cia d we have you know different cultures that are not really represented in some of the design guidelines one of the work is to maybe put it all under the same design review and with multiple departments to address some of the inequities that have been experienced with in chinatown international district a lot of our physical and infrastructure our you know public to help the community achieve its dream and vision for expanding its cultural facilities within within the rainier beach area food innovation district again community initiated projects that are that we helped facilitate we not we're not initiating that process now this is a food innovation district that brings food as a key component of both cultural and economic development opportunities in this area so those are some of the high level work that we're doing to address issues of equity obviously it's a purely design issue but it's a whole package that affects sort of livability equity affordability in the city it is the number one issue at least from my perspective but most people that i work with that we're trying to address in the city as the city is changing so fast first thank you very much for being here my name is jenny jerk and i'm running for mayor c n n i would love to have your support i said to a few people i can't tell you how great this is to come in this room and see all these from i mean it is usually you walk into rooms and there are is my home and i'm running mostly because i love the city i think seattle is an amazing place but we have seen such explosive growth in the last seven years but it's changing before our eyes and we need to be very intentional about what kind of city we want to be i have been for the last thirty years devoted to issues racism justice a story that was a criminal defense lawyer representing people openly gay so i a civil rights division and we went from having guns zero civil rights cases to today there's over one hundred and we forced the broader range of civil rights including housing discrimination police constitutionality in the water we i work together with a the only way we're going to get to the city that we all know we can be in the future is if we identify will that looks like and to me that was a city that was close to their first created committed to shared prosperity for everyone and  care of small business and builds a world in community and i'm focused on solutions and refining them and developing them with you i'm going mom i'm married to a great architect and two kids in their teens and two step kids in their twent how can we have a great management leadership structure that's including them in the situation but also working directly with neighborhoods we used to do a lot better job collaborating with neighbors we need to bring that back so we need to make the department of neighborhood only way we're going to build shared prosperity and shared our inner city is if the city says it's resources to invest in your past me in your power to make yourself it's been a big problem in our city so far where you know we have a just separate the two bills for the experiences kerry has a lot of great plans we have very similar plans but i know how to get those plans done and if you look at the history of my wife i actually have a person of actually improving people's lives i'll give you  example the day that from muslim band came down a lot of people watched on t v a lot of people complained about it i got my car and i drove the sea tac airport and on the way i called the road was the women's rights project and  so we need lawyers there we were able to contact the court and work with the families and we got the first poorer maybe in the country but clearly the request to stop them from illegally deporting two men and just getting them back on the plane they but we can't get those plans and actually improve people's lives it doesn't make any difference and that's a big thing to little things you know when we have a lot of the means of a police report in my office is that u s attorney everyone has to go through security  really on for example that the women coming through there we're going to make them take off the few drugs and i went down with the security and said we can't do that it's disrespectful and it's wrong so we changed the policy it seemed a little thing but it needed a place where community came together and agreed with the city and at the eleventh hour at the last minute the small group of developers went to see the council and said we want you to write different pools and then convince city council that they should change the rules in order to favor developers which would have resulted in more historic buildings being torn down and i stood up with the community groups and talked to city council members and got them to change their mind and go back to the community and repeat that which has been really beneficial for players so that's one example of standing position against speculation by wealthy outside interests who were driving our housing prices on purpose and put out a platform of sanctions that would stop that activity and vast four times as much money in affordable housing  building right now because this is essential we have got to build housing that's a workable for low income people and the class of people or our city is going to get hollowed out and just be a playground for the wealthy we can't let that happen i took a lot of heat from so police reform i was u s attorney was probably one of the most difficult and contentious issues in the city of that time and when we made great progress we know we have to make greater starters but let me talk a little bit of how we get more people together in the stands i had t take so i was a united states attorney my job was to enforce the law third of the cases we had seattle police department was involved i had to be able to go to the police department and the people in my office and say what we're seeing  wrong we saw video after video after video of usually young men fall or being abused by the police and then john t williams was shot and killed in a c three it was clear we had to be more i have to know only work against the police last point of controversy the city pushed very hard they did not include anything else policing because we use the civil rights division of the department of justice and the u s attorney has not made a specific finding that there was bias policing because the and said i will not sign any agreement that is not supervised by the poor and does not include bias policing we finally got that agreement but we only got it i think because i together with the community said no no we have to have that wor running their companies and congress we haven't done right by them so it has to start literally a good prenatal care we have to support our moms and support them all we have to have good early learning programs and good after school programs if you look at just equality to really look at how we see our public schools to close that opportunity gap for kids and then for those kids that do get through who do graduate from personal public schools i promise that they will get two years free tuition at a community college two years three tuitions that will give them opportunities they wouldn't have otherwise some get a certificate degree so they'll go on to a corner school some will go into the trades someone wanted computer programming we want all those jobs and the third done real jobs for kids we've got to have that think mine be a pipeline from school to the next economy not a pipeline to prison or porn or any of that we absolutely have to have more opportunity for kids and that can only happen if we work with neighborhoods and communities you know and know that many of you were involved in child care it also means that we give better supports to child care skin parents you know there's a lot of obstacles to the state house right now the  mistake those are the people who help us get kids ready and do it in community so i would all have someone in my office as a liaison to the east african community but it was also one specifically focused on ranges of because really this is the heart of the matter when you look at racial inequality in our city it is largely due to just rose difference in what resources kids for communities of color have access to or sway kids from well your white communities and the more access to and this is really where we need to focus our efforts so i have committed that out of the city budgeting process in every single department that we will use racial and social justice equity l how we allocate resources because we have to start looking at how do we rebalance the decades i mean that we and really started missing in communities of color and south and communities more than we are and this is the way to do it we have community organizations to make sure we are identifying and finding the kids who are ambitious and excited and want to do this find those kids and make sure they get now to a great employer we need to work with trade unions and make sure that unions who already have great apprenticeship have the inequity you know that the kids who have a vicious parents whose parents are connected to the city government or big corporations those kids get the green internships they get the extra head start they get to go work at the super cool jobs it's simply not fair and we've got to recognize that and make sure we're going to community organizations and i don't think kids and helping them get that same chance i also think we need to really focus on using the family and education of the dollars on community based organizations that can do the culturally competent our reach and services that kids from communities of color the refugee and immigrant families meet and that means really listening to the community working with educators in seattle public school systems and finding the programs that are the most effective that are doing the best work to help kids who need that extra support to get ahead get into these great get retrained they need get the family services they need to get the health services they need and make sure that we are focusing on that committee and giving kids who need them the most the most resources together had so all those things together i think we can make a pretty big shift in how we do this as a city working with community organization