Embargoed

Monday, May 4 at 2:00 p.m.

Seattle City Councilmember John Okamoto
Confirmation Speech

Council President Burgess and colleagues, thank you for your vote of confidence.
I want to thank all those that applied for this vacant position. Thank you for defining the issues. Thank
you for being willing to commit yourselves to public service. I hope you will continue your civic
engagement.
I want to thank my parents, and those that have gone on before me.
Those who were imprisoned in concentration camps during World War II because of falsehoods alleged
against them. Those who volunteered to serve and die in the United States military to protect our
country while their families remained behind barbed wires. Those like my father, Tosh Okamoto and
Fred Shiosaki sitting in the chambers. Thank you to those who fought for reparations and redress, like
Chuck Kato whose daughter Suzy Kumasaka is here.
And thank you to Councilmember Wing Luke whos family store was located around the corner from our
boarding house, and who opened the door for many Asian American to hold elected offices, like David
Della who is here.
I stand on the shoulders of those who came before me and paved the way for my generation.
Id like to give a special thank you to my wife Sharon and my extended family Charissa, Greg, Noah, Nico,
Shawna, Austin and little Kira for their support during this rigorous process. You have kept me steady,
centered, and focused.
I want to thank the many, many people who supported my quest to be here today.
From Labor:
Mary Lindquist, former president of the States largest public union of 82,000 members; and Jonathan
Knapp from the Seattle Education Association, its largest local.
Joe McGee, President, Professional and Technical Employees, Local 17. He could not be here today, but
he sent Behnaz Nelson, Deputy Executive Director and Kate Garrow.
Ian Gordon, Secretary/Treasurer, Laborers, Local 1239
Vince OHalloran, Sailors Union, and Marine Fireman Oilers and Wipers Union
Kathy Oglesby, former UFCW Negotiations Director


From the Human services and housing community:
Julia Sterkovsy, Executive Director, Human Services Coalition a coalition of hundreds of human service
providers committed to end homelessness, hunger relief, domestic violence prevention, quality early
childhood education, health care, employment, issues affecting elders and people with disabilities, racial
equity, and the development of children.
Merril Cousins, Executive Director, King County Coalition Against Domestic Violence with over 30
domestic violence organizations as members.
Mark Okazaki, Executive Director, Neighborhood House
Paul Landros, Executive Director, Plymouth Housing Group
Jeffrey Hattori, President/CEO, Nikkei Concerns
Estela Ortega, Executive Director, El Centro de la Raza
And from the Community:
George Griffin, Henry Yates and Rev. Proctor - The Breakfast Group
Ruth Woo, Laverne Lamoureux and Patricia Akiyama who have been cheerleaders throughout my
career.
Bettie Luke, sister of the late City Councilmember Wing Luke
And my dear Presby friends
Public servants
And Id like to thank the many, many public servants in the City and other public agencies who are here
or watching on TV. This appointment affirms the value the City Council places on public service,
something you deliver every hour of every day.
Thank you to the leaders and employees of the Human Services Department who have been a joy to
work with. Ive learned so much from you. You are smart, and have passion for your work. I am here, in
large part, because of our time together.
Those that supported me and advocated for me know who I am and what I can deliver.
This is a day of possibilities
A day, my grandparents would not have thought possible when they stepped off their boats from Japan
on the Seattle waterfront to a foreign and hostile land.

A day, my parents would not have thought possible when they were imprisoned in concentration camps,
unjustly portrayed by government officials to the public as enemy aliens.
A day, that I as an incorrigible child, and later as a student who needed a second look to get into college
and struggled to get into the rhythm of academic rigors would not have thought possible.
But Councilmembers, you made this day possible.
And this is a time and place I join you to make possibilities real for all residents of this City - especially
for those who cannot think of possibilities beyond the challenging realities they experience every day.
But making possibilities a reality can only happen through our joint and collective efforts - working hard
to find our common interests that serve all in this city.
There is so much to do, and so little time to do it.
I want to find solutions to reduce the need to warehouse the homeless in shelters and truly make
homelessness rare, brief and one time with our regional partners and my fellow committee members
Councilmembers Sawant and Rasmussen. We need to address the conditions that lead to
homelessness, and try new things. I want to work with Councilmember Sally Bagshaw to get the right
services, regardless of the funding source, to the right people to help them off the streets in the
downtown area.
I look forward to partnering with Councilmember Mike OBrien, Chair of the Planning, Land Use and
Sustainability Committee to find and implement new funding tools to build more affordable housing
for all spectrums of income.
It has been nearly a decade since we have analyzed the health conditions of our residents, yet we are
spending $14m on health programs without knowing if our resources are directed to the most needed
places. I look forward to working with Councilmember Licata and Sawant to advocate for the health
needs of our residents as fellow members of the King County Board of Health.
I want to take a harder look at the data we use in our results driven initiatives, to ensure we are
capturing data at the subpopulation levels and targeting our resources to areas of greatest need.
There are a growing number of seniors and many more who do not speak English as their native tongue.
Therefore, addressing the needs of the seniors and helping them live independently or if needed in
assisted living facilities that are adequately funded remains a top-tier priority. I look forward to working
with Councilmember Rasmussen on these issues, as well as the Transportation levy to ensure it is
right-sized, and has the right balance of strengthening deteriorating infrastructure with improvements
that allow flow of people (whether they are walking, bicycling, using a wheelchair or stroller, on a bus or
in a car) and our precious freight flow.
Working with Councilmember Harrell, I want to pursue a seamless, integrated domestic violence
system that links advocates, service providers and criminal justice together through new communication

and collaboration technology. A seamless system will provide multiple doors for survivors at entry
points where they are most comfortable accessing support. We must do more to stop human
trafficking.
I will work with Councilmember Harrell, Mayor Ed Murray and Chief OToole to create a Police
Department that is a national model of urban policing, continuing the path of reform a department
that looks like the community it serves, and making sure officers have the training and tools to do their
jobs in a changing society.
I want this City to embrace our youth by creating more job opportunities for them not only in the
public sector but also the private sector so that students like those here from the Seattle Urban
Academy get real job opportunities and training, and we can complement the great work of our
teachers like Dr. Michael Friedland, David McIntosh, and those who are Seattle Education Association
members. I am excited to work with Councilmember Licata on his participatory budgeting process to
engage youth to get more involved in this important work.
I will continue to advocate for full funding of public education holding the State accountable to live up
to its constitutional and paramount duty to make ample provision for the education of all children.
Too many children have been denied their constitutional rights. And I dont want to wait any longer
with my grandchildren Noah, Nico and Kira all soon to be in school.
Im committed to working with President Burgess to leverage and integrate the Citys unprecedented
investment in early childhood education with any funding proposals that come from King Countys
Best Start for Kids to focus on evidence based and proven programs.
And I want to support the important work of Councilmember Godden in pay equity. This is important to
our society and important to me personally. I come from a family and married into a family with strong
and talented women. I have three talented sisters. I have seen gender discrimination up close. My
mother Toshi, her peers, my sisters and their peers, have not been valued and compensated as I have.
And I want to create better pay equity for my two daughters generation and my granddaughters
generation.
These are ambitious goals for the next eight months, I know. But the people of Seattle deserve real
progress on all these fronts. And the only way we can deliver is by working together collaboratively.
There's an old African proverb I think you have all heard, "if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to
go far, go together."
Like many of you, I want this City to progress as far as it can go, and I want to do it together. I have only
but a few months, but I want to move forward together.
I stand ready to work with you, my colleagues and the community, solely focused on the governance of
Seattle on behalf of all those that live in this city.
And I am up to the challenge. Thank you.