Remarks by Claire Sumadiwirya
36 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 2
- Play at 3:37
“Thank you. Whereas Welcoming Week has been celebrated in solidarity on the East Side since 2016 with the cities of Bellevue, Issaquah, Kirkland, Redmond, and Sammamish, seeing this as an opportunity to honor the history, achievements, experiences, struggles, and the contributions of immigrant and refugee people to the social, economic, educational, artistic, and civic life of our country. And whereas we recognize that many immigrants and refugee communities continue to face systematic barriers, shifting policies, and discrimination, and we commit to fostering a community where all community…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 1:26:15
“Well, thank you for the presentation. I'm so sad I couldn't be there in person. I think I was so excited and ran into hugging you all. This library is such a special place. Number two in the US and then number four in the world. I think that the fact that we have so many type of languages, it just bring people so much closer. I still remember when I bought my immigrant friends who from all over the world, the first time we went to a library and they went to the bookshelf, they can find a book that's speak the mother town where they couldn't speak english yet how close they felt they part of…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:04:57
“Thank you. First of all, like, with my colleagues, I thank you for giving the timeline that that was actually 1 of my questions see the matrix of measure the performance. So, thank you. But, and also, thank you for Nick and to be here and also the commission to spending time. I just felt this is like, so much code. To move in such a short window and time is essence. Right? Something I want to really praise is I love that you're marking which pieces meet the state minimum, which goes a step further. It's just very visual, so it makes it super, it's more accessible for me to see the differences…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:07:21
“Okay, thank you. And my next question is about the citywide elimination and also slash the visitor parking flex. Personally, I'm not a big fan of eliminating things because it takes up accessibility for some people not able to walk. So I think that as a city, we welcome everyone. It is important we have that flexibility for type of visitor parking we have for parking. So I think that what intrigues me is I love the willingness the staff is going to work through with the development community. Can you give me a little bit sense about what does it look like? the flexibility part right so when…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:10:02
“Thank you. I appreciate that. I think having that dialogue, able to keep just able to listen and then figure out, because I think that every development could be very different and every neighborhood is different. So able to kind of listen to the needs will be really crucial. Like myself, I live in the townhouse community. So I would say if there's no visitor parking, somebody not able to walk a half mile, take the light rail, then nobody's going to ever visit me. i have a lot of elderly friends so i think it's really important to know that um i appreciate that i think the take of you know me…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 2:22:02
“We're comfortable to move forward, but have some more data will be good.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 56:29
“Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Congratulations. This is our first project with this type of partnership, right? So I think setting the ground and the framework is so important to know how to showcase the public benefit. Thank you for the hard work. Also, thank you, Bianca, for responding to my question so fast. Thank you so much. I felt this is just special because it's a transit-oriented project also that's focused on the 30 to 60 AMI. That's an area that's strongly needed. So thank you for making sure that's the, because Bianca actually explained to me it's 60%, and then they split between 50% 30…”
City Council · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 1:40:13
“Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Thank you for making this simplified because we know that a simplified process always making the goal more focused to helping the community. And I'm really grateful for the chair to spending time and making it so efficient just in two meetings. Thank you. That's amazing. I just have a few clarified questions. I sent you a long list of questions. I'm very nerd about these things. You don't have to come back to all of them. But there is two questions I just kind of want to clarify because we are making a motion tonight. One of them is about, I think it's on slide, let's…”
City Council · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 1:42:32
“Thank you. And is there room to work with the small business concierge services? And so when the group is helping somebody to plan a business in Bellevue, they can actually have a full picture, like, you know, since this is the process we're going to make and how it's going to become different. Because I think the last thing I would want is when people want to start a business, they evaluate the cost, the initial cost. And then that, when they compare with other cities, it scares them away. And I think having the small business concierge, having a full picture of them, what's the long-term…”
City Council · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 1:43:16
“Thank you. And my last question is, let's see. I think my next question is more about the option of paying upfront for the lump sum in the beginning or paying over 10 years. Did I get it wrong? Because right now, you're paying overtime for 10 years for the lump sum. How, when we're doing the public awareness, how can we communicate effectively with the people who are already paying for the lump sum or their neighbors or their future planning thinking about? How can we share the differences, the benefit of paying the lump sum? Because I'm just thinking off my head, what if somebody don't have…”
City Council · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 1:44:57
“Oh, that's great. I love that the developers are thinking ahead of that. Thank you so much for everything.”
City Council · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:16:31
“Thank you, Deputy Mayor. I am excited, even though I'm very scared to get on a scooter. I'm not going to lie. I'm different from the mayor. Actually, on one trip, he was trying to, I was like, no, I'm not getting a scooter no matter what, because I am scared. And I, last time I rode a bike, I almost killed myself. So I think for me, even though I'm really excited about the transit, the last mile and first mile, I do think there's a lot of I think it's going to take a lot of convincing for me to understand the safety side of it. So sharing the data would be super helpful. So plus one to…”
City Council · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:18:39
“I like that. I have a helmet. Hopefully I can wear that helmet on the scooter at the same time. I'll be brave enough one day. And then I sent you a few questions to clarify because it's just information. But I did have one last question about, I think, Old Main Street. So when you define narrow street and there's a lot of pedestrian, is that Old Main? Is the low speed or no parking zone for this?”
City Council · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:19:06
“OK. And I guess my question about how do you define, because when there's incentive versus penalty, try to track this, right? Does LIME have information about sharing which way of regulating is more attractive, incentive versus penalty?”
City Council · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:19:39
“Yeah, let me know. And I would love to know the data just because there's one part I think the presentation talk about, you know, parking within the corral zone is not required, but incentivized if you park within it. Right. So I'm just wondering, it's I mean, from the psychology behind it, which one's more effective?”
City Council · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 2:21:07
“so but uh the the mandatory versus encouraging through incentives uh we'll have to i'll follow up with them on that i think that's great and again i'm still very excited even though i'm scared but i think but the big difference would be when when you find a really great partner have the data to support so make our work more successful in the beginning that's a great partnership thank you so much councilmember robinson”
City Council · Aug 4, 2026
- Play at 57:01
“Thank you for the presentation, and good to see you again, Steph. I just want to give a couple of praise, because as soon as she was put on the ground, we had a meeting right away, and she reached out to talk to brokers, just ready to go. So I really appreciate you making a huge difference, because I think that when you all work together, removing the uncertainty and unknown, when you invest majority people's capital into a space, it takes a lot of effort, right? And then because the city is really prioritizing that, It makes this place so much more attractive, invest. And I love, can I just,…”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 58:50
“I think that's great. And I believe that the first initial interaction, first impression is everything, right? So when people ask me for help and they feel they can be heard and respected, also we're eager to help, they always most likely going to come back repeatedly to make the process more and giving really great feedback too. My next question is about, there's a slide talking about there's a diversity of the small business coming to town, which is so exciting. Thank you for bringing great chocolate to town. That's amazing. I do have a question about if there is a, if when small business,…”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 1:00:29
“Thank you. And I think that's it. But last question is about AI. Can I ask, please? OK. So because it's making our work so much more efficient, and because of that, would you say that our staff now has so much more efficiency added, now they can actually help more customers because of the AI? Do you feel that way?”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 1:59:54
“Thank you for the presentation. I was going to ask the engagement question, just like my colleague. But thank you for answering it, because we know that they have the highest spend speaking, as you mentioned. So I really love the way that you're going out to the community, to the schools, and also to Drupal Reach, the community partners. One question I had, there's a mention about the racial equity toolkit. But it's in the process, right? Can you tell me more about it? Absolutely.”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 2:02:20
“That's really helpful, because I think, like, when you're thinking, like, even, you know, council members, we are a different age group, right? Different things could be different way to targeting to reach the audience. So I think, is there any room when this tool is created that we can use that to engage the, like, the neighborhood? neighborhood and neighbors and actually having them into that same conversation, talk about like, okay, we see these data points. Maybe these are the family that we are not able to reach out and then find, like reach, and then is there a way that you can connect…”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 2:03:32
“I have two questions, but I emailed, and so you can answer me later. So one last question is kind of looping this together about the format of the survey. As we know, Bellevue is the most, I mean, to my heart, I think it's the safest city, right? And then so public safety, any safety in general is very important. So I'm looking at the Eastgate and Victoria. You know, safety is always the first value in those neighborhoods, and I believe that's the same for every neighborhood. And on the survey of those two neighborhoods, I didn't see the list of the questions. Safety was listed in there. It…”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 2:05:40
“Thank you, because I do agree with you. And I think that everybody's definition is safe. Safety could be very different. Even the different culture could be different, right? So one culture could be, I feel safe when I can talk to my police officer or my firefighter directly. To other culture, it could be completely different. So I would advocate to be, I guess, culturally sensitive about more inclusive about their needs and how do they define safety. Because sometimes it's not only the physical things that matters. It's, I think, the mental and other elements, too. Thank you.”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 2:09:52
“I think managing my device is the sentence of the night.”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026
- Play at 2:33:15
“Thank you. I plus one to all my colleagues, and I don't have any questions, and I just want to show my gratitude for your patience, and also I love the thoughtfulness of the response, because, I mean, this code is very, like any kind of code, any policy we talk about is super complicated, and the fact that you and the team can go out to meet the neighbors, explain them in real person, that shows a lot. It shows a lot of commitment our team, our staff has for our residents, so I'm just grateful for that. Thank you.”
City Council · Jul 28, 2026