-I'd like to begin by acknowledging
that we are on indigenous land,
the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people.
This acknowledgement reminds us to strive
for respectful partnerships with all people,
and we search for collective healing.
I am excited and honored to have Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell here
today to swear in our new Director Marshall,
and it's okay to clap.
This is a -- you can be impromptu today.
It's okay.
[ Applause ]
And to recognize all of the hard work
you all have put in throughout the years at Seattle Center.
For Marshall to celebrate public service with you all,
we wanted to make sure we had --
we wanted to make sure he was serving in his full capacity
as the official director of Seattle Center.
Now you can clap again.
For those of you receiving your service awards and pins today,
you will always have a special connection to this day
to share with our soon-to-be director.
And for those of you in the audience
supporting your colleagues,
employees, friends, and special guests,
a sincere thank you for sharing this monumental event
with us here today.
Whether you are able to stay for the full event
or just a short time,
we are grateful to be able to share space with all of you.
The mayor's presence here underscores
the significance of this occasion,
and we are deeply grateful for everyone's support.
With that being said, I'd like to introduce
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell,
who will share a few reflections about public service,
honor Seattle Center employees, including Marshall,
and then initiate the official swearing-in ceremony.
Bruce Harrell.
-Thank you, Chelsea.
Thank you for your warm applause.
So you could spread a rumor that the mayor showed up
at this phenomenal occasion high.
I'm high.
Now, those that know me know I actually don't use drugs.
I don't even drink.
But I'm just high from the Husky game last Saturday,
so I'm wearing my --
I'm walking around on cloud nine.
I'm going to clarify that before the rumors start.
Very honored to spend time with Seattle Center employees.
I've talked to many of you before,
and I want to double down on something
that I said that this campus and the work that you do
is some of the most important work we do in the city
because you define us for the world to see.
When we talk about the Seattle Center
being our cultural heart and soul of our city,
when I do travel,
they always ask about the campus and the activities,
and we've been through good times and tougher times.
But we're shining right now,
and it's because of you, the employees.
And so when we start talking about employees
that have been here 5, 10, 15, 20,
dare I say 40 and 50 years? That's sort of scary.
But it shows a true commitment. I tell my wife, you know,
things are always easy to quit sometimes.
I hear about people taking jobs
and, you know, I got a lousy boss.
I got a bum. Or they'll take a class.
I quit midway through.
You know, that darn teacher, whatever.
It's always easy to quit things. Life is not perfect.
We all have impediments toward our happiness and our progress.
But when you show this kind of longevity,
this kind of tenacity, if you will,
it shows that you are committed to something bigger
than yourself, not just your job.
You do your jobs not just for the paycheck every two weeks.
You do it because you have a different
calling to be a public servant,
to bring joy and happiness to others,
and you have a competency in something that you do.
And I say that whether you are the event planner,
the CEO, or the janitor,
or the person that just washes the windows,
makes no difference.
You all are part of a invaluable ecosystem, equal roles.
My notes say the person working maintenance
is just as essential as the person doing accounting.
The person providing security
is just as important as the event planner.
What, are we picking on event planners today?
Who's the -- the point really being that each component
is so remarkably important to the whole.
You are indeed ambassadors for our city
and represent the values that we have to have moving forward
in these very, very tough times.
Now, having said that, it's absolutely my pleasure
during the awards ceremony to talk about your leader.
We've been calling Marshall, for some time,
the interim director.
And as many of you know, last month,
the city council unanimously --
you don't hear that term coming out very much,
city council does something unanimously --
unanimously voted to confirm
Marshall as a permanent director.
And so we thought today's gathering was the perfect place
to host his oath-of-office ceremony.
I want to say a few words about Marshall,
but not so much about Marshall, the human being,
but sort of what he represents relative to the Seattle Center.
Now, you know, I guess an event here
at Seattle Center wouldn't be complete
if we didn't introduce Robert Nellams' name
at least once in the process,
a dear friend since we've been in high school.
But when I was elected,
I talked to Robert about staying on for a while
and making sure that I don't embarrass myself relative
to the Seattle Center, and we became friends.
Even when I was on the council,
on many occasions, I relied on his sage advice
and his intelligence and his commitment to the campus.
I said, "Hey, I got to find a superstar.
I don't know what he or she will look like.
I don't know where they're -- where they reside.
I don't know who this person is going to be."
And I just knew Marshall sort of tangentially
and some of the great work he was doing with the waterfront.
And he was working as part of my cabinet,
and I said, "Well, as my kid would say, he seems all right.
[ Laughter ]
I don't know him well
just because he presents to the council,
but I'm not working closely with him."
And I asked to see his résumé.
And I said quite frankly and a director's spot
was here for transportation.
I recruited him from Los Angeles.
I've recruited people in different cities.
I said, "The Seattle Center,
the employees deserve a superstar."
I looked at his résumé, and I said,
"Damn, this is a darn good résumé."
Graduated from Middlebury College,
magna cum laude.
That's a small liberal arts school in Vermont,
if you don't know where it is.
My middle son went to a school in Williams.
And so I looked at some of those small liberal arts schools.
It's one of the top in the country.
And to graduate, if you look at their acceptance rates
and who gets in that darn school,
quite frankly, you have to not only be smart.
You have to be really hard working.
And so I looked at how he graduated in such --
in such good standing, and then I looked at he went
to get a master's in city planning from Berkeley,
which, again, is one of the top schools in the country.
But beyond the educational background,
I looked at all of -- not just the awards,
but the work he had been doing in terms of civic involvement,
building great cities,
dealing with people that really make the things go around.
And I still said, "Oh, he's all right."
And then we had a few conversations in our office,
and we had a -- we had a process.
And so I opened up the process for all, you know,
remember when you're young, you played hide and seek?
You say olly olly -- what's that? --
olly olly come in free? What we used to say?
Huh? Well, you know what I'm saying.
Come on in as everybody come in, whatever we should say.
[ Laughter ]
And so we had tough competition.
But I will tell you with full conviction
that Marshall's ability to lead with compassion,
with listening skills, to lead silently
and loudly when it's important,
to be smart enough to do the hard research,
to understand his own soft spots.
I don't say weak spots, just soft spots
where he can improve in.
That's huge in a leader.
You know, leaders think that they have it all together.
They're perfect. Heck no.
Marshall's ability to be self-aware was phenomenal,
and so it was no surprise to me
when he was unanimously confirmed.
I'm proud to work with Marshall. He's a -- he's a great leader.
And so when he screws up, and he will screw up. We all do.
You know, you've heard me say before I give myself permission
to make about three mistakes a day.
I've already made two, so I got one more to go
before the day's out. Then you hold that person up,
and you give this person feedback,
and you don't question his intentions or his ability
because he has it strongly.
So it's absolutely my pleasure to be in the same room with you
and to see the greatness around you.
I believe in the Seattle Center.
I believe that for us to get the morale up in the city,
to get people coming back, people to thrive,
for small businesses to thrive,
for people to do the great things
when you brought back Bumbershoot, as an example,
or the Bite of Seattle.
And I'm going to close with this.
We're going to bring up the city clerk and do this confirmation,
but I got to tell you a little funny story that we --
you guys pushed the envelope a little bit on.
I think it's called Afrobeats.
Is that the event that you're having, Afrobeats?
Afro what? -BLASTFEST.
-BLASTFEST. But it's the Afrobeats music, right?
BLASTFEST, so they said, "Hey, we're going to --
we're going to take a chance and do BLASTFEST."
Never been done on this campus before.
So I called my kids, "What is BLAST, BLASTFEST?"
And they said, "Well, it's Afrobeats.
What's Afrobeats?"
So they said, "Oh, it's just, you know,
it's just this combination of different cultures.
It's really cool." I said, "Okay, I'm asked to open it up."
And so I had like three or four events that day.
And so I get here, and then there's a --
there's a crowd here. There's a lot of folks here,
and I look, and I have to be at least 40 years older
than everyone at this place, very diverse crowd.
And I said, "You know, I've read a lot about politics,
and they don't want to hear me speak."
And so when I got out, I asked for some of
my younger colleagues and says,
"You guys got to do the speech. You have to do the speech."
They're like -- "here's my notes. Just do it,"
I said, "I'm telling they're here
to listen to music, to the Afrobeats.
This is not a good thing." I had on this old corny suit.
I said, they -- "I'm sticking out already,"
I said, "It's not my vibe right here."
I said, I -- "Trust me on this. Just go and do it."
And so these are two much younger folks part of my team,
and they said, "Okay, we're doing it."
And so we're standing behind the podium out here,
and I thinking, phew, dodged that bullet.
And then the announcer who was --
actually I think he worked at Microsoft.
He was like the DJ.
And he said, "And we can't wait to hear from Bruce Harrell,
and Bruce Harrell is going to say this. Bruce" --
I was like, "Man, didn't someone tell him I wasn't doing it?"
Because I told everyone I wasn't doing the darn thing.
And so then I said, "Well, I get up there,"
I said, "I'm just going to hold the mic.
You guys stand close to me," I said,
"I'm going to try to sound halfway cool when I do this.
I'm going to put -- channel in your coolness."
And I said a few words, and it was an incredible event.
I ended up staying for like two hours.
And it was a phenomenal event,
and I certainly will be there next year if you did --
you all decide to have it.
But the really the point of that story is you all
are pushing the envelope on trying new things,
and that's what's going to get us out of this funk,
and that's why we have the right leader
because Marshall is willing to take those chances.
You got to be really willing to take those chances.
So I would like to welcome our City Clerk Scheereen Dedman
to administer the oath of office
with his ceremonial pin to be affixed by his wife, Shanti.
And as we go through this, I -- am I screwing up?
I still got one more mistake to make,
so is this the mistake -- oh, no, got thumbs up.
Still got one more mistake in reserve here.
So let me close by -- come up.
Make your way up here, City Clerk Dedman.
Let me close by saying this particularly to the employees
and your service wards. Thank you. Thank you.
We are -- we're climbing out of this hole that the country --
hey, is that my walk? That's some walking music.
We're clawing our back -- our way out of this hole.
I like -- keep it going. Keep it going.
Because of the commitment that you are showing,
and so congratulations on such a milestone.
I do want to call out Steven Tolliver.
Steven here? Is Steven here, no?
Man, he just got 50 years. I know him personally,
so I was really hoping to get a hug from him.
But when I see that kind of commitment,
whether it's five or 50,
we should all celebrate in each other's success.
So let's give all of our city employees a ground --
a great hand is here.
♪♪
Let's have the oath of office.
♪♪
Mardi Gras theme.
-Please raise your right hand.
Repeat after me. I, Marshall Foster.
-I, Marshall Foster.
-Swear or affirm. -Swear.
-That I possess all of the qualifications.
Oh, thank you. That I possess all of the qualifications.
-That I possess all of the qualifications.
-Prescribed in the city's, sorry,
prescribed in the Seattle City Charter.
-Prescribed in the Seattle City Charter.
-And the Seattle Municipal Code.
-For the position of Director of the Seattle Center.
-For the position of Director of Seattle Center.
-That I will support the Constitution
of the United States.
-That I will support the Constitution
of the United States.
-The Constitution of the State of Washington.
-And the charter and ordinances of the city of Seattle.
-And that I will faithfully conduct myself
as director of the Seattle Center.
-And that I will faithfully conduct myself
as the director of Seattle Center.
-Congratulations. -You may kiss the bride.
-That bride.
-The bride, not the clerk.
[ Laughs ]
We'd love to hear from Marshall.
[ Applause ]
-All right.
-I'll have you sign these two before.
-Oh, yes, got to do that.
Got to sign it to make it official.
-Make it official.
-All right. -And this one.
-Okay.
-Thank you. -Thank you so much.
-You keep this one, and I will hand this to Shanti for you.
-Awesome, thank you very much.
-Congratulations.
-Wow, I can't even tell you all.
Whoever played the Saints Come Marching In,
you just warmed my mother's heart
and my whole family's so that was --
that was a super nice touch. You know where I come from.
And I still remember, as I was getting to know all of you,
at one of the first staff meetings with Robert.
And I was getting to know you, and he said,
"Tell them about gumbo. Talk about cooking.
Talk about where you're from." One of the things that I have --
and I'll get into the official stuff here.
But you all have been the most welcoming, open community.
I have been blessed to work in a lot of incredible places
in the city and in different places.
And I have never felt welcomed and at home the way
that you all have made me feel. And this is off the cuff,
but I just got to say the sense of place
and the sense of belonging that you help people feel here,
whether your staff or you are the public,
is a gift to the city and to public service.
So I just got to say that to get us started.
[ Cheers and applause ]
So first off, I just want to extend my gratitude
and thanks to Mayor Harrell,
personally, for this opportunity and for putting the faith in me.
Getting to know you over the past few months,
and I know we're still getting to know each other,
I've learned a lot from you about leadership.
You know, we had some things where we needed to work
through together and talk about how we would work together.
And at the time, I was very much, you know,
I've worked for a lot of mayors,
and I've figured out how to do this.
I had not seen someone take the time to really get to know me,
to understand what I was trying to do,
and to really engage at a human level
in how we were going to work together,
and you totally stopped me in my tracks.
And I just -- that showed me something about leadership
that I hadn't seen. So thank you for that.
I'd like to thank my fellow cabinet members.
I have been supported in the city
by incredible partners and colleagues over many years
in doing a lot of -- a lot of important things,
and it wouldn't be for that -- for --
but for that community, it wouldn't be possible.
Then the mayor mentioned Director Nellams, Robert.
You know, Robert is a dear friend
and welcomed me into your community
to help with some of the work on Climate Pledge Arena
and elsewhere years ago.
And getting to know him
was really what helped me fall in love with this place
and so thank you. He couldn't be here today.
You all know what Robert is dealing with, with Jane,
but he wanted to be here. And I'd like to thank, again,
all of you who have just been so patient and welcoming
over these last 10 months. I've had a lot of questions.
I've had a lot of probably some dumb questions,
maybe a couple of good ones. You've been there right with me
and helped me get to know this place.
And then of course, I want to thank my lovely wife,
Shanti Breznau,
for all of her support through many years at the city
and for my two children, Rueben who's here,
as well as Francesca, who have been so supportive.
And I think it's fair to say you both told me in your own way
that this is a much cooler place to work than the Muni Tower,
not that that's a bad place.
But I especially remember when, you know,
Reuben wanted to bring a special person to the --
to the Space Needle and getting to help make that happen.
I told you I was going to embarrass you
at least a little bit.
On a serious note, you know, as the mayor said,
Seattle Center is a truly remarkable place.
It's one of a kind.
It is a little bit of a cliché, you might say, but it's true.
This is -- there's no place like this.
I'm a city planner by training.
One of the first things I do is I look around,
and I say who else is doing this?
What other great cities are out there?
How do they do their cultural campuses?
Nobody has a Seattle Center. People have a convention center.
People have a concert hall. People have fairgrounds.
They do not have a cultural heart and soul
that is home to 30 plus organizations with a staff
that's devoted to the public's experience the way that we are.
It is a very special thing.
We get to help people
have exceptional experiences and events.
We get to delight and inspire people through those events.
And most importantly, we get to build
stronger communities in the process.
That's all riffing off of our mission statement,
which I've looked at a lot and realized
is really the right mission statement for this place.
And at the same time, as I think you all had felt,
I certainly feel that we're in a time of change and transition.
Robert's departure, the way the city is changing,
really opens new doors,
and some days you probably feel butterflies in your stomach.
It feels different to be here than it used to.
I think it's a really exciting time.
We are evolving, as the city evolves.
What it means to be part of our downtown
and how downtowns will thrive in the future
is changing in very fundamental ways.
The good news for us is that great cultural experiences,
great urban places are at the heart of what is helping
to kind of reignite people's love of cities.
And we're also at a time, frankly,
when our culture and our economy are very polarized,
and people need the kind of shared experiences
that we create at Seattle Center.
And something that I think we care about
and I want to see us keep doing
is making that accessible and affordable
to everyone in a time where cities are becoming harder
to access and, frankly, more expensive.
Since I've arrived here and gotten to know Seattle Center,
I think we're honestly rising to this challenge.
We just had a remarkable summer,
hosting great events at scale on campus.
The mayor mentioned a few of them:
Folklife, the Bite, Bumbershoot, and of course,
our one of a kind Festál series.
The public came back to the campus in droves.
I hope all of you were as excited as I was to see that,
and the feeling was very exuberant.
It felt like Seattle was back in all of its funky,
delicious quirkiness.
You know, you had incredibly unique moments
all over the campus.
There was truly something for everyone.
And at the same time, we expanded into our new role
on the waterfront, which I'm sure that whole team
will tell you was a real adventure,
learning how to take on a role beyond the campus
for the first time. And at the same time,
we're teaming up major new investments in the campus
that will enhance the public's experience
with things like the new Memorial Stadium,
upgrading our monorail station, and preparing for the future
of having light rail on the campus
and the access to the entire region that that will create.
As we look ahead really is --
now really is the time for Seattle Center.
It's time to renew our vision for the future
for who we want to be over the next 5, 10,
and even 50 years.
We need a vision for our future
rooted in Seattle Center's deep commitment
to our core values of inspiring delight,
creating a sense of belonging, and building community.
While at the same time,
we look outwards for new partnerships and opportunities
that will deepen how we serve those values.
As the mayor said, "It's time for us to take some risks,"
thoughtful, calculated risks, but take some risks.
We have to bring some new ideas and investment to campus,
but do it in a way that keeps this place interesting,
affordable, and inclusive.
Mayor, you talk about Space Needle thinking.
It's one of the things that I've really enjoyed about
working with you and your team over the past few years.
I'm excited because this is where Space Needle
thinking started,
and I think it's time for Seattle Center
to contribute to that new energy that you're creating
with some Space Needle ideas of our own.
I won't pretend to have the recipe in my pocket.
But I know that all of us together, we'll find a path,
and we will find that recipe if --
as long as we're not afraid to think big and to work together.
Lastly, as the other speakers mentioned,
today is all about public service.
And I want to make sure we focus on that.
When the idea first came up of having this
swearing in as part of this, that's where my head went is,
for me, it's a remarkable opportunity to have this moment
with you as we celebrate the incredible service
that you all bring to this community.
The dedication, the ingenuity, the perseverance that you bring,
and frankly, the commitment you've shown to Seattle Center
through thick and thin,
great moments, which we all can think of.
But also, I remember spending time on this campus
during the pandemic and watching
and how hard you all worked to serve people
in a very different way than we think of today
and that this group, with the years of experience,
have never blanched from giving the community
what it needed is a remarkable service.
So thank you for that.
And lastly, I'll just say how grateful I am
to continue to get to work alongside you in this role,
to be able to lead and bring new opportunities.
But frankly, as much as that to learn from all of you
in very hands-on ways as we do this work
and, yes, to make a few mistakes along the way.
Thank you all so much for the support.
Mayor, I'm grateful for the -- for the trust,
and there is nothing we cannot do together.
Thank you all.
[ Applause ]