The Seattle City Council has taken up a trailblazing ordinance aiming to encourage fair pricing for groceries by banning surveillance pricing. It’s another piece of Mayor Katie Wilson’s affordability agenda with strong support from Council’s progressive wing.
In a 8-0 vote Tuesday, the Seattle City Council approved a ban on rental junk fees like pet rent. Mayor Katie Wilson celebrated passage as part of her affordability agenda.
While Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat claims progressives “fizzled” in Washington state because a few primary challengers trailed, Kamau Chege argues that analysis is flawed, ignoring other wins that show the left is wresting control of the party.
On top of concerns about lack of city resources, officials in Lynnwood have cited a relatively low number of road fatalities compared to other cities and an inability to make a difference in impaired and distracted driving as reasons to shy away from a Vision Zero action plan.
The City of Seattle has long hoped to implement a more effective gun violence prevention strategy, though progress has been slow. The Wilson Administration has pledged a proposal to get the ball rolling, amid pressure from councilmembers.
Another environmental analysis of the longstanding Fort Lawton housing plan tees up another public hearing at the end of this month. Some worry that the State Environmental Policy Act is leading to an endless loop of study on projects like this one.
Get your ticket to our September 15th Town Hall Seattle talk featuring CityNerd's Ray Delahanty and The Urbanist’s Ryan Packer. Attendees will get a sneak peek at a CityNerd video before a deep dive into light rail plans.
Canvass on July 26th, volunteer for good local candidates, and support our election committee’s work at our Endorsement Party on Thursday.
Join The Urbanist for our July events, including a soccer social with Sounder at Heart on July 19 and our Endorsements Rollout Party on July 23.
Support The Urbanist, connect with endorsed candidates, and celebrate the hard work of the Endorsements Committee as we approach the primary.
Getting to the point of construction on 154 units next door to Issaquah Transit Center involved numerous hurdles city officials had to surmount since 2016. But now the saga is seen as a wake-up call within Issaquah when it comes to barriers to actually building housing near transit.
Days before a July 31 deadline, Mercer Island City Council adopted a framework responding to a 2025 ruling declaring its housing plans out of line with state law. The City has faced pushback over new provisions that will lower barriers to emergency and supportive housing in Mercer Island.
The Eastside city is the first to take advantage of a 2025 state law allowing cities to create a pathway for licensed architects to sign off on their own building plans. The program is intended to cut timelines to getting accessory dwelling units into construction.
On top of concerns about lack of city resources, officials in Lynnwood have cited a relatively low number of road fatalities compared to other cities and an inability to make a difference in impaired and distracted driving as reasons to shy away from a Vision Zero action plan.
King County Metro's new bus network in North Seattle and the North Shore communities is intended to improve access to light rail and bring increased frequencies throughout the day. But a plan to retire Route 372 between Lake Forest Park and UW has raised concerns among city officials.
In remarks to a transportation advisory committee, Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin painted a clear picture of the need to increase bus frequencies in the city as Sound Transit advances plans for light rail and the city accommodates significant population growth in the coming years.
Many years in the making, Pierce County’s coordinated approach to homelessness still faces challenges after being approved by county council in June. With King County partially dismantling its troubled regional authority, Pierce County hopes to avoid the same mistakes.
The 0.3% sales tax bump going onto the November ballot would increase service by around 40% by the mid-2030s, the biggest expansion of transit service in Pierce County in decades. Since May, the proposal has been tweaked to include free rides for seniors.
In the year since Tacoma adopted new zoning standards last February, the number of housing permits entering the pipeline jumped by 62% compared to the five-year average.
KUOW's Soundside recently did a special on Sound Transit system expansion deliberations that heavily featured Urbanist contributing editor Ryan Packer. It's a great primer on the debate about how to best close the agency's $34.5 billion budget gap. Give it a listen!
The Urbanist newsroom discusses April headlines, like Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson expanding Bicycle Weekends, 300 transit advocates marching to save Ballard light rail from the chopping block, and pushback against a Capitol Hill crisis case center.
The Urbanist newsroom discusses the big opening day for Sound Transit's crosslake 2 Line, how we got here, and what it means for the future of light rail expansion in the Seattle region.
