A pair of public restrooms near 1st Avenue S and S Charles Street will be relocated by early August after SDOT settled with a nearby property owner who filed an appeal. Cederstrand Rentals LLC called the use "incompatible" with the standards of the Pioneer Square historic district.
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.
Seattle City Council is weighing an amendment that would delay Mayor Katie Wilson’s proposal for universal free school meals in favor of a more cautious expansion and a voucher food assistance program.
Seattle’s D5 Council frontrunners Nilu Jenks and Julie Kang diverged around the issues of surveillance cameras, Aurora “stay out” orders, and relative enthusiasm for the mayor’s Taller Denser Faster housing proposal.
While amendments from the Council did make a mark on the Seattle Transit Measure renewal, it still largely resembles Wilson's initial proposal. Amendments that would have scaled it back in scope and duration were both defeated Thursday.
The Urbanist Elections Committee is excited to announce our 2026 primary election endorsements. Check out our great slate of leaders. Be sure to vote by August 4.
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.
Join The Urbanist for our June 10 housing forum and get your ticket for our Summer Endorsed Candidate Party on July 19. We're also hosting two social hours in June.
Join The Urbanist and other partners for a King County Candidate Forum on June 10th. The Assessor and District 2 races are both hotly contested.
Josh Kline of YouTube channel Build Core recently took a look at the $3 billion plan to improve I-405 in Seattle's Eastside suburbs and deliver a new bus rapid transit network.
Kirkland's Sheila Stanton Place opened earlier this year with 101 units of permanent supportive housing. It marks King County's 15th Health Through Housing facility funded via a 2020 sales tax measure.
A bill scaling back building requirements for upper-level "stepbacks" and outdoor balconies was approved last week, but with two dissenting votes. In voting against, Councilmembers Kevin Nichols and Tola Marts cited the need to look at the full range of options for potential housing reforms.
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.
Last week, Community Transit operated its last bus to Seattle, with the retirement of Snohomish express commuter Route 424. The agency added the Bellevue-bound Route 908 to replace it, with six other routes seeing tweaks.
A proposal to close a $34.5 billion gap in the voter-approved ST3 plan is on a fast track to a Sound Transit board vote on May 28. Developed by Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers, it would prioritize completing the regional rail "spine" while deferring and delaying multiple other major projects.
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.
