SR-520 with its drawbridge up, courtesy of WSDOT.

 

Parking drama: SDOT completely debunks the perceived need of Sen. Bob Hasegawa’s (D-Beacon Hill) tax on Sound Transit around light rail stations. If you’re not familiar with the issue, the Senator wants Sound Transit to compensate car owners for their Residential Parking Permits.

Trolling Bertha: Republicans came up with a plan to kill Bertha, only to have the idea squashed by their myopic transportation committee leader in the Senate. A postmortem says that it was clever theater even if it didn’t actually kill the project.

Trolling bicyclists: A proposal to toll bicyclists crossing SR-520.

New vouchers: King County Housing Authority opened its list for Section 8 applications and has been flooded with new requests.

Trash shaming: Now that composting is required, Seattle is shaming people into compliance–at least until July when you’ll get fined.

SPD under review again: The Seattle Police Department pepper sprayed a teacher on MLK day for no reason, and naturally the department is under review for the excessive actions.

Transit for women: It may surprise you, but women are the largest users of transit, and maybe we should be catering toward their needs–we largely don’t now.

New Greenway: The Central Area Greenway is under construction with new markings, speed bumps, and signage.

Delta v Alaska: How Alaska Airlines and a Delta are vying for the hearts and minds of Seattle fliers.

More changes to BGT: Next week, more changes will come to the Burke-Gilman Trail, this time at the UW.

Improving bus-rail connections: A look at how bus routes could be aligned around the new UW light rail station in 2016.

Dropping endorsements: The Cascade Bicycling Club may choose to drop their elections endorsements for candidates.

Unions v sprawl: The unionized trades are often pro-sprawl, but it doesn’t have to be this way.

Two new micros: Capitol Hill has two microhousing projects under design review.

Height fixation: An architect talks height and says maybe we are highlighting the wrong thing, design is what we should really care about.

Terminal planningBig expansion of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport could be in store.

Bike highway: A cycle superhighway might just find its place in London.

Getting to ST3: A primer on how we expand light rail.

Losing useful retail: Loved or hated, OfficeMax served Capitol Hill well; closure is planned for February.

Love your city: 28 great things to do in Seattle!

Article Author

Stephen is a professional urban planner in Puget Sound with a passion for sustainable, livable, and diverse cities. He is especially interested in how policies, regulations, and programs can promote positive outcomes for communities. With stints in great cities like Bellingham and Cork, Stephen currently lives in Seattle. He primarily covers land use and transportation issues and has been with The Urbanist since 2014.