Ryan Packer
Ryan Packer has been writing for The Urbanist since 2015, and currently reports full-time as Contributing Editor. Their beats are transportation, land use, public space, traffic safety, and obscure community meetings. Packer has also reported for other regional outlets including BikePortland, Seattle Met, and PubliCola. They live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.
With monthly ridership now exceeding 200,000 on the 2 Line, Downtown Redmond Link has clearly kicked things into a higher gear. Having a light rail station so well integrated into a growing urban neighborhood is likely part of the recipe for success.
Three new all-day bus routes and one peak-only route will launch on the Eastside at the end of the month. These King County Metro changes are the latest step toward a frequent bus network on the Eastside that will be more fully implemented when Sound Transit's 2 Line crosses Lake Washington in 2026.
Clark/Barnes architects want to transform a landmarked office building at Second Avenue and Pine Street into housing, adding 12 additional stories of mass timber construction to accommodate more homes. The innovative project is meeting significant opposition from nearby residents and historic preservation advocates.
After the state's Growth Management Hearings Board struck down its plan, Mercer Island now has a year to update its Comprehensive Plan to meet affordable housing requirements. The initial version prioritized making as few zoning changes as possible, leading to a legal challenge from Futurewise.
The Seattle City Council will spend the next month considering the 106 different amendments, which would push the city's growth plan toward allowing more types of housing... or scale back areas where density increases are proposed.
The potential Seattle Comprehensive Plan changes, which are set to be discussed Monday, would add back growth centers around Gas Works Park, Alki, North Capitol Hill, and other areas. Councilmember Rinck also proposes legalizing corner stores and removing parking mandates citywide.
In pushing back on a requirement to adopt a Complete Streets ordinance to compete for infrastructure grant dollars, Medina's leaders clearly saw a threat of changes being forced on the city. The wealthy enclave doesn't appear to want to change.
The new Fourth Avenue bike lane extension is set to provide direct access to Seattle Center's front door, connecting the campus's fan zone to the rest of downtown. It's an outlier as a permanent infrastructure upgrade being built to accommodate FIFA.