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A popular neighborhood cafe bill that sailed through the Washington House has run into problems in the Senate, mostly dealing with the question of local control. The Association of Washington Cities and the City of Bellevue have lobbied against the bill.

"To put the city on track to meeting its mobility, safety, equity, maintenance, and sustainability goals," the coalition of mobility and climate groups wrote, "Seattle must invest just over $3 billion over the next 8 years" in building 60 miles of dedicated transit corridors, 331 miles of new sidewalks, and 154 miles of new bike facilities, among other goals.

If implemented, the new framework would make many of the types of buildings that already exist in abundance in Tacoma neighborhoods like Stadium and Proctor legal again to build across the city, with costly parking requirements in place reduced around current and planned transit.

A 10am ribbon-cutting ceremony at Downtown Bellevue Station will inaugurate Eastside light rail service on April 27. 2 Line trains will run between Bellevue and Redmond in advance of full service into Seattle expected in 2025.

Through a mix of highrise, midrise, and missing middle housing, Bellevue's new comprehensive plan would provide capacity for an extra 152,000 homes and 185,000 jobs, potentially allowing the city's population to more than double over the next 20 years.

A vocal critic of highway expansion, Mello's urbanist vision includes "parks and open space trails, a good transportation network, safe places to walk and bike." He's running for County Executive to seek to implement that vision.

Support is dwindling for the Center City Streetcar project. Failing to connect two disconnected streetcar lines could spell a death spiral for Seattle streetcars, which are limping along without the central link.

Washington State could see more small neighborhood cafes opening up within short walking distances of homes, under a proposal advancing at the state legislature....