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Law

Seattle City Attorney Disqualifies Judge Vaddadi, Threatening Municipal Court Independence

Seattle's Republican City Attorney is disqualifying a progressive Municipal Court judge in a deeply undemocratic move, given that judges are elected and meant to be a check on executive power.

Op-Ed: Seattle Public Utilities Continues to Gouge Builders for Water System Upgrades

SPU’s practice to target developers with unsubstantiated fees to upgrade public assets for the water system continues unchecked. For the year 2023 more than 100 building permit seekers received such requirements as a condition of approval for new water service.
A bike delivery person has a large green box with Uber Eats logo on it strapped to their back while riding down an urban streets with lots of pedestrians.

Op-Ed: Gig Worker Minimum Pay Law Makes Seattle More Livable for All 

I am a disabled gig worker in Seattle who has shown up time and again over the course of five years, advocating to the...

Harrell Plans Hasty Rollout of Massive Surveillance Expansion

Mayor Harrell is seeking to quickly roll out gun-shot detectors and closed circuit cameras to feed into real-time crime center software, raising privacy concerns. Claims that this major expansion of the surveillance state will curb serious crime are largely unsubstantiated.
Protestors gather behind a police barricade at the East Precinct building, chanting “Hands up, don’t shoot,” on Sunday, May 31.

Seattle Pays Out $10 Million Settlement to Protesters in Excessive Force Case

The historic case of 50 Black Lives Matter protesters came to a close on Wednesday with the announcement of a $10 million settlement. The...
Bellevue City Hall sign amended to reflect a new position as a borough of Seattle.

Three Ways to Clean Up the Municipality Mess Around Seattle

Metropolitan King County has 31 separate jurisdictions orbiting Seattle. Let’s cut that down by a lot.

Seattle’s Five Strangest Single-Use Zones

Seattle's massive number of zones hide a couple very weird outliers. Or they would be outliers, if there weren't so many.

The Sexiest Part of the Zoning Ordinance

In the dark recesses of the municipal code, between definitions of Electric Vehicles and Entrance Ramps, Seattle’s zoning ordinance turns sexy. It lustily describes...