Plans and Policy

Central Puget Sound Adopts Regional Transportation Plan with an Eye Toward 2030

On Thursday, the Puget Sound Regional Council's general assembly, which consists of representatives of nearly every county, city, town, and tribal government in the...

Stanwood Mulls ‘Strong Towns’ Style Main Street Makeover

Stanwood, a fast-growing town 25 miles north of Everett, is considering overhauling its main street to embrace walkability and good old fashioned main street...

Mercer Island Set to Renew Development Moratorium for Fourth Time in Two Years

On Tuesday evening, Mercer Island's City Council is poised to renew a moratorium that prevents the redevelopment of parcels in the southeast corner of...

Urban Planning’s Three Basic Errors

A good amount of the work that we do here at The Urbanist involves pointing out where the region's governance and foresight are lacking....

Seattle Passes on Big Transportation Grant Opportunities for 2022

In mid-April, the U.S. Department of Transportation stopped accepting applications for one of its signature federal funding programs: the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability...
Three bike-wielding cops form a barricade around a sweep with a large contingent of officers behind

Councilmembers Spar Over Police Staffing Incentives, Poll Shows Broad Support for Addressing Root Causes...

Councilmember Sara Nelson was on the warpath during the Seattle City Council's weekly briefing Monday, seeking to outmaneuver Public Safety Chair Lisa Herbold to...
A photo of a city skyline with cranes.

Prominent Affordable Housing Consortium Comes Out Against Seattle’s Social Housing Ballot Initiative

The Housing Development Consortium (HDC), a prominent player in affordable housing creation in the Seattle region, has come out against proposed ballot Initiative 135,...
A rendering shows the elevated 14th Avenue NW alignment for Ballard Link.

Dubicki: Begging Seattle To Do Something Right Is Utterly Exhausting

For the last five months, a double-digit percentage of my time was spent working through two of Seattle’s larger Draft Environmental Impact Statements (EIS)....