State House Candidate Sherae Lascelles Is Our Guest Speaker at October 20th Urbanist Meetup

Please join us Tuesday, October 20th from 6:15 to 7:30pm for our monthly online meetup featuring Legislative District 43 candidate Sherae Lascelles, a true...
Residential towers and tree-lined streets with haze on the horizon.

Every City Already Has Solutions for Climate Change

We’re seeing homes and lives being destroyed as over five million acres burn between Northern California and Oregon by deadly wildfires. At the same...
Mayor Durkan with Ferris wheel and Seattle waterfront in background

Mayor Durkan’s Budget Raids JumpStart Payroll Tax for $100 Million Pledge to Communities of...

Mayor Jenny Durkan launched her next skirmish with Seattle City Council today as she released a 2021 budget that skimmed revenue from the their...
Protesters react with fists raised in solidarity as Nikkita Oliver takes the stage at City Hall on Wednesday June 3rd. (Photo by Doug Trumm)

Council Overrides Mayor Durkan’s Budget Vetoes

The veto overrides preserve $17 million for community safety programs, $3 million for participatory budgeting, and budget provisos intended to trim 100 positions from...
Protesters marching on Ballard Avenue with signs

Dear Seattle City Council: Override Mayor Durkan’s Veto and Divest from Racist Policing

Dear Seattle City Councilmembers, The Urbanist implores you to do the right thing, hold the line, and take an important step toward racial justice. The...
Moss covered old growth cedars with a bed of ferns below

Open Letter: Seattle’s Climate Note Legislation Is a Misguided Distraction

Dear Councilmembers, My name is Andrew Grant Houston and I am a queer architect of color, urban designer, housing activist, and serve as a board...
Space Needle shrouded in wildfire smoke from Oregon and California in late summer 2020.

Carbon Notes May Help Seattle Council Make Smarter Climate Decisions

I woke up coughing this weekend--no, not from Covid-19--from wildfire smoke that’s settled on Seattle like a clammy yellow shroud. Last Friday was a better...
Protestors gather behind a police barricade at the East Precinct building, chanting “Hands up, don’t shoot,” on Sunday, May 31.

Court Monitor Bobb Helped Create Seattle’s Police Reform Mess

Former Mayor Mike McGinn contends Monitor Merrick Bobb's top-down approach doomed Seattle's police reform efforts from the start--long before SPD's recent fall from grace...