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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Seattle Police Fleecing City with Overtime, Report Shows
As Seattle pored over its police department budget this year, one thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was $30 million in planned...
Mayor Durkan Vetoes Rebalancing Package Decrying Police Cuts, ‘Irresponsible’ Investments
Mayor Jenny Durkan again reached for her veto pen today, nixing the entire rebalancing package passed on August 10th. The Seattle City Council was...