Resolution on High-Earner Income Tax Seattle is a growing and prosperous city that should offer better schools and healthier communities, yet our City faces many urgent challenges, including a homelessness state of emergency, an affordable housing crisis, overcrowded classrooms, education equity and racial achievement gaps, inadequate provision of mental health services, and severe traffic congestion. […]

Age Friendly Resolution On Monday, the Full Council adopted the Age Friendly Resolution 31739, expressing Seattle’s commitment to being a more age-friendly city and committing to several areas of continuous improvement across every function of City government. In August 2016, AARP designated Seattle as the 104th community in the U.S. to be a part of […]

Priority Hire This year we celebrate two years since the Priority Hire legislation was adopted. This program maximizes the City’s investment in public infrastructure to help residents secure apprenticeship and journey level employment opportunities on city funded public works projects What is Priority Hire?  Prior to the 2015 passage of the Priority Hire legislation the […]

Socially Responsible Banking Legislation I’ve received around 1400 e-mails, and hundreds of phone calls, regarding socially responsible banking legislation before a City Council committee next week. Here’s the reply I’ve been sending out: Thank you for writing to me about Council Bill 118833, strengthening Seattle’s socially responsible banking laws, and encouraging the Mayor and Director […]

Housing Issues Source of Income Discrimination (SOID) Law SOID is important new comprehensive tenants’ rights legislation, enacting one of the Mayor’s Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) recommendations.  The final bill created a new protected class for people with alternative sources of income, created a new “first in time” requirement to make the housing application […]

Barrier Reduced for Utility Shut-off for Late Payments Whether because of a lay-off at work or an unexpected medical expense, Seattle City Light (SCL) and Seattle Public Utility (SPU) customers sometimes come up short when it’s time to pay their bill and face a shut-off of their utilities. When a customer receives a shut-off notice, […]

Comprehensive Plan 2035 Community Involvement On Monday the Council approved the 2035 Comprehensive Plan update. In committee, the Council approved amendments I sponsored relating to Seattle Public Utilities, Arts, Economic Development and Growth, and then this week in Full Council amendments I sponsored to the Community Involvement element were also approved. I worked with neighborhood […]

Comp Plan 2035 The 2035 Comprehensive Plan is the 20-year framework for most of Seattle’s big-picture decisions on how to grow while preserving and improving our neighborhoods. The Plan guides City decisions on where to build new jobs and houses, how to improve our transportation system, and where to make capital investments such as utilities, […]

NCIS Update Over the weekend Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) and Seattle City Light (SCL) worked overtime to roll out the New Customer Information System (NCIS). I have written previously about this program which has been plagued by delays and cost overruns. I also held a joint special committee with Councilmember Sawant, who chairs the Energy […]

Myers Way Open Space Saved If you didn’t see the fantastic news of the Mayor’s decision to withdraw his proposal to sell the open space at Myers Way, you can read about it here. On behalf of the residents of District 1, thank you Mayor Murray!   Short Term Rental Regulations On June 15, the […]