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 […]

Budget Wrap Up I’ve been writing to you weekly since September with updates on the deliberations on the proposed 2017-2018 budget.  This will be my last budget update of the year because on Monday, the City Council adopted the 2017 City of Seattle budget and 2017-2022 Capital Improvement Plan. As part of the biennial budget […]

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, […]

2017-2018 BUDGET PROCESS On Monday, September 26 Mayor Murray will release his proposed 2017-2018 city budget, marking the beginning of the Council’s budget process. Budget Committee Chair Burgess has announced a revised process and schedule, which will provide for enhanced public consideration of the Chair’s proposed balancing package during November. Some of the work preceding […]

Source of Income Discrimination On July 22, 2016, the CRUEDA committee will vote on the Source of Income Discrimination legislation that proposes to add protected class to existing ordinances that already make it illegal to discriminate against a prospective renter whose primary source of income is a section 8 voucher, to include a pension, Social […]

Revised ST3 Plan: Light Rail to West Seattle Three Years Sooner! The Sound Transit Board has announced a revised ST3 plan that reduces, by three years, the projected timeline to bring light rail to West Seattle. The revised plan also accelerates light rail to Ballard by three years, adds a new station to the existing […]

  T5 Letter to the Port Tucked behind the Chelan Café, Terminal 5 (T5) has sat empty since late 2014 when the Port Commission authorized $4.7 million for modernization of the terminal.  A draft environmental impact study (DEIS) will be coming out in mid-May.  It will present three options with varying costs and improvements that […]

Today’s Vote: Update on Preservation, The Missing Piece of our Affordable Housing Strategy. The Council voted this morning in the 2016 Housing Levy Select Committee to pass the amendments supporting the new housing preservation program first proposed by myself and then supported and developed with the help of Councilmember Mike O’Brien and his staff. I […]

District 1 Office Hours I am happy to announce that I will soon be starting my District 1 office hours. Every other week I will be holding office hours from 12:00pm – 7:00pm; the in-district office will rotate to help best serve all communities in District 1. I’m still working on finalizing a schedule and […]