Domestic Worker Anti-Discrimination, Retaliation, and Harassment Legislation On Tuesday August 14th in my Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development and Arts (CRUEDA) Committee we heard a briefing on a necessary legislative fix to Chapter 14.04, the Fair Employment Practices section of the Seattle Municipal Code.  This change would protect domestic workers who are independent contractors from […]

Amending the Open Housing Ordinance for Tenants with Disabilities On Monday July 30, 2018 the Seattle City Council passed CB 119309 amending the Open Housing Ordinance in Chapter 14.08 of the Seattle Municipal Code to increase the types of entities with an obligation to provide reasonable accommodations to tenants with disabilities. This issue was brought […]

Schmitz Park Property Acquisition On Monday, years of work finally came to fruition. It was December 2015, just a week after my election was certified, and before I took office when I toured Bruce Stotler’s property on the southeast edge of Schmitz Park. I was joined by the Southwest Historical Society and Forterra (a land […]

Contents   PART 1 // D1 TRANSPORTATION UPDATES Sound Transit Light Rail Lander Street Overpass Funding Highland Park Roundabout Mudslides PART 2 // PUBLIC SAFETY IN D1 South Park Public Safety Task Force Alki Public Safety and Health Survey/Budget Action PART 3 // HOUSING HIGHLIGHTS Housing Bond Update Fair Chance Housing Short-Term Rental PART 4 // LAND USE LATEST […]

MHA DEIS Issues for District 1 Last week I encouraged you to get your comments on the Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) Citywide Rezone Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) into the Office of Planning and Community Development before the Monday 8/8 deadline.  I hope that you did.  I also let you know that I was working […]

Comp Plan Docketing Amendments In the Planning, Land Use, and Zoning Committee this Tuesday we discussed and voted on the Comprehensive Plan docketing resolution. An important inclusion in the resolution for “docketing,” or study and consideration in the 2018 Annual Comprehensive Plan Update, is direction to city departments to analyze and propose amendments to our […]

Funding for District 1 Landslide Mitigation Some of you may recall that on February 15, a mudslide closed Highland Park Way SW, one of the few east-west access points for West Seattle. Fortunately, no one was injured. Afterwards, I raised questions about the Seattle Department of Transportation’s (SDOT’s) practices for managing landslide risks and whether […]

Seattle Moves Toward Tax Fairness with Tax on High Incomes The City Council has unanimously voted to begin addressing the regressive nature of our tax system, and move toward tax fairness.  On Monday, July 10 the Council passed legislation that I co-sponsored to establish a tax on high incomes. This vote occurred after a public […]

Part II: Displacement in the MHA Draft Environmental Impact Statement Last month in my blog post, I wrote a “Part 1” article describing my disappointment in a recent Displacement Risk Analysis being done as part of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed Citywide Rezones that are part of implementing a Mandatory Housing […]

Public Hearing on Officer Involved Shooting of Charleena Lyles The tragic shooting death of Charleena Lyles, a mother of four young children, last weekend is a stark reminder of how the calls for police reform nationally must continue to be addressed by Seattle locally. On Tuesday I attended the vigil for Ms. Lyles and heard […]