Crescent-Hamm Building Historic Preservation As Seattle grows, it’s critically important to maintain connections to our past. Seattle’s Historic Preservation program, in effect since 1973, has designated more than 450 sites as landmarks, helping us to preserve our heritage. On Monday, the Full Council will vote to complete the landmark designation process for the Crescent-Hamm Building […]

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 […]

Observer Bill of Rights The Observer Bill of Rights, a bill that I authored and sponsored for introduction last year, passed 4-0 out of committee earlier this week, and is scheduled for a Full Council vote on Monday, May 22. Observation of police activity has always been an important element of accountability.  For instance, Mother […]

Downtown and South Lake Union MHA  On Tuesday, 3/21/2017, the Planning, Land Use and Zoning Committee discussed eight amendments to the proposed South Lake Union (SLU) and Downtown Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) legislation. The amendments ranged from a. providing a carrot to developers not covered by MHA (because their projects are already through the design process) to voluntarily […]

MHA – Citywide Proposal and Future Legislative Process The broad public conversation of the Executive’s initial (my emphasis added) proposal to implement the Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) program approved by the Council in last year’s MHA framework legislation  began in Fall 2016. Last year’s framework legislation laid out how all developers would have to contribute […]

THIS WEEK IN THE BUDGET On Wednesday the Budget Committee met to vote and discuss changes to the proposed budget. My big news is that the Council supported the passage of my proposal to create a $29M housing bond intended to expand financing for affordable housing in Seattle for 2017.  I wrote about this proposal […]

HALA potential rezones in Urban Villages, District 1 On Wednesday, November 9th, from 6pm-9pm, the Department of Neighborhoods, the Office of Community Planning and Development and Councilmember Johnson’s office will host the Westwood Highland Park Urban Village Community Design Workshop at Chief Sealth High School Library, 2600 SW Thistle St. Seattle, WA 98126. This workshop […]

Swedish MIMP On May 16, the Full Council unanimously voted to adopt the Swedish Medical Center Cherry Hill Major Institution Master Plan. The Swedish Medical Center at Cherry Hill is located east of the Seattle University Campus in the Squire Park neighborhood. The campus is not located in an urban center or village. Single family […]

On Monday the Council passed legislation to allow for better citywide distribution of state-licensed marijuana stores. It’s a classic case of a citywide policy with implications throughout Seattle’s neighborhoods: currently, over half of permitted stores are in District 2 (SE Seattle and SODO) and District 5 (North Seattle), while District 1 (West Seattle and South […]