CONTENTS PART 1: ACCOUNTABILITY IN GOVERNMENT Capital Project Oversight SPU/SCL Call Center Improvements Making Sure Growth Pays for Growth – Developer Impact Fees New Green Electric Trucks Save Tax Payer Money PART 2: D1 SPOTLIGHT Schmitz Park Property Acquisition Crescent-Hamm Building Historic Preservation Alki Vehicle Noise Enforcement – Relief for Alki Coming Soon South […]

This Week in the Budget On Wednesday Councilmember Bagshaw, chair of the Budget Committee, released her proposed budget balancing package. Next Wednesday, November 14th, the Budget Committee will vote on the proposed balancing package, and any amendments proposed by Councilmembers. Amendments to the balancing package must be balanced. A number of items I proposed, as […]

This Week’s Budget Update This week the Budget Committee met to consider specific budget proposals to amend the proposed budget, on October 30, October 31, and November 1. Next week, Councilmember Bagshaw, as Chair of the Budget Committee, will present a proposed budget balancing package on November 7th. That balancing package will be considered for […]

Everyone Doing Their Part to Rescue Bernard the Cat We’ve all heard the story before – a cat gets stuck up a tree and the local fire fighters come to the rescue to bring the cat down. In this case it was a utility pole and an adorable orange and white cat named Bernard, or […]

West Seattle Sound Transit Light Rail Open House 9 a.m. Saturday September 8 Sound Transit will hold a West Seattle neighborhood forum and open house on Saturday, September 8, from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Seattle Lutheran High School gym at 4100 SW Genesee Street. This meeting is held as part of Sound […]

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 […]

Transportation Benefit District Changes Allow for Additional Service for Delridge Last week the City Council passed legislation amending the criteria for Seattle Transportation Benefit District (STBD) spending; under state law, these funds can only be used for transportation purposes. One of the key changes is to amend the spending criteria to allow the STBD to […]

Community Resident Preference Policies During passage of the Mandatory Housing Affordability program for Chinatown/International District (C/ID) last year the Council passed a companion resolution in order to try to address the concerns that the community had about the impact of the zoning changes, in particular impacts that would accelerate displacement of longtime C/ID residents. One […]

Reminder: March 5 Deadline for ST3 Early Scoping Comments Monday, March 5 is the deadline for submitting comments to Sound Transit as part of the ST3 scoping process for light rail from Downtown to West Seattle. You can submit comments at Sound Transit’s online open house; here’s a link to the “Alternatives” page, where you […]