Regarding the Shooting on Alki Councilmember Gonzalez held her Gender Equity, Safe Communities, and New American’s committee this morning.  On the agenda was a presentation about the Seattle Police Department’s response to gun violence.  Although I am not a member of the committee, understanding how deeply our community was impacted by this tragic event, I […]

University District Rezone and Upcoming Vote on Important Amendments Coming Up On Tuesday, 2/7/2017, the Planning, Land Use and Zoning (PLUZ) Committee voted on amendments to the proposed legislation to change the zoning in the University District and require all developers to contribute to affordable housing. This is the first area-wide rezone that, if passed […]

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, […]

Encampment Legislation Earlier today I sent the following e-mail to people who’ve written me about homeless encampments: Thank you for writing to me about proposed Council Bill 118794.  Like you, I care deeply how the City manages public land for use of the general public as well as how our policies impact our ability to […]

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, […]

Observers’ Bill of Rights Across the country, recordings of police activity by the public have increased the public’s ability to witness police behavior and hold police accountable. However, the act of recording, observing, or verbally criticizing police has also at times led to arrests and legal challenges to those arrests on First Amendment grounds. Our […]

Mandatory Housing Affordability/Residential (MHA/R) Program The Council’s Planning, Land Use & Zoning (PLUZ) Committee unanimously (5-0) approved framework legislation Tuesday for the Mandatory Housing Affordability/Residential (MHA/R) Program requiring residential developers to provide for affordable housing by including it in their development or paying into an affordable housing fund. The requirement will apply after Council adopts […]

Letter to Sound Transit re: ST3 ballot measure The Mayor and Council sent a letter to Sound Transit providing the City’s comments about potential projects for an ST3 ballot measure in November. For District 1, the letter states Seattle’s support for building light rail from Downtown Seattle to West Seattle, and lists West Seattle to […]