Nature’s Scorecard On Tuesday, the Puget Soundkeeper and the Washington Environmental Council provided my committee a briefing on their joint project, Nature’s Scorecard.  Under the Clean Water Act cities are required to manage stormwater runoff and ensure that combined sewer overflows occur no more than once per outfall per year. Nature’s Scorecard is an easily […]

Center City Streetcar: Pressing the “Pause” Button I thank Mayor Durkan for pressing the ‘pause’ button on the Center City Streetcar through her executive order to stop work. This step is necessary to ensure that the independent review earlier ordered by the Mayor is meaningful. Had work proceeded as scheduled—especially in awarding a construction contract—it […]

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 […]

Progressive Revenue Task Force Thursday January 4, 2018 was the first meeting of the Progressive Revenue Task Force.  The task force was established by Resolution 31782, passed during the November Budget discussion soon after a narrow majority of Councilmembers voted against the progressive Employee Hours Tax (EHT) that would have funded $13 million in programs […]

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 […]

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 […]

LSG Sky Chefs – City and Union Take a Stand Today, I wrote letters to each Alaska Airlines, Lufthansa, American Airlines, Delta and United Airlines.  Each airline has hubs serviced by a company called LSG Sky Chefs. LSG Sky Chefs provides catering and much of the food on these airlines as well as others, and […]

Sweetened Drink Tax Yesterday, in the Affordable Housing, Neighborhoods and Finance Committee the public finally saw the newly proposed bill for the sweetened drink tax.  This has been an issue that I’ve been tracking closely for the last couple of months as I’ve had several concerns about not only how to spend projected revenue, but […]

Resolution on High-Earner Income Tax Seattle is a growing and prosperous city that should offer better schools and healthier communities, yet our City faces many urgent challenges, including a homelessness state of emergency, an affordable housing crisis, overcrowded classrooms, education equity and racial achievement gaps, inadequate provision of mental health services, and severe traffic congestion. […]