Fireworks In Seattle, except for permitted fireworks displays, fireworks are illegal under the  Seattle Fire Code. The Seattle Fire Blog and the SPD Blotter both published posts encouraging residents to leave the fireworks to professionals, and requesting that you call 911 only in the event of an emergency. After hearing a number of constituent complaints in […]

Administrative & Funding Plan for City’s Investments in Affordable Housing On Monday, the Full Council approved the Administrative & Funding Plan for how the Office of Housing (OH) awards and distributes funding for affordable housing in the City. Seattle has a large network of nonprofit affordable housing developers and providers who are experts in building housing to […]

Reminder: April 2 Deadline for Sound Transit 3 Scoping Comments The deadline for providing comments on options for Sound Transit’s West Seattle/Ballard light rail line is on Tuesday, April 2nd. You can comment at the online open house or by e-mail at wsbscopingcomments@soundtransit.org. This is part of the formal comment period for developing which options […]

Thank You to SDOT, City and KC Metro Staff  Many thanks to everyone who helped out in some way during the snowstorm. Times like this are a real reminder of the importance of public service. SDOT workers worked long shifts to clear the roads, after being very busy during the three week closure of SR99. […]

Update on Request for 1st Avenue Bus Lane & Access to Downtown after Viaduct Closure SDOT Interim Director Laird sent a reply to my letter asking SDOT about reserving a dedicated lane for buses on 1st Avenue while the Alaskan Way Viaduct is being removed. WSDOT plans to permanently close the viaduct on January 11, […]

United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Calls for the Release of Xiyue Wang This week the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled that Iran’s detention of Xiyue Wang, an United States citizen and University of Washington Alumni imprisoned in Iran since August of 2016, is illegal and arbitrary and that he must […]

Seattle Small Business Survey In continuing its efforts to support Seattle small businesses the Office of Economic Development has designed a survey to ask small business owners across the city what the City can do to better support the success of Seattle small businesses.  This information will help OED to prioritize their programs and services, […]

Vacant Building Monitoring Program Report You may recall last August the Council passed legislation to make it easier for the City to demolish vacant buildings; I wrote about this legislation at the time. This legislation was one step towards addressing the significant increase in complaints about vacant buildings; between 2013 and 2016 the City saw […]

20 Tenant Households Displaced in Highland Park Last Wednesday, while I was walking from my house to the Highland Park Action Council (HPAC) meeting I noticed one of the large apartment buildings in my neighborhood was boarded up.  I didn’t know why that had happened, and because I work hard to keep up on what […]

Ready to Work Expansion On Monday April 16th I had the opportunity to visit the Ready to Work program’s expansion into District 1.  During the 2018 budget I advocated for funding to expand the Ready to Work (RTW) program into West Seattle.  Ready to Work is for people who face barriers to employment and need […]