This Week in the Budget This week, Seattle City Council Budget Committee Chair Bagshaw proposed a Chair’s Revised 2020 Budget. This revised proposal incorporated additional requests by Councilmembers that were submitted the previous week. The Budget Committee met on Tuesday, November 19th to vote on budget actions proposed by Councilmembers. The baseline for discussion was […]

SEATTLE – The Washington State Supreme Court unanimously upheld the City’s “first-in-time” ordinance today. The First-in-Time (“FIT”) Rule requires a landlord to notify prospective tenants of the landlord’s screening criteria and offer tenancy to the first applicant meeting them. The Rule does not dictate the criteria, require quantifiable or objective criteria, prevent a landlord from conducting […]

This Week in the Budget Last week the Budget Committee did not meet.  Councilmembers had a deadline on Thursday, October 10 to identify issues to be included in staff memos for the Budget Deliberations and Issue Identification. These meetings began on October 16 and they continue through October 22nd. At these meetings Council Central Staff […]

Tenant Protections for Survivors of DV and Roommates This week we had a first discussion in Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development and Arts Committee on legislation I’ve sponsored to protect survivors of domestic violence from being held liable for damages incurred by an abuser, and to protect roommates and family members from categorical housing denials […]

Bus Commutes on 1st Avenue West Seattle bus riders are facing unacceptably long wait times on 1st Avenue to get back home in the evening. Earlier this week my office sent a request to SDOT Director Zimbabwe to examine options to speed up traffic. The email that I sent to constituents earlier this week requested […]

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, […]