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In brief: The Seattle Times profiled Rebecca Twigg, a local woman who was an Olympic medalist in cycling in the 90s but has been homeless in Seattle for the last 5 years; the state legislature passed a number of new pieces of legislation; Amazon donated $200,000 to the Chamber's PAC; and two former staffers to Mayor Durkan complained of mistreatment by the mayor and a hostile work environment in the Mayor's Office.
Sunday, April 14th - Saturday, April 20th, 2019
Image from The Seattle Times / Bettina Hansen
Last Week in Seattle
Homelessness and housing affordability:
  • Scott Greenstone at The Seattle Times talked to former Olympic cyclist Rebecca Twigg, a local woman who was "one of the most famous American cyclists in the 80s and 90s" but has been homeless in Seattle for the past 5 years.
  • The City Council's confirmation of current interim Human Services Department director Jason Johnson to the permanent job, following his nomination by Mayor Jenny Durkan, "appears to be stalled due to a lack of support from city council members."
  • Councilmember Kshama Sawant announced a proposal to expand the City's existing relocation assistance program, which requires landlords to help their tenants cover the costs of finding a new place to live if their building is being renovated or demolished, to also include "economic evictions" that result from dramatic rent increases. 
  • The standoff between tent encampment administrators SHARE & Nickelsville and low-income housing provider LIHI continued.
  • And Mayor Durkan officially transmitted legislation to the City Council to redevelop Fort Lawton into a park and 237 units of affordable housing.  
Election Watch 2019:
Meanwhile, in Olympia:
Real Estate Corner
From March of 2018 to March of this year, there were 10,009 new construction apartment units in the Seattle region that were rented for the first time, a marked increase from recent years and second only to the 13,021 units that were occupied for the first time between March 2014-2015.

Sarah Anne Lloyd at Curbed Seattle looked at what $2,500/month will rent you across Seattle right now. 
Thank you to everyone who's sent me a real estate referral or used me as an agent yourself! The city of Seattle is my geographic area of expertise, and while I'm also very good at helping sellers get top dollar for their homes, my true passion is helping first-time homebuyers get homes that they love quickly and easily.

I
f you need a residential real estate agent to help you buy or sell a home of any kind--or you know someone who does--I'd love to be of service. My website is here, or see here for client reviews. 
Quick Takes
David Kroman reported on two allegations of mistreatment by former Mayor's Office employees. [Crosscut]

Tom Fucoloro looked at the status of Seattle's bikeshare/scooter-share ecosystem vs. other large cities across the country. [Seattle Bike Blog]

The New York Times reported on Dreamliner production issues at Boeing's non-union North Charleston plant in South Carolina, which the company opened specifically to avoid the higher cost of its unionized workforce in Everett. [New York Times]

Seattle City Light's brand new Denny Substation is producing significantly more power than it needs to be due to errors in the City's forecasts from 2011 when it was being planned. [Crosscut]

Erica C. Barnett looked at a new report showing that Seattle's three municipal golf courses are currently losing revenue every year, and that their usage has been declining for the past few years. [The C is for Crank]

Sydney Brownstone discovered that Goodwill prosecuted more shoplifting cases last year than any other retailer in the city (with Target coming in a close second). [KUOW]

The Seattle Times announced that its executive editor, Don Shelton, will be retiring, and that current managing editor Michele Matassa Flores will be replacing him; and the newspaper also hired former Seattle Weekly reporter Melissa Hellmann to cover "the social and economic impacts of artificial intelligence." [Seattle Times, Twitter]

Sara Jean Green looked at the trends in King County's homicide data from 2018. [Seattle Times]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, King County's population increased by 28,934 people from July of 2017 - July of 2018, the smallest increase this decade: 21,491 net new residents moved here from other countries, 12,500 net new residents were born (i.e., comparing births to deaths), and a net 4,868 existing residents moved out of King County to somewhere else in the country. [Seattle Times]

King County Metro is adding an on-demand shuttle system to take transit users in South Seattle and Tukwila to or from light rail stations--you can request a ride by downloading the Via to Transit app or calling 206-258-7739, and the rides will cost the same amount as a normal bus fare. [Seattle Times]

The anticipated cost of the new NHL arena that's set to replace Key Arena (and is being fully financed privately) is now up to $930 million, from an originally estimated $600 million, and its opening date has been pushed back to the summer of 2021. [Curbed Seattle]

Seattle now has 115,000 children under the age of 18, or about 16% of our population, the first time in almost 50 years that we've had more than 100,000 kids in our city limits (our population of dogs, meanwhile, is roughly 150,000). [Seattle Times]

And King County Executive Dow Constantine delivered this year's State of the City address in Preston, a small town between Issaquah and North Bend, after cancelling his address last year due to protests by No New Youth Jail activists. [Seattle Times, The Stranger]
Upcoming events this week
Today: Easter brunch [Open Table]

4/22: Earth Day 2019

4/23: UW Science Now

4/24: Food Truck Lobby Day in Olympia

4/25: Stacey Abrams: Lead from the Outside [sold out, but rush tickets available day-of]

Sol Villarreal
Broker, Windermere Real Estate
sol@windermere.com
solvillarreal.com
206-765-6108
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