Vote in the Primary. The Urbanist's endorsements can help guide the way. Your ballot must be postmarked by 8pm Tuesday August 3rd.
On Thursday, the Sound Transit Board is scheduled to vote and decide the fate of the ST3 realignment plan. Thanks to King County Council President Claudia Balducci's efforts, a hybrid plan has emerged mostly avoiding delays to project timelines. It has Chair Kent Keel's support but it could use your help to push it over the top. Email the board.
Primary Endorsement Cheatsheet:
King County Executive: Joe Nguyen
Seattle Mayor: Colleen Echohawk
Seattle City Attorney: Nicole Kennedy-Thomas
Seattle City Council Pos. 8: Teresa Mosqueda
Seattle City Council Pos. 9: Nikkita Oliver
King County Council District 9: Ubax Gardheere
Seattle School Board District 4: Erin Dury
Seattle School Board District 5: Michelle Sarju Full endorsement writeup here...
The Final Act: Sound Transit 3 Realignment Plan Vote Takes Center Stage on Thursday
A Sounder commuter rail train approaches the station. (The Urbanist)
A final vote on realignment of the Sound Transit 3 program could come this Thursday to solve a $6.5 billion affordability gap. The Sound Transit Board of Directors will meet to review and consider two plans: the original base realignment with immediate delays and a hybrid realignment plan, which would allow the program to move forward for now mostly on schedule or close to it. Board Chair Kent Keel threw his support behind the hybrid realignment plan last week saying that he and King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci had worked out the compromise plan.
“I believe this hybrid combines the best of my approach and the best of [Balducci’s] approach that she’s been working,” Keel said. Continue Reading...
Seattle Must End Single-Family Zoning to Create an Equitable Housing System
Single-family homes in West Woodland. (Photo by Doug Trumm)
This morning the land use committee takes up Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda’s proposal to rename Seattle’s single-family zoning as “Neighborhood Residential.” It’s just a first step in breaking the hold of exclusionary zoning that is making it very hard for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and younger generations to find housing in the city that they can afford. Many more steps toward housing justice will need to follow, but this first step is still significant and it’s a long time coming.
With Covid-19, Design Review has moved to an online format. Housing in the pipeline still needs to continue to be built. (City of Seattle)
Fifteen housing advocates applied for 15 open seats on Seattle’s design review boards this winter. A public records request revealed that all 15 were shut out as the City opted instead to appoint mostly architects with connections to major firms or past or current board members, even in seats set aside for non-architects. For housing advocates, that rejection underscored how at odds the review program is with their goals.
“Design review is a continuation of practices like exclusionary zoning and redlining that are used to keep out unwanted neighbors and separate communities,” Laura Loe of Share The Cities said in an email. “We aren’t getting a more beautiful city, it isn’t more climate friendly, and it isn’t more affordable. We have a choice here to take care of a laundry list of reforms for design review or maybe we just don’t need it at all.” Continue Reading...
Pike Pine Renaissance Further Watered Down in Latest Plans
Pike Pine Renaissance, which upgrades Pike and Pine Streets in Downtown, has been a long time in the making. (SDOT)
The planned overhaul of the Pike Pine corridor in downtown Seattle will undoubtedly become one of the most significant changes to Seattle’s retail core since perhaps the opening of Westlake mall and park in the late 1980s. The approximately $40 million revamp, dubbed the Pike Pine Renaissance, will finally complete the protected bike lanes on the corridor connecting to and from Capitol Hill, and upgrade them to have sturdy barricades for their entire length. Both Pike and Pine Streets will be extended as one-way streets all the way up to Bellevue Avenue on Capitol Hill. Pedestrian space, particularly around Pike Place Market, will also see an expansion. The road to completing this project has been long, with the first concepts seen nearly four years ago.
The Urbanist has obtained the latest set of designs, dated this summer at the 60% level of design completion, including updated renderings and a full map of the corridor. Several problematic steps backward shown in the latest update, combined with aspects that have been less-than-ideal all along, show a project straying from achieving its full vision, a dismaying fact given the project’s price tag and intended impact. Continue Reading...
Events
August 10th Meetup: Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rachel Smith
Our August meetup guest is Rachel Smith, the new President and CEO of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. She brings nearly 15 years of government affairs, policy, operations, and advocacy experience. Prior to her Chamber role, she served as Deputy County Executive and Chief of Staff to King County Executive Dow Constantine. Previously, she served as Government and Community Relations Officer for the regional transit agency, Sound Transit, and in the administration of former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. To register for the link, check out our events page.
September 14th Meetup: Guest TBD
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"The Urbanist is an invaluable resource for those wishing to be civically engaged in the Puget Sound region and Washington State. They are an important place for advocacy journalists to find their voice. The Urbanist’s writers approach wonk with a sense of humor that keeps difficult topics engaging." -Share The Cities
