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Sunday, October 24th - Saturday, October 30th, 2021
In brief: Election Day is only two days away (if you're reading this on Sunday), so get your ballot in if you haven't already; the first shipment of soon-to-be-newly-approved vaccine doses for 5-to-11-year-olds should arrive this week; Governor Inslee will allow the statewide eviction moratorium to expire tonight at midnight (Seattle's will remain in place until January 15th); and Mayor Durkan announced a $16 million COVID relief fund to provide cash grants of $1-3,000 to low-income Seattleites. 
COVID-19 News
For current stats, see the following:
To book a free vaccine appointment, click here for the City of Seattle vaccine clinics or here for the state's vaccine appointment locator. 
While the number of new cases and hospitalizations have declined from their all-time highs in early September, they remain at levels that are roughly on par with their previous highs from late December and early January, and vaccination rates remain wildly different for different parts of the state. 

The state expects to receive 316,000 child-sized vaccine doses for 5-to-11-year-olds this week, pending authorization by the CDC that's expected in the coming days. [Seattle Times, KING 5]

Governor Inslee announced that the statewide eviction moratorium won't be extended again, which means that it expires tonight at midnight (Seattle's eviction moratorium will continue until January 15th). If you're a tenant in need of assistance, you can apply for rental assistance from King County (which was very slow in moving through the system initially, but the process has been sped up in recent weeks) or contact the King County Housing Justice Project for free legal help. [MyNorthwest, Seattle Times]

King County's vaccine verification program went into effect on Monday, requiring proof of either vaccination or a negative test result from the last 72 hours to be able to patronize most businesses and events. [Seattle City Council Insight, KUOW]

A federal judge struck down the third lawsuit in two weeks seeking to overturn Governor Inslee's statewide vaccine mandate for most public employees. [MyNorthwest, KNKX]

There were 189 outbreaks in K-12 schools across the state in August and September (with 147 of those happening in September); and many teachers are experiencing compounding mental health challenges and burnout as they stretch themselves thin to try to offset staffing shortages caused by the pandemic. 

And Mayor Durkan announced a $16 million pandemic relief fund that will give one-time cash grants of $1,000 - $3,000 to low-income Seattleites. Applications are open now through November 15th, and can be submitted at seattlerelief.com. [KING 5]
Election Watch 2021
This Tuesday, November 2nd is Election Day! Be sure to either get your ballot in the mail and postmarked by Tuesday or drop it off at a King County Elections drop box by 8 pm on Tuesday. You can track your ballot online here to make sure it was sent to the right address, get a replacement ballot if you've lost yours, or verify that your vote has been counted after you send it in. 
For editorial endorsements, see The Stranger (cheat sheet here), Fuse Washington's Progressive Voters Guide, Publicola, The Urbanist, and the Seattle Times editorial board; and David Beekman from the Seattle Times has a good run-down of the individual and institutional endorsements for the candidates in the Seattle races here.  

For voter guides, see the online version of the official voters guide that gets mailed to you before every election, plus an online-only video voters guide featuring recorded statements from each of the candidates; Crosscut's interactive voter guide with candidate answers to various questions; and the "mayoral matchmaker" quiz from the Seattle Times, which boils down the positions of the two mayoral candidates in an easy-to-digest format. 

In the mayor's race, Lorena González pulled an ad attacking Bruce Harrell (for not calling on former mayor Ed Murray to resign in 2017 after multiple credible accusations of child sexual abuse), following pushback from many prominent Black community members who argued that the ad was racist. In pulling the ad, González apologized for featuring a white woman in it instead of a woman of color. [Seattle TimesKING 5]

The former head of OneAmerica, who helped establish the Office of Labor Standards in 2015--and who's endorsed González--filed an ethics complaint against Harrell for pressuring department staff to stop a wage theft investigation by OLS against a private club that Harrell was the board chair of while he was on the City Council. [Publicola, KUOW]

Political Action Committees (PACs) have made more than $3.4 million in independent expenditures in support of candidates in Seattle races this year, nearly three times more than the last time this same group of positions was on the ballot in 2017. [Seattle Times, The Stranger]

And the Washington State Debate Coalition's second and final mayoral debate took place Thursday night; you can watch it online here (it's only an hour, and highly recommended if you're still undecided in that race). There are tons of other candidate forums online for all of the various positions, too, if you're interested in watching more. 
Real Estate Corner
According to the Case-Shiller Home Price Index for August, the three-county Seattle region's 24% year-over-year price growth from August of 2020 to August of 2021 was "only" the fifth highest rate of growth in the country (we've been first or second for most of the last 5 or 6 years). [Seattle Times]

Modular construction methods--in which building components are built off-site and then shipped to the development site and assembled there--are starting to gain some traction in Seattle, although their promise of saving time and money vs. traditional "stick built" projects has yet to fully materialize. [Seattle Times]

And GeekWire's Mike Lewis looked at the rise of Bellevue as a tech hub in its own right, in the first of a four-part series exploring the city's civic past and present in contrast to Seattle. [GeekWire]
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. 
Other News
Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman, who until Tuesday was the only statewide elected Republican on the west coast, resigned to accept an appointment within the Biden administration overseeing election security for a subdivision of the Department of Homeland Security. Melissa Santos at Crosscut has more on the rumors about who Inslee might appoint to take her place here. [Seattle Times, MyNorthwest]

A federal jury ruled that the for-profit company that runs Tacoma's ICE detention center has to pay its detainees minimum wage instead of making them work for $1 per day, and awarded $17.3 million to a group of immigrants who have been held there since 2014. [Seattle Times, KNKX]

Marc Dones, the head of the newly formed Regional Homelessness Authority, asked the city and county for $27 million to create stable housing for some of the highest-need and most visibly unsheltered people currently living downtown. [Seattle Times]

The FAA issued a safety alert affecting all Boeing 757 and 767 cargo planes, over a design flaw that led to a 2019 crash that killed three people; and Boeing announced that its continued manufacturing quality problems with the 787 will end up costing the company roughly $1 billion.

Mayor Durkan announced hiring bonuses of up to $25,000 for experienced officers and staff in SPD and the newly separated 911 dispatch center, to try to fill critical staffing shortages in those departments. [Seattle Times, KING 5]

An independent investigation by a former U.S. attorney hired by the Pierce County Council found that Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer violated his own department's policies when he followed and confronted a Black newspaper carrier in his neighborhood and called in a police response on him, lying about the encounter to the police dispatcher. The newspaper carrier, Sedrick Altheimer, filed a federal lawsuit against Troyer, and the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney's Office added him to its "Brady list" of officers with credibility issues whose testimony shouldn't be relied on in courtroom settings. 

The percentage of Washington workers who quit their jobs in August--2.4%--was the fourth-lowest of any state in the country, likely because of our high minimum wage and generous worker protections (including strong COVID-19 policies). [Seattle Times]

A group of teachers and parents gathered outside Seattle Public Schools' headquarters to protest proposed shifts in special education staffing levels based on falling enrollment levels from the 2019-20 school year to the 2020-21 school year. [KUOW]

More than 100 containers have fallen overboard from a troubled cargo ship that caught fire off the coast of British Columbia in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. [Seattle Times]

And today (October 31st) is the last day to opt out of the state's new long-term care insurance payroll tax if you're a W2 employee. [MyNorthwest, Seattle Times]
Ending on a high note
When the power went out at Canlis Wednesday night, they served everyone Dick's burgers and champagne by candlelight instead. 

And in honor of Halloween, please enjoy this post entitled "I Stumbled Upon An Abandoned Dentist’s House In Connecticut Filled With Vintage Stuff."

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