Weaponizing environmental concerns to prevent people from living in our urban environments isn’t new. It’s deployed by people with resources to restrict access to high opportunity areas. It’s nimbyism. In order to reach our housing goals, our land use processes must stop enabling this behavior.

these people can't be for real 😂

We've been holding this in for a little while: we're adding four new public restrooms in Pioneer Square. @mayorofseattle.bsky.social is delivering on her promise to provide more clean, accessible, and safe public restrooms. You shouldn't have to struggle to find a public bathroom.

The dramatic responses to David’s post prove his point perfectly.

I'd love to see the line on the pro forma that provides cash flow from leaving units vacant

For some context, Seattle's budget is $8.9b, so a cut of $175m is just shy of a 2% cut.

Great presentation from SDOT and FIFA reps tonight about upcoming street closures for World Cup games. Despite many sour comments from cranky residents, SDOT and SPD reps handled them well.

Maybe we finally get fire truck reform so that NIMBYs can keep their parking spots? A win is a win

Letting business/property owners override the Vision Zero safety team based on vibes is par for the course at SDOT and needs to change. Making intersections safer by improving visibility is a proven strategy. Of the proposed locations with pedestrian collisions, 0 remain in the plan.

Seattle perfected the stacked flat over a century ago. Why is OPCD still fiddling around with FAR, setbacks, pitched roofs, materials, etc.?

I think it's time we reopened the conversation around redeveloping the Talaris site.

This is also how a lot of land use regulation works: local governments create a bunch of arbitrary rules that make it impossible to build anything profitably, then give themselves the power to hand out exceptions in exchange for public and private benefits.

This chart tells a pretty incredible success story MHA funds are the smallest slice of this graph and yet MHA is the only funding source that directly hurts renters by blocking new homes from being built @mayorofseattle.bsky.social let's use this success to undo the damage from MHA!

Join us to celebrate new affordable homes opening in Phinney Ridge! We're partnering with Homestead to showcase their homes & welcome new residents to an exclusive neighborhood. April 30, 6:00pm 5819 Phinney Ave. RSVP at the link below. See you there! actionnetwork.org/events/welco...

This project is ripe for some guerrilla urbanism.

For anyone curious about how expensive MHA is, here's an 89-uint complex planned for the U-District. Each unit is a small SEDU and planned for less than 300 SF. The total MHA fee for this building is $645,182. Those fees are not paid by the developer, they're paid in higher rents.

Rode the new 2 line today for the first time. Felt like such a little kid again. I remember driving on this portion of freeway on the last day it was open to cars and feeling excited that I’d be riding the train on it someday. That someday is today!

It's me, the Special Interest Group

"So breaking news, we are going to basically revisit the original phases three and four. Plan to be far more aggressive with our timeline," Wilson said, adding: "So likely these will include zoning for more housing within walking distance to transit and not just along our busy arterial streets."

3.5 years for this 🙃

Love seeing the new protected bike lane on Yesler!

Saw this really neat train in the Detroit Airport last night

If you're in the neighborhood, please come make your voice heard! Pioneer Square was the original walkable neighborhood and over time it's turned over too much space to cars. Let's regain some of that space for walkers, rollers, and riders!

SB 6026 will significantly boost where builders can site new apartments. The flexibility in ground-floor commercial is a key (and controversial) part of the new law. www.sightline.org/2026/03/11/w...

Incredible that we're still doing DRB for a 6-unit TH project. Easy win for @mayorofseattle.bsky.social to delete this program

TIL there are two residential condos on top of Harvard Market. They're both right on top of the old Bartells. One of them even sold 2 years ago for $2m! www.redfin.com/WA/Seattle/8...

Chevy Equinox (??) rear ends a Ford F-150. How fast do you have to be going for the Equinox to end up like that? Speed limit here is 25 mph.

More proof that the state needs to take over planning.

I took the 7 once and it was the only time I’ve seen someone undress on transit. Can’t imagine how awful this line must be for people who take it regularly.

One of the coolest streets in Manhattan is Stone St. A former road that's been converted into outdoor dining. Pike Place could go this route and provide so much more revenue opportunities for restaurants, and better dining options for patrons.

Why don’t bus only lanes extend down 3rd Ave S? This is such a cluster.

Sunday's email: "We need a packed room to respond to this proposal." There are fewer than 20 attendees here.

Missoula, Montana has just: - Eliminated single family zoning - Eliminated parking requirements citywide - Allows 100-125' of height in many of its mixed-use zones with no limits on density or FAR Why is Missoula so much more progressive than Los Angeles?

It's wrong that they won't let me live in a 55+ community simply due to my age. They should let you in if you match the "general vibe"

Why do we use hollow bollards? They’re just always broken

This photo of a NIMBY complaining about change is going to age like those old photos of urban renewal. Congrats to BC on making missing middle a new reality.

Senior housing doesn’t receive the discourse it deserves. I was at QFC on Mercer Island and it was full of elderly shoppers who could barely lift groceries into their cart but got right into their 4k lb cars and drove home. We need walkable communities for old ppl too.

Downtown Renton has some pretty sick Bell Bollards. Maybe we can get some, too? Much taller in person than they look here.

You probably don't know what SEQRA is - but you should know that it's slowing down the housing that we need. Deputy Mayor Leila Bozorg is here to explain why reforming it is key to cutting red tape and building more housing.

In partnership with Sen. Emily Alvarado, I’m requesting a bill to change commercial zoning to help local governments develop more housing. This bill would require cities and counties that use Growth Management Plans to permit residential and mixed-use development in areas zoned for commercial use.

Why do we have Border Patrol 300 miles from the border?

People don't realize how important this is (the retail component). Everyone wants street level retail, but there's simply not enough people and businesses to fill in the spaces we already have and that leads to endless vacancies which are terrible for the built environment. It also adds costs 1/3

Does anyone know the story behind these bike lanes in the U-District? Never seen these anywhere else. Hard rubber instead of the typical concrete barriers.

Unfortunately not unique to CA. I remember, as a kid, reading a story about a man in Minnesota who had recently received his… 23rd DUI. Driving really needs to be a privilege and not a right.

Should we expect retractable bollards throughout the city and a better building code? Some of Jon’s post is very exciting for the future of Seattle.

POV: You’re in school for a BS or MUP in Urban Planning and you see this post. Do you make plans to change the mico-manager mentality in UP, or do you think you’ll just go along with the madness?

Really, really like this. We have this treatment in Pioneer Square. No reason it shouldn’t extend all the way to Denny. (Sorry everyone, the Culture Connector is not happening).

You can almost do this at Occidental Park, having a drink on the patio at The Meyer or DeLeo’s Pizza, but you’d be quite a ways from the playground. Maybe now that The Grand Central is finally opening for businesses this could be a reality.

Absolutely no chance a Space Needle would ever be approved today and yet it’s one of the most internationally recognized and celebrated icons of buildings. We have got to let people dream BIG again.

One of the most important things we can do for housing is to get rid of public meetings for new housing developments. What an enormous waste of time and money for the city.