I have an idea: what if we made amendments fully public before they got voted on

Doing the Hoboken intersection daylighting tour today. It's actually embarrassing that Seattle isn't doing this at the same scale.

Big news in the Seattle affordable housing world: Colleen Echohawk, the former mayoral candidate who previously led YouthCare on an interim basis and also helmed the company Eighth Generation, will be Community Roots Housing's new CEO as of October 6.

I'm staying in Jersey City this week and it is actually a real "I was not familiar with your game" situation. Walkable, great food, good coffee shops and easy to use transit.

Not funded: weekend trips on the Bremerton fast ferry.

3rd Ave is also being repaved in Belltown this weekend, not great timing.

So the tenth anniversary of my first story for @theurbanist.org is coming up very soon, and I feel like some kind of celebration is warranted, but I keep drawing a blank.

FYI Seattle:

Go off, Lower East Side

Once again, first elected Seattle mayor born in the city: JENNY DURKAN

It's a beautiful day in New York.

If you need me, I'll be riding trains all day.

It feels like autumn arrived in New York City this morning.

Seattle renters - who make up the majority of the city - identifying areas of the city they're systemically excluded from living in and pushing for change is Good Actually

In somewhat of a rebuke to the idea of council district privilege, Rob Saka was just the only vote against creating an Alki Neighborhood Center, though four other councilmembers abstained from the vote. Saka painted supporters of an Alki NC as not actually living in the area - well, yeah.

"Pentagon told journalists it will require them to pledge to not do their jobs"

Good evening Greenwich Village.

Things are set up and we're getting started! Come check out what community orgs have put together to spark joy, art, fun, and community! Bellevue's first-ever #ParkingDay is underway!

It's pretty clear we're going to need a statewide tree preservation floor AND ceiling, and a massive statewide initiative to actually plant trees in neighborhoods that don't have them.

Awful, awful news. Someone walking was hit and killed by a driver in South Beacon Hill this morning, on the same day SDOT celebrates the opening of the North Beacon Hill bike route. spdblotter.seattle.gov/2025/09/19/p...

Time to celebrate a well deserved and hard-fought win, Seattle. www.theurbanist.org/2025/09/19/n...

Just like proposing a walk-on amendment to a light rail permitting bill...dealing with the subject of public outreach.

My takeaway from this Sean Duffy letter to the Governor of Maryland is that there's no way in hell they are going to issue a Record of Decision for an Interstate Bridge Replacement that includes light rail. www.transportation.gov/briefing-roo...

A lot of things that happened yesterday were surreal but I think "where does it say a tree has to be in the ground?" tops the list for me.

Happy birthday @kingcountymetro.bsky.social! www.historylink.org/File/1998

In rejecting the eating and drinking establishment provision, the council also rejected a provision that would have allowed corner stores to be open past 10pm.

I simply do not think on-street corrals are good places to store bikes.

Adding Hartford CT to the small list of US cities that are simply Not For Me

Damn I'm homesick tonight

Please don't ever tell me Sara Nelson is pro housing because she moderated an urbanist Facebook group twenty years ago ever again

In the Seattle neighborhood where I live, under the current tree ordinance: one new multiplex development is working around two separate trees, and another is going extra floor taller to preserve trees. The way they make this work is with DENSITY.

I dived into Seattle's new "AI Plan" so you don't have to, and there's a lot to talk about! Including 42 separate AI pilots. www.theurbanist.org/2025/09/18/h...

After Alexis Mercedes Rinck offered an amendment expanding the types of allowed corner store uses to include eating and drinking establishments, Bob Kettle railed against the idea as a "recipe for a public safety disaster." "We cannot have our neighborhoods and our neighbors be impacted this way."

I'm keeping up with what the Seattle City Council is doing today from Hartford, Connecticut.

Joy Hollingsworth has withdrawn this amendment, but says she is set to bring it back for the consideration of the full council. To my read, this seems like more of a symbolic move than anything.

It's hard for me not to draw a direct line between Seattle voters approving district elections and today's amendment votes.

Bob Kettle just went on a long tangent about how Seattle is at risk of losing transportation funding if we don't pass a Comp Plan. "I've not seen a single ounce of reporting on this, even though I've seen reporters in the meetings," Kettle says, which I think is a reference to me covering PSRC.

For those catching up on Seattle's council today: the Fauntleroy Neighborhood Center has to shrink because its elevation is too low, and the Phinney Neighborhood Center needs to be eliminated because it's too high.

Some other key amendments so far: Shrinking Fauntleroy Neighorhood Center (Saka): passed Shrinking Morgan Junction NC (Saka): passed Shrinking Madrona NC (Hollingsworth): passed Shrinking Bryant NC (Rivera): failed Shrinking Ravenna NC (Rivera): passed Shrinking Wedgwood NC (Rivera): failed

Looking forward to seeing whether Saka votes for any of the amendments that were revised DAYS AGO or if his process concerns evaporate then.

Sara "I'm pro housing" Nelson is voting against the elimination of parking minimums in Seattle. Good to get her on the record I guess.

The Seattle council is currently taking up @councilmember-amr.bsky.social's amendment to eliminate minimum parking requirements in the city, joining the ranks of Spokane & Shoreline. Maritza Rivera says Seattle "doesn't have the level of public transit yet [...] families need cars in this city."

Who is ready for an entire day of voting on Comprehensive Plan amendments?!

Looks like appointed District 2 Councilmember Mark Solomon will be absent for an entire day of voting on Comprehensive Plan amendments.

King County D5 is absolutely the region's biggest sleeper race that not enough people are paying attention to.

This will be one of the most crucial votes today (or tomorrow, if they run out of time).

Although the first day only included service from King Street to Tacoma with two stops in between, it's still impressive that we got commuter rail service up and running within four years of voters approving Sound Move. (That probably says more about today's timelines than anything.)

MLK Labor has dual endorsed Katie Wilson, months after sole endorsing Bruce Harrell. Endorsements from elected who take the group’s lead, like Teresa Mosqueda, will follow

Public records law cannot apply to only one newspaper.

It's almost like the Seattle Council should have listened to the planning commission and pushed to expand neighborhood centers in high opportunity areas and end apartment bans close to frequent transit lines in the same neighborhoods.