Hannah Sabio-Howell Says It's Time to Replace Longtime Legislator Jamie Pedersen The 29-year-old first-time candidate says the progressive 43rd District wants a leader who will prioritize the needs of working people and renters. publicola.com/2026/03/31/h...

DOOM LOOP SPECIAL REPORT for @soseaemerald.bsky.social southseattleemerald.org/voices/2026/...

We can tackle the food desert problem in Seattle. rondezvouswa.com/p/seattle-s-...

At the @housingconsortium.org lunch @girmayzahilay.bsky.social announces they are looking at the first ever county housing levy! And @mayorofseattle.bsky.social announces new direction for the Comp Plan, to upzone walksheds of transit stops! 🏢🔗🚶🏽‍♀️Affordable housing is key to building a #15MinuteCity

At the Housing Development Consortium's annual event, Mayor Katie Wilson just announced that the city will "revisit the original phases three and four" of the comprehensive plan "to be far more aggressive with our timeline and scope."

We have an open seat on our Board! The person & their organization should have a track record of creating housing for marginalized communities. Applications due April 14th! Please help spread word! Help build social housing ! Apply using the QR code or link: forms.cloud.microsoft/r/gPDmCE9tfb 12m

Something I can’t stand about D5 politics is that there’s always tacit agreement that we “take on a disproportionate burden” of tiny houses or tent cities or whatever. I reject this framing entirely. Tent cities & tiny house villages are incredible assets to our community & make it a safer place.

SAVE THE DATE! We’re throwing a party & campaign fundraiser at Massive in Capitol Hill on April 30 from 5pm-8pm to celebrate the official launch of our grassroots, people-powered campaign! Pencil us in 🫵🏽

Ron Davis, Running for the State House on an Urbanist Platform, Says North Seattle Is Ready for a Change He's challenging 15-year incumbent Gerry Pollet, who he calls the "chief NIMBY in the Democratic Caucus" (Now with an update from Pollet's team) publicola.com/2026/03/30/r...

Ron Davis, Running for the State House on an Urbanist Platform, Says North Seattle Is Ready for a Change He's challenging 15-year incumbent Gerry Pollet, who he calls the "chief NIMBY in the Democratic Caucus" (Now with an update from Pollet's team) publicola.com/2026/03/30/r...

The workers who clean Lumen Field after Seahawks games currently pay a local tax rate (city/county/state) that’s 3-4X the rate that GM Schneider pays.

We are on the last day of our Spring Member Drive, and we just want to say thank you to everyone who’s already stepped up to support The Urbanist—your support is what allows us to grow our team and expand our reporting. If you’ve been meaning to give, now’s the time to become a member:

📣 Meetup field trip this week! Weds 4/1 ~ 6:00 ~ Youngstown Cultural Arts Center Come demonstrate that West Seattle wants to be connected to our train network, actually, & we'll give you a shirt! www.meetup.com/west-seattle... Arrive between 5:45-6 for your best chance of getting a shirt!

I just signed the Millionaires' Tax into law. We're rebalancing our unfair system while providing free school meals, the largest small business tax break in state history, no sales tax on baby diapers, and checks to nearly 500,000 working families to make life more affordable.

Miserable, awful people. From my inbox:

“Having a car should not be a requirement to building a life of one’s choosing.” 🚶 🚴‍♀️ 🚌 🚆 -Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson at the Sound Transit Crosslake Light Rail Opening

@nondriver.bsky.social arranged for @mayorofseattle.bsky.social to take a walking tour of the very dangerous pedestrian routes to the new Judkins Park station and a reckless person happily obliged by driving their Tesla into the crosswalk.

Mercer Island Leaves Home Alone-Style Traps All Over New Light Rail Station: tinyurl.com/4vj5mn7s

We need your help mobilizing around the Comp Plan! Join HON and @futurewise.wa for a training on our Comp Plan, & why it matters so much for social housing! No experience necessary, all are welcome. Sign up today! Register at: www.bit.ly/CompPlan2026

NEW STORY// Washington's E-bike Rebate Program Reopens for Applications March 30 By Ryan Packer via @theurbanist.org

Congrats Paris, which just elected another socialist party mayor over the right wing candidate. This means continuity with Anne Hildago’s world leading interventions that have transformed Paris from a car-clogged, noisy, polluted city into a rapidly greening pedestrian/bike utopia.

Reminder that the Seattle Times endorsed George W Bush in 2000, who appointed Roberts and Alito. They will be deciding votes in this decision. archive.seattletimes.com/archive/2000...

Seattle’s Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) is a tax on middle-income families to subsidize rent for low income households. Taxing wealth and wage inequality are far better ways to subsidize housing.

Seattle's MHA is unfunded IZ. It block new homes until after prices rise, putting an invisible tax on tenants in older buildings. It would be illegal under the funded IZ bill just passed by Oregon. The city should fund it or ax it permanently. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

Here's our full story comparing how the new Seattle Police Officer's Guild contract stacks up with the accountability reforms the City Council passed in 2017. Many provisions intended to boost oversight and ensure timely police discipline aren't implemented. www.axios.com/local/seattl...

NEW STORY// Urbanist Coalition To Hold Housing Rally at Seattle City Hall on April 6th By Diego Batres via @theurbanist.org

We want to add another reporter to The Urbanist team by the beginning of next year, but we can only do that with your help. Support The Urbanist with a monthly contribution, take advantage of ad-free reading, and help us grow our team! www.theurbanist.org/membership/

The MASS coalition, an alliance of 13 organizations working toward a safer, more accessible, and climate-aligned transportation system in Seattle, has released a letter to Mayor Wilson urging her to advance these progressive priorities. Read the full letter at: www.masscoalition.org ♿️🚶🚊🚎🛗🚲🛴🌎

Seattle Times photographer @karenducey.bsky.social did a terrific job of capturing the stress of crossing the freeway ramps next to the new Judkins light rail station Read the full article by @nickdeshais.bsky.social, Can Seattle light rail repair what a freeway broke?

While the Mayor is asking departments to trim the fat, cops are leaving hours early and claiming overtime for full shifts. One officer's defense: Everybody does it. open.substack.com/pub/divestsp...

Our second Sunday of signature-gathering was also our biggest!! Thanks to volunteers from @workingfamilies.org & @tech4housing.org, we got 160 signatures—bringing our overall total to 480. After just TWO weekends, we’re over halfway to 700! This is what democracy looks like 🥹

God, this is amazing. I wish a single US city had this vision or courage.

Deeply honored to be endorsed by the progressive grassroots Transit Riders Union. Founded by Katie Wilson (before she was the Seattle Mayor), TRU has led the way on wages, renter protection, transit access, affordable housing, and taxing the rich. Thank you TRU! www.tiktok.com/@voterondavi...

None of the Sound Transit approaches presented today are good enough. Voters & riders want to build the damn trains. The board needs to adopt these policy recommendations & direct staff to come back with better options transportationchoices.org/build-the-da...

SDOT CREW-DELIVERED WORK is one way the Seattle Transportation Levy delivers local projects to maintain and modernize your streets. Doing the work in-house lowers costs and speeds up construction. Here are ten recently completed projects across the city:

State to Offer Free Clinics to Help Oligarchs Navigate New Millionaire Tax: tinyurl.com/56py3p95

My initial takeaway from today's Sound Transit board retreat: www.theurbanist.org/sound-transi...

If you are energized by charting Seattle's future, please join the Seattle Planning Commission! While we don't get to vote on stuff, we do get into the weeds on land use, transportation, equity, zoning, sub-area plans, levys, neighborhoods, and housing. www.seattle.gov/documents/De...

Monday! SDOT is hosting a drop-in meeting about this Monday, March 16, 4:30-6:00pm at Rail Spur, 419 Occidental Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104. Stop by anytime in person and let them know if you think we should be removing a few illegal parking spaces to make our streets safer and more accessible

Our first day out talking to our neighbors was a rip roarin’ success! Thank you so much to every volunteer who came out today to help our campaign connect with our neighbors and build the people-power that this movement is all about.

ICYMI: The Urbanist’s Spring Member Drive has kicked off with a website overhaul, including ad-free reading as a donor perk! Become a monthly donor, support our reporting, help us grow our team, and enjoy reading The Urbanist without intrusive ads. www.theurbanist.org/membership/

NEW STORY// Seattle Social Housing Developer Wins New Tool from State Lawmakers by Doug Trumm via @theurbanist.org

This is an example of how state laws protect physical, print newspapers (which have lobbyists who advocate for them, and them alone, in Olympia) and not the overwhelming majority of modern news outlets, which are online. The Internet is not new, and we should all be in this together.

NEW STORY// Washington Legislature Delivers Sound Transit a One-Two Punch in 2026 by Ryan Packer via @theurbanist.org

1/3 The Wilson for Seattle campaign account is now officially Your City. Your City is a new progressive group created by the same Wilson campaign volunteers who donated their time, labor, and love to send Katie Wilson to City Hall.

NEW: Sound Transit has revealed additional cost savings measures for the West Seattle Link Extension, moves that could put the line within $700 million of what is currently baked in the agency's financial plan - a major step toward affordability. www.theurbanist.org/sound-transi...

Millionaire Tax Already Working: tinyurl.com/4sm3azwb

Seattle needs to pass a bold comprehensive plan! Join us on Tuesday, March 31st at 6pm for a virtual training to learn how you can plug in with our efforts to make that happen. Register at bit.ly/CompPlan2026