Zero votes left to count! It appears Sarah Dixit has won a seat on Spokane City Council by more than 100 votes. Because the percentage difference is more than 1% it will not go to a recount.

Good news: with almost all ballots counted, it looks like the Together Spokane package is on firm ground. SCHOOL BOND (60% required): Yes: 41,838 (61.82%) No: 25,839 (38.18%) PARK LEVY (50% required): Yes: 35,793 (55.86%) No: 28,283 (44.14%) We are getting $450M in parks and schools investments!

Me when I heard about Dixit

BOOM: I'm now comfortable making a firm call. Progressive Sarah Dixit defeats conservative incumbent Jon Bingle in the race for a seat in NE Spokane. Sarah Dixit: 6,291 (50.5%) Jon Bingle: 6,135 (49.2%) This is now outside the recount threshold!

WILSON IS OUR MAYOR

DIXIT WINS We’ve got a bike commuter and transit advocate on council!!

I've had some questions, so wanted to say *of course* I'm covering the proposed parking tax ordinance in Spokane for @rangemedia.co Last week was a busy news week and yall know I can't help myself from adding a bunch of context and analysis, so it takes time, but I gotchu Column dropping sooooon

Spokane has been killing it with housing reforms: eliminating parking minimums near transit increasing height maximums Reducing lot minimums THE RESULTS? The proof is in the puddin':

It’s really important that #Vancouver’s Downtown Business Association, who were originally against bike-lanes, are now among their most vigourous supporters, because of ACTUAL EVIDENCE that they’re better for downtown business than any street parking they replaced. Safe bike-lanes mean business.

!!!!!!

I don’t love seeing this monoculture-ass development, but at least there’s a shared use path and it’s connected to the path network

After three days of counting, it appears the $450 million Spokane Together bond-levy package is headed toward voter approval. SCHOOLS BOND (60% required): Yes: 34,238 (61.2%) No: 21,749 (38.9%) PARKS LEVY (50% required): Yes: 29,210 (55.2%) No: 23,734 (44.8%)

HOLY SHIT crazy news for Spokane progressives. Dixit closed the gap even more in the most recent ballot drop to less than 70. And there’s still 24k total ballots left to count in the county. City turnout is looking wildly high for an off year election

Spokane is *THIS CLOSE* to investing more than $450 million in schools, parks, pools, and recreation facilities!

Interesting challenge results for City of Spokane, where one of the races currently sits with less than 200 votes separating the conservative incumbent and his progressive challenger. 282 ballots have been challenged so far with the majority of them from people under 45. 67 votes from ages 17-24…

Same in Spokane. With a supermajority on council and a willing mayor, we have to run as fast as possible on issues like safe streets, transit, and urban infill.

An urbanism perspective of Spokane’s election: Safe streets, transit and infill champion @zackzappone.bsky.social was reelected in the nw district. Kate Telis, who advocated for housing and safe streets during the campaign, won her race in the southern district.

Results are in in Spokane! And they’re quite good for progressives...

Spokane Transit just bought Transit app’s premium tier subscription (Royale) for every resident. Our small city’s transit agency is punching waaaaay above its weight www.spokanetransit.com/press-releas...

Some good news: according to @wsdot.wa.gov's June 2025 update to #waleg, Cascadia HSR development continues apace. There were some concerns that USDOT would rescind almost $50 million in federal funding provided to the program, but that hasn't happened. Here's what WSDOT is working on this year:

A preliminary victory for privacy: Redmond Police Department to disable Flock automated license plate readers for the time being Hours after NPI dispatched a letter to the Redmond City Council calling for the swift decommissioning of the Flock surveillance system, the Council recommended to the…

Only 28% of ballots in Spokane have been returned. You can still vote! It’s only like six bubbles and you can drop it off at any of these locations: www.spokanecounty.gov/187/Ballot-D...

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Meanwhile, in the far-left progressive bastion of ... entire State of Utah: "The plan shows 3,100 miles of paths. The network would come within a mile of 95% of Utahns, connect to 33 school campuses, 31 state/national parks, and 74 high-capacity transit stations." www.sltrib.com/news/2025/10...

Spoiler: This story is about Flock Safety and what dickheads cops are.

News: Mayor Lisa Brown's office (@mayorspokane.bsky.social) is proposing a new tax of 12% on gross receipts from commercial parking across Spokane, as a way to encourage new housing development. Right now, more than 30% of downtown's land area is parking, and it maxes out at 56% occupancy.

This is really really cool for a few reasons. It functions as a wealth tax in a way by imposing hire tax burdens on parking lot owners, which are mostly out-of-city millionaires. It will also incentivize more development up rather than out, which is great for housing

Unbelievably tragic piece about all the crossing guards injured or killed on the job in the US. One school district in South Carolina has had 4(!) crossing guards hit or killed on the job. These are people trying to fix the problems caused caused by traffic engineers, and are dying doing it.

July 2025 - "SB 5184, which was adopted by a wide majority in both houses, exempts all homes smaller than 1,200 square feet from parking mandates. “The average new apartment in the United States is 904 square feet, and even the typical two-bedroom averages only 1,097 square feet."

When was the last time you saw an apartment with windows on three sides? That’s what small buildings can get you (among lots of other benefits!)

It’s the best kind of day — FRESH KERMIT DAY! This is meant to help Elm St Greenway (the first leg of 27x27!) users cross Boone, where Elm does a little jog.

Allow small apartment buildings everywhere. Yes, everywhere. www.sightline.org/2025/10/28/t...

Katie Wilson continues to have the edge in the highly competitive Seattle mayoral race, despite a large fundraising advantage for corporate-backed incumbent Bruce Harrell. Two polls released this week indicate that Wilson still holds a lead. Story: www.theurbanist.org/2025/10/24/w...

Check out the new Factually! episode with Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon: How to Break America's Car Addiction. » Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a... » Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5JDV... » YouTube: youtu.be/0rDO6FbYQrE

Which looks better to - walk on - live on - work on - have your kids play on - stop for a chat on - eat at a cafe on This isn’t complicated.

“[Flock] maps people’s movements, their behaviors. It creates real risk around overreach and misuse of the surveillance technology to target people. The report that came out today shows this has not been a hypothetical concern.” -Tee Sannon, @acluwa.bsky.social www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

4 (four!!!) Washington police departments didn’t realize they were sharing invasive Flock data with the feds until a UW report this week. I’m no lawyer but I’d be hard-pressed to see how that doesn’t violate Keep Washington Working. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

A heavily understated Spokane Parks levy detail would unlock the calmest bike route up the south hill to date. The levy would build a shared use path through Edwidge Woldson Park. If you’re like me, you’ve never heard of this park. Understandable!

The Rivian ebike has launched — probably the most anticipated ebike launch in the last few years. ridealso.com - 2 (and 4!) wheeled versions - love a transparent plastic - belt drive (obviously) - fascinating round display (looks e-ink maybe?)

Get you a transit-riding transit CEO

Great news: Julia Reed is reintroducing the presumed liability bill this session (it was HB 1518 last session). The new bill will be slightly narrower in scope. If passed, drivers will be presumed at fault if they collide with a pedestrian or cyclist in a bike lane, crosswalk, or intersection.

Listening to Bruce Harrell on the campaign trail, you'd never know that traffic fatalities in Seattle have actually increased during his term as whole and that last year was the deadliest year on city roads in decades.

It's a GREAT bikes day in Spokane. - Belt cycle track is hardened! - Elm Street Greenway has its bikeway sign and 27x2027 goat sharrow!

Oh hey I sanded these benches! Full map here: felt.com/map/Communit...

Here's a map of all of our community benches. Click on a node to learn more about each bench, including the artist responsible! felt.com/map/Spokane-...

I got to review the new California Forever town plan. This will be the largest new town built in America in a century, and it's filled with creative design and placemaking. Read my latest onHousing: link via bio https://www.aaronlubeck.com/p/i-got-to-review-the-new-california

King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski wants Metro to explore going fare-free, advancing a proviso that would pilot dropping fares on at least two routes in 2027. But data from other cities suggests the move is a distraction from a focus on service expansion. www.theurbanist.org/2025/10/15/d...

This is the most important politics story in a long time. Twitter has radicalized the young GOP into overt Nazism and white supremacy and the news has spent years pretending not to see. It’s a gleefully racist and antisemitic party now. Stop pretending otherwise www.politico.com/news/2025/10...