I'm sad to see that the recent repainting on Yesler didn't include inside lines for the bike lanes. Moreover, I don't see the sense in maintaining this parking where cars are constantly being broken into, though I imagine it's used most by people with few resources. @seattledot.bsky.social

Everything Is Political: Christian Sinderman Was Scrutinized for City Hall Contracts. Now He's on the SDOT Payroll. Learn more from political columnist Tobias Coughlin-Bogue:

Seattle should expect funding to be targeted by Trump. Last year, the Keep Seattle Moving Levy legislation directed the mayor to create a "Transportation Funding Task Force" to look into shoring up funding for Seattle's transportation projects. But the group hasn't even been formed yet!

I've struggled to put into words how I feel about Cascade PBS cutting its entire newsroom today. That newsroom (formerly Crosscut) gave me space to do the most in-depth, informative public policy journalism of my career -- work other journalists continued after I left. The region is now worse off.

My colleagues at Cascade PBS do essential accountability reporting. This is a huge loss for the community and devastating for local journalism

I understand most people's final day is Oct. 31. As if you needed more confirmation of how out of touch KCTS leadership is with its own news operation, I'm pretty sure this is the second time they've fired people days before an election.

That’s why I’ve proposed “News Notes,” which would give Seattle residents $100 to support local media outlets of their choice. Learn more in my interview on the Mostly Economics podcast: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAyw...

Saka's tendency toward longwindedness might be a reason the council would choose to bypass a discussion about an amendment that lacks support. During his comments about his work in the district during a briefing today, he spoke at length about a high school football game he went to recently.

We’re teaming up with Sound Transit and ArtStation Mount Baker to activate the Mt Baker Link light rail station plaza with fun and games this Wednesday, Sept 24 from 2 – 5 PM. Bring your imagination & ideas to make the station plaza and nearby bus stops better public spaces.

You can donate to support Katie Wilson for an Affordable Seattle here: www.seattleforkatie.com

Awful. Cascade PBS has amazing reporters and news converage which need to be protected.

As the Seattle Council wrapped up deliberations on the One Seattle growth plan last week, another group of elected officials voiced support for an amendment beefing up areas of increased density: a majority of the members of the Seattle School Board. www.theurbanist.org/2025/09/22/s...

City's Growth Plan Update Maintains Seattle's Suburban Character, Including Mandatory Parking The council's changes mostly doubled down on Mayor Bruce Harrell's slow-growth plan, which advocates criticized for failing to address Seattle's housing crisis. publicola.com/2025/09/22/c...

Recently, Mayor Bruce Harrell mocked his challenger Katie Wilson's proposal to fund local media with a democracy voucher-style program as a pointless giveaway to irrelevant "blogs." Losing local news coverage is a tragedy, and elected leaders shouldn't mockingly dismiss proposals that could help.

BREAKING: Cascade PBS, which operates the website Crosscut, is laying off 19 people, reportedly including its entire news staff. In an email to staff, CEO Rob Dunlop blamed federal cuts, saying the nonprofit is "winding down our longform, written journalism."

DivestSPD MVP Stephen Englund is at it again! Officer Englund was investigating a stolen truck and apparently just snatched up the first Black man he saw. Read about it at divestspd (dot) com

What if we use the Westlake Park renovation funds to fix this?

Good morning @seattledot.bsky.social here is your reminder that the temporary bike safety barrier at Pine & 4th is significantly out of position, almost 2’ into the bike ROW (now only 28” wide), and allowing drivers to unsafely encroach into the bike lane.

Can't unsee

Indeed. Seattle used to produce maps of which downtown streets had the most people walking on them to help accurately price real estate

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.

Saka said Alki Neighborhood Center advocates were trying to say "YITBY" – "yes in their backyard" – even though Alki beach and its amenities are clearly a citywide resource to be shared.

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!

Media mergers 🤝 censorship

Another option: Make Rainier Ave safe and easy to cross.

NEW // Op-Ed: Step Aside Waterfront, Long Neglected North Rainier Deserves Investment, Too By Anna Zivarts via @theurbanist.org // 🔗 www.theurbanist.org/2025/09/19/o...

The Seattle City Council bullied District 2's elected council member into retirement, appointed their hand picked successor, and then scheduled the most important votes of the year for a day he told them a month and a half in advance that he wouldn't be able to make. So anti-democratic.

This person was hand-picked by people we didn’t vote for to replace someone we did vote for, and then they hand picked a date so he couldn’t even pretend represent us.

It obviously doesn't look great to miss what was probably the most important day of his appointed term. But FWIW if the rest of the Council really wanted his votes, they could have scheduled around his org's convention. They knew he was President of this org when they appointed him.

Infuriating

Didn’t have a chance to catch up til now. Who voted for 102? Hope everyone doesn’t get too sad tonight :( We will keep fighting and one day in our lifetimes we will have a beautiful inclusive city of diverse communities w/ lively green spaces, children running wild, clean air, affordable for all

The way people equate eliminating parking mandates with eliminating all parking is maddening. Even before you get to city business owners consistently overestimating the number of people who actually drive to their business.

Setbacks prescribe where homes go, rather than letting them be built around trees. This isn't pro-tree either.

After nearly 4 years of process, major modifications of development standards are being voted on without anyone being able to read them They have had MONTHS to come up with these.

@councilmember-amr.bsky.social wants Seattle to be a city. Bob Kettle wants it to be a sleepy suburb where you get in your car and drive somewhere far away if you want to buy or eat things. If that's what Bob wants, he should be a councilmember in Lake Stevens, not here.

We need money and political will to do those things Bruce, not smarter computers www.theurbanist.org/2025/09/18/h...

A once in 10 year opportunity to end our housing crisis and 2 of 9 councilmembers missed critical votes.

we wrote about this WH tactic recently. they’re asking journalists for expert source names and then using them to look up political donations in FEC records to try to discredit those sources as biased. www.npr.org/2025/08/18/n...

The Seattle Chamber of Commerce and Master Builders Association in 2023 both spent heavily against pro-housing candidates and for the City Council winners that year, who have turned around and consistently voted against good housing policies that support businesses and builders.

Want to see how your City Councilmembers really feel about fixing Seattle's housing crisis? Read this thread and weep.

The single biggest issue facing Seattle is housing costs. Far and away. The big earthquake is in second. Tree canopy matters, but using it to prevent us for adding sufficient new housing is both knocking down a strawperson and negligent governance.

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.

The problem if you do that though is that then the new homeowner might not OWN the tree. And you really have to OWN the tree. It’s very important to be able to hoard it to yourself on your PRIVATE PROPERTY, see? Sharing is NOT caring

Nelson seems to have dropped off the call without notice so now there are just seven voting, and Rivera's amendment (which is so hot-off-the-presses that it isn't online for the general public to read) passes.

As a Seattle resident, I've gotten an immense amount of notice and opportunity to weigh in on the comprehensive plan. There were many neighborhood meetings, a website that received thousands of comments, and many city council hearings like the one happening now. Homeowners aren't being excluded.

"Where's the requirement that it has to be in the ground?" Rivera asks. I think the answer is that this question is a bizarre canard and no developer has ever plonked a tree in a pot and claimed it constituted a newly planted tree. Staff explain that the city requires plantings to be in the ground.

I'll say that this comp plan discussion is by far the most overt example of a district-based city council leading to factionalism I've seen, with each member claiming final authority over "their" district and Sara Nelson abstaining on controversial votes in deference to the district representatives

Bob Kettle's neighborhood has a bar called Targy's, which would be illegal to open today if its existing zoning wasn't grandfathered. The "public safety disaster" of encouraging people to drive to commercial areas where the bars are went unmentioned by Kettle.

Describing her childhood in a "fifth-story walkup apartment" in Queens where everyone was "on top of each other," Rivera says it was very hot in her apartment and she was grateful for parks. If this is her priority, then why were all her tree amendments about private trees on house owners' lawns?

Rivera's Amendment 93 fails on a 4-4 vote, with Rinck, Strauss, Juarez, and Kettle voting no.