'The argument for Big Ass Truck Abundance appears to be that abundance Democrats should be centrists because all Democrats should be centrists.' aaaand imo this is exactly the problem w/ where 'abundance' is headed.

the cost of owning a car a tool that is parked 96% of the time you own it is nearly as much as a house

Fun story this morning. I spoke with Curtis Evans, the retired Marine in the viral photo below who took part in the anti-ICE protest at Broadview. He's a thoughtful guy, well read and with a dry sense of humor. Story @taskandpurpose.com taskandpurpose.com/news/marine-...

This is how much just a single wildfire (Bear Gulch) has burned in 2 months: nearly 20000 acres, and 8 million trees. As Seattle was arguing about individual tree NIMBYism in wealthy neighborhoods, a million trees a day was burning.

I’m spending this week with my godmother, who is a 94 year old Holocaust refugee. She says “I didn’t escape Nazi Germany to deal with a country like this. The Nazis were scary, but at least you knew what to expect. This government is worse.”

Seattle police officers targeted and arrested @tariqraouf.bsky.social last night after an Apples Against Apartheid protest at the U Village Apple store. Ra’ouf, a former Apple worker, is a prominent Palestinian journalist and organizer. They were released a few hours later and are ok now.

I remember landing from visiting family in China, and overhearing convo from 2 Seattle tech(/fin??) brothers walking closely in front: “Chinese cities are really good” “Yeah, but it’s good to be back in a country where you can at least talk shit about the president” I wonder what they think now.

I am getting legitimately angry that we're heading into the end of September in Seattle and it's still hot and sunny with no rain. Climate change gets worse by the year. Soon we'll have half a year of summer and drought.

oh hey after hours revisions to 102 that makes it even more of a poison pill complete redesign in <30 days. not just for NR zones, but LR, midrise, commercial and mixed zones this is insane. this is a bill to kill housing @theurbanist.org @staterepjuliareed.bsky.social @jessdbateman.bsky.social

Rivera's Amendment 93, to codify larger tree planting areas, has been revised since Friday, and now: required planting areas are much bigger (some 200%) have minimum dimension that don't fit in setbacks widen distances between buildings eliminated bonuses for preserving large trees! Bad faith!

They'll pump aquifers dry and strip-mine the water commons same way Nestle did

We 💚 Seattle has been openly courting people with very racist beliefs. Voeten, a Dutch photojournalist who was just shown around by WHS, has open white nationalist beliefs (ex: believes in white genocide).

The Seattle tree NIMBYs are exactly like the historic preservation NIMBYs in terms of the lies they tell themselves to be the hero of the story. It’s repeated again and again across the US. Neighborhood defender mindset leads people to look at the few blocks around them instead of thinking globally.

Trees on private property are a “critical part of the canopy” that landowners will cut down whenever they please, with or without permits, regardless of whatever “tree protection” legislation is put in place. Relying on landowners to do the right thing is bad tree and environmental policy.

sorry, blocking housing for 60 year old, third growth trees is the opposite of progressive 🤷

In Seattle, we like to block dense, low-carbon housing in the name of trees while our temperate rainforest bursts into flame.

looks like bear gulch exploded this afternoon 11,000 acres as of 2 pm at a density of 100 trees per acre, that's over a million trees vaporized in just 2 months

It’s natural & correct to love big trees. But it’s NOT natural or correct to love a few big trees in your own nbhd at the expense of housing our neighbors, fighting climate change, saving many more old trees elsewhere, growing the next gen of plants, & building a just city free from car dependence.

I really can’t explain to u how much I am in love w/ trees, nature, green space, the environment, along with all the science & art behind it. Ever since I can remember. I majored in earth science, bio. Minored in env mgmt. Master’s in env engineering, PhD in oceanography. I’ve been beach naturalist,

The professor they interviewed warned against publicly comparing Kirk to Wessel, and I wish they also interviewed an expert on political propaganda that could offer better arguments about how to strategically draw the comparison and disavow attempts to use Kirk’s death to certain ends.

this is a really cool graph, sort of disentangles political duplicity and reveals a fundamental split in ideology, roughly between people who want better cities and people who want to kill cities so they can live in a suburb forever

incredible dataviz here those who backed amendments 93 and 102 and claim to support trees *and* housing did not support housing

Ppl who use trees as an excuse to stop housing were for amendments 93 & 102. They were against any pro housing or reduced parking amendments (green circles). Don’t fall for their lies - they’re NIMBYs pure & simple. Tell council to oppose amendment 102: actionnetwork.org/letters/amen...

It's hard to overstate just how off the charts warm the Pacific is right now. The swath of the basin from California to Japan (a HUGE area) from 25N to 60N is ~3F (1.6C) above normal. To put it into math terms that is 6 Sigma/ standard deviations above the mean. More… 1/

Thiel's Anduril is teamed up with Zuckerberg's Meta to form a team named Rivet, which got the UD govt AR/mixed reality helmet upgrades. They have all the data now, civilian, private and governmental. archive.ph/9dsiV

They're putting the confederate monument back up at arlington cemetery and taking down the signs about john brown & slavery at harpers ferry. A completely confederate-occupied government unashamedly trying to rehabilitate slavery

🌳 🌲 We love trees. 🌳 🌲 And! 🚨 We want people to have lots of housing choices in Seattle. Advocates focused solely on trees are prioritizing short term policies with ** harmful ** generational consequences. Please sign & share this action letter today. 🚨 ⚠️ 📧 actionnetwork.org/letters/amen...

one of the things i don't think anyone on council is really paying attention too: the mayor's preferred alternative removes 20,000 dense and energy efficient apartments for 20,000 and inefficient townhomes and single family homes higher emissions. more sprawl. less affordable homes.

it's telling that almost no one who supported CM rivera's tree bills (93 & 102) actually expressed support for housing as well but there's another thing i want to point out with amendment 102. this is so poorly written it's going to have severe unintended (or perhaps intended) consequences.

Really encapsulates the experience of being in a meeting with the worst coworker in the office

We need Stability, Subsidy, AND Supply, all at the same time (islandpress.org/books/afford...) It's like a trauma patient. Stability e.g. rent control is like CPR. If you don't do CPR they die immediately. But if you *only* do CPR they'll also die, just later. You need surgery, meds, and PT.

Here is how you actually solve the problem -Establish a public housing authority and developer payed for by a payroll tax to build mixed-income public units -establish low income housing density bonuses for private development -establish mandatory housing affordability in wealthy high density...

this supercut of Mayor Bruce Harrell talking over and interrupting his challenger, Katie Wilson, delivers the vibe of the half-hour debate in a concentrated 20-second blast

This is how they survived, with solidarity, mutual aid. This is how we will survive until this fascist regime is defeated.

American neoliberalism is just prosperity gospel, except God is Pax Americana

'I have a son, and ten years from now, I want him to live in a world-class city, teeming with people from all walks of life. Not a stagnant, stunted suburb, choked by nostalgia and haunted by what could've been.' this this this

Was speaker #189, but had a 5:30 PM reservation at Mamnoon (R.I.P.). At the restaurant, listened to the meeting on my phone, took a Lime scooter back to City Hall when speaker #170 was up, arrived when speaker #180 was up, spoke, and was back for dinner in time for entrees. All thanks to density.

Tree Action loves saying "we are for trees AND housing"! Let's see if that bears out: Only 5/67 supporters of Amendment-102 also bothered to mention support for stacked flats (A-89, A-92) Only ONE person mentioned an amendment supporting social housing (A-61).

these homeowners are wrong. on so many levels. amendment 102 won't preserve mature trees and it's telling those who are arguing for it are also arguing to reduce neighborhood center boundaries, lower heights, mandate parking. bsky.app/profile/holz...

Regardless of the misinformation spoken, the Puget Sound Regional Council is expecting population in King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Kitsap Counties to grow by nearly 2 million people by 2050.

First 50 in-person speakers up. About even split in speakers, starting to lean more pro-housing. Top support mentions are still anti-housing amendments 102, 93, but followed by Rinck's great 34

Most verbally supported amendments in remote comment today: 102 (Rivera, anti-housing): mentioned 21 times 93 (Rivera, anti-housing): 19 times 34 (Rinck, restore 8 NCs): 15 times 39 (Strauss, height limit): 11 times 91 (Nelson, stacked flat bonus): mentioned 10 times

Seattle’s future is on the line. 🏙️ Only 44% of us can walk to daily needs, and the housing shortage keeps pushing people out of the city. Today’s Comp Plan hearing at City Hall (3 PM) is our chance to change that. ✍️ Testify in person or online 📝 Send a letter: actionnetwork.org/letters/walk...

Also a newer trend of NIMBY talking pt is starting your statement with “I love density and walkable nbhds. I want growth.” & THEN ALWAYS starting the next sentence with BUT. Then usually saying “we have to grow in a thoughtful, planned, sustainable way which actually means no new homes.” lol

Based on remote comment so far, for in-person comment, we need ppl to please oppose 102 and support 34. We also need more Alki and Bryant pro-housing ppl who want the neighborhood center.

I noticed the Harrell campaign is playing up “diversity” stuff a lot. Now I get why a POC fam member who doesn’t live in Seattle & doesn’t know the politics was asked to come stand at the farmers market. When I pointed out that they were kinda astroturfing, making it look like Asians in Lake City

Read it and weep: “Seattle’s funding for sweeps is over twice as much as it spends on homeless shelters.” The third image is just so damning.

This sums up the Bruce Harrell mayoralship in a tweet

This was on a Stay Healthy street. I did not stay healthy on this street

After cutting $80M a year in funding for affordable housing and trying to stop another $50M a year in funding for middle income housing, Harrell wants to you think he's a progressive for offering $20m a year of it back. I guess he thinks we're dumb. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...