On Monday, December 16, the Council approved legislation authorizing Seattle Public Utilities to revise its contracts with solid waste collection companies to allow implementing the “One Less Truck” program in 2015. The legislation sets the stage for a Council decision early next year on whether to proceed with every other week garbage collection to continue […]

On Wednesday, December 11, the last meeting of my Planning, Land Use, and Sustainability (PLUS) Committee voted out four pieces of important land use legislation. Unlike many land use actions, these bills generated relatively low levels of controversy. However, approval of the Virginia Mason Major Institution Master Plan, the 2013 Omnibus Land Use Code revision, […]

The City Council has adopted a resolution providing our recommendations for issues to be considered in the Long Range Plan being developed by Sound Transit in preparation for a possible next ballot measure. The Sound Transit Board has approved a 2014 budget that continues our progress towards a great regional transit system. And the Board […]

Getting more nutritious food into our schools is a key goal of Public Health Seattle & King County and of my Local Food Action Initiative. Seattle Public Schools has embraced this idea, and is working closely with Health Department and City staff along with the YMCA to make this happen. A series of programs are […]

On Monday, November 25, the Council adopted the 2014 Seattle budget. The budget includes a number of Council initiatives, in public safety, human services, and developing the new universal pre-school program. I was able to secure funding for a number of important projects, and was happy to join in the unanimous vote to approve the […]

The business meeting of the National League of Cities (NLC) was the concluding event at last week’s annual conference, which we hosted in Seattle this year. The business meeting approves policy positions that comprise the legislative platform for NLC, and also elects the new officers for the coming year. A key highlight in the policy […]

On Thursday, November 14, the Sound Transit Capital Committee unanimously approved a revised Lynnwood Link Preferred Alternative that adds provisional stations at North 130th Street in Seattle and at 220th Street in Mountlake Terrace, with the full Board scheduled to ratify this on November 21. I introduced this proposal, which was developed with Everett Councilmember […]

This week the National League of Cities (NLC) is holding its annual conference in Seattle. As a member of the Board, I worked with the NLC to get them to commit to visiting our City. This visit gives us the opportunity to showcase the great things Seattle is doing while engaging Mayors and Councilmembers from […]

The Regional Food Policy Council (RFPC), which is housed at the Puget Sound Regional Council and which I sponsored and Chair, has now completed its third year of work. During this year, the RFPC issued five ‘policy blueprints’ designed to help local governments advance local food work, organized a Food Economy Summit, completed reports on […]

In September the Council approved emergency legislation that requires new development to meet minimum density standards in our Urban Villages. As I wrote in a previous blog post, the legislation was prompted by the proposal by CVS Pharmacies to construct three new suburban-style drugstores in Uptown, Wallingford, and West Seattle that would be freestanding, single […]