On Monday, May 14, the Council unanimously adopted resolution 31380, joining some 100 other cities and other governments calling for a Constitutional Amendment to overturn the Supreme Court decision that granted corporations political rights as ‘persons’.  The 5 to 4 decision, in the case known as ‘Citizens United’ (the name of the corporate front organization that [...]

On Wednesday, May 9, the Council’s Planning, Land Use, and Sustainability Committee (PLUS) agreed to a revised proposal developed by the Seattle Planning Commission that adds portions of the City to the area already exempt from minimum parking requirements.  The action is part of a larger package of regulatory reforms designed to stimulate economic activity [...]

The Seattle City Council is authorizing a pilot program to test the idea of moving to garbage collection every other week.  The pilot program, which will be implemented for 800 customers in four neighborhoods from July through December, will examine what rate structure best rewards people for minimizing their garbage, while avoiding unwanted negative impacts. [...]

  The King County Growth Management Planning Council (GMPC), the body comprised of County and City representatives that approves policy relating to implementation of Growth Management in King County, has unanimously approved a City of Seattle proposal to designate the ‘Sliver on the River’ in South Park as a Potential Annexation Area (PAA) for Seattle.  [...]

Washington has a unique business tax system:  businesses are taxed on their gross income (Business and Occupation Tax – B&O Tax), rather than their profits.  There’s a statewide B&O Tax, and some 40 cities have local B&O Taxes.  And there are three different ways that cities can charge this tax:  on gross receipts (like the [...]

In the last several recessions, Seattle has lagged the national recovery, sometimes by as long as a year.  But, in this recession, we are at the leading edge of recovery.  Washington’s official numbers show the state’s unemployment rate at 8.2% in February, about equal to the national average – but that the Seattle area rate [...]

Obesity continues to be a major public health challenge.  Too many Americans are overweight enough that their health is suffering, with diseases like diabetes rising dramatically.  In Seattle 50% of adults and 22% of youth are overweight or obese. The problem is that healthy food is often expensive and not widely available, while unhealthy food [...]

On a day of driving rain and snow in March, which perfectly demonstrated the effectiveness of the project, a hardy gathering of neighbors, design professionals, and city and county staff celebrated the official opening of the South Orcas Greenstreet project.  The South Orcas Greenstreet is an innovative, community-driven natural drainage project developed by Cari Simson, [...]

The Sound Transit II (ST II) vote in 2008 funded an ambitious plan to build a light rail line all the way to Lynnwood.  University Link between downtown and the UW is under construction; Northgate Link from the UW to Northgate is in final design; and Lynnwood Link from Northgate to Lynnwood is completing scoping [...]

United Way of King County has boldly announced a goal of making King County a hunger free community.  The City Council applauds this goal, and on March 15, I was a plenary speaker at a Hunger Action Forum convened by United Way, the Seattle Food Council, and the Meals Partnership Coalition to look at strategies [...]