Sound Transit has completed its initial study of the potential ridership benefits from investing in pedestrian and bicycle access around the Northgate Link Light Rail Station. The great news is that the investments proposed by the Sound Transit Board and Seattle City Council deliver large numbers of riders to the station and look like they [...]

  On Monday, May 13th, the Council unanimously adopted the 2012-2013 Comprehensive Plan Amendments. Under State law, the Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan) can only be amended once a year (with a few specific exceptions), and the process involves a lengthy and thorough review of proposed amendments. The Comp Plan is not taken lightly by the [...]

The first three proposals have been received and evaluated for the Industrial Development District (IDD). The IDD is a partnership involving the City of Seattle, King County, and the State of Washington that seeks innovative proposals for industrial development that have been challenging to implement due to regulatory, policy, or financial issues. I and my [...]

On Monday, April 29, the City Council unanimously adopted Seattle’s first formal Food Action Plan. The goal of the Plan is to increase access to healthy food, support local food production and strengthen the local economy. The Plan builds on my Local Food Action Initiative (LFAI), adopted by the Council in 2008 in response to [...]

On Monday, April 29, the Council unanimously adopted a new Street Tree ordinance. This is the first revision of Seattle’s Street Tree Ordinance since 1961, and the result of several years of work by the Seattle Department of Transportation in cooperation with other Departments, Council staff, and the Urban Forestry Commission. This is the first [...]

On Thursday, April 25th, the Sound Transit Board approved a final plan for the route for East Link through Bellevue. East Link runs from downtown Seattle to Redmond via the I-90 Bridge, and is one of three extensions currently underway for the Sound Transit light rail system. The final plan is the end product of [...]

On Monday, April 22, the City Council celebrated Earth Day with a unanimous Committee of the Whole vote approving a far-reaching rezone of South Lake Union (Council Bill 117603). The land use changes will allow for more jobs and housing close to downtown, reducing sprawl and the environmental degradation that accompanies it. The Council modified [...]

GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SALMON OPPOSED BY CITY, MURRAY, CANTWELL, AND SWINOMISH INDIAN TRIBAL COMMUNITY Earth Day, April 22, was a good day for a unanimous Mayor and Council to join Senators Cantwell and Murray and the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community in opposing a proposal before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that would approve the commercial [...]

At the Sound Transit Board meeting on Thursday, February 28, the Board approved a resolution creating The Overlake Village Bridge Project, along with two motions agreeing to jointly design the bridge in cooperation with the City of Redmond and approving a contract setting the design process in motion. The Board action endorses a proposed pedestrian/bicycle [...]

“Micro-unit” apartment buildings, sometimes known as “aPodments” (which is actually one developer’s trademarked term) consist of very small dwellings, similar in size to a hotel room, which usually have private bathrooms and perhaps a mini-refrigerator and microwave. Seven or eight of these small efficiencies are grouped around a full kitchen/dining area. While these units are [...]