Washington state lawmakers are moving to regulate the encroachment of artificial intelligence (AI) in daily life, proposing at least 14 bills. But tech leaders are pushing back, and could call on the feds to try to strike down state regulations.
In this video, Ray Delahanty of CityNerd takes a dive into what “carbrain” is and how it affects how roads and highways are designed.
Seattle’s Summer Safety Plan and its earlier closing time for city parks is bad news for people who count on evening park access, including artistic communities. Crime data does not support the claim that most parks are trouble spots, but they are vital spaces for many communities.
The University of Washington Center for Human Rights reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is still accessing state license data to aid mass deportation, despite state efforts to limit such access. Advocates are proposing several interventions to clamp down on such data breache
In this video, Dave Amos of City Beautiful talks about a growing national movement of faith-based organizations that are seeking to put their landholdings to work for housing, known as Yes-In-God’s-Backyard (YIGBY), and the obstacles that the movement faces.
People experiencing homelessness face huge hurdles to owning dogs and other pets while navigating social services. But Caleb Sinéad Shapiro argues it doesn’t have to be this way.
A recent University of Washington report on data security issues with automatic license plate readers has been creating waves among law enforcement agencies using the technology, including Lynnwood, Redmond, and Stanwood. Other cities remain committed, despite the risks.
Last week, Mayor Bruce Harrell announced the City’s new AI Plan, which looks to harness the current artificial intelligence boom in the tech sector by integrating AI into the City’s operations, public services, and civic engagement. But critics worry about the ethical implications of AI use in publi
Kroger blames theft for four local grocery store closures, but the real story is more complicated. Kroger seeks to squeeze out more profit by driving up food insecurity. Standing up public or nonprofit alternatives and pressuring Kroger to be a better corporate citizen offer potential solutions goin
Runners are competing in a 36-mile “Light Rail Relay” race on September 27. It’s a low-cost, transit-friendly way to compete in a cross-country race tracking the path of 1 Line Link service.
It is vital that Seattleites vote yes on Proposition 1 in the August 5 primary to renew the democracy voucher program for another 10 years. Here’s Jazmine Smith’s case for why.
Last Tuesday, the Seattle City Council voted 7-1 to pass changes to the city’s 16-year-old nuisance property ordinance that will expand the powers of the Seattle Police Department (SPD) to declare a business or residence a “chronic nuisance.” As Council ramps up criminalization and weighs funding m
The arts have been key to Seattle bouncing back from the pandemic, helping to fill vacant storefronts, but finding affordable spaces to house art and the artists who make it remains a challenge. Artists are hoping a longshot bid to repurpose the abandoned El Rey Apartments could provide an anchor.
King County Council Chair Girmay Zahilay and Rian Watt make the case for a more inclusive urbanism: “To fully realize the transformative promise of urbanism, we must be willing to ask: urbanism for whom?”
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell called for an internal report after police took heat for disrupting a pro-LGBTQ counterprotest and shielding anti-trans protesters. Given a long-running pattern of police failures, the process must be public and rigorous to make a difference, Seattle City Attorney candida
In May 17th grand depart, 138 people attempted a 700-mile mountain bike route from La Push to Tekoa, Washington, dubbed the Cross-Washington or XWA bikepacking race.
Nathan Vass shares what inspired him to write his second book, Deciding To See, which just came out. A King County Metro bus operator and supervisor by day, the author has a release event at Elliott Bay Books on Friday night.
Take The Urbanist’s second installment of crossword series, which runs every two weeks. If you love to take a contemplative moment with a brain-teasing puzzle, but you’re tired of nationally syndicated crosswords with no local flair or stance on high-capacity transit, you’re right where you need to
The way cities conduct public outreach and local elections stacks the deck against homebuilding, tenants, and people of color, research shows. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
The Urbanist is launching a new crossword series running every two weeks. If you love to take a contemplative moment with a brain-teasing puzzle, but you’re tired of nationally syndicated crosswords with no local flair or stance on high-capacity transit, you’re right where you need to be.
Snohomish County Council adopted new land use legislation to streamline permitting and remove regulatory barriers to opening more childcare centers and daycares. The state legislature seems to share in that goal and has proposed statewide legislation reducing regulatory hurdles.
Our map of cherry blossoms hotspots covers more than 44,000 flowering stone fruit trees across Seattle. Check it out to plan your flower tour.
Nearly a dozen tool libraries are operating in the Puget Sound region and Kirkland is aiming to join the club. Here’s what tool libraries add to communities.
This summer, voters will get a chance to show their support for Seattle’s innovative Democracy Voucher program when its funding levy comes up for renewal. While critics would like to see adjustments made, democracy vouchers have led to a more diverse pool of local candidates while giving more people
Last week Seattle City Council heard from some of the groups most vulnerable to the new Trump administration: those representing LGBTQ+, reproductive, immigrant, and workers’ rights. This begins their examination of potential federal impacts on Seattle, which could include power outages and shuttere
Last month, actor and union representative Ry Armstrong jumped in the Seattle mayor’s race, arguing Bruce Harrell is dropping the ball on a plethora of issues. In their interview with The Urbanist, Armstrong explained what they’d do differently.
Not only are the Netherlands’ brick streets more aesthetically pleasing than typical American streets, the modern klinkers (bricks) that make up most Dutch streets are just more practical. Jason Slaughter of Not Just Bikes dives into how brick streets are designed and installed, and what makes them
At a protest Monday, Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck urged Seattle leaders to take on Trump to defend against attacks on federal workers, civil liberties, and constitutional rights. After earlier talks of collaborating with Trump, Mayor Harrell struck a more defiant tone in “State o
In this video, CityNerd’s Ray Delahanty digs into the public health effects of freeways. Pollution impacts fall most heavily on people who live near freeways.
The Seattle City Council is set to vote Tuesday to formally re-authorize use of “less lethal” crowd control weapons, like the blast balls that seriously injured folks like me in the summer of 2020. It sends exactly the wrong message around police accountability and reform.
High-speed rail as in investment in Cascadia remains a popular policy idea, but Reece Martin of RMTransit makes the case for prioritizing higher-speed rail upgrades to Amtrak Cascades.
Jason Slaughter of Not Just Bikes compares Utrecht, Netherlands and London, Ontario, showing how both cities became car-oriented in the mid-century era. However, Utrecht uniquely undid the damage, becoming a city highly oriented around pedestrian, bike, and transit infrastructure.
Transit advocates are gearing up to pass House Bill 2191, which would allow Public Transit Benefit Authority boards across the state to create voting seats for transit riders. The bill came up just short last session.
Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority (SCIDpda) is seeking to anchor communities of color in place in and around the CID, with Beacon Pacific Village its latest housing project.
All too often, public hearings increase costs and consume time without meaningfully impacting decisions. Uytae Lee of About Here digs into the history of the public hearing and its utility, and whether another paradigm is worth pursuing.
Streetfilms highlights how Ghent (Gent), a city in the Flemish north of Belgium, is making streets safe so that kids can walk and bike to school. The city has rolled out bicycle streets and school streets. Ghent was the host city for this year’s Velo-city Conference.
Urbanist circles differ in how they see autonomous vehicles, particularly as they move toward wider adoption. Some see them being a tool that builds up urban communities and improves safety while others worry that they could have exactly the opposite effect. Jason Slaughter of Not Just Bikes falls into the
The Local Sightings film festival juxtaposed The Beacon, a film about a break-dancing studio fighting to survive in South Seattle, with a film about Wallingford grappling with change and potentially embracing a more inclusive, diverse future.
Addressing our national housing crisis will require a drastic shift in how we think about housing in our society: it needs to become a basic human right — something we are all entitled to and therefore something our government works to deliver.
Despite public outcry and limited outreach, Seattle City Council’s public safety committee greenlit Mayor Harrell’s pilot program installing 24/7 surveillance cameras in three neighborhoods and purchasing real-time crime center software and staff. The legislation moves to a full council vote on Octo
Shibuya, Tokyo is world famous for it’s massive at-grade pedestrian scramble crossing. In a way, it’s a self-popularlized space. But there’s a lot more to it with the history of the neighborhood and its train stations, and it represents something much more in terms of planning, land
Sound Transit’s 2 Line stations in Redmond are not just commuting stops. There’s a lot for an adventurous urbanist to discover around the stations.
Dave Amos of City Beautiful recently made a trip to Tokyo and gushed about its quiet, urban streets. Tokyo’s wide arterials can leave an impression that cars dominate the city, but secondary and tertiary streets can be very calm and quiet in very dense urban spaces, as Amos shows.
Environmental activists and critics of US militarism are joining together to protest against Seattle’s loud, polluting Blue Angels airshow. Here’s the case for having the courage to end this tradition.
Paris aims to break the mold, using major public investment for the Olympic Games for lasting benefit to the host city. Improvements include a cleaner Seine, major transit expansion, and a new eco-district. But will those efforts go far enough to win over locals?
Most advanced nations mandate at least 20 working days of paid vacation per year, but not the United States. Here’s why we should change that.
Since its April grand opening, the renovated Be’er Sheva Park features a new community stage, artworks, a restored shoreline, picnic tables, and benches, with a second phase of improvements in planning. The park hosts a weekly Chocolate Sunday celebration of Black culture.
You don’t have to detest all advertising or be a wild-eyed radical to agree that windows are for seeing through. Metro should discontinue bus wraps that obscure windows.
Monuments can help cities tell their history and forge a culture. But to do a good job of it requires telling the whole story of the region, not just elites and colonizers. And the monuments need to be front and center.
BelRed combines a nascent South Lake Union, SoDo, and the International District. Spring District Station has a South Lake Union feel with tech offices emerging from a large light industrial presence. Both have some hidden gems.
Jason Slaughter of Not Just Bikes dives into why lower speeds limits are good society and what the best speed limits are for cities. Slaughter provides research and analysis on safety, environmental, economic, and social benefits by reducing speed limits.
Producing food locally boosts food security and self-sufficiency, especially in urban areas. Beacon Food Forest and Tilth Alliance are advancing urban agriculture in Seattle, joining an international trend.
Following the successful implementation of a pandemic-prompted street patio in Columbia City, a group of community members formed Friends of Ferdinand Festival Street and are trying to find a way to make it permanent.
The Duwamish River is a contaminated Superfund site, but cleanup is underway. Advocates are pushing for community development and affordable housing to reduce displacement as the Duwamish Valley becomes more attractive.
If you’re detraining at Downtown Bellevue Station and looking for entertainment and sustenance beyond malls and without burning a crater in your wallet at a high-end restaurant, this is the guide for you. Of course there’s a gem or two in the malls, but we’re going to
On Saturday, the new Link 2 Line officially opened between South Bellevue and Redmond Technology Stations to much fanfare. Best Side Cycling captured the event in great detail visiting all of the stations, checking out events, and riding the rails. Sound Transit is running two-car trains every 10 minutes from
Delivering 35 new family-sized homes, Shared Roof features a unique financing model catering to a range of incomes, built-in community, and hip cafes spilling into a public courtyard. Is the model replicable? The developer thinks so.
Ray Delahanty of CityNerd goes through a litany of reasons why car dependency makes American society worse off from public health and environmental quality to public safety and economic security. This video may trigger petroheads.
New footage shows how police kettled protesters, trapping them in a corridor of violence in the early days of 2020 protests. Despite the historic magnitude of financial costs to the city across multiple legal settlements, in the three-plus years since the summer of 2020, the department internally ha
Mayor Harrell is seeking to quickly roll out gun-shot detectors and closed circuit cameras to feed into real-time crime center software, raising privacy concerns. Claims that this major expansion of the surveillance state will curb serious crime are largely unsubstantiated.
Uytae Lee of About Here highlights Kensington Market, a very diverse district in Toronto steeped in history. It’s increasingly become a popular area of the city for redevelopment interest. Lee highlights how the community is trying to move forward while having a stronger stake in decisions around how the
The Washington State House passed a bill allowing cities to move their elections to even years, when turnout is much higher. The bill still needs to pass the state senate to become law.
We are all fighting Heaven now. Ray Dubicki reviews the show Hazbin Hotel and bids farewell in his final column.
Holiday merrymaking should involve more whimsy, less rigmarole, and less price gouging. Seattle still hasn’t cracked the code to create a true Christmas market that doesn’t feel as if it was designed by the Grinch: cordoned off from the rest of city, hard to reach, the vibes are
Clogging arteries is a fast food joint specialty, but good urban planning can get things flowing. You may have seen in the news that some new and gargantuan players are entering the Seattle fried chicken scene and that others are expanding. Jollibee is looking to expand up north into its
Seattle’s big hockey Winter Classic success at the ballpark offers lessons to nightly sports on the other side of town.
Do you and your partner dream of exploring the Tokyo subway together or taking a stroll through a pedestrian-friendly piazza? Are you living a pro-transit lifestyle and hoping to filter out passenger princesses? Or perhaps you’d simply like to spare your date from hearing your usual colorful parallel-parking monologue?
The annual visit of the Krampus, bringing G.O.R.E. for the coming year. That is Goals to do, Obstacles to avoid, Resolutions to try better, and places to Explore.
The term “urban art” describes visual art forms that are created by and representative of city dwellers. While you may see pieces in galleries, urban art installations are primarily integrated into the landscape. They’re on buildings and street features. There’s increasing recognition of how vital urban art installations
Journalistic integrity demands we review the tapes for the last year, and own up to our failings. Here are the corrections and regrets for 2023.
Economists are trying to figure out the dissonance between a recovering economy and America’s deep pessimism. They’re looking in the wrong place.
Chicago sold its on-street paid parking spaces for a small proportion of their value for decades. The city, however, is reeling from that fundamental error in so many ways beyond just revenues. Rollie Williams of Climate Town explains how, especially from a sustainability and urban standpoint.
Great transit can open up a city for runners of all abilities. Transit is a marginal consideration, if it’s one at all, for most runners. The median group run in the U.S. meets at a local eatery and runs a loop in a park, a format which works
The 15-Minute City can’t contain Buc-ee’s, the Texas gas station powerhouse showing how clean, friendly convenience is done.
It’s Thanksgiving and we have some stuff to be thankful for. Here’s to the year’s unexpected treats.
Last week Seattle Public Schools (SPS) unveiled plans to embrace sweeping austerity, making major cuts to school programs and closing an unspecified number of schools in the 2025-26 school year. In response to a new wave of community organizing against austerity plans, the district abandoned plans to close schools in
Do you wonder how the Kirkland-of-today came to be? In 2017, Richard Rothstein’s riveting book, The Color of Law, documented how the continuing segregation of American cities today is the direct result of explicit historic government policies at the local, state, and federal levels. In Kirkland, we hunger to
It sucks when Halloween falls early in the week. The spookiest night of the year and you have to wake up for work early the next day. Extracurriculars, obligations, and all the regular schedules of autumn life get in the way of releasing our purest macabre selves. While we lament,
Seattle’s largest civic campus and most centrally located swath of public open space has a new leader, following city council’s unanimous approval for Marshall Foster to become the head of the City department that oversees the Seattle Center. Foster had been selected by a City search team after
Like a giant overhead bin full of cookies and cash, Alaska sits for many as potential salvation. Quietly looming above, it waits as a refuge for the smart and mobile who can escape the inevitable collapse of climate and economy. Too many people think they’re going to see the
Small reminders to celebrate lots of good neighbors. In the short gap of indecisive September clouds between Smoke Season and Spider Season, Seattle experiences one of the town’s most prized but understated traditions. It’s plum season. And it makes the city so much more livable. Just after Labor
There are three very important things you need to know about taking the Alaska ferry from Bellingham, Washington to Juneau, Alaska. First, the trip is one of the most serene transits through a stunningly beautiful landscape that it is possible to take. Second, this is a boat operated by the
Seattle pioneered the general strike, which is worth commemorating on Labor Day. Labor Day was created by the United States Congress in 1894 after deadly and brutal clashes nationwide between workers and those who controlled working conditions. These days, Labor Day celebrations center around a three-day weekend, barbeques and picnics,
Two forums co-hosted by The Urbanist on September 5 and 6 will include candidates in all seven districts. With the primary behind us, 14 candidates remain for the seven Seattle City Council seats that are up for election this year. A set of forums next week seeks to illuminate where
One would be excused for missing the door to 911 Pine Street. It is a classic alcove doorway, deserving of little attention even if it wasn’t overshadowed. Unlike its neighbor at 901 Pine, it does not have a box office, lengths of velvet rope, and a giant marquee of
Back on the water after a pandemic hiatus, Canoe Journey 2023 is returning with more area Tribes than ever. Hosting the week’s dancing, feasting, and potlatch is the Muckleshoot Tribe this year. The elegant craftsmanship, human-powered functionality, and history imbued in these canoes is a thing of beauty and
The highly polluting airshow should be a relic of the past as we face the climate crisis. Dear Seattle, it’s time to be as brave as a mother. There’s one topic intruding into our thoughts this summer: When will smoke season in Seattle begin? Can we plan fall
On July 6, the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) launched their Legacy of Structural Racism Interactive Report. While this report is far from the first piece of literature to connect policies such as single-family zoning to structural racism, it provides a high-level overview and collection of resources on this history
38 million people are expected to participate this year in cities nationwide. This Tuesday people might notice something special going on where they live. As part of National Night Out, neighbors will be gathering for block parties in cities across the U.S. on August 1. According to the Seattle
What’s the secret sauce in creating urban spaces and places that people love? Jason Slaughter of Not Just Bikes gets into that in his latest video.
Before opening her swim school in Seattle, Chandrika Francis worked with students at a New Orleans high school. They told her that when the levee failed and Hurricane Katrina flooded the city, they didn’t know how to interact with the water. “Hearing again and again all these stories of
We deem that this year in Seattle Sports was PRETTY GOOD. We wished farewell to a G.O.A.T, while witnessing a playoff force rising from The Deep. It’s been a good time. Unless you are a fan of the Seahawks or currently cheering for the Mariners. Sorry
If journalism is the lifeblood of our democracy, then why does it feel like its chronically on life support? The journalism industry is in rough shape and continues to shed jobs and coverage areas, but nonetheless quality reporting remains the bedrock of our democracy. How to ensure the industry survives
Street improvements are often long and drawn-out affairs. Pop-up projects can show otherwise. Urban projects can take a significant amount of time and financing to implement. However, due to increasing pressures such as climate change, population influxes, and a widespread desire to create walkable, bicycle-friendly neighborhoods, more rapid approaches are
The term “Vision Zero” gets bandied about a lot in transportation and urbanist circles, but to the unitiated the concept isn’t necessarily obvious or intuitive just by its name. The goal of it — to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries — is undoubtedly ambitious given the prevailing transportation paradigm
The distance to carry a bag of food is only argued against cities, never getting them to your car in the first place. Enter any discussion about slightly altering the number of cars in the city, and the first, often loudest, argument is “how will I get my groceries from
Place looks to be important in these flicks Yes, it’s that time of year when the sun actually graces the Seattle sky. (Don’t tell anyone, it’ll ruin our image.) It’s also the time when we get the flood of popcorn movies swarming the local multiplex theaters.
The counterintuitive, inadvisable, and absolutely inevitable collision between rain and desert. Once it was announced that Seattle would be awarded the NHL’s 32nd hockey team, the comparisons began between the Kraken and their immediate predecessor expansion team, the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Besides being Western Division rivals, Vegas had
We get a lot of news-ish emails about ranking cities in lists. Whether it’s the best cities for strange hats or the metros that one can find the most left-handed plumbers, there’s a list for everything. The proliferation of lists begs the question of their quality. Who is
This week, Dave Amos over at City Beautiful does an excellent job discussing the history and pitfalls of historic districts. From their early application to preserve important landmarks to their recent use as another hurdle to prevent density, the video emphasizes the differences between saving historic buildings and backdoor rezoning