Julie Kang is running for the open seat in Seattle City Council’s District 5 this year, and is the first candidate in the race to qualify for democracy vouchers. An educator and bank founder, Kang espoused a mix of centrist and progressive views in her interview with The Urbanist.
The Urbanist recently sat down with Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson to get the latest on initiatives she has cooking now that her team is in office. We touched on emergency housing, bus lanes, World Cup preparations, Sound Transit, culture change at the police department, and more.
While SeaTac City Councilmember Peter Kwon came in first with nearly 28% of the vote in a six-way primary race to be District 5’s next King County Councilmember, his campaign’s message has been high-level and light on specifics. In The Urbanist’s interview with Kwon, a strong theme of tax-aversion e
The Urbanist sat down with Steffanie Fain, who is running for King County Council’s District 5 seat and facing off with SeaTac City Councilmember Peter Kwon. Both position themselves as tax-averse fiscal hawks, but Fain expressed marginally more openness towards raising new revenue to tackle the num
Longtime small business and workers’ rights advocate Jeanie Chunn jumped into the race for Seattle City Council District 2 only a short time before the filing deadline earlier in May. The resignation of Tammy Morales from the D2 seat led to the temporary appointment of Mark Solomon, who will serve
Running to represent Southeast Seattle and the International District for a two-year city council term, Ducksworth brings a long background in community engagement around transportation projects.
“I’m the only candidate in this race with line-level prosecutorial experience, including the Republican incumbent, at both the city and federal levels,” Erika Evans said. Check out the rest of our interview with the third challenger taking on Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison this fall.
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.
Eddie Lin is running for Seattle City Council in District 2 and highlighting the issue of housing. Check out our interview with Lin to see what he’s all about.
In a recent interview, Girmay Zahilay delved into his urbanist policy platform and values in his bid for King County Executive. We covered boosting housing, staunching Metro’s fiscal cliff, leading Sound Transit, resisting Trump overreach, and more.
The Urbanist interviewed the author of a new book called “On the Housing Crisis,” which delves into exclusionary land use and the political dysfunction keeping it in place.
From urban planner to YouTube star, Delahanty keeps walking his way toward a more urbanist future. The genesis of CityNerd is a Covid-era story of rebirth and job shuffling amidst a stressful and hectic time. Ray Delahanty had worked for two decades as an urban planner, but, by the second
Often a lone voice for housing, Paine makes a pitch for another council term. In December when the Edmonds City Council pushed back on the state legislature’s push to change single family zoning laws statewide, there was just one vote in opposition of the resolution: Councilmember Susan Paine. The
Moore has staked her City Council bid on frontline experience and a balanced lawyerly approach. With Seattle City Council President Debora Juarez’s retirement, the District 5 council seat is wide open for the taking. Former King County Superior Court judge Cathy Moore is one of the candidates vying for
Preston Anderson said he was inspired to run for Seattle City Council seeing firsthand the failure to adequately address homelessness and how it was affecting his patients, many of who are homeless veterans. “So I’m a clinical social worker,“ Anderson said during a recent interview. “Been doing clinical social
As a queer non-binary Broadway actor running as a radical Democratic socialist urbanist, Ry Armstong is mounting one of the more unique bids for Seattle City Council in District 3. One of their audacious proposals is to pedestrianize Pike Street and run a streetcar up it, creating a loop with
Last week The Urbanist took a peek at how the Seattle’s Council District 1 race is shaping up, and former Amazon tech worker turned climate organizer Maren Costa is among the crowded field trying to win over voters. All are competing to replace retiring Councilmember Lisa Herbold, who has
This morning King County deputy prosecutor Efrain Hudnell announced he’s jumping in the crowded race for the District 3 Seattle City Council seat. As former executive director of Seattle Subway, Hudnell was eager to speak to issues of transit, urbanism, and housing. Though a prosecutor, Hudnell readily admitted we
Andrew Ashiofu is running for the Seattle City Council is District 3. The winner of the race is set to replace socialist firebrand Kshama Sawant, who is leaving city council to form a new political party. Ashiofu pledges to be firm progressive, but also a “pragmatic uniter” who leads with
Teresa Mosqueda has made a name for herself in her six years on Seattle City Council, and this year she’s seeking to make the jump to King County Council. From shepherding through JumpStart Seattle’s nearly $300 million in annual progressive revenue for housing, Green New Deal programs, and
Earlier this week I sat down with Alex Hudson to chat about her run for Seattle City Council in District 3, which she officially announced this morning. Hudson has been executive director of Transportation Choices Coalition since 2018 and is no stranger to policy debates that have raged in City
Rep. Andrew Barkis hopes 2023 will be the year for supply-side housing legislation in Washington State. It’s no secret that Republicans have been in short supply when it came to signing on to bills to increase housing in Washington State. Relatedly, statewide zoning reform bills have repeatedly failed in
“The number one barrier to economic growth in Washington state — number one — is lack of access to housing.” Denny Heck is finishing his second year as Washington’s Lieutenant Governor, a job he describes as “an insurance policy in case the governor gets hit by a truck.” He does round
Getting urbanism right is a big reason Jessyn Farrell is running for Mayor of Seattle. “In an era where we’re reckoning with systemic racism and fifty years of growing income equality, we really need to show the way where cities can continue to be an excellent way of organizing
Nikkita Oliver entered the race for Seattle City Council with instant name recognition, having finished a close third four years ago in a run for mayor. Oliver’s profile rose even farther last year during the months of protests against police brutality. Perhaps the most iconic moment of the summer
If you haven’t heard by now, Council President M. Lorena González is running for mayor. González is a known quantity in Seattle government and governance. She’s currently serving a second term in an at-large council position, races she won with more than 70% of the vote (expect a
For the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, three local leaders weighed in on the most significant actions Seattle can undertake to increase its sustainability. Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of Earth Day, and due to unforeseen events, the celebration is shaping up to be arguably the greenest yet. With about
After ushering in the expansions of Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) to all of Seattle’s urban villages with a unanimous vote, District 4 Councilmember Rob Johnson left elected office early to pursue a new transportation advising position with the NHL Seattle. The group is bringing an National Hockey League expansion
Former Seattle city council member, Nick Licata is holding a salon on Design and Citizen Activism on August 8th with UW Professor Karen Cheng. Licata, who served five terms on the city council, has published a book called Becoming a Citizen Activist. I met up with him at Café Racer
I should probably introduce myself. I’m Doug Trumm: Seattle Renter, Fair-Weather Bicyclist, Committed Urbanist. I recently agreed to serve as the Publication Director of The Urbanist, taking over for my esteemed and equally unpaid colleague Stephen Fesler, who remains on as a Senior Editor and frequent writer. As someone
Introduction With the goal of bridging the political divide and challenging my own assumptions, I sat down with Sarajane Siegfriedt (SS) and Jon Lisbin (JL) from Seattle Fair Growth, a group of neighborhood advocates who believe that the HALA grand bargain is “deteriorating” our city “from unrestrained development.” Nonetheless, they
Introduction In an age of rising political polarization, it can be tough to find common ground with those whom we disagree. To break through the social and political divide, I have found it useful to ask a simple question: what do my opponents get right? An uncomfortable question, to be
This is the second installment of a two-part interview with Dan Savage. Here, Dan gets into Seattle-specific issues around housing and transportation. Check out Part 1 of the interview here. I want to talk about Seattle. What does Seattle have to learn from other cities? Not to fear apartment blocks.
A well-known pundit, sex columnist, LGBT activist, and Editorial Director of The Stranger, Dan Savage frequently writes about housing from an urbanist perspective. On a bright Saturday afternoon with the Capitol Hill Block Party in full-swing down the street, I sat down with Dan Savage to talk about urbanism. Our