DESC opened 95 supportive housing units last week in Upper Fremont. Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson attended the ribbon-cutting celebration, noting the positive step toward addressing the homelessness crisis, but Trump cuts could slow the pace of similar project openings.
Pierce County is facing financial challenges that are straining budgets, leading to health department layoffs and lagging transit service levels. Federal chaos could make the problem worse in years ahead.
The Trump administration is gutting health care, child care, and food stamps. John Burbank argues Governor Bob Ferguson should immediately call a special session of the Washington State Legislature to fund services that the federal government has cut by taxing the corporations and billionaires bankr
Earlier this month, the King County Department of Public Defense issued a report showing that the City of Seattle has fallen short on offering diversion and treatment to people criminalized by its new 2023 drug ordinance. During the reviewed period, only six prosecutions out of 215, resulted in some
Mayor Bruce Harrell has proposed a 0.1% sales tax hike for public safety investments, including doubling the size of the civilian CARE department. However, CARE’s future rests on cooperation from the Seattle Police Officers Guild, which has sought to limit the fledgling agency in the past.
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
Last week, the Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) celebrated the grand opening of its new Downtown Behavioral Health Clinic. Included onsite is its Opioid Recovery & Care Access (ORCA) Center, which will provide a safe landing place for people to recover after an overdose.
Last week, Mayor Bruce Harrell cleared a hurdle standing in the way of King County’s plan to build a crisis care center in Seattle, as he issued a letter of conditional support, outlining an acceptable launch plan from his perspective. The County now must work to meet his terms to open the Capitol H
At the city and the county level, local leaders are preparing for the impacts of the new federal reconciliation bill, described as “devastating.” Those impacts will be felt everywhere from hospitals to food banks.
King County is seeking to site a walk-in mental health crisis center in Capitol Hill, but a group of local business owners and residents are pushing back. Health care providers have backed the location, and Seattle Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck has emerged as a vocal proponent, while her colle
Reviving community court isn’t a simple fix for Seattle’s criminal legal system — pre-filing diversion programs are more effective, cost less money, and avoid the harmful consequences of prosecution. Here’s one Seattle City Attorney candidate’s plan.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell pushed back against an auditor report calling for more coordination around gun violence prevention and criticizing SPD’s haphazard approach to investigations. Deputy Mayor Tiffani Washington said she felt disrespected by the audit process being reinitiated by Council Pres
Trump actions are set to deepen the homelessness crisis, while kids face ICE deportation without any legal defense. County and City of Seattle leaders are scrambling to respond.
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
A recent peer-reviewed study of identical twins illustrated the value of living in a walkable neighborhood, showing a strong correlation between walkable neighborhoods, time spent walking, and positive health outcomes. Simply put, it appears that people tend to lead healthier lives in walkable neigh
Kirkland Connections is a new 24/7 mental health crisis center that could prove a model for the five crisis centers a county levy approved and funded in 2023. Such services are rare in the region.
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.
City and school officials promise a tangible change in safety and student supports when the new school year begins. But they’re delivering fewer mental health investments than student groups requested.
Seattle’s civilian safety department will quadruple in size by hiring 18 additional responders and 3 supervisors. For now, the CARE department is handling a tiny fraction of 911 calls, but that could change in time.
Electrifying port infrastructure and traffic is already slow-moving at the expense of nearby communities, and in the absence of clean energy regulation for ports in Washington, these projects heavily rely on funding from the contested Climate Commitment Act.
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.
The war on drugs is back, and Seattle is about to entrust SPD to carry it out with minimal guardrails. This Tuesday, Seattle City Council will be voting once more on drug criminalization legislation that could, in practice, reinvigorate a punitive war on drugs instead of addressing the current fentanyl
Washington State has 40 electric school buses so far — but big plans to change that. Meanwhile most parents drive their kids to school. That is the sentiment Vice President Kamala Harris expressed to a handful of Seattle students, educators, and leaders in October when announcing $1 billion for electric school
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
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
Often after Rosa Lopez picks up her son from school, they walk under a highway and half a mile to the South Park Community Center. She pointed to their route on a wooden display of the western Duwamish Valley, a mapping tool designed by the University of Washington’s Department
The Duwamish River Valley hosts three freeways, two international airports, an international seaport, and a river so polluted it was declared a federal Superfund site, with over 300 industries lining the banks. Seattle’s only majority people of color and immigrant neighborhoods are also the most vulnerable; with more families,
Newly unearthed records show SPD exploited a policy loophole, deploying dangerous and toxic weapons during the 2020 protests via partner agencies with little to no accountability Four days after George Floyd was murdered, the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) then-Assistant Chief Steve Hirjak sent out a call for help, requesting
Residents of cities with high ‘ParkScores’ report better physical and mental health, data shows. The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has released its 12th annual ParkScore index, and once again Seattle has placed in the top 10, ranking number eight out of the 100 most populous U.S. cities. Thanks
This week, state legislators were in special session pursuing the urgent business of continuing the war on drugs. Lawmakers were unable to reach a compromise during regular session, which prompted Governor Jay Inslee to call the special session. The temporary fix to the state Supreme Court’s Blake decision (which
This month, King County voters have the chance to significantly expand our county’s capacity to support people experiencing mental health crises by passing the behavioral health levy on the April Special Election ballot. They should take the opportunity by voting yes for these desperately needed services, then keep the
King County Metro, Community Transit, Pierce Transit, Kitsap Transit, and Everett Transit suspended all service Friday due to incredibly slippery road conditions across the region brought on by freezing rain and snow. Sound Transit has also grounded its ST Express buses and most Sounder trips, but Link light rail service
Planning for aging communities is increasingly important. Vox visits Weesp, a small city in The Netherlands, to understand how the “dementia village” model works through the lens of De Hogeweyk. These communities seem to perform much better for residents than the traditional dementia housing model.
First things first — you might be having a lot of feelings about the idea of peeing your pants. I certainly did. But having an accident isn’t something to be ashamed of. As the mom of a toddler, I will do my best to make sure that my kid doesn’
No gym membership required. Not Just Bikes extolls the virtues of “the gym of life” and how it works through the vantage point of Dutch living. A big reason that the gym of life works so well in The Netherlands is how communities are designed and the policies that support
CityNerd dives into the convoluted and admittedly depressing topic of car crashes. In the video, CityNerd looks into the disturbing pedestrian fatality trends, implications of larger vehicles, and even some odd ways in how crash data is set up for blame.
Freezing temperatures and snow are headed to Western Washington, where moss and drizzle are more common winter sights than snow drifts. During the week between Christmas and New Year’s, meteorologists predict we may see the coldest temperatures in a decade — with nighttime lows sinking into the 20s or even
Amsterdam’s approach to waste and recycle collection differs greatly from the North American one. Not Just Bikes shows how waste and recycle is collected underground at regular intervals within neighborhoods and picked up as needed by crews.
In just a few days, world leaders will gather in Glasgow at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, where they will discuss how to accelerate emission reduction targets. This month also marks an anniversary for Seattle’s climate change commitments: four years ago Seattle was one of a small group
Yesterday the King County Board of Health made the decision to delay a vote on the county’s helmet law, which applies to cyclists of all ages in the county. King County Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles, who had initially called on the Board of Health to revisit law after allegations of
The City of Seattle and King County released their final Covid vaccination rates this week as Governor Jay Inslee’s October 18th mandate deadline went into effect, and virtually every department surpassed the 90% mark. The Seattle Police Department (SPD) remains the laggard, but not nearly as badly as had
More passenger restrooms are ahead in Sound Transit’s ever-growing system. However, a recommended policy update would discourage them from becoming a universal and easily accessible feature at light rail stations because of stringent criteria. Under the policy, 16 transit facilities throughout Sound Transit’s network could have passenger restrooms
Vox looks at Phoenix, a very hot city, to see the challenges it faces in cooling it down from extreme heat. The city wants to green up the city with trees, but doing so poses real issues in being accomplished equitably. It’s also not the only kind of key
Every major public sector union has cut a deal with the City of Seattle to implement the Mayor’s Covid vaccine mandate, but the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) is the odd one out. SPOG continues to fight the mandate, and its vaccination rate continues to lag. Mayor Jenny Durkan’
The Seattle City Council took the first step toward reforming single-family zoning on Monday by renaming it “Neighborhood Residential” in a unanimous vote. In an action-packed agenda, the Council decriminalized entheogens (also known as plant-based psychedelics or magic mushrooms), passed a land use change in Interbay that will clear the
Not Just Bikes explains how most speed limits are set on North American streets and road using the 85th Percentile technique as well as the challenge that street designs present in encouraging higher speeds despite lower speed limits. Also in the video, Not Just Bikes highlights other strategies that can
Vox takes a deep dive into noise and its effects on humans. As the video shows, much of the noise people experience in their built environment is from cars, planes, and other motorized vehicles.
Urban Forestry Commission Chair Weston Brinkley weighs in on why Seattle needs to act and what can be done to better protect the city’s urban trees. Summer temperatures in Seattle are again on the rise as city residents look warily ahead to a stretch of hot days forecasted to
Recent data published by the nonprofit American Forests shows stark racial and economic inequity in tree canopy coverage. How did the Evergreen State compare to national trends? There are certain visual clues that identify the socioeconomic status of an urban neighborhood, and in the United States one of these is
In February of 2020, with the coronavirus impacting the cruise industry in Asia, there was a brief moment when it looked like the Seattle cruise industry would get a benefit from what wasn’t clearly a worldwide pandemic at that time. Celebrity Cruises’ ship the Millennium would be diverted from
Not Just Bikes explores noise in cities and the impacts to people. A key point of the video is just how much noise cars introduce to otherwise quite places.
The Seattle City Council’s Renters’ Rights Committee passed three bills providing further protections from evictions and rejected a bevy of amendments from Councilmember Alex Pedersen seeking to weaken the measures. On 3-1 votes, Councilmembers Kshama Sawant, Tammy Morales, and Andrew Lewis defeated amendments and advanced the bills for a
Dave Amos explores the history of Los Angeles’ highway building and the ways that traffic in the region is so bad. It isn’t just the congestion and air pollution that’s so awful.
In this short video, Vox explains how Texas’ March electric energy failure could be just the tip of the iceberg for America going forward. While the state’s independent electrical grid was certainly a problem, there were bigger systemic problems that were exposed. Is the country prepared for future
Lately, I’ve been missing Pratt Park, one of my favorite public spaces in Seattle. While I haven’t gone anywhere, and neither has the park, a major renovation project has left the heart of the park in shambles since before the onset of the Covid pandemic. While I still
To be upfront, I am pissed at Seattle Public Schools. As a parent of school-age kids, I have been subjected to SPS’s anti-union propaganda regularly over the last few weeks. Between direct emails touting their reopening lines in the sand and robocalls badmouthing the teachers, SPS is going too
At month’s end, the eviction moratorium is scheduled to expire, which would put thousands of tenants at risk. A broad coalition spearheaded by the Transit Riders Union (TRU) is urging a nine-month extension of Seattle’s moratorium as soon as possible to ease worries for tenants. The Urbanist joined
Dave Amos dives into the issue of water, the lifeblood of cities. He explores how climate change, over-development, and other impacts can pose challenges to sustaining quality water access for cities and highlights solutions to water shortages.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan’s final state of the city speech was just six minutes long. Typically, the annual speech is about four times longer, but, as Durkan’s agenda has gotten shorter, so too has her speech. Durkan is not running for reelection so she has just ten months
Sound Transit is making good on a policy directive to expand bathroom access to facilities and equitable transit-oriented development (TOD) commitments in Seattle. The agency is also making strides to take an even bigger stake in equitable TOD as the transit system grows. In briefings yesterday, agency staff shared details
Like many industries in the past year, air travel has taken a huge hit and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) was no exception, seeing an unprecedented decline in passengers. The airport closed out 2020 with 20,061,507 passengers passing through its halls, a 61.29% decline from the record high
Vox explains how environmental racism through public policy and private actions can lead to environmental health catastrophes for people of color. Coronavirus is killing disproportionate numbers of black people in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley,” and Vox explores why environmental racism could be contrib
After a long delay to start the program, the City of Seattle announced an even longer extension for restaurants and businesses to continue using public spaces for outdoor dining and retail. Seattle Department of Transportation’s (SDOT’s) temporary street use permits will be extended through October 31, 2021. The
King County Metro riders will continue to enjoy fare-free rides through September. The agency continues to plan changes to buses that would allow fare collection to safely resume–and may open the door for increases in capacity limits. No date has been set yet to resume fares, Metro spokesperson Jeff
Bloomberg Green explains how Mexico City is running out of water despite historically having been built on a lake. How can Mexico City solve this critical problem for a city of more than 25 million people? And what can other places learn from this?
A land-use ordinance passed by Seattle City Council marks a first step in increasing access to childcare across the city. Councilmember Dan Strauss (District 6) scored a victory earlier this week when his proposed Childcare Near You ordinance unanimously passed City Council. The ordinance changes Seattle’s land use code
Following several months of discussion, the City of Seattle has received the first applications for opening street space to dining. Since the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) began taking applications on July 29th, 18 locations around the city have expressed interest in fully or partially opening nearby roads to social
After Mayor Jenny Durkan vetoed a Covid relief package saying it depleted the City’s rainy day fund, Budget Chair Teresa Mosqueda fired back that the need was now and waiting would inflict too much suffering and damage to the economy. As part of its JumpStart Seattle package, the Seattle
Vox explains how human expansion into natural habitats is directly linked to the spread of new and deadly diseases in human populations.
Bloomberg CityLab explains how cities can rebuild around bikes quickly for the Covid and post-Covid era and why it’s vitally important to do so.
Seattle will permit restaurants and retail shops to open into traffic-less public streets one block at a time. Two months after the idea was publicized in local media, Mayor Jenny Durkan announced that street closure permits will be available for businesses to expand into some roadways, allowing better social distancing
Sound Transit hopes doubling federal funding for Lynnwood Link and Federal Way Link could right their storm-tossed financial ship. Joining 25 other transit agencies from across the nation, Sound Transit and King County Metro are requesting that Congress act to provide an additional $36 billion in emergency funding through 2021.
Four months into the West Seattle Bridge closure, we do have some answers but plenty of lingering questions, too. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has made progress on temporarily shoring up the bridge and has embarked on stakeholder engagement for mitigation and options for repair or replacement. Multiple task
Washington’s state transportation department is launching a temporary program that will make some lower-speed highways available to open streets and commercial uses during the Covid-19 pandemic. This will allow some lanes to be reallocated for low-stress uses by people walking, biking, and rolling as well as commercial use by
Bothell has opened up its Main Street for retail and restaurants in the age of social distancing. For a block of the city’s traditional downtown, barriers to traffic went up so that tents and tables could take over the right-of-way. For anyone that thinks of Bothell as a series
On Monday, the Seattle City Council voted 7-2 to pass a payroll expense tax targeting companies paying high salaries. The final spending plan is still being crafted, but Covid relief and affordable housing will be two focus areas for the new roughly $240 million per year stream of revenue. The
The Seattle City Council is poised to pass a payroll expense tax package to fund Covid-19 relief and affordable housing at its 2pm meeting today. Dubbed JumpStart Seattle, the legislation passed budget committee on Wednesday on a 7-2 vote with Councilmembers Alex Pedersen and Debora Juarez the nays. Authored by
Coquitlam, British Columbia is letting its restaurants and stores spill outside and take over their parking lots. In the name of social distancing, of course. The city, a growing suburb of 160,000 people located east of Vancouver, has developed a plan to support its local businesses through phases of
Data reveals a 5% increase in people living on the streets from 2019. In the earliest hours of the morning on January 24th, 2020, volunteers set out to conduct King County’s annual Point-in-Time count. For the first time in three years, it rained heavily as the volunteers counted people
Dave Amos argues why open streets being rolled out during the pandemic should be made permanent.
On Friday morning, heading into the first full weekend of summer and 53 days since Governor Jay Inslee announced a phased reopening for Washington, Seattle announced expedited permitting for outdoor cafes and retail. In a statement from Mayor Jenny Durkan and Councilmembers Dan Strauss and Alex Pedersen, the City outlined
Black organizers planned a Black takeover or “Black Out” of the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) during Juneteenth. However that celebration of Blackness was interrupted by a shooting that left one Black man dead and another man in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center. The aftermath of the shooting was
Several more transit agencies in Puget Sound are adding back more transit service and fares as the region recovers from the initial Covid-19 pandemic wave. Among them are King County Metro, Sound Transit, Kitsap Transit, and Intercity Transit with service improvements, though still quite short of pre-Covid levels. Metro, Community
Social distancing and hygiene best practices will be incorporated into operations, but driver welfare remains a concern. Starting June 22th, Via to Transit, King County Metro’s on-demand shuttle service will resume its service to Rainier Beach, Othello, and Tukwila International Boulevard light rail stations. The service resumption occurs one
The story of Dr. John Snow and the London Cholera 1854 Outbreak transformed epidemiology and our use of maps to track deadly outbreaks of disease.
The past few months have been very trying times as the Covid-19 pandemic swept the country. By mid-March, Washington Governor Jay Inslee ordered non-essential businesses and facilities to close across the state in order to stem the loss of life and reduce stress on healthcare systems. The economic impacts of
Removals of homeless encampments, often called “sweeps,” cause both economic harm and severe emotional trauma for people who are living unsheltered. Sadly, while encampment removals have been defended as a way to protect homeless people from crime and predation, the removals themselves have often violated the very civil liberties that
On Tuesday, Governor Jay Inslee did something that normally would have made big news if not for police riots and Mayoral abdication of responsibility grabbing headlines. The Governor announced he was extending Washington’s statewide rent freeze and eviction moratorium through August 1st, providing some more breathing room for those
For days now, the constant presence of police, armored SWAT vans, “unarmed” but baton-wielding National Guard members, and circling surveillance aircraft have felt like an occupying force in Seattle. But on Monday and Tuesday nights, as tear gas choked the air and flash-bang grenades echoed down the streets of Capitol
On a crisp afternoon last fall, Douglas Pullen, a 69-year-old Black man, was nearly hit by a white driver during his daily walk through his Seattle neighborhood. Having witnessed this, I (Kate), checked on Mr. Pullen after he was safely on the other side of the street. “I’m fine,
“I’m not going to stand up and make a promise,” Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said to a crowd of people protesting police violence demanding she cease the use of tear gas. The City also gave no promise to give fair warning when deploying tear gas. Seattle Police Chief Carmen
Cities across America are on edge right now. Many have seen clashes between police and protesters, resulting in injuries, arrests, and destruction. It was hard to focus on much of anything else as news feeds were inundated with images of violence–police in riot gear, cars on fire, and protesters
Vox explains how the novel coronavirus spreads indoors and outdoors. The means of transmission is not necessarily uniform due to different environmental conditions and movement of people.
The Covid-19 pandemic has thrust the world into uncertain times. In the United States, the coronavirus has now claimed the lives of over 100,000 people. This devastating public health crisis has affected our region in particular. The first death linked to Covid infection happened in King County. Washington was
Share photos of how newly-created “Stay Healthy” open streets are helping people in your neighborhood enjoy the outdoors and engage in active transportation. The theme of The Urbanist’s Scavenger Hunt #4 was pocket parks, which often come in the form of pint sized oases of green distributed in dense
King County Metro recently issued an online survey pertaining to potential changes to Night Owl Service. These changes would be a temporary response to Covid-19 and create a free reservation system for 1am to 5am service. The agency would provide interpreter and TTY (Deaf, hard of hearing, or speech-impaired) services.
The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) has published a new playbook for urban streets in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dubbed the “Streets for Pandemic Response and Recovery,” the playbook lays out seven emerging strategies in cities and many other policy choices for streets that can help maintain
The city as we know it is collapsing. The virus is forcing us to reckon with the depletion of the buildings that comprise the city and the systems that had conceived each city for itself. Basic activities are separated by kilometres of distance, and the enclosed envelopes–galleries, churches, stadiums–
Puget Sound transit agencies are beginning to restore service and fare payment is returning on some services. Pierce Transit and Sound Transit have released their initial recovery plans that will begin as soon as May 24th. Community Transit also plans join the other two transit agencies in implementing fare collection,
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, people have watched the world around them transform in unexpected ways, but for many Americans the sudden ubiquity of people wearing masks and other facial coverings in public is one of the most visible indicators of the virus’s impact on society. While