It seemed like a done deal. The King County Council was going to fork over about $190M to pay for Safeco Field maintenance intended to keep its tenant, the Seattle Mariners, happy and ready to sign a lease extension.
Then something extraordinary happened. Hundreds of people pushing for more affordable housing (#TeamHousing) contacted their county councilmembers and dozens turned out at a hearing on Monday. The following day, County Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles announced that she was withdrawing support for the bill she co-sponsored and presenting an amendment that redirected $184 million toward affordable housing.
This is why we have to keep the pressure on to keep housing a top priority, while making sure stadium upgrades remain in their rightful place as a low priority for county dollars. Our county councilmembers can be swayed.
Thanks to pressure from #HousingForAll advocates, the @KCCouncil could be shifting & investing more lodging tax $ in affordable housing rather than beautifying a 19-year-old stadium. Keep it up!
Good work, @HDC_SeaKC, @WLIHA, @PugetSoundSage, @SeattleTRU, @TenantsUnionWA et al. https://t.co/3I207G0wpj
— The Urbanist (@UrbanistOrg) July 31, 2018
