Tag: city council

Is Rail the Answer for Seattle’s Waterfront Tourism & High-Capacity Transit?
News, Politics, Transportation

Is Rail the Answer for Seattle’s Waterfront Tourism & High-Capacity Transit?

Transit studies are thick in the Seattle air these days. Just this week, Waterfront Seattle released a transit report (pdf) on options for travel up and down the Field Operations-redesigned waterfront, and Sound Transit and Seattle’s Department of Transportation produced eight alternatives for a Ballard-downtown high-capacity line. Continue reading Is Rail the Answer for Seattle’s Waterfront Tourism & High-Capacity Transit?

City Council to Nickelsville: Stop Being Homeless by Sept. 1 or Face Eviction
News, Politics, Real Estate

City Council to Nickelsville: Stop Being Homeless by Sept. 1 or Face Eviction

“No one wants simply to displace campers,” goes the letter, whose sole clearly articulated objective is to displace campers. Otherwise, it refers to emergency shelters (which for many of the campers, homeless for years and proud of their limited possessions, would be step backwards) and permanent housing, of which there is too little available to accommodate Nickelsville residents, even if they were granted priority. Continue reading City Council to Nickelsville: Stop Being Homeless by Sept. 1 or Face Eviction

Op-Ed: The Minimum Wage: Putting Some Myths to Rest, by Kshama Sawant
Business, News, Politics

Op-Ed: The Minimum Wage: Putting Some Myths to Rest, by Kshama Sawant

“As in every previous discussion of raising the minimum wage, it has been asserted that such a move would increase unemployment, be harmful to the most underprivileged workers, bad for small businesses, and indeed, disastrous for the wider economy. In this same narrative, low-wage jobs are stepping stones, and hard work and higher education are reliable paths to middle-class employment.” Continue reading Op-Ed: The Minimum Wage: Putting Some Myths to Rest, by Kshama Sawant

ABC Voters (“Anyone But Conlin”) Can Now Choose Between Carver and Sawant
News, Politics

ABC Voters (“Anyone But Conlin”) Can Now Choose Between Carver and Sawant

With the deadline for a declaration of candidacy approaching on May 17, Brian Carver, “a 33-year-old Kindle product director at Amazon.com,” has joined Kshama Sawant in the race to oust Richard Conlin, reports The Stranger’s Cienna Madrid. Conlin, who holds a Master’s in political science, was first elected to the Council in 1997, and has since then worked to legalize miniature goats and ban plastic bags at grocery stores. Continue reading ABC Voters (“Anyone But Conlin”) Can Now Choose Between Carver and Sawant

City Council Looks into Micro-Housing’s Free Lunch
News, Politics, Real Estate

City Council Looks into Micro-Housing’s Free Lunch

“One sore spot,” admitted Richard Conlin recently, “has been the way that developers have used their ‘unit count’ in different ways depending on what City regulation they are working with.” Land use code counts units, as mentioned earlier, by kitchens. But “some developers,” Conlin says, also applied for a Multi-Family Property Tax Exemption (MFTE). Continue reading City Council Looks into Micro-Housing’s Free Lunch