Funding for District 1 Landslide Mitigation Some of you may recall that on February 15, a mudslide closed Highland Park Way SW, one of the few east-west access points for West Seattle. Fortunately, no one was injured. Afterwards, I raised questions about the Seattle Department of Transportation’s (SDOT’s) practices for managing landslide risks and whether […]

Seattle Moves Toward Tax Fairness with Tax on High Incomes The City Council has unanimously voted to begin addressing the regressive nature of our tax system, and move toward tax fairness.  On Monday, July 10 the Council passed legislation that I co-sponsored to establish a tax on high incomes. This vote occurred after a public […]

SEATTLE – Councilmember Lisa Herbold (District 1, West Seattle & South Park) expressed her appreciation to the Office of Housing today that some of the funds from the Council-approved $29 million in bonds for affordable housing will be available this Fall via the Office of Housing’s (OH) annual competitive funding process. The bond funding will […]

Part II: Displacement in the MHA Draft Environmental Impact Statement Last month in my blog post, I wrote a “Part 1” article describing my disappointment in a recent Displacement Risk Analysis being done as part of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed Citywide Rezones that are part of implementing a Mandatory Housing […]

SPU CIP Update – Ship Canal Water Quality Project In my committee this week Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) presented  their Capital Improvement Program (CIP). The CIP is the vehicle for rehabilitating, replacing, improving, and expanding the network of sewer and drainage systems throughout the City of Seattle, as well as constructing projects that protect, conserve, […]

Public Hearing on Officer Involved Shooting of Charleena Lyles The tragic shooting death of Charleena Lyles, a mother of four young children, last weekend is a stark reminder of how the calls for police reform nationally must continue to be addressed by Seattle locally. On Tuesday I attended the vigil for Ms. Lyles and heard […]

LSG Sky Chefs – City and Union Take a Stand Today, I wrote letters to each Alaska Airlines, Lufthansa, American Airlines, Delta and United Airlines.  Each airline has hubs serviced by a company called LSG Sky Chefs. LSG Sky Chefs provides catering and much of the food on these airlines as well as others, and […]

South Park Public Safety Task Force Update During the 2017 budget process, Councilmember González and I co-sponsored a budget action to create a South Park Public Safety Task Force during 2017. South Park had the 3rd highest number of gunshots reported in Seattle neighborhoods during 2016, and the highest increase over 2015, according to Seattle […]

Sweetened Drink Tax Yesterday, in the Affordable Housing, Neighborhoods and Finance Committee the public finally saw the newly proposed bill for the sweetened drink tax.  This has been an issue that I’ve been tracking closely for the last couple of months as I’ve had several concerns about not only how to spend projected revenue, but […]

Regarding the Shooting on Alki Councilmember Gonzalez held her Gender Equity, Safe Communities, and New American’s committee this morning.  On the agenda was a presentation about the Seattle Police Department’s response to gun violence.  Although I am not a member of the committee, understanding how deeply our community was impacted by this tragic event, I […]