Sci-Fi Short Story Contest: winners announced March 1st; Urban ArtWorks: 70% of at-risk youth who complete an Urban ArtWorks project do not re-offend. [Full Post]

The City’s Community Power Works program, funded out of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA – the ‘economic stimulus’ legislation of 2009) received some critical reviews for starting up more slowly than the original plan.  It did turn out to be challenging to ramp up as quickly as had been hoped, but the good [...] [Full Post]

We held the first meeting of the new Parks and Neighborhoods committee Thursday, January 19, 2012. See the meeting agenda. Our committee attendance was VERY small, due to icy conditions on the roads.  I missed our usual crowd, but I’m glad people were wise and stayed warm and safe at home. One important note for [...] [Full Post]

I’ve posted this reminder before, but here’s a new push to remind people that the decisions the city makes now will have great implications in the future. We need your thoughts on updating Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan – the vision for how Seattle will evolve over the next two decades. There’s a great YouTube video that explains the purpose of the Comp Plan and directs [...] [Full Post]

On Monday, May 23, the City Council adopted Resolution 31296, supporting the Seattle Farm Bill Principles as policy guidance to the Federal Government in the renewal of the 2012 Farm Bill.  Our goal is to have Seattle’s actions will serve as a model for other jurisdictions.  On June 4, I presented the Farm Bill principles [...] [Full Post]

In March 2010, the City Council approved legislation creating a Rate Stabilization Account (RSA) for Seattle City Light, and imposed a temporary surcharge on city Light rates as part of the funding package for the RSA.  In the year since then, the RSA has been fully funded to its projected level of $100 million, the [...] [Full Post]

Today in the Finance and Budget Committee we approved Council Bill 117131 to receive funding for weatherization projects. The Office of Housing (OH) received an additional grant from the United States Department of Energy to the tune of $2.5 million. This new grant has great implications for new environmentally friendly technologies in low-income housing. Specifically, [...] [Full Post]

After a couple months of work, we’re very excited about publishing our first law review article entitled – Seattle’s Green Building Initiative and Housing Retrofits: How Seattle Can Overcome the Obstacles That Face Effective Energy Conservation in the Building Sector. Seattle’s Green Building Initiative and Housing Retrofits: How Seattle Can Overcome the Obstacles That Face [...] [Full Post]