Author: Mike O'Brien (Mike O'Brien)

Today Mayor Mike McGinn presented his proposed budget for 2012 to City Council (find highlights of his budget here). Now the ball is in Council’s court as we accept or make changes to his endorsed budget. We all know that this is the most difficult economic time in over 80 years, and how we respond [...]

Tomorrow, Saturday, September 24, I will be celebrating the international day of action on climate change, Moving Planet Seattle, by participating in two special events. Starting at noon, Got Green is hosting an event to highlight the release of their report Women in the Green Economy, Voices from Southeast Seattle. This report is based on a [...]

Today U.S. District Judge James L. Robart filed his final judgment ruling in favor of Seattle in the case Dex Media West, Inc., et al., vs. The City of Seattle. Judge Robart had previously upheld Seattle’s law against challenges brought by the yellow pages publishers under both the First Amendment and Commerce Clause of the [...]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 7, 2011 SEATTLE – Today the Energy, Technology and Civil Rights Committee passed Resolution 31316 that aims to improve outreach to Seattle’s diverse immigrant and refugee communities. According to the most recent available demographic data, 17 percent of Seattle residents are from immigrant and refugee communities. Spanish is the language Seattle [...]

Seattle Magazine recently asked a number of people throughout the city to contribute big ideas to their annual Big Idea issue, including Seattle City Council. Below is my submission, which you can find online along with the other ideas submitted (part 1 and part 2). The prompt we were asked to respond to was: “If [...]

Today we have another guest blog post, this one from Miles Mitchell, a student in the Tyree Scott Freedom School.  The Freedom School is a 9-day social and racial justice training program for young people in Seattle. I am sponsoring a forum in the Bertha Knight Landis room at City Hall where Freedom School students [...]

We need to hear from you tonight! The Seattle City Council, acting in its capacity as the Seattle Transportation Benefit District (STBD) Governing Board, will hold a public hearing for residents to provide feedback on the specific investment package proposals, contributing to the continued discussion on Seattle’s possible vehicle licensing fee. WHEN: Wednesday, August 10, 5:30 p.m. WHERE: [...]

The following post was written by high school interns employed through the Seattle Youth Employment Program. Their summer job at the YMCA of Greater Seattle is to produce media about their neighborhoods and to spark conversation via PugetSoundOff.org. Back in July, the group met with Mike to share ideas about their neighborhoods and how to [...]

The Seattle Transportation Benefit District (STBD) is considering asking you, the voters of Seattle, to approve an $80 increase on your vehicle license fee (aka, “car tabs”). I firmly believe additional revenue is needed to not only maintain Seattle’s transportation infrastructure, but to expand it to provide improve mobility for all residents in Seattle. Investments [...]