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

Later this afternoon, Seattle City Council is going to vote on an ordinance that would ask voters if they want to restore a public financing model to Seattle City Council elections. Democracy is at its best when candidates can focus on the important issues facing our city, instead of who can raise the most money. […]

I’ve been inspired by yesterday’s poverty strike of fast-food workers who walked off their jobs to protest for better pay and working conditions. In order to help prevent potential retaliation from their employers, I joined community members in walking workers back to their jobs last night and this morning. I had a chance to talk […]

Yesterday, the Seattle City Council voted on a final package for the rezone. Below is a summary of what we voted to do in light of what we heard from constituents and stakeholders over the past few months. This legislation represents a great step for Seattle.  The land use changes will add capacity in the […]

The City of Seattle and yellow pages publishers recently reached an agreement to provide residents and businesses easy control of the delivery of yellow pages directories to their homes through www.YellowPagesOptOut.com. I encourage any Seattelites who are still receiving yellow pages directories to go to www.YellowPagesOptOut.com. May 6 is the deadline for opting out of […]

We are getting close to the final vote on the South Lake Union rezone. Here is the video from Monday of my presentation the affordable housing proposal I have been working on. In it, I lay out the case for why I think we need this amendment and why I think it is better for […]

Yesterday the Community Cornerstones program reported to the Council on progress for equitable transit oriented development in South Seattle. This simple chart highlights what we are talking about – placing the needs of low-income residents at the center of transit-oriented development. It was described as “TOD with social equity.” That is, developing the physical infrastructure […]

I was on this month’s Council Edition with colleagues Council President Sally Clark and Councilmember Nick Licata. We covered a wide range of topics, from the South Lake Union rezone to state transportation funding to pot to apodments. Whew!

With the first quarter of 2013 now in our rear-view, here is a report on some of the things I have been working on. City Light and Energy Efficiency: Our efforts to help the poorest Seattleites with their energy bills—through bill reduction, energy efficiency work in their homes, or both—have really ramped up. We have […]

This weekend, Got Green and the Construction Jobs Equity Coalition are hosting a Community Jobs Forum to discuss the idea of a Targeted Local Hire campaign. The idea behind local hire is to ensure that local residents access the work created by our local tax dollars.  Targeted Local Hire would goes one step further by […]

For the past several weeks, the Council has been considering affordable housing provisions in South Lake Union (and I’ve written up my thinking on the topic here and here). As we approach our final decisions on the rezone, how we address affordable housing is one of the biggest choices we have left to make. In [...]