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

Urban density is important, especially for meeting our environmental goals as a city. The exercise of developing our Climate Action Plan over the past year has been one of ascertaining not if Seattle should develop into a denser city, but how. This includes shortening distances between where people live, work and play. When we do [...]

Yesterday, the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission (SEEC) convened to discuss a proposal for Public Financing of local elections in Seattle. During public testimony, John King from Washington Public Campaigns reminded the Commission that though exciting and complex, public financing of local elections is not a new idea. In fact, the public financing option has [...]

Seattle needs more workforce housing. Specifically, I am referring to housing that people earning 60%-80% of the area median income (AMI) can reasonably afford to live in. Based on the City’s Office of Housing chart on AMI and affordability, that’s housing that a family of four earning between $52,000 and $64,000 per year can reasonably [...]

This week, the Seattle City Council and the Office of Sustainability & Environment completed the final of three public forums to discuss the Climate Action Plan. At our first forum, Making Energy Use Visible, we heard from guest panelists Brian Geller (2030 District and Green Ribbon Commission member), Aaron Fairchild (Green Canopy Homes) and Michael [...]

I was recently on Seattle Channel’s Inside/Out: Council Edition with my colleagues, Councilmembers Sally Bagshaw and Tim Burgess. As usual, we covered a range of topics on the issues before Council and our city. Check it out:

Here are two great program available to homes and business in Seattle that want to reduce the carbon footprint of their buildings. We all need to step up to fight the climate change we are already witnessing. The City is preparing it’s Climate Action Plan that we hope to adopt by Earth Day, 2013, and [...]

Seattle City Light, our local publicly-owned utility, is sending 18 linemen, their trucks and all their gear out to Long Island, NY to help restore power in the aftermath of Sandy. I am incredibly proud of our utility for finding a way to help out. Many utilities across the country are lending a hand. I [...]

From Seattle Channel: Host Josephine Cheng catches up with Seattle City Councilmember Mike O`Brien along the Burke Gilman Trail in Fremont. Learn how his love of the outdoors and desire to make a difference led him from the corporate world to politics. Prior to being elected in 2009, O`Brien spent most of his professional career [...]

Everyone agrees—the City Council, the City Attorney, the Mayor, the Seattle Police Department, the U.S. Department of Justice, and, most importantly, the people we serve—we must reform policing in Seattle. I think we all also agree that the selection of a consent decree monitor to oversee this reform is a crucial decision that will set [...]

The Neighborhood Street Fund Program pays for neighborhood transportation projects which are identified and prioritized by the community itself.  The City of Seattle’s Neighborhood Street Fund program is now accepting applications for the third of three rounds of funding from the Bridging the Gap levy. Up to $4.5 million will be spent on planning, designing [...]