­­­­­­­­ This Week in Council Budget Deliberations This week the City Council Budget Committee met on October 2 to discuss: The Citywide Homelessness Response The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program, with a community panel (which included King County Prosecutor Satterberg) and a City department panel The Mayor’s proposed tax on Transportation Network Company (TNC) […]

2020 Council Budget Schedule On Monday, September 23rd Mayor Durkan submitted her Proposed 2020 City of Seattle Budget and Proposed 2020-2025 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) to the Council. With that, the Council, now meeting as the Budget Committee, begins its work on the 2020 budget.  We will continue through adoption of the budget on November […]

Councilmember Lisa Herbold (District 1, West Seattle – South Park) and her Council colleagues voted in favor of five pieces of legislation intended to strengthen tenant laws, including new protections for domestic violence survivors. The domestic violence liability bill, roommate bill, and bill requiring tenant resources on notices were particularly called out in Resolution 31861 […]

Delridge light rail alternatives: initial assessment results, public comment open through October 4 Sound Transit has taken a critical next step in implementing Sound Transit 3 in releasing its “initial assessment” of potential additional alternatives to study in the Draft Environmental Impact statement for the West Seattle/Ballard light rail project.   If you recall, in May […]

Metro Re-Routing West Seattle/Downtown Buses Starting September 12; 1st & Dearborn Intersection Closed Beginning September 12 King County Metro announced changes yesterday to the West Seattle/Downtown bus routes, beginning on September 9th. Here’s a link to a map showing the changes (also shown below). WSDOT announced that on September 12 they will begin removing what […]

Tenant Protections for Survivors of DV and Roommates This week we had a first discussion in Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development and Arts Committee on legislation I’ve sponsored to protect survivors of domestic violence from being held liable for damages incurred by an abuser, and to protect roommates and family members from categorical housing denials […]

Impact Fees This week the Sustainability and Transportation Committee had a briefing on impact fees. Impact fees are charges to developers to address the needs for capacity improvements to transportation, parks, schools, and fire facilities. I last wrote about impact fees here and provided some history about the Council’s efforts to develop an impact fee […]

Bus Commutes on 1st Avenue West Seattle bus riders are facing unacceptably long wait times on 1st Avenue to get back home in the evening. Earlier this week my office sent a request to SDOT Director Zimbabwe to examine options to speed up traffic. The email that I sent to constituents earlier this week requested […]

Housing Bond and Eviction Reform Legislation Update I’ve been advocating to use the City’s bonding capacity for affordable housing and services since taking office in 2015.  In 2017, I sponsored legislation that authorized the City to issue $29 million in limited tax general obligation (LTGO) funding for building affordable housing—using the City’s line of credit […]

SOCR 2018 Housing Discrimination Testing The Seattle Office of Civil Rights (SOCR) conducts testing every year to determine the prevalence of racism and bias in our housing and employment sectors. Also called “affirmative testing,” this strategy gives the City an opportunity to do outreach and education for people in violation of the law, intentionally or […]