Since the State Legislature adjourned in May I and others have been trying to figure out who won and lost when it comes to medical marijuana. My conclusion is that just about everyone lost when the legislature and governor called an end to the 2011 session without a coherent approach to regulating access to medical [...]
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June 22, 2011January 6, 2023News Releases
SR 520 Project Moves into Final Decision Making
On Thursday, June 9, Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) published the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the SR 520 Bridge Replacement and HOV Program. This begins the last stage in a decision making progress that started in 1997. The next step will be a federal Record of Decision (ROD) and then formal approval of [...]
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June 16, 2011January 6, 2023News Releases
ARCADE focuses on “The Good Life Reconsidered”
Former Seattle Planning Director Ray Gastil is enjoying life as a consultant on urban planning and, lately, as the guest editor of the latest edition of ARCADE. The quarterly magazine on design and the built environment is produced by the Northwest Architectural League with a great standing staff and a guest editor for special editions. [...]
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June 16, 2011January 6, 2023News Releases
Why Does Seattle Have a Multi Family Tax Exemption Program?
Seattle’s multi-family tax exemption (MFTE) program has come under fire recently. It has been suggested that the program subsidizes apartments that are too expensive, and that the program effectively serves as a subsidy to developers to build projects that they would have built anyway. As is often the case, the reality is more complex. The [...]
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June 14, 2011January 6, 2023News Releases
Seattle Farm Bill Principles adopted by Council, to go before National League of Cities
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 [...]
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June 9, 2011January 6, 2023News Releases
Emergency Preparedness Review Initiated by Council
The City Council and my Regional Development and Sustainability Committee will conduct a review of the City’s emergency preparedness, with special attention to lessons learned from the recent earthquakes in Chile, New Zealand, and Japan. Over the next few months, City staff and guest engineers, professors and scientists will brief Councilmembers on what was learned [...]
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June 8, 2011January 6, 2023News Releases
South Half of Viaduct Coming Down in October
The south half of the SR 99 viaduct, the section between South King Street and South Holgate Street, will be demolished in October, six months ahead of schedule. This will save taxpayers almost one million dollars, as well as allowing WSDOT to reduce the contingency for risk by $500,000. And it will mean that the [...]
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June 2, 2011January 6, 2023News Releases
Food trucks rolling into vacant lots and maybe your neighborhood
Seattle Met recently highlighted a couple of new food truck hubs coming to Capitol Hill and Downtown. Both come on the heels of Council and the Mayor approving new rules for more creative – and tasty – uses of empty lots. Property owners with stalled development sites can invite in food trucks, art installations, open [...]
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June 2, 2011January 6, 2023News Releases
Yesler Terrace Redevelopment to Come to Council
The Seattle Housing Authority has been working for years to create a redevelopment plan for Yesler Terrace, the last of its WWII era housing projects. The other three (New Holly, High Point, and Rainier Vista) have all been redeveloped as mixed income communities, with new and better housing for the low income residents. Now the [...]
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June 1, 2011January 6, 2023News Releases
Council Stabilizes City Light Finances
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 [...]