Category: Councilmember Okamoto

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State, Pass a Budget!

In the absence of a budget agreement, the State is on the verge of a shutdown will halt services to over 28,000 individuals throughout the county – including 10,000 Seattle residents – who receive State-funded family caregiver support, congregate and home-delivered meals, transportation and a host of other services. In addition, 11,000 elderly and individuals […]

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Density is Key in Lowrise Code Deliberation

I recently wrote about Seattle’s growing pains and the many moving parts that are part of the affordable housing machine.  One of these parts – land use – is so closely related to housing affordability, you might say they march in lockstep. Today, the Planning, Land Use, and Sustainability Committee will deliberate on a set of […]

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Seattle Deserves a Complete Housing Solution

Seattle is the fastest growing big city in the U.S., and Seattle’s infrastructure is bursting at the seams. Skyrocketing housing prices are squeezing low-income Seattleites — often people of color, immigrants, and refugees — out of Seattle. Efforts to improve the problem have been under way for some time.  For example, subsidies help low-income renters […]

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Standing Up with Teachers

Today my grandson Noah and I had the honor of joining teachers and supporters from across the City and around the state calling on legislators to live up to their paramount duty and fully fund public education. Too many children have been denied their constitutional rights to education.  The 52,000 students in the Seattle Public […]

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So Much to Do and So Little Time to Do It

There is so much to do, and so little time to do it. I want to find solutions to reduce the need to warehouse the homeless in shelters and truly make homelessness rare, brief and one time with my fellow committee members, with our regional partners, with the Human Services Department and our community based […]