I frequently meet with neighborhoods to talk  about what we are doing to end homelessness.  This post — albeit lengthy — offers  updates you can share with your neighbors.  If you read this to the end and follow the hyperlinks, you may be surprised at how much is really happening and the scope of the efforts to […]

NCIS Update from the City Auditor I wrote a blog post about the New Customer Information System (NCIS) a little over a year ago. NCIS is a joint Seattle City Light (SCL) and Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) project to replace the Consolidated Customer Service System (CCSS) – the old SCL and SPU billing system. The old system supported billing […]

Downtown and South Lake Union MHA  On Tuesday, 3/21/2017, the Planning, Land Use and Zoning Committee discussed eight amendments to the proposed South Lake Union (SLU) and Downtown Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) legislation. The amendments ranged from a. providing a carrot to developers not covered by MHA (because their projects are already through the design process) to voluntarily […]

Update on the Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) Timeline I wanted to make sure that you heard from me first that the office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD) is amending the schedule for release of the draft EIS for the proposed citywide MHA zoning changes and now it is anticipated to come out in May. […]

Socially Responsible Banking Legislation I’ve received around 1400 e-mails, and hundreds of phone calls, regarding socially responsible banking legislation before a City Council committee next week. Here’s the reply I’ve been sending out: Thank you for writing to me about Council Bill 118833, strengthening Seattle’s socially responsible banking laws, and encouraging the Mayor and Director […]

Womxn’s March Tomorrow Please join me at the Womxn’s March on Seattle tomorrow, January 21st. All people are invited to join in solidarity with the march taking place in Washington D.C. as well as in 200 events planned in 46 states and 30 countries. Are you wondering about the “x” in the title “Womxn’s March?”  […]

Federal judge OKs moving forward on police accountability legislation Late last week a federal judge ruled that Seattle can proceed with police accountability legislation.  This legislation has been developed to comply with the requirements of the 2012 Consent Decree with the US Department of Justice to reform policing in Seattle.   Federal Judge James Robart is […]

MHA – Citywide Proposal and Future Legislative Process The broad public conversation of the Executive’s initial (my emphasis added) proposal to implement the Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) program approved by the Council in last year’s MHA framework legislation  began in Fall 2016. Last year’s framework legislation laid out how all developers would have to contribute […]

Housing Issues Source of Income Discrimination (SOID) Law SOID is important new comprehensive tenants’ rights legislation, enacting one of the Mayor’s Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) recommendations.  The final bill created a new protected class for people with alternative sources of income, created a new “first in time” requirement to make the housing application […]

Landmarks Board to consider nomination of Crescent-Hamm Building The Department of Neighborhoods announced that on January 4, the Landmark Preservation Board will consider the nomination of the Crescent-Hamm Building. The Southwest Seattle Historical Society put forward the nomination, based on their earlier report released in March. The Crescent-Hamm Building is located on the corner of […]