# A year into announcing its ambitious Downtown Activation Plan, the Harrell Administration is touting successes. But so far those are primarily spot improvements, with many big initiatives in limbo or on hold.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Lynnwood Link opened on Friday and the excitement was high among riders and dignitaries, alike.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# After a summer of public outreach, SDOT is hearing recurring themes people want for the future of Aurora Avenue N. Beginning in June, the public got to partake in guided discussion sessions with Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) for the transformative Aurora Avenue Project. The workshops were held in various locations within the sections of| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has announced an expanded scope of work for its planned repaving project along 15th Avenue NW, through the heart of Ballard and on the deck of the Ballard Bridge. The new elements, intended to improve pedestrian access and increase safety, came in response to a call from advocacy groups| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# After including a much-celebrated $50 million allocation for Seattle's deadliest state highway, Aurora Avenue N, in the 2022 Move Ahead Washington transportation package, the state legislature adopted a budget this year that doesn't anticipate actually allocating that funding anytime soon. If signed by Governor Jay Inslee as expected, the 2023-2025 state transportation budget, which lays| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is beginning the outreach phase of its Aurora Avenue N planning study, a pivotal step toward vitally needed improvements that will help to fix one of the most deadly roads in the entire city. Originally planned as a bicycle and pedestrian safety study, SDOT has also announced that they| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is rolling out a temporary emergency bus lane in the University District this weekend. The bus lane is in response to congestion caused by the closure of the Montlake Bridge over the next few weeks. Earlier this week, bus riders like Daniel Heppner alerted the agency to seriously delayed| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
Monthly Archives: August 2021| www.theurbanist.org
# The arrival of Stride, Sound Transit's bus rapid transit (BRT) brand, on I-405 is still four years away, but recent project refinements could mean even speedier trips for riders travelling between Lynnwood and Bellevue. The transit agency published another online open house last week highlighting the progress. The proposed changes could wind up saving riders| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
Monthly Archives: April 2020| www.theurbanist.org
# Sound Transit's newly announced "enterprise initiative" is needed to respond to financial pressures expected to impact system expansion plans. But the work is expected to be broader than past financial restructures, where project delay was the most noticeable outcome.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The unpowered tow across the I-90 floating bridge Wednesday marks a big milestone for the beleaguered East Link project. A grand opening of the 2 Line in early 2026 is highly dependent on how the next few months of testing go.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# A long-vacant Target store is set to become home to around 1600 homes by the early 2040s under an agreement moving forward in Federal Way.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# On Wednesday, Bremerton ditched parking mandates, letting builders choose housing over excessive parking. Following in the footsteps of cities like Spokane, Port Townsend, and Bellingham, the move sets Bremerton up to prioritize housing needs and improving multimodal travel options.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The City of Bothell is poised to adopt an update to its citywide bike plan, providing itself a literal road map for the city of just under 50,000 people to be able to revamp its city streets to become safer and more accessible for people riding bikes. The newest version of the plan, released late| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Downtown Bothell is a growing city center with a unique history that defies many suburban stereotypes, while still running up against the challenges of cohabitating with a major highway, SR 522. This Friday, July 29th, The Urbanist will be hosting a social event on Bothell's pedestrianized Main Street with Mayor Mason Thompson and architect, developer,| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# In June of 2020, the City of Bothell closed a one-block stretch of Main Street in its downtown to motor vehicles, opening the space for businesses to expand outdoor dining and creating additional opportunities for pedestrians and people on bikes to use that block. Last week, the Bothell City Council voted to extend that closure| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
Monthly Archives: October 2025| www.theurbanist.org
King County Metro has slashed the budgets for the K and R Lines by 20% to 25%, which could scale back planned reliability improvements and rider amenities. The move raises serious questions about the future of the overall RapidRide program. The post Metro Scales Back Scope of RapidRide K, R Lines first appeared on The Urbanist.| The Urbanist
The Washington Department of Commerce's appeal is the first to come directly from state government to enforce 2021's House Bill 1220, which requires cities to target future housing growth by income level. If successful, it will likely prompt a major change in how the city of nearly 9,000 plans for future residents. The post Duvall Growth Plan Faces Challenge After Disregarding New Housing Law first appeared on The Urbanist.| The Urbanist
The Urbanist Elections Committee is excited to announce our 2025 general election endorsements, which span the region from Tacoma to Everett. Be sure to vote by November 4. The post 2025 General Election Endorsements first appeared on The Urbanist.| The Urbanist
At an October 8th forum, urbanist-backed Kirkland City Council candidates discussed housing solutions, but none of their opponents showed, clearly ceding housing leadership in the four races. Here's a recap of the solutions candidates laid out. The post Pro-Housing Kirkland Council Candidates Discuss Affordability, Opponents Skip Forum first appeared on The Urbanist.| The Urbanist
Last week, the Seattle School Board rejected a year-long pilot program to install a police officer inside Garfield High School in a 5-2 vote. School board directors cited a chaotic process, community distrust, and a need to finetune the plan. The post Seattle School Board Rejects Bringing Police Officer Back to Garfield first appeared on The Urbanist.| The Urbanist
The idea of a fare-free pilot on several Metro routes, to be implemented in 2027, came about as fares have shrunk as a percentage of Metro's overall sources of revenue. But the data suggests that dropping fares wouldn't be as big of a boon as continuing to focus on expanding transit service. The post Dembowski Pushes Fare-Free Pilot at King County Metro first appeared on The Urbanist.| The Urbanist
The Urbanist and Tech4Housing are hosting a rally and mega-canvass Sunday in Columbia City for Seattle City Council candidates Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Dionne Foster, and Eddie Lin, City Attorney candidate Erika Evans, and mayoral candidate Katie Wilson. Join us to help put the urbanist slate over the top. The post Op-Ed: Why Seattle’s Housing Future Depends on You first appeared on The Urbanist.| The Urbanist
One local builder lays out the case for passing the City's Multifamily Tax Exemption Program 7 proposal, which would expand access to a wider pool of renters and encourage participation in the program. The Seattle City Council is set to vote today. The post Op-Ed: Seattle’s MFTE Program 7 Widens Access and Participation first appeared on The Urbanist.| The Urbanist
After pivoting away from an aggressive schedule for battery-bus adoption, King County Metro plans to focus attention on the tried-and-true trolley network. But limited staff, delays obtaining materials and permit timelines mean that trolley expansions will be some time coming. The post Metro Plans Trolleybus Investments, with Long Implementation Timelines first appeared on The Urbanist.| The Urbanist
# Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and progressive challenger Katie Wilson have debated many times over the course of the general election, and one of the most recent was at Seattle University and co-sponsored by KOMO. Seeking to make up ground after finishing a distant second in the primary, Harrell continued to harangue Wilson for a perceived| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
Monthly Archives: October 2023| www.theurbanist.org
# Tacoma's Green Blocks program is expanding into the Lincoln International District in October and looking for residents looking to help plant and care for trees.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
Monthly Archives: July 2025| www.theurbanist.org
# King County Council Chair Girmay Zahilay and Rian Watt make the case for a more inclusive urbanism: "To fully realize the transformative promise of urbanism, we must be willing to ask: urbanism for whom?"| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Acting King County Executive Shannon Braddock was sworn in on April 1, but the King County Council is still deciding on whether they will appoint her through November. Filling in as her former boss departed to take the Sound Transit CEO job, Braddock emphasized continuity.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Dow Constantine will leave his post as King County Executive and take over as Sound Transit's CEO on April 1, after the agency's board of directors approved the hiring in a unanimous vote Thursday. Constantine takes over at a tenuous time, with projects budgets bursting at the seams.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# In a recent interview, Girmay Zahilay delved into his urbanist policy platform and values in his bid for King County Executive. We covered boosting housing, staunching Metro's fiscal cliff, leading Sound Transit, resisting Trump overreach, and more.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# In making her case to become the next King County Executive, Claudia Balducci is pointing to her extensive track record of delivering on housing and transportation –– and getting the details right.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# King County Executive Dow Constantine is not seeking a fifth term, but County Councilmember Claudia Balducci is seeking to grab the baton and carry the initiatives he leaves behind over the finish line. She will face numerous challengers in what is sure to be a crowded primary.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Nathan Rouse wants to deliver public safety via holistic fixes and criminal justice reform. He's challenging incumbent Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison, who he argues has focused on scoring cheap political points rather than results.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Activating public spaces is a worthy goal, but it takes welcoming people in with placemaking and guardianship, not banishing those deemed undesirable.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Emboldened by the Supreme Court's sweep-friendly Grants Pass decision, the Seattle City Council is advancing stay out zones in hopes of criminalizing drug abuse, sex work, and homelessness out of existence. History suggests this will not work.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
Monthly Archives: June 2025| www.theurbanist.org
Monthly Archives: September 2025| www.theurbanist.org
# Mayor Bruce Harrell has pledged to complete labor negotiations with the Seattle Police Officers Guild before the end of the year. But facing a tough reelection fight, he might not be around to sign the deal, which challenger Katie Wilson may want to renegotiate anyway.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Nearly $200,000 in outside spending from a political action committee started by one Woodinville tech worker has upended local politics in the quiet suburb. The goal? Taking down a pro-growth council majority.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# While Tacoma saw a small uptick in housing starts in the first months of Home in Tacoma upzones, the City’s goal to add 59,000 homes by 2050 may take additional action by the City, given current trendlines.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# A 5-2 vote at the council puts a zoning rollback in Three Tree Point, Lake Burien, and Seahurst on the table for 2026, following months of advocacy by residents. This November's election will likely play a big role in the final policy outcome.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# CityNerd host Ray Delahanty recently visited Seattle and made a video with food blogger Kenji López-Alt while he was in town, focusing on what makes Pike Place Market great. Obviously, the pedestrianization of Pike Place came up, with the duo noting program has created more space for people walking and made it a more pleasant place to be for shoppers.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The sixth YIMBYtown conference, held earlier this month in Connecticut, represented a major change from its first iteration in 2016. The factors that have led to YIMBYtown going mainstream are leading to housing reforms across the country.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck's newly passed "Roots to Roofs" program is a 35-project pilot that lets nonprofit organizations and the Seattle Social Housing Developer tap into additional development capacity, particularly in areas with a history of past racial covenants.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The race for Seattle Mayor is heating up, with progressive challenger Katie Wilson securing new labor support and incumbent Bruce Harrell ramping up fundraising and attacks on his opponent. Harrell also called in an endorsement from a national Democratic Party leader via Pete Buttigieg.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# In Mayor Bruce Harrell’s 2026 budget proposal unveiled Tuesday, the Seattle Police Department was the big winner, seeing a $34.5 million increase. The mayor would use a new 0.1% “public safety” sales tax increase and a business tax overhaul to close a $122 million deficit and fund new investments.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
Monthly Archives: February 2022| www.theurbanist.org
# The way cities conduct public outreach and local elections stacks the deck against homebuilding, tenants, and people of color, research shows. But it doesn’t have to be this way.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Washington State Legislature legalized “missing middle” housing across the state, allowing more homes on a lot in the form of rowhouses, duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes and sixplexes. Seattle will now need to legalize sixplex homes citywide in areas served with frequent transit and fourplexes elsewhere. This restores Seattle to a bygone era of density, affordability, and| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The Washington State Department of Commerce has released draft guidance and model codes to implement the state's a new middle housing law. The new law will apply to most cities with a population of at least 25,000 residents (and some smaller cities), requiring them to broadly legalize middle housing throughout residential zones. Cities in King,| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The Seattle City Council voted 8-0 Monday to pass accessory dwelling unit (ADU) reform, making it much easier to add a backyard cottage and/or an attached in-law apartment in a single family lot. The bill included a single family home size limit-- colloquially known as a McMansion ban--that will limit new construction to no more| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# New regulations to remove financial and regulatory barriers to backyard cottages and stem the tide of McMansions are moving forward in Seattle, possibly completing a five-year process that started in 2014. Last Wednesday, the Seattle City Council's Transportation and Sustainability Committee met to discuss the latest proposal to develop the sweeping housing regulations. Three weeks| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
Monthly Archives: July 2019| www.theurbanist.org
Kenmore Considers McMansion Tax in Zoning Overhaul| www.theurbanist.org
# A coalition of 24 neighborhood groups announced an appeal of the City of Seattle's Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) rezone plan. The alliance calls itself the Seattle Coalition for Affordability, Livability, and Equity (SCALE) and threw a litany of complaints at the proposal, claiming the status quo would be better for affordability despite the evidence to| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD) released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) document today. Mayor Tim Burgess officially released the FEIS at a noon event at Broadway Hill Park. The final urban village maps with explanations of the decisions are viewable starting around page 113 of this FEIS attachment. The MHA| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Editor’s Note: This is Part 1 in a three-part series on measuring the success of Seattle’s urban village strategy. For the the 22 independent indicators, see Part 2 and Part 3. In this article, Scott distills down some key background details from the report. Correction: The SSNAP report has been updated to correct statistics on where Seattle residents work. 38.2| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
Monthly Archives: June 2018| www.theurbanist.org
# In the past two decades, development in and around Northgate has, for the most part, been a bit sleepy. Every few years a new project would complete, but in 2019 three apartment buildings opened. With the Northgate light rail extension to begin service on October 2nd, several projects are currently underway, and many more are| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# With an overly limited urban village around its light rail station, Roosevelt could really use an expansion. I moved my family to the edge of Roosevelt in 2016, right on the boundary with Ravenna and a few steps away from the University District. We came for the gorgeous parks, great schools, budding amenities, and the| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The Roosevelt neighborhood has the makings of a huge transit-oriented development success story. A building boom is underway, protected bike lanes have recently gone in, and the station site will be home to an affordable housing complex right around the time trains begin operating. Northgate Link, along with an underground station in Roosevelt, will open| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Green Lake and Roosevelt are at the heart of major new walking, biking, and transit infrastructure in North Seattle. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) recently rolled out improvements on NE 65th St and is poised add new improvements to NE 70th St in the coming months. NE 65th Street Improvements Responding to a "Fix| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
Monthly Archives: August 2022| www.theurbanist.org
Monthly Archives: March 2022| www.theurbanist.org
Monthly Archives: November 2021| www.theurbanist.org
Monthly Archives: September 2021| www.theurbanist.org
# Three years after the Seattle City Council tasked the department of construction with examining how to reform its cumbersome design review process, the agency released its report. The department still remains nearly a year away from making substantive changes to design review.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The agency is seeking feedback on its initial pedestrian, bike, bus, and transit-oriented development plans near its four planned West Seattle light rail stations. Sound Transit recently reached out to communities on the West Seattle Link Extension to gauge priorities around station area planning. The agency was specifically looking into support for particular station entrance| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
Monthly Archives: February 2025| www.theurbanist.org
# Early last week, crews with Seattle's Office of the Waterfront installed a very short stretch of two-way bike lane, at the foot of Yesler Way approaching Alaskan Way and Washington State Ferries Colman Dock. The new bike lane was timed to go in at the same time that new traffic patterns around the state ferry| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# On a quiet weekday in November, daily passengers at the Washington State Ferries' Colman Dock stopped using a makeshift terminal to board ferries to Bremerton and Bainbridge Island and instead boarded from a brand new 20,000 square foot terminal, an effort years in the making. The new building, which includes seating for 362 people, dramatically| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Seattle is getting a Waterfront Park with an Overlook Walk connecting Pike Place Market to the Aquarium. This is made possible by the fact there won't be a gigantic highway viaduct between them. After the new $4 billion SR-99 tunnel opened, the Alaskan Way Viaduct came down in 2019. A new surface-level boulevard (with a| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
Monthly Archives: September 2023| www.theurbanist.org
# A paper trail from fall 2023 shows that Mayor Harrell's office overruled his planning department and cut transit corridor upzones and halved the number of proposed "neighborhood centers" before release of the growth strategy.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Kenmore City Councilmember David Baker offered a sharp criticism of the City of Seattle's slow and halting process to rezone the area around 130th Street Station during Thursday's Sound Transit System Expansion Committee meeting. Baker is one of 18 Sound Transit boardmembers who decide the fate of transit projects across the tri-county area. Transit advocates| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Members of the Sound Transit Board are expected to make a decision in April 2015 regarding light rail station locations on the Northgate-to-Lynnwood extension. One station being considered is a NE 130th Street Station on the east side of I-5 and NE 130th Street. The proposed 130th Street station would not have a parking structure and would| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
Monthly Archives: June 2024| www.theurbanist.org
# On Monday, Senator Maria Cantwell's office announced that the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has been selected to receive over $25 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation for a suite of street improvements intended to improve safety, as part of the new Safe Streets for All grant program funded by the Infrastructure Investment and| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The Washington Traffic Safety Commission held a difficult conversation last week around its longstanding goal of ending fatalities and serious injuries in traffic by the year 2030: whether that goal has now slipped out of reach. Washington's "Target Zero," established in 2000, with Washington one of the very first states to commit to ending traffic| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The gaps in Seattle's current complete streets legislation are becoming more apparent as the city moves ahead with a repaving project on one of the city's busiest and highest speed corridors, with minimal adjustments planned to slow traffic or make space for other modes of travel like walking or biking. The repaving project, which will| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is proposing changes to one of the most dangerous streets in the city, 4th Avenue S in SoDo, on a relatively ambitious timeline in the wake of several fatal crashes nearby just this year alone. The changes are relatively minor, quick-build type changes, but they do illustrate how SDOT| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has announced they are planning to convert one lane of northbound Rainier Avenue to a dedicated transit lane between Columbia City and Mount Baker later this year. A planned extension north through a heavily congested section near I-90 to reach to the soon-to-open Judkins Park Station in the median| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Within 18 months, the posted maximum speed limit on nearly every single arterial street in the city of Seattle will be 25 miles per hour. That was the boldest action on the list of safety improvements announced by Mayor Jenny Durkan yesterday, in response to a big uptick in traffic violence. More than two years| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# (Image: Seattle Fire Department)It’s been a bad year for Rainier Avenue South. There are the usually numerous car crashes, sure, but that’s normal. The same goes for the pedestrian collisions--regrettable, but normal. An unfortunate but inevitable side effect of the automobile, and are generally accepted with little comment. But in April, a car slammed into a| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
Monthly Archives: February 2023| www.theurbanist.org
# The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has announced plans to implement a new kind of pedestrian improvement that other cities have begun to add to crosswalks to reduce the frequency and severity of collisions between people walking and rolling and people turning left in vehicles. The improvement, which is referred to as a "hardened centerline"| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# On the backdrop of Lake City Way yesterday afternoon, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray met with dozens of supporters and advocates to unveil his citywide plan to eliminate all traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030. The Mayor was joined by Scott Kubly, Director of the Seattle Department of Transportation, and Kathleen O'Toole, Chief of Police| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
Monthly Archives: January 2022| www.theurbanist.org
# The idea of encouraging more residential development around Seattle's stadiums had been put on ice in 2023 with the adoption of a citywide maritime and industrial strategy. Nelson's bill reignites that debate just as the council starts to consider the Comprehensive Plan.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# District 2 Councilmember Tammy Morales announced Wednesday morning that she will resign in January, saying she has been undermined and frozen out of legislating by the more conservative-leaning Seattle City Council majority. The resignation sets up another council appointment and a special election next fall.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Battle lines are forming over the Occidental Avenue street vacation, which could (un)pave the way for Chris Hansen's basketball and soccer arena, ahead of a big vote expected at the May 2nd full council meeting. In the Sustainability and Transportation Committee, Sally Bagshaw was the only councilmember to vote against the petition asking for a| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
Monthly Archives: September 2024| www.theurbanist.org
# Cost estimates on the four-station West Seattle Link light rail project have jumped from $4 billion to upwards of $5.6 billion. It will fall on the Sound Transit board to find a way forward.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Momentum has been building around Reconnect South Park, a community-led effort to address how SR 99 slices through the neighborhood located near the Duwamish River in southwest Seattle, separating residents from their own community center, library, and elementary school. But one of Washington's highway megaprojects, SR 509 "completion" project, part of the $2.38 billion Puget| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Light rail tunnels to West Seattle Junction and Ballard took a step closer from dream to reality thanks to Sound Transit's latest analysis suggesting the cost for at least some of the tunnel options would be comparable to the elevated default option. The catch for Ballard Link is that the cheaper tunnel option still puts| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
