A lot to upgrade: Amtrak has its work cut out for it to making all stations accessible to people with disabilities ($).
Charging station issues: What’s wrong with a federal plan for 500,000 public electric vehicle car charging stations?
BIA formation hiccup: Why are some businesses on 15th Avenue E in Capitol Hill opposing a business improvement district?
Covid vaccination sagas: A union representing statewide public employees have settled with Washington’s governor on vaccine mandates ($). King County is imposing a vaccination passport requirement for some business types soon. President Joseph R. Biden will require many employers to mandate vaccines or require regular Covid testing. And it turns out anti-vax staff didn’t cause holiday weekend chaos on the Washington State Ferries network ($).
15-minute cities: Fifteen-minute cities may be important for key access but they might not be enough to guarantee prosperity.
Climate delayers: Obtuse Democratic legislators in California are standing in the way and slowing down the state’s high-speed rail project.
Rent control: St. Paul voters will get to vote on a rent control initiative, but does it go too far?
Abolish billionaires: A billionaire wants to build a desert utopia, but these type of pie-in-the-sky plans usually fail without exception.
Drop off payments: Why are schools paying parents to drop off their kids at school?
Minoru Yamasaki: Knute Berger remembers Seattle’s famed architect Minoru Yamasaki.
Micromobility cutbacks: Washington, D.C. may move to cut back on private micromobility services.
Criteria for transit: What should the criteria be for the federal government to fund transit?
NYC’s flooding problem: The New York Times looks at how Hurricane Ida turned basements into deathtraps ($). But what can New York City do now to prepare for the next major flooding event?
Canada’s highway ban: In Canada, highways aren’t funded by the federal government.
Treat drivers the same: What if drivers had to obey scooter laws?
Spectacular bike rides: What are three spectacular September bike rides in the Seattle area?
Dirty plan: Grist highlights how the EPA might water down its cleanup standards for the Duwamish River only.
Tex-Mex rail: Mexico has proposed yet another plan to connect Monterrey, Mexico with San Antonio, Texas by passenger rail.
No deal: Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff has not had his contract extended yet in a surprise last week with the agency board tabling a decision until its next full meeting.
A good incentive: A rezone is encouraging redevelopment of a marijuana retailer property.
Regressive preemption: In red states, legislators are preempting cities from implementing green policies.
Pulled plug: Boston’s acting mayor has pulled the plug on the city’s harbor plan ($).
Massive evictions: One estimate suggests that 750,000 Americans will be evicted with the end of the national eviction moratorium ($).
New protocols: A ban on policing crowd control methods in Seattle has gone into effect despite no mayoral signature, but there may be legal challenges ahead.
Off-duty patrols: The Downtown Seattle Association is spending quite a bit of money to hire off-duty police to patrol ($).
Stephen is a professional urban planner in Puget Sound with a passion for sustainable, livable, and diverse cities. He is especially interested in how policies, regulations, and programs can promote positive outcomes for communities. With stints in great cities like Bellingham and Cork, Stephen currently lives in Seattle. He primarily covers land use and transportation issues and has been with The Urbanist since 2014.