SB 5528: With passage of enabling legislation, Seattle could speed up construction of light rail extensions.
Pit to tower: Across from Seattle City Hall, an empty pit is said to soon start seeing construction of a tower ($). We also noted construction preparations earlier this month.
Urban renewal: Boston’s new mayor wants to end the city’s urban renewal districts.
Embarrassing: Sound Transit’s goals for escalators and elevators are decidedly lackluster and could leave riders hiking steps basically forever.
Transpo subsidies: Most people don’t know what gas tax rates are; are there better transportation subsidy options?
Broadway rezone: In Vancouver, British Columbia, final touches are coming to a big rezoning plan centered on Broadway.
Fewer milquetoast Dems needed: What will it take to get statewide housing reform in Washington?
Finally?: Milwaukee’s streetcar extension long-standing TIGER federal grant may finally come through.
Unite: Seattle’s first Starbucks to unionize is in Capitol Hill.
Not a boulevard: Detroit wants to move forward with a highway removal project but it seems like it could turn out as a surface highway no-man’s-land blunder.
T extension: Boston’s Green Line extension has finally opened.
Backward: Los Angeles transportation authority proposes cutting transit construction funding while boosting freeway spending.
Racial wealth gap: Will increased homeownership close the racial wealth gap?
Methane capture: New law in Washington could mean that methane gas at landfills could be captured for natural gas.
Attrition continues: Seattle’s police department still isn’t making net hiring increases.
JustCARE: The JustCARE program addressing homelessness in Seattle could run out of funding by June.
No show no more: After strangely giving clout to a neo-fascist and insurrectionist group, KOMO’s preeminent purveyor of poverty gawkery, Jonathan Choe, was finally fired.
New Portland blocks: Portland is looking for $15 million in funding for new streets in the city’s Broadway Corridor.
HOPE: What is Seattle’s HOPE team and how is it operating?
LGA link: Transit advocates want New York’s governor to look at solid transit options to LaGuardia Airport, such as an extension of the subway.
More housing: An eight-story apartment building has been approved on 12th Avenue in Capitol Hill.
Makes sense: Sightline explains how homelessness is a housing problem.
Rockaways: New York City is getting a major net-zero development in the Rockaways.
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.