Doug Trumm
Doug Trumm is publisher of The Urbanist. An Urbanist writer since 2015, he dreams of pedestrian streets, bus lanes, and a mass-timber building spree to end our housing crisis. He graduated from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington in 2019. He lives in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood and loves to explore the city by foot and by bike.
By this winter, Seattle voters will have before them the question of whether to fund the city's new social housing developer with a tax on the highest compensated employees in the city. To make it happen, House Our Neighbors gathered more than 38,000 signatures in support of Initiative 137.
Seattle grew by 18,500 residents in one year to a total of 797,700, according to recently released state figures. Meanwhile, Tacoma surpassed 225,000, Redmond crossed 80,000, and Bellevue hit 155,000 in those population estimates.
Seattle's single family areas have seen their Black population plummet by 9,126 since 1990. Meanwhile, "urban village" neighborhood have added more than 8,000 Black residents in that span. Why then is low-density zoning expected to blunt displacement?
King County Executive Dow Constantine continues to tease development plans for the County's large campus in South Downtown, but few firm details have emerged.
On Friday, agency officials celebrated the start of pre-revenue testing for the Lynnwood Link light rail extension. A countdown clock has ticked down to 80 days and counting to the line's grand opening on August 30.
New York had been all geared up to become the first American city to implement congestion pricing later this month until Governor Kathy Hochul announced a stunning reversal, saying she intended to shelve the program on Wednesday. Transit riders and climate advocates are fighting back and aiming to block the move.
After pushback, Councilmember Maritza Rivera backed off a push to pull back funding for the Equitable Development Initiative (EDI) but the episode spoke volumes about the city council's current goals.
Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz is out as the allegations against him pile up. Mayor Bruce Harrell announced Sue Rahr would be his interim replacement. Diaz faces numerous investigations for an alleged pattern of gender and racial discrimination in his office and sexual harassment.