Stephen Fesler
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.
By the numbers: All the key numbers of a growing, changing, and vibrant Downtown Seattle.
Learning from Spock: You'd have to live a hole at this point to not know of Leonard Nimoy's passing. He was a gentle soul, just like his Spock character, who really did believe in Utopia--we can...
Time and time again, we wonder: when will transit rider growth diminish? And time and time again, we've been pleasantly surprised that it hasn't happened! Not only do people clearly love transit, people are simply moving to communities and taking on lifestyles than necessitate it. That's great news for...
Biking is a heavily male-dominated sport and mode of transportation. Locally, we're still subject to the huge gender gap in biking with nearly 71% of bike commuters being men. Pronto!'s own numbers show it, too. Since the launch of Pronto! back in October, only 19% of the ~24k trips on the shiny...
This past weekend, Mayor Ed Murray was at the grand opening of Seattle's sixth parklet. Located in front of the Uptown Cinema, the SIFF-sponsored Uptown Parklet was presented to Uptown residents and the public alike. Flanked with blue movie reels and dotted with ample seating, the space will be a welcome addition...
The Eastlake Neighborhood's north end has seen rapid redevelopment over the past few years, and 3272 Fuhrman Ave E is just the latest project in a long line of big residential developments to come to the area. Sited on the corner of Eastlake Ave E and Fuhrman Ave E, many locals will...
In a 8-0 vote in favor yesterday, the Seattle City Council approved a change to the Multifamily Housing Property Tax Exemption Program (MFTE) on small efficiency dwelling unit developments (more commonly known as microhousing). The MFTE is a voluntary program for housing developers to provide income-restricted units below certain...
A new 101-unit, 7-story apartment building is coming to the University District. The Arion Apartments will deliver a lot of color and whimsy to a block in serious need of it. The project is entering the Recommendation phase of Design Review tonight in order to respond to the concerns and issues presented at the Early...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQfC6mKTErg
Do our cities still work? by The National on YouTube.
Brent Toderian, Charles Montgomery, and other Canadian urbanists talk about how sprawl is a problem for our health and financial stability. Juxtaposed, they speak about how real cities are a solution.