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.
Stopping displacement: How expensive new housing reduces displacement of low-income housing.
A protected class: Hartford, Connecticut wants to kick out a non-traditional family because of neighbor concerns.
Super green: Brooklyn, NY gets its first truly sustainable housing development that passes Passive House standards.
Capping rents: Seattle may pass regulations to restrict rent...
On Saturday, Mayor Ed Murray and other city officials will be in the University District for a community walk on February 21. Billed as a "Find It, Fix It" walk, Mayor Murray wants to meet members of the community and talk about ways that the neighborhood could be improved and get people...
The Metropolitan King County Council and Seattle City Council jointly approved a bus service contract yesterday to deploy 223,000 service hours in the city of Seattle. Service increases go into effect June of this year for the first round with a second in September. Deleted routes like the 47...
Last month, we reported on the closure of a western chunk of the Burke-Gilman Trail (BGT) near the University of Washington. At the time, Seattle City Light was conducting utility work near their substation below Interstate 5. The detours were challenging for walkers, joggers, and bicyclists along this portion...
Seattle could soon be seeing another tree-like tower dot the skyline. Skanska USA, a large national development firm, has partnered up with the architects of Pickard Chilton to build a new 34-story skyscraper and podium structure in Downtown Seattle's West End. Called 2&U, the project will sit on three prominent corners between the...
http://youtu.be/7rmk9X0ZYto
Seattle Building Permits Visualization by data.seattle.gov on YouTube.
A short visualization of building permits in Seattle since 2006. This is astounding!
Trying to kneecap Sound Transit: Senate Republicans come up with a purported "bipartisan" statewide transportation plan that would give new funding authority for Sound Transit 3, but severely limiting taxing options and project scale. Meanwhile, the transportation plan would focus almost exclusively on new highways. Should the plan pass in its...
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,...