March 3rd, 2010
[caption id="attachment_1123" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Othello Light Rail Station"][/caption] I was reading through my stockpile of Daily Journals of Commerce yesterday (similar, yet different from the stack of New Yorkers at home) and came across a good article on how city regulations, transit-oriented development, and market forces are shaping new development around the
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May 11th, 2009
This past weekend's neighborhood plan update town meeting in the Othello/New Holly neighborhood illustrated that neighborhood planning can be difficult, uncomfortable work. Several participants had pointed questions about who was running the show, where the process was headed and whether the day was really a cover for a city rezone agenda. The
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February 11th, 2009
One of the things I sometimes have trouble with is giving short answers. Another reason the Land Use Committee is great for me. There are no short answers when it comes to land use. People have been asking me if I support HB 1490 and I do my usual, "Well, I like
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December 31st, 2008
William Yardley writes for The New York Times and had a piece from Seattle in last Sunday's edition that captured the striving ambivalence of Seattle's growth boom. The article was about Edith Macefield, the recently deceased woman who held out against the forces of redevelopment in Ballard by refusing to sell when
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December 19th, 2008
With last Monday's 6-3 vote to spread "incentive zoning" beyond the downtown area we wrapped up a year of work and came to the end of a long ride. The program, which allows the city to trade new development area (usually height) for a little bit of moderately affordable housing, asks way
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December 3rd, 2008
The most important first step in updating Seattle's Neighborhood Plans took place last night at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center. It was the inaugural meeting of the Neighborhood Planning Advisory Committee, the citizens group tasked with keeping the process true, transparent and on track. I was excited and told attendees I wished
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November 19th, 2008
Or maybe we're just the weary. I have to admit that yesterday's Veteran's Day holiday was much appreciated. Between the budget, the Dravus rezone and ongoing work on the Workforce Housing Incentive Program, I've savored unprogrammed time. Not only is my house vacuumed, but we also saw a movie in a real
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