Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant delivered the Socialist Alternative response to the State of the Union address last night.
Her fiery speech stumps heavily for Bernie Sanders, and urges Democrats not to support Hillary Clinton even if she wins the Democratic primary.
In These Times also has a profile of Sawant and her political movement.
The Daily Sun News has a profile of hometown hero Council member Lorena Gonzalez. And Crosscut reports on how Council member Debora Juarez is leading the shift toward stronger advocacy for the needs of the newly-formed districts in the City Council.
Seattlish reports on the City Council’s vote this week to update zoning for marijuana-related commercial activities in Seattle.
KING5 reports on the creating of the Northwest SeaPort Alliance, which has pulled the Port of Tacoma into the debate over the request to vacate two blocks of Occidental Avenue for a new basketball/hockey arena. SB Nation also reports on the SeaPort Alliance’s opposition to the street vacation, and how the City Council has yet to schedule the request for a hearing in Council member O’Brien’s Transportation and Sustainability committee.
The Stranger suggests that the next “sharing economy” fight that the City of Seattle might need to fight is regulating AirBnB, as local apartment owners abandon affordable housing in order to list apartments for shorter terms at much higher rents.