All posts by Kevin Schofield

Kevin Schofield is a freelance writer and the founder of Seattle City Council Insight, a web site providing independent news and analysis of the Seattle City Council. After graduating from Dartmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts degree, he worked for Microsoft Corporation for 26 years. That culminated in a term as Chief Operations Officer for Microsoft Research, the division of the company focused on advancing the state of the art in computing. Upon leaving Microsoft in 2014 he decided to embrace his love of writing. Kevin volunteers at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, where he also serves on the Board of Directors. He is also Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. Beyond writing, his personal passions are his twin daughters, photography, cooking, and playing the guitar. He lives in Seattle, Washington.
legal, state government, tax, transportation benefit district

Dueling motions filed in legal challenge to Initiative 976

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With a preliminary injunction now in place, the fight over Initiative 976 has moved on to the next step.  Yesterday, both the plaintiffs and the defendants filed motions for summary judgment, asking the court to weigh the legal issues and find in their favor.

Continue reading Dueling motions filed in legal challenge to Initiative 976 →

transportation

New report presents clearer picture on e-scooter safety issues

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Last May, I wrote an article discussing the safety of e-scooters, as Seattle was beginning to discuss a scooter-share program modeled after its existing bike-share program, and as other cities agressively rolled out scooter share. My conclusion was that there simply was not enough data to draw a definitive answer on e-scooter safety, though the early results presented reasons to be concerned.

Now, as Seattle is well on its way to rolling out scooter-share later this spring, a new report on scooter injuries nationwide in 2018 brings us a bigger data set — and fresh reasons to be concerned.

Continue reading New report presents clearer picture on e-scooter safety issues →

election, ethics

Two thirds of “Clean Campaigns” legislation passes out of committee

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This morning, the newly-seated City Council passed out of committee two bills that are part of Council President Lorena Gonzalez’s “Clean Campaigns” legislation package, leaving one more to receive additional tooling over the next three months.

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election, full council

Photos from Monday afternoon’s swearing-in ceremony

This afternoon, Council members Herbold, Morales, Pedersen, Juarez, Strauss and Lewis took their oath of office and deliver some prepared remarks (Sawant will take her oath of office next week, but addressed the audience today too). Also, Lorena Gonzalez was elected Council President by her peers. Here is a gallery of photos from this afternoon’s swearing-in ceremony and the new Council’s first meeting.

 

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