Monday morning the Council’s Select Committee on Civic Arenas held its first meeting, which entailed a high-level overview of the committee’s purview, as well as the issues related to the SODO Arena and Key Arena proposals that are likely to come before it.
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Council forms new Select Committee on Civic Arenas
The City Council recently formed a new committee to deal with the issues related to competing arena plans for Key Arena at Seattle Center and the proposed SODO Arena in the Stadium District.
Continue readingCouncil approves its 2017 Work Program
On Monday, the City Council approved its 2017 Work Program: its list of planned work items for the year.
Continue readingCouncil starts to identify key issues in police accountability legislation
Wednesday morning, the City Council had its first committee hearing on the proposed police accountability legislation. It gave a good preview of some important debates we’ll get to see in the weeks to come.
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Understanding the University District Rezone
Since 2011, the city has been working on a plan to rezone the University District as part of the long-term strategic effort to grow it into another “urban center.” That plan is now in its final stages, tentatively set to come up for a vote by the Council some time in January. The proposed rezone plan is large, complex, and controversial. Let’s look at what it entails, and what the issues are.
Continue readingHomeless encampments meeting enters bizarro world
I’ve been scratching my head all afternoon and evening trying to figure out how to write something coherent about what was fundamentally an incoherent, chaotic meeting of the Human Services and Public Health Committee this morning to discuss the pending homeless encampment legislation. I’m going to give a quick rundown on what happened (ok, maybe not so quick) then share some thoughts and observations.
Continue readingMove-in fees legislation: you’re doing it wrong
Yesterday’s hearing on Council member Sawant’s proposed legislation, capping move-in fees and requiring landlords to let tenants pay those fees by installment, was a parody of the legislative process. It undermined her credibility, and that of the other Council members who participated.
Continue readingCouncil takes up homeless encampment legislation
Yesterday morning the Council had its first substantive discussion on the merits of the bill introduced earlier this month to rewrite the city’s protocol for clearing unsanctioned homeless encampments. While yesterday’s meeting was intended to be just a forum for discussion with no decisions, it nevertheless highlighted just how much work needs to be done on the details of the bill before it’s ready for adoption – and how unlikely that work will be finished before the Council’s self-imposed deadline of the end of the month.
Continue readingThis week in Council Chambers
It’s another long week of meetings (8 this week) as the Council tries to wrap up several items before plunging into the 2017-2018 budget development work.
Continue readingSecure scheduling ordinance goes into the home stretch
This afternoon the Council will consider ten amendments to the proposed “secure scheduling” ordinance, and hopefully vote the final version out of committee.
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