City rolls out $30 million “strategic investment fund” RFP for anti-displacement efforts

It’s been a big week for investments in Seattle’s BIPOC communities. First, the City Council approved $1 million to allow the Office for Civil Rights to move the $30 million participatory budgeting program forward; then yesterday the Mayor’s Equitable Communities Initiative Task Force unveiled their recommendations for how to invest another $30 million. Now this morning, Mayor Durkan announced the release of an RFP for proposals for land and property acquisition “to respond to disproportionate displacement pressures impacting black, Indigenous, and people of color communities.”

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How to help us all get through the coronavirus outbreak

The coronoavirus outbreak is scary for those most at risk of severe health consequences. It’s also scary for all of us with friends and loved ones who are at risk. And it’s disrupted everyone’s lives here in the Seattle area. But we’re in this together, and we’ll get through it together. Here are nine ways that you can help your friends, family, neighbors, and community as we all deal with this public health emergency for the next several weeks.

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City announces sale of “Mercer Megablock”

This morning, Mayor Durkan announced that the city has agreed to terms with Alexandria Real Estate Equities to purchase the Mercer Megablock property in South Lake Union, along with the adjacent city-owned property at 615 Dexter Avenue N. The deal will net the city $143 million in cash, plus a package of additional public benefits that together the city estimates will total somewhere between $275 – $305 million.

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City-wide MHA upzone Environmental Impact Statement jumps first hurdle with the Hearing Examiner

The Hearing Examiner’s Office has been adjudicating nine separate challenges by neighborhood organizations to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the city’s city-wide MHA upzones. After a hearing on May 31 to discuss several motions for summary judgment, last Friday the Hearing Examiner issued rulings — and it largely went in favor of the city. The appeals are far from resolved, and won’t be until early fall, but several issues were taken off the table as potential flaws in the FEIS.

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