This afternoon the City Council will take up a resolution laying out principles on how the city should approach cleaning up the unsanctioned homeless encampment known as the “Jungle.”
Continue readingCategory: public safety
New protections against slumlords on their way
The Council held its first hearing this morning on a new ordinance, authored by Council member Kshama Sawant, to restrict slumlords from raising rents for non-compliant housing units. But the details are a little tricky, so it’s worth diving into the details.
Continue readingBike plan: the bad news isn’t so bad
The last couple of weeks have not been happy for bicycle enthusiasts, since SDOT released a revision of the Seattle Bike Plan that had significant cutbacks for 2016 and beyond. That was interpreted as both a violation of the voters’ faith when they approved the Move Seattle levy last year, and a failure to deliver on the conditions that the City Council wrote into their approval of the Pronto buyout earlier this year. The bicycle community has been up in arms about it. But yesterday afternoon, representatives from SDOT appeared in front of the City Council’s Sustainability and Transportation Committee …
Continue readingNew “Ride the Ducks” bill moves forward
This morning the Council introduced a new version of an ordinance that would restrict live narration on some tour buses, and liked it enough to move it out of committee and on to the full Council for approval.
Continue readingTour vehicle regulation bill gets first hearing
This morning the Gender Equity, Safe Communities and New Americans Committee began deliberations on a bill that would restrict drivers of tour vehicles from also providing narration.
Continue readingThis week: Larry Weis finale, and lots of committee work
The final confirmation vote on the nomination of Larry Weis comes up tomorrow at the full Council meeting. Plus, in committees this week: safe injection sites, secure scheduling, prescription drug disposal, police department staffing, and new regulations for tour and excursion vehicles.
Continue reading$1M of State money for The Jungle: not (quite) what you heard
We all heard last week that the Washington State Legislature has allocated $1 million for building a razor wire fence around the unsanctioned encampment under three miles of I-5 known as “The Jungle.” This morning during the Council Briefing we learned more, and the details are a bit different.
Continue readingNews roundup: homelessness, police reform, and much more
Discussion of the homelessness crisis in Seattle and what to do about “The Jungle” encampment, as well as police reform in the aftermath of the Che Taylor shooting, top the news this morning. But lots more too…
Continue readingCouncil gets briefed on The Jungle: we’re going to need a bigger table
This morning the City Council got a briefing on the recent assessment of the East Duwamish Greenbelt homeless encampment, better known as “The Jungle.” You can read the assessment team’s written report here, or my summary here. The factual part of this morning’s briefing didn’t relay much information beyond what was in the report, instead the council members were eager to discuss an appropriate response.
Continue readingThe Jungle
Many of us heard about the Seattle homeless encampment known as “The Jungle” for the first time late last month when a double homicide occurred there. That same night, Mayor Ed Murray, King County Executive Dow Constantine, and Governor Jay Inslee agreed to a joint assessment of the site to gather data on the conditions there and the risks and hazards posed by its ongoing presence. That report is now in, and the City Council will be briefed on it tomorrow morning. And it’s far, far worse than you imagined.
Continue reading