Today the Washington State Supreme Court agreed to hear a direct appeal of the legal challenge to Initiative 976, the $30 car-tabs bill, and place it on an expedited schedule.
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Pedersen requests audit of SDOT bridge conditions and maintenance (updated)
Last Friday, Council member Alex Pedersen sent a letter to the City Auditor, requesting that he complete an audit report “to assess the physical conditions and maintenance investments for the major bridges owned by the Seattle Department of Transportation.” (UPDATE 4/29: at end of story)
Continue readingSDOT gives update on West Seattle Bridge, and the news is not good
This afternoon, the Seattle Department of Transportation gave an update on its efforts to preserve and repair the cracked West Seattle Bridge. There was plenty of bad news, and not much good news.
Continue readingLegal challenge to Seattle’s Uber drivers collective bargaining ordinance ends
Yesterday the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Uber, and the City of Seattle jointly agreed to end the lawsuit challenging the city’s ordinance granting Uber and Lyft drivers certain collective-bargaining rights, and this morning the judge overseeing the case officially dismissed it. This ends the case’s complex, three-year journey through the court system.
Continue readingWest Seattle Bridge inspection reports shed light on issues and response
On Tuesday, SDOT released about a dozen internal inspection reports and other documents related to the cracking in the West Seattle Bridge that led to its sudden closure. Taken together, the documents paint a better picture of the origins of the cracking and how the department has responded since it first became aware of serious cracks in the structure in 2013. SCC Insight also interviewed SDOT’s Bridge Group Supervisor Matt Donahue this morning, who filled in more details.
Continue readingMore on the West Seattle Bridge
This morning SDOT briefed the City Council on the situation with the West Seattle Bridge (see the article I posted over the weekend for an explanation of what closed the bridge). Here is some additional information from that briefing, as communicated by SDOT staff.
Continue readingWhat happened to the West Seattle Bridge?
Earlier this week, SDOT made an emergency announcement that it was closing the high West Seattle Bridge due to an increase in cracking of the concrete in the bridge that, in their estimation, made the bridge unsafe to carry vehicles. They are now working on a deeper analysis and a repair plan. Let’s take a deeper dive into what has happened to the bridge.
Continue readingI-976 appeal goes straight to the state Supreme Court
Last week the parties challenging the constitutionality of Initiative 976 filed notice that they intended to appeal Judge Marshall Ferguson’s recent ruling directly to the state Supreme Court. Today they kicked off the arguments, with an emergency motion to stay Ferguson’s ruling until their appeal is resolved.
Continue readingA trio of COVID-19 response announcements from the city (UPDATED 3/18)
Today the City of Seattle made three separate announcements of actions it is taking as part of its response to the COVID-19 outbreak. (UPDATE 3/18 — see below on encampment cleanups)
Continue readingJudge issues new orders in Initiative 976 case
Today Judge Marshall Ferguson issued new orders in the legal challenge to Initiative 976, in response to requests from both the plaintiffs and defendants to reconsider parts of his February 12th ruling that largely upheld Initiative 976.
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