With Governor Inslee’s declaration yesterday of a drought in most of the state, it’s worth taking a moment to look at how Seattle is doing for water resources.
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Seattle Public Utilities issues updated strategic plan, new proposed rates
Tomorrow morning, Seattle Public Utilities will appear in front of the City Council’s Transportation and Utilities Committee to present its updated six-year strategic plan and an accompanying six-year plan for the rates it will be charging its customers. The strategic plan summarizes the highlights and challenges for the public utility company, including the factors leading to the new proposed rates.
Continue readingGood news: your garbage bill isn’t going to go up as fast
This morning, Seattle Public Utilities presented its proposed solid waste rates for 2020-2022. And for once, there was good news: the rates aren’t going up as fast as was predicted in the utility’s Strategic Business Plan.
Continue readingThe State of Recycling in Seattle
Last week the Council got a briefing from Seattle Public Utilities and Zero Waste Washington on what’s going on with recycling in Seattle. Despite strong support for recycling here, there are some substantial challenges.
Continue readingGarbage collection is about to get better, cleaner — and cheaper
Yesterday Seattle Public Utilities briefed the Council on a pair of new contracts it has negotiated with Waste Management and Recology. And there’s a fair amount of good news.
Continue readingNotes from Monday’s meetings
Lots of goings on today…
Continue readingSPU’s bad news: your bill is going way up in 2019
Yesterday, Seattle Public Utilities briefed the City Council on their efforts to update the utility’s Strategic Business Plan. The news wasn’t good.
Continue readingThe Council argues about things, and strange bedfellows emerge
In this afternoon’s Full Council meeting, there are two agenda items. Both of them surfaced disagreements among the Council members, and both times an unlikely voting bloc emerged: Sawant and Harrell.
Continue readingCouncil mulls over terms of solid waste disposal contract
Seattle generates a little over 300,000 tons of non-recycled solid waste per year. The contract for hauling away and disposing of all that garbage, under the auspices of Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), has been in place since 1990 and runs until 2028. But the Council is now arguing over whether it should opt out in order to put it out to bid for the first time in over a quarter century.
Continue readingNews roundup: bags, budget, AirBnB
Seattle Times, KING5, and The Urbanist report on yesterday’s Council approval of a permanent extension to the city’s plastic bag ban and new rules on tinting compostable bags. MyNorthwest discusses the City Council’s approach to the Mayor’s budget proposal. Seattle Times covers the Council’s approval of a new pay band for the head of Seattle Public Utilities. Crosscut opines on the change of the city’s political tone to “Seattle nasty.” MyNorthwest reports on AirBnB’s new ad campaign as it fights back against possible regulation. State Scoop reports on Seattle CTO Michael Mattmiller’s comments at a conference on how government IT procurement needs …
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