Happy Easter.

This is America.

25th Amendment and Impeachment now.

Someone told me “the only thing that matters is winning.” I disagree. If you’re focused on winning at all costs, you can quickly lose your way. Better to run with integrity, and let the chips fall where they may. There’s always another race and more than one way to make a difference.

Class act and a model of how to run a positive and thoughtful campaign and how to concede with grace.

Thank you! Great to meet and chat!

Only a small percentage of Seattle residents (around 5-10%) typically use them.

So encourage your Seattle friends and family and neighbors to use theirs too!

It’s a great way to increase awareness and participation in the program and our democracy.

If you’re a Seattle resident and haven’t used your democracy vouchers, now is the time to do so! Ballots are dropping next week and there’s only 3 and 1/2 weeks until election day. Also, some candidates have maxed out on vouchers, but our campaign hasn’t yet!

www.linforseattle.com/vouchers

I thought SPD wasn’t reading PubliCola?

The voters ditching Seattle’s mayor, and the voters sticking by him Some onetime supporters of Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell are now backing his opponent. They're playing a role as Katie Wilson looks to unseat the incumbent.

Interesting article. The sentiments here track much of what I’ve been hearing. I do think the lack of progress on homelessness is a major factor why many voters are leaving Bruce.

www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

The Massachusetts millionaire tax is a great example of how raising taxes does NOT cause wealthy people to leave.

Addressing Washington’s Housing Shortage – Senator Jessica Bateman – 244 Podcast Episode · Nerd Farmer Podcast · 07/07/2025 · 47m

Great Nerd Farmer Podcast episode about housing with @natebowling.com and @jessdbateman.bsky.social

We are so lucky in WA to have Sen. Bateman’s bold leadership on this critical issue!

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...

Deliberations and decision-making in public.

It’s probably not practical to have a Mayor or Governor be subject to the same rules around OPMA as the legislative bodies, but I find it interesting that we have fairly strict rules and expectations for legislative bodies but very little for executives around hearing public comments or …

The current Mayor was previously a Councilmember and thus heard his fair share of public comments over the years, but I wonder how it does or doesn’t change behavior and decision-making to hear or not be required to hear public comments as Mayor.

Something I find interesting/curious is that City Council is required to have open public meetings and to regularly hear open public comments but there isn’t really a similar requirement for the Mayor even though the Mayor arguably has greater power.

Very few people are talking about the rapid drop in housing permits and what it means.

And lots of every day voters seem to assume that once a property is upzoned for more density it will quickly be redeveloped, when that is far from reality in most cases.

the fundamentals of development right now are *terrible*

tarriffs, high interest rates, labor pool being kidnapped.

permits in seattle at lowest level in terms of percentage or even number since the '08 recession. and mayor's comp plan won't fix

it's not good, folks.

bsky.app/profile/holz...

Inbox: The items that should have gotten votes in yesterday's housing committee -- including 14 appointments to the city's renter's commission that Cathy Moore urged her former colleagues to delay -- will now get them in the full Seattle City Council meeting.

graph of New Units Permitted by Issue Date showing a nearly 50% drop over last year

just as a reminder - seattle's permitting has fallen off a cliff

the number of homes permitted in june of this year is the lowest level in a decade - lower than at any point during covid.

this is not good news, folks.

I also really like Ry Armstrong and his vision for our City. I appreciate him running and know that he has a bright future, but I am excited to vote Katie Wilson!

Also, we should be angry at the failures of our City and society, and there’s nothing radical about trying to meet the basic needs of our neighbors.

And knows her policy and is a strong communicator.

She’s providing a hopeful message for our City and I don’t think the fear-tactic of trying to paint her as some angry radical will work if people get a chance to meet her and know her.

Had the opportunity to chat with Katie Wilson @wilsonforseattle.bsky.social a bit yesterday and here’s what I appreciate most about her. It’s clear how genuine, caring, thoughtful and trustworthy she is. She’s kind of the opposite of an egocentric politician. She’s also extremely strategic….

That’s the worst part about door-knocking! Try to knock loud enough so people can hear you but not so loud to wake sleeping babies (or sleeping anyone really, but especially kiddos).

Seattle’s democracy vouchers deserve renewal on August 5th This summer, Seattle's innovative campaign finance program is up for renewal. A decade of data points to its success.

Seattle’s democracy vouchers deserve renewal on August 5th

This summer, Seattle's innovative campaign finance program is up for renewal. A decade of data points to its success.

Not really an overstatement to say that the test of a free society is whether or not comedians can make fun of the country's leader on TV without repurcussions.

Locals need this too!!

Lots of Seattleites do not know where or which direction Angle Lake is.

I think it should be paired up with robust tax relief/tax cuts for our lowest income neighbors. Doing so would be good both politically and policy-wise.

Once the WA Supreme Court overturns its awful ruling from nearly a century ago, then it takes away a major political argument (that a graduated income tax is unconstitutional) and legal impediment to a statewide graduated income tax.

From a century ago which is out of line with almost every other state supreme court that has looked at whether income is “property” for purposes of the requirement of a flat property tax.

My thoughts in general are that the Legislature should repeal the ban on local income taxes. Then one or more local jurisdictions, including Seattle, pass a local income tax. It presumably will get challenged legally, and then I am pretty confident the WA Supreme Court would overturn its ruling…