What about "Starbucks lays off employees in technology roles"? These layoffs didn't act autonomously and the teams weren't "hit"; the people on them lost their jobs.

The City of Seattle continues to show zero leadership and leaves Sound Transit hanging on safety on MLK. The absurd insistence that the MLK problem is the trains is getting us no where. Now we’re set to blow $70M on a bandaid fix.

Fix the ROAD now!

We note that these appurtenances do NOT in and of themselves pose a hazard or imminent threat. Trespassing is an illegal act. The City seems more motivated to make a lawsuit go away than to be a good steward of its landmarks. The lawsuit by the family who is suing the City is not an imminent threat. “Imminent” implies urgency. If the appurtenances are such a threat to public health and safety, why did the City not issue the hazard correction order and invoke SMC 23.40.008B last summer shortly after the tragic death of the teenager? Why spend the fall of 2025, winter and spring of 2026 seeking approval from the Board?

Sure, a kid died...but Historic Seattle's response is that trespassing is already illegal, and there's no hazard or imminent threat.

Landmark Gas Works Park Threatened The City of Seattle recently issued a permit for partial demolition of historic features on the iconic towers at Gas Works Park, a designated Seattle landmark and National Register of Historic Places-listed public gathering place. The City fast-tracked permitting, making an end run around the Landmarks Preservation Board and the Certificate of Approval process for landmarks. Is this Seattle’s own East Wing? How did this happen? Learn more in our piece here. And if you care about what is happening at Gas Works Park, take action! City leaders need to hear from you, and they need to know it’s not OK to treat Gas Works Park and other public landmarks as disposable impediments. Details on whom to contact are near the end of our write-up. Make your voice heard today! Thank you! Questions? Contact Eugenia Woo, Historic Seattle Director of Preservation Services

Historic Seattle is really calling the planned removal of ladders and pipes from the structures at Gas Works Park - something being done to ensure no additional people lose their lives after three deaths already - "Seattle's own East Wing."

Take heart, Josh. The cherry blossoms will come earlier and earlier every year 😭

Mayor Murray, Durkan, and Harrell were all unwilling to make the hard calls to transform our dangerous streets. As a result we're still talking about the same five streets where the most people are getting injured and killed: Aurora Ave N, Rainier Ave S, 4th Ave S, Lake City Way, and MLK Jr Way S.

I always read it as creating a position where the budget for one didn't exist. Conceivable it was also done in hopes of getting traffic ops on board with Viz Zero work, but I dunno.

Ballard Link could have gotten (mostly) through NEPA during the Biden Administration, but we were playing.

"What was also left unaddressed was the degree to which potential safety enhancements get taken out of projects, often after coordination with SDOT's Transportation Operations division, the powerful group within the department that is tasked with keeping car traffic moving efficiently."

Also there are garages in these pictures!

Folks underestimate how many SPD cops with abhorrent incidents on their records are still making $150K+ from you and your neighbors.

Seattle Stalls Out on Zero Road Death Push. Would an Audit Help? Despite committing to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on city roadways by 2030, the numbers in Seattle aren't declining. Though a recent call for a performance audit has attracted attention, it ...

The history of how transportation decisions get made in Seattle—more often than not, to the benefit of drivers over everybody else—suggests pretty strongly that "one more study" isn't the move. /1
www.theurbanist.org/seattle-stal...

Cop's drunken hit-and-run ends in 15-day suspension A Seattle police officer's late night crime spree in Bonney Lake included DUI, hitting another vehicle and leaving the scene, and alleged domestic violence against his passenger.

A year ago, a Seattle cop got blackout drunk — so drunk he couldn't remember plowing into a car and driving off.

open.substack.com/pub/divestsp...

Screenshot of restrooms section from link. Text reads: "This station has public restrooms available on street level. To access, find a security guard and request a token which will allow you into the restroom."

Tukwila station actually DOES have toilets. They just aren't allowed to be used by the public anymore. I tried to use one a couple weekends ago and had to cross to a gas station. Emailed Sound Transit to ask & told there are none. Haven't updated this though!

www.soundtransit.org/ride-with-us...

We are not asking Sound Transit to do something impossible. We are asking them to do what they said they would do.

Build the connection.
Build the future.
Build the damn trains.

Save the Graham Street Station The Graham Street Light Rail Station is scheduled to open in 2031 and add a new street level light rail station near MLK & South Graham Street, between Columbia City and Othello stations, porvidin...

Have you signed our save Graham Street light rail station petition yet? We need just a few more signatures to get to 800
actionnetwork.org/petitions/sa...

I used to have a walking commute on 2nd between Cherry and ~Broad and the light timing was much different at 4pm than 5pm (w/ rush hour favoring EB traffic toward the highway). I don't think that's true anymore.

I haven't done much science on it, but 4th is generally better for me on both directions. 2nd I often don't get two greens in a row NB until Virginia. SB doesn't feel much different, but sometimes I'll go during the left-turn phase if no cars are coming.

It is truly incredible how much different biking in central Seattle is than 3 or 5 or 10 years ago. And also stopping at every single light on 2nd Ave is painful.

Location on a map

About 45 minutes ago, Seattle Fire responded to a driver hitting someone on a bike at 22nd Ave and E Cherry Street.

Just before 11:30am this morning (shortly after SDOT's Vision Zero presentation wrapped up at city council) Seattle Fire responded to a driver hitting someone walking at Denny Way and Stewart St.

The person who was hit was transported to the hospital, reportedly bleeding from the head.

Ep 47: If it Bleeds it Misleads with Alec Karakatsanis Podcast Episode · In the Meanwhile · April 17 · 1h 8m

For the pod, Nora and I sit down with @equalityalec.bsky.social to ask what if our ideas about crime and safety are being shaped, not reflected? He unpacks how media and political power construct fear, expand surveillance, and define which truths we see. and which we don’t.

Can AI reduce traffic deaths? These Seattle engineers are putting it to the test Generally, traffic engineers know what will make intersections more safe. For example, letting pedestrians enter the crosswalk before cars get the green light. But given limited funds, how do traffic ...

This is from three years ago. Every example of what the cameras and AI might be able to teach SDOT are things neighborhood advocates could tell you in a 60min walk audit, for free.

www.kuow.org/stories/can-...

We’re still talking about the same streets,” said the Seattle Streets Alliance Executive Director Gordon Padelford. Namely Rainier Avenue, Aurora Avenue, Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Lake City Way, and Fourth Ave South, which are areas already flagged by the Seattle Department of Transportation as hot spots for injuries. “And the ingredient that’s been missing has not been a lack of ideas or commitment from SDOT, it’s been a lack of political will.” Specifically, he said, making tough changes to streets that might inconvenience drivers, but ultimately increase safety.

New @kuow.org article about Vision Zero: www.kuow.org/stories/seat...

“We’re still talking about the same streets,” said @streetsalliance.bsky.social Executive Director Gordon Padelford. Namely Rainier Avenue, Aurora Avenue, Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Lake City Way, and Fourth Ave South”

The institutional investors part seems like good politics, but if there's enough housing, isn't it hard for an institutional owner to gouge renters? And less appealing to own at all? Meanwhile, a bad landlord is a bad landlord, corporate or not. We need better "consumer" protections for housing.

You won't hear anyone at SDOT or in City Hall say that this is the inevitable cost of keeping cars moving on our streets, but we have seen enough bold safety improvements get nixed, delayed, or watered down to conclude that this is the city's posture in practice

Chart showing lives lost on Seattle's streets at 27. 18 people walking were killed.

Along with a scooter crash that occurred in Belltown last year, where a rider suffered an aneurism at the time of their crash that could have been the result of that crash, SDOT has revised the total number of lives lost on Seattle's streets in 2025 to 27.

18 of those people were pedestrians.

Central and Rainier Valley Safe Streets held a demonstration at this site last summer and unfortunately the warning came true too quickly.
www.king5.com/article/news...

I stood under that umbrella two weeks ago. A lot of things I liked about the streets in Seoul. Spent some time in Sokcho as well and that was all stroads with super long light cycles.