ICYMI: Seattle officials are considering a moratorium on data centers after more than 60,000 people sent them letters demanding the City stop four companies eyeing Seattle for five new data centers. www.theburnerseattle.com/post/seattle...
Amended Library Levy: • Additional cooling shelters for extreme heat events • Transition more branches away from fossil fuels • Address huge deferred maintenance backlog Eddie Lin SEATTLE CITY COUNCILMEMBER DISTRICT 2
After my amendment passed last week, new proposed library levy could:
❄️ Finish HVAC upgrades across all branches, even w inflation & rising costs
🌱 Help address Seattle's #2 contributor to greenhouse gas emissions — buildings
📚 Reduce potential service interruptions by addressing maintenance needs
Our libraries are an essential bulwark in defense of our democracy. From connections to lifesaving resources to millions of books and even sanctuaries from extreme weather, libraries are a vital part of our community.
I agree, and it would be great to put some guardrails around AI and things like bitcoin for many reasons, and also many of us need to get off our phones, etc…. If consumer demand is high, it’s hard to completely prevent data centers everywhere.
Another great example. If the state can do it for grocery stores and daycares, then why not for housing!
If you have to release a restriction on demand, it effectively would be unenforceable it seems.
Good point. If reading bill correctly, I think it says it’s unlawful “to refuse to release” a restrictive covenant. That could be a work around?
A separate state bill could face a legal challenge, but even if it fails legal scrutiny, what’s the harm in trying? It would not impact HB 1110 at this point. And I don’t think wealthy restrictive neighborhoods would get a lot of sympathy, especially now that HB 1110 has already passed.
It’s interesting that the state was willing to void grocery store and pharmacy restrictive covenants but not these. HB 1110 was a big deal and presumably they didn’t want more pushback or risk than it already faced. But now is a great time to have a 1-off bill that voids these types of covenants.
Yeah, they should build their own renewable electric generation facilities on-site. That way they don’t affect our limited capacity or drive up rates, and they don’t have to deal with the difficulty of trying to permit and finance new transmission lines, which is nearly impossible currently.
Given our housing and homeless crises, we have more than good reason to void private restrictions on multifamily housing in residential areas.
Some covenants can be voided as against public policy. Something similar just occurred with respect to grocery store restrictive (negative) covenants. app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?...
Issue 3, for me, depends on location and other factors. At this point I would not support, for example, converting Jefferson Park golf course on Beacon Hill to housing. Other areas I would need to study more. I could see the benefits of reimagining some golf courses in TOD locations.
But there could be claims of a “taking” and significant political pushback from affected areas - both of those fights are worth having IMO.
Regarding issue 2 - I don’t think groups of wealthy homeowners should be allowed to keep renters and multifamily housing out of their neighborhoods through covenants. Seems to be directly contrary to our public policy goals with zoning, and only reinforces prior explicitly racist segregation.
Unless I am missing something, Issue 1 seems like a no-brainer, in the sense that of course we should not ask fixed-income seniors and working families to subsidize the property taxes of private golf courses.
3. Is whether we should be turning golf courses - public or private- into dense housing. Also more complicated.
2. Is whether these covenants should be voided entirely as contrary to public policy. That one is more complicated, both politically and otherwise.
I think there are a few different issues here.
1. Is whether these covenants should be disregarded for property tax assessment purposes. That seems like the easiest - they should and I don’t see why constitutionally this can’t be fixed.
Seems like data centers would be better sited in eastern WA, and should be co-located with solar and wind as their primary power source. Would help to address both electricity generation and transmission issues. What am I missing?
Would be interested in understanding the reasoning and whether the envelope could be pushed by the next Assessor.
But that likely will take either a court decision or state law change. Unfortunately, HB 1110 expressly did not void restrictive covenants, but it should have.
Also, restrictive covenants that prohibit dense housing should be voided as contrary to public policy, similar to racially restrictive covenants. After all, things like single-family housing covenants have a similar impact to racial covenants (and very well may have a similar history).
Understand that no one property owner can do it alone, but it’s still voluntary in the sense that the property owners collectively can choose to remove it. Two neighbors should not get a property tax reduction by signing covenants that they can then remove whenever.
Lots of talk about audits recently. How about we focus on this!
Fixed-income seniors and working families should not be subsidizing wealthy private golf courses.
There are permanently affordable homeownership properties (like Habitat and Homestead Community Land Trust) that are assessed based on resale restrictions but those are different IMO because the restrictions cannot be lifted by homeowner alone.
I wonder if King County Assessor can address this without state legislation. It seems like voluntary restrictions property owners place on their properties and which can be lifted by them should be ignored for assessment purposes. If state legislative fix is needed, it should happen asap.
What would it look like for every Black parent to have a joyful birth experience?
A South End event on April 11 is creating space for that vision — with resources, conversation, and care.
Read here: soseaem.org/3QtlGY6 #SeattleNews #BlackMaternalHealthWeek
Thank you @mayorofseattle.bsky.social for fighting for the Graham Street station. Our SE Seattle community has been planning for many years, and now’s the time to make it a reality!
The civilization that is dying and under imminent threat is our own. Congress must act to stop this madness.