Next up, is DSA head Jon Scholes celebrated Downtown's continued growth and completion of Waterfront Park.
He also issued a warning that "Seattle doesn't need more business taxes; it needs more businesses paying taxes."
"Housing starts in Seattle, like so many other cities have turned down. This is about interest rates. It's about declining immigration. It's about things that are happening at the national level. But that doesn't mean that you cannot find local solutions," Thompson said.
"I really want to challenge the folks in Seattle: [don't] think of as a mission accomplished sign, but to think of them as the beginning of what's going to be a long and maybe even infinite struggle," Thompson said.
"And as a result, as you can see, Seattle has added more people to high density neighborhoods than any other city in America in the last 20 years, while at the same time pushing housing spending as a share of income slightly below the national average," Thompson said.
"Seattle has been in a class of its own when it comes to building density in the last few years. A good job as just about anywhere adding people to already populated areas... w/ an all of the above strategy, apartments and mixed-use n'hoods rising over parking lots, improvements to TOD," he added.
"But I think a huge part of abundance, the broken abundance the movement, is getting people who live in cities who are disproportionately liberal to recognize the degree to which we are the ones who created this reality, and therefore we have to be the ones to fix it," he added.
"I do not think that nimbyism is a progressive phenomenon. I think it's basically a homeowner's phenomenon," Thompson added.
"My colleague Johnny Applebaum reported in the Atlantic [that] in California, cities where the share of progressive votes goes up by 10 points, the share of housing permits issued declines by 30%," Thompson said.
Next up, Abundance co-author Derek Thompson noted that Seattle is among the fast-growing cities in the U.S., doing far better than many coastal cities that have hampered growth with a maze of regulatory obstacles.
"I'm excited to be in a position to help with that over the next four years," Wilson said.
Already the Wilson administration has queued up bigger upzones than her predecessor. www.theurbanist.org/seattle-plan...
"We're at a political tipping point right now, in part, I think thanks to Seattle becoming a city that's majority renters, where it's really becoming possible to move local land use, zoning and permitting policies in a good direction, Wilson said, adding "I believe we can go much further."
"In Seattle, we have a well established urbanist movement that's been pushing for changes to our environment to allow for more housing for quite some time," Wilson said, riffing on the abundance theme and noting progressives are more bought in here, than elsewhere on coasts.
"And I will be keeping that in mind as we look at options, and my administration is committed to engaging DSA and other business stakeholders," Wilson continued.
Noting she "campaigned on raising new progressive revenue," Wilson added: "I maintain that commitment, but I also want to let you know that I very much appreciate that it is not ideal for our tax environment for businesses to be wildly out of step with neighboring jurisdictions."
"I'm immensely grateful to John [Scholes] and the DSA for partnering with us on our shelter acceleration initiative and invite everyone in the room to join us in this final effort," Wilson said.
Next up, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson emphasized her and DSA's shared commitment to increasing emergency housing to address homelessness.
She referenced a package of reforms she rolled out earlier this month. www.theurbanist.org/wilson-rolls...
Zahilay also stressed his Better Business plan, pledging a commitment to performance metrics and governance reforms intended to increase efficiency.
Former KC exec Dow Constantine spearheaded the Civic Campus plan, which the Zahilay also rubber stamped as a county councilmember.
Zahilay's continued buy-in is a good sign for those wanting to see the plan come to fruition. www.theurbanist.org/2024/12/14/k...
Zahilay didn't provide any new details about implementation but did say he envisioned the area would be full of "housing and restaurants and retail."
At the Downtown Seattle Association's annual State of Downtown event, where King County Exec @girmayzahilay.bsky.social reiterated the county's commitment to redevelop its large office campus in South Downtown.
Noticeable lack of any Puget Sound transit project here.
The state Senate just concurred with the House's amendments to SB 6026, which will require cities to allow residential uses in commercial zones (they mostly already do) and more importantly change requirements around ground-floor retail spaces.
Next stop the Gov.
www.theurbanist.org/legislation-...
We're very excited to be launching the new and improved @theurbanist.org website tonight.
The new site comes with the ability to become a subscriber and turn off ads, one of our most-requested features.
www.theurbanist.org
A short session with a lot of build up, as of yet little payoff.
NEW: A raft of changes made to the Mosquito Fleet Act in the state Senate could significantly put a damper on the impact of the bill, limiting the ability of local governments to scale up new passenger ferry districts.
my full story:
www.theurbanist.org/2026/03/08/m...
NEW STORY // Advocates Gather at UW, Pushing for Safer, More Accessible Streets
By Carolyn Bick, via @theurbanist.org // 🔗 www.theurbanist.org/2026/03/07/a...
NEW STORY // Former Seattle Council Candidate Ron Davis Challenges Longtime Legislator Gerry Pollet
Check out Ryan Packer's interview with @ronpdavis.bsky.social, via @theurbanist.org // 🔗 www.theurbanist.org/2026/03/05/s...
NEW STORY // Wilson Rolls Out Bills Expediting Emergency Housing for Homeless Residents
By Doug Trumm, via @theurbanist.org // 🔗 www.theurbanist.org/2026/03/05/w...
I'm still baffled how somebody could be making a safe right hand turn and be going fast enough to kill a pedestrian.
And did this other "waving the car forward" ped contribute to the crash? Hate it when one pedestrian takes it upon themselves to cede the collective ROW on behalf of all road users.
"The road to 4,000 starts here today," Saka said, noting he shares Wilson's four-year goal and vision for shelter and emergency housing expansion.
