December 9th, 2010
The question has been raised: “Do we want large illuminated signs on the top of our downtown buildings advertizing their tenants?” On December 8th, 2010, the City’s Department of Planning and Development (DPD) briefed Council President Conlin’s Regional Development and Sustainability Committee on a proposed bill that would amend the City’s sign code to allow businesses leasing 200,000 square feet or more in a single downtown building to have illuminated identification signs on the exterior walls of that building.
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April 16th, 2010
NOTE: THIS INCLUDES AN UPDATE FROM MONDAY APRIL 19
The City Council voted 5-4 Tuesday, April 19 to approve the aggressive solicitation ordinance (C.B. 116807). In my previous UP #289 I gave a lengthy description of it.
After today’s vote I thanked the Mayor for his agreement to veto the Bill.
According to the City Charter, if the Mayor disapproves the bill, he must do so within 10 days of the Council’s passage of the bill. After that the Council, not less than five days nor more than 30 days, after the Mayor’s veto, must reconsider and vote. If the bill, at that time fails to receive an affirmative vote of two-thirds of all the members it shall be deemed finally lost.
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December 3rd, 2007
I have heard from a number of citizens that construction downtown has resulted in a crazy patchwork of sidewalk closures which discourages walking if not making it dangerous because of the additional street crossings.
In response I have asked our Seattle Dept of Transportation, SDOT, to be more aggressive in keeping these downtown sidewalks open as much as possible and to look at best practices that other cities are using to see if we could adopt them here.
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June 21st, 2006
A lot of attention has been given to the Council’s recent passage of the Downtown rezone legislation which encourages the development of taller denser buildings in the city’s core, additional affordable housing units and a more livable downtown. There is another, more obscure but important, part of this legislation that I’ll tell you about here.
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January 8th, 2001
Last week I released a report titled: Preliminary Study Of A Proposed West Seattle/ Downtown/ Northgate/ Lake City Elevated Transit Line. The study was carried out by Matthew Fox, legislative aide to former City Councilmember Charlie Chong. The report found that community leaders from neighborhoods along the most likely monorail route are more supportive than fearful of a monorail.
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September 11th, 1999
Seattle City Light has proposed overall electric rates to increase by an average of 3.1% in each of the next three years. For more than half of Seattle’s residential customers, bills would increase less than a dollar per month in 2000. For 37% of the users it would be twenty-five cents a month and the rate climbs steeply for those who consume the most electricity. Qualified low-income customers would continue to receive low-income rates that are half of the regular residential rates.
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Posted: September 11th, 1999 under
Budget and Economic Development,
Government,
Neighborhoods,
Seattle Public Utilities,
Transportation,
UP.
Tags:
Community Kiosk Task Force (CKTF),
DON,
downtown,
electrical rates,
lighting,
SEATRAN,
seattle city light,
suburban areas,
UP
May 31st, 1999
The hardest question any candidate has to answer is, “Where are you going to cut the budget to pay for the things that you say you want to do for us?”
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March 21st, 1999
The legislation amending the Revised Code of Washington on Metropolitan Park Districts (MPD) has passed both houses. The house version will be going to the Senate where two critical amendments still need to be made before a final vote is taken.
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Posted: March 21st, 1999 under
Arts and Culture,
Environment,
Parks,
Public Safety,
Transportation,
UP.
Tags:
added activities license,
Arboretum,
Convention Center,
downtown,
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS),
Metropolitan Parks District (MPD),
Transportation committee,
UP,
Zoo
September 8th, 1998
Due to a faulty memory, mine not the computer’s, there were two number 42 Urban Politics. Consequently this issue is number 45. All of the past Urban Politics can be found in correct sequence at my web site: http://www.seattle.gov/leg/licata/up00dex.htm.
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Posted: September 8th, 1998 under
Budget and Economic Development,
Government,
Parks,
Sports,
UP.
Tags:
2012 Olympics,
city council,
Dog Off Leash Area,
downtown,
Finance Committee,
Pacific Place Garage,
Seattle Bid Committee,
UP
June 15th, 1998
On Thursday (June 11) all of the City Council Members (with the exception of Peter Steinbrueck who was out of town) sent the Mayor a letter saying that in light of a downtown real estate market that is even stronger than originally projected, it would reassess the spread of the value of the Key Tower building vis a vis the replacement value of office space.
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Posted: June 15th, 1998 under
Budget and Economic Development,
Government,
Parks,
UP.
Tags:
Arboretum,
city council,
downtown,
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS),
Key Tower,
Mayor's Blue Ribbon Committee,
Parks Department,
Queen Anne Bowl,
UP,
Zoo
