In this way we will significantly improve the condition of unsafe rental housing.
[More]On Monday evening, Monday September 20, 2010, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., I will host an event called Can We Achieve Social Equity Using Smart Growth? It will be held in the Seattle City Council Chambers located on the Second floor of City Hall, 600 Fourth Avenue, in downtown Seattle.
[More]On Wednesday, May 26, the City Council Committee on the Built Environment (COBE) heard and voted to approve my proposed legislation enacting a rental housing inspection program to inspect rental housing for conditions that endanger or impair the health and safety of renters. I expect the Full Council to vote Tuesday, June 1st, on this legislation and its two accompanying resolutions.
[More]Last week the State Legislature passed Senate Bill 6459, or administrative warrant authority.
Previously, under the residential landlord tenant act a court could issue a search warrant only if a criminal fire code violation existed. Passage of SB 6459 expands the law to allow for administrative search warrant authority for housing code violations. This is a significant expansion since it allows the City to inspect more rental units.
[More]For the 2008 City budget, I am proposing $75,000 in funding for the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) to develop a rental housing licensing and inspection program that would identify and bring substandard rental housing into housing code compliance. The resulting recommendation would propose a structure and staffing for such a program. Structure and staffing could be for a pilot program rather than one that is city-wide. Proposed licensing fees or other funding mechanisms could also be recommended.
[More]Today the City Council took two important votes that will impact the future landscape of our city. The first was a vote on Council Bill 113697 that would amend our SEPA ordinance to narrow view protections of the Seattle Space Needle to ten parks. The other Council Bill 113818 amended the land use and zoning sections of the Municipal Code to allow developers to provide off-site parking (that is, parking provided on a different lot than the lot containing the use for which the parking is required) by a permit process.
[More]Join me this Tuesday, May 22, 2001,from 10:30AM to 12:00 PM at The Dome Room in the Arctic Building, 700 3rd Ave, at 3rd Ave & Cherry Street. (enter through the side entrance, off Cherry Street) for a discussion on artists’ spaces.
[More]Recent events in the Pioneer Square Historic District have turned Seattle’s oldest neighborhood inside out. Between Mardi Gras and the Nisqually Quake, this community of artists, small retail establishments and restaurants, residents, and music venues is struggling to maintain its vitality in the face of destruction.
[More]Tonight at 7PM, on the Municipal Cable Channel 28, I will be debating Jordan Brower, author of Initiative 45, on the talk program. The debate will be repeated again, for those who have mastered your VCR’s programming abilities, this Thursday at 2:00 A.M. and 10:30 A.M.
[More]As part of an effort to provide more entertainment opportunities for Seattle s youth, a number of City Council Members have been looking at making adjustments to existing ordinances regulating teen dances and postering, or providing more venues for teen activities and communicating information regarding the youth music scene.
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