New Flyover Video Shows Latest West Seattle Link Design

Released as Sound Transit reaches 30% design on the future 3 Line, the new renderings show the full 3.9 mile line that will run between SoDo and Alaska Junction until connecting with the rest of the light rail network as soon as 2042.

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Tug-of-War Over New Transportation Funding Heats Up in Bellevue

Spending scenarios this week presented to the Bellevue City Council would put a potential 0.1% sales tax and new $20 car tab to use funding transportation investments. While the approach is framed as "balanced", business groups are pushing to maintain a focus on cars.

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Pollet and Dreher Hone Their Pitch to Urbanists in LD46 Race

In a race that lost its clear urbanist standard-bearer, the two remaining candidates are honing their campaign pitches to urbanist voters in the 46th Legislative District. Incumbent Gerry Pollet is hoping urbanists see him as turning a new leaf after drawing flak earlier in his career.

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Recent SPD Surveillance Audits Highlight Overreach, Vulnerabilities

Two newly released reports flagged issues with the Seattle’s real-time crime center, including unauthorized SDOT traffic cameras being streamed through the center, federal access to SDOT camera data, and a lack of safeguards for private cameras incorporated into SPD’s system.

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Mukilteo's Plans for 'Vibrant Waterfront Village' Start to Come Together

While some Mukilteo residents would prefer to see their waterfront fully transformed into a park, this week a 6-1 vote opens the door to a broader array of uses. The move is seen as a first step toward creating a mixed-use district at the city's front door.

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Join an October Urbanist Event, or Host a Social in Your Neighborhood

The Urbanist is hosting two events this month, including a October 13 social in Bothell. Plus, we want to help you put on your own social in your area!

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Zahilay Proposes Advancing RapidRide R Funding to Spur Bus Upgrades

King County would move $64 million out of a total $91.2 million cost for the R Line project to its upcoming budget, in a bid to accelerate bus upgrades along Rainier Avenue. Executive Zahilay has turned the R Line into one of his administration's central transit commitments.

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Deadline Approaches for Outside Ideas to Curb Costs on Ballard Light Rail

Transit advocates are criticizing Sound Transit's process to solicit outside ideas to reduce Ballard Link costs and accelerate the timeline. The Request for Information process was poorly publicized, narrowly defined, and closes today.

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Paid Parking Could Expand to West Seattle, Upper Queen Anne

With data showing high demand for curb space in both Alaska Junction and Upper Queen Anne, a curbside pricing program is intended to help businesses by increasing parking turnover. That message isn't necessarily going over well in either neighborhood.

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Nathan Vass’ Deciding to See: Washington State Book Awards Finalist

Deciding to See: The View from Nathan's Bus, a collection of short stories, many of which were published at The Urbanist over the last decade, recently earned the distinction of being a finalist for the Washington State Book Awards.

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Op-Ed: Fill in the Spring Boulevard Gap with a Trail

Bellevue should reconsider plans to extend NE Spring Boulevard. An alternative bike and pedestrian trail would be much cheaper and complementary to the future BelRed park the boulevard would cut through.

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Op-Ed: Seattle’s Utility Fee Policy Echoes Redlining

Due to the location of water mains and sidewalk gaps, Seattle often heaps more fees on homebuilders in formerly redlined communities, echoing racial discrimination of the past.

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Scores Turn Out To Celebrate Sound Transit's First Infill Station

Throngs of transit fans packed onto the station plaza near I-5 and NE 130th Street Wednesday to check out the new station, which had initially been scheduled to open in 2031. Criticized for a high price tag and bad adjacent land use, Pinehurst is a catalyst for future improvements.

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Seattle Permit Fees Get Another Hike Amid Development Slump

A 10.7% bump in building permit fees comes just a year after an 18% increase. The hike is intended to maintain SDCI's staffing reserves, even as the department prepares to cut 34 positions. Despite some streamlining initiatives in progress, a light at the end of the tunnel isn't yet clear.

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Op-Ed: Kirkland Must Raise its Wage Floor for Essential Workers

On October 6, Kirkland will be the first Eastside city to consider raising its minimum wage. Here's why Kirkland should take the leap.

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Councilmembers Seek to One-Up Katie Wilson on Police Spending

The Office of Housing would lose out to Seattle Police Department in Katie Wilson’s budget proposal, but councilmembers want to go even further to divert housing funds to boost police and restore pet projects previously funded with one-time funds.

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Pinehurst Station Bursts into Action, as Upzones Trail Behind

Pinehurst Station opened today as a new light rail stop between Northgate and South Shoreline. While a new crosstown bus and street upgrades preceded the station, neighborhood upzones are tied up in legal appeals, stunting housing and business growth in the vicinity.

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Seattle as the Fourth Best Global City? Oxford Economics Says So

Seattle earned the fourth-highest ranking in a new Oxford Economics 2026 Global Cities Index, trailing only New York, London and Paris. Here's how the Emerald City pulled off the feat.

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Pending Fiscal Cliff at SDOT Prompts Major Budget Shifts

Without major action, the Seattle Department of Transportation would have been looking at a $113 million deficit in its transportation fund by 2028, department leaders said Monday. Cuts that are already underway will impact road and bridge maintenance but not Vision Zero work.

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Katie Wilson’s City-Centered Anti-Fascist Playbook Emerges at Author Talk

Mayor Katie Wilson joined bestselling authors Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor to lay out an antidote to fascism at a book talk at Town Hall Seattle last week.

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Clyde Hill Brokers Deal to Settle Growth Plan Complaint

To avoid a state growth board hearing that could unravel Clyde Hill's Comprehensive Plan even further, City officials are advancing a plan to allow additional building rights in exchange for an on-site affordable unit or a hefty fee. The change is being prompted by a legal appeal by Futurewise.

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A First Look at the New Amtrak Cascades Fleet

The new Airo trains, which will be running on every trip on Amtrak Cascades by next spring, bring a bevy of new passenger features from upgraded seats to overhauled restrooms. The first trips are scheduled to start rolling out of King Street Station on September 30.

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Sunday Video: Seattle's Link Is Almost Too Good to Be Real

Ray Delahanty of CityNerd did a video on the 2 Line, now that the light rail corridor spans Lake Washington connecting Seattle, Bellevue, and Redmond. Watch to see how the Eastside stations rank and hear some tidbits from our recent Town Hall Seattle event with Ray.

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Join The Urbanist's Pinehurst Station Area Tour on Sept. 30

We're hosting a Pinehurst station area tour on September 30, the grand opening of the light rail stop.

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'Keep Pierce Moving' Campaign Touts Major Bus Service Expansion Plan

Pierce County transit advocates are confident that this is the year they can overcome the history of voters not getting on board with adding bus service funding in the South Sound. If Prop 1 is successful, Pierce Transit plans to ramp up service by 49% in the coming years.

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Pinehurst: A Light Rail Station Built by Community

Community organizer Renee Staton recounts how Pinehurst Station went from a distant dream to reality delivered ahead of schedule due to more than a decade of advocacy.

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Dow Constantine Secures Three-Year Extension as Sound Transit CEO

Sound Transit is set to have Dow Constantine at the helm into 2030s after the agency approved a three-year contract extension with two additional one-year options on Thursday.

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Everett, Community Transit Lay Out Long-Awaited Transit Consolidation Plan

If approved in early November, Community Transit would take over Everett Transit operations on April 1, 2027, with the existing Everett Transit network as its service baseline. A 50% increase in bus service would follow, to be fully implemented by 2030.

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Op-Ed: The $10 Billion Question Sound Transit Has Never Asked

Elevating the next light rail line through Downtown Seattle could save $10 billion, more than enough to close Sound Transit’s systemwide budget hole and get rail to Ballard much sooner. There’s just one problem: The agency has never officially studied the idea. It’s high time.

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Op-Ed: What MAGA Doesn’t Want You to Know About I-645, I-001, and I-638

Seattle School Boardmember Joe Mizrahi makes the case against the three statewide initiatives put forward by MAGA hedge fund manager Brian Heywood that will starve government of resources and force school to discriminate against trans students.

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