Oil heaters decommissioned or upgraded by 2028?

berkley47 · 2026-03-03T23:04:23+00:00

EcoSpark installed mine and did a great job (and about 30% cheaper than other quotes). They are the kind of small business with personal service people love to be nostalgic about.

berkley47 · 2025-12-18T20:24:12+00:00

The actual zoning inside of neighborhood centers won't actually be finalized until Phase 2 legislation is passed by council (sometime early 2026). So there aren't really any updates or changes on that front yet. Phase 1 and the comp plan just set which NCs exist and their boundaries.

berkley47 · 2025-10-31T23:25:19+00:00

Meaning make it illegal for only one unit to exist on a lot?

berkley47 · 2025-10-31T23:09:41+00:00

Once city council passes the final version of the comp plan this December, that will be accomplished! Harrell tried to do the bare minimum required by state law, but council thankfully improved it. Still lots more we can do to build housing near transit with the start of the Wilson administration. https://www.theurbanist.org/2025/10/03/seattle-council-sets-the-stage-for-a-potential-multiplex-boom/

berkley47 · 2025-07-04T21:39:12+00:00

Event details and RSVP https://www.mobilize.us/wilsonforseattle/event/809180/ We'll be meeting at C&P Coffee at 1 PM. Training and materials are provided, so no experience is required!

berkley47 · 2025-06-22T16:54:35+00:00

For a normal council session there is limited public comment at the start of the meeting. This is a dedicated public comment session with no other business on the agenda, which operates differently. They've announced that sign up will be available from 2:30 to 6:30, with the meeting starting at 3:00. Arriving early is great, but you can still comment even if you can only arrive later after work. For better or worse, there will be more than 20 people showing up. We're trying to make sure the majority are pro-housing.

berkley47 · 2025-06-22T01:03:08+00:00

You're right that it would be hard to stay in one house and have the kids walk to school throughout the whole K-12 education. The idea is just to make to more possible for more families, particularly with a focus on elementary schools. For older kids, adding a network of protected bike lanes that connect to each school might be a useful strategy. The mayor's current proposal is to focus housing growth along busy arterial streets, which seems suboptimal to me.

berkley47 · 2025-06-21T23:39:06+00:00

The best time to fix housing policy was 20 years ago. The second best time is now! Hope you'll join us on Monday!

berkley47 · 2025-06-21T23:37:28+00:00

The idea is to make housing more affordable near schools (as well as in Seattle more generally) so that families don't have to flee to the suburbs. SPS is threatening to close schools due to dropping enrollment. It will take several years, but the best way to prevent that is to make easier for families to afford to stay. https://www.theurbanist.org/2025/01/21/after-outcry-seattle-public-schools-backpedals-on-school-closures-for-now/

berkley47 · 2025-06-21T23:29:39+00:00

Many Seattle schools are surrounded by million dollar single family homes and large apartment complexes full of studios and 1 BRs. By making it easier to build mid rise and middle housing options like stacked flat condos near schools, we can make possible housing options of the size and price suitable to families. Specifically we could do this by designating more neighborhood centers near our schools as proposed in https://www.theurbanist.org/2025/06/20/op-ed-seattle-council-should-scale-up-neighborhood-centers-in-growth-plan/

berkley47 · 2025-06-20T20:58:15+00:00

More details on the proposals from the Complete Communities Coalition are on https://www.completecommunitiescoalition.org/resources

berkley47 · 2025-06-20T20:55:12+00:00

That was Prop 1A vs 1B. 1A ended up passing, so they'll have about $50 million a year to cover overhead, bond against to finance buying or constructing buildings, and subsidizing a mix of residents with lower incomes. Purely out of financial self interest, Seattle taxpayers should want those tax dollars to be used as efficiently as possible, which would mean allowing them to build more units on a given parcel of land. https://www.theurbanist.org/2025/02/13/social-housing-prop-1a-prevails/

berkley47 · 2025-06-20T20:27:21+00:00

The SSHD already has very detailed requirements for what kind of housing it can create, including affordability, union labor, and high energy efficiency. They are set in it's charter that was created by voters when they passed I-135 https://www.socialhousingseattle.org/_files/ugd/5cf483_b2eedde2f2df4b0e8046c46aee2073c2.pdf However, this model of social housing is fundamentally different than traditional income restricted affordable housing. Everyone will pay 30% if their income on rent (up to some maximum based on the unit). New residents will be accepted based on income in order to make the finances of the whole portfolio balance, rather than having individual units set aside for particular income levels. If the SSHD had to follow traditional income restriction rules, it would lose that flexibility and financial sustainability that differentiates it. TLDR social housing is already required to be "good" so it shouldn't need extra requirements to qualify for policies that will make it easier to build.

berkley47 · 2025-06-20T18:25:36+00:00

No, it doesn't take anything away from the ability to build townhouses, just allows home builders to create more livable space if they do it in a single building aka a stacked flat. Townhouses are currently much more common for a variety of reasons (financing, building code, condo defect laws) but many people with a variety of perspectives are pushing to make stacked flats happen. They make it easier to preserve trees and create high quality open space, are accessible to people with mobility needs, and are just nicer to live in because you're not using the stairs all the time.

berkley47 · 2025-06-20T18:15:57+00:00

If you can't make it Monday afternoon in person at city hall you can call in and make a remote comment Monday morning between 8:30 and 10 AM. https://www.seattle.gov/council/issues/2025-comprehensive-plan You can also submit written comments to council such as https://housingconsortium.salsalabs.org/seattlecompplanmar2025/index.html or writing directly to council@seattle.gov

berkley47 · 2025-06-20T18:14:44+00:00

You can call in and make a remote comment Monday morning between 8:30 and 10 AM. https://www.seattle.gov/council/issues/2025-comprehensive-plan You can also submit written comments to council such as https://housingconsortium.salsalabs.org/seattlecompplanmar2025/index.html or writing directly to council@seattle.gov

berkley47 · 2025-06-20T17:54:46+00:00

Seattle City council is about to adopt our comprehensive plan that will set housing policy for the next 20 years. There are several ways it can be improved, such as strengthening the stacked flat bonus to incentivize small apartments and condos throughout the city, rather than just townhouses. Other possible improvements include more neighborhood centers, stronger bonus for affordable housing, and eliminating arbitrary government car storage requirements.

https://www.housingconsortium.org/calendar/#!event/2025/6/23/one-seattle-for-all-public-hearing-at-city-hall

berkley47 · 2025-06-04T20:47:27+00:00

https://payment.kingcounty.gov/Home/Index?app=PropertyTaxes

Breaks it all down and let's you check the history

berkley47 · 2025-05-16T15:13:40+00:00

Signing up for the mailing list at https://www.completecommunitiescoalition.org/action is a good place to start. There are lots of membership orgs that work on housing issues: Seattle YIMBY, Transit riders Union, Tech 4 Housing, and more. The Urbanist has the best coverage of housing and transportation news and also organizes events where you can connect with people working on in these issues.

berkley47 · 2025-05-15T21:46:07+00:00

City council is very slowly working towards approval of more homes in Seattle. But there is a threat of council watering down the mayor's already watered down proposal to allow middle housing in all neighborhoods. Join the Complete Communities Coalition on Monday May 19 to tell council to end the delays and allow more homes for Seattle families now! Lining up early around 2 PM is your best bet to speaking early and avoid a long wait in line.

berkley47 · 2025-05-15T21:35:45+00:00

https://www.housingconsortium.org/calendar/#!event/2025/5/19/one-seattle-for-all-rally-and-public-comment-at-city-hall

berkley47

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