Saturday December 10 is Human Rights Day. In fact, tonight at City Hall we will be a special Human Rights Commission meeting: Spotlight on Economic Inequality. In honor of human rights day I sat down for an interview with Ameera Brooks, an incredible young person who is part of Puget Soundoff. This is the first […]

As you have probably heard about or read about by now, Seattle City Council has introduced a bill that would make a great step towards protecting Puget Sound and ocean waters and reducing unnecessary waste by banning single-use plastic carryout bags. We will hold a public hearing on the plastic bag ban bill on December […]

Check out the latest Inside/Out: Council Edition. I was on with Councilmembers Sally Bagshaw and Tom Rasmussen. We discussed the 2011 election results, the 2012 budget and more.  

I have done the One Night Count two years in a row. I stayed up all night and walked the streets of Seattle in an effort to gain some idea of how many people in our city are sleeping on the streets. In 2005, the Seattle Times counted 41 live-in vehicles parked in Central Ballard. […]

Like millions of people around the globe, I have had enough of the growing income inequality and social inequity that the Occupy movement has been calling out and standing up to. The extreme gap between the rich and poor, particularly in the U.S., threatens the foundations of our democracy. In a country where corporations are […]

Dexter Avenue North from the Fremont Bridge to downtown is a major commuting route for many in North Seattle, including myself. Recently completed road improvements make this Seattle’s newest ‘complete street,’ and these improvements will benefit everyone who uses Dexter for years to come, including those who travel by bus, car, bicycle or foot. Seattle […]

Last week Jill Simmons (director of the Office of Sustainability and Environment) and I had the opportunity to represent the City of Seattle at the C40 Summit in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  The C40 is a group of 40 large cities worldwide and a handful of associate cities like Seattle that are committed to tackling the […]

I am lucky to be in Brazil this week for a Climate Conference; so far I’ve seen Bill Clinton and Mayor Bloomberg. I look forward to reporting back to you all upon my return. In the meantime, here’s what happened last week! Last year, the City Council announced achieving carbon neutrality as one of its […]

This morning the Council received a briefing on the technical analysis of what a carbon neutral scenario would look like for Seattle. The Office of Sustainability and Environment, in partnership with the Stockholm Environment Institute presented their analysis.  They had three primary goals: 1)      Define the carbon neutral goal; 2)      Develop and emission reduction scenario […]

Please join me this weekend (May 21-22) at the Seattle Green Festival at Qwest Field. My office has been involved in planning two panels and I would love to see you there. Saturday afternoon (4:30pm), Sahar Fathi from my office is convening a panel on arts and the environment. Local artists and environmentalists will work […]