The Urbanist

The Urbanist's Future of Seattle Housing Panel

The Urbanist hosted a “Future of Seattle Housing” panel discussion on April 23rd, alongside Seattle YIMBY, at El Centro de la Raza in Beacon Hill. The panel was moderated by Doug Trumm, The Urbanist’s publisher, and our panelists are housing leaders in the private, non-profit, and public sectors:Patrick Cobb, developer, architect, and a founding partner of Stack, a firm specializing in urban infill development.Naishin Fu, Co-Executive Director at House Our Neighbors, a nonprofit focused on expanding social housing.Michael Hubner, Long Range Planning Manager at the Seattle Office of Planning Community and Development (OPCD).Jesse Simpson, Director of Government Relations and Policy at the Housing Development Consortium of Seattle-King County and a board member at The Urbanist.The transcript was auto-generated and edited lightly for errors. Apologies for the errors that made it through.

November Election Endorsements (and a fond farewell)

It's time to vote for Seattle City Council, a housing levy, and elected positions all over King County. The Urbanist has published its general election endorsements. Get out your ballots, use the endorsements to pick the best candidates, and make sure they're returned by November 7.In this episode, co-hosts Natalie Argerious and Ray Dubicki break down the issues facing Seattle in this election and then review the endorsements. Gotta say that the Election Committee did a good job on some, but left us wanting on a couple of others. Also, lutefisk. In other news, this will be Natalie and Ray's last episode as co-hosts of The Urbanist Podcast. We are moving on to a couple of new ventures, including some new podcasts that you may enjoy. You can find us at infiniteshoplimited.com or @popcitypod.  We appreciate your listening to us through three seasons of The Urbanist Podcast.Editor's note: Apologies for the mispronunciation of Jorge Barón's name in this episode. Please note that the correction pronunciation is HOR-heh bah-RONE.

All About 2023 Primary Endorsements

Primary election ballots are arriving in the mail and due by August 1st. In the run up The Urbanist Elections Committee has been hard at work prepping endorsements for what is shaping to be an exciting (and consequential) primary election. In this podcast episode, host and reporter Ray Dubicki chats with Election Committee members Rian Watt, Urbanist executive director, and Maya Ramakrishnan, eviction attorney, about the committee's endorsements. Want to know more about their process for scrutinizing dozens of candidates and figuring out who to endorse? Interested learn why some candidates were chosen and others cast aside? This podcast episode will take on all of this and more. Do you want to give props to our Election Committee for their hard work and rigorous process? Or maybe you feel they made the wrong call in an endorsement? In any case, we want to hear from you. Reach out to us with your comments, questions, and future episode ideas at podcast [at] theurbanist.org.  As always, you can find The Urbanist podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and other major platforms. And if you are enjoying the podcast, be sure to offer a “like” or “thumbs up” on your favorite platform. It’s a great way to spread the word to new listeners.

Summer in the City 2023

Summer is (finally) here for families with kids in Seattle Public Schools! In this mini episode, hosts Ray Dubicki and Natalie Argerious reflect on how we got to this late start to summer and look forward to what's ahead. A great companion piece to this episode is Ray's recent op-ed on Mayor Harrell's vision for Downtown Seattle. Be sure to check it out. This is the last episode of our third podcast season. Although we are taking a break from recording, we will be checking our email this summer, and we'd love to hear from you about your summer adventures and ideas for future episodes once return in September. Reach out to us at podcast [at] theurbanist.org.  As always, you can find The Urbanist podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and other major platforms. And if you are enjoying the podcast, be sure to offer a “like” or “thumbs up” on your favorite platform. It’s a great way to spread the word to new listeners.

Grass Lawns and Foxtail's Deadly Danger to Dogs

Summertime gets us thinking about whole bunch of stuff, including grass. In cities across North America, grass yards are often a symbol of wealth and success and in many areas have a cult status. But what are some of the pros and cons of covering land in a plant monoculture? What happens when deadly grasses like foxtail invade? And is it true that in the right conditions synthetic turf can melt?We discuss all of these questions and more in this episode. While look forward to you listening, if you are a dog or outside cat owner and don't know yet about how dangerous foxtail is, please also take a moment to check out this article from WebMD. It's seriously scary stuff and the more pet owners know about how to keep their pets safe, the better. Let's keep the furry ones safe.We would love to hear your plans for a yard without grass.  Reach out to us at podcast [at] theurbanist.org.  As always, you can find The Urbanist podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and other major platforms. And if you are enjoying the podcast, be sure to offer a “like” or “thumbs up” on your favorite platform. It’s a great way to spread the word to new listeners.