Seattle, WA

Andrés Muñoz is Cool For Cats with Seattle Area Feline Rescue

Published

8 months ago

April 29, 2025

Andrés Muñoz is Cool For Cats with Seattle Area Feline Rescue

Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz loves all animals, but cats hold a special place in his heart. You’ve probably seen his cat Matilda, a grumpy-faced, golden-eyed Persian who travels with Muñoz and his wife Wendy, riding along to road cities in her pink princess carrier. Andrés and Wendy adopted Matilda out of a neglectful situation in Mexico, where the Muñoz family has a history of taking in abandoned or abused animals. Now Andrés is helping adoptable cats in his adopted home of Seattle, teaming up with Seattle Area Feline Rescue (SAFe) for a fundraising effort to support the work SAFe does for pets and pet parents in Washington and beyond.

SAFe takes in cats who need homes from all over Washington, as well as Southern California and Hawaii; they also partner with other agencies to provide relief to overcrowded shelters in times of natural disasters, and with shelters right here in the city when they experience overcrowding. In addition to supporting the cats in their care—which includes supplies and training for foster families as well as medical support for the up to 30 cats on-site—SAFe also supports community pet parents, offering support via a pet food pantry and low-cost wellness care (vaccines, microchips, parasite control, etc.) for low-income families designed to keep cats at home with their loving families.

Emily Sprong, Executive Director of SAFe, says having a quieter shelter environment that focuses only on cats provides better outcomes for the cats in their care. A shelter environment is stressful and scary for any pet, which can cause a strain on a stray cat’s already overburdened immune system, and that environment is only exacerbated for cats when there are barking dogs present.

The Muñozes used a precious off-day this Monday to visit SAFe to tour the facilities in North Shoreline, where the shelter moved into a bigger space a year and a half ago. The new facility—over two and a half times bigger than their old space—boasts an adoption center where potential pet parents can bond with adoptable animals, vet care techs and surgical facilities where cats can get the care they need, an isolation unit for cats suffering from ringworm or other fungal infections, a community meeting space, a pet pantry, exam rooms, and much more.

“I had no idea so much goes on behind the scenes,” said Muñoz, who was given an extensive tour of the shelter and asked many thoughtful questions throughout his visit, including studying a full-body x-ray of a cat with one of the vet technicians. “There’s all this stuff nobody sees.”

Photo Courtesy of the Seattle Mariners

Muñoz was especially interested in comparing the procedures at SAFe with what he’s familiar with from Mexico, where his grandfather ran a de facto animal shelter. “He took all the dogs he could, all the street dogs, because he had a lot of land,” said Muñoz. “At one time they told me he had 26 dogs and they’d all sleep in the same bed because he had a big bed, so everybody would jump up on the bed and try to sleep with him. So from there, my mom started to pick up dogs and cats. We just try to do our best to take care of them.”

“[In Mexico], there are a lot of animals around,” he said. “You see a lot of dogs and cats in the streets, you can see their bones from how hungry they are. We can’t let that happen. I don’t like to see anybody suffer,” he said. “We have to take care of them. We as humans, we can fend for ourselves, but animals need us.”

As much as he feels like a protector of animals, Muñoz is quick to point out that animals give back to their people, as well; they’re good for mental health, he says. Your pets don’t care if you had a bad day on the mound or a good one; they’re just happy to see you. “I think they are the best friend of a human. That is why I love to take care of them. They give you a lot of happiness.”

Sprong, the director of SAFe, agrees, noting that cat adoptions were especially popular during the pandemic. “I feel like right now there are a lot of people who are just feeling a little overwhelmed with life, but we can absolutely make a difference in these cats’ lives, and in the lives of people who are adopting them.”

One day, Muñoz dreams of having an actual animal sanctuary in his native Mexico.

“That is one of my goals in life. I would love to do something like this in Mexico. It’s awesome what they do here.”

“We can take care of ourselves, but cats need us to take care of them. I saw a lot of things before of animal cruelty, and I just can’t let those things happen. I can’t do everything, but I will do my best to do what I can.”

Part of what Muñoz is doing to contribute is lending his presence to SAFe, partnering with the shelter to auction off two packages on behalf of SAFe: each package includes four tickets to a game, along with four passes to batting practice and an opportunity for a meet-and-greet with Andrés. The auction is live now and will run until May 5. And for a $100 donation to SAFe, you’ll receive an exclusive printed photo of Muñoz captured during his visit to SAFe, including Andrés cuddling some adorable kitties.

Because adoption fees cover only about 12% of the cost SAFe incurs per cat, donations are a crucial lifeline to keep SAFe hard at work rescuing cats. This year, SAFe is running their “GiveBIG” fundraising drive from May 6-7, and you can donate any amount here, or sign up to help fundraise.

You can also support Seattle-area kitties by coming out to SAFe night at the ballpark on Tuesday July 22nd against the Brewers. “Take Meow’t to the Ballgame” night will be on July 22 and $5 from every ticket sold through this special ticket offer will go to SAFe. You’ll also get this cool hat with a sassy lil’ cartoon cat and mini cat ears (it says “Take Meow’t To The Ballgame” across the back). Deadline to purchase tickets is July 21 by 5 PM.

Sprong is grateful to Muñoz, baseball’s #1 cat dad, for lending his voice in support of cats, who don’t always receive the same amount of attention as adoptable dogs.

“It’s phenomenal. Cats are definitely underserved, overshadowed by dogs in the adoption space. I love dogs too, I have a dog at home, but being able to have a space like this that is designed and built for cats…it’s a quiet environment, there’s no barking or anything, it makes a really big difference. It allows us to really focus on their unique needs. As we have increasing density in Seattle, more and more people are living in apartments, that’s a little easier with a cat than with a dog.

So it’s really great to have somebody shining a light on cats, and we really appreciate it.”

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Seattle, WA

Seattle weather: Drier skies Friday, some rivers remain above flood stage

Published

3 hours ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

Seattle weather: Drier skies Friday, some rivers remain above flood stage

SEATTLE – High river levels continue this evening after the heaviest showers came to an end Thursday with only a few lingering showers. A Flash Flood Watch remains in effect for the Mount Vernon area due to flood risks if local levees fail, which remains possible through Friday afternoon.

Our FOX 13 Weather Team is closely watching for potential flash flooding concerns over the Skagit River.

A Flash Flood Watch is posted until late Friday: there is a possibility of dike/levee failure. (FOX 13 Seattle)

Landslide and localized flooding will still remain an issue into the end of the week.

High river levels continue this evening after the heaviest showers come to an end Thursday.

We have seen three rivers in Western Washington reach record level heights, making this a historic flooding event for the state. We still have the likelihood of seeing record heights for the Skagit River at Mount Vernon this evening into early Friday morning as it crests. Most of our area rivers will continue to decrease overnight and throughout Friday.

We have seen three rivers in Western Washington reach record level heights, making this a historic flooding event for Western Washington.

Rainfall totals Thursday were significantly lower compared to Wednesday, which will help to lower river levels over the next few days.

Rainfall totals Thursday were significantly lower compared to Wednesday, which will help to lower river levels over the next few days.

Temperatures this afternoon were also significantly warmer compared to average, with highs in the mid to upper 50s.

Temperatures this afternoon were also significantly warmer compared to average, with highs in the mid to upper 50s.

What’s next:

Skies will be much drier Friday as we see the atmospheric river move out of Western Washington. High pressure will slowly build back in for Friday and Saturday, aiding in the rivers receding and for the soil to dry out.

Skies will be much drier Friday as we see the atmospheric river move out of Western Washington.

Highs will remain very mild through the weekend, reaching the mid 50s. We will see dry skies and even some sunbreaks for Saturday. Our next round of showers return Sunday with scattered rain, then heavier showers and lowering snowlevels by the middle of next week.

Highs will remain very mild through the weekend, reaching the mid 50s.

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The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle Meteorologist Claire Anderson and the National Weather Service.

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Seattle, WA

Op-Ed: Seattle Monorail Should Honor Transfers, Be Treated Like Real Transit » The Urbanist

Published

15 hours ago

December 11, 2025

Press Room

Op-Ed: Seattle Monorail Should Honor Transfers, Be Treated Like Real Transit » The Urbanist

The Seattle Monorail has connected the Westlake Center and Seattle Center since 1962, but rising fares could sap local ridership. (Doug Trumm)

Seattle landmarks are woven into the city’s identity: the Space Needle, Gas Works Park, Pike Place Market, Humpy the Salmon. They’re playful, iconic, and accessible to locals and visitors alike. The monorail should belong in that same category. It is a piece of transportation infrastructure history that helps residents move through the city and remark on times gone by. Instead, it is becoming a premium attraction aimed at visitors, rather than a practical option for everyday riders.

Fresh off hiking fares on the nearly-one-mile-long monorail to $4.00, Seattle Monorail Services is getting rid of transfer credits to other transit services in a blow to riders. In early December, ORCA informed riders that starting January 1, 2026, monorail fares paid with ORCA E-purse will no longer receive the two-hour transfer credit. Every ride will require full payment, even if the rider tapped onto another service minutes earlier.

For transit users who rely on transfers to move through the city, this is a step backward. It is also a policy decision that treats the monorail as an exception to regional transit norms — or perhaps not a service intended for use by locals, at all.

Taking the 1 Line from Lynnwood and transferring to the monorail to attend Pride, Seattle Eats, or any number of other events in Seattle Center just jumped from $4 per person to $7 per person. Fortunately, many Climate Pledge Arena events come with monorail cost bundled in the ticket cost.

History of the Seattle Monorail

Seattle’s monorail began as a showpiece, built in 1962 for the Century 21 World’s Fair. The idea wasn’t to serve commuters, but rather to dazzle visitors and move crowds between downtown and the fairgrounds. For more dazzling during the World’s Fair, Seattle Center had rollercoasters, which I, for one, am in favor of bringing back.

The monorail system worked as millions rode it in its first year, and the sleek elevated trains helped cement the city’s Jet Age identity. But the system was never expanded, and the short two-stop alignment was left behind as a novelty once the fair ended.

Seattle actually tried to scale that vision into real transit. In 1968 and 1970, voters were asked to approve the Forward Thrust plan, a regional rapid transit system combining tunnels, elevated lines, and stations across the city. Both measures earned a majority, but Washington law required 60% voter approval to issue bonds. The transit proposals failed, and the federal funds earmarked for Seattle were redirected to Atlanta (where only a simple 50% majority vote was required), funds that ultimately seeded MARTA.

Meanwhile, Seattle spent decades without rapid transit, and the monorail became a relic of a future that never materialized. Fortunately, Seattle eventually invested in light rail and continues to do so despite financial hurdles.

But before light rail buildout, Seattle made one more attempt to turn the monorail into a network. From the late 1990s through the mid-2000s, voters backed the Seattle Popular Monorail Authority, which pursued the elevated “Green Line” from Ballard through Downtown to West Seattle. The citizen-led program struggled with escalating costs, uncertain financing models, and political backlash.

After five public votes, the project was dissolved in 2005 without breaking ground. What remained was the original 0.9-mile segment. Still iconic, still beloved by tourists, but functionally unchanged since the Eisenhower era.

Recent fare hike

In 2024, the City and the contracted operator of the monorail announced another round of fare increases. Adult fares rose from $3.50 to $4.00, a 14% jump in a single adjustment.

The monorail fare hike was much steeper than those on other transit services in the region. King County Metro buses moved from $2.75 to $3.00, a 9% increase. Sound Transit’s Link light rail standardized fares at $3.00 regardless of trip distance, in a win for long-distance commuters. Even in larger cities with higher living costs, like New York and San Francisco, transit fares remain lower at around $2.85–$2.90 for metro service. The monorail is now one of the most expensive local transit rides per mile in the country.

For many riders, fare increases alone would be frustrating but manageable. Seattle transit often requires combining services: a bus from a neighborhood, a train downtown, then the monorail to a shift at Seattle Center or an event at Climate Pledge Arena. The regional ORCA card system has long made this a possibility. Riders are given a two-hour transfer window so multiple trips are counted as part of the same journey rather than priced separately.

That saving grace is about to end with the end of monorail transfer credits in 2026.

The monorail has always been an unusual piece of infrastructure. The city owns the physical system, but operations are handled by a private contractor. That arrangement gives the operator strong incentives to raise revenue, while riders are left without the protections and policies that apply to publicly-run transit service.

The argument for ending transfer credits is that monorail operating costs have risen, and maintenance is essential to preserving a historic system. That is a reasonable concern. Transit infrastructure requires investment, but charging riders twice within two hours, once for a bus or train and again for the monorail, does not preserve the system; it discourages the very people who use it most consistently. The monorail should not be the transfer exception.

Ridership rebound

“But Sam hardly anyone takes the monorail anyway. Why does it matter?” I hear you say. Despite its short route and just two stops, the monorail sees real usage. The Seattle Times reported that the monorail hit its highest ridership in over a decade in early 2023. Buoyed by Seattle Kraken hockey fans, the monorail recorded 533,000 rides in the first quarter of 2023, 150,000 more than during the same period in 2022, and over 100,000 more than in the same four months of 2019. That’s about 4,000 rides per day.

In 2023, the monorail carried nearly 2.1 million passengers and in 2024 approached 2.2 million trips, offering a strong indication that, given the right circumstances, the monorail serves a concrete transit need, not just occasional tourists.

Admittedly, other transit lines get far more ridership. In 2024, the region’s six ORCA transit agencies delivered about 151 million trips, up from roughly 134 million in 2023, a 12% increase. Within that total, Sound Transit alone logged 41.5 million trips in 2024, up by more than 4 million from 2023 (about an 11% year-over-year increase).

The Link light rail system operated by Sound Transit carried 30.8 million passengers in 2024 and averaged about 90,050 weekday riders system-wide. Recent months have seen ridership climb even higher: as of May 2025, Link weekday boardings exceeded 112,000, a 23% increase over May 2024.

For the monorail, much of that boost came from event traffic. With the arrival of the Seattle Kraken hockey franchise and the rebound in concert and arena events at Climate Pledge Arena after the 2020 pandemic, a notable portion of fans used the monorail (or other transit) to avoid heavy traffic and gridlock around Seattle Center. Now, with a new Professional Women’s Hockey League hockey team and the FIFA World Cup on the horizon the entire city’s infrastructure needs to be ready, with transit running at peak efficiency to handle the load. Mega events act as a canary in a coal mine, stress testing our transportation network.

But the monorail’s renewed popularity and potential to help shoulder the load during World Cup games doesn’t mean its pricing should shift even further toward tourists. If anything, high ridership underscores its value as part of a functioning public-transport network.

Possible solutions

Unlike most transit systems in Washington, the Seattle Center Monorail is not a drain on the public purse. The monorail’s operations are uniquely funded through fare revenue rather than taxpayer subsidies, and even returns money to the City of Seattle annually under a concessions agreement. That revenue covers day-to-day operations, and equipment upgrades, an almost unheard-of arrangement in U.S. transit.

But the monorail’s success doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Its elevated track and supporting pylons occupy the public right-of-way along 5th Avenue and Belltown corridors, forming a permanent footprint above some of the city’s most heavily used streets. Riders may not feel it, but the system relies on the city’s public infrastructure and airspace to operate.

Seattle’s broader goals like reducing car dependency, cutting emissions, and encouraging public transit depend on regional coordination. Breaking fare integration works in the opposite direction. If the monorail is truly a civic asset, it should align with the rest of the city’s transportation policies.

There are realistic solutions. The City of Seattle can require that the monorail restore ORCA transfer credit as a condition of its operating agreement. The City can tie future fare increases to best practices other agencies typically follow, such as conducting public outreach, publishing a cost-benefit analysis noting ridership impacts, and providing a public forum to debate the tradeoffs.

Most importantly, Seattle leaders can treat the monorail as part of the transit network rather than an isolated, revenue-dependent attraction. None of these changes require a huge funding infusion or an expansion of the system (even if I think it would be cool if they expanded the monorail). They simply require prioritizing residents over ticket revenue.

I ride the monorail more than most living in Lower Queen Anne/Uptown. It avoids traffic, provides a distinct view of the city, and remains one of Seattle’s most recognizable transit experiences. It should not be reserved for tourists or special occasions. Public transportation should be priced to serve the public. If it brings joy while doing so, that is even better.

Samuel Ross

Samuel Ross is a Seattle based public servant, returned Peace Corps volunteer, and self-described nerd. He works to promote sustainable development backed by mixed-method research. All opinions expressed are his alone and do not reflect attitudes of any organizations he is affiliated with.

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Seattle, WA

WA river levels remain high through Thursday, scattered showers remain

Published

1 day ago

December 11, 2025

Press Room

WA river levels remain high through Thursday, scattered showers remain

SEATTLE – A strong atmospheric river remains over the Pacific Northwest, bringing heavy rain, record level flooding and dangerous conditions. Winds continue through this evening, but will ease into Thursday morning. Landslide risks remain high through the end of the week with very saturated soil.

A strong atmospheric river remains over the Pacific Northwest, bringing heavy rain, record level flooding and dangerous conditions.

A rare Flash Flood Watch is in effect for parts of western Skagit and northwestern Snohomish County through Friday night due to a possible threat of levee or dike failure. Heavy rain is creating extreme flooding forecasts, which could break the current levee or dike structure below Sedro-Woolley. This could cause inundation in areas like Burlington and Mount Vernon, then along to Skagit Bay. This is an alert to “Get Ready,” because if the levees break, they will release a sudden torrent of water.

A rare Flash Flood Watch is in effect for parts of western Skagit and northwestern Snohomish County through Friday night due to a possible threat of levee or dike failure.

Rain totals reached one to over two inches for parts of Western Washington as steady rain fell through this evening.

Rain totals reached one to two inches for parts of Western Washington as steady rain fell through this evening.

Heavy rain will fall through early Thursday, but the atmospheric river will slowly sag southward throughout the day. Showers will still be around Thursday, but will not be as heavy as the past several days. We could also see snowfall at the higher mountain passes and peaks, mainly above Stevens Pass.

Heavy rain will fall through early Thursday, but the atmospheric river will slowly sag southward throughout the day.

Major river flooding is expected to continue through Friday afternoon, and we will continue to watch the latest conditions very closely. Linger showers continue Friday with drier skies by Saturday. A few showers are possible Sunday, with another round of showers into next week.

Major river flooding is expected to continue through Friday afternoon, and we will continue to watch the latest conditions very closely.

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To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter.

Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news.

The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle Meteorologists Claire Anderson and Ilona McCauley, and the National Weather Service.

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