Seattle, WA
Seattle Times Shocked to Learn Even Groups They Disagree With Can Get Street-Use Permits – PubliCola
By Erica C. Barnett
Last week, the Seattle Times ran an editorial denouncing the city for giving the Cascade Bicycle Club a street use permit for its annual fundraising ride, which will shut down the westbound lanes of the West Seattle Bridge for two hours on the first Sunday in May. After emailing someone at the city, the board reports, they discovered that there isn’t even any other maintenance going on during the bike ride; “In other words, traffic will be shut out purely to host the fundraising ride.”
This, of course, is how street permits work: A group gets a permit for an event, and cars aren’t allowed to drive through the event while it’s happening—think: Capitol Hill Block Party, West Seattle Summer Fest, or any number of weekly farmers’ markets.
So why is the Times so bothered that the city granted a standard street permit for this event? Because, according to the editorial board, this isn’t just any ride: It’s a ride by group that lobbies the city—and even met with someone from the mayor’s office to discuss the upcoming Move Seattle Levy at some point last fall. This level of access, according to the Times, should be more than enough enough to land Cascade on a no-fly list for permits.
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“City Hall should have thought twice about renting out a vital piece of public infrastructure to a special interest at a time when residents will be asked to debate transportation priorities and vote on a massive property tax proposal,” the paper wrote.
Asked about the Times’ characterization of the group’s agenda, Cascade executive director Lee Lambert said, “I reject that biking safety is a controversial topic,” and noted that Cascade isn’t just an advocacy group. “We do education, we provide low-cost helmets for folks, and we provide bike safety classes. We do rides every day of the year.”
The Times’ outrage that the city would allow an advocacy group to rent a city-owned bridge is baffling, but seems to boil down to a kind of faux concern about misuse of city resources. So it’s notable that they’ve never expressed concern that political consultant Tim Ceis received nearly half a million dollars from the city’s transportation department last year (much of that spent lobbying Sound Transit in favor of controversial changes to its light-rail route), or that political consultant Christian Sinderman works inside City Hall as a paid political advisor to the mayor. Given their silence, it seems safe to assume that the Times editorial board considers these contracts a prudent use of public funds.
Unlike taxpayer-funded contracts with political consultants, Cascade’s annual ride actually brings money in to the city. According to Cascade, the group spent around $15,000 paying police to do traffic control for this event, plus about $2,000 for street-use permits.
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Seattle, WA
FOLLOWUP: Sound Transit Board finalizes $400+ million spending installment for West Seattle light rail
Two weeks ago, we reported on the Sound Transit Board‘s System Expansion Committee recommending approval of actions to allot $406 million toward West Seattle light rail – the first big commitment after the ST3 plan revision that cemented ST commitment to WS. At this afternoon’s meeting of the full board, the actions all got final approval, as did a much-smaller installment of spending on Ballard light-rail planning.
(Here’s the full slide deck as presented at the committee meeting, also including the current WS light-rail cost estimate of around $5 billion.)
On the horizon, according to the most-recent ST email update, is work to advance the plan for the new cross-Duwamish River light-rail bridge, shown in this rendering:
(Sound Transit rendering)
That work on the south end of Harbor Island (in a parking lot at 1001 Klickitat, according to city docs) will see crews drill a test bridge shaft approximately 10 feet wide and 250 feet deep to better understand ground conditions,” ST says, to obtain “key information needed to finalize the bridge design.”
SEATTLE — Seattle police are investigating a shooting that left a 17-year-old boy injured early Thursday morning in the High Point neighborhood.
At about 12:48 a.m., dispatchers received multiple reports of rapid gunfire near Sylvan Way Southwest and Southwest Morgan Street.
Officers arrived and found a 17-year-old boy suffering from a gunshot wound to the hip area. Medics transported the teen to Harborview Medical Center in serious but stable condition.
Before officers located the victim, they found a car that had crashed and become disabled near Sylvan Way Southwest and Delridge Way Southwest. Police said multiple suspects were seen running from the vehicle through a nearby Home Depot parking lot.
Officers cordoned off the area and searched for the suspects with assistance from the K-9 Unit, but were unable to locate them. Police recovered the vehicle and impounded it for processing.
During the incident, gunfire struck at least three vehicles and two buildings. No other injuries were reported.
Officers processed multiple nearby scenes and recovered evidence before clearing the area. Detectives with the Gun Violence Reduction Unit will lead the investigation.
Seattle, WA
Council eyes street barricades in fight against violence, sex trafficking in north Seattle
SEATTLE — The Seattle City Council is expected to vote next week on a plan that would give the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) the authority to close off street access for public safety reasons.
The proposal comes after months of outcry from residents in north Seattle who say sex traffickers and sex buyers are looping through the streets surrounding Aurora Avenue North.
The street-closure proposal passed the council’s Public Safety Committee on Tuesday and is expected to be voted on by the full council next week.
“I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say the crime has gotten much worse, much more violent, and much more predator,” said District 5 councilmember Debora Juarez. “I think that we do have the authority to shut down a street for bullets flying and endangering the lives of those who live there.”
Frustrated neighbors have installed their own homemade barricades after a spate of gun violence between sex traffickers in May.
RELATED | SDOT removes street barricades near Aurora Ave; neighbors doubtful of temporary measures
Councilmember Bob Kettle says street closures will help tamp down sex buying in certain areas, but he emphasizes it must be accompanied by an increase in outreach and enforcement.
“We have to have a sustained effort,” Kettle told KOMO News. “My concern is for every action, there’s a reaction. We need to take this flex and then really attack it … because if we do just a bit and our attention wanders, we could have this conversation three months from now and we’re talking about the same thing.”
A 15-year-old boy was shot near 95th Street and Aurora Avenue North around 10:45 p.m. last night. The teen initially claimed he had been shot while walking down the street, but investigators now say he was shot by a passenger in his car.
RELATED | Seattle police say ‘drive-by’ on Aurora Ave. was actually passenger shooting teen driver
Kettle credited the city’s Real Time Crime Center cameras with helping investigators quickly piece together the events of the shooting.
“Just as important to finding out what happened, the cameras help police determine what did not happen,” Kettle said.
According to Seattle police data, reports of shootings and shots fired in the north precinct area are at their lowest levels since 2021.
Through the end of May, there were 48 total reports of shootings or shots fired, with one fatal shooting and seven nonfatal injury shootings.
That’s down from 63 total reports of shootings and shots fired – one fatal and seven injuries – in 2025; and 64 shootings or shots fired reports – one fatal and 17 injuries – in 2024.
At Tuesday’s committee meeting, councilmembers pointed out residents are calling for a new police precinct to be built on Aurora Avenue.
Ten years ago, a new North Precinct building was slated to be built at 130th Avenue and Aurora Avenue North to replace the existing precinct building, which was decades old and did not have enough space for the department’s needs.
Led by former councilmember Kshama Sawant, the “Block the Bunker” movement successfully got the North Precinct replacement project killed in city council.
Kettle said the city’s current financial issues make it essentially impossible to bring back a project similar to the one the previous council defeated.
“We have to connect the dots back,” Kettle said. “If we want to know why we are where we are today, we have to look at decisions made over the last two councils.”
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