The Urbanist

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Cascadia is uniquely set up as a region that would support high-speed rail. Between the linear arrangement of Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, BC, and the just-over-100 mile distance between each one, the super region could be tied together by a fast. It's an idea being pushed by a number of actors, including the Cascadia Innovation Corridor, Microsoft, and anyone who REALLY needs to get back north for the Michelin starred roast duck at iDen & Quanjude Beijing Duck House.In this episode, co-hosts Natalie and Ray discuss a recent report on planning for high speed rail from the Urban Infrastructure Lab at the University of Washington's College of Built Environments. The report looks at a half dozen other high-speed rail projects around the world and draws lessons from their construction and operation. The biggest take away of all: plan to provide great high speed rail service. It's a little different than the infrastructure plans Cascadia normally undertakes.Here's a link to the report: https://mic.comotion.uw.edu/our-work/ultra-high-speed-rail-project/We would love to hear your plans for what to do in a neighboring city if it was only an hour train ride away.  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.

The Urbanist recently reported on Seattle snagging the 8th slot in the Trust for Public Land's 2023 national ParkScore index. In this episode, Natalie Argerious speaks with the Trust for Public Land's (TPL) Linda Hwang, Senior Director, Strategy and Innovation of the Land and People Lab, and Ronda Lee Chapman, Equity Director, about their organization's work to create more quality public parks throughout the US. Whether its research, advocacy, or community outreach, TPL is involved in a lot of interesting efforts. The pandemic showed us how important parks our to people's health and well-being, yet an estimated 100 million Americans lack easy access to one. As mentioned in the episode TPL has also recently launched a podcast, People. Nature. Big Ideas, featuring conversations about how our connection with the natural environment helps build vibrant communities. Be sure to check it out. Do you want to give a shout out to your favorite park?  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.

Last week, we published an oral history of Washington State's missing middle housing bill. Creating this episode involved interviewing several of the lawmakers and advocates, like Representative Jessica Bateman (D- Olympia) and Bryce Yadon, lobbyist for Futurewise, who were involved in the legislation's path to success. There were so many good insights in the interviews that we decided to revisit a few more things we learned  from these important conversations before shifting our focus to the future. In this episode, we also consider what the next steps will be for implementing statewide missing middle housing policy, as well as other ways Washington State can address its housing affordability and scarcity woes. We want to know your idea for policies that can help more abundant, affordable housing. 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.

In this year's legislative session, the Washington State Legislature passed extensive housing reform. House Bill 1110 compelled many cities in Washington to open up single-housing residential zones to long-banned duplexes, cottage courts, and small apartments. Such middle housing has been missing from the calculation for years, and it's no wonder that housing has become unaffordable in that time.It took a lot to pass that legislation. In this episode, Doug Trumm and Ray Dubicki bring together interviews with key players who worked . You will hear from Marcella Buser from Futurewise and Cliff Cawthon from Habitat for Humanity of Seattle-King and Kittitas Counties about the process of building a coalition. Carl Schroeder from the Association of Washington Cities will talk about reaching compromise among many that may not really be interested. And Bryce Yadon from Futurewise and Senator Yasmin Trudeau will talk about working the floor in the state legislature. Through it all, lead sponsor of HB1110, Representative Jessica Bateman, will narrate the process.We want to know your thoughts on the passage of HB1110 and the hurdles middle housing needs to overcome in Washington. 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.

In this episode, civil engineer and Urbanist contributing writer Donna Breske discusses her experience with the frustrating hurdles posed by the permitting process in Seattle with podcast host Ray Dubicki.Breske works on the kind of urban infill projects that the City of Seattle purports to want to see built, but in her experience, impediments in permit process, particularly for utilities, end up crushing development plans. Breske has shared some of these case studies in articles for The Urbanist and in a Permit Impediments Forum hosted at Seattle University. One of these articles focused on water system upgrades and permitting was just published this Friday -- check it out! In this conversation with Ray, she shares her perspective as a civil engineer on what's not working and how Seattle could do things better. As always, we love to hear from you. Tell us if you've also encountered impediments with permits or if it was smooth sailing for your development. We are also interested in your questions, comments, or ideas for future episodes. Reach out to us at podcast [at] theurbanist.org. 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.

Sound Transit CEO Julie Timm was our guest for The Urbanist's monthly talk series. Timm took the reins in September after coming out on top in a national CEO search to replace Peter Rogoff. She left her post as CEO of Greater Richmond Transit Company in Virginia to take the top job at Sound Transit.The discussion features a wide range of topics facing Seattle's light rail, from the issues with escalators to the order of stations opening. Timm provides a very frank observation many of the high visibility problems faced by the system. Given the size and complexity of this moving, well used system, it is not about avoiding outages, "the question is how are you going to minimize it."You can always get in touch with The Urbanist Podcast at podcast (at) the  urbanist.org. Let us know if you enjoy getting audio from the meetups in this podcast feed, and we'll continue making that happen. 

We get a lot of news-ish emails about ranking cities in lists. Whether it's the best cities for strange hats or the metros one can find the most left handed plumbers, there's a list for everything. The proliferation of lists begs the question of their quality. Who is making them, are they trustworthy, and are the lists even useful at all? In this episode, Natalie and Ray look at what makes a city ranking list good and how much entertainment can we draw out of the bad ones. Check out the show notes at theurbanist [dot] org for links to the lists we discuss in the episode. As always, we love to hear from you. Tell us where you rank Seattle and the metrics you're using, as well as any questions, comments, or ideas for future episodes. Reach out to us at podcast [at] theurbanist.org. 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.

This week Ray Dubicki and I chat about the policy changes that have been proposed for Seattle's industrial zones. These policies have been in the works for a long time and are finally coming up for consideration by the Seattle City Council in May and June. While we may associate industrial lands with factories, these days in Seattle they are more likely to be the location of big box stores or storage rental facilities. This is problematic since, at their core, industrial zones are supposed to be job creators. Fortunately, the proposed policies do a pretty good job of addressing this issue. In the episode, we dive into how the proposed industrial rezones could make some positive changes and how they could be even further improved. Ray has become our in-house subject matter expert on industrial lands, and as such he also penned this article on the topic.As always, we love to hear from you. Tell us what you're reading, as well as any questions, comments, or ideas for future episodes. Reach out to us at podcast [at] theurbanist.org. 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.

In this week's episode, podcast host Ray Dubicki discusses the Heroes and Zeroes of the recent state legislative session with Urbanist Executive Director Doug Trumm.Heroes and Zeroes is a standing tradition at The Urbanist, and this year's session concluded on some high notes as missing middle housing and climate action achieved victories. But there were some disappointments along the way too. This episode will cover the legislators who hustled bills past the finish line, as well as those who watered bills down or flat out blocked them.As always, we love to hear from you. Tell us what you're reading, as well as any questions, comments, or ideas for future episodes. Reach out to us at podcast [at] theurbanist.org. 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.

Sometimes we feel a modicum of shame that we're not reading enough books. As the pile on the nightstand gets taller, the guilt grows. There's absolutely no reason for that to be the case. Many of us spend all day, every day reading something. Literally, you're reading this right now. Good job.In this episode, Ray and Natalie talk about the varied things we're reading. And it's not just books, we cover some of the articles, children's books, and tingling romance novellas that have been in our e-readers and browsers for the last few months. Also, go thank a librarian because they're awesome.As always, we love to hear from you. Tell us what you're reading, as well as any questions, comments, or ideas for future episodes. Reach out to us at podcast [at] theurbanist.org. 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.

Every one knows there are two things you can't escape in life, death and taxes. While I'd add a few more items to that list, it seems that with Washington State having such an, ahem, unique tax system, the time had come for us to tackle the topic of taxes on The Urbanist podcast.So in this episode, Ray and I talk about Washington State's tax system -- the agrarian origins of how we became one of a select few U.S. states without an income tax, what it means to be one of these states, and what efforts have been under way to make Washington's tax system fairer. We also share our "dream" taxes and cover the wealth tax that was proposed in the state legislature this year. Also, if it sounds like I was abducted and had to call into the podcast from a 1950's AM radio frequency, don't worry, I'm fine and 100% in 2023. And by next week I'll have the right adapter on hand for my microphone. Ham radios are really cool, but sounding like you're on a ham radio on a podcast is not. Apologies. As always, we love to hear from you. Tell us anything you've heard from the podcast that you'd like an update about, questions, or ideas for future episodes. Reach out to us at podcast [at] theurbanist.org. 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.

Thank you for contacting The Urbanist Podcast. It is Spring Break, so co-hosts Ray Dubicki and Natalie Argerious are out of the office this week. So please enjoy a couple of unaired clips and updates from earlier stores we covered. We assure you that tiki shirts are being worn. As always, we love to hear from you. Tell us anything you've heard from the podcast that you'd like an update about, or any of the weird into-the-ether conversations Ray has with his computer while clicking on things. Reach out to us at podcast [at] theurbanist.org. 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.

In this episode, co-hosts Natalie Argerious and Ray Dubicki welcome Ron Davis to talk about a proposed Jump Start Tax Holiday in the city of Seattle. Ron last joined the pod to talk about how the city's comprehensive planning was lacking a level of seriousness. This tax holiday idea is not all that different.The Jump Start tax was passed by Seattle's City Council in 2020 after years of attempting to find a progressive revenue stream tapping into the biggest earners and businesses in the city. Surviving a number of challenges, the tax raised enough revenue to plug the city's budget hole. Now, interests are arguing that the city's recovery requires businesses secure a holiday from this tax. It is also time for The Urbanist's Spring Subscriber Drive. If you enjoy this podcast or the reporting and advocacy we do, please consider becoming a subscriber. Details are at the urbanist.org/donate.As always, we love to hear from you. Tell us your expectations for the future of light rail in Seattle, and what you want to see from new stations. Reach out to us at podcast [at] theurbanist.org. 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.

It is simultaneously exciting and trying times for transit in Seattle. Over the next few years, dozens of new stops will open in Bellevue, Lynnwood, and Federal Way. At the same time, future extensions are facing dual headwinds of being overly complex and lightly understood, even by elected officials tasked with deciding their locations. On Thursday, the Sound Transit executive board heard testimony from the community about where to identify as preferred station locations in the Chinatown International District and downtown. The meeting was long.Co-hosts Natalie Argerious and Ray Dubicki talk with The Urbanist's senior reporter Stephen Fesler about the comings and goings of light rail in the city, what exciting things are coming and the difficult issues facing future development of the system.It is also time for The Urbanist's Spring Subscriber Drive. If you enjoy this podcast or the reporting and advocacy we do, please consider becoming a subscriber. Details are at the urbanist [dot] org [slash] donate.As always, we love to hear from you. Tell us your expectations for the future of light rail in Seattle, and what you want to see from new stations. Reach out to us at podcast [at] theurbanist.org. 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.

It is spring of 8th Grade in the Dubicki household, so we have been investigating options on where to attend high schools. Seattle Public Schools offers schools in a home attendance area as well as option schools, allowing families to choose whether a school outside the neighborhood is a better fit. We looked at a few.Host Natalie Argerious questions co-host Ray Dubicki about whether the choices made about school were bad or worse for living and raising kids in an urban place, and Ray's overall sense of failure as a parent. Whether detaching a school from a neighborhood is a good thing and continuing fallout from pandemic teaching leads us to wonder what an ideal school district would look like, it all ends up being judgment on parenting and *SOB*.What has been your experience with schools around Seattle? 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.

In this week's episode, co-hosts Natalie Argerious and Ray Dubicki are joined by conservation educators Hanae Bettencourt, Josh Morris, and Kate Lanier from Seattle Audubon. We get to talk about birds! The good news: it's fun to get into birding and Seattle's a great place to do it. Unfortunately, there is some bad news too. The region's birds face a number of threats, including window strikes and our resident "adorable murder machines" -- cats.Come to find out that, due to its location between mountains and water, Seattle is home to a wonderful array of bird species. From the to the super smart crows of Bothell to the migrating Rufous hummingbird, the region does well for spotting all sorts of interesting species. And getting into the habit is easy, regardless of the stereotypes that hang on bird watching. Here's a link to the Merlin bird identifying app we talk about in the show. But really, the only thing it takes to watch birds is getting outside and giving them a little attention. Which is good for us too.Is there a fantastic bird you've seen or a place you enjoy listening to our winged residents? 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.

This week we had the opportunity to host Governor Jay Inslee on The Urbanist podcast. It was good timing as we reached the midpoint of the state's 100-day legislative session. Several of the bills the governor has championed, such as legalizing missing middle housing statewide and adding a climate element for cities planning under the Growth Management Act, are still in play. Gov. Inslee was bullish about the prospect of ushering legislative priorities and getting a $4 billion housing bond across the finish line this session.  In his own words, "go big to get home." Updating the state's land use priorities and funding a lot of housing is crucial since the next generation of Washingtonians will need homes to live in and a planet to live on. Tune in for the governor's statewide efforts to increase housing, and stick around for the good news about decarbonizing energy and increasing multimodal housing. We found the governor's enthusiasm contagious and we hope you will too. There's some important bridge discussions too.Have something you'd like to discuss about the governor's housing push or an opinion on what Washington State is (or isn't) doing right to improve transportation and climate action? 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.

Nathan Vass has been sharing his observations as a bus driver with The Urbanist for nine years. From the first conversation chronicles and desaturated photos, he has been building an honest and nuanced portrait of a living Seattle. There's no Instagram filters here, and that's fine. Not because the city's bumps and bruises are beautiful, but because they're evidence of human lives and interactions.And that's the quiet part of what makes Nathan's columns and artwork so touching. We come to hear about the tons of steel that he navigates through the city streets. We stay for the empathic eye of the artist who is observing the city coming and going from this “mobile living room.” For this podcast, I got to talk with Nathan about the hard work of transit, art, living in a city, and what it means to move people across a city.  It was a conversation full of insights and surprises.We want to know your thoughts, opinions, and sites you have seen from a transit window. 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.

In an effort to compete with the Super Bowl and Valentines Day, Seattle. has decided to have an election. On the ballot is social housing, specifically creating a new housing authority that will develop and own green, public, and perpetually affordable homes and use the money raised from rent to build even more. The Urbanist Elections Committee has supported the initiative.In this episode, co-hosts Natalie Argerious and Ray Dubicki break down the point of the social housing plans, talk about the expectations for the new social housing authority, and take a look at the arguments that are being used against the initiative.  Of course this last part includes finding many different ways to describe the failure of The Seattle Times' editorial board while dismantling their wafer thin arguments against I-135.We want to know your thoughts, opinions, and plans for the next off-year, off season election initiative that Seattle should try. 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.

When Ray pitched the idea to me of doing an episode on automation, the first thing I thought was, of course. Automation, in no small part because of the meteoric rise of the chatbot Chat GPT by OpenAI, is being discussed in every news outlet I follow these days. Is it because us writers and podcasters finally have technology coming for our jobs? While most research studies place writer as low on the list of professions at risk of being replaced by automation, I'm not convinced, as you'll discover in this episode.It's clear that automation is reshaping so many parts of our lives -- whether it's how we work, have fun, or connect with other people, automation is playing an increasingly large role and with no sign of slowing down anytime soon. And cities, at least from an economic and social standpoint, won't be impacted equally by the rise of automation. Kellogg Insight from Northwestern University created a fascinating web tool that shows how much impact automation is expected to have on cities across the U.S. I strongly recommend checking it out -- as we do in the episode. Good listeners -- and we assume you are real people (although we don't discriminate against bots) -- we want to know your thoughts, opinions, and hopes for the cool (and sometimes scary) things automation will bring into our  lives in the future. 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.

With a new year comes expectations. Whether it's something shiny an unique or a continuation of the stuff that came before, those expectations really shape our anticipation (or antipathy) for the coming orbit around the sun. In this episode, hosts Natalie Argerious and Ray Dubicki talk about the which trends will probably continue and where the year will awaken, shaking and confused, to the harsh fluorescent light of new realities.Of course, most of that new reality is going to be the grinding, unrelenting election schedule. We want to know your thoughts, opinions, and hopes for this twenty third year of the new millennium. 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.

We are wrapping up the year, and our second podcast season, with an episode devoted to hygge and the holidays. Yes, we did have to look up the pronunciation of hygge -- and practice it -- to get it right on the air. For those of you who are not Danish speakers, the Internet told us the correct pronunciation is "hyoo-guh" and we hope that we didn't butcher it too much in this episode. From Christmas markets, to holiday lights, to holiday feasting that results in the creation of a "cheese baby" in your belly (don't fret if the term is new to you, I first learned what it means while recording the episode), we delve into all things holidays. Cities can be wonderful places to be during the holiday season, and with some effort, they can be made even cozier and more fun!We want to know your thoughts, opinions, and favorite city council committee. 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.

In this week's episode, Ray Dubicki tracks the last few weeks of Seattle City Council meetings to listen in as a fairly small amendment is made to the city's comprehensive plan. It takes a lot of talking and hearings to get a preference for highway lids written into the document. Given the enormous potential of covering a highway, hopefully it's worth it.We do talk quite a bit about comprehensive plans as many cities in Washington are undertaking extensive updates. The process of following this - and any - legislation through council depends on a certain readiness to engage antiquated procedures, time consuming speeches, and jargon.  Here's a little bit of what to expect at a meeting and some insight to the stuff you don't see.We want to know your thoughts, opinions, and favorite city council committee. 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.

This week, let's talk about the future of Seattle with neighborhood activist and The Urbanist guest contributor Ron Davis, who joins Ray Dubicki to talk about Seattle's Comprehensive Plan. It can be a big, confusing mess of technocrat speak and boring stats.  Is it too geeky? Yes, but we break it down for you. Comprehensive Plans are the way Washington cities look into the future and make space for the people and jobs coming to town. At this point, Seattle has offered five visions of growth. One does literally nothing. The other four don't go far enough. As Ron mentions in his recent piece in The Urbanist, "We've got a four alarm fire and the city is suggesting we think very hard about how many squirt-guns to bring to the fight. Worse, the whole thing looks like a setup for a totally arbitrarily defined “compromise." What can we do?We want to know your thoughts, opinions, and hopes for the 2024 comprehensive plan. 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.

"Well, the rails are washed out north of town/ We got to head for higher ground/ We can't come back till the water goes down/ Five feet high and risin'." Johnny Cash isn't wrong. But he's short sighted. The water won't go down.Weston Wright sees water rising and asks how to live on it. Wright is not bailing. He has put together a new book called More Water, Less Land, New Architecture: Sea Level Rise and the Future of Coastal Urbanism that develops the concept of wet architecture and considers the urbanism that surrounds it. In this week's podcast, Ray Dubicki talks with Wright about the history of people resisting the higher tide and what we can learn from them as the water doesn't recede. Wet architecture is a reconsideration of everything, from materials to size to mobility. It sounds like a lot, but Wright comes from a core of optimism. These changes are possible, and these places very livable.We want to know your thoughts, opinions, and what you do when blessed with a little more rain. 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.

Given this podcast is dropping on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, there is a solid chance that you or a loved one will spend some time at a mall in the next week. Shopping at climate controlled temples of consumer capitalism is, after all, the point of the holiday. As you elbow your fellow shopper in the face for the last Shiba Inu Squishmellow, it's probably good to consider how we got here.In this week's podcast, Ray Dubicki talks with author Alexandra Lange about her book “Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside history of the Mall.” From a design point of view, the mall is a postwar evolutionary leap that combines so many invisible technologies it's hard to chronicle. Lange deftly covers them as well as the personalities that brought the ideas together, the mall's place in our cities, and its future in the face of e-commerce and pandemic. On the way, there are zombies, Clueless, and plenty of buttery pretzel goodness. Meet Me by the Fountain is also the next selection for The Urbanist Book Club. Alexandra Lange will be joining The Book Club at 6pm on January 17 to discuss the book. Order two copies and at least one person on your gift list is taken care of. Details and signups for the Book Club are at theurbanist.org.We want to know your thoughts, opinions, and preferred mall walking beverage (Orange Julius FOREVER). 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.

This week, we enjoy some election round-ups as The Urbanist Elections Committee member Jazmine Smith joins Ray Dubicki to talk about the surprises and squeakers of Election Night 2022. From the local initiatives to the state legislature races, we discuss the purpose of advisory notes (none), the problem of having two good candidates in a race (not really a problem), and whether tough-on-crime suddenly became tough-to-elect (hilariously so). You can also enjoy some of our other election coverage, including the endorsements, early returns, and five initial takeaways from the fizzled red wave by visiting the website at theurbanist.org.We want to know your thoughts, opinions, and reactions predictions for 2024. 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.

This week, Port of Seattle Commissioner Ryan Calkins joins Ray Dubicki to talk about the awesomeness of planes, ships, and freight.  There's also a bit about the future of how stuff moves around the world through Western Washington.Of course, cargo and people do not move in a vacuum, no matter the vaporware promises of oligarchs. Commissioner Calkins breaks down the real money the Port is budgeting to spend on workforce development and environmental cleanup. A strong Port of Seattle could position itself as a hub for offshore wind farm development and green energy industries.We want to know your thoughts, opinions, and budget wishlist. 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.

In this week's episode, reporter Ray Dubicki is joined by The Urbanist's executive director Doug Trumm to discuss allocations and adjustments as Seattle's budget season moves into high gear. The City has about $1.7 billion to spend, and there's no end of things folks are asking for.That list includes a lot of requests for street renovations and pedestrian improvements that we're quite fond of. But first the council has come up with ways to close the expected $140 million deficit, a gap that is projected to increase over the coming years. It's a glimpse into some interesting Seattle leadership dynamics.Of course, we want to know your thoughts, opinions, and budget wishlist. 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. 

In this episode, reporter Ray Dubicki talks with two members of the Urbanist Elections Committee. Hannah Sabio-Howell and Rian Watt join the podcast to walk us through the process of developing the candidate questionnaire and surviving some long zoom calls.As we hear from Hannah and Rian, the Elections Committee puts some serious effort into their work. That can be seen in the thoughtful list of candidates they've endorsed and some very tough calls between worthy candidates. It's all to make sure that you have the best list at hand when filling in your ballot. You can thank them by making sure that ballot gets submitted. Folks with non-urbanist agendas are voting in droves, so it's vital that you make your voice heard. Of course, we want to know your thoughts, opinions, and methods you are using to get your ballot in by November 8th. 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. 

In this episode, managing editor Natalie Argerious and reporter Ray Dubicki discuss the lingering haze over the city of Seattle. After a soaking wet spring, the region has seen less rain than the desert southwest. This is not the grey north we signed up for.The real toll comes on individuals that cannot go inside, and there are services being extended to shelter and comfort them. For many, including ourselves, the lingering haze leads to more consumptive patterns like driving instead of walking. These are the patterns that are changing the climate in the first place.  Are there any positives to see on the other side of this?Of course, we want to know your thoughts, opinions, and ways you're surviving the gross. 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. 

In this podcast, managing editor Natalie Argerious and reporter Ray Dubicki talk about the names we put on places and events. It's the second week in October, long considered to kick off with Columbus Day. However, that name has been changed, recognizing the Indigenous People that were harmed by the colonizer's actions.More broadly, there are names in our communities and monuments that we do take for granted. The United States military recently undertook a commission to examine bases and symbols for remnants of the Confederates that actually fought against the United States. They found quite a few. Washington State (an interesting name in itself) has established a process to rename places that carry a particular derogatory name. Of course, we want to know your thoughts, opinions, and meaningfully named places. 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. 

In this podcast, managing editor Natalie Argerious and writer Ray Dubicki discuss movies made in the Emerald City. There's lots of good ones and more very bad ones. But few are made here any more. A new Seattle Film Commission has been established to change that, but is it enough?As always, we welcome your thoughts, opinions, and favorite Seattle movie stories. Reach out to us at podcast [at] theurbanist.org. Find us on iTunes, Spotify, and other major platforms. And give us a "like" to help spread the word.

In this episode, we discuss homelessness, health, and Seattle's own significant history related to these topics with University of Washington Professor Josephine Ensign, author of Skid Road: On the Frontier of Health and Homelessness in an American City. Professor Ensign's book will be the topic of discussion at our first ever book club meeting on Tuesday, October, 18th, at 6pm. We were so fortunate to talk to her in advance about her work and her book, which brings these topics to life by highlighting the stories of real people who experienced homelessness, such as Edward Moore, the first homeless person identified in Seattle. The book also looks critically at responses to homelessness: both the historic context that continues to shape our society's attitudes about homelessness and what people have done to try to address the problem. I'll be upfront -- there are many podcasts I listen to with authors in which by the end I feel like I've learned enough about their book to skip reading it. This is not one of those conversations. Our goal was to provide an introduction to the author and her work as a professor, nurse practitioner, and writer, and inspire listeners to want to pick up a copy of the book and dive into it themselves.Ensign will be present at our book club meeting and we hope you will be too. Give the podcast a listen and pick up your copy of Skid Road sometime soon.Also, do you have a thought or opinion you'd like to share about this episode? Maybe there's a new and different topic you'd like us to cover on the podcast? Please feel free to reach out to us at podcast [at] theurbanist.org. 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. 

It's officially the second season of The Urbanist podcast and we are excited to be back. Joining us on this episode is Kelli Refer, Executive Director of Move Redmond and Urbanist board member. Most importantly for this episode, Kelli is a car-free parent whose experience with her young daughter has equipped her with lots of insights into the topic. Living car-free in most North American cities can present its challenges and adding a tiny person (or people) into the equation can both amplify difficulties and create new ones. However, there are also many benefits of traveling through a city on foot, bike, or transit with a child or baby. These benefits can be economic, health-related, and social. After all, children gain so much from engaging with the world around them, and when they are only transported by private vehicle, they miss out on the chance to meet new people, move their wiggly bodies, interact with nature, and actively participate in city life. Additionally, the important skills children gain from these experiences will stick with them lifelong, while also helping to cultivate a new generation of people who understand firsthand all the benefits offered by low carbon, active transportation. It's a win-win for individuals and society.We want to thank you for tuning into our second season and for exploring this important topic with us. As always, you can find The Urbanist podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and other major platforms. Are you a car-free parent -- or would you like to be but feel limited by unsafe conditions or lack of transit where you live? Maybe there's a new  and different topic you'd like us to cover on the podcast? Please feel free to reach out to us with comments, opinions, and ideas at podcast [at] theurbanist.org. 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. 

In this podcast, managing editor Natalie Argerious and I talk summer vacation and the best ways to carry urbanism with you in your travels. We talk summer reading and favorite short trips from Seattle. Natalie also interrogates my younger child Gillian to find out how many of my vacation stories are actually true.But the name of the game in urbanist style travel is awareness. Is the way we're traveling actually the best way to get around? Can shifting just a little make the places we visit a bit more walkable? And have we kept in mind the many generations of people that came before our current visit? For that last one, here is a great resource called Native-Land.cato find the indigenous tribe whose land you're standing on. And check out some links below to the fun stuff we talk about, including Natalie's review of the Empire Builder, a visit to every Vancouver Sky Train station, and reviews of all the breweries in southwest British Columbia. Some ideas if that travel bug starts nibbling.This is also the finale for the first season of The Urbanist Podcast. We deeply appreciate you listening as we've worked out a few of the kinks. There are some hilarious stories about the trial and (many) errors we've gone through these last few months. Those will be shared sometime, and we look forward to joining you again for a couple miniseries over the summer and coming back again full steam in the fall.Of course, we want to know your thoughts, opinions, and summer vacation stories. 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. 

Founder of Larch Lab, a design studio and think tank devoted to climate adaptive architecture and urbanism, Mike Eliason holds a wealth of knowledge about how to create buildings that make for denser, more sustainable, more livable cities. In this episode, he uses the same simple language he uses to demystify architecture in his articles for The Urbanist and other publications like Crosscut and Treehugger, to give reporter Ray Dubicki and I a crash course in architectural terms like passivhaus design (not just for houses!), mass timber, single loaded corridors, and more. Each of architectural terms discussed in the episode holds a key for designing better cities, and Mike also shares insights how Seattle and other cities could be doing more to unlock their potential. You will definitely walk away from this episode with a larger vocabulary and a bigger appreciation for all the wonderful things architecture can achieve.Have a question about new information you learned in the episode? Or maybe you want to share an architectural or design concept that you believe would have a positive impact on our cities? 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. 

Natalie Argerious and Ray Dubicki talk about the 2021-2022 public school year. The kids have a lot of catching up to do. The teachers are trying their best and providing them with social and emotional education that we never got. But is the District actually being helpful? That may not be a passing grade. And there are broader trends that are showing Seattle schools will be losing population in the years to come. Is it time to rethink long summer breaks or where we put new schools?Of course, we want to know your thoughts, opinions, and experiences about the school year. Do you want to see year round schools in Seattle, or are the long summers just fine? Reach out to us at podcast [at] theurbanist.org. As always, you can find The Urbanist podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and other major platforms. 

In this episode, reporter Ray Dubicki and I talk transit and mobility. Specifically we take on the thorny question of whether or not transit rider use has recovered from pandemic lows. While it's clear that transit ridership is higher than it was back when we many of us were flattening the curve of Covid infections by staying home and social distancing, societal changes resulting from the pandemic continue to significantly impact transit ridership. The truth is transit never left -- some of us just had the choice of whether or not we wanted to use it to get around. Even at the height of the pandemic, transit offered a lifeline for many people.But while King County Metro recently released some encouraging ridership numbers, the picture gets less rosy other agencies are taken into consideration, both regional and national. Plus, as transit advocates, both of us want to see transit use not only recover to pre-pandemic ridership levels, but actually increase beyond them. Thus the idea that some agencies might be still be suffering from blows dealt by the pandemic is distressing, to say the least.In our discussion, Ray and I share our personal experiences about how we get around changed during the pandemic. We also zoom out to the future. What can agencies do to attract riders -- both returning and new? How can we build a system that's more resilient to the challenges that will inevitably arise moving forward? There's so much tackle in response to this topic.During this episode, I reference some information from Stephen Fesler's latest edition of Transpo Notes published by The Urbanist. If you are not yet a reader of Transpo Notes, I highly recommend you become one. It's a great way to keep on top of our most important regional transportation news. Of course,  we want to know your thoughts, opinions, and experiences related to transit use. 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. 

 In this podcast, reporter Ray Dubicki and I dive into the Harrell administration's new homelessness data tracker. We assess how well it is fulfilling its purported role of increasing communication and transparency around this pressing and difficult issue with the public and discuss some of the context around it's creation and whether it is really is the beginning of Seattle's first real strategic plan for addressing homelessness. Homelessness has proven to be a tragic, and seemingly intractable, problem in Seattle in recent years. The issue was front and center during the most recent mayoral and city council elections, in which candidates, including now Mayor Bruce Harrell, pledged to take action to address the problem and bring more people into shelter. This week Seattle is now seeing the first tangible new contribution from the Harrell administration aimed at confronting homelessness: a data dashboard that Harrell promises is the beginning of Seattle's "first strategy" to reduce the number of people living unsheltered, in tents, or in vehicles, on the city's streets. At a press conference to unveil the homelessness data dashboard held on the steps of Dockside, a future site of housing for people exiting homelessness and lower-income workers in Greenlake, Harrell described the incredulity he felt after departing a 12 year tenure on the City Council to "watch from the sidelines for two years" as the City failed to take action to address homelessness. "I asked, what is the plan? What is the strategic approach? It was clear a database approach was needed," Harrell said.  "When I came into office in 2022, there was no strategic plan," Harrell reaffirmed in his remarks, which also referenced how his prior career in the private sector had influenced his determination that increased data-tracking, measurement, and also transparency, would be needed to make gains in the homelessness crisis. Harrell is not the first to call for increased measurement and accountability around how well efforts in addressing homelessness are performing. In tech-savvy Seattle, data is often presented as the key for unlocking the doors to progress. But we also all know that data has its limitations; it can be misrepresented or even manipulated. And when it comes to assessing an issue as complex as homelessness, data may paint an incomplete picture, failing to capture certain realities that lay at the core of the problem.  There is also the question of money. How much change can the Seattle public expect from a system that tracks and measures certain data points related to homelessness, but at least at this point, is not connected to bringing new funding or resources to the table?  Want to share your experiences with understanding Seattle's new homelessness data dashboard? Or share your thoughts, ideas, and experiences related to addressing homelessness in Seattle or elsewhere?  Reach out to us at podcast [at] theurbanist.org. As always, you can find The Urbanist podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and other major platforms. 

Natalie Argerious and Ray Dubicki open this week's podcast talking about how much the shiny app icons on your phone are deceptive. The apps talk a good game about disrupting an industry and end up leaving a mark on our streets. In the second half, we talk about PayUp Legislation, Seattle's attempt to quantify how much it takes to pay app workers a minimum wage.Want to share your experiences ordering from an app or working in the on-demand or marketplace areas? Reach out to us at podcast@theurbanist.org.  

In this episode, I call in from Nantes, France, to chat with reporter Ray Dubicki about my current trip to Europe. We discuss all kinds of urbanist topics like multimodal transportation, public spaces, how all cities, even walkable European ones, come head to head with bad planning decisions, and of course, bidet culture. Well, that last one is not necessarily an urbanist topic, but it was fun to talk about anyway!Want to share your travel adventures or insights you learned about cities, culture, and more while out exploring the world? Reach out to us at podcast@theurbanist.org. 

The Ballard Bridge is a 105 year old connection between the industrial Interbay neighborhood and thriving Ballard. With four lanes of moving traffic and completely insufficient sidewalks, it is a barrier to pedestrians. Seattle has plans to replace the bridge, but the proposals focus on car speed rather than neighborhoods.In this episode, Natalie Argerious and Ray Dubicki walk the bridge. The trip has many of the normal highlights of crossing the Ship Canal including squishing against the wall to allow cyclists to pass by, delays due to an opening of the drawbridge, and trying to figure out the tangle of stairs and paths to get to the bus stop.As always, you can find The Urbanist podcast on ITunes, Spotify, and other major platforms. Want to share a question or opinion with us? Reach out to us at podcast@theurbanist.org.

You've probably heard of the term YIMBY (aka. yes in my backyard), but do you know what differentiates the YIMBY movement in Washington State versus elsewhere in the country? In this podcast episode, I spoke with reporter Ryan Packer, who traveled to Portland, OR, to moderate a panel discussion at the 2022 YIMBYtown conference and learned a lot how this lively group of pro-housing organizers is seeking to increase housing supply in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Ryan also shared their particular perspective as a transportation advocate of how housing and transportation intersect.As always, you can find The Urbanist podcast on ITunes, Spotify, and other major platforms. Want to share a question or opinion with us? Reach out to us at podcast@theurbanist.org.

Natalie Argerious and Ray Dubicki talk about why Walt Disney was a pesky kind of utopian, creating expansive visions of walkable traditional cities and then building them off highway exits in California and Florida. We go through some of Walt's actual vision, the influences he drew from shopping malls, and how Disneyland ideas have broken the cities we come back to. Malls and amusement parks might feel safe, but it might be an illusion that clouds our judgment of real places.Also, did I mention that Rise of the Resistance was THE BEST. 

People love to talk about food, read about food, and -- we hope -- listen to podcasts about food too! In this episode, reporter Ray Dubicki and I kick things off with his article on whether or not Seattle has become a $20 lunch town, dissect the causes and possible ramifications of that trend, and then spin further out to tackle other culinary inspired topics. From the risk to reward ratio of poké, to how the pandemic has reshaped when and how we eat, in taping this podcast we found there is so much to discuss and think about food in Seattle -- and other cities too.As always, you can find The Urbanist podcast on ITunes, Spotify, and other major platforms. Want to share a question or opinion with us? Reach out to us at podcast@theurbanist.org.