YIMBY News for 5/27

[Eric Budd]

Seattle Advances Zoning Package Spurring Towers, Mass Timber, and Passive House

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 77.11. affordable, affordable housing, apartment, comprehensive plan, construction, density, development, downtown, growth, height limit, homeowner, house, housing, income, infill, market-rate, mixed-use, occupancy, preservation, project, real estate, rent, renter, transit-oriented, urban, walk, zone, zoning

[image: Seattle Advances Zoning Package Spurring Towers, Mass Timber, and Passive House] In a 4-0 vote last week, the Seattle City Council's Land Use Committee advanced a targeted upzone program seeking to spur the construction of towers, affordable housing, and eco-friendly mass timber and passive house buildings. The proposal will go to full council on June 2 for potential passage. Dubbed the Housing Opportunities Program or HOP, the program would only apply in limited areas where dense mixed-use buildings are already allowed. However, the zoning boost is intended as an extra nudge to get pr

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Op-Ed: South King County Deserves the Light Rail Stations It Was Promised

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 33.56. homeowner, housing, income, infill, mixed-use, multimodal, parking, project, rent, renter, segregate, transportation, urban

[image: Op-Ed: South King County Deserves the Light Rail Stations It Was Promised] For decades, transportation infrastructure projects have been used to segregate and effectively destroy low-income and Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) communities. It happened in Los Angeles, Saint Paul, Minn., New Orleans, Washington D.C., and lest we think “we're better than that,” it's happened here. Those communities did not benefit from their sacrifice. Neighborhoods were isolated, cut in half, subjected to noise and air pollution from freeways, and suffered higher rates of asthma, heart disease,

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Portraits In Aging: As America marks 250 years and Colorado marks 150, reflections on what it’s like growing older in the Centennial state

Colorado Public Radio

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KEYWORD SCORE: 31.19. bus stop, house, housing, income, mobility, parking, project, rent, transportation, walk

As the United States marks 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 on July 4th, its semiquincentennial, and Colorado prepares to celebrate 150 years of statehood on August 1, Colorado is experiencing a demographic shift – sometimes referred to as a “silver tsunami” — that state leaders say will continue to reshape everything from housing and health care to the workforce and public services. In 2022, for the first time in state history, residents over age 60 outnumbered those under 18, signaling what state officials describe as a fast-accelerating aging trend. Acc

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Seattle Advances Data Center Moratorium, Amid Public Backlash

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 28.30. construction, development, growth, house, project, supply, urban, zone

Councilmembers are weighing charging new data centers higher energy rates to shield other ratepayers.[image: Seattle Advances Data Center Moratorium, Amid Public Backlash] Amid a rising national tide of negative sentiment against big tech’s push to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) offerings, the Seattle City Council is discussing new legislation to regulate large-scale data centers. In April, *The Seattle Times* *broke the news* that four companies were seeking to build five mega data centers within Seattle City Light’s service area. While the Seattle area already plays host to around 3

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An Obscure Political Race With Big Consequences for California

Governing

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KEYWORD SCORE: 27.59. affordable, development, homeowner, housing, housing cost, housing crisis, project, rent, urban, yimby

In Brief: Five candidates are vying to be the next California insurance commissioner. The state’s insurance market has been scrambled by increasingly frequent wildfires and other disasters. Some candidates say insurance premiums need to rise, while others are promoting publicly run disaster insurance. People with big political ambitions don’t tend to be drawn to the California insurance commissioner’s office. It’s one of the lower-profile statewide positions, charged with regulating the insurance industries that operate in the state and approving insurance rates. And it’s one of the less glamo

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The shocking death toll of cars in poor countries

Vox - Policy

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KEYWORD SCORE: 25.75. development, growth, income, mobility, rent, transportation, urban, walk

[image: Motorcyclists, buses, and trucks share a curving rural road bordered by trees, with little separation between vehicles and vulnerable road users.] A road in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. | Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images The story of global health over the last few centuries has generally been one of great progress — vastly longer lifespans, far fewer women dying in childbirth, many fewer children dying from miserable diseases like measles and smallpox. But there is one often overlooked feature of modernity that has brought a new and enormous degree of mortality and injury

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Investment Grade Forecasts actually over-estimate future traffic

City Observatory

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KEYWORD SCORE: 20.48. construction, downtown, growth, project, rent, transportation

The Interstate Bridge Replacement project’s investment grade analysis traffic and revenue analysis shows the $15 billion project will be a waste of money that will serve fewer vehicles in 2050 than use the bridge today. And it will cause tens of thousands of vehicles to divert to the parallel I-205 bridge, increasing traffic, congestion and pollution. IBR’s generously funded public relations team is trying to divert attention from these inconvenient truths with a pat talking point: They’re falsely claiming that the investment grade analysis (a much more detailed, sophisticated and accurate set

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