Its hard to tax angry rich people.
It's hard to tax angry rich people. James Griffiths Photo/Getty Images

Used to be on top, now we’re on bottom: Same old sad song. Seattle used to have the most bidding wars on houses. Now we have the least. Boo hoo. Maybe it’s just that single-family homes aren’t the hot thing anymore. Maybe what people are yearning for isn’t to bid on a house but to bid on whatever the best policy solution is for adding the most affordable living options possible to the city. Looks like the hip, forward-thinkers over in Minneapolis just did away with single-family zoning. How cool is that? Perhaps we should tip our beanies and take a cue.

The high-density parts of Seattle are diversifying faster than the low-density: But the city really isn’t diversifying much. On the heels of Minneapolis’s cool new no-single-family-zoning move, Gene Balk, the FYI Guy, has put out an in-depth look at how the “two cities” of Seattle have changed, those "two cities" being the high-density areas versus the low-density areas. Let’s just say the high-density areas are on the up-and-up and low-density areas are just sort of puttering around aimlessly. The issue is that at the end of the day Seattle is just one city—one city with perhaps two personalities. Is a big city having two contradictory personalities the best way for a city to exist?

Take it from WSDOT: Plan accordingly, people.


WSDOT is getting the plug today: Because they’re not only informative, but they are incorporating penguins, people, PENGUINS.


Man arrested in alleged hate-crime attack at Lynnwood tavern associated with violent skinhead groups: ICYMI, the Seattle Times reported that on Saturday, a DJ at a Lynnwood tavern was assaulted during a “melee” that broke out after a man who requested he play heavy metal decided that his request wasn’t being met fast enough. As the DJ said, “What, they couldn’t wait a minute and a half, two minutes? That’s all they had to wait to get to their music? For that, they beat my ass, and called me a (N-word)?” As it turns out, the Southern Poverty Law Center says that one of the nine men arrested after the attack “is associated with some of the nation’s ‘oldest and most violent racist skinhead groups.’”

SeaTac Council-member Amina Ahmed killed in car crash: This is very sad news. Amina was a Human Service and Non-Profit Executive that had been unanimously appointed to fill a vacant position in October. The City Manager, Joseph Scorcio, said this: “We are devastated by the news of her passing. Over the years, city staff has worked extensively with Ahmed. She was such a positive force and worked tirelessly to improve the lives of those she served."

Tax on waterfront LID delayed: Mayor Durkan was hoping to pass a $200 million tax on waterfront properties by the end of this year to fund a local improvement district in place of where the Alaskan Way Viaduct is coming down. Looks like it is going to have to wait till next year, the Seattle Times reports, as there is a lot of dissent from property owners, particularly in discussing ways to get that tax down in return for maintenance and upkeep/operation. Well, since that’s getting put off, there is no time like the present to figure out some way to mitigate the gridlock that Seattle is slated to become when the viaduct does come down, right?

Shouldn’t someone who wrote a book called The Art of The Deal be able to get his first choice? Trump’s first choice for chief of staff, Nick Ayers, isn’t going to happen. So either Trump’s not the best deal-maker ever (say what?!), or we’re about to find out his first choice was secretly not his first choice. Remember, in Trumpland the reason for everything is never the logical conclusion—all counter-intuitive possibilities are the only possibilities. It’s a great artistic method, actually, but not the best way to lead a nation.

Also, this week in TrumpWatch; Trump downplays former lawyer’s felony: I love this line from Politico that explains Trump's defense of Cohen’s hush money payments on Trump’s behalf : they “were a 'simple private transaction' rather than a breach of campaign finance law.” Woof! You really gotta warm up a little more before such an intense stretch. Prosecutors have recommended a four-year prison sentence for Cohen, who is set to be sentenced this Wednesday.

There are no vaccines for this one: The Seattle Times reports that King County prosecutors are studying gun violence from a public health angle. They are, as the article reads, “for the first time, analyzing the relationships between victims, witnesses and perpetrators of gun violence the same way an epidemiologist studies the spread of contagious disease.” Senior Deputy Prosecutor Karissa Taylor points out that any action/response that should come from the data has to start with the “community and public.”

Pour one out for Roger: This absolutely yoked kangaroo was definitely compensating for something.


Monday Mornin' Gouda: We got her a great new tree, but of course she's made her nest in the closet.

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Tonight's best Seattle entertainment options include: Tom Douglas’s 12th Annual Cookbook Social, an evening with singer-songwriter Chris Pureka, and a screening of It's a Wonderful Life at Grand Illusion.