Oversight is not always enough when it comes to Seattle's public safety departments, which consume a majority of the City’s General Fund. SPD and SFD often get special privileges, allowing them to play by their own rules.

Voters signed onto public transit funding measures in both Seattle and Pierce County Tuesday night, with both passing handily. The two measures represent big wins for Pierce County leaders and for Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson.

A parking battle ignited a controversy along a sleepy stretch in Queen Anne, with the Seattle Fire Department pushing for change after getting repeatedly stuck on the narrow roadway. A new pilot tests a compromise, one that could involve turning a blind eye to illegal parking on the curb.

Mayor Katie Wilson vetoed a bill Monday that addresses RV permitting after the Seattle City Council approved the legislation last month.

Video: https://redlib.catsarch.com/r/SeattleWA/comments/1xikkus/watch_out_in_the_area/

Additional context: The Auburn police were the employer of the first officer convicted after Initiative 940 brought the circumstances in which a police officer could be charged with murder in Washington state in line with the other 49 states. Former Auburn officer Jeffrey Nelson was sentenced to 16 years, 8 months in prison for the murder of Jesse Sarey.

"In attendance on Nelson’s side of the courtroom were various family and friends, Auburn Police officers, including Assistant Chief Sam Betz and Cmdr. Cristian Adams, who defended Nelson in a statement to Phelps, and Auburn Mayor Nancy Backus, who did not speak to the judge. According to City of Auburn spokesperson Jonathan Glover, Backus attended to support the Auburn Police Department and City of Auburn staff, of which many officers were in attendance, including Nelson’s wife, Natalie Mount, a current Auburn officer." Nelson had a long history of questionable use of force which went completely unchecked by the Auburn police before Sarey's murder.

The City of Seattle is launching a project to install 200 new EV chargers across the city, and you can apply to have one installed on your block.

Seattle voters face a choice to renew the Seattle Transit Measure on November 3, ramping up even more King County Metro bus service within the city. Transit advocates Ashwin and Zachary lay out the reasons voters should say yes.

A batch of 92 undelivered ballots ended up in a dumpster at Golden Gardens this week.

We’re going to lose an October rain battle to… Las Vegas? Seriously? Despite being massive favorites — Seattle averages about

My spouse Kelli and child Fiona voting by bike in 2021. It's an oldie but so cute. Whenever I vote, I vote for Fiona's future. "The Nov. 3 general election is pivotal for the future of bicycling due to current hostility toward bike infrastructure funding at the federal level and gloomy budget forecasts at the…

via

Flush With Cash, the Agency Scaled up Its Expansion Plans by 70 Percent

The city of Seattle and King County will be on the hook for at least $16.7 million in previously unreported costs accrued by the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, city and county officials said Thursday afternoon.

Compared to plans presented earlier this year laying out how the existing Route 7 would be converted into a RapidRide line, designs released this week only include two new stop pairs. That adjustment is unlikely to assuage concerns around decreasing access to transit in the Rainier Valley.

This weekend is the inaugural Fremont Zombie Crawl, happening on Saturday, Oct. 17 in downtown Fremont.

The kitchen sink and then some

Released as Sound Transit reaches 30% design on the future 3 Line, the new renderings show the full 3.9 mile line that will run between SoDo and Alaska Junction until connecting with the rest of the light rail network as soon as 2042.

What will happen when a wolf and hyena open a shop in Seattle dedicated to furry artists and creators? E Pike will find out in 2027 when Furesh opens its new Capitol Hill store.

The costume design and fabrication studio has grown as a specialist in custom fursuit craftsmanship, with an emphasis on tailored bodysuits engineered for mobility, durability, and comfort, as well as standalone parts like paws and tails.

Now it is building out a furry den of creative retail along E Pike just east of 12th Ave. The grand opening is planned for January 7th, 2027.

A city report showed one-time bonuses have no effect on police hiring. The Harrell Administration rewrote it to say the opposite.

Two newly released reports flagged issues with the Seattle’s real-time crime center, including unauthorized SDOT traffic cameras being streamed through the center, federal access to SDOT camera data, and a lack of safeguards for private cameras incorporated into SPD’s system.

The Seattle Police Department overpaid police officers, management, and civilian staff a total of more than $13 million as part of a police contract, signed in 2025, that gave officers retroactive pay increases for two years when they were operating under a previous, expired contract.

SDOT is making near-term safety improvements while refining a larger redesign that will determine where bike facilities fit along the corridor.

Seattle earned the fourth-highest ranking in a new Oxford Economics 2026 Global Cities Index, trailing only New York, London and Paris. Here's how the Emerald City pulled off the feat.

A Seattle Police Department officer, Adam Sun, is on administrative leave after using a pair of AI smart glasses to record a promotional video for a Chinese company, Rokid Global. The film, taken from Sun’s POV while wearing the glasses, showed scenes inside of a police precinct, at a police investigation, in and around the department’s weapons lockers, and inside Sun’s police car while he’s driving, among other locations. The footage is frenetic and Sun hypes the glasses throughout. At one point, Sun daps a man holding a tiny goat.

Mayor Katie Wilson joined bestselling authors Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor to lay out an antidote to fascism at a book talk at Town Hall Seattle last week.