Traffic during the “Seattle Squeeze” – the upcoming three weeks of extreme congestion during the Viaduct demolition – is going to be a disaster if the mayor and county executive don’t do more. Today I wrote to them, calling on the city and county to make public transit free during the “Seattle Squeeze.” Seattle Squeeze […]
On March 24, 2017, President Trump announced his approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, and our local activist community did not hesitate to begin building the fightback! Organizers from 350 Seattle, indigenous leaders, and members of the #Defund DAPL coalition reached out to my office and asked me to co-author a resolution calling on the City of […]
On February 8, 2017, the movement to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline won a significant victory when the Seattle City Council unanimously voted on the bill I wrote with activists to divest Seattle from Wells Fargo. On February 1, after our committee vote, I spoke about how this was a stunning rebuke of Wall Street, Big Oil, […]
On December 12, I brought forward an ordinance to divest the City of Seattle from Wells Fargo, due to their investment in the Dakota Access Pipeline and a series of other unethical banking practices. The ordinance also changes the City’s financial policies to make social justice concerns a factor when choosing where to deposit public funds. […]
For the last eight months, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has led a historic campaign against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), uniting hundreds of tribes, environmentalists, veterans and other activists inspired by their bold stand in defense of native treaty rights and the environment. On Sunday, millions of people around the world celebrated news […]
Thursday in North Dakota, a police force backed by corporate paramilitary agents and armored vehicles moved against indigenous people and other activists courageously protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. Organizers were beaten, maced, shot with rubber bullets, threatened with automatic weapons, and more than 100 arrested for having the audacity to stand up and protect indigenous […]
On September 12, 2016, the Seattle City Council unanimously passed a resolution in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the nearly 200 allied tribes, numerous environmental organizations, and thousands of activists who have joined in the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline. See my remarks below. Since April, despite a longstanding media blackout, we […]
On May 24, 2016, the Energy & Environment Committee unanimously voted in favor of the resolution I brought forward, drafted by environmental activists from Physicians for Social Responsibility, Heart of America Northwest, and others from the anti-nuclear movement. It calls on Seattle City Light to oppose the Columbia Generating Station, the sole nuclear power plant in the Pacific Northwest, […]
Earlier this week, 350 Seattle sent the following letter to their members and supporters. Larry Weis for CEO of Seattle City Light? No thank you. The Seattle City Council is currently considering hiring Larry Weis to be the new CEO of Seattle City Light. Weis recently left a similar position at Austin Energy, the municipal utility […]
On February 4, 2016, Larry Weis, the Mayor’s nominee for Seattle City Light General Manager and Chief Executive Officer, appeared before the Energy and Environment Committee for the first of several meetings regarding his nomination. Councilmembers asked him a series of questions. We discussed several areas of concern to Seattle, including climate change, executive pay, and […]