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 […]

Tonight, October 22, 2015, students, teachers, staff, parents, and community activists will be rallying at Rainier Beach High School to demand free bus passes for ALL public school students that need or would like to use Metro to get to school. Currently, students who live two miles or less away from their schools are ineligible for the free […]

This is the fourth part in our series, “Voices of the People’s Budget.” On the evening of October 30th, labor leaders, community organizers, social service providers, and engaged citizens came together for a People’s Budget Town Hall. Here they shared their concerns about the Mayor’s business as usual budget and began a conversation about what is necessary to make […]

Yesterday the Seattle Transit Riders Union sent all Transportation Benefit District Board Members a letter (PDF) urging members to remove the sales tax increase from their proposal and, acting as the City Council, pass the Employee Hours Tax and Commercial Parking Fee increase being proposed by myself and Councilmember Nick Licata. The full text follows. Dear Seattle Transportation Benefit District Board Members: This spring, […]

UW workers endorse the Sawant/Licata Transit package I also wanted to include an update to the endorsements that we have received for the more progressive Metro plan that is being proposed by Councilmember Nick Licata and me to avert the cuts to Metro. On Friday, the Executive Board of WFSE Local 1488 voted unanimously to […]

Here are answers to common questions about Kshama Sawant and Nick Licata’s proposal to fund Metro transit with a progressive tax on businesses. For more information, check out this opinion column by Kshama and Nick in the Puget Sound Business Journal, and see below on how you can support this proposal. What is the current […]

City Councilmembers Kshama Sawant and Nick Licata aim to fund Seattle transit by replacing a sales tax hike with a business tax. King County Metro is facing a 17% cut to services. The Mayor has proposed a Seattle-specific funding package that would include a $60 vehicle license fee and a 0.1 percent increment added to […]