jessdbateman.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Keeping all 30 proposed Neighborhood Centers is essential for a more affordable, sustainable, and thriving Seattle. If we chip away at them, we’ll be left with the same housing shortages, rising costs and inequitable growth patterns we’ve seen for decades. Op-ed: www.theurbanist.org/2025/03/01/o...

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

Spokane has unlimited residential height and FAR in the urban core and will shower you with tax incentives. Come build housing for us! 🏘️🏗️🌇

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

The House appropriations committee, working late, just gave the go-ahead to HB 1175, legalizing neighborhood cafes and corner stores in all residential neighborhoods in Washington. Next stop is the House floor.

submitted 6 days ago • 5 comments

The gall. Cutting taxes for the wealthy by taking away healthcare from low income Americans? People depend on these essential services. This is unconscionable.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Apply to Join The Urbanist Election Committee www.theurbanist.org/2025/02/24/a...

submitted 7 days ago • 2 comments

It’s working exactly as designed. Limiting production was the intended outcome. Making housing prices too high was a bug they did not realize would occur by limiting housing production

submitted 8 days ago • 2 comments

Seattle could meet its 30% tree canopy goal much quicker by converting a quarter of its 500,000 on-street parking spaces. The paving-to-planting conversion would convey many benefits, cooling neighborhoods and absorbing runoff. Op-ed: www.theurbanist.org/2025/02/22/o...

submitted 9 days ago • 14 comments

This is climate arson, yes, but also the entire value proposition of Tesla, the reason for its insane stock price, is that it would end up the Amazon of electric cars: the only real game in town. Killing off non-Tesla electric car infrastructure is a gift to Musk.

submitted 10 days ago • 558 comments

Medicaid is not for sale. NASA is not for sale. The Post Office is not for sale. America is not for sale. We have an obligation to resist kings. We outnumber them. And they can be overwhelmed.

submitted 10 days ago • 2529 comments

Good work @staterepjuliareed.bsky.social Let’s pass TOD this year!

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

While Republicans start their work tonight on a bill to cut your Social Security and Medicare benefits, Democrats are working to make your life better, safer, and more affordable. Here are 10 of the amendments I filed to the Republican budget bill 🧵

submitted 11 days ago • 128 comments

Senate Bill 5156, approved by the Washington Senate this week, could open the door to more accessible small apartment buildings built around smaller European-style elevators, reducing overall housing costs at the same time. Story: www.theurbanist.org/2025/02/20/w...

submitted 11 days ago • 3 comments

"It is one of the most robust parking reform packages to move forward in any state." So proud of @jessdbateman.bsky.social for bringing this important legislation forward! www.theurbanist.org/2025/02/20/w...

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

👀

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

A parking reform bill (stop making us build too much of it) passed the state senate today. 3 cheers @sightline.org and @jessdbateman.bsky.social Earlier this month we wrote about the legislation on @publicola.bsky.social. publicola.com/2025/02/07/n...

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Today on Volts: As YIMBYs (pro-housing activists) win battles across the country, they are beginning to network & learn from one another. Momentum is building. It's exciting! I talk with two superstar activists about recent victories in New York City & Austin, TX.

submitted 12 days ago • 4 comments

🥳

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

Housing policies are popular. I’m grateful to my colleagues who supported this bipartisan bill and everyone who email and called their legislators in support. Let’s build more livable, walkable communities.🏘️🌸🌳

submitted 12 days ago • 3 comments

And... WA's elevator bill just passed the Senate, 42-6!

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

We did it.🙌🙌🙌

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

I just got this email from our statewide city association about @jessdbateman.bsky.social's parking bill, and boy it’s frustrating to see the org we pay dues to sending emails like this out. So frustrating that I will address their local control talking points in a thread.

submitted 13 days ago • 13 comments

‘Cybertruck Man’ a cartoon in defiance of Musk #political #cartoonist #cybertruck #elon #musk #democracy #tiananmen

submitted 17 days ago • 114 comments

About 30 #WAleg bills this session address the state's housing shortage. Here's our list of solutions to unlock more homes, in all shapes and sizes — and to cut home costs and rents.

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

“It's clear what Musk is trying to accomplish: it's clear that he is, in fact, trying to empty out the federal government so that he can take a cut out of everything,” said organizer Emily Johnston.

submitted 18 days ago • 3 comments

It’s nothing short of highway robbery. Cutting spending for seniors on social security & giving tax breaks to the wealthiest people. Shameful.

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

Washington State's middle housing reform (shepherded by @jessdbateman.bsky.social and passed in 2023 and about to be implemented this year) followed several of these best practices.

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Important reporting on CFPB and Elon Musk’s potential conflicts of interest, by my colleague @bobbyallyn.bsky.social www.npr.org/2025/02/12/n...

submitted 19 days ago • 2 comments

NEW STORY // Mercer Island’s Growth Plan Doesn’t Meet State Standards, Appeal Alleges www.theurbanist.org/2025/02/11/m...

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

We need leaders who will meet the moment and work to create a future young people can see themselves in. Antiquated, encased in amber, slow-growth housing policies will not get us there. We must do better.

submitted 23 days ago • 1 comment

In order to facilitate housing growth and infill development, South Bend offers 27 pre-approved housing plans, ranging from single-family homes to duplexes and six-plexes. They provide site and building plans and pre-approve housing within two days. More of this.

submitted 24 days ago • 15 comments

Thank you @jessdbateman.bsky.social for again being a trailblazer on housing, this time on a critical next frontier after zoning reform, which is to monitor housing production and set up a process to do something about it if it's not happening. SB 5148 got over its first hurdle today... onward!

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

New State Bills Could Force Seattle to Reform Parking, Historical Landmarking Rules Today's Afternoon Fizz showcases two bills that could help Seattle build more housing. publicola.com/2025/02/07/n...

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

If it was really about retaining tree canopy 🌳 and decreasing carbon emissions, 🌍 the Council would choose Alt. 5. Housing policy is climate policy.

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

Parking reform has significant momentum this session at the Washington legislature. www.theurbanist.org/2025/02/06/p...

submitted 25 days ago • 2 comments

And the bill went straight to Rules! One more step before the Senate floor. Let’s prioritize housing people and creating livable, walkable communities.

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

I just want to underscore this, one more time. The Harrell Admin's growth plan would destroy more trees than the density-forward option that the city studied and set aside. Density is good for trees. That's from the city's own study.

submitted 26 days ago • 4 comments

“The Seattle City Council is holding a public hearing on the proposed One Seattle Plan this Wednesday, February 5, at 5pm. In-person commenters will be prioritized between 5pm and 7:30pm, with on-site child care available, followed by testimony from commenters calling in by phone.”

submitted 27 days ago • 2 comments

Take action right now for housing! 🚨🏠 The Housing Accountability Act, #SB5148, is scheduled for executive action (possibly amendments and a vote) in the Senate Housing Committee of #waleg on Wednesday at 10:30am. Send a quick note to your legislators NOW urging support: bit.ly/3CJpMVy

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

They're showing up Wednesday. Are you?

submitted 28 days ago • 2 comments

YIMBY works, y'all. "A household with a median Austin income spent, on average, 19.6% of its money on rent in December — far below the 29.3% of income median households pay nationally, and the lowest in the country."

submitted 28 days ago • 2 comments

NEW STORY // How Much Housing Growth Should Seattle Be Targeting? www.theurbanist.org/2025/02/03/h...

submitted 28 days ago • 5 comments

Seattle’s planning Director sat on a panel with Historic Seattle and told the audience to get a phony historic district without owner consent which Historic Seattle wants to use to opt out of upzones. This is why Wallingford got 700 homes blanketed in this absurd designation a year ago

submitted 28 days ago • 1 comment

WA State SB 5554/HB 1576 Concerning the designation of historic landmarks by cities... @jessdbateman.bsky.social @noelframe.bsky.social @juliareedwa.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/hughvg/p...

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

Weaponizing historic preservation once again in Seattle!

submitted 31 days ago • 1 comment

There are more like 4,000 reasons to get rid of parking mandates, these are just the 4 categories for all those reasons. 1-More homes of all shapes and sizes 2-More great neighborhoods 3-Less unneeded asphalt, sprawl, and pollution 4-Less red tape for local businesses and governments alike

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

Based on a Sightline survey, of the 62 largest WA cities that have landmark ordinances: 48 require owner consent for landmarking 14 do not In WA, cities that don't require owner consent are the outliers. HB 1576/SB 5554 would set a state standard aligned with what most cities already do.

submitted 32 days ago • 1 comment

Making Things Happen for Affordable Housing: Today we announced, along with @wastatecommerce.bsky.social, $14.6M in grants to support shovel-ready housing projects that will create more than 1,800 affordable units in 10 counties. Read more: governor.wa.gov/news/2025/ma...

submitted 32 days ago • 10 comments

Only one week away! Join us at City Hall on Feb 5 for a pro-housing rally, followed by public comment, beginning at 4:00pm. Homemade signs encouraged. Let Council know that you support more homes!

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments