Rian Watt

“If we raise taxes back to the rates we had in the 1970s, no one will found the next Microsoft or Apple!” 🤡

Don't balance WA budget at child care providers' expense | Op-Ed Child care is economic infrastructure. Protecting Working Connections Child Care reinforces a foundation that supports our economy.

Childcare is economic infrastructure — and far too expensive already.

www.seattletimes.com/opinion/dont...

The American media will focus almost entirely on the number of casualties to US service members, but the bombing of a school in the middle of a school day is just an absolute moral disaster. There is no possible justification. It’s just evil and depraved recklessness.

We are monstrous.

Sorry for the late response but yes, this is right!

You'll be hearing more about this.

good evening to everyone voting aye only

local man appears on television

well well well

I will do it. I will buy the Vancouver Whitecaps.

MARCH 28

Annie Kucklick of @eoionline.bsky.social: childcare in Cowlitz Co. has increased 263% in costs since 2001, while wages have only gone up 80%.

These same families have to pay higher taxes than the wealthiest corporations, and are hit hardest by MAGA cuts to health care and food.

As @rianwatt.bsky.social & I wrote in this piece, there are tangible solutions #WaLeg can enact this session to end cyclical revenue shortfalls, fix our tax code & create a more affordable WA. They must reject harmful budget cuts & ensure corporations & the ultra-wealthy pay their share in taxes.

One week on @theurbanist.org:
-Two original Sound Transit stories
-Two fully reported Seattle budget stories
-Dispatches from both Clyde Hill & Kirkland
-One story about Katie Wilson's transition team
And a book review!

I know I'm biased, but I really think we punch above our weight.

I'm so excited for The Urbanist to roll into 2026 at full strength, covering new admins at the city and county and major stories elsewhere, including at Sound Transit.

I hope you'll consider joining us at our holiday party to support that work. It's also fun!
www.eventbrite.com/e/the-urbani...

Excited to see this team get to work:

www.seattle.gov/documents/De...

when will Seattle's Democrat Council President cease her unrelenting war on Christians

Supporter’s Shield but for baseball is a great idea.

If you expand to 32 teams you can also do a balanced 186-game schedule where each team plays every other team three games home and three away each year.

You can do an October tournament with the top four for fun.

This baseball game has officially outlasted the NWSL match next door that started 2 1/2 hours after it

where’s Michael Barrett when you need him

peace be with Adam Wainwright as he tries to get his coworker to make a different point in the meeting

How Ballard and West Seattle Light Rail Became a $30 Billion Undertaking » The Urbanist # Since voters approved West Seattle and Ballard Link in 2016, the two projects have been caught in a perfect storm of factors that led to the eye-popping cost estimates that we have today. While the ...

It's not an exaggeration to say that @typewriteralley.bsky.social is the only reporter in the region who could write this story in quite this way.

Please consider donating to @theurbanist.org to help support our work. theurbanist.org/donate

www.theurbanist.org/2025/10/10/h...

I was on @kuow.org's Week in Review this afternoon. A good time!

www.kuow.org/stories/week...

We can end homelessness, and therefore we should World Homeless Day reminds us that it is possible to end homelessness.

Five years ago, for the 10th World Homelessness Day, I wrote this brief call to action. Five years gone and little progress. But I stand by each word:

community.solutions/homelessness...

There's two blocks between the East Precinct and 12th and Union. Two blocks, two reversed decisions, one week.

Do you need management experience to get it wrong this reliably?

Reversing Decision, SPD Removes Controversial Captain Tietjen from East Precinct - PubliCola By Erica C. Barnett Two days after PubliCola exclusively reported that  Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes had promoted controversial police…

Then it was this whole mess in the heart of Capitol Hill:

publicola.com/2025/10/09/r...

SDOT Backpedals on Plans for Capitol Hill Bus Lane Removal » The Urbanist # Work will continue on upgrades to E Union Street that will allow Route 2 buses to return to the corridor, but the idea of reopening the street to all westbound traffic has been taken off the table -...

First, it was eliminating a bus lane advocates fought for for years after developers wanted space for their right turns from the East side. Advocates fought back and the city immediately reversed.

www.theurbanist.org/2025/10/02/s...

If Bruce Harrell's case for re-election is his management experience, what should we make of two separate instances in the last week of city decisions made under his watch being immediately reversed after huge community blowback?

COLUMN | What This Mayoral Election Owes 'Black Seattle' From City Hall to the Central District, Seattle's mayoral race raises deeper questions: Who speaks for "Black Seattle," and what does real representation look like beyond the ballot? Marcus Harrison G...

Extraordinarily thoughtful and nuanced from one of Seattle’s best, Marcus Harrison Greene:

southseattleemerald.org/voices/2025/...

It is 8 am on Saturday at Madison/12th/Union and … no work crews in sight 😊 What a beautiful sight, thanks to so many transportation advocates!