News Roundup: Preferred Alternative

East Link over I-405, May 2019 (SounderBruce/wikimedia)

• Sound Transit committee proposes a "preferred alternative" for Ballard West Seattle, punts difficult decisions at West Seattle Junction, Ballard, Chinatown. The full board is next. WSB has a great summary of some of the friction between those worried about "impacts" and those trying to get it done.
• Tariffs make ORCA more expensive, agencies eating the increase.
• ECB curbs your enthusiasm about Mayor Durkan's scooter announcement.
• Oversight committee officially requests funding for more of the Move Seattle bike plan.
• Disability-rights group unhappy with some Portland scooter rules.
• Link has an uncanny ability to have maintenance problems just as I-5 disintegrates.
• Kiewit will build Link to Federal Way.
• Woodinville looking at a "connector bus" to get people to BRT.
• Olympia did something about housing supply this session - perhaps most notably, many upzones can no longer be challenged in the courts under "environmental" laws.
• Judge tosses lawsuit ($) against accessory dwelling units and mother-in-law apartments, full speed ahead!
• PSRC says transit boardings up about 1% last year, tops in the nation among big metro areas. It's driven mostly by increasing train ridership, still a small fraction of all trips.

This is an open thread.