Midweek Roundup: Trending Upward

This picturesque scene may look like a computer rendering, but it's a real photo from Sound Transit's fit-testing of soon-to-be-complete portions of the 2 Line between South Bellevue and Mercer Island. Courtesy of Sound Transit.Transit & Streets:

• RapidRide G Bus Ridership Starts Strong and Is Trending Upward (The Urbanist)
• Seattle Police Department Updates Its Emergency Driving Policy (PubliCola)
• Rob Saka Pushes to Decommission the South Lake Union Streetcar (The Urbanist); also on Puget Sound Business Journal, paywall passable with a Seattle Public Library account, here.
• Downtown Seattle light rail stations reopen after weekend work continued through Monday morning (The Seattle Times, $)
• Seattle Set to Double Down on Arbitrary Parking Mandates (The Urbanist)
• A $2.1B King County plan seeks boosted, more climate-friendly bus service (The Seattle Times, $)
• MLK Transportation Justice Team Honors World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims (South Seattle Emerald)
• US Transit Turns to Camera Enforcement to Keep Bus Lanes Clear (Mass Transit Magazine)

Land Use & Housing:

• The 20-year saga of the hole across from Seattle City Hall (Axios Seattle)
• Progressive Planning in Ideologically Conservative Communities (Planetizen)
• Urbanism 101: Solutions to the Housing Crisis and Bad Zoning (The Urbanist)

Commentary & Miscellaneous:

• Seattle City Council to consider a city-level capital gains tax (CascadePBS); KUOW interviewed CM Moore who is proposing the 2% tax.
• Op-Ed: Neighbors Feel Loss of Deleted Route 20 Bus (The Urbanist)
• Countries spend huge sums on fossil fuel subsidies - why they're so hard to eliminate (The Conversation)
• Under Trump, Prepare for New US Transportation Priorities (Bloomberg CityLab)

This is an Open Thread.

Are you interested in advocating for better transit and/or land use? Reach out to contact@seattletransitblog.com.