Midweek Roundup: too flipping expensive

Elections, Events, and Campaigns:

• As of yesterday afternoon, Mayoral Candidate Wilson now leads Incumbent Mayor Harrell by 1,346 votes (0.49%). PubliCola reports there are very few ballots remaining to count, and that this is the closest Seattle mayoral race since 1906 and may trigger a mandatory recount. The Northwest Progressive Institute dove into the details; there are still about 1,500 ballots with missing or mismatched signatures. Go here to make sure your vote was counted!
• Transportation Choices Coalition (TCC) is hosting a West Seattle Light Rail Visioning Forum" on Monday, November 17th (West Seattle Blog) Participants will include KC CM Teresa Mosqueda, KC Exec. Sharon Braddock, ST CEO Dow Constatine, ST Director of Capital Delivery Brad Owen, and TCC Exec. Kirk Hovenkotter.
• TCC will launch its Build the Damn Trains!" campaign tomorrow (Campaign Website). Key points: no cancelled Link projects, no more delays, and no more subarea equity barriers.
• Sound Transit is running another Passenger Experience Survey. Share your thoughts before December 6.

Local Transit & Streets

• Another week, another driver gets their car hit by a Link train on MLK, shutting down service for hours on Friday (The Seattle Times, $)
• The end of an article about parking at The Summit at Snoqualmie" mentions efforts by the Cascade Backcountry Alliance to get Metro to run winter shuttles to Snoqualmie Pass (The Seattle Times, $)
• Sound Transit selected private bus operator MV Transportation to run its Stride BRT network (The Urbanist)
• Systems integration testing continues on Crosslake section of the 2 Line (The Platform). ST is also testing mixed 1 and 2 Line operations in Seattle during select morning and evening peak hours" with a single out-of-service 2 Line car.
• Bothell Advances Citywide 20 MPH Residential Speed Limit (The Urbanist)

Land Use & Housing:

• Stadium District Zoning Change Declared Invalid After Port of Seattle Appeal (The Urbanist)
• The cost of flipping single-family houses has become too flipping expensive" as flippers compete with redevelopers for profitable properties (The Seattle Times, $)

Commentary & Miscellaneous:

• Cascadia Forges Ahead on High-Speed Rail Despite Headwinds (The Urbanist)
• High-Speed Rail is not for Tourists (Pedestrian Observations)
• NY Gov. Kathy Hochul (owner of NY's MTA) is skeptical of NYC Mayor-elect Mamdani's proposal for free buses, but is open to subsidizing low-income riders (The New York Times, gift link)

This is an Open Thread.