Midweek Roundup: Othello Station Closed
Update at 7:15am: Othello station is open and trains are back to normal service.
Othello station on the 1 Line closed around 2:30pm Tuesday and will remain closed through Wednesday's morning commute at least, due to an ongoing police investigation. Shuttle buses are running between Rainier Beach and Columbia City stations. Link is running north and south of there. Travel times through the area may be long due to heavy traffic and street closures. The Link maintenance planned Tuesday night in North Seattle was postponed.
This started around 1:30pm Tuesday when police shot and killed a man who was allegedly waving a gun near MLK & South Othello Street. The Seattle Times posted a short followup at 9:30pm.
Sound Transit has a chart of alternative bus routes between 1 Line station pairs if want to avoid a 3-seat ride through the area and potential delays.
Regular roundup news links are below the fold.
Local Headlines:- Why It Takes So Damn Long to Build a RapidRide Line (The Urbanist)
- Your guide to three new light rail stations in South King County (Seattle Times, $). Sound Transit also has a guide on how to ride and transfer on the extension (The Platform)
- Light rail's push to Federal Way gives students, workers front-door access (Seattle Times, $)
- Teresa Mosqueda Makes Her Case for Joining the Sound Transit Board (The Urbanist)
- Why Sound Transit is waging a ceaseless battle against birds (Seattle Times, $)
- WA to pay $30M to settle lawsuit over teen killed in faulty crosswalk in Pierce County (Seattle Times, $)
- How Seattle's new bike lanes are making the most of used car parts (Seattle Times, $)
- The View From Nathan's Bus: Remembering Why We Love Trolleys (The Urbanist)
- Sound Transit is planning to buy three streetcars from Portland to replace aging T-Link trains (pdf)
- Op-Ed: How Mobile Villages Could Tackle Seattle's Homelessness Emergency (The Urbanist)
- Mayor-elect Katie Wilson Charts New Course on Public Safety and Homelessness (The Urbanist)
- An investment executive argues that charging for street parking across all of NYC could replace bus fare revenue, but the state government would have to allow it (New York Times, gift link)
- A conversation about the slow pace of regulation for fast e-bikes (New York Times, gift link). A deadly incident in the Bay Area motivated reforms in California.
- Unbuilt proposals NYC's waterfront have included expansions of Manhattan, new bridges, and airports (New York Times, gift link)
- NYC is considering legalizing construction of new single-room-occupancy (SRO) apartments to help mitigate its housing shortage (New York Times, gift link)
This is an open thread.