Midweek Roundup: ban rental junk fees
Someone crashed their car into a barrier on MLK Way and pushed it into the trackway. (SDOT Traffic Camera via William Holland on Bluesky)Correction, 8/12 11:30am: We retract the previous statement about a train derailing and have updated the paragraph below with a comment from Sound Transit. We regret this error.
After someone crashed their car into a barrier and pushed it onto the tracks along MLK Way on Monday evening, a southbound train attempted to use the pocket track at Rainier Beach station to switch to the northbound track. During this process, the train experienced a split switch at low speed while entering the Henderson Pocket Track and once the switch was inspected, the train moved back out of the pocket under its own power." Thanks to the quick response from Sound Transit crews, normal 1 Line service resumed about 2 hours after the initial car crash.
Transit & Streets:- A 16-year-old driver hit and killed a 37-year-old man early Tuesday morning in northwest Seattle. (SPD Blotter)
- Sound Transit's Rider Experience Committee approved the creation of a program to retrofit 14 Link stations with fare gates. (The Urbanist)
- Amtrak Cascades have a service disruption between Seattle in Portland due to a warehouse fire near the tracks in Portland. (Amtrak Cascades)
- Temporary state-funded Bremerton Fast Ferry sailings will end after August 31. (Kitsap Headways)
- Community Transit Board of Directors approve the 2026-2031 Transit Development Plan. (Community Transit)
- The Office of Planning & Community Development is asking the community for input on land uses near Graham St station via a survey.
Land Use & Housing:
- Seattle City Council passes legislation to ban rental junk fees. (Office of the Mayor)
- UW laundry site at Mount Baker station set to become affordable housing by El Centro de la Raza and Mercy Housing Northwest (Seattle Times, $)
- After years of studies, Seattle continues to study housing at Fort Lawton in Magnolia. (The Urbanist)
- CM Strauss proposes legislation to require RV residents to get permits. (Pubicola)
Site note: We've been getting an epidemic of spam comments for the past two days. The new ones apparently use AI to generate a plausible-sounding opinion or repeat a real concern for a few sentences, and then end with a link to an unrelated site. We are working to moderate and prevent such comments. In the meantime, please do not engage with or click on the links in these comments.
This is an open thread. That does not include spam comments.