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Seattle has a generational opportunity to make transformational investments in housing, jobs, public spaces, and safe transportation.
It?s the kind of chance that doesn?t come along very often.
On Tuesday, I stood with community members in the heart of South Lake Union to lay out my plan for seizing that chance with the sale of underused, City-owned properties along Mercer Street ? and to maximize the benefit for everyone in Seattle.
Since 2014, the City has been discussing the criteria for selling these properties and doing the most with the resources.
After months of negotiations, we have reached an agreement with Alexandria Real Estate Equities, which develops and owns life sciences campuses, on a plan that would generate nearly $300 million in public benefits to the people of Seattle. Those benefits include:
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175 units of affordable apartments on-site at no cost to the City, in a true mixed-income building;
- A $5 million contribution to the City to help fight homelessness;
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Create great family-wage jobs on-site, both for the people who will construct the buildings on-site and for the people will work in them;
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With the cash proceeds, a $78 million investment in more housing options across Seattle to address displacement and gentrification, build housing near transit, support affordable homeownership, and help low- and middle-income homeowners build backyard cottages;
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A new, 30,000 square-foot community center located on-site in the heart of South Lake Union, built at no cost to the City, that will be operated by Seattle Parks & Recreation with free rent for up to 40 years;
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Tens of millions of dollars of investments in transportation safety projects, including: $16.7 million of the proceeds to invest in new and planned projects to improve safety and improve options for getting around Seattle. And ? at no cost to the City ? extending 8th Avenue as a pedestrian right-of-way through the site, and extending the two-way protected bike lane on the north side of Mercer Street between 9th Avenue and Dexter.
 Read about the full plan here.
With new affordable housing in South Lake Union, new initiatives to combat displacement and the creation of new housing opportunities, this plan for the Mercer properties and the proceeds from the sale is a key component of my ?Housing Seattle Now? initiative that I announced on July 24.
I believe that years from now, people will look back at this chance and say we seized an incredible opportunity to make our City better by reinvesting these proceeds directly in communities across Seattle.
I look forward to working with the City Council in the coming weeks to deliver these investments in housing, jobs, great public spaces, and transportation projects across Seattle ? and to detail the plans for those investments in my budget that I will announce this fall.
As always, please continue to write me at?[email protected], reach out via?Twitter?and?Facebook, and stay up-to-date on the work we?re doing for the people of Seattle on?my?blog.
Sincerely,
 
Mayor Durkan announced her plan to help convert Seattle homes heated by oil to cheaper and more efficient electric heating. This proposal is part of the 2018 Seattle Climate Strategy, which charts a path for Seattle to become carbon neutral by 2050.
She transmitted legislation to the City Council that would develop a tax on heating oil for providers starting July 1, 2020 and form a requirement for heating oil tank owners to decommission or upgrade all existing underground oil tanks by 2028. The tax would be used to provide rebates and grants for Seattle homeowners to attain energy efficient electric heat pumps. Nearly 1,000 low-income households are estimated to be eligible for a fully funded conversion, and other households would also be able to receive City support to take this step forward.
Click here to learn more about Seattle?s 2018 Climate Strategy.?
Have you noticed any changes on Capitol Hill?
We have: Part of East Denny Way has officially become East Barbara Bailey Way!
On Tuesday, Mayor Durkan stood with community members and loved ones of the late Barbara Bailey to unveil the new official street sign for East Barbara Bailey Way:
 Barbara Bailey Way honors one of Seattle?s great civil rights champions, Barbara Bailey, who passed away in late 2018. Her store, Bailey/Coy books, served as a welcoming space and a de-facto LGBTQ+ community center during a time when such spaces were almost unheard of. She loved her community, and frequently contributed to LGBTQ+ movements around the nation. She will be sorely missed, but her work paved a way for so many others, many of whom came on Tuesday to celebrate Barbara?s phenomenal life and legacy at the unveiling ceremony.
 To honor her memory, we recommit to building a more inclusive, loving city, and now we have a sign that will remind us every time we visit Capitol Hill. The energy she brought to our communities was remarkable, and we are thrilled to honor her life and legacy.
To read more about the late Barbara Bailey, click here.? ?
On Monday, the City Council voted 9-0 to approve the Mayor?s resolution protesting proposed testing and training by the United States Navy that could endanger Southern resident orca whales and other marine mammals in the Puget Sound.
 Photo by Tim Cole on Unsplash
Mayor Durkan applauded the Council?s decision, saying, ?Orcas have lived in this region for at least 5,000 years. Orcas are part of our Coast Salish people, our cultural identity, our fishing economy, and our tourism industry. But Washington?s Southern resident orcas face a dismal fate due to diminished salmon, toxic contaminants, and disturbance from noise and vessel traffic. Even the loss of one single orca would greatly undermine decades of recovery efforts?and even make it impossible. I applaud the Council for joining me in calling on the U.S. Navy to do their part to keep our waters healthy and safe for all sea life in the Puget Sound.?
This resolution follows the Mayor?s letter of protest in response to the United States Navy?s Draft Northwest Training and Testing Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which she filed in June.
To learn more,?please click here.
On Tuesday night, Seattle voters? overwhelmingly supported Mayor Durkan?s ?Libraries for All? plan that would renew and expand investments in The Seattle Public Library?s 27 locations across Seattle.
Following the results, Mayor Durkan said Seattle had ?won a victory for young people, students, families and lifelong learners.?
?I am grateful that Seattle voters continue to overwhelmingly support equity, education, and opportunity for all. The Seattle Public Library is a shared investment in places where communities come together and open up doors to learning. With this vote, Seattle said yes to more equitable access to our libraries, expanding hours, digital equity, and maintaining the critical services core of our libraries. I look forward to working with the incredible team at The Seattle Public Library to implement these new programs and services.?
The "Libraries for All" plan will help advance equity, education, and opportunity by maintaining existing services, increasing library hours, eliminating overdue fines, supporting safer buildings through seismic upgrades, and helping close the digital divide. The Mayor will continue to collaborate with the team at The Seattle Public Library and with the City Council to implement these new programs and services. ?
If you?d like more information on the ?Libraries for All? plan, please click?here.
 In this week?s Weekend Read, we encourage you to explore the Seattle Times deep dive into the practice of ?RV Ranching,? and those who prey on vulnerable people for profit:
Richard Winn considered himself a decent landlord, particularly in a cutthroat rental market like Seattle?s.
Sometimes his tenants did not pay their $75 weekly rent, and weren?t required to sign a lease or put down a deposit.
But there were trade-offs. Winn never gave residents keys to their units. Tenants were not to use the toilets. If they did, Winn asked them to put their waste in a bag.
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