Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Seattle Nice, which takes up Mayor Katie Wilson’s proposal to double the current transit sales tax. It’s a familiar Seattle policy dilemma: how do we pay for the reliable public transit we need without relying on regressive taxes?

Next, we examine the newly passed Housing Opportunities Package (HOP). It’s a massive set of zoning changes and regulatory shifts aimed at kickstarting residential construction across the city. Is the unanimous vote a good sign for the upcoming, high-stakes battle over Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan?

Finally, we’re opening the mailbag to field your questions and comments. If you’ve got a take on transit, thoughts on housing, or just want to tell us we’re getting it wrong, write in at realseattlenice@gmail.com.

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Daryl Fairweather, Chief Economist at Redfin and author of Hate the Game: Economic Cheat Codes for Life, Love, and Work, joins us to explain why the housing market is doing something it almost never does here: cooling off.

In this episode we break down the recent headlines that stopped Seattleites mid-scroll: prices here are dropping here faster than anywhere else in the country. Fairweather points to the perfect storm behind the slowdown: sky-high mortgage rates hitting expensive markets the hardest, Amazon layoffs, and a local tech sector that's lost the confidence it had pre-pandemic. She says San Francisco is eating Seattle's lunch right now, thanks to its AI boom.

But Daryl also sees a silver lining: a slow, steady reset could finally make Seattle more livable and affordable for working people.

We also get into the policy fights. Should Seattle build its way out of the crisis with more market-rate housing, or invest in social housing? (She says: yes, and yes.) Why does she think rent control or stabilization backfires? What can Seattle learn from Austin's building boom, and what should it absolutely not copy?

And what about AI? Daryl thinks it could genuinely help by speeding up permitting or making modular housing cheaper to build. But she's not buying the hype wholesale. Contractors still need to show up and do the work, and no algorithm is going to fix a bureaucratic bottleneck.

Send us a text! Note that we can only respond directly to emails realseattlenice@gmail.com

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Your support on Patreon helps pay for editing, production, live events and the unique, hard-hitting local journalism and commentary you hear weekly on Seattle Nice.

On the latest episode, we cut through the fig leafs and happy talk from Sound Transit officials to lay bare the hardball political realities underlying their decision to kill the long-promised light line extension to Ballard, which has been left unfunded and postponed indefinitely.

Who to blame? Erica says it is a systemic failure, pointing to ST's excessively slow, expensive, and politicized planning process, noting that it took approximately 30 years just to fund the relatively simple Graham Street Station. Sandeep argues that executives from Pierce and Snohomish County strategically outmaneuvered Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and King County Executive Girmay Zahilay to get their priorities addressed, at Seattle's expense. This successful political power play ensured the Everett and Tacoma segments of the Sound Transit spine were fully funded while leaving the high-ridership Ballard extension dead in the water.

Can some newly passed amendments promising to explore new approaches and find cost-saving measures somehow save the Ballard line? Or is this more political "bullshit" that will not address the agency's deeply flawed and entrenched status quo institutional culture or do anything significant to mitigate the multi-billion-dollar cost overruns plaguing Sound Transit projects? Neither Erica or Sandeep see much cause for optimism, though David suggests that will largely depends on whether the County Executive and Mayor follow through and turn the heat up on Sound Transit to deliver.

The discussion then shifts to the latest "defenestration” in Mayor Katie Wilson’s office, with the forced resignation of her housing and homelessness advisor Jon Grant, the latest fallout from the breakdown in relations between the mayor's office and the Council. While critics on the right claim this is evidence of chaos at the top, we all give the mayor credit for demonstrating decisive—if "cold-blooded"—leadership by prioritizing her office's performance over personal loyalty as she moves to repair the seriously frayed relationships with councilmembers. And we suggest this is an indication of a shifting power balance within the mayor's office away from activist outsiders to more experienced city hands.

Our editor is Quinn Waller.

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Sound Transit is facing a $35 billion budget gap and the long-promised light rail extension to Ballard is at severe risk of being cut. Scott Kubly, former Director of Seattle's Department of Transportation, joins us to unpack how the region landed in this mess and shares a plan to cut costs and save the Ballard line.

The headline number is jaw-dropping: Sound Transit projects cost two to three times more than comparable transit built almost anywhere else on Earth. Why? Kubly walks us through the regulatory traps, the agency culture, and the political dysfunction that have made building anything in Seattle and most of urban America agonizingly slow and absurdly expensive.

Kubly's solution for Seattle borrows from Copenhagen. The idea involves shorter trains, modular stations, and other fixes that could save $10 to $15 billion on the Ballard line alone and move more riders than the current plan.

The question is whether anyone on the Sound Transit board is willing to listen.

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This week we take a closer look at the escalating tensions between Mayor Katie Wilson’s office and the Seattle City Council. What began as a push from the Mayor’s Office to approve shelter expansion legislation devolved into a "Game of Thrones meets game of sad trombones" showdown featuring heated confrontations and council reports of mayoral staffers allegedly acting like "dictators" toward a co-equal branch of government. We discuss the accusations and potential fallout.

Next, we respond to a listener email asking about Mayor Wilson’s efforts to place a moratorium on new data centers. Is the proposal a forward-thinking plan designed to regulate resource-intensive corporations? Or is it more of a "bumper sticker ban" that risks making Seattle irrelevant in the era of AI-driven economic growth? And is AI a good thing or a bad thing or something in between?

Send us a text! Note that we can only respond directly to emails realseattlenice@gmail.com

Thanks to Uncle Ike's pot shop for sponsoring this week's episode! If you want to advertise please contact us at realseattlenice@gmail.com

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We tackle three major topics in Seattle politics this week, starting with scrutiny of Mayor Katie Wilson's recent so-called "gaffes," including her comment about wealthy people leaving due to a new state income tax. Second, the discussion turns to the damning audit of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA), which identified massive financial accountability issues and a lack of internal controls. Despite agency leadership downplaying the crisis, some officials are moving forward to study how to wind down the KCRHA. Lastly, we analyze proposed council amendments to Mayor Wilson's tiny house village shelter plan, focusing on a controversial proposal to create large buffer zones.

Our editor is Quinn Waller.

Send us a text! Note that we can only respond directly to emails realseattlenice@gmail.com

Thanks to Uncle Ike's pot shop for sponsoring this week's episode! If you want to advertise please contact us at realseattlenice@gmail.com

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Some lawmakers are calling for the dissolution of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) following a damning forensic audit. The audit, or “forensic evaluation,” revealed years of abysmal accounting practices and that the agency could not account for millions in public funds. This raises critical questions, including: Should the KCRHA be dissolved, and was the agency structurally flawed from its inception?

Our editor is Quinn Waller.

Send us a text! Note that we can only respond directly to emails realseattlenice@gmail.com

Thanks to Uncle Ike's pot shop for sponsoring this week's episode! If you want to advertise please contact us at realseattlenice@gmail.com

Support the show

Your support on Patreon helps pay for editing, production, live events and the unique, hard-hitting local journalism and commentary you hear weekly on Seattle Nice.

This week, we’re diving deep into Seattle’s Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) program. Joining the conversation are consultant Natalie Quick and former Seattle COO Marco Lowe, who break down how this “pay a fee or include affordable units" policy is affecting housing. We’ll explore why MHA has inadvertently sent housing costs soaring and put the brakes on some new construction. Plus, we’ll look at the smarter, more effective solutions they’re advocating to keep the city accessible.

Our editor is Quinn Waller.

Send us a text! Note that we can only respond directly to emails realseattlenice@gmail.com

Thanks to Uncle Ike's pot shop for sponsoring this week's episode! If you want to advertise please contact us at realseattlenice@gmail.com

Support the show

Your support on Patreon helps pay for editing, production, live events and the unique, hard-hitting local journalism and commentary you hear weekly on Seattle Nice.