Greater Seattle: Late Press Conferences, On-Time Buses, Selfish Housing

By Josh Feit Five and a half hours > A half hour As they spin headlines to make Mayor Katie Wilson look bad, local TV news' populist schtick fails news reporting basics. Taking the word of an unnamed source from SPD who says the press conference after July's Seattle-Center shooting was delayed because Wilson was waiting on 'dignitaries' (the governor and the Seattle congresswoman) is a delusional account if you actually read the email and text message threads from that night. What the behind-the-scenes conversations between the mayor's office and SPD show is that as soon as 6:30, immediately after the shooting, Wilson was looking to her staff and to SPD to assess the possibility of going to Seattle Center to make a statement. SPD, however, told her to hold off as they secured the scene. They then withheld critical information—namely, that the shooting wasn't terrorism or a mass shooting, but a personal fracas, keeping the public largely in the dark for five and a half hours, between 7:30 and 1am when they put out a blog post about the incident. The police were also in delay mode because they were waiting for (now former) chief Shon Barnes to get a briefing and hold a Teams call with elected officials.. This chaos stalled Wilson's trip to Seattle Center. But when she finally got there shortly after 10 pm, and a presser was ready to go, (with the SPD still reticent on the details) there was a wait of less than half an hour for Governor Ferguson and Congresswoman Jayapal to arrive—far less than the length of time SPD kept critical information from the public. PubliCola is supported entirely by readers like you. CLICK BELOW to become a one-time or monthly contributor. Support PubliCola The 8 > The L8 My favorite way of judging the mayor—and one that is actually populist (despite the convoluted right-wing notion that riding the bus is somehow elitist)—is by keeping my eye on the infamous (L)8 bus. Wilson, the founder and former co-director of the Transit Riders Union, has thrown money, fresh paint, and SDOT planners at the historically sluggish, major east-west route. The first part of her plan—an eastbound bus-only lane on Denny—went into effect on August 24. And as part of Wilson's plan, Metro added more buses the same week. And, well, well, well. It's still early (and there are more fixes to come), but dramatic signs of improvement are already clear. On-time performance jumped to from 68.6 percent percent to 77.8 percent between this August and August 2025, an increase that only includes one week of improved service on the 8. So far in September, on-time performance has continued to climb, to 78.5 percent. The 7,203 average daily riders (July's numbers) who rely on the 8 likely appreciate Mayor Wilson's focus on the basics; as a regular rider, I know I do. Living Alone ≠ The Housing Crisis The Seattle Times' FYI Guy claims the sharp increase in people living solo is 'eating up' units, saying we could address most of the housing crisis without building new housing if those selfish singles would just 'double up.' He goes onto to pooh-pooh rigid zoning as the culprit, even though Seattle's suburban character notoriously limits mutlifamily housing in Seattle. So, I guess, for my contribution, I should ask someone to move in with me in my 350-square-foot apartment to lower housing costs while the families who eat up 5,000-square-foot lots should continue to manspread. Josh@PubliCola.com