Jeanne Kohl-Welles

By: Mike Lindblom

As her reelection campaign enters its final month, Metropolitan King County Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles proposes to make Metro Transit buses all-electric by 2035, replace nearly 2,000 fossil-fuel vehicles with electric models and install more charging stations.

By: The Seattle Times editorial board

Jeanne Kohl-Welles, a savvy legislator and strong progressive voice in regional politics, is the best choice to represent northwest Seattle on the Metropolitan King County Council.

Since joining the council in 2016, after 23 years in the Legislature, Kohl-Welles demonstrated she’s still a deeply engaged, ardent public servant. She’s active not just on the council but an array of boards and task forces addressing grand challenges such as affordable housing, growth management and the arts, and also serves as the current chair of the county board of health.

Voters in council District 4 — west of Interstate 5, from Shoreline to downtown Seattle — should elect Kohl-Welles to another term in the Nov. 5 election.

By: Meghan Walker

Metro transit is looking at ways to better serve those who live on Seaview Ave and Sunset Hill, and they’re asking for feedback from residents about potential transportation options.

King County Metro and Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles have been meeting with Shilshole residents over the past year to discuss options, and now, Metro is launching a community connections pilot in the area.

Most of Seaview Ave and Sunset Hill west of 28th Ave NW doesn’t have a regular, all-day, fixed route bus service. So, they’re looking at ways to change that.

Read the full article here.

By David Kroman

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and King County Executive Dow Constantine on Wednesday took the most substantive step yet toward coordinating the region’s response to homelessness between the city and the county.

Backed by several mayors and council members from cities across the county, the two unveiled a proposed new governing body, the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA), through which most homelessness resources and oversight would be routed. 

The proposed governing body must win approval from the Seattle and King County councils and must also win budget allocations from both. But, if successful, the move would represent a significant shift in how Washington’s most populous city and county address what has became its dominating issue.

The new body, said Constantine, would “answer the challenge of our time: How to tackle a crisis that impacts all of our 39 cities and the unincorporated county with services that are hopelessly fragmented, not coordinated, often duplicative and confusing to our customers. Here this morning, I say, the status quo is no more.”

By Becca Savransky

King County Council earlier this week took a step to unlock millions of dollars for affordable housing.

The council passed a resolution that will allow it to invest about $100 million from the state’s sales and use tax into affordable housing over the next 20 years. Under the legislation, the funds can be used for building and maintaining affordable housing units for people who make at or below 60% of the area median income.

The resolution comes after Washington state legislators earlier this year passed legislation authorizing cities and counties to keep a portion of the state’s sales tax for affordable housing projects. The revenue from the sales tax would have traditionally gone to the state general fund.

In a statement, Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles emphasized the importance of using every available option to address the homelessness crisis.