City Council explores ‘Amazon Tax’ to fund housing and provide virus relief

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Articles by Ashley Archibald

Flowchart of HUD's Definition of Chronic Homelessness

Businesses, advocates and academics unite to end chronic homelessness

by Ashley Archibald | May 20th, 2020

An organization formed by unlikely allies in business and homeless advocacy sectors proposed a $1.6 billion plan to end chronic homelessness within five years by building 6,500 units of permanent supportive housing, but funding for the idea has yet to be...

Contact and confusion

by Ashley Archibald | May 20th, 2020

Gov. Jay Inslee announced a new contact-tracing program that will identify coronavirus patients and those who have come into contact with them in an effort to safely open more businesses in the state. There are 1,371 contact tracers trained in the state as...

Government revenue streams are trickling as needs overflow

by Ashley Archibald | May 20th, 2020

Funding for mental health services in King County could take a $42 million hit as the shutdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus eats away at sales taxes, according to King County Budget Director Dwight Dively. “The news is not good,” Dively said. “In...

Totem Star music flourishes over digital airwaves and across generations

by Ashley Archibald | May 13th, 2020

“Kiddus is here!” Tate, who goes by the stage name Russ.Le, threw his arms in the air, his face beaming. Kiddus joined the group Zoom call, having just moved his kid brother out of the room so he could talk with his friends and fellow artists in peace. “...

Tax Amazon plan stalls

by Ashley Archibald | May 13th, 2020

The Seattle City Council will not consider a plan to raise $500 million from the city’s largest businesses until the council can meet in person over concerns that passing the legislation would violate state guidelines for online public meetings. The...

Temporary shelter and promises of coexistence are expiring in Ballard and Renton

by Ashley Archibald | May 13th, 2020

People experiencing homelessness have been given more space to sleep and promises that they will be left in peace while trying to survive outside during the coronavirus crisis in the Puget Sound region. However, elected officials are signaling that these...

May Day showed odd divides over immigration, vaccination and space

by Ashley Archibald | May 6th, 2020

“I want the government to know that we’re fed up. They don’t understand that we’re essential workers, supposedly, but we don’t have any rights.” — Vidal Rojas

Vidal Rojas stood on the sidewalk facing Capitol Hill Way South on May 1, Tivoli Fountain bubbling behind him in the midground, the dome of Olympia’s Capitol building looming beyond. Rojas was dressed in a wine-colored jacket and a red-and-blue baseball cap...

Read more in the May 6-12, 2020 issue.

Protesters circled the spheres for an hour before caravaning to Seattle’s Eastlake neighborhood, where the advocacy for a tax on big businesses continued with Kshama Sawant. The tax is meant to pay for low-income housing and Seattle’s Green New Deal.

Driving force

by Ashley Archibald | May 6th, 2020

May Day caravan circles Amazon with tax protest

William Shakespeare once wrote that “misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” Never was that more apparent than May 1 when activists, led by Councilmember Kshama Sawant, drove their cars outside Amazon’s Seattle headquarters to advocate for a tax on...

Read more in the May 6-12, 2020 issue.

Out of work

by Ashley Archibald | May 6th, 2020

Approximately 20 percent of Washingtonians have applied for unemployment insurance since the coronavirus pandemic started, according to new figures released by the state. The Washington Employment Security Department reported that an additional 1,455,908...

Read more in the May 6-12, 2020 issue.