Tobias Coughlin-Bogue

Jobs, Journalism, Justice

Tobias Coughlin-Bogue is the associate editor at Real Change.

Articles by Tobias Coughlin-Bogue

Male reporter stands across the street from Hyatt Regency.

Telling the same old story at Third and Pine

By Tobias Coughlin-Bogue | April 13, 2022

The corner of Third Avenue and Pine Street is a bit of a ghost town now, with not much besides a constant police presence to remind passersby of the block’s previous crowds. On March 3, the area saw a crackdown — or cleanup, depending on your politics — as part of Mayor Bruce Harrell’s “Operation New Day,” a spate of police interventions targeting areas designated by the city as “hot spots” of crime, drug sales and violence. ...

Four women, one standing behind a counter, one signing a document at the counter.

Ballot initiative filed to introduce social housing to Seattle

By Tobias Coughlin-Bogue | April 6, 2022

Housing advocates are pushing to put an initiative on the November ballot that would put local government directly in charge of affordable housing production. ...

Young man, seen from below, rides skateboard on light green ramp on a sunny day in a back yard.

Brett Hamil’s "Sk8 Dad Summer" is a breath of fresh air

By Tobias Coughlin-Bogue | March 30, 2022

Local comic Brett Hamil has done a bit of everything in comedy — ruthlessly roasting Jenny Durkan online, ruthlessly roasting Jenny Durkan in print, telling jokes on stages as both himself and as his rad-dad character Burl Dirkman, volunteering for Real Change’s Vendor Week, and drawing cool cartoons for the South Seattle Emerald.

Now, he’s really gone and done something else. That something: a graphic novel titled “Sk8 Dad Summer.” ...

Middle-aged woman in hoodie feeds dogs in front of a tent

In Their Own Words: ‘They’re my four-legged caretakers...my emotional support’

By Tobias Coughlin-Bogue | March 23, 2022

Editor’s Note: In Their Own Words is a new series asking people currently or recently experiencing being unhoused to describe the barriers they face getting into permanent or transitional housing.

Not too long ago, Kim Garcia was getting by. She worked as a live-in caretaker to an elderly woman whose blood disorder required constant care. Kim’s charge passed away shortly after her 86th birthday, leaving Kim in the lurch for housing. That led her to the Bitter Lake encampment, which didn’t last long. ...

Glass-paned storefront with sign reading, "Seattle NFT Museum"

The Seattle NFT Museum: Nominally a fun time

By Tobias Coughlin-Bogue | March 23, 2022

On March 9, I entered the NFT space. More specifically, the modern, three-tiered gallery space in Belltown that is home to the Seattle NFT Museum. While I am laughably far from ever being able to be part of the NFT space in the more metaphorical sense (i.e., owning one), the recent cultural convulsion around them — Google “Jimmy Fallon, Paris Hilton, NFT” if you want to stare directly into the void — piqued my interest enough to pay a visit. ...

Jeff Cheung, founder of Unity and There Skateboards, holds a raffle and skate jam in a parking garage the day after the "Ruining Skateboarding" video premiere.

‘Arguably the gayest skate video’ gives sport new dimension

By Tobias Coughlin-Bogue | March 23, 2022

On March 13, a gaggle of skateboarders crowded into the Northwest Film Forum to do what they’ve done many times before: watch the premiere of a full-length skate video. Full-length videos are a potent form of cultural currency within skateboarding. They typically consist of “parts” from individual skaters — collections of their best tricks set to music — stitched together into a 30- to 60-minute film. Skateboarding, like everything else, has seen its content shrunken down into made-for-social-media snippets. No subculture is safe from TikTok. ...

Middle-aged Asian man in cap, scarf, and barn jacket holds sign that says "No U.S. War."

Is social housing the solution to Seattle’s affordability crisis?

By Tobias Coughlin-Bogue | March 16, 2022

Social housing, a publicly owned housing option made famous by its resounding success in Austria, was the sole topic of a panel discussion on March 10. The panel was put together by House Our Neighbors! (HON) — a political committee of Real Change — and University of Washington (UW) Honors Students with the express goal of exploring social housing as an option for Seattle. ...

Green pot plants in rows with brown fence and Mount Rainier in background

WSLCB will require pesticide testing on all pot

By Tobias Coughlin-Bogue | March 16, 2022

On March 2, the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) adopted final rules requiring all cannabis to be tested for pesticides. While Washington state has required pesticide testing on all “medically compliant” cannabis products for several years, the vast majority of cannabis sold in the state is intended for the recreational market. All other states where cannabis is legal test for pesticides proactively, meaning that each batch is screened before sale, while Washington has historically used a complaint-based system. ...

Photograph of chefs' forearms as they plate food

Going ‘gig’: Is introducing on-demand work to restaurants a good idea?

By Tobias Coughlin-Bogue | March 9, 2022

Poached, the well-funded Portland startup that quickly overtook Craigslist as the restaurant industry’s jobs hub, has been quietly rolling out a new innovation, one that could completely upend the way people work in restaurants. And no, it’s not the VR rig that lets restaurant workers roll silverware remotely, featured in the company’s April Fools spoof video. It’s a new feature called “Shifts.” ...

Side of warehouse-like office building, seen from below, with several blown-out windows

Two-alarm fire takes a toll on local nonprofits

By Tobias Coughlin-Bogue | March 2, 2022

The Rainier Center building, home to a plethora of area nonprofits, caught fire on Feb. 19. The Seattle Fire Department (SFD) responded to the second story blaze at around 1:30 a.m. The fire quickly spread to the third floor, leaving a man in his 30s seriously injured and gutting the northwest corner of the building. SFD contained the fire in half an hour, and the victim was taken to Harborview in serious condition. However, according to Barbara Ohno, the building manager, the building remains shut down and without power, a major blow to operations for its tenants. ...

Jobs, Journalism, Justice

Telling the same old story at Third and Pine

Ballot initiative filed to introduce social housing to Seattle

Brett Hamil’s "Sk8 Dad Summer" is a breath of fresh air

In Their Own Words: ‘They’re my four-legged caretakers...my emotional support’

The Seattle NFT Museum: Nominally a fun time

‘Arguably the gayest skate video’ gives sport new dimension

Is social housing the solution to Seattle’s affordability crisis?

WSLCB will require pesticide testing on all pot

Going ‘gig’: Is introducing on-demand work to restaurants a good idea?

Two-alarm fire takes a toll on local nonprofits

Mar. 8-14, 2023

Mar. 15-21, 2023

Mar. 15-21, 2023