The Roundup: Eddie Lin Defends a Delay-Busting Bill
From the Editor
What's up, South End?
These past few weeks have been all over the place for me. On one hand, I've been at World Cup parties in cities across the country (literally — West Coast, Midwest, and East Coast), having the time of my life enjoying sports, beer, and meeting new people. On the other hand, I've been in work mode, having a lot of important discussions on issues impacting the South End, specifically District 2.
With that in mind, I reached out to Councilmember Eddie Lin.
The sound of gunshots in Rainier Beach has been traumatizing for many residents. So when we collectively learned from a Glenn Nelson op-ed that there's an outdoor shooting range in Tukwila that SPD uses for rifle training — that we can hear miles away in Rainier Beach — it was shocking.
I asked Councilmember Lin if he had any updates on what can be done, keeping in mind that the City of Seattle doesn't own the facility itself. It turns out, he actually visited the range last week.
"To have this gunfire from the firing range only adds to that sort of constant sense of dread and desensitization to gunfire," he said. "I'm hopeful that there are ways that we could improve the sound insulation. It's outside of city limits, but we could work with SPD to find out if we can, you know, provide some funds to improve some of the insulation for some of the ranges."
Another big topic that quite a few of you hit me up about is the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). I'll admit, before a group of community members submitted an op-ed opposing legislation from Lin on SEPA, I hadn't given the process much thought. But I appreciate our readers and neighbors reaching out to us about this op-ed and adding their own voices and thoughts to the conversation.
For those who don't know, this op-ed, and the proposed legislation, is about a process in which citizens (not residents, because you don't have to live in Seattle to do this) can challenge inadequate environmental reviews before major zoning decisions are made, thus halting major development projects.
I wanted everyone to have a better understanding of what's going on, so the bulk of my time with Councilmember Lin was spent on SEPA and CB 121215. Lin explained why he supports the bill and the issues he has with the current process.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
MD: I've heard arguments on both sides of the proposed Council bill regarding SEPA. Can you explain what this bill is?
EL: Right now, for our comprehensive plan, we had to do an environmental review. It's called SEPA, the State Environmental Policy Act. We did three years of analysis. It's a 1,300-page document with about 500 comments, and the department responded to them.
That review has to happen, and any appeals have to be resolved before the City Council can take action and make a decision. And the whole idea is to inform decision-makers about environmental issues. And when we talk about the environment, it's very broadly defined, so it's not just trees and salmon, it is everything under the sun. It's traffic, it's business impacts, it's schools, it's historic districts, and any member of the public can file an appeal about some issue that they care about, and that basically delays the City Council from even considering legislation. It can last three months even if that appeal gets dismissed because they don't have any legal standing or if there is something wrong with their appeal. That can be a three-month delay without even getting to the merits of it. If you're going to get to the merits of an appeal on our 1,300-page document, that's a six-month or longer process.
Our legislative process goes from January to August, and then September through December is our budget process. So you're basically talking about the better part of our legislative period, when we can really consider this stuff, and so really we're actually talking about a year delay. You don't even have to live in Seattle to file one of these. We see businesses file them all the time.
What we have seen up in Ballard is — and, you know, people might have strong feelings about a bike lane — but a bike lane has been appealed and has been held up since 2008 based on "environmental issues." A bike lane. Again, people have strong feelings about those, but this is a bike lane — not a nuclear power plant. It shouldn't take 18 years, and we're still not done.
That's how this process plays out. I was a real estate lawyer in private practice, and then I became assistant city attorney, so I've filed some of these bills in the past. I understand the power of somebody who wants to oppose a project to use this, as it's a very powerful tool that we give to any member of the public to completely stall and slow down our ability to take action.
MD: So what exactly are you proposing?
EL: What I am proposing is to eliminate these delays. The reason why is that these delays do not improve our decision-making process. This current process means that you can force the City, if you win, if you say to the hearing examiner, 'They didn't study this issue enough, they didn't study orcas enough,' at the end of the day, you will get more studies. Very few members of the public, and even decision-makers, find these "more studies" useful. There are real things we can do to address climate change and protect the environment, but more studies just for studies' sake is not going to help our decision-making as we look to figure out how to grow, as we look at our comprehensive plan to update our zoning.
MD: What is the benefit of the bill to the South End?
EL: Right now, certain people who know how to use this hearing examiner appeal, they know how to basically have their voices heard and prioritized over everybody else's. As a representative for South Seattle, my job is to represent everybody. You know, 99%, if not more, of our community has no idea about the SEPA process. They do not feel represented by the hearing examiner. So if we don't have these delays, what it does is it allows us as City Council to take the time to do a better job engaging with the community.
The Roundup Rundown
The city of Seattle reported ZERO homicides in the month of June for the first time since 1970. So, we finally achieved the perfect public safety strategy — right?
For when your hunger kicks in this weekend, allow us to suggest a place to grab a bite.
Last week, food writer Grace Madigan visited Sonora Carne Asade House — you know, the spot on Rainier with the huge "Prime Tacos" awning in front — and was served a round of delicious dishes.
And … a few surprises. Have you ever had a Mexican hot dog?
I don't know about you, but I certainly wish I could stop reading about more and more impacts from the One Big Beautiful Bill. There's nothing beautiful about putting the clamps on programs that provide food for people in need.
But staying informed on the bill's impacts is necessary. This reporting from Jake Goldstein-Street, originally published in the Washington State Standard, gives a rundown on federal penalties Washington State could face over its SNAP program payments.
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Mike Davis is the newsletter editor and Voices editor at the South Seattle Emerald. Born and raised in Seattle's South End, Mike is a longtime journalist who's covered everything from arts and culture to sports to politics.
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