🏖️ A win for Denny Blaine

Good and Bad News About Affordability in Seattle

• Grocery Prices Just Keep Going Up: Grocery prices jumped 5.2% from November to December in Seattle, versus 0.7% nationwide. 🙃 [Axios]
• Amazon Has Fresh Round Of Layoffs: Yesterday morning, some 16K Amazon employees woke up to the news that they were being laid off. According to an internal memo, US-based employees have 90 days to find a new role at Amazon, and some will receive severance, outpayment services, and continued benefits. This completes the layoffs that began in October.
• Job Market Shrinks: These layoffs come as the Puget Sound Regional Council announces that Seattle had a net loss of 13K jobs last year, the first net loss since COVID. Expedia has also laid off about a fifth of its product team workforce this week, citing ‘simplifying structure and reducing organizational layers’ as part of the reason. [KUOW]
• Seattle is Making More Affordable Apartments Than Anyone: On the plus side, Seattle has produced 14,290 affordable apartments in the last five years, more than any other city, and just ahead of NYC. Seattle is currently spending $350 million per year on affordable housing. [The Urbanist]

Seahawks Are Favored To Win 🏈

According to DraftKings, the Seahawks are favored over the Patriots to win the Super Bowl, citing a whole bunch of betting terminology I don’t really understand. Regardless, let's go! [ESPN]

Good News for Denny Blaine 🏖️

Friends of Denny Blaine, the advocate group founded to keep Denny Blaine Park open and nude, has organized as a non-profit and been granted a Motion to Intervene in the lawsuit brought by a group of neighbors trying to close the park. The organization says that this gives the park's most impacted community more say in the beach’s future, and allows them to forefront the voices of LGBTQ+ beachgoers in the lawsuit. [Capitol Hill Seattle blog]

Judge Says SPD Is Violating Record Request Act 🧑‍⚖️

The Seattle Times has won a partial victory against the Seattle Police Department, who say the SPD slow-walked public record requests by reporter Mike Carter. A King County Superior Judge says that SPD is violating the state Public Records Act by not working on multiple requests by the same requester. [PubliCola]

Environmental Groups Push Back on “One Seattle Plan” 🏙️

Conservation groups are pushing hard for an appeal against the city’s plan to accommodate more housing. A coalition of conservation groups, including Birds Connect Seattle, Thornton Creek Alliance, Orca Conservancy, and more, believes that the impact statement for the city’s comprehensive plan hasn’t conducted enough analysis on the housing and job growth impact on the environment. [The Urbanist]