🚈 Ballard light rail delayed again

🚈 Board Votes To Delay Ballard Light Rail Indefinitely

On Thursday, Sound Transit held a five-hour meeting to chart a course to deal with its $34 billion shortfall. The result? The board voted 16-2 to pass a plan that prioritizes the completion of lines between SODO and West Seattle, Federal Way and Tacoma, and Lynnwood and Everett, and funds a station at Graham Street. The plan also leaves the future of several other ST3 projects, including a line connecting Ballard to downtown, up in the air.

Mayor Katie Wilson called the plan’s lack of inclusion of the Ballard extension “extremely, extremely upsetting,” pointing to ridership projections suggesting it would have the highest ridership of any of Sound Transit’s projects so far. [The Urbanist]

• ✅ Here’s what passed: In addition to the three lines above, the plan will extend a streetcar line to Tacoma Community College, and transfers $100 million to build a 700-spot parking garage in Renton, which will be one of the stops on the 4 Line between Issaquah and Kirkland.
• 👎 Strauss’s last-minute attempt derailed: Last week, Councilmember Dan Strauss proposed a last-minute plan to reallocate money towards building a “starter line” from Westlake to Ballard instead of from SODO to Seattle Center. That plan is now DOA.
• 🫠 What else is in limbo? In addition to Ballard’s three stops — Smith Cove, Interbay, and 15 & Market — being deprioritized, a station at Boeing Access Road in Tukwila, a Sounder S line extension to DuPont, and additional off-peak S line trips between Seattle and Pierce County. [Seattle Times]
• 🤑 There’s still a lot of money to account for: Despite these changes, the agency will still need between $9 and $11 billion to complete the work.
• 🙏 Holding out hope: The board voted 13 - 5 on an amendment that gives Sound Transit a deadline of August 1 to come up with an estimated completion date for Ballard and Interbay stations.

🚓 Feds sue over undercover plates: The Trump Administration is suing Washington and four other states for refusing to give undercover license plates to federal agents. The acting U.S. Attorney General said that the denials “undermine federal immigration enforcement,” while Washington AG Nick Brown wrote in a letter to the DOJ that “lawless acts” like the issuance of undercover plates “undermine public trust in law enforcement.” [Washington State Standard]

🚧 Residents make barriers along Aurora Avenue: Locals used metal planters to block intersections at 97th, 98th, and 102nd streets in North Seattle, in hopes that they would prevent shootings on their streets near the main arterial. Last week, Mayor Wilson ordered those barriers removed as they hindered essential services and first responders. This has led council members to back a bill that would authorize street closures related to the prevention of criminal activity. [Seattle Times]

🏡 Houses are cheaper…sort of? Over the last few months, median home prices for a single-family home have fallen by 2.5% in King County. That’s the fastest in any major U.S. metro area. There are several reasons for this: market adjustment from a massive jump between 2019 and 2022, and changes in “buyer psychology” amidst a rash of tech layoffs. [Realtor.com]