🥒 Will we ban ‘surveillance pricing’?

The ‘Polyamory’ Bill is Bigger and Broader Than You Think

Last week, Seattle City Council voted to pass a bill to protect people in polyamorous relationships and those who identify as asexual or pansexual from legal discrimination. But the bill goes further than that, protecting people whose family structures may not be considered ‘the norm.’ [KUOW]

• Who does the bill protect?: “Chosen family is family…this includes multi-partner, multi-parent families and relationships, stepfamilies, single parents, co-parents, multi-generational households, consensually non-monogamous relationships, and ... asexual and aromantic relationships,” said Alexis Mercedes Rinck at last week’s council meeting. The bill includes protections for families who have multiple generations living together, or people who are not romantically involved but have chosen to co-parent. It may be surprising that their rights weren’t previously protected, but now they are. [KUOW]
• What does the bill protect against? Those who fall under the categories above are protected from unfair and discriminatory employment and housing practices. They also enjoy protected use of city parks without discrimination and are protected under the Seattle Human Rights Commission. [Seattle.gov]
• Why does this matter? Taking multi-generational households as an example, this means that large families choosing to live together cannot be forced out on the whims of a landlord. As guest Ryan Packer said on today’s podcast: ‘It's just one more…piece of legislation that we can do to protect people who need protection.’ [City Cast Seattle]

💵 “Surveillance pricing” vote today: City Council is set to vote on a bill that would prohibit large grocery store chains from using customers personal information to set prices and discounts. Despite claims by chains like Safeway that it will actually drive up prices, Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, who is the lead sponsor of the bill, says that public commenters largely support this bill. [The Stranger]

🫜 Contaminated soil levels across Seattle: A recent graduate thesis has mapped the location of elevated lead and arsenic levels, which includes gardens in the Central District, Mount Baker, Burien, South Park, and Des Moines. The problem? No city agency mandates who cleans which areas. This leaves it to local organizations to find ways to treat contaminated soil. [South Seattle Emerald]

🌲 A win for trees: Rare trees in the North Olympic Peninsula have been saved through a unique deal between Webster Logging and the Elwha Legacy Forests Coalition. The Coalition raised $563,000 to pay Webster to sign away its right to harvest 29 of the 74 acres it purchased in the ‘Doc Holliday Timber Sale’, which contains rare coastal temperate rainforest. [Washington State Standard]