Seattle’s big business tax is bringing in more revenue than expected. Now the city is using the surplus to help close major gaps in its budget. The city council on… Read More
The Seattle City Council voted Tuesday to permanently implement a 15% cap on the fees that services such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub, and others charge restaurants for food delivery. The… Read More
Seattle became the second big city in the nation to establish a minimum wage standard for Uber and Lyft drivers on Tuesday. The Seattle City Council unanimously voted to adopt… Read More
Just two weeks into 2020, the new Seattle City Council is already making good on its promise to take on Amazon, following an election battle between the tech giant and… Read More
The Seattle City Council candidate who had more financial support from Amazon than any other conceded to his opponent Wednesday, concluding a dramatic race that will have lasting implications for… Read More
Bernie Sanders reveled in Amazon’s defeat. Elizabeth Warren issued a warning about Jeff Bezos. And that was all before the week even began. Over the weekend, it became clear that… Read More
A heavily-funded campaign to elect a more business-friendly Seattle City Council saw some success in early election results released Tuesday evening. But the effort, spearheaded by Seattle tech giant Amazon,… Read More
The tech industry is taking an unprecedented interest in Seattle’s upcoming election, spending big and turning the national spotlight on local politics. Amazon’s headline-grabbing $1 million contribution last month is… Read More
Amazon built its iconic “biospheres” as a gathering space for its 50,000 employees and an anchor to the Seattle neighborhood that the tech giant has called home for two decades.… Read More
Sen. Bernie Sanders became the latest federal lawmaker to zero in on local Seattle elections Monday morning, slamming Amazon’s hometown political contributions as “out-of-control corporate greed.” Over the weekend, Sen.… Read More
It’s unusual for an east coast senator and presidential candidate to wade into local politics in a city on the other side of the country. But that’s what happened Saturday… Read More
Amazon took a million-dollar gamble this week, betting a last-minute cash infusion will help elect a new Seattle City Council despite the inevitable backlash to the contribution. It’s a risky… Read More
On a rainy Seattle Thursday, a group of politicians and activists huddled under a bright orange canopy that matched the Amazon-branded skyscraper above to protest the tech giant’s record spending… Read More
Amazon’s $1 million political contribution announced Tuesday — on top of $450,000 the company previously spent on elections in its hometown — struck a nerve with Seattle progressives worried about the impact… Read More
Amazon is dramatically increasing its financial commitment to reshape politics in its hometown, in a move that signals a big shift for the tech giant. Amazon is spending an additional… Read More
Tech workers in progressive cities such as Seattle and San Francisco have a bad rap when it comes to civic engagement. As a Seattle Google engineer with political ambitions once… Read More
In tech hubs across the country, the technology industry is taking a more active role in politics. It’s certainly true in Washington D.C., where many tech titans’ public policy teams… Read More
For the first two decades of its life, Amazon avoided the political limelight. But over the past year, the Seattle tech giant has started raising its voice on a wide… Read More
“You can’t really Google, ‘Which candidates most align with me on transit and zoning tradeoffs?’ So said Steve Murch, a veteran Seattle entrepreneur who has spent the past few weeks… Read More
One of the biggest names in Seattle tech is a founding member of a new political action committee that wants to see fresh faces on the City Council this fall.… Read More
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan is tapping problem solvers in the tech industry to develop solutions to some of the city’s greatest challenges. She plans to sign an executive order creating… Read More
This week on TLDR, we’re looking back at some of the top stories of 2018 so far. Today’s topic: Tech companies and workers are changing changes in cities around the… Read More
Seattle’s new per-employee tax on large businesses to fund affordable housing is officially dead, bringing an end to one of the most polarizing debates in city history. The City Council… Read More
There are two ways to read Amazon’s surprise announcement that it will pause construction on one big Seattle office tower and reconsider moving into another until the City Council votes… Read More
Amazon is pausing construction on a new office tower at its Seattle headquarters and may put one of its biggest future office spaces back on the market in response to… Read More
PITTSBURGH — Sonja Finn doesn’t think we should be fighting over one slice of the pie. That maxim dictates just about everything Finn does. It’s why tipping is verboten at… Read More
Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant thinks that if Amazon plans to build a $5 billion second corporate headquarters, it can afford to pay more taxes in its hometown. She said… Read More
Two Seattle councilmembers want the city’s highest-grossing businesses to pay for a new program to curb homelessness. The H.O.M.E.S — Housing, Outreach, and Mass-Entry Shelter — program would increase the… Read More
The Seattle City Council has released a new set of regulations designed to prevent property owners from operating Airbnbs and other short-term rentals as if they were hotels — part… Read More
Matt McIlwain believes Seattle is wasting resources defending an income tax ordinance passed by the City Council in July. The Madrona Venture Group managing director, who is leading a legal… Read More