Articles about Katie Wilson

Seattle’s tax burden shifted to business as jobs slipped away, new report finds

A new joint report from the Downtown Seattle Association and the Seattle Metro Chamber shows city tax collections nearly tripling since 2013, surging far past population and job growth as the tax burden shifts heavily onto a small pool of major employers. Read More

Report: Downtown Seattle lost 13,000 jobs in a year, while Bellevue’s tech hub boomed

Seattle lost 18,000 jobs between 2024 and 2025—with 70% concentrated downtown—while Bellevue added over 5,300, according to new Downtown Seattle Association data. Amid business claims that the JumpStart payroll tax is driving tech across the lake, Mayor Katie Wilson has moved to freeze tax rates in her new budget to give employers stability amid broader industry shifts. Read More

Podcast

Live show: Amazon, Meta and the fight over the future of AI; Plus, is Seattle still the place to build?

Amazon’s move to block Meta’s Muse AI assistant is an early sign of a much bigger fight over whether AI agents can use websites and apps on people’s behalf. Plus, veteran startup leader Mike Fridgen joins us to talk about whether Seattle is still the place to build. Read More

Former Seattle City Council president launches AI-powered site to track and report on City Hall

Former Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson has launched CivicTide, a website that tracks City Council legislation, publishes policy briefs and opinion pieces, and gives readers tools to contact councilmembers. The site runs on a custom AI-powered system built by Seattle tech communications executive Viet Nguyen. Read More

‘The warning signs are flashing’: New regional partnership calls for cohesive Seattle-area tech strategy

Regional leaders from four counties launched the Partnership for a Competitive Puget Sound, a 20-point plan responding to the loss of nearly 7,000 jobs last year. The group’s report says the Seattle area’s technology industry has no coordinated strategy of its own. Read More

Podcast

Study warns Seattle over-relies on Big Tech; Seattle Times v. Microsoft; Apple’s iPhone Duo echoes the past

This week on the GeekWire Podcast: A study commissioned by the City of Seattle says the city is not in… Read More

Seattle economic study finds strong tech assets, a risky concentration, and a tax that ‘penalizes’ hiring

An independent study commissioned by the City of Seattle says the city should protect the big tech employers it has while building a more diverse economy on top of them. The 127-page report also says Seattle’s tax structure is unique among its peers in penalizing the hiring of senior, high-compensation workers. Read More

Seattle weighs ban on ‘surveillance pricing’ at grocery stores, but will it save shoppers money?

A proposed Seattle ordinance would bar large grocers and delivery services from setting prices for individual shoppers based on their personal data. Industry groups say it will kill discounts, consumer advocates say it will stop retailers from charging people what their data says they’ll pay, and a City Council memo says the effect on grocery bills is hard to predict. Read More

What’s Howard’s end? Former Starbucks CEO is ripping Washington state again

For the second time in the past 60 days, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has penned an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that takes direct aim at the state’s political leadership, calling Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson “inept” and noting that Gov. Bob Ferguson continues to “burden businesses with one tax increase after another.” Read More

Five years in, new analysis links Seattle’s ‘JumpStart’ tax to downtown decline

A new Downtown Seattle Association report says the city’s JumpStart payroll tax has helped drive jobs and office value out of downtown over its first five years, pointing to booming Bellevue as the contrast. Supporters, including Mayor Katie Wilson, call the tax a success. Read More

Podcast

Following through in Cleveland: A GeekWire trip report, plus data center ‘theater’ and the SpaceX IPO

John Cook and Charles Fitzgerald call into the podcast from an abandoned Westinghouse factory in Cleveland to debrief on a Rust Belt city’s comeback and what Seattle can learn from it. Plus: the new data center moratorium, and why Fitzgerald is sitting out the SpaceX IPO. Read More

‘This is Seattle’s position on AI’: City Council votes unanimously to pause big new data centers

The Seattle City Council voted 9-0 to halt applications for data centers larger than 20 megavolt-amperes for one year, while the city studies their impact on the power grid, water supply, utility rates, and economy. The moratorium takes effect as soon as Mayor Katie Wilson signs it. Read More

Zillow co-founder and Seattle tech icon Rich Barton takes up residence in Las Vegas

Rich Barton, who co-founded Zillow and Expedia in the Seattle area, says he’s now officially a Las Vegas resident, citing an empty nest and a new chapter. His move comes amid a heated debate over Washington’s new taxes on wealthy residents. Read More

Opinion: You can’t blame data centers in Seattle for our skyrocketing electricity prices

Seattle’s mayor is exploring a moratorium on new data centers, but the city’s real utility challenges — skyrocketing electricity prices, a looming capacity gap, and an eastside water defection — have nothing to do with data centers. Read More

Seattle mayor floats moratorium on new data centers in city limits

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson raised the possibility of a moratorium on new data centers in the city, following a report that four companies have approached Seattle City Light about building five large-scale facilities. Read More

Seattle puts Microsoft Copilot expansion on hold as new mayor takes stock of AI

Five months after releasing its “responsible AI plan” providing guidelines for the technology’s use, the City of Seattle has tapped the brakes on artificial intelligence. Read More

Seattle’s downtown paradox: Commercial engine sputters amid improved safety and visitor growth

Seattle is witnessing a curious role reversal in its economic narrative. While the city finally gains ground on perennial challenges like crime and transportation, its traditional growth engine — the tech sector and downtown employment — is beginning to sputter. Read More

‘We are not going anywhere’: Key Amazon exec reaffirms tech giant’s commitment to Seattle region

The comments by David Zapolsky, Amazon chief global affairs and legal officer, follow years of political disputes in Seattle over taxes and other policies that contributed to Amazon shifting more of its workforce to Bellevue, Wash., and Northern Virginia. Read More

Seattle mayoral front-runner Katie Wilson on taxes, tech sector and working with Amazon

As Seattle grapples with persistent issues including homelessness and fentanyl abuse while debating how to fund city services, Wilson wants to engage the tech sector as part of the solution. But how that would specifically play out is unclear. Read More