The exodus of Columbia Bank executives began with CEO Clint Stein, who sold his Auburn home (for $2.45 million in September) to relocate to Arizona permanently. According to The Puget Sound Business Journal, the company said new Washington taxes are costing it approximately $8 million a year, prompting the decision to move most executive roles to Arizona.

Was just in SF for a week and it was so much cleaner and safer than Seattle outside Tenderloin. Even SOMA cleaned up. Didn’t see any tents or addicts for miles and miles of walking downtown SF. The city was vibrant too and retail seemed thriving. I have never felt so carefree as I was in SF last week, meanwhile I’m now constantly on guard walking around downtown Seattle and Belltown. Even in the daytime. It used to be the reverse between SF and Seattle.

Since when did progressivism in Seattle meant being so averse to pragmatic results and maintaining nice public spaces? Shootings daily now, even in Kerry Park this past weekend. Tents now about as bad as peak Covid after years of improving under Harrell. Do progressives not understand their policies are hurting the lower and lower middle class the most? Rich people have the means to leave and live in isolated enclaves like Madison Park and Olympic Manor. The poor have to deal with meth crazed addicts on the bus, in our parks and streets. Mom and pop businesses with razor thin margins have to deal with another broken window and rising insurance premiums. Somehow none of these people count in the progressive worldview. It’s actually cruel at this point.

The Seattle city council and our mayor need to go take a field trip to SF and learn from them. Put the ideology aside and actually deliver for the public.

I’m deeply saddened by RJ Mitte’s death. If I can make a difference for even one person who’s struggling, I want to.

If you’re feeling lonely, having a hard time mentally, or struggling socially, you’re welcome to reach out. We can talk, you can vent, or we can grab coffee, take a walk, or do something you enjoy. No pressure to be outgoing or pretend you’re okay.

Your age, gender, race, or appearance don’t matter to me. How you’re doing matters. Sometimes having someone listen and
spend time with you can help you feel seen.

I’m in West Seattle and prefer meeting here or around downtown, somewhere public. Feel free to message, even if it’s just “I could use some company.”

More than 2 million invasive green crabs were captured in Washington state from July 2025 to June 2026, smashing previous records. More European green crabs were trapped in those 12 months than in all previous years combined since the pinchy invaders were first documented in Washington state in 1998.

State and federal agencies spent at least $8 million fighting the European green crab in Washington in the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Between professionals and volunteers, some 500 people in Washington set and check traps targeting the green crabs.

~ A record catch sounds like progress until you notice it doubled. 500 trappers, $8 million, and the warm El Niño winter is still ahead of us.

A Pierce County judge Friday dismissed charges against a 16-year-old boy who allegedly stabbed four students and a security officer at Foss High School in Tacoma in April. 

The prosecuting attorney’s office asked Judge Michael Schwartz to dismiss the case after they said a further investigation of Instagram messages by the Tacoma Police Department revealed that the alleged victims were planning to rob the teenager days before the stabbing. 

In a motion signed by Prosecuting Attorney Mary Robnett, the office argued that the state “would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused was the initial aggressor” and “would not be able to disprove self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The 16-year-old was being tried as an adult and faced four counts of first degree assault, one for each of the teenage students who were injured in the stabbing. The security officer said he believed the teenager didn’t mean to stab the officer while he broke up the fight. 

The 16-year-old had been on home detention.

Camas isn't exactly Seattle but relevant to the LGW initiative discussions in this sub the last 6 months

update: Nearly half of the girls cross-country team in Camas, Washington, just forfeited their race.

Remember folks: lots of trolls from the other sub lurk here and are ready to drown out the issues we residents face. Pay them no mind :)

Seattle mention: Stymied by political and financial hurdles, progressive bastions including Los Angeles, Seattle and Burlington, Vt., appear to have given up. They have surrendered public spaces to the homeless and their encampments to the point that it’s difficult to describe these spaces as truly for the public anymore.

Damning.

They were really, really good last night.

Altogether, the five state Supreme Court races have reported approximately $2.8 million in donations so far, which campaigns say is a record for judicial races in Washington.

Larson said these trends are causing voters to tune out and skip these races on their ballot. He lost his 2024 Supreme Court race against Justice Sal Mungia by less than 1%, while 675,000 people cast a ballot for governor but skipped the Supreme Court race.

~ Five of nine seats, a record $2.8 million, and a 2024 race decided by less than a point. These are the down-ballot lines worth researching before November 3.

So the brushing off I (and others, it turns out) got from calling 911 at 12:45 in the morning last weekend for what the 911 dispatchers were treating as sort of a nothingburger, turned out to be over 100 people and nearly as many cars, with masses of alcohol, neon-lit car stereos that seemed like they should have been breaking the car windows, cruising and doing burnouts on the street, and, get this, at least 3 small children (kindergarten/younger age) running around in the midst of this mess. When the noise stopped at about 3:30 am, the security cam footage showed it was because two SPD units showed up. You should have seen the mad dash for the cars; they created their own traffic jam, lol! And there were plenty of NSFW bits of people going to the bathroom where no bathrooms exist. So, as we were told, there could be citations for trespassing, open container/underage drinking, reckless driving, double digit numbers of DUIs, child endangerment, disturbing the peace, etc. And now these businesses will have to spend money on trying to keep these assholes off their property. Nice job, Seattle...

I lost my keys somewhere between Green Lake and my apartment a couple weeks ago. Nothing dramatic, just the deeply annoying realization at my front door that the little front pocket of my backpack was open and the keys were gone.

I walked the entire route backwards staring at the sidewalk like I was searching for a contact lens. Nothing for about twenty minutes.

Then I saw them.

Someone had picked them up and carefully hooked the key ring over the top of a metal signpost, almost exactly at eye level. They were maybe six feet from where I assume I dropped them. Whoever found them didn't take them to a business, didn't move them to some official lost-and-found, didn't post a note. They just made them impossible to miss.

Since then I can't stop noticing this everywhere.

Single glove on top of a utility box. Kid's hat balanced on a fence post. Water bottle sitting upright on a retaining wall instead of lying where it fell. Last week I saw one lonely AirPod case placed on the base of a pedestrian crossing button like it was on display at a tiny museum.

Obviously Seattle didn't invent picking up lost stuff, but there seems to be an unspoken rule here: don't take it with you, just move it somewhere visible near where you found it.

And honestly, it makes a weird amount of sense. If someone retraces their route, the thing is still where they expect it to be, except now it's two or three feet off the ground instead of hiding under wet leaves.

So thank you, anonymous signpost person. You saved me a locksmith bill, a new building fob, and several hours of being furious with myself.

Now whenever I find a dropped glove or hat, I apparently know the procedure too.

Is this actually a Seattle thing, or have I just reached the age where I notice extremely mundane acts of civic cooperation?

When the program launched in 2018, the Navy estimated it would cost at least $21 billion over 20 years. At Puget Sound alone, there are 50 modernization projects completed, underway or proposed at about $19.6 billion, including the planned dry dock.

Demolition is scheduled to begin next year, with construction of the new dry dock planned for 2030 and completion targeted for 2038, according to the GAO.

~ The estimate grew roughly tenfold before a shovel hit the ground, and the dry dock still is not due until 2038. That is not a budget, it is a placeholder.