What’s happening this week around the Seattle tech community? Seattle Will Spend $75M on Affordable Housing over the Next Year,  Sound Transit to Get $1.2 Billion for Light Rail to Lynnwood, Redfin Predicts Big Real Estate Cooldown, and more in this week’s Seattle in the Spotlight.

‘This Was Our Road’: In Seattle, Nostalgia Flows as an Old Highway Nears Its End

New York Times | Kirk Johnson | December 21
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/us/seattle-alaskan-way-viaduct.html

“Kurt Cobain performed in a grubby club underneath it…Now, the Alaskan Way Viaduct is going away. The viaduct, the last remaining 1.4-mile stretch of this city’s elevated highway through downtown, has been a sublimely ugly and stoutly utilitarian force of engineering since 1953. After years of planning for an alternative, the viaduct will be demolished and hauled away early next year.”

Sound Transit to Get $1.2 Billion for Light Rail to Lynnwood

Seattle Times | David Gutman | December 20
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/its-official-sound-transit-to-get-1-2-billion-for-light-rail-to-lynnwood/

“The Puget Sound region will receive nearly $1.2 billion in federal money to help build a light-rail line to Lynnwood, the Federal Transit Administration announced Thursday, putting to an end two years of uncertainty spurred by soaring construction costs and the Trump administration’s stated hostility toward funding transit projects. The FTA announced the agreement — the largest transit grant it has awarded since President Donald Trump took office — and at the same time tried to push back on the idea that the administration has been reluctant to fund transit projects. “This grant agreement represents the department’s commitment to Sound Transit and the Seattle region to help mitigate congestion in one of the nation’s fastest-growing areas,” acting FTA Administrator K. Jane Williams said in a phone interview.

Redfin Predicts Big Real Estate Cooldown, with Tech Hubs like Seattle and S.F. Feeling It Most

GeekWire | Nat Levy | December 19
https://www.geekwire.com/2018/redfin-predicts-big-real-estate-cooldown-tech-hubs-like-seattle-s-f-feeling/

“Redfin today issued seven predictions for the U.S. housing market, and slowing price hikes means we’re likely to see the coolest housing market in years in 2019. The trend will be felt most on the West Coast in tech hubs like Seattle and San Francisco and other hot markets like Portland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver and Honolulu. Redfin expects annual price growth nationally to sit somewhere around 3 percent over the first half of the year. For several years in a row, price growth exceeded 5 percent, and as recently as the first half of last year it was around 7 percent.”

Seattle Will Spend $75M on Affordable Housing over the Next Year

Seattle Times | Daniel Beekman | November 17
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-will-spend-75m-on-affordable-housing-over-the-next-year/

“Seattle will spend more than $75 million on affordable-housing projects over the next year, Mayor Jenny Durkan said Monday. The dollars drawn largely from property taxes and real-estate payments will help developers build about 1,200 new apartments with restricted rents and preserve another 200-plus low-rent homes. Many onetime Seattle residents have been pushed out by rising costs, and homelessness grew in the area by more than 10 times the national average this year. “We need affordable housing in every part of this city,” Durkan said, delivering remarks at a Northgate building that caters to low-income seniors.”