Seattle’s $600 Million-Plus Education Levy Approved by Wide Margin, Why Seattle-Area Voters Rank Near Top of Nation for Turnover in Midterm Elections, and more in this week’s Seattle Spotlight.

Trio of New Buildings Marks a ‘new era’ in Seattle

KING 5 | Jake Whittenberg | November 7
https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/trio-of-new-buildings-marks-a-new-era-in-seattle/281-612226666

“His buildings dotting skylines around the world and he has a $10 billion portfolio of projects with his name on it…He has buildings across Vancouver, Toronto, and Tokyo. But now the world-renowned founder of Westbank Corp. is taking a chance on Seattle. Three new eye-catching projects are in the works in the downtown core that are certain to shake the industry.”

Kitsap Transit Launching Kingston-to-Seattle Fast Ferry Service After Thanksgiving

Seattle Times | David Gutman | November 7
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/kitsap-transit-launching-kingston-to-seattle-fast-ferry-service-after-thanksgiving/

“Kitsap County commuters returning to work after the Thanksgiving weekend will have a new — fast — way to get to downtown Seattle. The Kingston Fast Ferry, a passengers-only boat capable of making the Kingston-to-Seattle trip in 39 minutes, will start regular service on Monday, Nov. 26, Kitsap Transit announced. The new route will join Kitsap Transit’s Bremerton Fast Ferry, which launched service last year, after Kitsap County voters narrowly approved a 0.3 percent sales tax to fund the new fleet of passenger ferries. That route has a long history of passenger-ferry service, but it had been absent for about a decade.”

Seattle’s $600 Million-Plus Education Levy Approved by Wide Margin

Seattle TImes | Dahlia Bazzaz | November 6
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattles-600-million-plus-education-levy-leads-by-a-wide-margin/

“Seattle’s $600 million-plus education levy, Proposition No. 1, was approved by a wide margin Tuesday, with 68.5 percent of voters agreeing to the largest-ever education tax proposed by the city. The seven-year Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Program levy will cost homeowners of a median assessed property of $655,000 an average $248 a year. As of Tuesday night, King County had tallied 239,382 total votes on the measure; there were 463,432 registered voters in Seattle. City officials have pitched the education levy as a way to curb educational disparities for low-income and students of color that can appear before kindergarten and follow students into young adulthood.”

Why Seattle-Area Voters Rank Near Top of Nation for Turnover in Midterm Elections

Seattle Times | Gene Balk | November 5
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/past-midterm-elections-show-seattle-metro-area-ranks-near-top-for-turnout/

“Until this year, the nation had a pretty ho-hum attitude when it came to midterms….But not in Seattle…I looked at the CPS midterm election data for the 50 largest metro areas going back three cycles — 2014, 2010, and 2006 — and Seattle has been consistently near the top of the pack, with an average turnout of almost 56 percent. That ranks fourth highest, and it places us among just five metro areas where the majority of eligible voters cast a ballot in each of the last three midterms.”