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Joshua McNichols

Growth and Development Reporter

About

As KUOW's Growth and Development reporter and co-host of KUOW's Booming podcast, Joshua's "growing pains" beat sits at the nexus of housing, transportation, urban planning, government and the economy. His favorite stories also include themes of history, technology, and climate change.

Joshua holds a B.A. in Architecture from the University of Washington. Public Radio is his second career; architecture was his first. He is proud of the many odd jobs he's held in his life, such as salmon fisher, author, bike courier, and bed-and-breakfast cook.

Location: Seattle

Languages Spoken: English

Pronouns: he/him

Professional Affiliations: The Society of Professional Journalists, Western Washington Chapter

Podcasts

Stories

  • caption: Omari Salisbury of Converge Media outside his office in the (former) CHOP.

    As city workers dismantle the CHOP, Omari Salisbury reflects

    From Seattle's protests after the killing of George Floyd to the closing of the CHOP, journalist Omari Salisbury of Converge Media has been live-streaming what he sees every single day. Now, as police and city workers dismantle the CHOP, he stands in his doorway overlooking Cal Anderson park. And he struggles with emotion while answering a seemingly simple question: What do you see out there?

  • caption: An artist poses behind one of the murals she created.

    CHOP will end, but the memory of its art will remain

    Murals around the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest Zone in Seattle are disappearing. Most of the brightly colored barriers are gone now. And the words painted on the street are already looking less bright. Over the last weeks, KUOW's been talking to people painting graffiti in the CHOP to learn what it meant to paint in the streets during a movement like this.

  • caption: Protesters watch over the CHOP's eastern barrier on 2th Avenue

    The CHOP's long goodbye

    CHOP, Capitol Hill’s Organized Protest zone in Seattle, is going to end soon. City officials have made that clear. But protesters disagree on how soon the end will come.

  • caption: Jimaine Miller

    Here's what I've learned feeding protesters in Seattle

    Jimaine Miller, A.K.A. the Def Chef, has been cooking a lot lately. That’s his job, but for weeks he’s also been cooking for protesters who march for racial equality and he's been cooking for people in the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone, known as the CHOP. He cooks with hundreds of pounds of donated food, and gives it away for free. And it's changed him in ways he didn't expect.

  • caption: Keely Thomas and Jordan Lyon created the Decolonization Conversation Cafe in the chop, a place for people to have thoughtful conversations about race, policing "and learn what we don't know about each other."

    In its final days, CHOP tries to create safety without becoming the police

    This week, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced the CHOP will end, and police will return to the East Precinct building at its center. But in the meantime, occupants of the Capitol Hill Organized Protest zone are trying to show they can keep their community safe without police.

  • Maurice Lee Of Navos

    As a youth, I ran from police. Now, I work with them.

    Maurice Lee is the Chief Operating Officer for Navos, a local non-profit that helps people struggling with addiction or chronic homelessness get back on their feet and stay out of the criminal justice system. Lee's life experience as a Black man who works professionally with police has given him a complex perspective on police reform.

  • caption: At the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle, a breakout group debates how and whether they should choose leaders
    Race & Identity

    CHAZ chews on what to do next

    Capitol Hill’s new Autonomous Zone, known as CHAZ, is a six-block area around 12th and Pine. Residents, business owners and activists are trying to figure out what’s next for this hard-won territory.