Can Seattle manage industry, retail, and housing when space is so tight? Today So far

• Hot temps continue in the NW, and thunderstorms are on the way.
• There is steep competition for space in Seattle, and that competition is heating up around the city's industrial zones.
• Familiar Republican enters Washington's race for governor.
• Drone delivery of food and medication could be coming to Seattle as soon as 2024.

This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for May 15, 2023.

Keep a cool head. The hot weather will continue for a few more days, but it is tapering off into lower temps this weekend. In the meantime, thunderstorms are slated for the Northwest amid all this heat.

It's pretty well known that air conditioning units are not common in our region's homes. It's probably a good idea to keep an eye on your older neighbors, who are more affected by the hot temps.

There is steep competition for space in Seattle, and that competition is heating up around the city's industrial zones. Seattle is a bottleneck. With Puget Sound, a bunch of lakes, and mountains, there isn't as much space to build on around here. Still, people and businesses keep coming. That's why big-box stores and storage facilities have been popping up in industrial areas. New, proposed zoning changes would slow down such moves in Seattle.

As KUOW's Joshua McNichols reports, the zoning proposal is a bit of a compromise. Some industrial spots will ban big-box stores. At the edges of these zones, however, there will be some more leeway. There, homes, offices, etc. could be allowed. Despite the compromise, there is some criticism. Everything I listed above has very different uses and vibes. What is in these areas now is industrial — noisy, banging, trucking industrial operations. Pop a home next to it, and folks worry that the complaints will soon follow. That concern is layered on top of worries that existing industrial businesses will be pushed out of town to make way for other uses.

Years ago, when I was a newspaper reporter, a local resident complained about the noise coming from a nearby boatyard. They even had a decibel meter to prove how noisy it was. Their home was across the harbor from the boatyard, and this person would frequently go out to record the noise. In another corner of the community, residents were protesting a proposed shopping center slated to be built right alongside their neighborhood. The property had long been vacant, and neighbors didn't like the idea of all the trees going away to accomodate a new drug store.

I had two different editors around that time, and they essentially said the same thing: They knew what was there when they moved in. The basic sentiment was that if you build a house directly next to land zoned for retail, then don't be surprised when a stripmall shows up. And if you move into a home across from a boatyard, don't be surprised to hear horns and banging.

It's an understandable argument. On the other hand, it's also understandable that Seattle is evolving. Remember all those people moving into town? The city has undergone changes in the past, and it will have to continue to do so to remain relevant to the times. So folks are gonna have to find some way to live next to each other. Check out the full story here.

When I wrote last week that the "Democrats have started the race for Washington governor," it didn't take long for a Republican to enter the mix.

Republican Dr. Raul Garcia of Yakima has jumped into the gubernatorial race. You likely remember Garcia from the 2020 race for governor. He was among a handful of GOP candidates seeking to unseat Gov. Inslee. Garcia leaned into the moderate corner of the state's Republican Party, garnering endorsements from prominent moderates. Garcia only ended up taking 5.4% of the primary vote, however, and came in fifth. Loren Culp ultimately earned the Republican spot on the ballot (with 17.4% of the primary vote). Since then, Garcia hasn't gone entirely silent. He often spoke up about his opposition to the state's pandemic measures around shutdowns and businesses.

Technically, there are now two GOP candidates for governor. The other is Semi Bird of Richland, who announced his run back in November. Given that he is touting endorsements from MAGA Republicans, it initially seems that Washington has two different GOP brands in the race. Read more here.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's PIZZA! There has long been talk about a future with drones making deliveries directly to your home. Most of this talk has been around Amazon making it happen, but another company is primed to bring drone delivery to Seattle as early as next year.

Zipline has already been making drone deliveries for customers across the globe. It so far has focused on medical businesses, but it is expanding its business. Seattle's Pagliacci Pizza has agreed to allow Zipline deliver its food orders, once the drone company gets a thumbs up from the FAA.

It's worth noting that Pagliacci is not the only local contract that Zipline has secured. Tacoma's MultiCare Health System also plans to use the company for medication and lab deliveries. Both types of deliveries in our area are tentatively slated for 2024.

The system that Zipline has developed is an all-electric drone that flies to a location and hovers high above the delivery site. Then it lowers a droid on a wire. Inside that droid is the package. Once on the ground, the food/medicine is delivered, and the droid is raised back up into the drone. Zipline not only touts this as an advancement in delivery, it says its service is more ecologically friendly than existing gas-powered deliveries. Check out the story here.

AS SEEN ON KUOW

On May 10, 2023, people gathered at Lamb of God Church to share memories and grieve the loss of the Lake City Community Center nearby, which closed after a fire April 18. A series of fires have struck the community in North Seattle in recent months. (Courtesy of the Hunger Intervention Program)

DID YOU KNOW?

Washington became a state in 1889, but it didn't have an official flag until 1923. Our state flag stands out among other USA flags. It's the only one with a green background and the only flag with an American president on it.

Before 1923, there were a handful of other flags the state used, mostly for military purposes. Some were blue, others were purple. Most simply featured the state seal, with George Washington, which is similar to what is on our flag today. But state lawmakers wanted something more official, and groups around the state were encouraged to come up with a design.

The flag, featuring the profile of George Washington on a green background and gold fringe, was originally designed by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1915. It has pretty much stayed the same ever since, though there have been some slight modifications to accommodate modern colors that could be mass produced.

Believe it or not, the effort to come up with a state flag was a bit controversial at the time. There were patriotic organizations who felt that no flag should compete with the national flag, and opposed Washington having its own.

ALSO ON OUR MINDS

Congress wants to regulate AI, but it has a lot of catching up to do

For the past several weeks, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has met with at least 100 experts in artificial intelligence to craft groundbreaking legislation to install safeguards. It's all part of a congressional race to try to catch up legislatively to exploding advances in AI.

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