The best time to make an impact in your city: Today So Far

• A small town protest, years ago, serves as a lesson for Seattle — right now. Now is the time to speak up and be engaged Seattle.
• Washington state reports its first pediatric case of monkeypox.

This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for August 22, 2022.

Nearly 10 years ago, a small group of protesters lined a corner along Highway 305 at the edge of downtown Bainbridge Island. They were objecting to a proposed, small shopping center there, anchored by a drug store, that would require many trees to come down.

Cars honked at folks on the side of the road, holding signs chiding the developer and encouraging people to "say no to sprawl." At one point, a local teen climbed up one of the trees and camped out for a couple days in defiance of the bulldozers. Locals even wrote a reggae song about her. The crowd grew, and people cheered each other on. Suddenly, a lot more islanders were interested in this tree-lined corner.

But nothing about the issue was sudden. And if you live in Seattle today, this Bainbridge Island moment serves as a lesson for you, right now.

There were many reasons for islanders' objections: increased traffic or the impact to neighboring homes. There was nothing wrong with these opinions. I personally enjoyed a vision of the island that was more natural and with fewer strip malls. And I knew some of the good people standing on that corner; I sympathized with them. But I couldn't help but shake my head at the protest — their timing was way off.

I was a reporter on the island at the time. I had covered the many meetings — months and months prior — at city hall where the developer went through design reviews, and public comment meetings. Not a lot of protesters showed up for that, or engaged in the local news about it. Sure, there were objections and criticisms. The comment that sticks out most during that time was a resident arguing that a drug store maybe wasn't needed, so they asked if they could get a Trader Joe's instead. That was the time to speak up. It was also time to speak up years before, when the city drafted the its zoning codes, the boarders of its maps, and designated that land for such development. By the time a picket sign showed up in the heat of the moment, it was much too late. Today, there is a drug store and a medical facility on that land.

Seattle — right now is your time to speak up. The city is accepting public comment as it updates its comprehensive plan. And hey, I get it. City hall procedures and jargon never sound appealing. But if you care about the issues facing Seattle, this is where you make an impact — when local leaders meet at city hall. This plan will set the tone in Seattle. It guides development, and charts a course for the city to grow.

A quarter of a million people are expected to show up in Seattle over the next 20 years. Where will they live? How will they live? These concerns come as the city already faces a range of issues: affordable housing, displacement, rising rents, and more. The answers to a lot of this will be in the comprehensive plan.

The results will be felt years from now. You might see people lining a Seattle street objecting to high rise apartments, or more single-family homes, or trees coming down, or shopping centers, etc. They'll shout NIMBY and YIMBY, and a few yet-to-be invented names. But by that time, it will likely be too late. The ink will have long dried on the comprehensive plan by then.

Seattleites can submit their input on this issue here. Public comment ends at 5 p.m. today. KUOW's Joshua McNichols took a deep dive into this extensive issue. Check out the full story here.

One other news story today. The first pediatric case of monkeypox has been reported in Washington state. "Pediatric" basically means a person under the age of 18. In this case, the patient is 17 years old. The state Department of Health is not releasing any information on the person to protect their privacy.

KUOW reports that only a handful of children have come down with monkeypox nationally. One expert tells KUOW that kids generally do OK and overcome an MPV infection (unless they are under 8 years old, which has its own set of risks). Monkeypox does not spread easily. It takes prolonged skin contact to get from one person to another. It can also spread through clothing or fabric. But generally, kids aren't considered at high risk.

"Families should know that monkeypox among children is exceedingly rare," said Beth Ebel, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington. "It's not something they need to worry about on a day-to-day basis.”

AS SEEN ON KUOW

Fardowsa Salad (left) and her coworker at Sharif Grocery and Halal in Rainier Beach. With rising rents and costs of living, customers have been driven away from the neighborhood around the store. It's issues like this that Seattle will attempt to remedy as it considers updates to its comprehensive plan.

DID YOU KNOW?

On Friday, I mentioned how Washington state has some pretty spoiled dogs. Our state ranks third in the nation when it comes to spoiling our pups. We take them on vacations. We make them meals.

So I asked our readers/listeners for photos of their spoiled fur babies. You didn't disappoint. Adonis enjoys his "Fursace" shirt (not to be confused with Versace). Manchester enjoyed a custom doggy cake for his 4th birthday. Zelda (great name) requires KUOW to be on in the background to soothe her separation anxiety. And it turns out, my dog Cosmo is not the only Northwest pup with their own Instagram account.

Check out more here.

ALSO ON OUR MINDS

Pfizer asks FDA to greenlight new omicron booster shots, which could arrive this fall

The U.S. is one step closer to having new Covid-19 booster shots available as soon as this fall. On Monday, the drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech announced that they've asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize an updated version of their Covid-19 vaccine — this one designed specifically to target the omicron subvariants that are dominant in the U.S.

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