Guest Opinion

But Is the City Getting the Right Stuff Done?

The city has racked up a long list of accomplishments recently, are they good policy?

08/10/2016 By Roger Valdez

Opinion

A City Hall Skeptic Likes the Name Changes at City Hall

Assessing the Latino Bloc at City Hall.

01/04/2016 By Roger Valdez

Guest Opinion

Seattle's Liberal Comfort Zone Exposed

What happened at Westlake was very Seattle.

08/11/2015 By Roger Valdez

Opinion

We Don't Need Rent Control

The city already has price controls in place along with other affordable housing programs and tools we can expand or use for affordable housing.

05/06/2015 By Roger Valdez

Opinion

Don't Let the Council Undermine the Affordable Housing Task Force with Election Year Pandering

Developer lobbyist Roger Valdez wary of council member Sally Clark's motives.

02/03/2015 By Roger Valdez

City Hall

Microhousing Developers Open Books

Developers claim new regulations would cause 40 percent increase in rent.

09/08/2014 By Roger Valdez

Opinion

Failing to Raise Fees on Developers Won't Lead to "Segregation"

Smart Growth Seattle's Roger Valdez argues that Seattle's affordable housing policy won't lead to racial "segregation" as some low-income housing advocates have said.

08/12/2014 By Roger Valdez

Opinion

Seattle City Council Common Denominator: Smothering Urban Innovation

There's a connection between the council's antipathy toward alternative transportation and alternative housing.

04/15/2014 By Roger Valdez

Op/Ed

Seattle Does Not Have A Workforce Housing Crisis

In a guest op/ed, Smart Growth Seattle's Roger Valdez argues that Seattle's housing need isn't for "workforce housing." It's for more housing—period.

02/10/2014 By Roger Valdez

Guest Op/Ed

Want Lower Housing Prices? Increase Supply.

Want lower housing prices? Smart Growth Seattle's Roger Valdez says the solution has to include increased housing supply.

01/28/2014 By Roger Valdez

Opinion

Incentive Zoning Is Not the Answer

Cola op/ed contributor Roger Valdez argues that incentive zoning—greater density in exchange for more affordable housing—is not an affordability panacea.

03/18/2013 By Roger Valdez

Opinion

New Single-Family Housing Is Not the Enemy

Smart Growth Seattle's Roger Valdez responds to a Crosscut piece opposing development in single-family neighborhoods.

02/07/2013 By Roger Valdez

Opinion

The Affordable Housing Purity Test

Believing that market forces impact housing prices doesn't make you a Republican, density advocate Roger Valdez argues. Image via Richard Conlin's city of Seattle website.

10/01/2012 By Roger Valdez

Opinion

Affordable Housing Incentives: Why Housing Prices Aren't the Whole Story

Instead of lowering housing prices, we need to lower housing costs, argues urbanism advocate Roger Valdez.

09/25/2012 By Roger Valdez

City Hall

The Big-House "Emergency" Is Not An Emergency

The big-house "emergency" isn't an emergency at all, argues density advocate Roger Valdez .

09/07/2012 By Roger Valdez

Opinion

Working out the Gremlins: Density, Design, and Affordability

The anti-aesthetics of anti-density.

03/30/2012 By Roger Valdez

Opinion

The Myth of "Big Development"

Guest blogger Roger Valdez says Seattle needs an organized pro-development political movement.

02/14/2012 By Roger Valdez

Opinion

Toward a New Definition of "Affordability"

Roger Valdez: The problem with measuring "affordability" based on housing prices alone.

12/12/2011 By Roger Valdez

News

Glimmers of Hope in Land Use Planning (!)

Looking to find something to be happy about in a year that offered little more than grim political choices, Cola readers point to developments from 2011 that give them hope.

11/25/2011 By Roger Valdez

City

Anti-Density Forces a No-Show at North Seattle Forum

Anti-density forces failed to show up at a North Seattle town hall last night with Mayor Mike McGinn, who fielded a wide range of tough questions.

06/15/2011 By Roger Valdez