Seattle Passes Local Green New Deal Resolution

Seattle City Councilmember Mike O’Brien introduced a resolution laying out the agenda for a Green New Deal for Seattle and an ordinance creating a Green New Deal Oversight Board. The resolution endorses the Federal Green New Deal and identifies five goals for a Seattle Green New Deal:

Make Seattle free of pollutants that have climate impacts by 2030;
Prioritize investments most harmed by economic, racial, and environmental injustices;
Advance an equitable transition from an extraction-based economy to one based on “regeneration and cooperation;”
Ensure that those with the least amount of power and wealth are positioned to lead during the transition;
Create stable, living-wage jobs that prioritize local hiring, and protect jobs with Project Labor Agreements and Labor Harmony Agreements.

Specific initiatives can be reviewed in the resolution text. The resolution was fast-tracked through the Council process and was approved by the full Council on Aug. 12. The ordinance was reviewed at the Aug. 6 Sustainability and Transportation Committee meeting and will be revisited by that committee at a future meeting. AIA Seattle has generally supported the Green New Deal at both the national and local scales.

August 2019