Bellevue City Council sent the MFTE Catalyst housing ordinance to a future consent calendar and studied a Transportation Benefit District that could add about $250 million against a $1.5 billion, 20-year transportation need. Chamber-convened coalitions testified on both items. Continue Reading
Bellevue's MFTE Catalyst program for HOMA is down to code language. Our July 20 joint letter with the Housing Development Consortium backs fee-in-lieu eligibility for MFTE, clearer application timing, and striking the sentence that disqualifies fee-paying projects. Continue Reading
Bellevue Chamber CEO Joe Fain on what Seattle's World Cup summer taught him about hope, pride, and joy, and why fighting cynicism, not just bad ideas, is the region's next great civic project. Continue Reading
Bellevue City Council adopted Ordinance 6929, renewing Old Bellevue's Main Street design controls with a reworked facade incentive, reviewed a draft business improvement area policy, and started the Bellevue College rezone. Continue Reading
Inside the July Policy Council: AWB's Morgan Irwin maps the 2026 legislative races and the income tax repeal fight, while PSE's Matt Perry details Bellevue's grid capacity study, the planned Vernell substation, and the Oregon-sized power gap coming in 2030. Continue Reading
On July 7 our PLUSH Committee and the BelRed Property Owners Group gave the Planning Commission a consolidated record of what remains unresolved on the BelRed Look Forward LUCA: the mandatory street grid, the 26-foot path standard, and new costs without offsets. Continue Reading
Our June PLUSH Committee recap: Bellevue's Downtown Livability 2.0 code refresh (no height or FAR changes), the push to fix BelRed's rigid 300-foot street grid, parking reform, and a looming electricity-capacity crunch that could throttle Eastside growth. Continue Reading
The June East King Chambers Coalition meeting covered Washington Saves, the new state retirement program launching in 2027; Senator Marko Liias on rising transportation costs and SR 18 safety; and a new AECOM study warning of an electric grid shortfall across Bellevue and Redmond. Continue Reading
Every year, the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce asks a simple question: what are Bellevue voters actually thinking? Answering it well takes a rigorous instrument, a consistent method held steady over time, and the patience to listen even when the answers are complicated. Continue Reading
Every few weeks a new economic ranking shows Washington at the head of the pack, or scraping bottom. Here's the analysis and the tool to help explain the contradiction. Continue Reading
The Bellevue Mobility Coalition met June 17 with city transportation leaders on a proposed $500,000 Transportation Master Plan, a redesigned five-program capital budget, and 17 underperforming intersections, then set its priorities for the city's upcoming budget hearing. Continue Reading
Bellevue is reopening its 2017 downtown code with Downtown Livability 2.0: land use amendments on small-business space, after-hours vibrancy, housing, and Old Bellevue's historic character, with no changes to building heights, floor area, or parking. Continue Reading
