Seattle & King County Community Organizing
Share The Cities Organizing Collective has been engaged in education and advocacy work since 2016, under various names.
Share The Cities Community Education existed as a project of a fiscal sponsor beginning in 2021 which encompassed our 501(c)(3) community education efforts. Share The Cities Action Fund was a 501(c)(4) during this same time, and dissolved, along with Share The Cities Community Education in Summer 2022.
Back in 2016 the City of Seattle was engaged in a conversation about future land use changes throughout Seattle. At that time several groups came together to speak up at public hearings, write opinion articles, talk to neighbors and speak to the press about “upzones”. Hundreds of people were mobilized through social media action alerts to speak up about the future of the city.
After this intense time of land use engagement and the land use changes passed, other opportunities came up. Share The Cities raised awareness around large land parcels like Fort Lawton, Roosevelt Reservoir, Jackson Park Golf Course, and Talaris. Along the way we also helped convene discussions about equitable open space, tenant rights, mutual aid, and racial justice in urbanist communities. Our monthly newsletter goes to over 400 community members. We grew our sister organizations’ Advocacy Twitter community to over 8,000 followers that provide a rich daily discussion about land use in Seattle and across the world. Our slack group has over one hundred members with four main focus areas: Affordable Talaris, Municipal Broadband & Digital Equity, Industrial Lands planning in Ballard-Interbay, and “Green Zoning” which includes ending apartment bans, reforming design review and fighting back against the classism against renters.
There is a tension between transformative work like direct action & mutual aid, and mobilization & advocacy that works with existing broken systems.
While we are much quieter as an organization these days, we still send out newsletters!
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Articles About Share The Cities’ Efforts
“What Biden’s infrastructure plan means for Washington state’s public broadband crusade” Geekwire, April 5, 2021
“Opinion: Seattle's Talaris campus needs dense affordable housing” Puget Sound Business Journal, October 1, 2020
“The idea of a new cruise terminal on the waterfront getting mixed reactions” Q13 Fox, January 7, 2020
“After density win, Seattle eyes future housing fights” Crosscut, March 21, 2019
“Supporters Swamped Opponents at Seattle's Hearing on Backyard Cottages” Sightline Institute, June 26, 2019
“Share The Cities Lays the Community Engagement Groundwork at Jackson Park” The Urbanist, January 8, 2019
“Keep public land in public hands for public good” Capitol Hill Seattle Blog, September 12, 2018
“Committee keeps housing in focus for Interbay armory redevelopment” Queen Anne & Magnolia News, July 24, 2019
Laura Loe, Share The Cites founder
Published Writing & Public Appearances
Published opinion and advocacy pieces in Data for Progress, The Urbanist, The Seattle Globalist, South Seattle Emerald, The Stranger and International Examiner
KUOW & KIRO Radio appearances as subject expert on land use policy
Podcast guest on CascadiaCast, UpZones, Talk to Seattle & The Overhead Wire’s Talking Headways
Panelist UCLA Luskin Summit 2021 “Homes for All: Building Coalitions for Equitable Planning in Los Angeles County”
Radio appearances
Listen: Are golf courses the solution to affordable housing?
Shaun Scott, former editor of Real Change News and candidate for the 4th district City Council seat. Laura Loe, volunteer housing organizer and founder of Share The Cities. And Aaron Levine, Sports Director at Q13 Fox, all chime in on how they think Seattle should use its public golf courses. KUOW Radio. June 13, 2019
