Author: William Tygart

  • Stations Unidos: Everett’s New Anti-Displacement CDC

    Stations Unidos: Everett’s New Anti-Displacement CDC

    What is Stations Unidos? Stations Unidos is the Everett community development corporation that emerged in early 2026 from the rebranding of the Everett Station District Alliance (ESDA) (stationsunidos.org). It is a 501(c)(3) housing-and-placemaking nonprofit with an expanded service area that now covers both downtown’s Everett Station District (around 3201 Smith Avenue) and the Casino Road corridor in South Everett. Its board is split equally between the two neighborhoods. Its mission is to invest in real estate to preserve the affordability of existing housing and small businesses, and to build new affordable housing and commercial space, ahead of Sound Transit’s Link light rail arrival.

    Why this matters now

    Two planned Sound Transit Link light rail stations are years away from opening on the Everett extension. But the planning is happening now, the property speculation is happening now, and the displacement risk is happening now. Marshall Foster, Sound Transit’s Chief Planning and Development Officer, said at the Stations Unidos launch that the work the organization will be doing in the years before the trains arrive is going to be critical. The lesson the agency took from earlier Link extensions in Seattle — neighborhoods like Rainier Valley and Beacon Hill — is that you cannot wait for the station to open before protecting the people who will need it most. By then it is already too late.

    Casino Road is one of the most economically and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in Snohomish County. It is home to large Latino, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and East African communities, several of the most-trafficked food banks and pantries in the city, and dozens of immigrant-owned businesses. The Everett Station District anchors the city’s transit hub, civic agencies, and a working downtown employment center. Both neighborhoods carry displacement risk as transit-driven property speculation accelerates.

    What changed in 2026

    The pre-2026 ESDA was, for several years after its 2017 incorporation, primarily focused on cleaning, safety, and placemaking work in the immediate Everett Station footprint. The board contracted with LISC Puget Sound — the regional intermediary that has anchored years of community investment in Casino Road — in 2024 to figure out how to evolve from a station-area alliance into a full community development corporation.

    After more than a year of community engagement, the ESDA board adopted LISC’s recommendations in 2025, and the organization formally rebranded as Stations Unidos in early 2026. The official launch announcement landed on February 24, 2026.

    The new name is the most visible change. The bigger one is structural.

    The board structure is the story

    Under the new governance, the board of directors is split equally between the Everett Station District and South Everett. The Casino Road side of the table is just as full as the downtown side. Future board seats will be nominated by neighborhood advisory boards in each area.

    The current board reads like a who’s who of two neighborhoods that historically have not always talked to each other:

    From the Everett Station District: Roland Behee, Mary Anne Dillon (Vice Chair), and Joe Sievers (Secretary).

    From South Everett: Julio Cortes, Alvaro Guillen (Chair), and Tony Hernandez.

    At-large members: Victor Caesar, Amber Harrington (Treasurer), and Bobby Thompson.

    Brock Howell is CEO and President. Ed Petersen serves as Chief Strategic Housing Officer.

    The fact that a Chief Strategic Housing Officer is in the room — at all — is the tell. This is not a placemaking nonprofit anymore. This is a housing organization with placemaking in its toolkit.

    The mission, in concrete terms

    Stations Unidos’s mission is to invest in real estate to preserve the affordability of existing housing and small businesses, as well as to build new affordable housing and commercial space. In a transit-oriented development context, that translates into a specific set of activities:

    • Acquiring at-risk properties — apartment buildings, mobile home parks, small commercial properties — and stabilizing them as long-term affordable assets before market pressure forces them out of reach.
    • Partnering with existing housing operators to extend affordability covenants on properties that would otherwise convert to market rate at covenant expiration.
    • Developing new affordable housing on properties the organization acquires or assembles, including mixed-use buildings that preserve commercial frontage for small immigrant-owned businesses.
    • Coordinating with the City of Everett, Sound Transit, the Everett Housing Authority, and LISC on funding stacks that combine federal, state, local, and philanthropic capital.

    Why Casino Road specifically

    Casino Road carries the highest near-term displacement risk in Everett because of the Link light rail timeline. Two planned stations — including one near Casino Road — bring the kind of property speculation that historically precedes resident and small-business displacement by 5 to 10 years.

    The corridor’s working-class, immigrant-rooted character is exactly what gets lost first under transit-driven displacement — and exactly what is already showing up in pressure on places like the small Casino Road tortillerías and family-run restaurants that anchor day-to-day life in the neighborhood. For the deeper neighborhood read, our Casino Road neighborhood guide walks through the demographic and economic context.

    The funding stack

    Community development corporations like Stations Unidos do not run on a single funding source. The typical capital stack combines:

    • Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) for new construction
    • Federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME funds, channeled through the City of Everett
    • Washington State Housing Finance Commission programs
    • Snohomish County housing funds
    • LISC Puget Sound capital, which has anchored years of Casino Road investment
    • Philanthropic and private capital from Puget Sound foundations and community development financial institutions

    The transit-oriented dimension also opens specific federal and state programs designed to fund anti-displacement work in station areas before the transit infrastructure arrives.

    How Stations Unidos fits with the broader Everett picture

    Stations Unidos is not the only organization doing this work in Everett, but it is the one with explicit governance structure built around the two neighborhoods carrying the highest near-term transit-driven displacement risk. Read it alongside:

    • The Everett Housing Authority’s ongoing portfolio
    • The City of Everett’s Comprehensive Plan implementation in Casino Road and the Station District
    • The proposed NR-MHC manufactured housing zone protecting seven mobile home parks (separate but parallel anti-displacement work — see our NR-MHC zone coverage)
    • LISC Puget Sound’s broader Casino Road work
    • The Sound Transit Everett Link extension planning — see our Everett Link complete guide

    What to watch next

    • First Stations Unidos real estate acquisitions or development announcements
    • Funding stack signals — LIHTC awards, CDBG allocations, philanthropic commitments
    • Sound Transit Link extension milestones and the resulting property-speculation patterns
    • Coordinated work with the City of Everett on Comprehensive Plan implementation along Casino Road
    • Board expansion as neighborhood advisory boards nominate additional seats

    The honest framing

    Stations Unidos is not going to single-handedly stop transit-driven displacement in Everett. The market forces around a Link extension are too large for any single nonprofit. But it is the organization specifically built to slow displacement in two neighborhoods where the displacement risk is most concentrated — and to do that with the explicit governance representation that historically has been missing from these conversations. The structure tells you the seriousness. The next 24 months will tell you the throughput.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What did Stations Unidos used to be called?

    Stations Unidos is the rebranded form of the Everett Station District Alliance (ESDA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit incorporated in 2017. The official name change and expanded service area were announced February 24, 2026.

    Who runs Stations Unidos?

    Brock Howell serves as CEO and President. Ed Petersen serves as Chief Strategic Housing Officer. The board chair is Alvaro Guillen, with Mary Anne Dillon as Vice Chair, Joe Sievers as Secretary, and Amber Harrington as Treasurer.

    What neighborhoods does Stations Unidos serve?

    The expanded service area covers both the Everett Station District in downtown and the Casino Road corridor in South Everett. The board is split equally between representatives from the two neighborhoods, with three at-large members.

    How is Stations Unidos connected to Sound Transit?

    Sound Transit’s Link light rail extension will bring two planned stations to the Stations Unidos service area — one near downtown Everett, one near Casino Road. Sound Transit’s Chief Planning and Development Officer Marshall Foster publicly endorsed the Stations Unidos work at the launch as critical anti-displacement preparation.

    What is LISC Puget Sound’s role?

    LISC Puget Sound is the regional community development intermediary that has anchored years of community investment in Casino Road. ESDA contracted with LISC in 2024 to design the evolution into a full community development corporation; LISC’s recommendations were the foundation of the 2025 board adoption and the 2026 rebrand.

    How can residents get involved?

    Stations Unidos’s governance includes neighborhood advisory boards in both the Everett Station District and South Everett. Future board seats will be nominated through these advisory boards. Resident engagement runs through Stations Unidos directly at stationsunidos.org and through community events in both neighborhoods.

    What’s the relationship to the Casino Road neighborhood organizations already there?

    Stations Unidos is built to coordinate with — not replace — existing community-based organizations in Casino Road, including the long-standing Connect Casino Road network and dozens of immigrant-owned business organizations. The expanded board structure is designed to bring those voices into a unified anti-displacement governance.


  • West Marine View Pipeline: Everett Waterfront Business Guide

    West Marine View Pipeline: Everett Waterfront Business Guide

    How will the $113 million West Marine View pipeline project affect waterfront businesses? Two business-relevant headlines: (1) sustained corridor disruption from approximately June 2026 through the end of 2027 along the only direct route between the north end and the downtown waterfront, marina, and Port; and (2) longer-term water-quality improvement of Port Gardner Bay — engineers project a 95% reduction in combined sewer overflows — that meaningfully strengthens the waterfront’s commercial value over the next decade.

    This is the business and developer read of the $113 million pipeline core guide. The core walks through the engineering and the funding mechanism. This one walks through the operational impact for waterfront restaurants, marina-adjacent businesses, hotel and tourism operators, and developers with active or planned projects in the corridor.

    Map your exposure to the corridor

    Three operational variables to model right now:

    1. Customer access. If your customers reach you via West Marine View Drive between Grand Avenue Bridge and Hewitt Avenue, plan for sustained lane impacts during pipe-trench excavation phases. Phased lane closures with traffic-control management are the standard pattern for projects of this scope; full corridor closure is unlikely but not impossible during specific phases.
    2. Delivery and supplier access. Suppliers accessing waterfront tenants need realistic delivery-window assumptions. Construction corridors compress the time bands when heavy delivery vehicles can move efficiently. Renegotiating delivery windows with suppliers in advance is cheaper than fixing missed loads in real time.
    3. Staff commute patterns. Waterfront staff arrival and departure timing should be reviewed. Shift starts and ends that pre-construction tracked one corridor pattern will need to track a different one once active work begins.

    The marina, port, and Waterfront Place tenants

    The Port of Everett’s marina and the active commercial development at Waterfront Place sit at the southern end of the affected corridor. The boater experience and the dine-and-dock pattern that the Port has been building (covered in our Waterfront Place complete guide) keeps functioning during construction, but operational planning should assume that visiting boaters and waterfront visitors arrive having navigated more friction than usual on the way in.

    The honest customer-experience read: the businesses that win during the construction window are the ones who actively help customers navigate to them — clear directions in marketing materials, real-time updates on access status, and partnerships with the city’s project communication team to push closure information to mailing lists.

    Hotels, tourism, and event venues

    Waterfront hotel and short-term rental operators should price the corridor reality into 2026-2027 reservation marketing. Visitors arriving by car for a downtown stay will encounter the construction corridor; visitors arriving for a marina-side or waterfront event will encounter it more directly.

    For event venues with logistics tied to the corridor — load-in, parking, shuttle routes — build a 2026-2027 logistics playbook that assumes corridor congestion. The lift on event ops is real but manageable with planning; the operators who get blindsided are the ones who run a 2024 playbook against 2026 conditions.

    Developers with active or planned projects in the corridor

    Three considerations:

    Permitting interactions. Site-specific permits along West Marine View Drive will reference the active construction corridor. Coordinate with the city on staging, deliveries, and traffic control to avoid conflicts with the public project’s phasing schedule.

    Long-horizon valuation. The combined sewer overflow program is the foundation that lets future shoreline development continue. A waterfront with chronic CSO events constrains shoreline use; a waterfront with a 95% overflow reduction expands the development envelope. The $113 million is the unglamorous infrastructure that protects the value thesis of every shoreline development project on the books.

    Connection to the broader $200M+ storage facility procurement. The pipeline construction is the first half of a two-part program. Watch the Port Gardner Storage Facility procurement milestones — they signal the second half of the construction window and the ultimate compliance schedule the city is operating against.

    Utility rate context for commercial ratepayers

    The $113 million pipeline funding comes from the city’s water and sewer utility fund. Commercial ratepayers carry a portion of that fund’s revenue base alongside residential ratepayers. As the city absorbs the broader cost of the Port Gardner Storage Facility program, the pressure on the rate-setting calculus increases.

    For commercial operators with high water and sewer consumption — restaurants, hotels, food production, laundries — the medium-term outlook should assume continued upward pressure on utility costs. The exact rate impact depends on bond structure, federal and state grant offsets, and procurement timing on the larger storage facility. The broader budget context is in our complete 2027 budget deficit guide.

    The 24-month operational checklist

    • Update customer-facing wayfinding for corridor access
    • Renegotiate supplier delivery windows in advance
    • Review staff commute patterns and shift-start logistics
    • Subscribe to city project communications for West Marine View Drive
    • For events: build a 2026-2027 logistics playbook that assumes corridor congestion
    • For developers: coordinate permits with the public project’s phasing schedule
    • For high-consumption commercial ratepayers: model continued utility rate pressure into 2026-2028 budgets

    The longer view

    The combined sewer overflow program is one of the largest infrastructure investments the city has made in years. It is unglamorous and will not get a ribbon cutting that draws a crowd. But its downstream effect — a meaningfully cleaner Port Gardner Bay over the next decade — strengthens the waterfront’s commercial fundamentals in a way that no marketing campaign can match. For waterfront businesses and developers willing to absorb the construction window, the post-construction waterfront is a stronger commercial environment than the pre-construction one.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    When does construction start?

    Construction could begin as early as June 2026 and is expected to continue through the end of 2027.

    Will the corridor close completely?

    Full corridor closures are unlikely as the standard pattern for projects of this scope. Phased lane closures with traffic-control management are typical. Watch the city’s project page for phase-by-phase closure schedules; the lane configuration in place today is not what will be in place for much of 2026-2027.

    How will customer access be affected?

    Customers reaching waterfront businesses via West Marine View Drive should plan for sustained lane impacts during active pipe-trench excavation phases. Operators who push real-time access information to their mailing lists and social channels typically maintain customer flow better than those who do not.

    How does this affect Waterfront Place?

    Waterfront Place tenants and Port marina users continue operating during construction; the corridor congestion is the variable. The post-construction waterfront — with reduced overflow events and a meaningfully cleaner bay — is a commercially stronger environment than the pre-construction one.

    Will commercial water rates go up?

    The $113 million is funded out of the utility fund, and the broader Port Gardner Storage Facility program is estimated at more than $200 million total. As the city carries those costs, upward pressure on rates is realistic. Exact impact moves with bond structure, grants, and rate-setting decisions; commercial operators with high consumption should model continued pressure into 2026-2028 budgets.

    What’s the upside for waterfront businesses?

    Engineers project a 95% reduction in combined sewer overflow events into Port Gardner Bay once the system is operational. Cleaner bay water compounds the commercial value of the working waterfront — for restaurants, hotels, marina operators, and developers — over the next decade.


  • Everett Pipeline Project: Construction & Water Bills

    Everett Pipeline Project: Construction & Water Bills

    What does Everett’s $113 million pipeline project mean for me as a resident? Three things to plan for: (1) sustained construction along West Marine View Drive from approximately June 2026 through the end of 2027, (2) eventual upward pressure on water and sewer rates as the city absorbs the cost of the broader Port Gardner Storage Facility program, and (3) measurably cleaner Port Gardner Bay water once the system is operational — engineers project a 95% reduction in combined sewer overflows.

    This is the resident-side read of the $113 million pipeline core guide. The core walks through the engineering and the funding mechanism. This one walks through what it actually means for your driving, your bills, and your relationship with the bay.

    Your driving: assume the corridor changes

    West Marine View Drive between the Grand Avenue Bridge and Hewitt Avenue is going to be an active construction corridor for most of 2026 and 2027. That stretch is one of the most-driven roads in the city — it is the route between the north end and the downtown waterfront, the marina, and the port.

    The realistic posture: assume sustained lane impacts during pipe-trench excavation phases, plan an alternate route for any time-sensitive trips, and check the city’s project communication channels before driving the corridor at peak hours during construction windows. The lane configuration in place today is not the configuration that will be in place for much of the next 18 months.

    If you commute to the waterfront for work, watch for early communication on staging and night-work windows. The most disruptive phases of pipe replacement projects tend to be lifted into night and weekend windows when feasible, but the corridor is long enough that not every phase will fit that pattern.

    Your water bill: pressure, but not a single line item

    The $113 million for the pipeline is funded out of the city’s water and sewer utility fund. That money cannot legally be redirected to parks, police, or the general fund — utility infrastructure dollars stay with utility infrastructure. So the question is not “is this taking money from city services I use.” The question is “does this push my monthly utility bill higher.”

    The directionally honest answer: yes, projects of this scale put pressure on the utility rate-setting conversation. The $113 million pipeline is part of the broader Port Gardner Storage Facility program estimated at more than $200 million total. As the city carries the cost through bond issuances and ratepayer revenue, the rate calculus tightens.

    The exact monthly impact depends on bond structure, federal and state grant offsets, and the timing of the larger storage facility procurement. Watch for utility billing notifications and the public rate-setting meetings — those are where the line items become specific. The broader budget context for this rate pressure is in our complete 2027 budget deficit guide.

    Your bay: the actual win

    Combined sewer overflows are the reason Port Gardner Bay water quality has historically not been what it could be. When heavy rains overwhelm the city’s combined stormwater-and-sewer pipes, the system overflows at designated discharge points — sending a mix of rainwater and untreated wastewater into the nearest body of water. Port Gardner Bay and the Snohomish River have been the destinations.

    The Port Gardner Storage Facility, once built, will hold approximately 7 million gallons of excess flow during heavy rain events, then meter that flow through the treatment plant in the hours and days after the storm. Engineers expect approximately a 95% reduction in combined sewer overflow events.

    That is a measurable, tangible benefit that compounds over time — for shellfish health, recreational water use, ecological function, and the Port’s working waterfront character. If you have ever wondered why the city pours this much money into infrastructure no one will ever see, the bay is the answer.

    Your waterfront, in context

    The pipeline and storage facility are happening alongside a lot of other waterfront work. Read these as one connected story:

    • Waterfront Place at the Port of Everett — the restaurant row and tenant development
    • The Millwright District Phase 2 — apartments and commercial space
    • The Edgewater Bridge reopening
    • The broader Imagine Everett vision

    The combined sewer overflow infrastructure is the unglamorous foundation that lets the waterfront keep developing. Without it, future shoreline development gets harder.

    The practical resident calendar

    • Now through May 2026: Pre-construction planning, design finalization, watch for staging communications.
    • June 2026: Construction could begin. Watch for the first lane closure notices.
    • 2026-2027: Active construction along the corridor. Plan alternate routes for any peak-hour driving along West Marine View Drive.
    • End of 2027: Pipeline construction wraps. The Port Gardner Storage Facility’s separate construction timeline carries forward.
    • Multi-year: Combined sewer overflow events drop sharply once the full system is operational.

    What you can actually do

    • Subscribe to the city’s project notifications for West Marine View Drive (the city’s CSO program page is the master source)
    • Show up to the rate-setting public meetings — that is where utility bill impacts get decided
    • Plan an alternate route for waterfront-bound trips during 2026-2027 construction windows
    • Ask candidates running for council about utility rate strategy — the bills that come out of these projects are a council-level decision

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Will my water bill go up immediately?

    Not as a direct line item tomorrow. Utility rate impacts from infrastructure projects this large move through bond structures, grant offsets, and rate-setting meetings over time. Watch for utility billing notifications and the public rate-setting hearings for specifics.

    Will West Marine View Drive be closed during construction?

    Multi-month lane impacts are realistic for a project of this scope and corridor length. Full closures of the corridor are unlikely; phased lane closures with traffic-control management are the standard pattern. Watch the city’s project page for phase-by-phase closure schedules.

    What if I use the marina or the Port?

    Plan extra travel time during peak construction windows. Port and marina access remains; the corridor congestion is the variable. Marina users with shift-sensitive boat work should build a 15-minute buffer into trips during active construction phases.

    How clean will the bay actually get?

    Engineers project approximately a 95% reduction in combined sewer overflow events once the full system is operational. The bay will not become a different body of water overnight, but the cumulative water-quality, shellfish-health, and ecological improvements compound year over year.

    Could the project be cancelled or delayed?

    The Washington Department of Ecology has ordered the broader combined sewer overflow reduction program. The schedule is enforceable — material delays carry compliance risk. Funding can shift between bond and grant sources, but the project itself is not optional.

    Where does the money come from if not from my taxes?

    The $113 million is funded out of the city’s water and sewer utility fund, which is fed by utility ratepayer revenue and bond issuances. That fund is legally restricted to utility infrastructure and cannot be redirected to general government services like parks or police.


  • Everett Pipeline Project: Port Gardner Storage Guide

    Everett Pipeline Project: Port Gardner Storage Guide

    What is the $113 million Everett pipeline project? On April 2, 2026, the Everett City Council approved $113 million for the construction phase of new combined stormwater and sewer pipes plus a 48-inch water main replacement along West Marine View Drive — from the Grand Avenue Bridge in the north down to Hewitt Avenue in the south. The pipes feed the planned Port Gardner Storage Facility, a state-mandated combined sewer overflow project budgeted at more than $200 million that will hold approximately 7 million gallons of excess stormwater so it can be treated rather than discharged into Port Gardner Bay or the Snohomish River. Construction could begin as early as June 2026 and continue through the end of 2027. Engineers expect the facility to reduce combined sewer overflows by approximately 95%.

    The two projects, and how they work together

    What got approved on April 2 is the connective tissue. The $113 million pays for the pipes that carry the flow. Those pipes feed the Port Gardner Storage Facility — a separate, much larger project currently estimated at more than $200 million. The storage facility is the catchment basin; the pipes are the route. Without the pipes, the storage facility is a giant tank with no way to fill it. Without the storage facility, the pipes are oversized infrastructure with nowhere to send the flow.

    That is why the council is treating the funding as a single decision tree even though the dollar figures are split. The April 2 vote authorized the construction phase of the pipe component. The storage facility funding sits in its own approval and procurement track. Both have to land for the system to function.

    What the $113 million buys

    The ordinance allocates the construction-phase funding for three concurrent scopes inside the West Marine View Drive corridor:

    • A new combined stormwater-and-sewer pipe sized to carry significantly more flow than the existing system
    • Replacement of the existing 48-inch water main running along the same corridor
    • Connections that tie the new pipes into the upstream Port Gardner Storage Facility

    The corridor runs from the Grand Avenue Bridge at the north end of the waterfront down to Hewitt Avenue at the southern downtown waterfront — the entire length of the road that connects the north end of the city to the marina, the port, and the downtown waterfront.

    Why the state is making Everett build this

    Combined sewer systems are a 19th- and early-20th-century engineering pattern. In a combined system, stormwater and sanitary sewer share the same underground pipe. On a normal day that works fine. During a heavy rain, the system gets overwhelmed and the pipes do what they were designed to do as a safety valve — they overflow at designated points, sending a mix of rainwater and untreated wastewater into the nearest body of water.

    In Everett, the nearest bodies of water are Port Gardner Bay and the Snohomish River.

    The Washington Department of Ecology has been requiring cities with combined sewer systems to reduce overflow events for decades. Everett’s combined sewer overflow reduction program has been ratcheting down the number of allowed overflow events year by year. The Port Gardner Storage Facility — and the $113 million pipes that feed it — is the city’s response to the most recent compliance requirements. This is not an optional project. The state has ordered it. The schedule is enforceable. The $113 million is the price of compliance.

    The 7-million-gallon answer

    The Port Gardner Storage Facility, once built, will hold approximately 7 million gallons of excess stormwater during heavy rain events. Instead of overflowing into the bay, that flow gets metered out through the treatment plant in the hours and days after the storm. Engineers expect the facility to reduce combined sewer overflows by approximately 95%.

    The downstream effect is significant. Port Gardner Bay is the working waterfront, the marina, and an active recreational and ecological zone. Reducing overflow events there has water-quality, shellfish-safety, and habitat implications that compound year over year.

    Where the money comes from

    This is the part that often gets lost in the headline. The $113 million pipeline funding comes from the city’s water and sewer utility fund, not the general fund. That money cannot be redirected to parks, police, libraries, or general government. Utility fund revenue comes from utility ratepayers, and it is restricted to utility infrastructure spending.

    What that means in practice: the project is not a tradeoff against other city services. It does, however, sit inside the broader rate-setting conversation that determines water and sewer bills going forward. As the city carries the cost of large combined-sewer-overflow compliance projects, the pressure on ratepayer bills increases. That conversation runs in parallel with the budget deficit story already covered in our complete 2027 budget deficit guide.

    The construction footprint

    Construction could begin as early as June 2026 and continue through the end of 2027. The corridor — Grand Avenue Bridge to Hewitt Avenue along West Marine View Drive — is one of the most-driven roads in the city. It connects the north end of Everett to the downtown waterfront and the Port. Multi-month lane impacts are realistic for a project of this scope and length, particularly during pipe-trench excavation phases.

    For commuters, marina users, and waterfront business operators, the practical advice is to assume sustained corridor disruption and watch the city’s project page for phase-by-phase closure schedules. The lane configuration that exists today is not the lane configuration that will exist for much of 2026 and 2027.

    How this fits with the rest of the waterfront story

    The pipeline and storage facility are not happening in isolation. The waterfront is in active redevelopment — see the Waterfront Place complete guide, the Millwright District Phase 2, the Edgewater Bridge reopening, and the broader Imagine Everett vision. The combined sewer overflow infrastructure is the unglamorous foundation that makes everything above ground possible. Without compliance, future shoreline development gets harder. With it, the bay water quality story moves in the right direction over the next decade.

    What to watch next

    • June 2026 construction start signal — confirms the ramp into the heavy work
    • Port Gardner Storage Facility procurement milestones — the $200M-plus parent project
    • Department of Ecology compliance reporting on overflow events
    • Water and sewer rate notifications — the pass-through to ratepayers
    • Lane closure communications from the city — the operational impact

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What does the $113 million pay for?

    The $113 million funds the construction phase of new combined stormwater and sewer pipes plus replacement of an existing 48-inch water main along West Marine View Drive, from the Grand Avenue Bridge to Hewitt Avenue. The pipes feed the planned Port Gardner Storage Facility.

    What is the Port Gardner Storage Facility?

    The Port Gardner Storage Facility is a state-mandated combined sewer overflow project, currently estimated at more than $200 million, that will hold approximately 7 million gallons of excess stormwater during heavy rain events. Instead of overflowing into Port Gardner Bay or the Snohomish River, the stormwater is held until it can be treated.

    Why did the state require this project?

    The Washington Department of Ecology requires cities with combined sewer systems — older systems where stormwater and sanitary sewer share one pipe — to reduce overflow events. Everett has been ratcheting down its allowed overflow count for decades; this facility is the city’s response to the most recent compliance requirements.

    When does construction start?

    Construction could begin as early as June 2026. Work is expected to continue through the end of 2027.

    Where does the money come from?

    Funding comes from the city’s water and sewer utility fund. That money is restricted to utility infrastructure and cannot be redirected to general government services like parks or police.

    How much will combined sewer overflows be reduced?

    Engineers expect the Port Gardner Storage Facility, once operational, to reduce combined sewer overflows by approximately 95%.

    Will my water bill go up because of this?

    Utility infrastructure spending of this scale puts pressure on the rate-setting conversation that determines water and sewer bills. The exact rate impact moves with the broader utility fund and bond pictures; watch city utility billing notifications and the rate-setting public meetings for specifics.

    Will West Marine View Drive be closed?

    Multi-month lane impacts are realistic for a project of this scope and corridor length. Watch the city’s project page for phase-by-phase closure schedules; the lane configuration in place today is not the configuration that will be in place for much of 2026 and 2027.


  • Aerospace Worker Shortage: Snohomish Supplier Strategy

    Aerospace Worker Shortage: Snohomish Supplier Strategy

    How is the aerospace worker shortage going to hit Snohomish County suppliers? Hard, and unevenly. Aerospace suppliers across Snohomish County are competing with Boeing, Blue Origin, and each other for the same skilled CNC machinists, composite fabricators, and quality inspectors. The suppliers feeling it most acutely are the small and mid-size shops that cannot match Boeing’s wage and benefit packages on price alone.

    This is the supplier-side companion to the aerospace worker shortage core guide. The core walks through the system; the worker-side guide walks through career moves; this one walks through what supplier owners and ops leaders need to be doing right now.

    Read your exposure first

    Not every supplier is exposed equally. Three signals tell you where you sit on the curve:

    1. What’s your skilled-labor mix? If your shop runs heavy on CNC, composite, or inspection — that is exactly where the pipeline shortfall concentrates. Assembly and general labor are easier to backfill from the WATR Manufacturing Assembly Mechanic pathway.
    2. What’s your overlap with the Boeing 777X rework? Boeing disclosed on its April 22, 2026 first-quarter results discussion pointed to a multi-year change-incorporation workload on already-built 777X widebodies parked at Paine Field before delivery. That work pulls on the same labor pool as new production. If you supply structural, electrical, or quality services into that effort, your demand is elevated and your competition for labor is doubly intense.
    3. What’s your wage gap to Boeing? Post-2024 Boeing factory wages stepped up materially. If your benefit, schedule, or wage package was already 15-20% behind Boeing’s pre-2024 numbers, the gap widened. The retention math has changed.

    The pipeline programs you should know by name

    Most suppliers in Snohomish County have a working relationship with at least one of these. If you do not, this is the year to start.

    Washington Aerospace Training & Research Center (WATR) — 3008 100th Street SW, Everett. Edmonds College–operated. Five 12-week certificate programs (Manufacturing Assembly Mechanic, Electrical Assembly Mechanic, Manufacturing Composites, Tooling Mechanic, Quality Assurance). Suppliers who build a hiring relationship with WATR see candidates first.

    Machinists Institute (IAM District 751) — 8729 Airport Road, Everett. Opened June 6, 2025. Built to train up to 700 machinists per year. The Boeing-direct pathway dominates, but the Institute also produces skilled CNC, painting, and inspection talent that flows to suppliers when Boeing’s seats are full.

    AJAC apprenticeships — Paid 10-week foundational program, then journeyman-track apprenticeship. AJAC is the lever for suppliers who want to grow workers from zero rather than poach.

    Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center — High school juniors and seniors. The pre-pipeline. Suppliers who sponsor cohorts or take interns build the long-game candidate funnel.

    Everett Community College Advanced Manufacturing — Welding, machining, composites, technical design at the associate’s-degree level. Higher-skill, longer-form than WATR.

    Three plays that work right now

    Play 1: Shorten your time-to-productive. The 12-week WATR cycle gives you a candidate who can step onto your floor in 3 months. If your onboarding-to-productive timeline is 6 months, you are losing twice — once on the wait and once on the candidates who took a faster offer elsewhere. Tighten your floor-readiness checklist and pair every WATR hire with a journeyman mentor in the first 90 days.

    Play 2: Compete on what Boeing cannot match. Boeing’s wage package is hard to beat. Suppliers win on schedule flexibility (4/10s versus rotating shifts), on tuition reimbursement (helps a worker who wants to step up to advanced credentials), on commute reduction (proximity to where your workers actually live), and on the I-can-talk-to-the-owner culture small shops naturally have. Inventory which of those you can credibly offer and lead with them.

    Play 3: Build a Sno-Isle TECH and AJAC pipeline now. Suppliers that started cohort sponsorships in 2022-2023 are seeing the candidates land in 2025-2026. The shops that wait until they’re short-staffed to start the relationship are 18-24 months behind. The fix takes time; start it this month.

    The signals worth watching

    Three numbers will tell you how the pipeline is closing the gap:

    • Machinists Institute annual enrollment versus the 700-per-year design capacity
    • WATR enrollment and graduate throughput (confirm current figures with the center; we no longer cite older placement percentages that are not on its live pages)
    • AJAC apprenticeship counts

    If those numbers tick up, the supplier labor market loosens through 2027. If they stay flat, the wage and benefit competition keeps escalating.

    The Boeing program signals worth watching

    The supplier ecosystem moves with Boeing’s program signals. Three to track right now:

    • The 737 North Line ramp in Everett — see the North Line worker’s guide for the program shape.
    • The 767 sundown and KC-46 transition — see the supplier-side 767 sundown guide from the April 22 run.
    • The 777X rework and first-delivery push — supplier exposure is heavy on structural, electrical, and inspection scopes.

    The supplier that reads all three as one story rather than three separate signals will allocate labor and capacity correctly through the cycle.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    How many aerospace suppliers operate in Snohomish County?

    The aerospace supplier base in Snohomish County is consistently described in industry reporting as 600-plus establishments, ranging from small precision-machining shops to large structural-assembly partners. The full ecosystem — including upstream services and adjacent manufacturing — is larger.

    How does the 777X rework affect supplier demand?

    Boeing disclosed on its April 22, 2026 first-quarter results discussion pointed to a multi-year change-incorporation workload on already-built 777X widebodies parked at Paine Field before delivery. That work pulls on the same skilled labor — particularly CNC, structural assembly, and quality inspection — as new production, elevating supplier demand on those services through the rework period.

    What’s the most effective hiring channel for a small supplier?

    For shops that need 1-3 hires per year, building a direct relationship with WATR placement staff and AJAC tends to outperform broad job-board posting. WATR’s 12-week cycle predictably puts candidates into the market every quarter; AJAC’s apprenticeship model lets suppliers grow workers rather than compete for finished talent.

    How do small suppliers compete with Boeing wages?

    Schedule flexibility (4/10s, predictable shifts), tuition reimbursement, proximity reducing commute time, and a closer worker-to-owner culture are the four levers small suppliers most reliably win on. The price-only competition is hard; the package competition is winnable.

    Where does Blue Origin fit in supplier labor competition?

    Blue Origin competes for the same skilled CNC, composite, and inspection talent as Boeing and Snohomish County suppliers, intensifying the labor squeeze. (Hard Blue Origin headcount figures are omitted without a live company primary.)

    Is the labor market expected to loosen?

    Pipeline expansion at WATR, the Machinists Institute, AJAC, Sno-Isle TECH, and EvCC is increasing throughput, but the demand from Boeing’s Washington hiring, the 777X rework, the 737 ramp, Blue Origin, and the supplier base is large enough that material loosening is a 2027-2028 timeline at the earliest, contingent on those programs hitting enrollment targets.


  • Aerospace Worker Shortage: Snohomish County Career Guide

    Aerospace Worker Shortage: Snohomish County Career Guide

    Should I make a career move into Snohomish County aerospace right now? If you have any of CNC machining, composite fabrication, quality inspection, electrical assembly, or tool-room experience — yes, the leverage in Snohomish County aerospace hiring is the strongest it has been in years. Boeing employs more than 65,000 teammates in Washington and says it is actively hiring for rate increases and the Everett 737 line, and the Machinists Institute and WATR programs at Paine Field are designed to move you from no certificate to first job in 12 weeks.

    This is the worker-side read of the Snohomish County aerospace worker shortage guide. The core article walks through the system and the training pipeline; this one walks through what that market means for your paycheck, your training time, and your next move.

    Where the actual leverage is

    The skilled-trades shortfall is not evenly distributed. Three roles carry most of it:

    • CNC machinists — 18 to 36 months to run complex jobs unsupervised; pipeline of new entrants has not kept up with retirements.
    • Composite fabricators — layup, autoclave, damage inspection; a discipline traditional metal-shop training does not cover. The 777X program at Paine Field runs on composite structures.
    • Quality inspectors — the slowest discipline to backfill because seniority matters. Boeing’s post-2024 quality push and the FAA’s tightened oversight made these roles the single most-demanded category in the factory.

    If you are already in any of those three lanes, your phone is going to keep ringing. If you are trying to get into them, the pipeline programs at Paine Field were built for exactly this moment.

    The 12-week WATR path

    Washington Aerospace Training & Research Center, on the Paine Field campus at 3008 100th Street SW, runs five 12-week certificate programs:

    • Manufacturing Assembly Mechanic
    • Electrical Assembly Mechanic
    • Manufacturing Composites
    • Tooling Mechanic
    • Quality Assurance

    The hybrid model — online coursework plus in-person lab on industry-standard equipment — was designed for working adults to complete the program in a single quarter without quitting their day job. (We no longer cite older WATR placement percentages that are not on the center’s live pages.)

    If you have to pick one of the five right now: Quality Assurance and Manufacturing Composites are the two carrying the heaviest demand because they map directly onto Boeing’s biggest unmet needs. Electrical Assembly is the third hardest to fill.

    The Machinists Institute path

    If you want the IAM 751 union pathway and are aiming directly at Boeing factory work, the Machinists Institute at 8729 Airport Road in Everett is the answer. The 23,000-square-foot facility opened June 6, 2025, and is built to train up to 700 new machinists per year.

    The Boeing-direct program at the Institute trains in spray painting, manual machining, blueprint reading, and assembly-line quality control. The equipment list is what gets your attention: CNC simulators, paint and welding virtual reality rigs, advanced metrology tools, 3D printers, programmable logic controllers, augmented reality applications. None of that is window dressing — every one of those tools maps to a Boeing or supplier process you will see on the floor.

    The Institute sits directly across Airport Road from Sno-Isle Tech and adjacent to the Boeing Everett Factory. The geography is the message: this is the on-ramp.

    What the pay looks like

    Hard numbers move with contracts and bargaining cycles, so the right move is to verify against the current IAM 751 and Boeing public materials before signing anything. The directional truth in spring 2026 is that:

    • Entry-level Boeing factory roles in Everett are paying meaningfully more than they did pre-2024 because of the post-strike contract and the workforce push.
    • Skilled trades (CNC, composites, inspection) carry a senior-pay premium that is widening.
    • Supplier-side work across Snohomish County’s 600-plus aerospace suppliers competes on benefits, schedule flexibility, and tuition reimbursement to offset Boeing’s wage edge.

    The right move on pay: get the certificate, get the first job, then look at lateral moves at the 12 to 18 month mark when you have on-the-floor experience to negotiate against.

    What about the 767 sundown?

    If you are working the 767 line and reading this — the line is winding down for commercial freighters, but the KC-46 tanker continues, and the skills you are carrying are exactly what Boeing needs everywhere else in the factory. Our 767 sundown / KC-46 transition coverage walks the transition path. Bottom line: do not panic. The line narrows, it does not shut down, and the carry-forward into the rest of the Everett operations is built into the workforce plan.

    What about the 777X rework?

    Boeing’s April 22, 2026 first-quarter results discussion pointed to a multi-year change-incorporation workload on already-built 777X widebodies parked at Paine Field before delivery. That work is going to absorb skilled labor — particularly CNC, structural assembly, and inspection — for the next several years. If you are trying to get hired in: the rework backlog is part of why the demand curve does not flatten anytime soon.

    The housing piece

    If you are relocating to take the job, read the Boeing 737 North Line worker housing guide first — the math on commute time, rent versus buy, and which submarkets actually work for shift workers is in there. The three submarkets housing guide is the broader companion.

    The honest bottom line

    The pipeline can put you in front of an aerospace employer in 12 weeks. The leverage in the negotiation is real for the next 24 months at minimum. If you have been considering this move and waiting for a sign — the hiring leverage around Paine Field right now is the sign.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    How long does WATR training take?

    WATR certificate programs run 12 weeks. The hybrid model lets you complete the program in a single quarter while working, with online coursework paired with in-person lab work at the Paine Field facility.

    How much does WATR cost?

    WATR program costs are managed through Edmonds College. Aerospace Loan Programs through the Washington Student Achievement Council and other workforce funding mechanisms are designed to keep out-of-pocket cost low for in-state residents. Confirm the current term’s price and funding options with WATR directly at 3008 100th Street SW, Everett.

    Is the Machinists Institute free?

    The Machinists Institute Boeing-pathway program is structured to move workers into Boeing factory roles. Confirm current enrollment costs, requirements, and funding options through IAM District 751 directly. AJAC apprenticeships, by contrast, are paid from day one — you earn while you train.

    What’s the highest-leverage role to train into right now?

    Quality Assurance and Manufacturing Composites carry the heaviest unmet demand because they map directly onto Boeing’s biggest unmet needs. Skilled CNC machinists are also in deep shortage, but the training timeline is longer.

    Will the 767 line shutting down hurt my job prospects?

    The Boeing 767 commercial freighter program is winding down through 2027, but the KC-46 tanker line continues and the skills carry directly into the rest of the Everett operations. Boeing’s workforce plan absorbs the transition; the broader hiring picture is still net positive.

    How does the Machinists Institute compare to WATR?

    WATR is the Edmonds College civilian training pathway with five 12-week certificate options. The Machinists Institute is the IAM District 751 union pathway built around Boeing factory hiring. Both produce qualified workers, and both are within five miles of the Boeing factory; the right pick depends on whether you want the union pathway and Boeing-direct placement or the broader certificate options that work for any aerospace employer.


    >Part of the complete guide: Boeing Everett & SPEEA 2026

  • Everett EMS Levy: Pro and Con Committee Volunteers Needed

    Everett EMS Levy: Pro and Con Committee Volunteers Needed

    How does Everett’s EMS levy Pro and Con committee process work? The City of Everett is recruiting volunteers to serve on Pro and Con committees that will write the official 250-word arguments for and against the August 4, 2026 EMS levy ballot measure. Applications close at 11:59 p.m. Monday, April 27, 2026. The City Council appoints committee members at the April 29, 2026 meeting. Statements are due to Snohomish County Elections by May 7, with rebuttals due May 11. Committee members’ names are printed in the local Voters’ Pamphlet alongside their statement.

    If you have an opinion on Everett’s EMS levy and you want it printed in the official Voters’ Pamphlet that lands in every Everett mailbox before the August 4 primary, here’s the deal: the city needs your application by 11:59 p.m. tomorrow night, Monday, April 27, 2026.

    This isn’t writing a letter to the editor. This is a statutory role. Under Washington State law (RCW 29A.32.280), when a jurisdiction puts a measure on the ballot, the city has to appoint a committee for and a committee against. Those committees draft the words voters read.

    What this measure does and what’s at stake

    The Everett City Council voted at its April 22, 2026 meeting to place an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) property tax levy lid lift on the August 4, 2026 primary ballot. If voters approve, the EMS levy rate would be restored from approximately $0.36 per $1,000 of assessed value back to $0.50 per $1,000 — the rate Everett voters originally approved in 2018.

    For a typical home in Everett, restoration works out to roughly $5 to $8 per month. The city’s published yearly examples:

    • $450,000 home → +$63 per year
    • $575,000 home (the 2026 city average) → +$81 per year
    • $700,000 home → +$98 per year

    EMS levy funding supports approximately 78 positions at the Everett Fire Department — the firefighter-paramedics and EMTs who answer the bulk of 911 calls. EMS calls made up about 82% of Everett Fire dispatches in 2025; the department responded to more than 25,700 total calls last year, an increase from 22,955 in 2018.

    “Emergency medical services are a critical part of how we serve our Everett community every day,” Mayor Cassie Franklin said in the city’s April 22 press release announcing the ballot measure. “This measure provides our residents with the opportunity to sustain and support robust, high quality and timely emergency care as our community and service demand grows.”

    That’s the city’s framing, and it is one side of the argument voters will see. The other side gets equal space in the pamphlet — and that side has to come from somewhere. That somewhere is the Con committee.

    What a Pro or Con committee actually does

    Per the city’s published process and Snohomish County Elections rules, here’s what you sign up for:

    • Write a 250-word-maximum statement. Pro committees argue for approval. Con committees argue for rejection. Word counts are strict — Snohomish County Elections enforces the limit.
    • Work independently from the City. Once appointed, committees operate without city involvement in the drafting. The city doesn’t review or edit your argument.
    • Optionally write a rebuttal. After the statements are filed, each committee can read the other side’s statement and write a shorter rebuttal.
    • Have your name printed in the local Voters’ Pamphlet alongside your statement. This is on-the-record civic participation, not anonymous.

    The structure is meant to give voters a clean apples-to-apples view: the city’s neutral fiscal explainer, the proponents’ case, the opponents’ case, the rebuttals, and the official ballot title. People who want to fight this measure in print, and people who want to defend it in print, get the same number of words and the same distribution channel.

    The deadline calendar — short and unforgiving

    Snohomish County Elections runs a tight timeline. Miss any of these and you’re out:

    • Monday, April 27, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. — Application deadline to volunteer for either committee. Online application form. Late or incomplete applications are not accepted.
    • Wednesday, April 29, 2026 — Everett City Council appoints committee members at its meeting.
    • Friday, May 1, 2026 — City submits committee appointments to the Snohomish County Auditor.
    • Thursday, May 7, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. — Pro and Con statements (≤250 words each) due to Snohomish County Elections.
    • Monday, May 11, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. — Rebuttal statements due.

    From sign-up to filed argument, you have about two weeks. Most of that two weeks is just waiting for council appointment and reading the opposing committee’s statement to draft your rebuttal.

    Who gets picked and why

    The application form goes to the City of Everett Fire Department, but the appointing body is the City Council. There’s no formal qualification beyond being an Everett resident willing to put your name to a public position on a ballot measure. In practice, councils often appoint people who have previously testified at council on related issues, who are active in neighborhood associations or relevant advocacy groups, or who have professional context for the question (a retired firefighter for the Pro committee, a tax-policy critic for the Con committee, for instance).

    If both Pro and Con receive multiple qualified applicants, the council selects the committee that best represents the position. If a side receives zero applicants, the city is required to make an effort to find someone — but the statement may end up shorter, signed by fewer people, or in rare cases not filed at all. That last outcome leaves only the city’s neutral explainer and the ballot title in the pamphlet, which historically benefits the Pro side.

    What the Con argument might look like

    This is where the levy debate actually lands. The neutral case for “yes” is well documented in the city’s release: rising call volume, capped 1% revenue growth under state law, restoration of a previously voter-approved rate.

    The case for “no” tends to draw from a few standard angles, each of which the Con committee would have 250 words to make:

    • Property tax fatigue. Everett homeowners are also weighing other levies, special districts, and a structural 2027 general fund deficit that has the city looking at additional revenue measures.
    • The 1% growth limit’s purpose. Initiative 747 (and subsequent legislation) was passed to constrain property tax growth on purpose. A lid lift is a vote to override that constraint.
    • Service-level questions. Whether the additional revenue is the only path to maintain the EMS service level, versus reallocation from other funds.
    • Scope of the levy lid lift. The temporary two-year structure (2027–2028) means the question will be back. Some voters object on principle to a recurring revenue lift.

    None of these are the city’s framing. That’s the point. Pro/Con committees exist precisely because the neutral fiscal note can’t carry the political argument on its own.

    What the Pro argument might look like

    Likely framing for the Pro committee, which would also have 250 words:

    • Restoration, not increase. Voters previously approved $0.50 per $1,000 in 2018; the levy has been eroded by the 1% cap, not voted down.
    • Call volume math. 25,700 calls in 2025 versus 22,955 in 2018, with EMS as 82% of dispatches.
    • Cost in personal terms. About $5–$8 per month for the median Everett homeowner.
    • Direct connection to staffing. Approximately 78 firefighter-paramedic positions tied to the levy.
    • Quote from Fire Chief Dave DeMarco in the city release: “Our firefighters and EMS personnel respond 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year to a wide range of emergencies, with the majority involving medical care. EMS funding supports the personnel, training, and equipment needed to respond effectively and provide care when it is needed.”

    What residents should actually do

    For the next 24 hours or so, the action item is concrete:

    • If you want to write the Pro or Con argument: apply by 11:59 p.m. Monday, April 27, 2026 at the city’s online form. To request accommodations, email communications@everettwa.gov.
    • If you want to watch the appointment vote: Wednesday, April 29, 2026, 12:30 p.m. council session, William E. Moore Historic City Hall / Police North Precinct, 3002 Wetmore Ave., or the council livestream on the city website.
    • If you want background on the levy itself: see the city’s EMS levy information page and the full April 22 city press release.
    • If you want to know more about how Pro/Con committees work in Snohomish County: the Snohomish County 2026 District Guide spells out the rules. For procedural questions, call Snohomish County Elections at (425) 388-3444.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Do I get paid to serve on a Pro or Con committee?
    No. These are unpaid volunteer roles. The compensation, in a sense, is having your name printed alongside your argument in a document that gets mailed to every registered voter in Everett.

    Can I serve on the Pro committee if I work for the city?
    City employees and elected officials are typically excluded from these roles to keep the committees independent. The form will flag eligibility issues. If you’re unsure, the city’s communications office can clarify.

    What if I want to argue against the levy but I’m not sure I can write a 250-word legal-style statement?
    You can apply, get appointed, and work with the other committee members on drafting. The committee can include up to a small number of named members; the statement is collective.

    What’s the difference between the local Voters’ Pamphlet statement and a campaign committee?
    A campaign committee — a registered Political Action Committee (PAC) — raises money, runs ads, and reports to the Public Disclosure Commission. The Pro/Con committee under RCW 29A.32.280 is purely about writing the official statements that go into the pamphlet. You can do one, the other, or both.

    What happens if no one applies for the Con committee?
    The city has to keep trying to recruit. If a committee can’t be seated by the deadline, the pamphlet will run only the available statements, which historically benefits whichever side did organize. That’s a significant reason civic groups pay attention to these deadlines.

    How is this levy different from the City Council’s other tax proposals?
    This one is voter-decided in August. The 2027 general fund gap involves separate options the council has been discussing, including potential annexation, joining a Regional Fire Authority, library regionalization, and another levy lid lift. The August 4 EMS levy is its own ballot question; voters can support or oppose it independent of any other future measure.

    If I miss the April 27 deadline, is there any other way to write into the official pamphlet?
    Not for this measure cycle. The voter pamphlet statements are limited to the formally appointed Pro and Con committees. You can still write to the local newspapers, write to the council, or organize a campaign committee — but the words printed in the pamphlet next to the ballot title come from the committees only.

    The bottom line for Everett

    The August 4 EMS levy is going to the voters with or without volunteer committees. But the words those voters read in their official pamphlet are about to be written by a small number of Everett residents who decide, in the next 24 hours, to put their name on the page. If you have a position — for or against — the path to having that position printed in every Everett ballot envelope is open until 11:59 p.m. Monday.

    Sources

  • Everett Mobile Home Zoning: New NR-MHC Zone Details

    Everett Mobile Home Zoning: New NR-MHC Zone Details

    What is the NR-MHC zone Everett is proposing? The Neighborhood Residential – Manufactured Home Community (NR-MHC) zone is a new land use category the City of Everett is creating to protect seven existing manufactured home parks from being redeveloped into other uses. The proposal amends Sections 15.02 and 19.03–19.13 of the Everett Municipal Code and repeals Title 17 (Mobile Home Parks). The Everett City Council holds a public hearing on the ordinance on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers at 3002 Wetmore Ave.

    If you live at Creekside, Fairway Estates, Lago De Plata Villa, Loganberry, Mobile Country Club, Silver Shores Senior, or Westridge, the City of Everett is about to put your community on the zoning map in a way it has never been before — and the public hearing is May 6.

    The proposal creates a new zoning designation called Neighborhood Residential – Manufactured Home Community (NR-MHC). In plain language, that means the underlying land where these seven parks sit can no longer be quietly rezoned for apartments, retail, or anything else without the city explicitly saying so. The new zone is a fence around the use itself, not just the buildings.

    For people who own the home but rent the lot, that’s the difference between knowing where you live in five years and not.

    What this ordinance actually does

    The proposed code amendment, posted by Everett Planning – Public Notices on April 10, 2026, would do four things at once:

    • Create the new NR-MHC zoning category in Title 19 EMC (Sections 15.02, 19.03, 19.04, 19.05, and 19.13).
    • Apply the new NR-MHC zone to seven specific manufactured housing communities (the addresses are below).
    • Repeal Title 17 of the Everett Municipal Code — the older “Mobile Home Parks” chapter — folding that regulation into the unified development code.
    • Implement two specific policies from Everett’s adopted Comprehensive Plan:
      • HO-10: Protect manufactured/mobile home communities from redevelopment into other uses.
      • HO-19: Collaborate with local partners to preserve and maintain affordable housing units.

    Goal 4 of the Comprehensive Plan, which the city is invoking here, reads: “Ensure equitable access to opportunity and housing choice throughout the city’s neighborhoods so that all residents may choose their neighborhood.”

    The seven communities being put on the map

    Per the city’s public notice, the new NR-MHC designation would apply to:

    • Creekside Mobile Home Park — 5810 Fleming St.
    • Fairway Estates Mobile Home Park — 1427 100th St.
    • Lago De Plata Villa — 620 112th St.
    • Loganberry Mobile Home Park — 9931 18th Ave. W.
    • Mobile Country Club — 1415 84th St.
    • Silver Shores Senior Mobile Home Park — 11622 Silver Lake Road
    • Westridge Mobile Home Park — 7701 Hardeson Rd.

    That’s roughly the manufactured-housing population of Everett’s south end, plus a chunk of the Silver Lake area. Several of these are 55+ communities. Several have been in place for decades. None of them, until now, have had a zoning designation that says “this is a manufactured home community and that’s the use we’re protecting.”

    Why this matters more than a typical code update

    Manufactured home parks are one of the only forms of unsubsidized affordable homeownership left in Snohomish County. The standard pattern in Puget Sound over the last 20 years has been straightforward and unkind: a park sells, residents get notice to relocate, and the land is redeveloped into apartments or townhomes. Households that owned their manufactured home but rented the lot lose the home equity they had — moving a manufactured home is often more expensive than the home is worth, and many older units can’t legally be relocated under current code at all.

    The NR-MHC zone doesn’t make a sale impossible. It does make redeveloping the land into a different use a slow, public, and explicit process — one that requires the city to actively rezone the parcel out of the protected category, with the corresponding hearings and political visibility.

    That’s the tradeoff the city is asking residents and property owners to weigh. A landowner gives up the ability to swap to a higher-value use without a zoning fight. The community gains time, predictability, and a place at the table.

    The HO-10 policy, in plain English

    HO-10 — “Protect manufactured/mobile home communities from redevelopment into other uses” — has been on the books in the Everett Comprehensive Plan as adopted policy. The NR-MHC zone is the implementation tool. Comprehensive plans are aspirational; zoning ordinances are how they actually bind. This is the city moving an aspiration into the ordinance code.

    HO-19 — “Collaborate with local partners to preserve and maintain affordable housing units” — sets the broader frame. The state Housing Trust Fund, nonprofit park-acquisition models like ROC USA, and Snohomish County’s preservation programs all become more effective when the underlying land use is locked in. Without a zone, those programs are buying parks that could still be rezoned. With a zone, they’re buying parks the city has formally committed to keeping as housing.

    What residents and owners can actually do before May 6

    The public hearing is the formal step. The council has already taken first action; earlier procedural votes occurred in January 2026. The May 6 hearing is the council’s last formal opportunity to take public testimony before voting.

    If you live in or own one of the seven parks:

    • Read the public hearing notice and the proposed ordinance language at the city’s posted PDF.
    • Submit written comment to the city before the hearing — written comment becomes part of the record and is read by council members ahead of the vote.
    • Show up at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, in council chambers (3002 Wetmore Ave., 3rd floor), or join the hybrid video link the city posts on the meeting agenda.
    • Sign up for public comment at the meeting if you want to speak. Each commenter typically gets two to three minutes.

    If you have a related comprehensive plan or zoning map change you want considered alongside this: the city is also accepting specific amendment requests — applications to change the comprehensive plan text, the land use map, or Title 19 EMC — until 5 p.m. Monday, May 4, 2026. Pre-screening meetings are available; contact Planning at (425) 257-8810 or Everett2044@everettwa.gov.

    The bigger picture for Everett’s housing inventory

    Manufactured housing parks aren’t huge inventory in absolute terms — the seven communities together represent a few hundred to perhaps a thousand homes — but they punch well above their weight in unsubsidized affordability. A manufactured home in Snohomish County typically lists below $200,000 even in an environment where the median single-family list price is multiple times that. Every household kept in a manufactured home is a household not absorbing rental supply elsewhere in Everett.

    The city’s 2044 Comprehensive Plan target for total housing units is in the tens of thousands. Compared to that, NR-MHC is a small piece. But it is one of the clearest pieces — a discrete decision the city can make once that compounds for decades.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Does the NR-MHC zone freeze rents at the affected parks?
    No. Land use zoning controls what can be built or operated on a parcel. It does not control lot rents, which are governed separately. A separate body of state law — and any private lease — governs the rent paid by manufactured home owners to park owners.

    Does NR-MHC stop a park owner from selling?
    No. Owners retain the right to sell. What changes is what a future buyer can use the land for. Without a zoning amendment, the buyer is purchasing a manufactured home community — that’s what NR-MHC permits. A future owner who wanted a different use would need to apply to rezone, which is a public process.

    Why is the city repealing Title 17?
    Title 17 EMC is the older “Mobile Home Parks” chapter that predates Everett’s unified development code. The city is consolidating that regulation into Title 19 EMC and the new NR-MHC zone, so all land-use rules live in one place.

    Can the new zone be undone later?
    A future council could amend zoning code, just like any council can. But the NR-MHC zone moves the default from “park can be redeveloped unless someone fights it” to “park stays unless the city actively rezones it.” The political cost of removing the protection is meaningfully higher than the cost of never adopting it.

    What happens at the May 6 hearing if the council approves the ordinance?
    The ordinance takes effect after the council vote (typically with a short waiting period for publication). The new NR-MHC designation appears on the zoning map. Existing parks continue to operate as they do now; the zoning simply matches the use that’s already there.

    I don’t live at one of the seven parks. Why should I care?
    Two reasons. First, the same redevelopment pressure that affects manufactured home parks affects other older, more affordable housing across Everett — apartment complexes, older single-family neighborhoods. How the city handles this ordinance signals how it’ll handle the next one. Second, displaced households don’t disappear; they move into the rest of the rental market and the rest of the city’s housing inventory.

    The bottom line for Everett

    The NR-MHC zone is one of those quiet, technical, slow-moving ordinances that disappears into a code book and then quietly does its job for thirty years. May 6 is the day to weigh in if you have a stake in any of the seven parks, or in how Everett protects its remaining unsubsidized affordable housing.

    Sources

  • Twin Creeks Everett: South Everett Neighborhood Guide

    Twin Creeks Everett: South Everett Neighborhood Guide

    There is a moment in every neighborhood’s life when it decides what it wants to be called, and a name a mall picked is rarely the answer.

    That moment came for Twin Creeks more than a decade ago, after a longtime resident said out loud what plenty of her neighbors were already thinking: she did not particularly want to live in a neighborhood named Everett Mall South. The complaint went to the neighborhood association. The association threw an ice cream social. People wrote suggestions on slips of paper. Twin Creeks won.

    The name stuck because it was honest. The neighborhood does, in fact, have two creeks. They run under it.

    The Two Creeks the Neighborhood Is Named For

    If you stand in the Everett Mall parking lot today, you are standing on top of the headwaters of Silver Lake Creek. Forested wetlands once covered the western half of the lot. The creek itself is largely buried now — culverted under the asphalt, threading under I-5, and finally surfacing again at Thornton A. Sullivan Park, where it empties into Silver Lake. It is the same creek that gives the lake its inflow.

    The other creek is North Creek. Its headwaters are just north of Everett Mall Way, and from there it begins one of the longer runs in the south Snohomish County watershed. North Creek flows through McCollum Park, past the Northwest Stream Center, down through Mill Creek Town Center, into Canyon Park, past the University of Washington Bothell campus, and eventually into the Sammamish River and on to Lake Washington.

    Two creeks, both buried at the start, both meaningful to the wider region. A pretty good naming choice for a neighborhood that wanted to be more than a mall.

    Where Twin Creeks Actually Is

    The neighborhood is bordered by Everett Mall Way to the north, 112th Street SE to the south, Interstate 5 to the east, and Evergreen Way to the west. Its center of gravity is the mall itself, and its northwestern edge brushes up against the Casino Road neighborhood.

    This is one of the south Everett neighborhoods where the city limits are uneven — the city has annexed much of the area over the years, but there are still residential pockets that sit in unincorporated Snohomish County. If your house is in Twin Creeks, it is worth checking which side of the city line it is on, because that determines which permitting office, which police agency, and sometimes which utility you deal with.

    Population is around 11,455 — large enough that Twin Creeks is one of the bigger neighborhoods in Everett by headcount, even though it doesn’t always carry the cultural weight of the older historic neighborhoods to the north.

    The Housing Mix

    Twin Creeks is mostly single-family homes, but it has more apartment options than many Everett neighborhoods. That mix is part of what makes it a practical place for people who don’t fit cleanly into one housing category — young professionals priced out of Seattle, families who need a yard but also need to be close to I-5, downsizers who want one floor and a small lawn.

    The housing stock is mostly post-1970, which means most of it doesn’t have the historic character of Northwest Everett or Port Gardner — but it also means the bones tend to be solid, the lots tend to be regular, and the systems (electrical, plumbing) are generally in better shape than older parts of the city. The neighborhood has steady turnover rather than dramatic price swings, which makes it a popular target for first-time buyers in the south Snohomish County market.

    The Trail That Threads Through It

    The Interurban Trail runs through Twin Creeks, the same trail that runs through Pinehurst-Beverly Park to the north and continues south toward Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, and eventually Seattle. For Twin Creeks specifically, the trail is the connector between the residential streets and the broader regional path network. You can pick it up near Everett Mall Way and ride or walk it for miles in either direction.

    Locals use it for commuting, for exercise, for getting to the mall without dealing with traffic, and for the occasional long weekend ride to Lake Forest Park or Edmonds. The trail is paved, mostly flat, and one of the most consistently maintained in south Snohomish County.

    The Mall, the Hub, and the Question of What Comes Next

    Twin Creeks is home to Everett Mall, which has been in transition for years. The redevelopment of part of the mall site into the Hub @ Everett — a mixed retail and service district — has been a slow, complicated process. As of April 2026, the Hub is roughly half open and the Topgolf piece of the original plan is stuck in development limbo.

    For Twin Creeks residents, the mall question is the existential question. The neighborhood was effectively built around the mall in the late 1960s and 1970s. If the mall keeps shrinking, the question of what replaces it — housing, mixed-use, more retail, parkland — is the question of what kind of neighborhood Twin Creeks becomes over the next twenty years.

    That’s not unique to Everett. Mall-adjacent suburbs across the country are working through the same question. But it is unusually live in Twin Creeks because the mall sits squarely inside the neighborhood, not at its edge.

    The Neighborhood Association

    Twin Creeks shares a chairman with the adjacent Cascade View neighborhood — Michael Trujillo serves as chairman of both — and the two associations meet jointly each month as the Cascade View / Twin Creeks Monthly Meeting. The shared meeting is listed on the City of Everett events calendar, and the city’s neighborhoods staff at 2930 Wetmore Avenue, Suite 10-A can connect residents with the most recent meeting time, location, and agenda.

    The shared chairmanship is a small detail with a big implication: Twin Creeks and Cascade View are talking to each other, not past each other. Two neighborhoods that share a creek system, share a school feeder pattern, and share the same questions about south Everett’s future have decided that doing the work jointly makes more sense than doing it twice. That is not how every neighborhood in Everett operates.

    What Long-Timers Say

    Ask someone who has lived in Twin Creeks since the late 1980s what has changed and you will get a fairly consistent answer. The traffic on Evergreen Way has gotten worse. The mall has gotten quieter. The trail has gotten busier. The houses are still mostly the same houses, but the prices are not the same prices.

    Ask someone who moved in five years ago and you will hear something different. They will tell you the neighborhood feels under-the-radar in a good way — not as expensive as the historic neighborhoods to the north, not as remote as Mill Creek to the south, close enough to Boeing that the commute to Paine Field is short, close enough to I-5 that the commute to Seattle is doable when traffic cooperates.

    Both versions are true. Twin Creeks is a neighborhood in the middle of a slow change, with deep roots and a name that finally fits. Up the road in Silver Lake, residents are working through a parallel set of questions about growth, density, and what gets built around an aging anchor — Twin Creeks just happens to have the mall instead of the lake at the center.

    What’s Next for Twin Creeks

    The big variables for the next decade are the mall’s redevelopment, the future of the Hub @ Everett project, the city’s comprehensive plan, and how the future Sound Transit Link light rail extension lands in south Everett. None of those are decided yet. All of them will affect Twin Creeks more than most neighborhoods in the city, because the neighborhood literally surrounds the parcel where most of the change will happen.

    Residents who want a voice in that change have a clear path: show up to the joint Cascade View / Twin Creeks meeting. Get on the city’s neighborhood notification list for Twin Creeks (the city maintains a Twin Creeks-specific alerts feed). Watch what the planning department does with the comprehensive plan as it lands in this part of the city.

    The neighborhood that named itself after two buried creeks is still here, and so are the creeks. The question is what gets built on top of them next.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Where is Twin Creeks in Everett?

    Twin Creeks is in south Everett, bordered by Everett Mall Way to the north, 112th Street SE to the south, I-5 to the east, and Evergreen Way to the west. It sits between Casino Road and Pinehurst-Beverly Park to the north and Silver Lake to the northeast.

    Why is it called Twin Creeks?

    The neighborhood is named after Silver Lake Creek and North Creek, the two waterways whose headwaters sit beneath and just north of the Everett Mall site. The name was chosen at a neighborhood ice cream social after a resident objected to the previous name, “Everett Mall South.”

    How many people live in Twin Creeks?

    The neighborhood has a population of approximately 11,455.

    Where does Silver Lake Creek go after the mall?

    Silver Lake Creek is largely buried as it passes the Everett Mall area. It runs under I-5 and surfaces again at Thornton A. Sullivan Park, where it empties into Silver Lake.

    Where does North Creek flow?

    North Creek flows south from its headwaters near Everett Mall Way through McCollum Park, the Northwest Stream Center, Mill Creek Town Center, Canyon Park, the UW Bothell campus, and eventually into the Sammamish River and Lake Washington.

    Who chairs the Twin Creeks neighborhood association?

    Michael Trujillo serves as chairman of both the Twin Creeks and Cascade View neighborhood associations. The two associations meet jointly each month.

    When does the Twin Creeks neighborhood association meet?

    Twin Creeks meets jointly with Cascade View as the Cascade View / Twin Creeks Monthly Meeting. The City of Everett events calendar lists the current schedule, and the city’s neighborhoods office at 2930 Wetmore Avenue, Suite 10-A can confirm the most recent meeting details.

    Is Twin Creeks fully inside the Everett city limits?

    Most of Twin Creeks is in the city, but there are still residential pockets in unincorporated Snohomish County. Residents should confirm their address with the city’s permitting and planning department to know which jurisdiction applies.

  • Stations Unidos: Everett’s Casino Road Anti-Displacement

    Stations Unidos: Everett’s Casino Road Anti-Displacement

    If you’ve lived in Casino Road for any length of time, you already know the rhythm. A new apartment complex goes up, the rents on the older buildings climb to match, and the families who made the neighborhood what it is start quietly disappearing. It happens in the spaces between the news cycles, and by the time anyone outside the neighborhood notices, it’s done.

    That’s the problem Stations Unidos was built to slow down — and as of early 2026, Casino Road has a seat at the table.

    What Just Changed

    Stations Unidos is the new operating name for what used to be the Everett Station District Alliance, the nonprofit that has been working since 2014 to envision a different future for the area around Everett Station at 3201 Smith Avenue. The organization incorporated as a 501(c)(3) in 2017, and for several years it focused mostly on cleaning, safety, and placemaking work in the immediate Everett Station footprint.

    In 2024, the board contracted with LISC Puget Sound — the same regional intermediary that has anchored years of community investment in Casino Road — to figure out how to evolve from a station-area alliance into a full-fledged community development corporation. After more than a year of community engagement, the ESDA board adopted LISC’s recommendations in 2025, and the organization now operates as Stations Unidos — its website describes it as “formerly known as Everett Station District Alliance.”

    The new name is the most visible change. The bigger one is structural.

    The Board Looks Different Now

    Under the new governance, the board of directors is split equally between the Everett Station District and South Everett. The Casino Road side of the table is just as full as the downtown side, and future board seats will be nominated by neighborhood advisory boards in each area.

    The current board reads like a who’s who of two neighborhoods that haven’t always talked to each other. From the Everett Station District: Roland Behee, Mary Anne Dillon (Vice Chair), and Joe Sievers (Secretary). From South Everett: Julio Cortes, Alvaro Guillen (Chair), and Tony Hernandez. Three at-large members round it out: Victor Caesar, Amber Harrington (Treasurer), and Bobby Thompson.

    Brock Howell is CEO and President. Ed Petersen serves as Chief Strategic Housing Officer. The fact that a strategic housing officer is in the room — at all — is the tell. This is not a placemaking nonprofit anymore. This is a housing organization with placemaking in its toolkit.

    Why Casino Road, Why Now

    The honest answer is the light rail.

    Sound Transit’s Link extension to Everett Station is years away from opening, but the planning is happening now, the property speculation is happening now, and the displacement risk is happening now. Marshall Foster, Sound Transit’s Chief Planning and Development Officer, said at the Stations Unidos launch that the work the organization will be doing in the years before the trains arrive is going to be critical.

    That’s not a generic compliment. Sound Transit has watched what happened along the Link extensions in Seattle — neighborhoods like the Rainier Valley and Beacon Hill saw exactly the kind of displacement Casino Road is now staring down. The lesson the agency took away is that you cannot wait for the station to open before you start protecting the people who will need it most. By then it’s already too late.

    Casino Road is one of the most economically and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in Snohomish County. It is home to large Latino, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and East African communities, several of the most-trafficked food banks and pantries in the city, and dozens of immigrant-owned businesses. The corridor’s working-class, immigrant-rooted character is exactly what gets lost first under transit-driven displacement — and exactly what’s already showing up in places like the small Casino Road tortillerías and family-run restaurants that anchor day-to-day life in the neighborhood.

    Stations Unidos’s mission, in its own words, is to “advance housing, support local businesses, and connect communities to neighborhood-led solutions that help families stay rooted and thrive in Everett.” Every piece of that sentence is doing work. Advance housing — meaning produce, preserve, or protect affordable units. Support local businesses — meaning the carnicería, the pho shop, the East African cafe. Neighborhood-led solutions — meaning the people who live there are the ones setting the agenda.

    What “Equally Represented” Actually Looks Like

    The most consequential thing about the new structure is the equal seat count. In a lot of community development organizations that try to bridge two neighborhoods, one neighborhood ends up dominant. Sometimes by intent, more often just by inertia — the existing board recruits from its existing networks, and those networks tend to be geographically clustered.

    Splitting the seats 3-and-3 with future appointments running through neighborhood advisory boards is a structural commitment. It means a Casino Road advocate who shows up to a meeting can’t be voted down by a downtown majority. It means the strategic housing plan for south Everett has to be co-written by people who live there.

    That’s not the case for most community development corporations in the region. It’s a meaningful design choice, and it’s worth watching whether it holds up under pressure once funding decisions get harder.

    The Everett Station District Doesn’t Disappear

    One thing worth clearing up: the Everett Station District isn’t being absorbed or sidelined. It continues both as a division of Stations Unidos and as the place name for the area around the actual train station at 3201 Smith Ave. The downtown placemaking, cleaning, and safety work that ESDA built over the last decade keeps running. What changed is that a parallel division now exists for South Everett, with the same level of organizational support.

    The two divisions share a CEO, a strategic housing officer, and a board, but each has its own neighborhood advisory body. The intent, as the organization describes it, is for residents and businesses in each area to lead, transit to connect them, and growth to strengthen the people already there.

    Whether that works depends on what comes next. A community development corporation can do real things — buy buildings, hold land in trust, build affordable units, fund small business preservation, support tenant organizing. Or it can talk a lot. The next eighteen months, before light rail planning gets concrete, will tell which kind of organization this is going to be.

    What This Means for Casino Road Right Now

    If you live, work, or own a business on Casino Road, the practical questions are: what’s actually happening, and what do you do about it?

    For now, the practical answer is that there is finally a citywide community development organization with an official mandate to be in the neighborhood, with paid staff, with a board structured to give the neighborhood real power, and with technical support from LISC Puget Sound. That didn’t exist 18 months ago.

    The neighborhood-led solutions piece of the mission means the organization is going to need community input, advisory board members, and partnerships with the existing players — Connect Casino Road, Volunteers of America Western Washington, the food banks, the schools, the immigrant-led nonprofits. If you’re already plugged into VOAWW’s food, housing, or family services on Casino Road, you’re already inside the network this work will lean on. Anyone who has wanted a seat at the table on the displacement question now has a clearer place to ask.

    You can find Stations Unidos at stationsunidos.org. CEO Brock Howell can be reached at brock@stationsunidos.org. Board chair Alvaro Guillen leads the South Everett side of the work.

    A Note on What This Isn’t

    Stations Unidos is not Sound Transit. It does not control whether or where the light rail station gets built. It does not set city zoning, the comprehensive plan, or the property tax rate. It cannot stop a private developer from building market-rate apartments on a parcel they own.

    What it can do is the slower, less-visible work of building community ownership of the change that is already coming — through housing acquisition, business preservation, tenant support, and the kind of neighborhood organizing that makes sure the people who live there now are still the ones living there in 2032. The same kind of work other south Everett neighborhoods like Pinehurst-Beverly Park are also navigating as growth pressure climbs along the Casino Road corridor.

    That’s a long bet. But the alternative is the rhythm Casino Road already knows.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What is Stations Unidos?

    Stations Unidos is a nonprofit community development corporation in Everett, Washington that evolved from the Everett Station District Alliance (ESDA). Its mission is to advance housing, support local businesses, and connect communities to neighborhood-led solutions in both the Everett Station District and the Casino Road area of South Everett.

    Why did the Everett Station District Alliance change its name?

    The ESDA Board of Directors adopted recommendations from LISC Puget Sound in 2025 to evolve the organization’s programs and governance to support anti-displacement and equitable transit-oriented development citywide. The new name, Stations Unidos, reflects the broader service area, including both the original station district and South Everett’s Casino Road neighborhood.

    Who is on the Stations Unidos board?

    The board is split equally between the Everett Station District (Roland Behee, Mary Anne Dillon, Joe Sievers) and South Everett (Julio Cortes, Alvaro Guillen, Tony Hernandez), plus three at-large members (Victor Caesar, Amber Harrington, Bobby Thompson). Alvaro Guillen serves as Chair, Mary Anne Dillon as Vice Chair, Joe Sievers as Secretary, and Amber Harrington as Treasurer.

    Why is Stations Unidos focused on Casino Road?

    Sound Transit’s Link light rail extension to Everett is bringing additional displacement pressure to a neighborhood already facing rising housing costs. Casino Road is one of the most economically and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in Snohomish County, with large Latino, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and East African communities. The expansion is intended to give residents and businesses more tools to stay rooted before the train arrives.

    Where is Stations Unidos located?

    The Everett Station District remains both a division of Stations Unidos and the name for the area around Everett Station at 3201 Smith Ave in downtown Everett.

    Who leads Stations Unidos?

    Brock Howell serves as CEO and President. Ed Petersen serves as Chief Strategic Housing Officer.

    How is this different from Connect Casino Road?

    Connect Casino Road is a coalition of more than 15 partners that has worked on the ground in Casino Road for years on family services, food access, education, and community building. Stations Unidos is a community development corporation with a citywide remit and a focus on housing, business support, and transit-oriented development. The two organizations operate in complementary lanes, and Stations Unidos’s work in Casino Road will involve partnership with Connect Casino Road and other existing community organizations.