Tomorrow, the NBA votes.

That's the sentence we've been waiting to write for 18 years. The league's Board of Governors convenes Tuesday and Wednesday in New York with Seattle expansion formally on the agenda. Gov. Ferguson met with Commissioner Silver this weekend. Shams Charania says the votes are there. If it passes, the bidding process officially opens, franchise fees land somewhere between $7 and $10 billion, and Seattle gets a target: 2028-29. The Sonics, in name and history, would come home.

We're not going to oversell it. This is step one of several. But it's also the first step that actually exists, which is more than we could say last year, or the year before that, or the one before that. Seattle has been ready since 2008. The arena's renovated.

The fans are still mad. The Squatch is waiting.

In other news: the Kraken are slowly blowing their playoff window, Sound Transit officially has more financial problems than solutions, and last week's atmospheric river flooded the Snoqualmie Valley and closed I-5 north of Bellingham with landslides.

Spring in the Pacific Northwest: weather that tests your resolve, infrastructure that confirms your fears, and occasionally some genuinely good news to balance it out.

Let's get into it.

NBA Board of Governors votes this week on bringing the Sonics back
Tuesday and Wednesday in New York, the NBA's Board of Governors will vote on whether to formally begin the expansion process for teams in Seattle and Las Vegas. The vote needs 23 of 30 governors to pass. Gov. Ferguson previewed his meeting with Commissioner Silver on Thursday, and ESPN's Shams Charania says there's genuine momentum in the room. This first vote is not a final approval - it opens the bidding process and allows ownership groups to submit formal proposals. Industry executives project bids in the $7-10 billion range per franchise. Seattle Kraken executives have been cited as potential ownership interest. The target for both cities: the 2028-29 season, exactly 20 years after the Sonics left for Oklahoma City. A later vote would finalize the actual transaction.

Sound Transit has $34.5 billion in problems and three bad options
At an all-day retreat in Tacoma last week, the Sound Transit board sat with three scenarios for handling a $34.5 billion funding shortfall in the ST3 plan. Scenario one: push forward with West Seattle light rail (building to The Junction), but terminate Ballard Link at Seattle Center instead of Ballard. Scenario two: defer West Seattle entirely and focus on regional connectivity including an Eastside line to Issaquah. Scenario three: phase everything, truncating West Seattle to Delridge only and leaving Ballard similarly stunted. None of the scenarios deliver what voters approved in 2016. The board is expected to choose a path by May. West Seattle residents who've been planning around a 2032 arrival are not having a great week.

The Seattle City Council passed its fourth immigration enforcement bill
On March 17, the Council passed legislation barring ICE from using city-owned properties as staging areas, processing centers, or operational bases for civil immigration enforcement without a judicial warrant. It's the city's fourth piece of legislation on this topic since January, and it arrives with a looming backdrop: ICE has confirmed it will be part of the security apparatus for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which brings an estimated 750,000 visitors to Seattle this summer. How federal enforcement priorities and local sanctuary policies interact on a global stage is a tension that isn't going away.

The Kraken are on a three-game skid at the worst possible time
After beating Florida 6-2 just two weeks ago, the Kraken have dropped three in a row - Tampa Bay 6-2, Nashville 3-1, Columbus 5-2 - and now sit at 71 points tied with Nashville for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. Nashville holds the edge and the spot. Seattle has about 13 games left and a road trip this week to Florida (Tuesday) and Tampa (Thursday) before heading to Buffalo on Saturday. It's one of those stretches where every game feels like two.

Last week's atmospheric river was no joke
King, Snohomish, Skagit, Whatcom, and Mason counties all sat under flood watches last week as 2-7 inches of rain fell across western Washington. The Snohomish River near Monroe hit major flood stage. Landslides closed all northbound I-5 lanes south of Bellingham at multiple points. Carnation, Duvall, Fall City, and Snoqualmie Valley residents were watching river gauges and sandbag availability simultaneously. The rain has mostly eased but the ground is saturated. If you live near a hillside, a creek, or a poorly-graded driveway: the risk stays elevated for a few more days.

Seattle's Lime scooters are getting AI cameras that will chirp at you for being a menace Lime is rolling out "Lime Vision" in Seattle this summer - a front-mounted camera and AI system that detects when a rider has taken their scooter onto the sidewalk, then emits an audible alert until they knock it off or end the ride. About 3,500 scooters get the tech by June 1, with the rest by year's end. Seattle was chosen to debut the system before any other city, presumably because we have been extremely bad. The Lime rep called the chirps a response to "antisocial, reckless riding." He also acknowledged that the corrals where you're supposed to park the scooters are located on sidewalks, so there will be a brief confusing period where the scooter yells at you for doing exactly what it just asked you to do. Classic Seattle tech infrastructure.

OPENING: Moto at Smith Tower - Pioneer Square
Seattle's favorite pizza science experiment opened its seventh location inside one of the city's most iconic buildings. Moto's Smith Tower outpost at 512 2nd Ave brings the full lineup -- Detroit, New York, Roman, and Filipino influences in one place, officially described as "good to be odd." If you've been waiting for a reason to visit that speakeasy at the top, there's now a very strange pizza waiting for you on the way down.

OPENING: Mr. Maqluba - Greenwood
The former Olive & The Grape space on Phinney Ridge is now home to a Middle Eastern and Arabic restaurant built around the dish it's named for -- the layered, inverted rice situation that's been criminally underrepresented in Seattle. The menu runs chicken mandi, dolmas, and grilled plates with kofta, lamb chops, and shish tawook. Filling a real gap in North Seattle's dining map without much fanfare.

REOPENING: I Luv Teriyaki - Georgetown
Three years after a fire gutted the building on 4th Ave S, owners Dong and Eva Lo rebuilt from the ground up and opened the doors back in early March. Line around the block on day one. Sold out by midday. The Infatuation reviewed it last week and called the chicken teriyaki a contender for "succulence in chargrilled poultry." Permits held them up a full year. The neighborhood held on anyway.

Revive I-5: Northbound Ship Canal Bridge down to two lanes until June
WSDOT's Ship Canal Bridge preservation project runs the two left northbound I-5 lanes closed from January 12 all the way through June 5 - that's not a typo. The bridge is 60 years old and hasn't had a major deck preservation effort in four decades. Express lanes are running northbound-only 24/7 for the duration, which means no southbound express lane relief during morning commutes. All lanes reopen temporarily for the World Cup in June, then close again. Plan your route accordingly, or take the train like SDOT keeps gently suggesting.

I-405 construction zone shifts south through Bellevue, Kirkland, and Renton
With the SR 522 flyover ramp demolition in Bothell complete, Revive I-405 crews have moved south. Lane reductions are now active through downtown Bellevue and up toward Kirkland and Renton as part of the express toll lane extension project. Expect longer backups in both directions at I-405 in Bellevue this week, plus delays on the SR 520 connecting ramps. The end goal is express toll lanes running Renton to Lynnwood -- and eventually Sound Transit Stride BRT using those same lanes. Worth it someday. Not today.

2 Line Crosslake Connection opens March 28
This is actually good news, so we're noting it. Light rail across Lake Washington becomes operational Saturday - the first floating rail bridge in the world. Redmond to downtown Seattle via Bellevue without a car. The rest of ST3 may be in financial crisis, but this one's real and it runs next weekend.

SuperSonics Classics Pullover Sweatshirt
If the NBA votes yes this week and you're not already in green and gold, you're going to feel weird about it. Snag one to make sure you are ready to show your love when the vote goes to a yes!

The Seattle Book of Dates
Spring is here, the city is technically drying out, and you're still doing the same four things you always do. Eden Dawn and Ashod Simonian wrote 125 date itineraries specifically for people who live here and have run out of ideas - not tourist stuff, actual outings, most of them cheap. Volunteer Park Conservatory into a secret drink at Inside Passage. The Klondike Gold Rush museum into the Smith Tower bar. Illustrated, genuinely useful, written by people who clearly enjoy this city more than you do right now. Good gift, better excuse.

There are days this city makes absolutely no sense - The Kraken are blowing a playoff window in real time, our transit corridor funding shortfall is bigger than some countries' GDP, Our lawmakers show up drunk… but at least they aren’t republicans 😅

And then a vote happens tomorrow in a boardroom in New York that could bring back something Seattle has quietly grieved for 18 years.

We'll see you Thursday with somewhere to be this weekend.

-- The Drizzle