Hi. Hello. We're back.

The Drizzle skipped a beat last week, which is fine, because it turns out we missed approximately $13 million worth of news. The forensic audit of King County's homelessness authority dropped Wednesday. Microsoft offered buyouts to 8,750 people Thursday. The Seahawks added eight rookies to a Super Bowl roster Saturday. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge had to be partially closed mid-week because the joints under the right lanes are 76 years old and acting like it. And there was a frost advisory in Seattle on April 25, which is the kind of late-season insult this city specializes in.

The upside: the rest of this week is mostly sunny, with highs in the mid-60s through Friday and a mid-70s nudge possible Saturday. Take the win. Read the rest. Forward it to whoever needs it!

$13 million unaccounted for, and now KCRHA might not exist by summer
A forensic audit by Bellevue-based Clark Nuber dropped Wednesday and the results were ugly. The King County Regional Homelessness Authority cannot account for roughly $13 million in public funds. The agency was carrying a $44.7 million negative cash position as of July 2025. Auditors did not find fraud but said the books are so disorganized they couldn't rule it out either.

By Thursday afternoon, Seattle Councilmember Maritza Rivera and King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski were at City Hall announcing companion resolutions to dissolve the agency entirely. Mayor Wilson, who sits on the KCRHA board, called for "swift action" and said all options are on the table. KCRHA has until early May to provide a written response. Six years and over half a billion dollars in, the experiment appears to be ending.

Microsoft is offering 8,750 people a paid exit
Microsoft announced its first voluntary buyout program in the company's 51-year history on Thursday. Roughly 7% of the US workforce is eligible, which works out to about 8,750 people, mostly senior director and below, with age plus years of service totaling 70 or more. Eligible employees get details May 7.

Translation for the Eastside: a meaningful chunk of Redmond's workforce is about to weigh whether to take the money and figure out what's next. The official explanation is "AI realignment." The unofficial explanation is also AI realignment, just with more spreadsheets. MSFT dropped about 4% on the news.

Pioneer Square is going pedestrian for six match days this summer
SDOT confirmed last Tuesday that the area south of Yesler Way through the stadium district will close to vehicle traffic on the six FIFA Men's World Cup match days at Lumen Field. Closures begin four hours before kickoff and end roughly two hours after. About 750,000 people are expected in Seattle for the tournament, with 100,000 per match day around Lumen.

The match days: June 15 (Belgium-Egypt), June 19 (USA-Australia, plus a Mariners game), June 24 (Bosnia-Herzegovina-Qatar), June 26 (Egypt-Iran), July 1, and a Round of 32 match. HomeTeam is installing a 20-foot LED screen and beer garden along South Jackson. Pike Place Market is getting a similar treatment. If you live or work in Pioneer Square, this is your warning.

The pickleball wars enter the litigation-by-petition phase
Seattle Parks released a draft Outdoor Racquet Sports Strategy on April 6 that would end dual-striped courts and reduce pickleball from 92 courts to 56 citywide. Tennis would keep 107. Seven neighborhoods would lose 36 courts as soon as June. Replacements? Feasibility studies don't begin until 2027.

The Seattle Metro Pickleball Association petition has cleared 2,000 signatures. The audacity here is that pickleball was invented on Bainbridge Island in 1965, and Seattle Parks is now apparently going to be the city that quietly trims it back. Public comment is open. The Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners got the briefing on April 23.

There are about 50 shipwrecks under Lake Union and a guy with a robot is mapping them
ROV specialist Phil Parisi has been quietly documenting what historians are calling "shipwreck city" beneath Lake Union. A high-resolution sonar survey turned up nearly 100 targets on the lakebed, roughly half of them likely shipwrecks, including barges, work boats, sailboats, and a converted military landing craft sitting in deeper water near Gas Works. One named wreck, the Irene, is a 50-foot wooden vessel sitting near the park. Most of the wrecks were not casualties of disaster. Many were intentionally scuttled because disposal was expensive and the lake was right there. The catch for divers: the water is too polluted and the visibility is too bad. Robots, on the other hand, do not care. Next time you're paddleboarding near Gas Works, just know the floor below you is more interesting than you think.

Ada's Technical Books is closing in June after 16 years on 15th Ave E
Owner Danielle Hulton announced the news to staff over the weekend of April 18 and confirmed it Monday. After "many months" trying to sell Ada's, closing was the only viable path. The three Fuel Coffee shops the Hultons own (19th Ave E, Montlake, Wallingford) are now up for sale. Hulton emphasized this is a personal decision about wanting time with family. The Hultons own the 15th Ave E building and will keep the upstairs co-working space running. This one stings. Ada's was the rare retail concept that genuinely did the thing. Books on the main floor, coffee in the back, that quiet little patio where you actually got work done. Capitol Hill loses something real here. Go before June.

Opening: Craft Meal Collection on E Olive Way
Rebecca Fintak and Anh Le sold their Tacoma cafe, traveled around Asia and Mexico for a while, and came back to open CMC in the former Gold Bar space at E Olive Way and Howell. It's a grab-and-go deli concept doing things like Hainanese chicken, Japanese chicken curry, mapo tofu, and veggie lasagna out of stacked to-go containers. The pitch is "low price, high quality, on your way home."

The two-level space is still in build-out, with a planned downstairs hangout zone and Asian snack retail upstairs. Filed under: things this neighborhood actually needed.

Closing: Copine in Ballard, May 30
Chef Shaun McCrain's modern French restaurant on NW Market Street announced its lease is up and will not be renewed. Final service is Saturday, May 30, 2026. Copine ran for nearly a decade as one of the most consistent special-occasion rooms in the city. If you've been meaning to book the anniversary dinner, the four-course menu runs Wednesday through Saturday until they shut the doors. Reservations are going fast.

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is held together by aging joints and emergency repairs
Two westbound lanes of the 76-year-old Tacoma Narrows Bridge closed Wednesday after WSDOT crews discovered structural deterioration on a joint support during a routine repair. Lanes reopened by Friday evening, but WSDOT was clear: more closures are coming. Crews found additional damage that needs work in the coming weeks.

For context, the original westbound bridge had eight emergency joint repairs between 2024 and 2025. State Rep. Jake Fey, who chairs the House transportation committee, has estimated $180 million in short, medium, and long-term repairs are needed. The major preservation project that was supposed to address all this was delayed indefinitely due to funding shortfalls. The bridge carries about 45,000 vehicles a day. If you commute to or from Gig Harbor, build the buffer in now.

Matador Pocket Blanket Folds down to the size of a deck of cards. Opens to fit four people. Water-resistant, sand-resistant, has corner anchor loops so it doesn't go full Mary Poppins on you the second a Lake Union breeze shows up. With this week pulling sunshine and 60s every afternoon, every park in the city is about to be at capacity. Have one of these in your bag and you are never the person scrambling to find a dry patch of grass at Cal Anderson at 4 PM on a Tuesday.

Hario V60 Pour-Over Starter Kit Includes the ceramic dripper, server, scoop, and a stack of filters. The official starter kit for finally admitting that the office Keurig is making you sad. We are aware that recommending a pour-over to a Seattle audience is roughly equivalent to recommending breathing, but if you have somehow made it through this much rain without a V60 at home, you are leaving joy on the table. Twenty bucks of effort gets you the cup you keep paying $7 for at Analog.

A week of doing nothing turns out to be a lot to come back to.

The audit dropped while we were quiet. KCRHA spent six years and over half a billion dollars and now might not exist by summer, with two councilmembers drafting the legislation to dismantle it as you read this. Microsoft is offering close to nine thousand people a way out, in what they're calling a "voluntary retirement program" and what we're calling a quiet rearranging of who gets to work in Redmond. SDOT is rewriting how Pioneer Square works for six summer days. Seattle Parks is rewriting how pickleball works, less than 50 miles from where the sport was invented. The Tacoma Narrows is, by WSDOT's own description, going to need more help in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, somewhere under Lake Union, a robot is cataloging fifty shipwrecks. Ada's is counting down to a final summer service after sixteen years on 15th. Copine is taking reservations for one last anniversary dinner. The frost advisory expired, the sun came out, and most of us are about to spend this week on a blanket somewhere pretending we have it figured out.

That's the trade. Some weeks you skip. The city does not. We're back, and the next one drops Thursday with what to actually do with this weekend's weather.

If you know a Seattle person who would have wanted to know any of this, forward it. If you are that Seattle person, hit reply. If you took a Microsoft buyout and are deciding what's next, the V60 helps the mornings.

- The Drizzle