Mark your calendars for Monday, May 14 for our next reader meetup! 🎉 We’ll be down at Jude’s Old Town in Rainier Beach, and we’ll have some very special co-hosts and guests — the writers and voices behind the South Seattle Emerald.

The Emerald is celebrating four years of telling stories from some of the most fascinating parts of our city this week, like its look at a Beacon Hill intersection that’s driving the neighbors crazy and their profile series on awesome local women. Already a fan? Come meet ‘em in person. Not so familiar with South Seattle? That’s cool. Come on down and let us introduce you.

»» RSVP here and spread the word!

Big thanks to Beau Hebert, owner of Jude’s Old Town, for hosting us, and for making a custom Greyhound slushie for the occasion. Beau is offering 10 percent off appetizers for our guests, so come hungry.

Our next Evergrey meetup starts at 7:30 p.m. May 14 at Jude’s Old Town in Rainier Beach. Planning to come? RSVP here. Want to wish the South Seattle Emerald a happy fourth birthday? Check out their party tonight.

Uh-oh? Amazon freaked a lot of people out yesterday when it said it’s stopping a big local construction project until it knows what’s going on with an idea that it really doesn’t like — a new head tax. To back up: Our city council’s been talking up this new tax on businesses in the city that gross at least $20 million a year. It’s a tax per employee, and it’s supposed to raise $75 million a year to help out with homelessness and affordable housing. About 3 percent of all Seattle businesses would have to pay. The one with the biggest bill, of course, would be Amazon: If the head tax happens, it would owe the city an extra $20 million a year.

Why are people spooked about the construction pause? Because it’s basically a threat. Amazon’s been hiring and building so much it’s transformed our city. One-fifth of all the prime office space in Seattle is theirs. The office space they’ve now stopped building (or said they won’t occupy) is supposed to make room for 7,000 more jobs. That’s… a lot. Amazon’s already signaled that it can take its growth elsewhere. It’s looking for a new city to build a second big HQ and just announced 5,000 more jobs in Vancouver, B.C, and Boston. But would the company really shut down its growth here if the city passed a tax it doesn’t want? And what should be the city’s next move?

“I’m deeply concerned about the impact this decision will have on a large range of jobs,” Mayor Jenny Durkan said. “At the same time, our city must urgently address our homelessness and affordability crisis and lift up those who have been left behind. I fundamentally believe we can do both by working together.” (The Seattle Times, GeekWire)

Let’s follow up with farts. Yes, farts. Believe it or not, KUOW wrote a whole story about how you and your family can ask Amazon’s Alexa to make fart noises. Fairly impressive ones, too. We’re not making this up. And no, the timing could not be more perfect. 💨 (KUOW)

Leave the car at home, sports fans. ‘Cause once KeyArena gets its $600 million upgrade, and we maybe/finally get those NHL and NBA teams, it’s gonna be real hard — not to mention infuriating — to try to drive to and from games. That, at least, is the opinion of local columnist and historian Knute Berger. His idea? Revamp our 56-year-old, largely touristy monorail. (Seattle Magazine)

Calling all Seattle-loving designers. The big Seattle Design Festival is tackling a pretty timely theme this year — trust. “In a world that appears increasingly defined by mistrust, how can design affirm and strengthen critical connections of trust in our community?” Got an idea for a project or installation that could grace the 30,000-person September event and help us all answer that question for our city? Submit your proposals by Monday, May 7. (Design In Public)

TONIGHT IS FIRST THURSDAY, Y’ALL 🎨

That means the First Thursday Art Walk in Pioneer Square will be in full swing. With a high of 70 degrees, no less.

Go make the most of it. — The Evergrey