We met up at Jude’s Old Town in Rainier Beach and invited some special guests — the staff and storytellers behind the South Seattle Emerald. The Emerald just marked four years of amplifying the voices of Seattle’s south end (woo-hoo!), and Jude’s is very much a favorite haunt. 🍻

Thanks to Jude’s owner Beau for the burgers, fries, and special Greyhound slushies, to South Seattle Emerald founder Marcus Harrison Green for bringing out the crew (and the copies of the Emerald’s latest anthology), and of course to all of you who came out and made it a very awesome Monday.

Stay tuned for word on the next Evergrey get-together. We’ll see you then.

Seattle, we have a head tax. Some people wanted it to be way bigger, and some people didn’t want it at all. But a big vote by our city council yesterday made it official — Seattle just passed a new tax on local companies that gross more than $20 million a year. What’ll this tax get the city? About $47 million more per year to build low-income housing and give services to our thousands of neighbors who live without a home. What’ll the tax cost the 585 Seattle businesses who’ll owe it? About $275 per employee per year until it comes up for review in 2023.

Our head tax will be the highest employee tax of any major American city. And while our biggest employer, Amazon, isn’t thrilled — “We remain very apprehensive about the future created by the council’s hostile approach and rhetoric toward larger businesses, which forces us to question our growth here,” a spokesman said — it’s putting the hard hats back on. An office tower it stopped building when a bigger head tax proposal was in the works is back under construction. ⚒ (Crosscut, The Seattle Times, GeekWire)

Amazon boom, Alexa bust? When Amazon threatened to stop building new office space here if we passed a $500 per-employee head tax (we passed a smaller one instead 👆), some people got worried: Would the company take its growth to other cities? But it kinda already is. Amazon employs 45,000 people in Seattle — more than anywhere else — but its satellite offices in cities across North America add up 17,500 people, with more on the way. In related news, parents aren’t naming their babies “Alexa” anymore. At least, not at the rate they used to. The name’s popularity dropped 19.5 percent in 2017, after already falling 21.3 percent in 2016. 😮 (The Seattle Times, GeekWire)

When land costs too much… The number of locals who want to live aboard boats at the Shilshole Marina in Ballard has tripled since 2014. That makes a lot of sense when you consider what it costs to buy or rent on land these days. One marina resident, Elea Acheson, pays $750 a month to live in her $14,000 boat with her fiancé and baby. Of course, boat life gets pretty cramped pretty quick, and don’t think you can just scoop up a slip: The waitlist has never been longer. (The Seattle Times)

Gettin’ hitched? Here’s a roundup of 21 great venues to tie the knot in our region — from The Wayfarer up on Whidbey Island to Thornewood Castle Bed and Breakfast down in Lakewood. (Curbed Seattle)

GETTING USED TO THIS SUN YET? 😎

The heat broke records on Mother’s Day, and it’s going to stay nice today, with temps in the high 70s. We’ll just leave this Curbed Seattle list of the best outdoor swimming spots right here.

Have a good one, all. — The Evergrey