Posted Tue, Apr 24, 10:54 a.m.

I was an anti-nuke NIMBY in the 70's- there was even a song: "Don't put your nukes in my backyard, my backyard, my backyard..." However, now I probably get lumped in with the "urban planners who move people around on city maps..." because that is the way I think: what ...

Posted Fri, Jan 20, 8:11 a.m.

On the housing numbers, does that refer to "houses" or housing starts? Seattle had a big jump in apartment building in 2011, but single family detached homes in the region seem to be in less demand.

Posted Tue, Dec 20, 8:27 a.m.

I appreciate the frank talk about the financial interest homeowners have in limiting supply. But I also think that talk of density as a universally virtuous quality just doesn't ring true, as most people have seen places where density was high but that they would not want to live in. ...

Posted Thu, Nov 3, 8:27 a.m.

The "fight" in Bellevue seems like the truly big news here. It faces the elephant in the living room: will we develop edge cities that are big enough to play with Seattle, or will Seattle contine to to be 4 or five times the size of its nearest siblings? In ...

Posted Fri, Oct 7, 3:59 p.m.

Trust may indeed breed speed, but speed does not necessarily breed trust. Success breeds trust, and success is a gradual thing. I would suggest that the reason for our slow process and lack of trust is our education level. Find a community with half as many college degrees and I ...

Posted Fri, Oct 7, 10:06 a.m.

@ bubbleator- interesting theory about the drys and the Tea Party. I would love to see the Tea Party take up prohibition of alcohol ;) And how, exactly, does their favorite Ron Paul feel about legalizing pot?

Posted Thu, Sep 22, 2:13 p.m.

great piece, but I think the history is a little over-simplified. A few more factoids: Pioneer Square has been a baseball, football and exhibition center district since the Kingdome was built in the 1970s, and an arts district since a few years before that. Since that time Pioneer Square has ...

Posted Tue, Sep 20, 8:37 a.m.

We have the concept aalready in the Land Use Code- Principal commercial streets in Pedestrian designated commercial zones. But that does not apply downtown, and there is good reason to rethink the model for places like Pioneer Square and Belltown. It is somewhat evident in the ID- perhaps more as ...

Posted Tue, May 31, 7:36 a.m.

Street food is a symptom and a solution. People need work, jobs are scarce; making and selling street food is a solution for some entrepreneurial souls that doesn't cost much to get into. Street food is a fad in the same way walking to work is a fad - people ...

Posted Fri, Apr 15, 12:29 p.m.

This is what is wrong with professional sports - people support and even encourage players to think that their individual success is more important than being part of a team. The idea that Ichiro could do something more glorious than completing his career working here in Seattle on a team ...

Posted Mon, Jan 3, 7:04 p.m.

I appreciate your passion but you do need a fact checker. Union dues are typically a percentage of wages in the 1-3% range, and voted on by members. FICA is 6.2% (except this year. Together these come to less than 10% and the reduction in take-home pay you describe is ...

Posted Thu, Nov 18, 1:10 p.m.

I like Paris, too, and it may have a little bit of small scale manufacturing here and there, but I think real estate prices have driven most industrial jobs out to the suburbs. That is certainly what happened to their famous and gritty wholesele food market that has been repalced ...

Posted Wed, Nov 10, 8:28 a.m.

I appreciate the analysis and it represents an important topic- how do our policies and regualtions affetc the poor and minority populations? It uses dramatic language to describe the process, however, and I think that suggests a more violent process than what is actually occuring. For example the subtitle says ...

Posted Fri, Oct 29, 7:45 a.m.

There is nothing like the water's edge! This is one place where sentiment really should lead to policy. We know that when we want a vacation, 80% of us head to some sort shoreline. But most of us don't own a shoreline, and count on public access to be able ...

Posted Mon, Aug 2, 7:54 a.m.

I think we should privatize the whole government- just sell the whole operation to the highest bidder. I am sure that some of the mega-corporations out there are ready and willing to take on the job. Of course that could lead to a few shake-ups and spinoffs, but hey, it ...

Posted Fri, Jul 30, 8:40 a.m.

If the sign of a good article is that the commentary on it is at a very high level, this one gets a prize. Such thoughtful remarks! There is only so much land that we want to see urbanized in our region, and there are some sweet spots that we're ...

Posted Fri, Jun 11, 7:43 a.m.

A couple of decades before the end of the whale oil era (when whale oil was the the oil that the world read by), a whale attacked and sank the Essex, a whaling ship working alone, thousands of miles from land in the Pacific. That gave rise to the tale ...

Posted Thu, Jun 3, 1:25 p.m.

I think about oil addiction every morning as I eat my banana and grapefruit. What would I have to eat if we stopped transporting fruit 1000s of miles so I can have such a delicious and nutritious breakfast? I am not aware of a good vitamin C and potassium source ...

Posted Thu, Jun 3, 10:53 a.m.

The indelible mark of Griffey on Seattle will always be that smile. The kid was having fun and you could tell.

Posted Thu, Jun 3, 8:47 a.m.

When is someone going to ask the Tea Party what their stand is on Medicare? How do they feel about social security? Public schools? If those programs are underfunded, should taxes be increased? I would like to see one reporter to investigate leaders and followers in depth, and report on ...