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Matt Fikse

A regular contributor to Crosscut.
Active since: February 2009
Bio: Writer Matt Fikse can be e-mailed at: mattfikse@gmail.com.

Headlines by this author

Coming to grips with a changed old friend: McBoeing

Posted Wed, Oct 14, 6 a.m.

For a certain generation of Northwest airplane geeks, Boeing's recent troubles hit especially hard. The easiest thing may be to just call the company what it has become: McDonnell Douglas.

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Braised words: 'Julie & Julia' inspires a retro writing experiment

Posted Fri, Sep 25, 6 a.m.

The popular movie about Julia Child inspires our writer — not to cook with lots of butter, but to write longhand, and then use a typewriter and carbon paper. Tasty lessons result.

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Sharrows are a sham solution for bike lanes

Posted Thu, Sep 3, 6 a.m.

These faux-lanes for bikes are ambiguous and do little more than enable politicians to claim more bike miles. Here's a better solution.

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Amsterdam sends a gay-marriage message to America

Posted Sun, Aug 2, 12:50 p.m.

Before a monumental wedding party, five gay Dutch and American couples were married by the Amsterdam Mayor. In a sense, the message stretches all the way back to when the Pilgrims spent time in liberal Holland before boarding the Mayflower.

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The Mayor's race: not making it easy for us undecideds

Posted Thu, Jul 23, 6 a.m.

Someone who almost ran for mayor ponders the field, and the oddly meek campaigns so far.

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Newest local airline survives a tough first year

Posted Wed, Jul 1, 6 a.m.

SeaPort flies small planes from Boeing Field to Portland, saving lots of time and security hassles. But a recession hasn't been the best time to get off the runway with a new approach.

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Doing density right

Posted Wed, Jun 17, 6 a.m.

The residential megablocks of the past few years didn't work out financially or in terms of urban design. Here's a better idea, crafted to a Capitol Hill opportunity and inspired by an Amsterdam neighborhood.

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Starbucks has a G.M. moment

Posted Mon, Jun 8, 6 a.m.

Judging by its latest ad campaign, Starbucks is losing touch with its customers, just as G.M. did. So here's a suggestion to turn the coffee giant around.

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I hereby declare I am not running for mayor

Posted Wed, Jun 3, 6 a.m.

How to mount a serious challenge to Mayor Greg Nickels, by one who almost talked himself into it

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Good transit plan gone missing

Posted Wed, Mar 18, 6 a.m.

Green Line idea suffers from streetcar-and-tunnel vision.

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Morph Seattle trolleys into a new Green Line

Posted Mon, Mar 2, 6 a.m.

We'd save millions over those fancy streetcars the City favors, and get better service with green electric "eTrolleys."

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The State of the City speech Mayor Nickels should have delivered

Posted Thu, Feb 19, 6 a.m.

Mayor Nickels' annual address missed the mark by failing to recognize the urgency and by not calling for sacrifices, beginning with hizzoner.

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The tunnel solution for the Viaduct is too risky

Posted Mon, Feb 16, 6 a.m.

It might work, but we shouldn't be banking on it. Better to implement a rerouting traffic plan and then take the Viaduct down first, giving time for more complete studies and finding the money for the tunnel.

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Blog posts by this author

Another slow day at election central

Posted Wed, Nov 4, 10:17 p.m.

Maddeningly, Wednesday's mayoral results mean exactly nothing.

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Microsoft to XP Crowd: 'And we'll be honest, it could take you a couple of hours'

Posted Thu, Oct 15, 6 a.m.

Upgrading to Windows 7? Redmond's video guide, while helpful, seems almost like an Apple-produced parody.

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Guardians against farelessness

Posted Sun, Sep 20, 11:26 a.m.

Link Light Rail's unintentionally funny new "Fare Enforcement Officers" should lose the Kevlar and Velcro and try instead to channel their inner old-school train conductor.

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After the mayoral debate, an early prediction

Posted Fri, Sep 11, 7:05 a.m.

There were no knockouts in the first debate, but Mike McGinn has shown an ability to improve his game immensely.

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This person's comments

After the mayoral debate, an early prediction

Posted Fri, Sep 11, 7:20 p.m.

Correction: the Dave Ross broadcast was July 24th, so that is the show to listen to where we discussed it.

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After the mayoral debate, an early prediction

Posted Fri, Sep 11, 7:20 p.m.

Hi Mr. Watson, I was hoping that it wouldn't come across that way, in fact I have interviewed Mallahan earlier in the race, but it has also been something of a pattern observed by several other media outlets also. Both the Seattle Times and KIRO Radio have commented on it ...

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Sharrows are a sham solution for bike lanes

Posted Thu, Sep 3, 4:07 p.m.

The folks at Cascade Bicycle Club passed along this link to the San Francisco 2004 study on the effectiveness of 'sharrows'. Worth a look: http://www.sfmta.com/cms/uploadedfiles/dpt/bike/Bike_Plan/Shared%20Lane%20Marking%20Full%20Report-052404.pdf

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Morph Seattle trolleys into a new Green Line

Posted Mon, Mar 2, 8:30 p.m.

Joshuadf, Metro does have some challenges in terms of budget, but we also have a rather arbitrary 40-40-20 allocation rule in place that limits their ability to spend on projects in the Seattle sub-area. There is a great independent review and set of recommendations recently completed by the Municipal League ...

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Morph Seattle trolleys into a new Green Line

Posted Mon, Mar 2, 7:11 p.m.

George (above) - you're right! I missed the 12! Consider the map a conceptual one. For people interested in the details of how a bus or trolley can be speeded up, here is a good film on youtube that illustrates Trans Milenio in Bogota. It's a very interesting 8 minute ...

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Morph Seattle trolleys into a new Green Line

Posted Mon, Mar 2, 11:25 a.m.

Mr. Baker - you have a great point that I wished I had made in the article, namely that the map is conceptual and based upon the existing 14 trolley routes. Given the changes in Seattle since these were created it would make sense to add some more, route some ...

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The State of the City speech Mayor Nickels should have delivered

Posted Fri, Feb 20, 8:05 a.m.

Thank you for your comment and info, Mr. Whiting. The city's Combined Charities payroll contribution program does translate to real help for people in need and it was not my intent to diminish that good effort. The point I had hoped to make in my opinion piece was that over ...

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The tunnel solution for the Viaduct is too risky

Posted Mon, Feb 16, 6:15 p.m.

Unter has a good point. In this case I was attempting to illustrate the point generally that conditions can change dramatic from what is expected beforehand - it happens quite a bit in tunnel construction. Another way to have put it would be to say that a TBM designed for ...

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