Posted Wed, Mar 28, 6:57 a.m.

You can support providing auto access to transit (many don't, but I do), and still oppose putting those parking spaces in the middle of a busy would-be pedestrian activity center like Northgate! The solution is to provide that parking at 145th St, instead. Once you're in a car, it's not ...

Posted Tue, Dec 20, 9:50 p.m.

Roger, you write about density as if it's a universal good. But it's not good unless it's located well and implemented with sensitivity. It matters how it's done. We've all seen it done badly, and that's one of the reasons people get sensitive. I second the many thoughtful comments above. ...

Posted Tue, Dec 13, 10:37 p.m.

Thank you for covering this. Eric, I've always enjoyed your writing, but this last week has been tremendous. The south County piece was fascinating and gave me both a tangible sense of what changes in those communities are like and new information I found useful. And this piece elevates something ...

Posted Fri, Aug 12, 12:24 p.m.

Bravo! Well said. Let me add one thing: probably the most promising approach to making streets pedestrian and bike friendly is called "complete streets." The idea behind complete streets is to add the elements that are missing whenever you reconstruct a street, such as sidewalks and bike improvements. But complete ...

Posted Sat, Nov 6, 8:58 p.m.

Crossrip, if this was a college seminar (I know it's not), either the professor would ask you to let others talk, or everyone else would quit the class. You're taking advantage of an unmoderated forum to dominate the discussion, and it's getting in the way of a good conversation that ...

Posted Sun, Sep 12, 11:53 a.m.

There are reasons that PRT has not gone far in this country. PRT can probably be a good solution for a self-contained activity center like a big mall, where it would function like a big sideways elevator. But outside of that narrow application it's hard to see how it can ...

Posted Sat, Jul 3, 11:13 p.m.

Best things about soccer compared to US sports: No breaks every five minutes just to leave time for commercials (and sports commercials are the worst!). No discussion about who's scratching themselves just because nothing's happened in ten minutes. Everyone on the team has to strategize and deliver instead of one ...

Posted Fri, Oct 2, 6:47 p.m.

Bravo! This may be my favorite of your writings. Jane Jacobs would be the perfect umpire in the discussion of the viaduct, and you've done us a service by exploring the different perspectives of how she might have seen the debate over Seattle's waterfront. I think any thoughtful person has ...

Posted Thu, Sep 10, 11:18 p.m.

Cameron, you haven't said anything good about your candidate, you've only attacked her opponent. You haven't even mentioned that she's your candidate (but it goes without saying). What are her qualifications to address the shortcomings you think Dow has? I wish there was a limit on how much three of ...

Posted Fri, Sep 4, 11:16 p.m.

I think we may end up finding, in about 15 years, that sharrows have the same challenges as do poorly placed crosswalks. They may give a false sense of security in places where the physical roadway design is not safe. With crosswalks, in certain places (generally on multi-lane roads), studies ...

Posted Sat, Aug 15, 9:21 p.m.

Ignoring for the moment all the ranting and namecalling, In one-party Seattle I've come to see two different political tendencies, which I think of as the pragmatists vs. the ideologues. The ideologues are often people I agree with (ideologically at least), but who don't care if the nice words and ...

Posted Wed, Jul 8, 8:55 p.m.

I think Art is missing the point here, which was to look at the past and see how things seemingly unconnected could have paved the way for what we are doing today. The article doesn't claim to explain how the decision was made, it just shows a historical context that ...

Posted Thu, Mar 5, 10:08 p.m.

I am also a former Metro planner who favors this idea. I note that this notion has been presented by Metro and King County staff in a series of Alaskan Way Viaduct open houses, so it's not something Metro has been keeping to themselves. But the fact that this idea ...

Posted Sun, Nov 23, 12:09 a.m.

Most atheists are pretty quiet about it - like people of most religions. Then there are people in all religions who feel their faith is only valuable if they can make everyone else share it. There are fundamentalist atheists, and they're as scary and obnoxious as fundamentalists from every other ...

Posted Sat, Nov 15, 7:03 p.m.

David, thanks; I think this is a no-brainer. Of course that's what should be done. And not just for cars - it's time for trucks and buses to get the same attention to reducing mileage and emissions. Here's another related issue. A side effect of 25 years of getting rich ...

Posted Fri, Jun 27, 9:39 p.m.

Mode Warriors have got to stop: Madison Avenue stroked a sore point one too many times. There are a lot of transit supporters who have carefully considered reasons to feel that a different transit strategy would be more successful than the one advocated by Sound Transit. But whenever a question ...

Posted Tue, Jun 24, 11:55 p.m.

Finding One's Modal Compass: It makes me tired and sad to read the mode warriors' angry character assassinations of people who disagree with them about which transit mode is the best. (There is no excuse for the comments above that suggest one's age disqualifies one's opinion or colors one's judgment ...