Posted Fri, Oct 22, 2:25 p.m.

This could be an interesting piece with the author's firsthand behind-the-scenes insight into a Presidential visit. Unfortunately, the author gets tripped up by his own partisan hypocrisy, decrying the partisanship and distortion that is by it's nature generated by our own commercial, sound bit political culture, and then going on ...

Posted Wed, Sep 15, 8:17 a.m.

There are admittedly some impressive young up-and-comers on PSBJ's 40 under 40 list, but more often than not what gets you on that list is tireless self-promotion. I assume that is what happend with Terresa Davis, owner of Blueacre Seafood. I've been to Blueacre and it was a disaster. The ...

Posted Sat, Aug 21, 5:23 p.m.

Come on people, lighten up! I took this piece for exactly what it was, a light-hearted public interest piece. I've never been personally affected by a Presidential visit, so for me it was an interesting behind the scenes look. And so what, lawyers are uptight and focused on billable hours. ...

Posted Wed, Aug 18, 8:06 p.m.

A "an arrogant and capricious show of force by a small cabal of elitists intent on imposing their agenda"? Isn't that a little bit excessive in the rhetoric department? Oh well, it takes one to know one. A "small cabal of elitists" has been attempting to throw its weight around ...

Posted Mon, Aug 16, 10:49 a.m.

I agree, wonderful piece, Knute. While I share much of your skepticism of the "Seattle as world class city" chamber booster crowd,I think the Space Needle is their crowning achievement.

Posted Sun, Aug 15, 10:22 p.m.

The federal income tax started out in 1913 at the rate 7% of any income above $500,000, an astronomical income for someone 100 years ago. Now most everyone pays federal income tax. Don't think that, if this passes, only the wealthy will pay a state income tax - politicians cannot ...

Posted Sun, Aug 15, 10:54 a.m.

I know that Crosscut is just re-posting Krauthammer's rant against Muslims in the Washington Post as a thought-provoking piece, but would it also be possible to post a rebuttal piece or two on the subject? There is a lot of disinformation perpetuated in Krauthammer's piece about what exactly the issues ...

Posted Tue, Aug 3, 11:21 a.m.

Excellent and insightful analysis, Knute. I have stopped paying any attention to the Muni League. There ratings are all over the board and they offer no explanation why they rate one candidate one way and another candidate another way. I agree that any rating system of political candidates is inherently ...

Posted Thu, Jul 29, 6:53 a.m.

State Route 99 is a critical north-south freight and transportation corridor that runs more or less the length of the state, and the State Legislature has declared it a highway of "statewide significance." As such, any efforts by any local municipality to block the project has been superseded and preempted. ...

Posted Sat, Jul 24, 2:39 p.m.

Very thoughtful, thought-provoking column. I'm reading Stephen Carter's book right now, "The Culture of Disbelief," and he makes a great case for the role of religion in public life as a moral compass, but differentiating it from certain politicians and public officials who use religion to justify political ends, i.e., ...

Posted Thu, Jul 15, 8:10 a.m.

I agree with you Mike, but don't think it will happen anytime soon. The M's are owned by a corporation, not a big personality, so they are more cautious in terms of managing their asset and less ego-driven as a single billionaire owner would be to win a World Series. ...

Posted Thu, Jul 15, 8:02 a.m.

Oh, and if we vote Knute, shouldn't we have a state-wide vote since this is a state highway and residents from across the state will be both paying for the Viaduct replacement and using it? Also, since WashDOT came out with multiple options for each of the surface, the elevated ...

Posted Thu, Jul 15, 7:49 a.m.

Good points Doug. And no one's talking about the other hypocrisy in McGinn's stance. If you truly want a livable, workable, affordable urban core - a place that is friendly to pedestrians and bicyclists, a place where we can have great walking streets and sidewalk cafes like they do in ...

Posted Thu, Jul 15, 7:35 a.m.

No, endless Seattle process is frankly not a good idea, let's just get on with it. We've already voted (several times now since the Nisqually Earthquake). We've vote for a governor, a whole two houses full of state legislators, a King County executive, King County councilmembers, Seattle port commissioners, a ...

Posted Mon, Jul 12, 9:16 p.m.

Is this supposed to be a fact-based article or an attempt at an opinion piece? Not sure where you get the statistic that "90%" of mega-projects are over budget. In the last 10 years, it is a fact that 90% of WashDOT roads projects came in on or under budget. ...

Posted Mon, Jul 12, 5:29 p.m.

Not sure what the big deal is either way. Does the national focus on this story offend some sort of Seattle Chamber-like "wish we were a world class city, hope people don't make fun of us" notion growing inside you Knute? That would be a little ironic.

Posted Mon, Jun 28, 8:12 a.m.

Oddly, yesterday's decision is one Supreme Court opinion where I agree with Justice Clarence Thomas. Some things still deserve to be private in this age of 24/7 blog coverage and inane constant camera phone uploads. I believe that my friends on the left who are heralding the Supremes' decision will ...

Posted Mon, May 3, 8:31 a.m.

Would the I-1077 tax on high earners apply to capital gains as well? If not, I am beginning to understand why Mr. Gates, Sr. would support such a tax - most of his family's wealth is tied up in stock.

Posted Sun, Apr 4, 8 a.m.

There are a number of inconsistencies in this piece. First, why is it that engineers "throwing everything they have" at State Route 520 bad, and the civic activism that led to engineers throwing everything they had at Interstate 90 good? Second, the premise of this piece misses a big point. ...

Posted Fri, Sep 18, 5:42 p.m.

The only problem with this article is that Seattle did not do anything to get Russell to move, Russell made its decision largely based on the fact that they could pick up the almost-new WaMu Tower at a fraction of what it would cost to build a new headquarters. Both ...

Posted Mon, Aug 31, 1:03 p.m.

Not quite sure what city Mud Baby is mistaking for Seattle. I know Seattle hasn't done everything right along the waterfront, but the existing Seattle waterfront is light years ahead of the 2-3 city blocks redeveloped in Bremerton that Mayor Bozeman was so good at being self-promotional about. We have ...

Posted Thu, Aug 20, 1:20 p.m.

The tunnel is critical to keeping freight moving and keeping industrial jobs in Seattle, yet the Seattle Chamber's heavy hand has not been helpful. Most of the downtown interests have spun it as a beautification project, reconnecting the waterfront to downtown, which frankly would be a luxury in these down ...

Posted Mon, Jul 20, 8:59 a.m.

I agree with Berger that all this rhetoric about Seattle "growing up" is a bit overblown, but "wanking over pictures" of New York and Chicago???? Come on!!! Even for the normally tasteless Berger, that is a bit too childish and over-the-top analogy for this website. Nickels, like any politician, is ...

Posted Sat, May 3, 4 p.m.

Huh?: Ted's showing his age. Hubert Humphrey served as Vice President of the US in the mid-60s. Some 40 years ago, $43,000 a year was a bucket-load of money. My dad is fond of telling the story of shooting the breeze with his buddies in the early 60s and saying ...

Posted Sat, Jul 14, 8:16 a.m.

RE: The port is a public agency, not a business Sarajane: Sarajane, I appreciate your sense of public-mindedness, but you also should be called out on your rhetoric. " I prefer to direct my Puget Sound clean-up tax dollars through the city, county and state, where tax allocations are more ...

Posted Thu, Jul 12, 9:20 a.m.

The port is a public agency, not a business Sarajane: It is wholly ironic that the Seattle chattering classes have taken up the port levy as the one tax they rail against, yet it is a tiny portion of the overall tax burden imposed by King County, the City of ...

Posted Wed, Jul 4, 8:08 a.m.

Wonderful Woodland Park Zoo: The Melbourne Zoo is quite well-done in its natural habitats, so I give the Mr. Hancock high marks on that zoo. But it's interesting that he points out that Woodland Park Zoo got a high rating when he was the director and a low rating today?! ...

Posted Sat, Jun 16, 9:48 a.m.

Winds of Change at the Port of Seattle: These emails really aren't that newsworthy of "news", and yet you have three wildly different takes on them by three different publications - the Times, PI and now Casey Corr with Crosscut. Kinda makes you wonder whether the haughty news media's support ...