Posted Thu, Apr 26, 1:43 p.m.

mhays, I agree about "transfer of development rights". afreeman & ddmiller, why do we need to restrict density through zoning if there is (as you say) no demand for density? That argument hold no water. Also, why to we need to require parking if there is a strong demand for ...

Posted Thu, Apr 26, 11:54 a.m.

Why does the zoning (height restrictions, minimum parking requirements) have to somehow magically match predicted demand? Why not create zoning that will let market forces work in a positive way? For example, if we want to save bauhaus, why not trade height restrictions for historic preservation? Also, why is there ...

Posted Thu, Apr 19, 3:37 p.m.

I have to agree with Rodger on this one--he has critical thinking on his side. I hate the ugly condos as much as the next guy, but there is no way to stop all development short of a revolution and revoking of property rights. I was talking with my 80 ...

Posted Thu, Apr 19, 11:56 a.m.

Nice one, Tony! May is bike to work month. Get your teams all set up.

Posted Tue, Apr 10, 11:46 a.m.

orino, this actual data might clear things up for you: Fatality Rates per 100 Million Passenger-Miles (1997) Motor Vehicles 0.93 Rail Rapid Transit 0.55 Commuter Rail 0.05 Bus 0.10 Light Rail 0.00 [Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics/National Transportation Statistics 1999 and FTA/National Transit Statistics and Trends 1998; average motor vehicle ...

Posted Fri, Apr 6, 11:10 a.m.

At least Santorum is talking about Satan! Everyone else is neglecting Satan, and he is getting lonely. http://www.drudgereport.com/flash3s.htm Santorum is getting in touch with his inner Church Lady. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v;=62Qfbrc1jdo

Posted Thu, Apr 5, 2:32 p.m.

You'll have to pry the bull horns off of my Cadillac Eldorado's cold, dead, v8. THey don't call 'em freeways for nothing--thats what I pay to use them. The rail system in the US will never be cost effective until we quit subsidizing auto fuel and infrastructure. Also, we subsidize ...

Posted Wed, Apr 4, 2:14 p.m.

It will be hard to fight Big Pharma on this. There has been an active, successful campaign to switch "illegal" drug use over to pharmaceuticals. Pharma can't make much money off of pot, and they will be reluctant to let go of the income stream from oxycodone and pseudoephedrine, which ...

Posted Fri, Mar 23, 2:46 p.m.

Washington Policy Center is a mouthpiece for Big Auto and subsidizing auto travel. They say they want "policy based on free-market solutions", but never advocate a free-market freeway system--they want a government subsidized, socialist auto system. I wouldn't take what Washington Policy Center say about rail infrastructure seriously. They are ...

Posted Wed, Mar 21, 10:57 p.m.

Thank you for backing me up, Richard. I respect and desire viewpoints from all points on the spectrum but what I can't tolerate is a lack of critical analysis or mindless parroting of obvious political rhetoric.

Posted Wed, Mar 21, 5:53 p.m.

Over at horses ass they just posted a monte carlo analysis of Obama vs. Romney http://horsesass.org/?p=42559&utm;_source=feedburner Result: 100% chance of Obama victory. Remember, popular vote != electoral vote.

Posted Wed, Mar 21, 5:13 p.m.

Chris, It could be the gas price/poll drop correlation is a result of the media push manufactured by Republicans, which you are cheer-leading here. Remember that correlation does not imply causation. You have offered no proof of causation, just some silly questions. President Obama may be talking about energy policy ...

Posted Wed, Mar 21, 2:36 p.m.

Vance, here is another article: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/obama-sets-gas-prices-just-another-gop-myth.html "My analysis is that despite good news on job creation, the President's approval rating is not improving and the reason is rising gas prices." Where is your evidence to support this statement? At what point does your reporting on a politically manufactured right wing ...

Posted Wed, Mar 21, 1:34 p.m.

Vance, I urge you to compare the two articles from the National Review and the NY Times. The NY Times article is heavily cited with studies from reputable sources addressing the the correlation and possible causation between votes and gas prices. The National Review article cites an ABC approval rating ...

Posted Wed, Mar 21, 1:22 p.m.

I would counter with this article: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/17/us/politics/gas-prices-matter-to-voters-but-they-matter-little-to-votes.html?_r=1 What I find particularly disturbing is this: "Republicans have seized on the issue to attack President Obama’s management of the economy." I find this unpatriotic. Do Republicans really believe Obama or anyone in power can change the gas prices w/o even more direct ...

Posted Wed, Mar 21, 11:47 a.m.

Most of the time I enjoy reading Chris Vance too. It is just depressing to me that he has to stoop to this gas price thing. The USA has almost no control over gas prices, except tax. We have some of the lowest gas taxes in the world, and as ...

Posted Tue, Mar 20, 10:59 a.m.

Man, I had to wipe Chris Vance's drool off of my computer screen, he is salivating so much at the prospect of higher gas prices. It is depressing that politics have descended so much that the politicos are rooting for higher gas prices and a war with Iran (which would ...

Posted Wed, Mar 14, 4:25 p.m.

BlueLight, also get rid of the tax exemptions for religious institutions and we have a deal! Oh, also get rid of: -sales tax exemption on auto fuels -property tax exemption on land occupied by freeways -minimum parking requirements -open container law -income tax used to prop up the Highway Trust ...

Posted Wed, Mar 14, 2:50 p.m.

"dues and memberships from local governments" My tax dollars are funding you? That is very disturbing.

Posted Wed, Mar 14, 2:45 p.m.

Bruce, do you get any funding from the parent organization, Discovery Institute?

Posted Wed, Mar 14, 2:31 p.m.

I did find some info on wikipedia about Cascadia Center/Discovery Institute funding: Funding The institute is a non-profit educational foundation funded by philanthropic foundation grants, corporate and individual contributions and the dues of Institute members. Contributions made to it are tax deductible, as provided by law. The institute does not ...

Posted Wed, Mar 14, 1:55 p.m.

Bruce, Is there a page that details the funding on the Cascadia Center? I like to follow the money to inspect the motivation on groups such as yours. I think every one knows that the Cascadia Center is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Discovery Institute of "Intelligent Design" infamy, ...

Posted Fri, Jan 13, 3:02 p.m.

RevSandy and Tony, lots of people "think" of freedom of religion as freedom "from" religion since that is what the framers of OUR constitution had in mind, especially Thomas Jefferson. In fact the original term is "wall of separation between church and state". Refresh your mind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_church_and_state_in_the_United_States I am optimistic ...

Posted Thu, Jan 12, 2:06 p.m.

"But, so, too are secular world views, like free-market economics or materialism expressed as consumerism or scientism. All are value systems with particular understandings of what it means to be human and of right and wrong." Tony, I think you went off the rails right about there. Materialism, consumerism and ...

Posted Tue, Jan 10, 11:01 a.m.

This is the word of the day: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shunpiking

Posted Tue, Jan 10, 10:50 a.m.

Ivan, you must be a socialist then. Why do you want a socialized freeway system? I never use the 520 bridge, so why should I subsidize your use of it? I would be very happy if the bridge was privatized and had no government support. Washington state should switch to ...

Posted Mon, Dec 12, 1:38 p.m.

Also, if corporation are people now, why do they only pay taxes on their profits? I would like to only pay taxes on my profits.

Posted Thu, Dec 8, 3:30 p.m.

This article is a must read: https://atheistoasis.wordpress.com/2010/12/13/an-open-letter-to-christians-merry-christmas-from-an-atheist/

Posted Thu, Dec 8, 2:48 p.m.

sarah90, just saying "Xmas is not a secular holiday", does not make it so. You ignore thousands of years of history. Christians plopped xmas on top of the Roman holiday of Saturnalia, which is probably related to the solstice somehow. Thankfully, that cynical plan has never really worked out for ...

Posted Thu, Dec 1, 8:01 p.m.

Anyone know of a good advent calendar these days? I got my kid one last year and all the chocolate fell to the bottom and was not behind the little doors...

Posted Thu, Dec 1, 5:18 p.m.

Xmas is a secular holiday. I like Tony's article and the arching, ancient human traditions, hopes, and aspirations mentioned. Why wall this season off and declare it only for true Christians? Doing so denies the lineage of Xmas and excludes many of our fellow citizens. Can you imagine Jesus advocating ...

Posted Thu, Dec 1, 11:49 a.m.

"transportation priorities (with, in particular, its emphasis on cost-ineffective streetcars and bicycles)" Ted, how are bicycles cost-ineffective? I will await your answer before I dissect your assertion like a frog in high school biology.

Posted Wed, Nov 30, 4:20 p.m.

This is a good addition to this discussion: http://seattletransitblog.com/2011/11/30/brt-insincerity/

Posted Wed, Nov 23, 2:02 p.m.

I like it. Thanks.

Posted Wed, Nov 23, 1:47 p.m.

A bit off topic, but this is an interesting idea: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ballard-Spur-Light-Rail/235429863184758?sk=wall 1. This plan combines two identified high capacity transit corridors into one short (about 3 miles)/fast connection to the regionwide system. 2. Sample Travel Times: West Ballard to Capital Hill: 10 Minutes. West Ballard to Downtown: 12 Minutes. 3. ...

Posted Mon, Oct 24, 3:02 p.m.

It has always fascinated me in old photos of Seattle people are out in the street, sometimes stopped for a chat, walking around with no sign of a crosswalk. I found this on the history of "jaywalking": http://westnorth.com/2009/02/01/a-history-of-jaywalking/ "In 1921 a National Safety Council member from Baltimore confessed to his ...

Posted Mon, Oct 24, 2:46 p.m.

bkochis, my moral code is very simple--adherence to the Golden Rule. You may think that religious people are more disciplined at this, but that is statistically proven incorrect. One quick example--religious people are about twice as likely to get divorced. Here is a Richard Dawkins quote about Norway: "Depending on ...

Posted Fri, Oct 21, 11:58 a.m.

@bkochis, Jefferson was a deist, not an atheist. Not quite sure what point you were making with his quote, though... Also, atheism is simply the absence of a belief in a deity or deities. It says nothing about a moral belief system, being against religion, being "rational", or anything else. ...

Posted Thu, Oct 20, 4:16 p.m.

Interesting, I just got this top 10 list in the mail... God must be telling me something! 9. “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren’t punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed ...

Posted Thu, Oct 20, 2:14 p.m.

mspat and Y_not, I totally agree with you. One thing that bugs me is the infatuation with Tibetan Buddhism and the Tenzin Gyatso (a.k.a "His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama"). That dude keeps female love slaves in his palace: http://www.trimondi.de/EN/links.htm

Posted Thu, Oct 20, 11:14 a.m.

In this country we have separation of church and state. Faith has no place in government. Currently, the church enjoys huge tax breaks and subsidies. This must end, since our government must not extend any special treatment to the church. The church should be allowed to stand on its own, ...

Posted Wed, Oct 12, 11:40 a.m.

Interesting Mr Baker. The corporate death penalty does exist. This is an interesting article: http://reason.com/archives/2001/07/01/killing-corporations I don't agree with everything in that article, but the bits about revoking the corporate charter are good.

Posted Fri, Oct 7, 2:20 p.m.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for writing this, Dr. Locke. I almost sense that the tide is turning...

Posted Fri, Oct 7, 11:08 a.m.

You are asking me to trust the Discovery/Cascadia Institute? These are the right-wing, religious extremist nut sacks who brought us "intelligent design". The do not believe in the scientific method. Their latest scheme is the deep bore tunnel. This is a plan that is worse than doing nothing, as pointed ...

Posted Thu, Sep 22, 4:58 p.m.

sarah90, I just love that band called the "beastie boys" ! ;-)

Posted Fri, Sep 16, 4:53 p.m.

coolpapa, that is the most ridiculous, ill-thought out thing I have seen you write. I am disappointed in you, since your other comments are usually spot-on.

Posted Fri, Sep 16, 11:20 a.m.

Someone please explain to me how relaxing height and parking requirements around a train station are FORCING anyone to do anything. Won't this just allow market forces to determine what will be built? It seem like CONFISCATING my hard earned money to build freeways and other suburban infrastructure that I ...

Posted Fri, Sep 16, 10:59 a.m.

I am attempting to raise my son with some defenses against religious/spiritual brain washing. Richard Dawkins has written a children's book that may be useful in this regard: http://boingboing.net/2011/09/16/richard-dawkins-explains-the-3-kinds-of-magic.html I know--I am a arrogant, smug, atheist, bore... ;-)

Posted Fri, Sep 16, 10:38 a.m.

I am all for religious and/or spiritual people going to whatever church or sunset they want and doing any kind of communing, smelling and belling. Please just give up three things: 1) Stop the institutional raping of children. 2) Give up tax breaks and government subsidies. 3) Keep your religion ...

Posted Thu, Sep 15, 4:50 p.m.

If I am on a plane that is going down, I am going to fully recline my seat and lower my tray table. I am sure this "God" of which you speak will not expect me to die in the full upright position!

Posted Thu, Sep 15, 2:59 p.m.

Two peanuts were riding down the road on their bicycles and one of them was a salted!

Posted Tue, Sep 13, 5:52 p.m.

I agree with keith--it has gotten a lot better around here to be a bike rider. Generally, the younger generations accept cycling as a valid mode of transportation. As more and more of the older, car-centric population retires from driving, things will get better still.

Posted Thu, Sep 1, 3:03 p.m.

@John Carlson Where is the data to support this statement? Have you been to Manhattan lately? It is overun with rug-rats!

Posted Thu, Sep 1, 3:02 p.m.

This is interesting: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2016016390_bullitt28.html Governments must be part of the industry's transformation, too, the Bullitt Center's developers say: "This building was illegal to build in Seattle three years ago," says Hayes. In 2009 the Seattle City Council agreed to let planners waive some regulations for projects like the Bullitt Center. ...

Posted Tue, Aug 30, 4:18 p.m.

It is all well and good to bash the government until something goes wrong and you need a little help. Teapartiers, take a cue from your hero, Ayn Rand: http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/149721/ayn_rand_railed_against_government_benefits,_but_grabbed_social_security_and_medicare_when_she_needed_them/

Posted Thu, Aug 25, 2:17 p.m.

@KAM: Also, if you find a way to keep people from moving here, let Emmitt Watson and "Lesser Seattle" know. I don't like it when east-coast transplants complain about not being able to find a good pastrami on rye in Seattle. I tell them to eat their king salmon and ...

Posted Thu, Aug 25, 2:11 p.m.

@KAM: If no-one wants to live in high density, why have zoning limits prohibiting high density? That makes no sense.

Posted Thu, Aug 25, 10:43 a.m.

Oh, well done, wes kirkman! Nice to see some actual facts and documentation here to counter the usual sprawl boosting FUD. This is interesting: http://boingboing.net/2011/08/25/popsicle-test-evaluating-a-neighborhoods-livability-with-frozen-treats.html How many Seattle neighborhoods pass "the Popsicle Test" ?

Posted Wed, Aug 24, 10:50 a.m.

How does Seattle code compare with Vancouver, BC? I am always impressed with the way they have built their city. Seems there is a good combination of houses and tall towers with lots of green space and pedestrian amenities. Also, they have many medium sized grocery stores that were not ...

Posted Tue, Aug 23, 6:03 p.m.

@crossrip, I agree with you that the financing scheme for sound transit is not good. Your statement: Those "individual freeway projects" will be paid for by statewide gas tax revenues (a user fee) and tolls (another user fee), plus state and federal grants. No new general taxing is involved, so ...

Posted Tue, Aug 23, 5 p.m.

The thing that really gets me is the minimum parking requirements: B.2. Eating and drinking establishments 1 space for each 250 square feet http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~scripts/nph-brs.exe?d=CODE&s1;=23.54.015.snum.&Sect5;=CODE1&Sect6;=HITOFF&l;=20&p;=1&u;=/~public/code1.htm&r;=1&f;=G Why should we be forced to provide off-street parking for a small corner store? And for a bar? Do we really want to encourage drinking and ...

Posted Tue, Aug 23, 4:53 p.m.

@bubbleator, Well we are happy living there, so the store idea is no big loss. It just seems strange the zoning would prohibit a corner store. Who does not want a corner store? This seems un-American.

Posted Tue, Aug 23, 3:25 p.m.

Oh, it was the city I went to, sorry. What are the variance rules then? What do you mean by 3?

Posted Tue, Aug 23, 1:48 p.m.

I like this article. Something is very wrong with the code, and I will give my own personal example. We bought a disused corner store to live in and possibly open a coffee shop or store of some kind. I went down to the county and they told me it ...

Posted Mon, Aug 22, 1:56 p.m.

I don't understand where all those extra cars are going to go coming into Seattle. Won't they just back up going onto I-5?

Posted Fri, Aug 12, 2:54 p.m.

A few facts for the anti-bike commentators: 1) City streets are paid for primarily with property taxes 2) Bicycle trips are 3% of traffic and bike infrastructure gets 2% of the road money 3) Almost all cyclists own cars (I own two cars and two bikes), so they will pay ...

Posted Fri, Aug 12, 2:33 p.m.

Seattle is getting a European style cycle track on Broadway in conjunction with the 1st hill streetcar. You can see a simulation here: http://www.seattlestreetcar.org/firsthill.asp This kind of project is why we need to pass the full $80 fee with bonding capabilities to fund rail development for Seattle. The age of ...

Posted Thu, Aug 11, 3:53 p.m.

@David Brewster: Why aren't the anti-tunnel people playing the Discovery Institute/Cascadia Center card? This seems like a natural in left leaning, secular Seattle. To taint the tunnel with its origin in the bowels of the Discovery Institute and all that that entails (Intelligent Design, Right Wing Christianist Agenda) would sway ...

Posted Wed, Aug 10, 2:01 p.m.

@Lincoln: Traffic is not the problem, SOVs are the problem. SOVs don't scale. Most people in this tech-savvy city understand this. Bill Gates understands this, which is why he donated a bunch of money to the Discovery Institute to have them come up with the DBT idea. The DBT is ...

Posted Wed, Aug 10, 1:47 p.m.

This from publicola: http://publicola.com/2011/08/10/campaign-fizz-the-challengers-the-money-and-the-tunnel/ The pro-tunnel campaign, Let’s Move Forward, has raised nearly half a million dollars in the runup to the August 16 election deadline (ballots must be postmarked by that date), and they’ve already spent $46,000 on TV ads, with more almost certainly to come. Anti-tunnel campaign Protect ...

Posted Fri, Aug 5, 5:06 p.m.

@climate consideraton: "...(EIS) is supposed to be done prior to the completion of the decision making process so that it can inform the decision making process" Excellent point. Has this out of order process in a WSDOT project ever happened before?

Posted Fri, Aug 5, 4:51 p.m.

Dave, what is this "bikes vs. cars" thing all about? That manufactured crisis has nothing to do with the DBT debate. Putting that in your article is an insult to crosscut reader intelligence.

Posted Fri, Aug 5, 4:45 p.m.

Why not just do the ST5 options first, then build the tunnel if needed later? DBT could be built by the private sector if there is great demand. The FEIS concludes that the DBT will have the same effect on surface traffic as doing nothing. Since commerce traffic will not ...

Posted Wed, Aug 3, 10:41 a.m.

@David, You are correct that it is a fallacy to blame the source when debating an idea. Is this the Circumstantial ad hominem or the Genetic Fallacy? But let's face it, the DBT design has not held up to a critical review. This is well documented in the EIS and ...

Posted Tue, Aug 2, 1:56 p.m.

Nice Article. @junipero said most of the things I wanted to say and more eloquently. A few additions: 1) The DBT tunnel plan did originate somewhere and this was not in the article. The idea was hatched in the Discovery/Cascadia Institute--the good people who brought us Intelligent Design. 2) The ...

Posted Tue, Aug 2, 1:38 p.m.

"Deep Boondoggle Tunnel" gets panned by FTA: http://seattletransitblog.com/2011/08/02/fta-disappointed-with-dbt-has-adverse-impact-on-transit

Posted Mon, Aug 1, 5:17 p.m.

It is interesting to compare the Canada Line with the DBT. - They both cost around 2 billion (maybe the tunnel costs 4.28 billion). - Canada Line is a public/private partnership with the private partner responsible for cost overruns (there weren't any). DBT has Seattle property owners responsible for cost ...

Posted Mon, Aug 1, 3:53 p.m.

@Benjamin, In terms of the tunnel, 520 bridge, and general freeway debates, I believe this metro to metro comparison is apt. Vancouver has been able to avoid making freeways since the train systems run out into the suburbs. If Seattle just had to worry about traffic from inside the city ...

Posted Mon, Aug 1, 3:40 p.m.

@dbreneman: "Tear it down and they will leave." Seattle is really doing everything within its power to make itself a place to avoid. Lesser Seattle and Emmett Watson would approve of a simple viaduct tear down then! Hooray Emmett! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_Seattle

Posted Mon, Aug 1, 3:03 p.m.

Great article. The 800 pound white elephant in the room is that the tunnel will actually make auto congestion in Seattle worse than tearing down the viaduct and doing nothing. This is stated in the EIS. The I5/surface/transit solution will at least move people in and out of Seattle, if ...

Posted Fri, Jul 29, 1:50 p.m.

@jmrolls Roads cause congestion: http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/05/31/study-building-roads-to-cure-congestion-is-an-exercise-in-futility/

Posted Fri, Jul 29, 1:48 p.m.

"The state estimates a measly 47,000 vehicles per day will use the tunnel. That’s $42,000 per daily tunnel user." http://seattlebikeblog.com/2011/07/29/after-remaining-neutral-until-now-cascade-comes-out-against-the-tunnel/

Posted Fri, Jul 29, 1:39 p.m.

Some commentators are labeling this zoning change as "Social Engineering", when in fact it is the removal of social engineering. These zoning changes are removing market distorting forces, allowing people to build taller buildings. No one is forcing them to build taller. It is simple supply and demand; taller buildings ...

Posted Fri, Jul 29, 10:52 a.m.

@jmrolls: when has a new freeway ever reduced congestion over the long term?

Posted Thu, Jul 28, 2:17 p.m.

This is a fine article--but... Why is our tax money going to the Discovery/Cascadia Institute? These are the deep, critical thinkers who brought you "Intelligent Design": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_design ...and the deep bore tunnel. In what world should a coal export company be dictating public transportation policy? Why on earth should we ...

Posted Fri, Jul 22, 5:14 p.m.

@GaryP: I showed that article to a co-worker who is a tunnel supporter. After reading, she said, "there's no downtown exits?". She is no longer a tunnel supporter. The more people learn about the DBT, the less they like it.

Posted Fri, Jul 22, 11:46 a.m.

Carol, nice article. There is a technical term for what you experienced--breakage. This strategy was probably developed at the Harvard Business School. Here is the wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakage It was originally developed for the gift card/rebate industry. There is even software to maximize breakage (make forms difficult to fill out, ...

Posted Fri, Jul 22, 11:36 a.m.

Benjamin, it is simple math. The overhead of our private sector insurance system is %17. For comparison, Medicare overhead is %5. This is just one source of private sector waste. Look here for a nice comparison, brought to you by Mitt Romney, of all people! http://masscare.org/health-care-costs/overhead-costs-of-health-care/

Posted Thu, Jul 7, 11:17 a.m.

If the tunnel is such a great idea, why doesn't the private sector step up and build it. The plan was hatched by the Discovery Institute. Put them in charge and they can recoup their investment via tolls. They should have faith in their intelligent design. This way the state ...

Posted Fri, Jun 24, 11:13 a.m.

Great article. It is interesting how actions in the past cause ripples into the present. Take for example Kemper Freeman Jr. His current fortune began with his grandfather, Miller Freeman. Here is a bit about Miller: ...That same year, Freeman began to take an interest in Japanese- American relations; i.e., ...

Posted Wed, Jun 22, 2:56 p.m.

Oops, I have been feeding the trolls--sorry.

Posted Mon, Jun 20, 2:43 p.m.

Tom9, I am having a bit of a hard time understanding you. It is clear you want to live in the suburbs and have a yard, but it is unclear how you want to pay for that privilege. Currently the suburbs are being subsidized by the cities (via auto and ...

Posted Wed, Jun 15, 4:17 p.m.

I believe your article went south here: "This pattern is not new. But because of growth management and the concentration of higher-density redevelopment in the core cities, the gradient is perhaps more marked than earlier." If you had stuck to discussing correlation and avoided declaring causation, it would have made ...

Posted Tue, Jun 14, 11:45 a.m.

Ok, Tom9, you want unrestricted growth, but how do you propose to pay for the auto infrastructure? Historically, this kind of growth leads to demand for more and larger freeways, parking lots, water, sewer, on and on. All these have been subsidized for the past 50 years or so by ...

Posted Mon, Jun 13, 2:27 p.m.

I have two questions for Tom9: 1) Who pays for the auto infrastructure needed for this kind of development? 2) Why, if we are going to go by what people want according to the The National Association of Realtors, do we need to enforce parking requirements, height restrictions, and other ...

Posted Mon, Jun 6, 2:58 p.m.

"quibbling and fussing by naysayers" -- this pretty much sums up the comments section in CrossCut these days. This is a shame, it used to be sort of interesting. Nice article, Mark.

Posted Fri, Jun 3, 10:28 a.m.

Oh great, we get hacks touting their books in the comments now. This is getting unreadable. Buh bye!

Posted Tue, May 31, 1:48 p.m.

It is important to remember that the food cart proposal is not a plan so much as a removal of laws and regulations preventing food carts. It is the opposite of "social engineering" that so many right wingers complain about. Why not open it up and let the food carts ...

Posted Fri, May 27, 10:36 a.m.

I'm going to head down on the train to get my hair cut and pork out this weekend. Also, at the next stop (Rainier Beach) is the Vegetable Bin where you can get braised turkey tails.

Posted Wed, May 18, 5:35 p.m.

"A radical left-wing solution would be single-payer health care system, ..." In what world is this radical? Many other nations have this system. We have this system--it is called Medicare. Medicare is expensive because it is only for old people. If you want to cut 30%-40% off of our medical ...

Posted Mon, May 9, 9 a.m.

John: Andy's Diner (now called the Orient Express) on 4th ave s Is still in operation. It has changed a bit since the new ownership, but still has most of the original charm. Sadly, the De-railer is no longer on the cocktail menu.

Posted Fri, Apr 15, 1:50 p.m.

Hugo, have you done a review of the Salvadoran Bakery in White Center?

Posted Fri, Apr 15, 1:48 p.m.

you had me at "grasshoppers".

Posted Thu, Apr 14, 2:09 p.m.

oops, there are some extra zeros there! Deferred interest rate: 5.5 Deferred salary notes: $25 Million ($5 Million annually) deferred at 5.5% interest, reducing deal's average annual value to $16.1 Million (deferred money to be paid in annual installments Jan. 30 beginning year after his retirement).

Posted Thu, Apr 14, 2:05 p.m.

"Getting to play for one team their entire (Major League) career is not something many players get to do," Ichiro said at a news conference. "Having that choice made me happy." I wonder if he would want to go? He has a no trade deal where he can specify 10 ...

Posted Wed, Apr 13, 3:53 p.m.

What is all this "mass transit doesn't work" talk? You should try riding a bus someday--many are at 110% capacity. Seems like they are working very well, just under funded. Just because mass transit does not work for your uncle Ernie in Enumclaw does not mean that mass transit does ...

Posted Mon, Apr 4, 1:58 p.m.

But if Paul Ryan gets his way how will the teabaggers get their electric scooters?

Posted Fri, Mar 25, 2:26 p.m.

In Seattle, SDOT does a good job communicating with non-English speakers. Perhaps WSDOT could take some ques from SDOT?

Posted Fri, Mar 18, 2:04 p.m.

chuckr, for every $1 king county pays to the state in tax it gets 62 cents back. I don't have the figures for Seattle only, but I bet it gets back even less.

Posted Thu, Mar 17, 4:46 p.m.

"squawking loudly" an argumentum ad hominem? Wow, the standards are being raised around here.

Posted Thu, Mar 17, 4:27 p.m.

Much of the price problem with living in the city is associated with draconian, auto-oriented zoning. If these laws were changed, it would be easier to create cheaper housing. Most of the popular in-city neighborhoods would be illegal to build today because of these zoning laws. Neighborhood corner stores and ...

Posted Thu, Mar 17, 3:17 p.m.

From where does the term 'pointer of the cranky' come? That is an odd term.

Posted Thu, Mar 17, 3:05 p.m.

common1sense, you have committed the 'sin' of assuming everyone is Christian.

Posted Thu, Mar 17, 1:52 p.m.

To say 'people vote with their feet' is incredibly simple minded. People vote with their subsidies. There are many subsidies that favor suburban or exurban living. It is interesting that even proposing a reduction in suburban or auto subsidies is translated into 'telling folks how to live'. Dick, how do ...

Posted Thu, Mar 17, 11:42 a.m.

Spike, how equitable is the system for people who do not have cars, don't drive much, or take the train? Why should these people be forced to finance others single occupancy vehicle travel? In the rest of the world, travel alone in a 5000 lb car is regarded as a ...

Posted Wed, Mar 16, 3:51 p.m.

It seems that the commenters squawking loudly against tolling roadways are the resident Libertarians. This is interesting in that the roadway system in the USA is largely socialist, subsidized by roughly equal parts fuel tax, and non-fuel tax (income tax, property tax, sales tax, debt). Tolling them slides the scale ...

Posted Mon, Mar 14, 5:46 p.m.

Kieth, the income tax on the rich was close to revenue neutral. It reduced the property tax. It attempted to redress the imbalance in the current code where the poor and middle class pay a disproportionate amount of their income in state taxes. Washington State has the most regressive tax ...

Posted Fri, Mar 11, 3:03 p.m.

End the sales tax exemption on gasoline. 'nuff said.

Posted Wed, Mar 9, 3:08 p.m.

Would someone tell how marijuana can be illegal at the federal level? Is it the commerce clause?

Posted Tue, Mar 8, 3:25 p.m.

What a whiner! "insidious" this and "demagoguery" that. This is not looking very gubernatorial, Rob... Look, everyone knows that this health care bill will not work without a mandate. If you take away the mandate, the whole thing falls apart. People would just wait until they get sick, then go ...

Posted Wed, Feb 16, 5:56 p.m.

I think this a great article. Great articles do not always spoon feed their points down one's throat. I was so upset when they only put up six smokestacks. There used to be seven. From history link: During the building's renovation, its seven decaying smokestacks were replaced with six smaller ...

Posted Wed, Feb 16, 5:44 p.m.

also, look at this graph: http://www.thestranger.com/binary/ea57/CityLead-CLICK.jpg

Posted Wed, Feb 16, 5:40 p.m.

bigyaz, google levy equalization

Posted Tue, Feb 15, 11:43 a.m.

"99 to 1 would prefer to have a god-paying job and a car." This made my morning! ;) Ah, America... This could be a motto for the tea party.

Posted Tue, Feb 15, 11:39 a.m.

Are we really willing to give up on urban public spaces just because the auto traffic is too bad and parking too expensive? What a cynical viewpoint! Why not try to solve those problems? For example the deep bore tunnel is going to funnel huge amounts of new traffic right ...

Posted Sun, Feb 13, 11:16 a.m.

Edward has some good points here. The next shoe to drop is the commercial real estate bubble. This shoe is dropping already, and you can see many vacant spaces in the strip malls. Bucking these trends are the city centers, especially the small towns scattered around king county. These downtowns ...

Posted Sun, Feb 13, 10:51 a.m.

Many people I know move to the suburbs to live in a better school district. They would rather live downtown in an urban environment, but the schools are not well funded. Currently, Seattle taxpayers are subsidizing some suburban and most rural school districts. This problem needs to be solved before ...

Posted Thu, Feb 10, 2:16 p.m.

BlueLight, etc... It is amazing to me when proposals to reduce subsidies for auto travel and reduce zoning restrictions are branded as "social engineering". Do you really believe this? Many popular neighborhoods in Seattle would be illegal to build today by today's nanny-state zoning laws. We are spending so much ...

Posted Mon, Feb 7, 10:30 a.m.

Great article, Tony. It is worth mentioning on this 100th birthday of Ronald Reagan, that he is the one that created this mess. He began the race to the bottom and race to global corporatism clearly outlined by shoreline's suggestions.

Posted Thu, Jan 27, 2:31 p.m.

LJV, I agree mostly with what you say, although I don't see any hostile comments. I am very glad the building will not be demolished. On the other hand, it is a duty of artists to seek out and inhabit the next "cool" neighborhood, like what is happening in Georgetown ...

Posted Thu, Jan 27, 11:52 a.m.

Hooray! What is going to happen to all those historical artifacts when the boring machine churns through? Will it be deep enough to avoid them?

Posted Thu, Jan 27, 9:36 a.m.

Old Seattle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones%27_Fantastic_Museum New Seattle: http://thechildrensmuseum.org/

Posted Tue, Jan 25, noon

Here is the USDA "approved" product: http://www.kronosproducts.com/p-meats1.html

Posted Tue, Jan 25, 11:55 a.m.

USDA just makes the economy safe for ADM, not the food safe.

Posted Fri, Jan 21, 11:04 a.m.

Hooray for government regulation of kebab meat! I want that here in the usa.

Posted Thu, Jan 20, 4:23 p.m.

Oh man, I am going! I have been to Berlin a few times and fell in love with the döner kebab and currywurst.

Posted Fri, Jan 7, 4:23 p.m.

Instead of renting a car or taking a cab, why not take light rail or a bus? Now, that would have saved a bunch of money.

Posted Thu, Dec 16, 3:17 p.m.

taupe, my point is that the wealthy rarely pay the nominal income tax rate because of deductions, shelters, off shore accounts, wealth from investments, etc. Also, long term capital gain tax is lower. Now to your question of what the wealthy should pay. Let's look at what they actually pay, ...

Posted Thu, Dec 16, 11:01 a.m.

R, very true. Also, most of the very wealthy do not pay much income tax. Most of their wealth is in real estate, stocks, or stock options, etc. There are many loopholes for them to avoid taxes altogether. On the corporate side, many profitable u.s. corporations have a negative effective ...

Posted Thu, Dec 16, 8:41 a.m.

taupe, you stated: "The top 1% of earners pay 40% of all income taxes right now. (I know, what a ripoff!) Is this fair? (They earn 23% of the income) They are getting away with murder. So, how much is fair??" Take a look at this article: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/top-1-paid-more-in-federal-income-taxes-than-bottom-95-in-07/ and this ...

Posted Fri, Dec 10, 10:08 p.m.

All of us 'rail fans' should listen carefully to Martin's comments. As a computer programmer, he reminds me of that user with the requests that we really don't want to hear because they are too difficult to implement, but deep down we know he is correct.

Posted Fri, Dec 10, 1:39 p.m.

I remember visiting Vancouver, B.C. in the 60's and the neon signage on Granville was simply amazing. It all got torn down in the name of urban renewal or some such pretense.

Posted Fri, Dec 10, 11:33 a.m.

Oh, martin7341, I agree with you. Where do we get the money, though?

Posted Fri, Dec 10, 11:19 a.m.

Does anyone out there know much about this bidding process? Is there supposed to be behind the scenes negotiation between the state and the bidders? I read some O'Brian remarks and am worried there is some hanky-panky going on with the bidding. Here are the O'Brian remarks from Publicola: City ...

Posted Fri, Dec 10, 10:56 a.m.

jml, yes. The alternative is non-appointed corporate esthetic moderators. Runaway government is not the problem, runaway corporatism is. btw the spelling 'esthetic' comes up as an error in crosscut's spell check. I found this comment on the interwebs, and found it funny: "In American English, if you wrote "aesthetic" I ...

Posted Thu, Dec 9, 2:18 p.m.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/us/10rail.html?_r=2&hp; Hooray! "The other states that will get Ohio and Wisconsin’s money will be Washington, which will get up to $161 million; Illinois, which will get $42.3 million; and Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and Vermont, which will all get less than $10 million." Tea ...

Posted Thu, Dec 9, 9:27 a.m.

Lincoln, sometimes I don't understand how your mind works! You just got done describing this nice new attractive bus service and how people love it since it has leather seats, and now you say: "Who cares if some people feel that trains are "more attractive to travel on than buses"? ...

Posted Wed, Dec 8, 4:44 p.m.

In the United States, high-speed rail is defined as having a speed above 110 mph (180 km/h) by the United States Federal Railroad Administration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail#Definition_of_high-speed_rail I've been on the Portland-Seattle run about 10 times. I agree that delays are very frustrating, but speed is important to many people, especially business ...

Posted Wed, Dec 8, 1:56 p.m.

Wells, I partially agree with you. It seems the definition of HSR in USA in 110mph, which is modest-speed in the rest of the world. I would be happy with a 110mph talgo here and I think that would serve us very well. I believe that is the plan, and ...

Posted Wed, Dec 8, 11:58 a.m.

Lincoln, read this article: http://www.grist.org/article/2010-10-21-william-lind-makes-the-conservative-case-for-public-transit-but-/ Lind is a rare example of a conservative critical thinker. You could learn much from him, grasshopper.

Posted Wed, Dec 8, 11:49 a.m.

Lincoln, how can you say bus service requires no subsidy? Did our massive freeway system just drop down from some auto heaven? Our petroleum industry is massively subsidized. HSR works rather well in the rest of the world, and it is being expanded everywhere but in the USA. Also, most ...

Posted Tue, Dec 7, 11:09 a.m.

Umbrellagate! Forget umbrellas, we want jetpacks! Take the deep bore tunnel: it will cost 2 billion if we are lucky and carry about 30,000 people. That is about $66,000 per person. Jetpacks are going for around $75,000 right now, but with such a big order, the price would come down. ...

Posted Mon, Dec 6, 12:23 p.m.

Oh come on you playa haters! Alice never advocated using the actual viaduct to create this. I think this is a nice design idea and these elements have a good chance of being incorporated into the design of the new waterfront, seeing that james corner field operations did the high ...

Posted Sun, Dec 5, 1:03 p.m.

A PILOT program applied to religious properties would be an excellent source of revenue, especially from institutions such as Mars Hill, which provides little benefit to society. Also, no property tax is obtained from the land federal and state highways occupy. A PILOT program for these seems reasonable, supported by ...

Posted Sat, Dec 4, 7:34 p.m.

"Re: Wikileaks - In a free society, we are supposed to know the truth. In a society where truth becomes treason, we are in big trouble." -- Ron Paul This is one of the few times I agree with Ron Paul.

Posted Tue, Nov 30, 8:48 a.m.

It is interesting that the less government people want more user fees for government services--except for autos. Why is this? It seems to run against the libertarian philosophy to subsidize a segment of society so much through unrelated property and sales taxes. Cameron, how do explain this inconsistency? Also, it ...

Posted Mon, Nov 22, 11:24 a.m.

The current Republican party strategy is based on getting the lower classes to vote against their own self interests, while maintaining the traditional big business base. They have been successful by handing tax cuts to the rich and simultaneously using 'culture war' issues such as gay marriage and abortion to ...

Posted Mon, Nov 22, 10:54 a.m.

Wow, jabailo. It always astounds me when these conservative, no-government types complain about relaxing or eliminating government regulations. Nice article, Stuart.

Posted Mon, Nov 22, 10:01 a.m.

jabailo, where are your sources for this claim about federal subsidies? Look at http://www.visualeconomics.com/united-states-federal-tax-dollars/ Washington state gets 88 cents in return for every dollar it sends the feds. Look at the top states in that report--all repub red states. Progressives are subsidizing the tea party via federal taxes!

Posted Tue, Nov 9, 10:43 a.m.

Wow, this reads like an obit. Rossi was hindered by his résumé in another way--his livelihood. He has spent recent years running seminars on how to make money off of home foreclosures. He is making his fortune off of the backs of less fortunate Washingtonians who are loosing their homes.

Posted Mon, Nov 1, 1:39 p.m.

I am more interested in why Tony chose this speech to highlight. Was it just a knee jerk reaction to an anti-atheist headline or was there something deeper? I had this same knee jerk reaction when I saw the "God Hates Figs" poster: "Mark 11:12-14 The next day as they ...

Posted Fri, Oct 29, 3:56 p.m.

"I believe the discussion the author intends is one between those who believe that there is an Other - whether Divine or otherwise that is greater than themselves and those who see themselves, either individually or collectively as greater than all others." Hit the nail on the head. This is ...

Posted Fri, Oct 29, 11:38 a.m.

Fantastic comments! It is true some atheists can be considered self-indulgent--I know I am. I really enjoy high-priced bourbon. A sip of a wee dram of Blanton's make me think it was touched by the hand of God. Also, I hate anti-bacterial soap. I believe it is one of the ...

Posted Thu, Oct 28, 1:59 p.m.

This is a bit of a diversion, but interesting: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-e-levine/fundamentalist-consumeris_b_151764.html "While fundamentalist Jews, Christians, and Moslems are singularly attached to their literal interpretations of particular texts, fundamentalist consumerists are singularly attached to cheap stuff. All fundamentalists decry, deny, or ignore the multiple dimensions of life that fall outside their particular ...

Posted Thu, Oct 28, 1:48 p.m.

Well, it seems we are all agreeing today--how boring. I wonder if something did get lost in the Havel translation. The globalism reference make sense to me, but I can't see where atheists play any part. Perhaps if we had lived through the soviet era in eastern Europe it would ...

Posted Thu, Oct 28, 11:27 a.m.

Tony, this is your strangest effort to date. At points when I was reading, I was ROTFLMAO, as the kids say today. To blame atheists for suburban sprawl is just bizarre. To generalize about atheists is a mistake, too, since the only thing they have in common is a non-belief ...

Posted Tue, Oct 26, 4:46 p.m.

The fantastic book, Sons of the Profits, explains much about Seattle. http://www.amazon.com/Sons-Profits-business-Business-1851-1901/dp/0914890069

Posted Tue, Oct 26, 2:34 p.m.

Keith, the difference is that Knute is not arguing that point--the no-1098 people are. It is variant on the Atlas Shrugged theme of "I'll take my ball and go home". Knute is (quite rightly) saying, "go ahead and shrug".

Posted Tue, Oct 26, 2:11 p.m.

For what it is worth, my previous post was not advocating a flat tax, it was just a rhetorical device. I propose we go back to the golden age of America, when the top bracket was 90%

Posted Tue, Oct 26, 11:20 a.m.

BlueLight, you are obfuscating the real issue here, tax rate inequity. How about this alternative--a flat rate income tax. This used to be the darling of the tea partiers. Eliminate all sales and property tax and replace it with a flat rate income tax of 5% (or whatever is roughly ...

Posted Mon, Oct 25, 11:01 a.m.

Oh, I meant Martin!

Posted Mon, Oct 25, 11:01 a.m.

Julian - True, I do not practice Biblical interpretation, but I think I understand what you Mainline Protestants are trying to achieve with it. Also, true, as an annoying agnostic-atheist, I am not interested in starting up a practice. I guess I can also look forward to an eternity in ...

Posted Sun, Oct 24, 10:29 a.m.

Thank you for that thoughtful post, Julian. You give me hope that there are still some reasoned voices amongst the religious. Perhaps what you are saying is that there is a slow, steady progression toward a less literal interpretation of the scared texts. Perhaps someday they will no longer be ...

Posted Sat, Oct 23, 5:05 p.m.

If Balmer decides he is Atlas and "shrugs" (leaves MS and moves out of state) Many, many people, include MS employees will be very, very happy.

Posted Sat, Oct 23, 2:36 p.m.

Um - Martin, I am well aware of your points. Calling my suggestion 'absurd' is in itself an absurd argument. You fail to mention why it is absurd. What YOU may not be aware of is that your moderate churches are acting as apologists for the fundamentalists. Why not come ...

Posted Fri, Oct 22, 2:51 p.m.

Maybe we can sell the pieces of the AWV like they did the Berlin wall and Seattle can make some money that way. McGinn can come out and re-enact Reagan's "Tear Down This Wall" speech.

Posted Fri, Oct 22, 10:59 a.m.

The more I think about this, the more I am amazed that people are defending these passages in Bible and the Torah. With the news out about gay teen suicides and Dan Savage's excellent "It Gets Better" project, it is no wonder the youth are rejecting religion for reasonable humanist ...

Posted Fri, Oct 22, 10:20 a.m.

Wow, I seem to have touch a nerve with my suggestion. Sarah, I find your comment incredibly telling. It tells a lot about the state of some religious people that "dangerous" ideas must be shot down with a personal attack lacking any sort of reasoned argument. Who hands out the ...

Posted Thu, Oct 21, 4:19 p.m.

Benjamin, yes. It seems to me that is a reasonable thing to do. How many moderate Christians believe that Leviticus 18:22 is the word of God? Expunge it.

Posted Thu, Oct 21, 1:57 p.m.

Since we have james corner field operations designing the waterfront, perhaps we can keep a portion of the AWV and turn it into a High Line style park! That way everyone is happy.

Posted Thu, Oct 21, 11:20 a.m.

I have suggested this before, but why doesn't a mainstream, liberal church release a corrected version of the Bible? It seems there is just a lot of hand waving about the difficult parts in the Bible, like Leviticus 18:22. Why is that still in the Bible? Releasing this corrected Bible ...

Posted Wed, Oct 20, 10:52 a.m.

Funny, I was just about to recommend privatizing on street parking! I believe it could be done in a more rational way than in Chicago. Of all the services to privatize, parking would be preferable to police and fire departments--can you imagine how privatized fire and police departments would compete ...

Posted Tue, Oct 12, 3:14 p.m.

Hmmm, this is starting to feel like a simcity discussion group---I like it. knute000, anyone who owns a restaurant is loathe to give up subsidies of any kind. Also, I don't think the peeps willing to drop $100 on dinner are going to miss that extra $5 of parking expense. ...

Posted Tue, Oct 12, 11:02 a.m.

Jas, I obviously do want to discuss this (probably too much)! I freely acknowledge those point in your first paragraph. I don't remember being asked those things. Your point about poor people is a bit strange. Are you proposing they pay the same per captia tax as as rich people? ...

Posted Mon, Oct 11, 4:03 p.m.

Also, it should be pointed out that 99% of auto drivers break the law every time they drive. It is called 'speeding'. Try going the speed limit next time you drive a car.... you will get honked and yelled at. Go the posted 20 mph through a school zone--the auto-nazis ...

Posted Mon, Oct 11, 3:13 p.m.

jmrolls, I don't agree with your conclusions. My comment was a feeble attempt at humor, as evidenced by the Borscht Beltian (rimshot). Also, many in the Carhartt category cannot afford to park cars in the downtown core all day, or even afford cars! Many are taking the bus or train ...

Posted Mon, Oct 11, 2:44 p.m.

I love Austin! I was down there for the SXSW a loong time ago. They had just passed a law banning open containers of alcoholic beverages--big mistake. I saw Morphine play, too. But the summers--oi ve.

Posted Mon, Oct 11, 2:05 p.m.

"What difference does it make if one wears a lab smock or a Carhartt jacket to work?" Answer: about $100,000/year (rimshot)

Posted Mon, Oct 11, 1:15 p.m.

sarah, how about people who cannot afford a car? These people are paying sales and other taxes to build and maintain auto infrastructure that they will not be able to use.

Posted Mon, Oct 11, 11:52 a.m.

I agree with you on the regulations part of your article. I looked into re-starting a neighborhood coffee shop/grocery store, since we live in an old corner store (no longer a store). I would have to put in three, off-street parking spaces and apply for a zoning variance! Who decided ...

Posted Mon, Oct 11, 11:17 a.m.

jas, my evil plot has succeeded! I have you tasseled-loafer wearing, anti-bike, hummer-nazis actually talking about facts now, not just the 'Cyclists don't pay for roads' BS. So you threw out a lot of numbers there... what percentage of the city street system is paid for entirely by auto users? ...

Posted Sun, Oct 10, 8:09 p.m.

Bettybb, the 'They" you talk about are much more insidious that you allude to. The Amero is just the beginning--have you heard about the Trilateral Commission? The Illuminati? The Gnomes of Zürich? (this last group is much more mobile now since the whole, Gnome/Vacation/Postcard trickery). This is why there are ...

Posted Sat, Oct 9, 3:24 p.m.

Mr Baker, it more a question of how much of the road and how often you use it, as well as wear and tear. Also, we should include sidewalks in this equation as well. It is a difficult calculation, but I would estimate over 80% of the system is dedicated ...

Posted Sat, Oct 9, 2:43 p.m.

Lincoln, wherefore art thou, Lincoln? You called me out about: '"the true financing of city streets" is never pointed out. Just the fantasy that streets are financed by property and sales taxes.' I gave you the facts to support my statement, but now your silence is deafening... Also, it is ...

Posted Sat, Oct 9, 11:19 a.m.

Another great one, Knute. I hope you weren't too traumatized by that 'flaccid organ'. Go get out your Jimmy Smith albums. Maybe that is the difference between Protestantism and Catholicism--the Catholic organs are not as flaccid.

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 10:30 p.m.

ba, Excellent idea!

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 9:49 p.m.

ba, Ted and Hubert might have to be on the same team... perhaps a tag team match. They could go up against Knute and Anthony. Canes against REI vintage snowshoe and crucifix? PIMM's Royal served all around. Hold the match in one of those new green painted bike boxes on ...

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 3:51 p.m.

boeingbabe, it is a date! You don't have too long to wait. Also, they do make nice electric assist bikes now. bayshore, here is the breakdown of SDOT street financing: Grants & Other: $96.9 (29 percent) Debt: $77.4 (23 percent) Bridging the Gap (a property-tax levy passed by voters in ...

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 3:08 p.m.

Arguably a city like Vancouver BC is much better suited to the elderly. Walkable, bike-able, with top notch public transport and mixed use, "old style" neighborhoods with corner stores, etc. Vancouver is much farther along the path of de-emphasizing auto traffic than Seattle. Many elderly are beyond the point of ...

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 2:38 p.m.

Also Lincoln, the city streets are property that we all own--no one ever paid for them, they are the peoples land (admittedly stolen from the First Nation's peoples). Why should this valuable property--28% of Seattle's land, be entirely dedicated to the automobile?

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 2:31 p.m.

Lincoln, Publicola did a good job of ferreting out the details: http://www.publicola.net/2010/08/31/we-all-pay-for-the-roads/

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 1:50 p.m.

Mannix, I was just trying to be funny with the hate speech thing, considering Hubert is African -American (at least that is what google tells me). I guess hate speech humor is a little advanced for auto-nazis! BTW, My back is acting up, so I am actively cane-shopping. It is ...

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 10:51 a.m.

fgruben, you have exactly proven my point! Almost all city street funding is from property and sales tax. Why should the entire city street system be devoted to automobiles when we are all paying for it--not just car owners. FYI: I own two bikes, two cars, and two houses. I ...

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 10:27 a.m.

Hubert, just read animalal's comment and you see the kind of hate-filled trash you are inspiring.

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 10:21 a.m.

Hubert, what is happening to our level of civil discourse that you, a citizen of high education, part of the creme de la creme of intellectual training, would stoop to such inaccurate, whiny, anger filled, borderline hate speech? As a writing exercise to help you improve, in your article substitute ...

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 9:55 a.m.

Rats! You have convinced me to become a member. :)

Posted Tue, Oct 5, 2:38 p.m.

Ack, I only got 12 out of 15! I am an atheist. I am all for having comparative religion classes at the high school level. The difficult task would be figuring out what and how to teach, including a balanced curriculum and history. I am fascinated with the history of ...

Posted Fri, Oct 1, 2 p.m.

Knute, fine article! I agree with NickBob, though, that you should give Bertolet another look instead of relying on your Watsonian lesser Seattleism (which, I admit, is appealing). My take on HugeAssCity is that they are (were?) advocating a strict trade off of greater density for more public amenities and ...

Posted Fri, Oct 1, 1:41 p.m.

I agree the 80/20 rule seems outdated and irrational. To partially solve the funding gap, the sales tax exemption on motor fuels could be removed. Also, the government is currently subsidizing auto travel at the rate of about $1 per gallon of gas (this figure does not include the government ...

Posted Thu, Sep 30, 1:25 p.m.

Lincoln, why not tack on $1.00 to the federal gas tax so motorists pay the costs they necessitate? Read this and learn a bit about statistics: http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/18/hurray-for-high-gas-prices/ Hoisted by your own petard! p.s. Many people do not know about the other bailout--that of the federal highway trust fund: http://www.gop.gov/bill/111/1/hr3357

Posted Wed, Sep 29, 1:46 p.m.

pepper, the 9/11 pentagon target speaks to the military presence in Saudi Arabia, but the Twin Towers target symbolism seems aimed at secularist, capitalist part of American society. This is just my opinion, however. The French point is interesting and prompted me to read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_law_on_secularity_and_conspicuous_religious_symbols_in_schools and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La%C3%AFcit%C3%A9 It is ...

Posted Wed, Sep 29, 10:49 a.m.

Why is secularism a threat to religion? Secularists rarely want to eliminate religion, they just want keep religion from having a political influence over our lives. The 'fight against secularism' was a primary motivation of the 9/11 terrorists.

Posted Wed, Sep 29, 8:57 a.m.

It would be constructive if the world religions would expunge the intolerant passages from their respective holy books. It seems strange to hear liberal clergy preach tolerance when the Bible, Qu’ran, and other holy books say the opposite. These texts come down quite clearly on the side of the Gainesville ...

Posted Mon, Sep 27, 2:23 p.m.

Right on the nose, crossrip! People are letting their love or hate of the tunnel get in the way of the facts. Do we really want to tear down the city charter just to 'get things done' ? Where do we stop with that kind of argument? What is the ...

Posted Sun, Sep 26, 1:21 p.m.

Oh, I went to Western. Go Vikings! I do work with some engineers from Evergreen doing bioinformatics and they are better at math than me and benmc. Go Slugs!

Posted Sun, Sep 26, 1:14 p.m.

benmc, that is ok. It is a very common misconception that once you get to $200,000 you suddenly pay $10,000. I do pretty well with basic arithmetic, it was the calculus and linear algebra that caused me a few problems in school. ;) I did read 'Atlas Shrugged' when I ...

Posted Sat, Sep 25, 7:08 p.m.

keith, eisphorá and liturgies are widely regarded as the beginning of progressive income taxation, and the birth of the concept that the rich have greatly benefited from society and should contribute back in the form of taxes. Almost all modern democracies now have progressive income taxes. Washington state currently has ...

Posted Sat, Sep 25, 6:19 p.m.

benmc, your state tax numbers in your 'editor's pick' comment are incorrect. Can you show how you came up with them? Maybe the money from the new tax will send benmc and the crosscut editor back to remedial arithmetic class.

Posted Fri, Sep 24, 4:12 p.m.

Let's be clear about this proposed tax. It is on the income over $400,000 (per couple). If a couple makes $400,000 income in a year, they pay no tax. Many people do not get this point. About grand dad passing away and grandma becoming a high earner, wouldn't that be ...

Posted Fri, Sep 24, 2:50 p.m.

Keith, I have read Runstad very carefully and she is riddled with factual errors that no one including Runstad is responding to. The main thrust of her article is the slippery slope logical fallacy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope. What we are voting on is a progressive state income tax. This concept was invented ...

Posted Fri, Sep 24, 11:36 a.m.

Interesting that Judith writes "(experts disagree as to whether it would befourth or fifth, but the point is that we would be starting out in the top 10 percent of income tax states)." Which experts? This rationally explains how the tax would rank--with references: http://washingtonpolicywatch.org/2010/06/28/chart-of-the-week-initiative-1098-effective-tax-rates-are-lower-than-most/

Posted Fri, Sep 24, 10:41 a.m.

Judith M. Runstad is a leading banking and real estate attorney.

Posted Fri, Sep 24, 10:36 a.m.

Wow, this article makes the no on I-1098 people look really unprepared and ill-informed. The article says Judith M. Runstad is a 'leading attorney'. Leading in what?

Posted Fri, Sep 24, 8:52 a.m.

This is a good read: http://www.northwesthub.org/east-link-lawsuit crossrip, you still have not addressed the issue of the federal funds (~90% of the total cost) and the agreement that the center lanes were built for transit, not highway purposes. Also, the highway purposes provision can be broadened, as it was for park ...

Posted Thu, Sep 23, 2:29 p.m.

It is very simple, crossrip. Some of the fed money pays for the mass transit part, all the state money pays for the auto part. This, I predict, is what the judge will rule. If you reread your comments, you will see you are neglecting this fact.

Posted Thu, Sep 23, 1:57 p.m.

Oh boy, this is fantastic! crossrip and Lincoln together! Separated at birth? First, crossrip: I am pretty sure our state 18th amendment only applies to state gas tax--not federal, since the feds routinely fund mass transit through the gas tax funded federal highway trust fund (btw, the fed highway trust ...

Posted Thu, Sep 23, 8:30 a.m.

On a related note; why are auto fuels exempt from the city and state sales tax?

Posted Fri, Sep 17, 3:01 p.m.

All this private sector talk seems strange... When was the last private sector freeway around here? If you really want to save money, de-socialize car parking and the freeway system.

Posted Fri, Sep 17, 2:59 p.m.

I love Tacoma and I am a Seattleite. I took a day off work on a Friday, packed up the family, took the Link to King street, Amtrak to Tacoma, the Tacoma Link downtown, the Sounder back to Seattle, light rail back home. Fantastic trip. Tacoma seems to have preserved ...

Posted Fri, Sep 17, 10:51 a.m.

Please, someone supply cheese made from Orcinus orca milk. How northwest would that be?

Posted Fri, Sep 17, 10:39 a.m.

Thanks for this article, Knute. One of my favorite, surreal, memories for my year living in Japan was the night we climbed Mt. Fuji. From Tokyo, we took three trains and a bus that dropped us off at the trail head. This trip would have taken much longer by car. ...

Posted Tue, Aug 31, 4:14 p.m.

Just for reference, Frankfurt is about the same size as Seattle. We should have a system comparable to theirs by now: http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/ffm/frankfrt.htm Nice bike lanes too: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2009/09/bike-lanes-in-saxony/ If you do travel around the world, you see that USA is being leap-frogged, mainly because of our dependence on teh auto and ...

Posted Tue, Aug 31, 4:04 p.m.

Ok Lincoln, you are correct about the avg occupancy of an auto. Turns out I was looking at the UK figures initially --oops. My big concern with your initial comment was the comparison of the capacity of the road with the volume of light rail. Looks like you are comparing ...

Posted Tue, Aug 31, 11:38 a.m.

Lincoln, Well, thank you for changing your numbers! Try rereading your first comment. There is more you need to correct in your capacity comparison. You claim that a 3 lane road has more capacity than a light rail line. Do you believe that? Also, http://tmip.fhwa.dot.gov/resources/clearinghouse/docs/mvrcm/ch5.htm Two things here, the rate ...

Posted Tue, Aug 31, 9 a.m.

Lincoln, I reviewed your previous comments and most of them suffer from the same problems, summed up nicely here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misuse_of_statistics I was surprised when you even went after Ichiro using the statistical fallacy. The question remains unanswered; are you ignorant, stupid, or deceitful?

Posted Tue, Aug 31, 8:40 a.m.

Funny Lincoln, comparing theoretical road capacity with actual light rail ridership. Even you must know this is an apples and oranges comparison. Are you ignorant or just trying to deceive us? Why don't you look up the theoretical capacity of light rail with four car train sets and minimal head ...

Posted Mon, Aug 23, 2:40 p.m.

The hill thing is not a problem. I don't know who made that up--not a bike rider. People can always walk their bikes up hills if need be. The bike shuttle thing up hills sounds nice, but it ends up taking too much time to wait for the shuttle. The ...

Posted Mon, Aug 23, 2:21 p.m.

inplainair: #7 in your article is fantastic! 7. Eliminate Walk Buttons at Traffic Signals Except for buttons that stop traffic immediately, walk buttons at traffic signals should be removed. A walk button that ‘allows’ pedestrians to cross at the next green light is an insulting example of current auto primacy. ...

Posted Mon, Aug 23, 2:11 p.m.

Interesting that the anti-bike arguments contain logical fallacies, claims unsupported by evidence, outright lies, and basic fear mongering. Whether you agree with it or not, the article itself seems pretty well reasoned. If the anti-bike crowd would make more reasoned, truth-based arguments, you would be taken more seriously.

Posted Wed, Aug 18, 2:59 p.m.

Why do you ignore the real reason for the road diets--safety. Every time a road diet has been put in, the traffic flow is not hindered and safety is much improved. The road diets are primarily for pedestrian safety, not bikes.

Posted Tue, Aug 17, 10:46 a.m.

It is interesting that so much of religious discussion is on how to make (or hold on to) money and property. Mars hill and their ilk are blatant, money making businesses--tax free I might add. Liberal churches seem to be losing ground since the liberal, well educated populous are "graduating" ...

Posted Tue, Aug 17, 10:02 a.m.

Spock, this is the most rational, intelligent idea I have seen. A $4 toll on the existing viaduct would tell us very quickly how much actual demand there is. Also, it could pay for some transit improvements. Why not?

Posted Wed, Jul 28, 5:02 p.m.

I should also point out that religion is a result of evolution. Humans have such an intense desire to make sense of the world that when there are questions that cannot be answered, we begin to make things up. This is why god is no longer in charge of thunder ...

Posted Wed, Jul 28, 4:51 p.m.

It is interesting that we are asked to take on faith the premise that religion provides a moral compass. Is there any evidence for this? The moral compass the human race possesses is a result of evolution. We have been selected to get along as a team in order to ...

Posted Wed, Jul 28, 4:22 p.m.

The vanity circus of dbreneman's need to bypass seattle via a tunnel is pretty damned irrelevant to me. The "Just get on with it!" line is pretty strange. I think you might get cut from the high school debate time with that line of "reasoning"

Posted Wed, Jul 28, 4 p.m.

Why are we letting the Discovery Institute run Seattle? It is just the weirdest thing ever. At the risk of restating the obvious: Discovery Institute brought us "intelligent Design" http://www.intelligentdesign.org/ Cascadia Center is a division of Discovery Institute http://www.cascadiacenter.org/ Cascadia Center gave us the deep bore tunnel idea. Do we ...

Posted Wed, Jul 28, 2:26 p.m.

Oh, and the tunnel only carries 40,000 out of the current 110,000 cars a day. Oh, but that figure does not include the ~$7.00 round trip toll, which will force many of that 40,000 onto the city streets.

Posted Wed, Jul 28, 2:15 p.m.

Right on crossrip. It would be nice if the public discourse would be about the facts. The issue has been "studied to death" and the Surface/I-5 option was recommended. The deep bore tunnel + sea wall + transit was an "intelligent design" that was somehow "agreed upon" and we must ...

Posted Wed, Jul 28, 11:48 a.m.

The term F.U.D. is usually used when there actually is no fear, uncertainty or doubt. F.U.D. is used to create doubt when there normally would not be any. Are you saying there is no reason to have any real fear, uncertainty or doubt about the deep bore tunnel?

Posted Tue, Jul 20, 11:58 a.m.

What is the problem with restaurants in the park? There are some in Central Park, which was designed by Olmsted. Maybe a restaurant for dogs would be appropriate. Also one for soccer moms.

Posted Wed, May 5, 11:24 a.m.

This is a very interesting article. I especially agree with the rhythm of the street front argument. The danger of trying to replicate the past, however, is that we will end up with a movie set, Disneyland environment. Sometimes the contrast of a new, well designed building against the old ...

Posted Fri, Apr 30, 1:49 p.m.

Hmmm, let's see what the bible says about the treatment of women....

Posted Mon, Apr 26, 10:18 a.m.

How about a Seattle income tax to fund Light Rail expansion?

Posted Thu, Apr 22, 5:23 p.m.

Back to the point of Ted's piece, spending priorities and Mayor McGinn's part in this area, we must remember that he is mayor of Seattle, and is promoting Seattle's best interests. He, and rail transport, enjoy the support of the majority of voters in Seattle. The last thing Seattelites want ...

Posted Wed, Apr 21, 2:56 p.m.

What is the fare recovery on the 520 bridge? Looks like the estimated cost of the new bridge is around $5 billion (this will, no doubt be much higher). Tolling will bring in maybe around $1 billion, so, 20%. I-90 is free, so the fare recovery is zero, just like ...

Posted Tue, Apr 20, 2:28 p.m.

The answer to our transportation problem is so obvious, and it is right before our eyes--the Cunnel (canal-tunnel). First we tear down the viaduct and replace it with an attractive canal. This has the added benefit of negating the need to replace the seawall. Next, a deep bore Cunnel from ...

Posted Tue, Apr 20, 1:57 p.m.

Excellent comments, smacgry and R. Why don't Balmer and other Microsoft people understand about scaling. If you think about transportation systems in terms of computer network design, a system involving only roads will never scale. Even with van pools, it will just never work. Another odd thing about this article ...

Posted Fri, Apr 9, 6:10 p.m.

Yes, those "god" phrases can be just figures of speech, but usually they are used when someone gets hit by a bus, or gets cancer--seemingly random events. Yes, my objection still stands. The issues here involve mental illness, abuse of power, and institutional corruption. These are hardly random events.

Posted Fri, Apr 9, 2:36 p.m.

Anthony writes: 'there are two basic ways we can respond. We can say, "Thank God I am not like him/them." Or, we can say, "There but for the grace of God go I."' This false choice precludes many rational responses. Do we really believe some god is up there choosing ...

Posted Fri, Mar 5, 11:04 a.m.

Emmett Watson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Watson) was much more entertaining with this type of rant. The whole curmudgeon shtick should not be taken lightly or you will just be that old man down the road shaking his fist at the kids riding their bike on his lawn. Also, doesn't Mayor McGinn still ride ...

Posted Tue, Feb 16, 11 a.m.

It is interesting that there is a transit project that would fit perfectly into Ted's article. It has all the aspects he is looking for; Back room politics, public and private sector big shots, a cast of shadowy characters and conspiracy theories (Discovery Institute, Cascadia Institute, Gates Foundation, Port of ...

Posted Mon, Feb 15, 4:30 p.m.

So 'crossrip', I looked up the st2 ballot measure and it seems pretty clear what the taxes would be: http://your.kingcounty.gov/elections/contests/measureinfo.aspx?cid=31890&eid;=1226 You say 'It is clear in retrospect that people were not presented with the truth about the excessive tax costs...' How do you justify that statement? I have found that ...

Posted Mon, Feb 15, 3:51 p.m.

What a bizarre response to my simple question. How do you know from my comment that I am indeed a supporter of light rail? When did I 'chose to speak out in favor of that government' ? I was interested in the answer from a critical thinking standpoint, since it ...

Posted Mon, Feb 15, 11:36 a.m.

Ted, I was enjoying you writing until you started in on the light rail again. There have been two elections for light rail and they both passed handily. If Mayor McGinn's proposed Seattle light rail expansion goes forward, it will also have to pass a vote of the people. How ...

Posted Tue, Feb 2, 2:21 p.m.

Jordan, I agree with much of what you say. A working waterfront is much more interesting and beneficial to Seattle than a disneyland style, tourist trap design. What would the Seattle bypass tunnel do to help achieve this? On the south end, most if not all port traffic goes directly ...

Posted Thu, Jan 21, 3:03 p.m.

1) If the current viaduct is so dangerous, why pursue the only plan that will keep it in place for 10 more years? What happened to the governor's pledge to have it torn down by 2012? 2) Also, where did these traffic numbers and percentage of "through-traffic" come from and ...

Posted Mon, Jan 18, 2:18 p.m.

Paul expresses his support of the institution of human slavery by instructing slaves to obey their masters in several passages, Ephesians 6:5, I Timothy 6:1 and again in Titus 2:9-10. It really is better to leave religion out of this day. Please.

Posted Mon, Jan 18, 2:02 p.m.

Why is mentioning Pat Robertson gratuitous? Who says it has no place in this discussion? You? Your version of religion? This is the problem with religion in the public square--you get dictates like this with not even a nod toward critical thinking. "Oh, his religion is not the real one--mine ...

Posted Fri, Jan 15, 2:50 p.m.

Anthony, I see you have committed the common fallacy of equating morality with religion, when in fact they are usually mutually exclusive. In light of the recent news (Pat Robertson), I should think you Christianists would be laying low these days... The beauty of Martin Luther King Jr. is that ...