Posted Fri, Sep 2, 9:45 a.m.

Please don't forget that this is first and foremost, historically, a port. In all this grand museum-like vision, people and their cars still need to get around---and you seem to be glorifying a traffic jam: ".... four lanes of slow traffic, stopping at most intersections.... a rather constricted main walkway ...

Posted Wed, Jun 15, 10:35 a.m.

Signs are cool, and they are part and parcel of any urban landscaped. Get your noses out of the air, please. Nixing the Russell sign was a great way to say, bring your business here, but don't expect us to honor our commitment to your making it work here. If ...

Posted Tue, May 24, 9:45 a.m.

Geez, Cameron, read the article. That quote of Kohl-Welles was in support of the legislation. And working in a casino or a cigar lounge certainly isn't the last job on earth; the nanny-state need not treat it as if it were...

Posted Fri, Jul 30, 12:06 p.m.

A public vote that has no legal meaning will not resolve anything. The first stadium vote, because it was binding on King County, at least forced the legislature -- elected officials -- to defy voters as they moved forward with Safeco Field. That decision many legislators have since regretted, not ...

Posted Tue, Jul 20, 11:13 a.m.

Possibly the worst travesty perpetrated by the Seattle Parks Department and included at Magnuson is the calling of recycled tire wastelands 'playfields' suitable for use in parks... The Seattle Parks Department needs to revisit the dictionary....

Posted Tue, Sep 1, 10:34 a.m.

Why were you surprised that Team Nickels lost? Had you no dealings with the Nickels administration? The taxicab industry is a great example. Despite overwhelming opposition -- legitimate concern -- from the taxicab industry, the Nickels admininistration rammed through a regulatory agenda -- hardly listening, much less seeking reasonable compromise. ...

Posted Tue, Aug 25, 12:11 p.m.

"...he must have felt that his true constituents were those residing within his power pyramid, and not the rest of us....something had to be done." There's truth in this--out of sheer frustration in trying to deal with (appointed) city staff, the city-regulated taxicab industry spent heavily on Drago in the ...

Posted Wed, Aug 12, 5:42 p.m.

"dragged down by the general weariness with Nickels' service-the-insiders approach to government" this would be more accurate if 'service-the-insiders' read, 'pander to the bureaucrats on the city payroll and stonewall the rest of us'. You imply that this Executive Administration listens to somebody outside government, and that, at least in ...

Posted Mon, Jul 27, 2:48 p.m.

Agree with Ivan's sentiment, plus some. Saying a streetcar on First Avenue is a viable alternative for Hwy 99 traffic -- this is a current surface transit option -- is truly telling people to go piss up a rope, both local and through traffic. That's why business owners on First ...

Posted Fri, Jun 19, 8:24 a.m.

Wasn't John Calvin the preacher who had beheaded those who wandered through his Swiss village preaching any other faith? Not exactly a redeeming redemptionist.

Posted Mon, Jun 15, 8:13 a.m.

Excuse me, but did you forget Tim Eyman? In order to pass a tax increase in the Washington State Legislature, you need a 66.6% majority. Can you show us how Governor Gregoire or the legislative leadership of Brown & Chopp et al could have come up with that? This comparison ...

Posted Thu, May 14, 4:51 p.m.

Just think of all that bus money sunk under Beacon Hill and now Capitol Hill...Sound Transit, how about some advocacy for the transit system people actually use...?

Posted Mon, May 11, 10:07 p.m.

The State Auditor's office audited the ferries. Their suggestions for cutting ferry runs were simply not practical---cut runs that were, in effect, in the middle of the day or at other times that did not effectively reduce payroll costs. In other words, the improved performance would have had people and ...

Posted Mon, May 11, 11:19 a.m.

Now that's tellin' trash like it is, Jean. And Charlie, you forget to mention your own exalted position as a member of the West Sound media elite. But the most telling thing left out of this royal Mayoral debate over how to make cities cute and pretty is Mayor Bozeman's ...

Posted Fri, May 1, 12:31 p.m.

Be careful what you wish for. With all due respect, Cary Bozeman's vision for transforming Bremerton included public funding of a NASCAR racetrack---as one of the posters has already noted with reference to Mayor Bozeman's other visions, it was an idea not exactly supported by the neighborhood in which it ...

Posted Mon, Mar 2, 9:10 a.m.

Great common sense, uniquely Seattle solution. Truly more transit now!!! On trolley connections slipping off wires, if we can send people to the moon, surely we can design no-slip-off-wire trolleys....

Posted Fri, Jan 2, 12:46 p.m.

As is noted in previous posts, the gas tax does exactly the same thing, and has a built-in incentive for fuel efficient vehicles. And the mileage based system--besides being overly complex--would become a minefield of necessary exceptions--not unlike the federal income tax code, which we all just love. For example, ...

Posted Tue, Dec 9, 9:08 a.m.

You get what you vote for. Both were re-elected, weren't they?

Posted Wed, Dec 3, 11:22 a.m.

A few days into voting (remember, the booth is open for twenty days or so) Obama's victory--across the country--began to look plausible--at least, predicted by the pundits--as his message of 'hope' caught on, and he steadily pulled up in the polls. A challenger had to be able, as did Obama, ...

Posted Fri, Nov 28, 11:06 a.m.

Mr Baker, please don't let fact interfere with fantasy. KeyArena has 'sold out' any number of times for major acts, including Al Gore. And Barack Obama. Not to speak of still being one of the best venues in the NBA to actually watch basketball. Just because it is not being ...

Posted Tue, Nov 18, 12:01 p.m.

As a dot.com veteran, I know personally how difficult it is to translate readership and traffic into revenue. For me, your aggregation of local news articles, and the more in-depth articles that you write, on local issues, are most appreciated. And yes, I do appreciate the occassional insight of my ...

Posted Fri, Oct 24, 11:33 a.m.

This levy authorizes about $10.7 million for artificial turf--about 15% of the total funds--to fix just four playfields with a substance that has raised significant controversy across the country. In the summertime, the fields get so hot you cannot walk on them barefoot. A two year old who fell on ...

Posted Sat, Aug 30, 2 p.m.

Great diversionary tactic: "She pronounces, I noticed, nuclear as "nucular," same as President Bush after eight years in the White House." Them of us who grew up in the west---in sight of the nukes at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, the reactors at Hanford, the subs at Bangor, and ...

Posted Sat, Aug 2, 10:46 a.m.

Legislation Misrepresents Industry: There are about 617 taxicab license owners in Seattle and King County. Most are owner/operators; a few own more than two taxicabs. Councilmember Godden's comments, however well intentioned, mischaracterize the industry, how it operates, and the solution---having the City of Seattle take control of the industry and ...

Posted Sun, Jun 22, 11:54 a.m.

You are ingnoring history....: Your analysis is great, except you forgot the role that history and elections are playing here. The voters are wise to our political leaders' desire for development based on bogus economics; if they didn't understand, the examples of Qwest and Safeco are glaring historic examples of ...

Posted Tue, Mar 11, 12:36 p.m.

Clarification on Taxes Asked for By Sonics: The Sonics are asking for the restaurant tax -- not necessarily paid for by visitors -- that funded a major portion of Safeco Field. The tax is being collected ahead of schedule--the Safeco Field bonds will pay off early, and the tax will ...

Posted Fri, Feb 22, 8:33 a.m.

Anything is possible....: The guy with the borrowed gorilla suit takes guidance from his kids on this one, and their primary concern with respect to Seattle Center is saving the Fun Forest. Take the hint, Sonics.

Posted Sun, Dec 16, 6:47 a.m.

Jim Ellis success has mitigated the need....: "Ellis' skill at assembling a wide coalition (environmentalists, sports-stadium advocates, parks and neighborhood groups, and business leaders) is almost unimaginable today." Actually, it is imaginable---the opposition to Prop 1 assembled all of these groups except substituting anti-stadium folks for stadium advocates. And one ...