Matt Fikse-Verkerk

A regular contributor to Crosscut.

Bio:
Writer Matt Fikse-Verkerk covers urban affairs, politics, and business and is a consultant, former CEO, and past Special Projects Director for the Mayor of Seattle. Twitter: @mattfikse [Note: Crosscut does not make endorsements, but individual writers may provided that disclosure is made. In the 2013 elections, the writer had endorsed Burgess for Mayor (Seattle) and is making no further endorsements.]

Website: http://www.mattfikse.com/

Active since February 2009

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Stories by Matt Fikse-Verkerk

Matt Fikse-Verkerk's comments

Police reform requires leadership in the department

Posted Tue, Jan 17, 12:23 p.m.

Here's additional information for those interested: the most recent 3 reports from the OPA Auditor (links below) http://www.seattle.gov/police/OPA/Docs/Auditor/Auditor_Report_July_Nov_2010.pdf http://www.seattle.gov/police/OPA/Docs/Auditor/Auditor_Report_Dec_10_May_11.pdf http://www.seattle.gov/police/OPA/Docs/Auditor/Auditor_Report_June_Nov_2011.pdf

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The Tunnel: An earth-moving election for Seattle

Posted Tue, Aug 16, 11:20 p.m.

Smart take, Knute. Challenges ahead - now to laser in on them and figure them out. Watching the project like a hawk is an important piece, of course, but finding a way to knit together the many project fragments to make the end result soar (in a way that Westlake ...

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A Seattle resident's pilgrimage to the Midwest

Posted Tue, Aug 16, 7:42 a.m.

What a great piece this is! Evocative and descriptive all at once - great fun to read. And savory. KC has always been a remarkable surprise to folks from parts Coastal; it's a gem of place in so many ways and always struck as a place much more complex than ...

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After the mayoral debate, an early prediction

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

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

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After the mayoral debate, an early prediction

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

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

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Sharrows are a sham solution for bike lanes

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

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

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Morph Seattle trolleys into a new Green Line

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

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

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Morph Seattle trolleys into a new Green Line

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

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

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Morph Seattle trolleys into a new Green Line

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

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

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The State of the City speech Mayor Nickels should have delivered

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

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

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The tunnel solution for the Viaduct is too risky

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

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

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