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Crosscut highlights

NIMBYs of the fighting Southeast!

Posted Wed, Oct 15, 2 a.m.

How an obsessed faction of residents drives the politics of an entire Seattle neighborhood.

READ MORE 22 COMMENTS

Neighborhood blogs: the mom-and-pop news business

Posted Thu, Jun 5, 5 a.m.

Running on passion, ground-level media outlets have a business model that's still evolving — or no business model at all.

READ MORE 4 COMMENTS

Seattle Process demystified: an introduction to neighborhood planning

Posted Fri, Apr 18, 5 a.m.

Chapter 1: It's been almost a decade since 38 neighborhood plans were adopted by the City Council. The process is about to begin anew. Today Crosscut begins a series of articles looking at the bureaucracy and the process. Consider it a primer for you and your neighbors — and a call to action.

READ MORE 6 COMMENTS

Crosscut most recent

Recession, wrecking balls, and history

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 6 a.m.

The new year will be challenging for historic preservation in Seattle, but there are great opportunities and new initiatives ahead, too. Here's a breakdown of six front-burner issues for 2009. First of 2 parts

READ MORE 5 COMMENTS

Seattle school closure plan, due Tuesday, still doesn't add up

Posted Mon, Jan 5, 6 a.m.

The savings are small, and the closures seem arbitrary, but still the sense of panic over a budget gap is driving the plan.

READ MORE 11 COMMENTS

2008: Year of Hope, Year of Fear. Essay 12

Posted Sun, Jan 4, 1:20 p.m.

Yes, we can. Will we?

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If you convene citizens, listen to them

Posted Fri, Jan 2, 6 a.m.

Too often, convening them is mostly to appease or garner support. The Viaduct stakeholders, told to go away, instead have pushed for a hybrid solution with a tunnel. Fortunately the politicians are now listening.

READ MORE 3 COMMENTS

Can Seattle be a Slow City?

Posted Wed, Dec 24, 6 a.m.

An international movement to change the ethic of growing cities seems right for the Northwest. But we'd have to check the boom-town impulses embedded both in our growth economy and our frontier DNA.

READ MORE 14 COMMENTS

School closures: let's get more cards on the table

Posted Thu, Dec 18, 12:36 p.m.

It's become a trade off between cutting staff positions and building closures. The teachers' union quietly comes out for closures, but we still don't know enough about the options to judge well.

READ MORE 3 COMMENTS

Battle on the Bellingham waterfront

Posted Thu, Dec 18, 6 a.m.

Seattle's not the only city tied in knots over its waterfront planning. Intramural squabbles beset Bellingham's waterfront vision, too. It could be a new seaside community. Or not.

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Closing schools: blaming the victims

Posted Thu, Dec 11, 6 a.m.

A lot of the rationales for closing Seattle school buildings don't hold up. Often the reason for closing the school is the choice of the district to neglect that very school.

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Seattle neighborhoods need more, not fewer, schools

Posted Fri, Dec 5, 10 a.m.

Parents love Seattle's K-8 schools, so here's how to have fewer closures and create new neighborhood elementary schools.

READ MORE 1 COMMENTS

Seattle's school closure proposal is a really dumb way to make policy

Posted Wed, Nov 26, 10:17 a.m.

It puts school closures ahead of much more important policy decisions, and it is a poor way to solve budget problems.

READ MORE 15 COMMENTS

Seattle's misguided gun ban

Posted Mon, Nov 17, 6 a.m.

Mayor Greg Nickels plans to defy state law with a gun ban that is worse than an empty gesture: It puts law-abiding citizens at greater risk.

READ MORE 34 COMMENTS

Seattle, it's lonely at the top of the real estate market

Posted Wed, Oct 29, midnight

Does rating higher than the rest of the country really make Seattle the top real estate market?

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The politics of the parks levy

Posted Fri, Oct 24, midnight

Why didn't the Seattle mayor and the City Council get together on Proposition 2? Welcome to the politics of special levies and the artful shaping of each year's big ask.

READ MORE 11 COMMENTS

Pike Place 'Shopping Center'

Posted Wed, Oct 22, midnight

Critics of Seattle's Pike Place Market ballot measure think the Market should be ruled by the market.

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'Zero net energy' homes: an experiment in Issaquah

Posted Wed, Oct 8, 2 a.m.

A Seattle-area developer and local governments have teamed up to build townhouses that, in theory, will give back more energy than they use. Will that work? It will depend in part on who lives in them.

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How light rail drives Seattle neighborhood planning

Posted Thu, Oct 2, 4 a.m.

Chapter 6: After a year of discussion on updating neighborhood plans, the City of Seattle saw the light. That would be the approaching beam of light rail in the first three neighborhoods.

READ MORE 3 COMMENTS

A city of memory

Posted Fri, Sep 26, 4 a.m.

Seattle has undergone stunning changes. But what is sometimes more remarkable is what hasn't changed.

READ MORE 6 COMMENTS

Spokane: what Seattle used to be

Posted Fri, Sep 19, 4 a.m.

Mossback becomes enamored with a city he once regarded with disdain and considers what it would be like to move there. It reminds him of pre-1970s Seattle, before the yuppies ruined it.

READ MORE 19 COMMENTS

Creating 'people places'

Posted Thu, Sep 11, 3 a.m.

An architect and former City Council member argues for compact urban design, but not at the expense of livability. Density doesn't have to be a dirty word.

READ MORE 6 COMMENTS

Chop, chop

Posted Tue, Sep 9, 11 p.m.

As Mayor Greg Nickels moves to close a tree-cutting "loophole," it's time for a complete rethink of Seattle's rules and regulations regarding trees. And we better act fast.

READ MORE 13 COMMENTS

Other media

Being 'American' no longer means being white As the U.S. becomes demographically and culturally more diverse, and minority ethnicities eventually outnumber whites, the very definition of "American" will change.

In early-morning standoff Seattle police shoot and kill an apparent neo-Nazi Police responded to call about five men, armed and dressed in Nazi-style uniforms, firing shots in a University Heights neighborhood.

Edith Macefield, the Ballard woman who wouldn't sell her tiny house, lived quite a life She held out against the condo-builders and died at age 86. It turns out she wrote a long book and cared more about keeping her house than taking a stand to protect old Ballard.

How snow days increase 'social capital' They bring neighbors together, but they can also make walkability much harder if the sidewalks are a mess. Elisa Murray explains.

Danny Westneat: Inspiring words for a snowy Christmas: Show up The corner grocer is open, despite all the snow, purveying goods, good advice, and the American dream.

Blog posts

Mayor Dynamite

Posted Fri, Dec 26, noon 2008

Greg Nickels got Northgate development unstuck by blowing up the entrenched sides. But is that the best way to make friends? Or to clear icy streets?

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Will your school be there next year?

Posted Wed, Dec 10, 5:22 p.m. 2008

A Montlake mom tries to follow the school district's bouncing balls.

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Careful which schools you close

Posted Wed, Dec 3, 8:54 p.m. 2008

If it's in a neighborhood with lots of renters, many of those families and schoolchildren will quickly leave.

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Closing the open season on trees

Posted Tue, Dec 2, 8:54 p.m. 2008

Seattle considers new, and over-due, limits of tree-cutting on private property.

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As the city grows alarmed at gang shootings, the Police cite soothing statistics

Posted Fri, Nov 28, 7:40 a.m. 2008

Also, there's a new initiative and the SPD promises to work more closely with other departments. Please stop worrying.

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Washington Hall and Nuke Building updates

Posted Tue, Nov 18, 10:53 p.m. 2008

There's progress to report on efforts to save two Seattle landmarks.

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Development that's pro-density and pro-history

Posted Mon, Nov 17, 8:30 p.m. 2008

A Rust Belt city offers a look at historic preservation, egalitarianism and the wrecking ball.

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Election night, Whidbey Island style

Posted Tue, Nov 4, 8:11 p.m. 2008

Democrats had reason to celebrate tonight, unlike four years ago.

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Seattle voting: not like France

Posted Tue, Nov 4, 12:47 p.m. 2008

A visitor remarks on our odd democratic ways.

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Ballard natives for Rossi, and other signs of the times

Posted Tue, Nov 4, 11:40 a.m. 2008

Change taking place in one Seattle neighborhood, as seen on election day.

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