What I liked about this election
Posted Mon, Nov 2, 6 a.m.
Ten encouraging developments, plus four little worries. It only seemed like an inconsequential election season, but the omens were quite good for life after Nickels.
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Port of Seattle
Crosscut most recent
Seattle, toward a 'MetroNation'
Posted Thu, Oct 15, 6 a.m.
Brookings' Bruce Katz argues in a UW talk that this "metro" can help lead the U.S. toward a new, more prosperous economy.
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What would Jane Jacobs do about the Viaduct?
Posted Fri, Oct 2, 6 a.m.
The patron saint of livable, walkable cities is being invoked on both sides of the debate over Seattle's Viaduct solution. Would Jacobs be a tunnel supporter, or a surface option fan?
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Who gets my vote, and why
Posted Tue, Aug 4, 6 a.m.
Our public budgets have been overstretched and too tilted toward powerful special interests. That calls for change at the top (that means you, Mayor Nickels), and for more legislators who avoid the go-along style.
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Drawing the line on Everett landmarks
Posted Fri, Jul 24, 6 a.m.
Everett has a remarkable string of historic buildings and landmarks, as well as a record of losing many of them. The battle with the Port of Everett over the Collins Building has become a dramatic last stand for preservationists.
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Why Seattle's Viaduct solution is good for Wenatchee
Posted Thu, Jun 18, 6 a.m.
A 'trade mission' by the Port of Seattle makes the case for the deep bore tunnel, which avoids cutting off Eastern Washington trade from the port for years
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Building bridges to Abu Dhabi and Dubai
Posted Tue, May 5, 6 a.m.
A Seattle leadership mission studies how two smart citistates in the United Arab Emirates are setting the pace in urban development
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Mayor Bozeman's Seattle slapfest: returning the favor
Posted Fri, May 1, 2:35 p.m.
Turning Seattle's waterfront into a bourgeoisie theme park is the worst thing you can do for a port city's economy
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Why has free trade, key to this state's economy, gone all wobbly?
Posted Wed, Jan 21, 6 a.m.
Congressional Democrats, including from this state, have stalled out trade talks. President Obama has gone silent on the key issues of trade liberalization. You'd think business leadership would be ringing alarm bells.
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Think before you cut the state auditor's budget
Posted Tue, Jan 6, 6 a.m.
With some politicians calling for slashing funds for performance audits, consider all the money Auditor Brian Sonntag has been saving, and the dogs he's been watching.
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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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Can we avoid a Big Dig?
Posted Tue, Dec 16, 6 a.m.
There is a way to avoid huge overruns on mega-projects, but policy makers won't like the medicine. It replaces dreams and pork with data.
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A peace treaty for the Viaduct wars
Posted Thu, Dec 11, 6 a.m.
An artful, if fragile grand compromise has emerged, late in an exhaustive process. Here's a look at its components and its politics — and what could blow it apart.
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Port of Seattle makes the case for audits
Posted Mon, Dec 8, 6 a.m.
Some would like to cut these performance audits from the state budget, supposedly saving money. Now is when we need them most.
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The Gravy Train to nowhere?
Posted Thu, Dec 4, 6 a.m.
With Obama's new New Deal gaining momentum, let's remain skeptical of big projects that are touted as economic saviors. States like ours may be desperate, but a boondoggle is still a boondoggle.
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Up yours, Virginia
Posted Tue, Dec 2, 6 a.m.
Dispatch from the War on Christmas: Atheists make fools of themselves in Olympia while violence breaks out at Wal-Mart. The sacred season is now a very, very sick season.
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Seven premonitions you can take to the bank
Posted Sun, Jun 29, 10 p.m.
Predictions at mid-year regarding sweet deals for developers, a Sonics boon, the precarious viaduct, a Boeing handout, Sound Transit, Pat Davis, and cleaning up Puget Sound.
READ MORE 1 COMMENTSRah, rah for the home team
Posted Thu, Jun 19, noon
Home-grown sports teams, airplane builders, and banks are reeling from competition and free trade, and the local mood is to beat up on the outsiders. Tempting, but is it smart?
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The need for cruise control
Posted Tue, May 13, 10 p.m.
An environmentalist explains why better federal regulations are needed to police polluters among the world's fleet of cruise ships: State and local authorities can only do so much. Over six months this year, Puget Sound will see 211 big ships bearing 835,000 passengers call on Seattle.
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Why governance reform for local transit would not work
Posted Wed, Apr 16, 5 a.m.
A governor's commission suggests fixing our transportation problems by changing the governing board to a directly elected body, as in Portland. A skeptic says such a reform would be slow, reduce accountability, and probably make our transportation planning worse.
READ MORE 47 COMMENTSOther media
Blog posts
Sausage Links, ice cream man edition
Posted Fri, Aug 15, 12:22 p.m. 2008
Despite the near-record temperatures predicted for the weekend, officials from around the state are asking agencies to "freeze." Last week, Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire ordered a hiring freeze for state employees in an attempt to ease Washington's mounting budget deficit. Yesterday, the Snohomish County Council ordered a hiring freeze for all of their county's agencies. Not to be outdone, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels proposed a $5 million spending freeze for the City of Seattle yesterday. On a related note, Seattle's fleet of ice cream carts are expanding their service around the city, in a move experts say could result in widespread brain freezes. ...
MOREWill Seattle follow Singapore in a blogger crackdown?
Posted Mon, Jun 2, 10 a.m. 2008
Seattle officials have long had a love affair with Singapore, that efficient, prosperous, and oppressive Pacific Rim city-state where spitting and gum chewing are illegal and officials wield the cane. After a famous (and notorious) junket there in 1998, local politicians and business leaders returned raving at the way the place was run and saw it as a model for Seattle and metro Puget Sound. Some of those junketeers might be thrilled to learn that Singapore is now cracking down on bloggers who insult public officials.
MOREMaybe it's not so easy keeping factories in Seattle
Posted Tue, Mar 25, noon 2008
I'm a big fan of the Puget Sound Business Journal, which this week has a story about four high profile factories that might leave Seattle. A lot of media attention has followed efforts to keep Korry Electronics, which was looking at the Port of Seattle's Interbay site. (I refuse to call it North Bay.)
MOREOur economy's secret sauce: the weak dollar
Posted Thu, Feb 28, 9:02 a.m. 2008
The Northwest economy continues to surge, while the rest of the country struggles, and it's tempting to think it's because of all the smart folks out here, cooking up new companies. Doubtless that's partly true. But a bigger factor is the weak dollar. Washington state, for instance, leads the nation in exports as a share of state output. Those exports are booming because of the weak dollar, which translates into bargain prices offshore. Michael Parks, editor of the invaluable Marple's Pacific Northwest Letter, tallies up the figures for Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska, and finds the export totals hitting new all-time highs for the fourth consecutive year. Total exports last year for the region ($92.5 billion) were up 20 percent over 2006, about twice the national increase.
MOREObama and Clinton shift the debate to free trade
Posted Sun, Feb 24, 12:42 p.m. 2008
Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton ended their televised Austin, Texas, debate last week on a high note. But, since then, their campaigns have been outrightly confrontational. The tone is likely to carry over into their Cleveland, Ohio, debate late this week and into March 4 voting in Ohio, Texas, Vermont, and Rhode Island. Clinton, facing elimination from the race, has adopted an angry campaign persona and Obama is not turning the other cheek. Ironically, the hottest debate has been over an issue where both candidates have been trimming and grandstanding: the North American Free Trade Agreement and international trade (see below).
MORETaking the long view, the Muni League investigates the Port of Seattle
Posted Wed, Feb 13, 11:39 a.m. 2008
After the devastating state auditor's report [PDF], an ongoing Justice Department investigation, and the Port of Seattle's internal review of its own operations, the Municipal League's announcement that it, too, will study port governance may seem like overkill. But appearances can be deceiving, said Bruce Carter, a Seattle Municipal Court judge pro tem who will lead the league's works.
MOREPost-Proposition 1, Tacoma starts dating other regional friends
Posted Sun, Dec 2, 2:07 p.m. 2007
Regionalists are trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again, after the defeat of Proposition 1, which was a blow to the effort to think regionally, act boldly. One key figure is Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg, who heads the Sound Transit board and other regional committees. In an interview last week, Ladenburg noted one consequence of the defeat of Prop. 1 may be the creation of a rival regional grouping, combining Pierce, Thurston, and Kitsap Counties. That would be a new kind of Hanseatic League, yoking the booming cities of Tacoma, Bremerton, and Olympia. If it happens, it might be a needed shock to get Seattle's attention.
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