Recent Comments

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 12:29 p.m. on UW: We're Number 5! inappropriate

This whole analysis assumes that students attending Ivy League schools pay the full tuition, board and room rate, very few do. Many middle class families would find it cheaper to send their child to Harvard than the UW. Quoted below are the key parameters of Harvard's financial aid packages for undergraduates: "The “Zero to 10 Percent Standard”: Harvard’s new financial aid policy dramatically reduces the amount families with incomes below $180,000 will be expected to pay. Families with incomes above $120,000 and below $180,000 and with assets typical for these income levels will be asked to pay 10 percent of their incomes. For those with incomes below $120,000, the family contribution percentage will decline steadily from 10 percent, reaching zero for those with incomes at $60,000 and below. For example, a typical family making $120,000 will be asked to pay approximately $12,000 for a child to attend Harvard. No Loans: In calculating the financial aid packages offered to undergraduates, Harvard will not expect students to take out loans. Loan funds will be replaced by increased grants from the University. Of course, students will be permitted to cover their reduced cost of attendance through loans if they wish."

I would say the Smart Money analysis is nonsense.

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 11:20 a.m. on Think before you cut the state auditor's budget inappropriate

There is more going on here than just Bureacrats getting possesive about our money.

Arrogant attitude is one thing - these folks see themselves as the personfication of our democracy, though, in fact, our constitution makes it quite clear of the people's right for their protection against their government, NOT THE IMBUEMENT OF THOSE RIGHTS IN THE GROUP THAT 'REPRESENTS' THEM.

But, scary thing, that's exactly how the Court's interpret it. Government is the authoritative voice on your individual choices.

Viewing the lawyer Gregoire's position on this matter from this perspective and the conclusion you come up with is quite scary. It is not the bureaucrats for whom we need to be most focused on - it is the 'Officers of the Court' who pander to their most base bureaucratic faults.

The Washington State Bar (acting on the authority of the Supreme Court) justifies this position in two clearly identifiable ways. Though the Bar has strong fiscal responsibility protections for private and corporate assets they specifically ignore complaints about misapplication of public resources.

Further, through a non-standard modification to typical Bar Rules, item 3.3D any Lawyer who becomes aware of public corruption when a lawyer client privilige exists would be penalized for turning it in, contrary to most States. (This was the point Doug Schafer made several years ago).

Not only is corruption specifically tolerated by the Bar, the State Supreme Court, anyone who acts against it will be punished.

I hope this is clear. Under the corruption of the Seattle Superior Court dominated legal officers it IS NOT YOUR MONEY. Further, your 'life' as defined by the US Constitution is not yours.

Your life, your money, belongs to the Goverment/Business Corporatist Bureaucrat Oligarchs, of whom Governor Christine Gregoire is not only the State Queen, but also a leader in establishing these practices nationwide.

Much of it under the direct guise of 'womens rights'.

Spoiled white women, indeed, no better than a corrupt third world country.

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 11:15 a.m. on Recession, wrecking balls, and history inappropriate

Don't go mentioning Tacoma on a Seattle-centric web site. It will just rekindle Seattle's old inferiority complex towards Tacoma and we'll get treated to "aroma" jokes and suggestions that the ports merge. Apropos historic buildings: There's a reason, remember, that the Smith Tower has that spindly little phallic protuberance on its roof - Tacoma's National Real Estate Building.

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 10:34 a.m. on Recession, wrecking balls, and history inappropriate

Knute, I think you mean re-discovered that landmark status isn't always the last word. The Music Hall, torn down in 1991, had been designated a landmark in 1977.

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 9:36 a.m. on Monorails: the idea that will not die inappropriate

The Monorail always seems to bring out strong arguments. I would like to point out that separate road beds seem to work best, no matter if asphalt, steel rail or concrete rail.

I would encourage someone to take the time and compare passenger mile vs. cost, vs. accident rate, and total down time. I would opt that our under funded, "Old School Tech" monorail would beat Metro, Sounder, Amtrak and WSF.

Downtown to the Seattle Center is served by multiple Metro lines, yet the Monorail has now transported more than 46 MILLION Passengers since built despite the fact that it requires leaving the street level to get to it, has limited marketing, advertising and promotion, and continues to run.

And it now carries fewer passengers per train than it used to by regulators decree. Just observe the monorail on any busy Seattle Center event night. While the rest of the world comes to a grid lock below, Metro bus riders among them, the monorail zips along as an effiencent, green testament to fully separate right of way and the forward thinking of Century 21 planners.

Think of how much MORE efficient it would be if we just extended it down Second Avenue with a stop near the Market and SAM, then down to our billion dollar investment in Stadiums, Ex Hall, and Transit Hub of King Street and Union Station.

I bet we could do that for far less than 4 new street car lines.

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 9:12 a.m. on Recession, wrecking balls, and history inappropriate

Tacoma, Washington's first big city, has historic assets that rival, if not beat, Seattle's.

Vancouver, Washington also has history, and at a recent City of Tacoma historic office event they hosted the historic officer from that City. They've done an interesting thing with the intepretation of existing property tax exemptions in the County to allow for property taxation at preserved use. Don't recall the details, sorry.

I'm still tuning into the whole historic preservation gestalt, hopefully this will be a continuing subject on Crosscut.

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 9:03 a.m. on Recession, wrecking balls, and history inappropriate

Good overview, Knute. But there is a major item that didn't get mentioned.

Seattle City Council member Sally Clark, 1n early 2008, said that she would take up the matter of creating an Incentives Task Force that would review the City's existing efforts and recommend new incentives for property owners of designated historic propereties. Nothing happened!

Sally must be urged to get this too-long-overdue concern back on the table. With new development moving into the neighborhoods, incentives for out-of-downtown Landmarks are particularly needed.

A citizen appointed committee that can recommend needed incentives fits right into the City's Preservation efforts and will improve properety owner interest in seeking and supporting designations. In the balancing of controls and incentives for Landmarks, we cannot rest on our laurels. We've seen how market conditions can change drastically in a relatively short period of time, having equally traumatic impacts on landmark properties.

We need to expand our toolbox of incentive to better meet the demands of changing markets, specific concerns with individual properties and finally help communities better deal with preservation in their own neighborhoods buy working with owners and advocates to create a fair and balanced result that will benefit all involved.

Isn't that what we all want,Preservation that will last for all time and show how sensitive our people feel about their historic past and the individual owners who are encouraged to keep them well maintained and an active part of our city.

GET GOING SALLY!!!!

Art

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 9:01 a.m. on UW: We're Number 5! inappropriate

Having transferred into the UW from a small, residential, liberal arts college there is definitely something to say for smaller institutions.

A real community is a big part of it - and that reflects on the intellectual advancement as well. In a small institution you are much more likely to make aquaintance with others in different fields - true diversity, if you will. This cultural experience synergizes well with the broader goals of a liberal arts education.

At the UW the community is ruled by special interest politics - for all the soapboxing about cultural diversity the sad fact is that folks are much more likely to 'fraternize' within their own groups than at a smaller institution.

Specialized instruction is important to a career, but to a life well lived nothing matures sweeter than social life of the mind fostered at a small liberal arts school.

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 8:32 a.m. on UW: We're Number 5! inappropriate

I suspect most peopole knowledgeable about higher education would put the UW in the top-third of public universities--not as strong as Berkeley, Ann Arbor, Madison or Chapel Hill, for instance, but certainly stronger than most PAC-10 colleges. It certainly lags behind the major private universities.

The UW itself often cites earnings as a measure of graduates' success. But
higher education, last time I looked, was about more than earnings. The UW
is strong in scientific and technical fields and some of its grad schools are good. But upper-campus, liberal-arts programs appear at least a notch behind those of public-university competitors. Faculty there are comparatively underpaid and dean and faculty vacancies remain unfilled.

As a loyal UW alum, I would like to see my alma mater rank high not only among public but private universities. The US News ratings, imperfect as they are, provide a much better measure of overall excellence than do those from SmartMoney.

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 8:16 a.m. on Monorails: the idea that will not die inappropriate

Snoqualman,

There is, of course, no reason not to build "steel wheels on steel rails" where appropriate, including high-speed rail. High-speed rail is proven and fast (maglev is even faster), but in urban applications the TGV you praise is far from appropriate, and would not attain higher speeds than conventional rail; high-speed rail is better suited for intercity transportation. For urban applications, slower speeds with more closely spaced stations become the requirement. Intercity rail networks can certainly serve urban areas, as will be the case in Masdar, the new carbon-neutral, zero-waste city under construction in the United Arab Emirates, which'll be powered entirely by renewable energy.

The Masdar solution ( http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081104/FRONTIERS/357775919/1036/NEWS ) is to build a local transit network so good that it'll actually be faster than private cars within an urban area, that passengers seldom have to wait for and that connects within easy walking distance of every point in the city and to a rail network connecting with neighboring cities (Abu Dhabi) and the regional airport. In Masdar, cars will be banned, and all in-city transportation will be accomplished by walking, bicycling, Segways, and Personal Rapid Transit, which will be necessary for longer trips (Masdar occupies about 2.5 square miles) as well as for trips made by the elderly or infirm. The result will be a truly sustainable city, where private automobiles are no longer necessary and would in fact be inferior to the public transit network for urban transportation.

The London system at Heathrow Airport ( http://www.atsltd.co.uk/media/pictures/heathrow-project/ ) will serve a similar purpose as it rolls out from next year's opening, beginning with a simple connector between a remote parking lot and that airport's grand new Terminal 5, and as the success of that system is demonstrated, eventually connecting points throughout that airport with rail lines, remote parking, and nearby hotels, reducing congestion, energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and travel times.

The point isn't to build "glamorous" transportation, after all. It's to build a transportation network that's cost-effective and energy-superefficient, that maximizes the ridership of (and investment in) public transit that has already been made, and is fast, safe, and convenient enough to provide a realistic, truly sustainable alternative to driving. PRT is emerging as an important transportation option in a quickly growing group of cities around the nation and around the world, and this adoption is likely to continue increasing geometrically as the first systems are deployed later this year and their operational characteristics are demonstrated.

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 8:13 a.m. on Recession, wrecking balls, and history inappropriate

Waldo Hospital isn't gone yet. If the community can convince a King County judge in February that the Mayor's permit granters should do something so revolutionary as follow their own permitting and environmental laws, then perhaps someone will take a fresh look at developing the site in a more environmentally responsible manner. Landmark rules allow a new owner to resubmit for landmark status, and a smart buyer should be interested in the accompanying tax breaks in this economy.

The majority of members on the Landmark Board were in favor of designation, they just didn't agree on which criteria. That, plus procedural irregularities, is what prevented Waldo from gaining protection as recommended by everyone from city staff to the area's preservation groups.

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 5:11 a.m. on Sound Transit survey, take 2 inappropriate

no there are no issues about it...

firoz_john
Cash Surveys
href=" http://www.cashsurveys.net"

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 4:14 a.m. on 2008: Year of Hope, Year of Fear. Essay 13 inappropriate

I couldn't agree more. Go to Europe then come back here and it's amazing how so many things you normally don't notice hit you in the face, from the wastefulness of suburbia, the ugliness of so much of what passes for housing and architecture, the lack of investment in real, productive things, even the appearance of so many people who look like mountains of congested flesh. "Colossally overweight, diabetic TV zombies," in the words of James Kunstler.

I too hope you're wrong but I fear you are right.

Of course, the sight of the North Cascades below as one nears Seattle, should it happen to be clear, so utterly unlike anything in Europe, does make up for much of it, so it ain't all bad...but so much of it could be so much better....

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 3:43 a.m. on Monorails: the idea that will not die inappropriate

Let's hear it for steel wheels on steel rails. Two of them, 4 feet 8 1/2 inches apart. Perhaps insufficiently glamorous to some, but it works. Easily switched. 160 years of working out the bugs. Parts available off a shelf. The French have built a wonderful system. Their TGV trains that zip past you like you're standing still when you're driving 130 kph run steel wheels on two (very high quality) steel rails.

They've made it work, why can't we? If only the Green Line had been proposed as regular old rail....leave monorails to the Jetson wannabees. Why can't we just build something that works?

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 1:36 a.m. on Monorails: the idea that will not die inappropriate

And what exactly is "the alternative" to PRT Mr. Todd makes reference to...at least in the case of Heathrow? An airport minibus? An automated monorail, like the one featured at SeaTac? Wow. Talk about breaking some serious barriers!

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 1:31 a.m. on Monorails: the idea that will not die inappropriate

Sorry. Scratch the slight praise of John Todd. If he's betting the farm on slow, limited range & limited application golf carts to break the logjam on PRT, and return us to the glory (Nixon) years...the guy really must have abandoned his 20% rational thinking quota.

To say an isolated, obscure dictatorship in the Middle East, and an airport parking lot valet service will form the foundation of a transportation revolution (will be televised...on YouTube) is the ESSENCE of wacky dreaming.

I don't know why I even bother poking fun at these guys. They do all the work for me.

Posted Wed, Jan 7, 1:16 a.m. on Monorails: the idea that will not die inappropriate

Classic. The PRT cult can't help citing the "innovative" linear induction motors of Skytrain. Which Translink has now abandoned as the system is expanded.

These nuts are living in dreamland. Which only strengthens their ideological rigidity and resolve. It's a human flaw, which only reveals itself when certain issues are raised. Which is why I always enjoy reading the musings of David "Wiseguy" Gow. At least Mr. Todd is somewhat rational and realistic in his quest for the magikal transportation unicorn.

Posted Tue, Jan 6, 10:30 p.m. on Monorails: the idea that will not die inappropriate

Knute,

Neither 150 mph speeds nor hydrogen power (?!) are required; 40 mph for a nonstop public transit system seems perfectly adequate for many urban environments, with faster speeds possible in less dense areas; at its typical nearly-constant speed it would be faster than cars for most trips, to say nothing of large-vehicle public transit.

Either way, the idea of a Personal Rapid Transit system, with or without the maglev component used in this Montana application, seems particularly well-suited for many urban applications: cost-effective, energy-superefficient, and fast, safe, and convenient enough to entice people from their cars.

Note that it would also operate quite well in inclement weather; a suspended system like this would be virtually immune to snow, ice, and flooding, and less vulnerable to power outages due to its low power consumption. Even supported systems with linear electric motors like Vancouver's SkyTrain, which do not rely on the friction between wheels and rails or roadway for propulsion and braking, or other systems which use grated guideways that snow would mostly fall right through, would be relatively unaffected.

Note that the standard response by detractors to interest expressed in the emerging new generation of public transit like the Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system you describe here is to anonymously label the person expressing interest as "wacky", "goofy", "a dreamer", "anti-transit" or some other such nonsense. It's no surprise that one such detractor has already chimed in. As more and more of these systems are built in the coming years (the first two are reportedly scheduled to open this year), one can hope that these detractors should start better recognizing both reality and the many advantages it offers over the alternative.

John C. Todd, Jr.
SoundPRT
http://www.GetThereFast.org

Posted Tue, Jan 6, 10:21 p.m. on Viaduct politicians reach a big moment of truth inappropriate

It was said about 20 years ago that the state DOT was the Pentagon of state government. Outsiders were hired to run the agency for most of the past decade or so. Reforms were made. The agency opened up and became more trustworthy. Finally, the legislature supported new funding for them. But the agency's performance for the prior decades is largely to blame for getting us behind and making things a mess.

Now the old time insiders are in charge again - lifers from Paula Hammond on down. Unfortunately they've lifted the gate up from the moat and turned the place into a fortress again, carefully manipulating information to people like the Governor and key legislators, the people of the state, and routinely blowing people off, including their leading allies. The Governor doesn't know it, but when anybody asks a question about anything, the most common answer is, we're doing this because the Governor told us to. No more information required.

The engineers are in charge again. And they are back to their old bad habits. Be very, very scared. The old way of doing business is back in full force. Thanks to the Governor for slowing things down and actually listening to real people on this Viaduct question. This delay will produce a far better outcome than the boneheaded manipulations of a few control freak engineers who are now running things again and mostly running over everybody else.

Posted Tue, Jan 6, 4:38 p.m. on Monorails: the idea that will not die inappropriate

"Sure. We should be good at it by now."

Heh, good one!