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In Seattle, let the people 'chill'
Is Big Nanny running your town?
Walkability is nice, but it's not making us skinny
Space tourism is nigh, but a new space age is not
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Vision 2040 for Pugetopolis
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In Seattle, let the people 'chill'
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Seattle's money madness
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Our balls on ice
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Is Big Nanny running your town?
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A bicoastal newspaper crisis
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Time for a bus-fare reality check
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Walkability is nice, but it's not making us skinny
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Space tourism is nigh, but a new space age is not
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Who dies hard in the 'top-two' primary?
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Crosscut highlights
And they even have their own Underground. When the Seattle SuperSonics move to the Sooner State, they'll miss some things but not others. After a visit, our correspondent compares and contrasts.
It's the greatest story ever told. Well, OK, it's not. But it's one you'll be reading a lot about in coming days. It begins like this: In the reign of Gregory the XL, there was no joy in the Land of Sasquatch ...
Crosscut most recent
Has the last Seattleite with local pride turned out the lights? A recent trip to Safeco Field makes me wonder.
Sausage Links, Uncle Ted's excellent indictment edition
Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Joel Connelly sounds off on the latest bad apple ousted from the Department of Justice, as well as Ted "series of tubes" Stevens' federal indictment in a corruption scandal. Seattle Times chief political reporter David Postman takes a look at what Uncle Ted's indictment means for his chances at re-election, while U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., joins the parade of GOP members promising to rid themselves of Stevens' campaign donations. ...
Keith Olbermann they're not
The tradition among game announcers for the Seattle Mariners and other teams is that the voices from the booth will flack any sponsor products or services called for by the script. Game-callers are particularly loyal, of course, to team-supporting sponsors. Evidently, this message loyalty now extends to political pitches.
At least they're calling it something stupid
It's starting to — pardon the expression — resonate that our departed Seattle SuperSonics hence will be known in OkieHoma City as the Thunder. Perhaps it's worth noting that both nicknames are sound-oriented and that, indeed, thunder is a mere sonic noise while SuperSonics is, well, supersonic.
Crapping on Seattle
In our rapid descent from in-place to laughing-stock, Seattle is now the target for ridicule over its expensive, dangerous, now-up-for-fire-sale public toilets. Slate.com is the latest to yuk it up with bathroom jokes. At least the raspberries over the Sonics have been pushed off the front pages.
Sausage Links, mayor-about-town edition
Oh, Greg. You are trying to break our hearts! Just when we vilify you for airballing the Sonics all the way to OKC for a cool $45 million — you show you're a real Mayor-about-town houses and plastic bag taxes.
For better or worse, everybody's talking about Mayor Nickels' proposals today. Erica C. Barnett at The Stranger says she spotted a "Plastic Monster" at last night's public-comment meeting about the proposed plastic bag tax, while Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat warns if we don't choose paper the plastic bag police will get us. Meanwhile, the folks at Sound Politics rail against Nickels for the new town house plan, which they argue will regulate affordable housing "out of existence." ...
The Sonics' hidden fan base
Like every one else over the age of 40 who lived in Seattle during 1979, I can remember that glorious spring when the Sonics dominated the NBA. Similar to the Mariners in 1995, the Sonics run to the championship created a sense of greater community in Seattle. The night they won, I was sitting in the Moore Theatre watching some foreign film as part of the fledgling Seattle International Film Festival. The film suddenly stopped, and someone walked on stage to announce: "We Won!" The film ended a few minutes later and everyone walked out onto Second Avenue hearing car horns, people yelling, total pandemonium. And remember the parade? It may have been the last time downtown Seattle had energy!
As the Sonics leave town, it may help the arts
In all the reporting about the Sonics decision, we tend to overlook the intense clamoring over a taxing source, the so-called "stadium taxes," that bedevils the politics. A lot of groups want to lay claim to those taxes, which are supposed to go away after the Kingdome, Safeco Field, and Qwest Field are paid off, but are really catnip to politicians for their pet causes. The taxes have two attractions: they are not really an "increase" if you just extend their life, and they fall mostly on visitors, who don't vote locally.
One of the main supplicants is the arts. Thereby hangs an interesting story.
Screwed by the Okies — again!
Who's to blame for losing the Sonics to Oklahoma City? That's the question being kicked around town. But I wonder why it is that "world class" Seattle keeps getting its collective ass kicked by the Okies.
The Sonics sitcom
The Sonics-City of Seattle settlement announced yesterday is what might have been expected had the parties not settled and U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman made a likely ruling that this landlord-tenant dispute should be settled monetarily. (See my Monday article).
Both sides eliminated risk, though, by settling before her ruling. The Sonics, of course, cleared out promptly for Oklahoma City. The press-conference description of the settlement by Mayor Greg Nickels, with City Council members serving as props, was a comic classic.
The Sonics decision that wasn't
The last-minute settlement over the Seattle SuperSonics is sadly typical of politics around here. Why settle something when you can drag it on for years to come? Maybe we should call the new team, in the unlikely event it ever arrives here, the Seattle Viaducts.
Settling in a firm way a heated public debate like this one is risky for politicians, which is why they look for face-saving irresolution. Once something is settled, the losing side goes into permanent opposition, rather than holding out hope and courting favor with all the parties. The plan is to hold out a win-win solution, sometime in the hazy beyond.
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.
The Sonics trial pulls aside a political curtain
The trial of the Sonics had a few revelations this week, though no clear indication of which way it will come out. Perhaps the most interesting aspect was the way heavy political lifting is done these days. It takes on the form of backstage public-private partnerships, with lawfirms doing a lot of the work and strategizing, so that elected officials have some distance and deniability if it doesn't work. This is not shocking news, but we did get some rare specifics.
Orchids and onions for a new week
First, orchids:
To Barlett Sher, Intiman artistic director, who won a Tony Award Sunday of his direction of the New York Lincoln Center revival of the 1950s Rogers-Hammerstein musical, "South Pacific." The revival won six additional Tonys.RSS FEED
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Land rush on top of the world
The search for the Northwest Passage spurred the European exploration of the Pacific Northwest. With global warming, Arctic land claims are heating up as the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Russia, Iceland and Norway vie for sea lanes, the seabed and once ice-bound islands. Finally, there's a great visual to sort out these competing claims.
Seattle's money madness
Travels with Charley and GPS
The visual iconography of 'Yes we can'
Tallis in Seattle
Former Seattle Symphony violinist Ralph Heino is dead at 91
In outsourcing baggage handling, Alaska Airlines violated a union contract, an arbitrator rules
The U.S. Commerce secretary stumps for John McCain at Piecora's Pizza in Seattle
Microsoft's top China executive has lived the country's transformation
People for Puget Sound responds
Kathy Fletcher, the executive director of People for Puget Sound, has responded to Daniel Jack Chasan's Crosscut article about setting priorities — performing triage, essentially — as we plan to reduce the impact from the several million people who live around the inland sea. Here's what she wrote:
China deports a Christian activist from Boise who protested in Tiananmen Square
The U.S. Commerce secretary stumps for John McCain at Piecora's Pizza in Seattle
BC Ferries offer better fare
Even though I'm a Washingtonian, if I had to choose between the Washington State Ferries (WSF) and the BC Ferries, the Canucks win by a kilometer. Granted, BC Ferries has had its share of mishaps. In 2006, the Queen of the North sunk while cruising the Inside Passage on its 18-hour journey between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert. One hundred and one passengers were on board, and two are still missing and presumed dead. Human error was blamed for the sinking. Two years later, the Queen of Oak Bay lost power and plowed through dozens of boats at a marina in West Vancouver while attempting to dock at the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal.
Boutique shopping guide
Princeton Review confirms Evergreen's status as a tree-hugger's school
Sidewalk crack addict
The Fearmongers, Definers, Swiftboaters, and Borkers square off
Losing your favorite Starbucks? The five stages of grief
Ron Judd at the Olympics: 'I'm a ceremony geek, through and through'
Visit Oklahoma City!
In outsourcing baggage handling, Alaska Airlines violated a union contract, an arbitrator rules
Private beach
Sheriff: 'Matter of time' before someone was killed due to lax forest safety laws
The Navy Blue Angels return to an Air Force town — landlocked Spokane
Ron Judd at the Olympics: 'I'm a ceremony geek, through and through'
Visit Oklahoma City!
An Everett Herald columnist apologizes for plagiarism and resigns
BC Ferries offer better fare
Even though I'm a Washingtonian, if I had to choose between the Washington State Ferries (WSF) and the BC Ferries, the Canucks win by a kilometer. Granted, BC Ferries has had its share of mishaps. In 2006, the Queen of the North sunk while cruising the Inside Passage on its 18-hour journey between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert. One hundred and one passengers were on board, and two are still missing and presumed dead. Human error was blamed for the sinking. Two years later, the Queen of Oak Bay lost power and plowed through dozens of boats at a marina in West Vancouver while attempting to dock at the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal.
How good a deal is Costco, really?
Must be a recession: Whole Foods now stresses bargains
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