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Once a necessity for women, a businesslike demeanor could be hurting the governor
- Seattle Times
- 'They're banging the hell out of her on TV'
- Gregoire and Rossi debate in Spokane
- New attack ads invoke sex offenders
- Earlier: Dino's always smiling
Politicians, federal officials, and lobbyists helped enable Wall Street by limiting lawsuits
Business / Technology »A leading shareholder litigator says suing over WaMu would likely be a waste of time
2008 Election »The other Proposition 1: Seattle voters are asked to fix the Pike Place Market
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American graffiti: The problem with third-party candidates
Amid a swirl of national affairs, two rock-steady debaters
How accurate is Battle in Seattle?
Move the meter: 'Buildergate' gains media legs
How light rail drives Seattle neighborhood planning
The screws of Buildergate tighten on Dino Rossi
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Congestion conjecture: Eyman's I-985
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Amid a swirl of national affairs, two rock-steady debaters
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The screws of Buildergate tighten on Dino Rossi
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The prospect of a POTUS with PTSD
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American graffiti: The problem with third-party candidates
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B- for McCain; B+ for Obama
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Dear Sen. Murray: Please don't feed the rats
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The high cost of an empty taxicab
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Belt-tightening time for the Mercer Mess?
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Seattle: Coming back to earth
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Crosscut most recent
Some good news about right-sizing the city, and saving money, too.
A suburban sucker's bet
An interesting follow-up to my story last week on the future of suburbia is a profile of Merced, Calif., in the Aug. 24 issue of The New York Times. Skeptical that some burbs might become the new ghost towns? Check out the picture of the Riverstone housing development that accompanies this story, of an unfinished project baking in the sun and dirty air of a boomtown gone bust.
Urban planners love to hate the suburbs, but what's going to become of them? Will Bellevue eventually become a post-carbon ghost town or a new urban hybrid? Some reflections on the urban/suburban debate.
To lower housing prices, look at Chicago
Median condominium prices in Chicago, notes Harvard urban economist Edward Glaeser, are $232,000. That's very low, even a shade under those in Trenton, N.J. (The King County median price for condos is $285,000.) What do those smart urbanists in Chicago know about affordability?
An urban geographer uses un-rose-tinted glasses in peering into the crystal ball. He finds that we will not be able to do much about growing income segregation, congestion, gentrification in Seattle, and leapfrog development. Nor will rail transit help make things better.
How to be a modern mayor: the Denver model
Denver is about to have its 15 days of fame, as host to the Democratic National Convention next month. I suspect one star of the show will be Mayor John Hickenlooper, my idea of the best mayor in the nation. NewWest.net recently did a good interview with the mayor, and it's a fine introduction to his winning style. It's also an audio interview.
Helpful policy tips for Dino Rossi
So far, not a lot of policy is coming out of the Dino Rossi campaign, but it may be very interesting when it does. That's because the Republicans are getting pretty desperate for bold new ideas to turn around their national tailspin. I'll give some examples below.
Sausage Links, blame-game edition
David Goldstein at Horse's Ass says everyone has missed the boat about the latest mess surrounding the "top-two" primary. The Seattle Times blamed the parties. The parties blamed the state. Others blamed the lawyers. Goldstein, however, says the person to blame for what could be the "most monumental legal fuck up in state history — one which puts the legitimacy of our entire 2008 election in jeopardy" — is state Attorney General Rob McKenna.
Sausage Links, "freedom to get drunk and blow stuff up" edition
Chris Mulick at the Tri-City Herald has today's top story, reporting this morning that Tim Eyman's Initiative 985 and the Service Employees International Union-backed Initiative 1029 would — if passed by voters in November — increase the state's budget deficit by an estimated $300 million.
A close look at the ambitious "Cascade Agenda," which hopes to preserve the central Puget Sound region's natural systems from a Pugetopolis that sprawls all the way to the Cascades. The mechanisms are known, but it's not clear they can work well enough or soon enough.
The recent former state secretary of transportation has been riding buses a lot lately and crunching numbers, and he's convinced light rail to the Eastside and more Sounder service has no place in a big new transit plan. He thinks an advanced bus rapid transit system is the best way to serve millions of people and smartly manage urban growth. Part 1 of 3
White Center is an unincorporated neighborhood and cultural melting pot, sandwiched between Seattle proper and the suburb of Highline. Despite grappling with urban crime and the difficulties of providing subsidized housing for low income residents, both Seattle and Burien believe there is hope. Part 1
Modernist architecture is for the elite, right? Not any more. The movement to preserve modern structures is finding new energy in populist appeal and as a counterbalance to today's McMansions and Viagra villas. The debate over a Ballard Denny's is just one squabble in a growing national discussion about preservation, proportion, and pedigree.
The Puget Sound Regional Council's Vision 2040, to be adopted tomorrow, has been outrun by seven years of population growth in the very outlying areas the plan is intended to protect, says the recent former Washington secretary of transportation. He explains what's happened and argues for a recalibration of strategy.
11-7: Northwesterners cut gasoline consumption 11 percent in seven years
A report released today by Sightline Institute shows that per-capita gasoline consumption in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho decreased for the seventh consecutive year in 2007. That's an 11 percent decrease since 1999.
First of a series: Publisher Frank Blethen sought to conquer the Eastside but helped turn the suburbs into a daily newspaper desert.
A town of modest pleasures has become a city of cringe-inducing excess, even in the little things like coffee, booze, and movie tickets.
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When the Northwest was red
There's a cool Web site that lets you look at the electoral college results in presidential races since 1789. It features a U.S. map that shows the color of states as they were carried every four years: red for Republican, blue for Democrat, purple for Whig. It's fun to look at the Great Nearby and see the trends.
Seattle: Coming back to earth
Government workers caught knapping
Survival tips for Seattle theaters
The SSO starts to look beyond Maestro Schwarz
Trying to diagram Palin's sentences
The state's economic strength helps Gregoire
Government-owned AIG is still lobbying the government
Warren Buffett overtakes Bill Gates as the richest American
The 'Troopergate' report says the Alaska governor abused power
Montana governor was a Palin before Palin
Sausage Links, angry at ads edition
The FAA is looking into You Tube videos shot in Horizon Air cockpits
The Butchart Gardens
The travel industry hits air turbulence
San Francisco voters buried in a blizzard of ballot measures
The geniuses who aren't on Wall Street
When brain surgery isn't brain surgery
Remember the Sonics? There are no political repercussions from their departure
The next Seattle Mariners general manager could be a woman
Washington State holds tryout, picks new quarterback
In the garden: apples and generosity
Seattle: Coming back to earth
Kapow! Coffee given the boot
In the garden: apples and generosity
'Zero net energy' homes: an experiment in Issaquah
What does Tina Brown's new Web site have?
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