Tacoma's art scene continues to surprise
Posted Tue, Dec 9, 6 a.m.
A visitor finds much to admire about Tacoma. Glass artist Dale Chihuly's mark on the town is indisputable, and the food is fine.
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Crosscut articles of the past 10 days with the most clicks.
- Viaduct politicians reach a big moment of truth
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- Seattle Times Co. still trying to close sale of Maine papers
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Crosscut articles of the past 10 days with the most reader comments.
- Monorails: the idea that will not die
(18 comments) - 2008: Year of Hope, Year of Fear, Essay 7
(17 comments) - 2008: Year of Hope, Year of Fear. Essay 2
(13 comments) - Seattle school closure plan, due Tuesday, still doesn't add up
(11 comments) - Viaduct politicians reach a big moment of truth
(9 comments) - 2008: Year of Hope, Year of Fear. Essay 5
(6 comments) - 2008: Year of Hope, Year of Fear. Essay 8
(6 comments) - Think before you cut the state auditor's budget
(6 comments) - Recession, wrecking balls, and history
(5 comments) - Seattle Times Co. still trying to close sale of Maine papers
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Tacoma
Crosscut most recent
How to pay for the roads still traveled
Posted Tue, Oct 21, 8:58 p.m.
Notwithstanding increasing mass transit ridership and more prudent use of cars, automobiles will dominate U.S. transportation for decades to come. So how do we pay for roads? Variable tolling is one answer, and in the age of GPS the logical next step should also be explored: a fee on miles traveled everywhere by individual vehicles.
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Three advocates make the case for Sound Transit expansion
Posted Mon, Sep 29, 4 a.m.
These Snohomish County political leaders favor passage of Proposition 1, the measure on the ballot this November. Their rationale: The package's light rail component represents the future of transportation; increased bus and commuter rail will alleviate overcrowding; and it's a good value.
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The freaky economics of a ride to Sea-Tac Airport
Posted Thu, Sep 11, 3 a.m.
Because of fuel prices and out-of-sync regulatory bodies, it's actually cheaper right now to take a taxicab to or from Sea-Tac Airport than a shared van, which until recently was always the cheaper choice. But cab fares, too, will be going up, on Oct. 1. Here's how airport transportation pricing works.
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A state agency eyes public-private transportation funding
Posted Tue, Sep 2, 2 a.m.
No less than the Washington State Investment Board, which oversees public pensions, is giving serious consideration to government-business partnerships to make infrastructure improvements. Experts identify several possibilities, including the Highway 520 bridge rebuild, I-5 across the Columbia River, and improvement of ferry service.
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A Labor Day story: the cost of a finger lost
Posted Sun, Aug 31, 8 p.m.
A South Sound resident recalls a story passed down from the time when workers were radical and for good reason: It was damned dangerous toiling in the woods and the mills.
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After a late start, MSM blogs are everywhere
Posted Wed, Aug 13, 5 a.m.
The Northwest's mainstream newspapers are reporting political news on the Web first. Part 3 of 3
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The campaign for Sound Transit will be 'going Facebook'
Posted Mon, Aug 11, 10 a.m.
Big and corporate didn't do it for last year's roads and transit measure, so the hurry-up, cash-starved campaign for Sound Transit 2 will be Internet-based and volunteer-driven.
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Vision 2040 for Pugetopolis
Posted Tue, Jul 29, 3 a.m.
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.
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A dramatic vote in favor of a rail transit plan
Posted Fri, Jul 25, 10 a.m.
The weight of 40 years of paralysis about transit planning played a role in the Sound Transit decision to try one more time to convince the voters of the need for more light rail.
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Fixing our big flat tire
Posted Mon, Jul 21, 4 p.m.
Sound Transit, the Viaduct, 520, the Mercer Mess — everywhere you turn, there's a Puget Sound transportation problem awaiting solution. It's time for citizens to demand leadership from leaders and to push for reform of agencies and even government.
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Sound Transit showdown
Posted Thu, Jul 17, 10 a.m.
The votes for a 2008 submission of a $15 billion package now are almost there, thanks to some last-minute concessions to Snohomish County. The election will be risky, but the transit agency faces greater risk by waiting until 2010.
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Transit train wreck: Here's how to do buses right
Posted Wed, Jun 25, midnight
They aren't the only solution, but they are the most flexible and potentially most attractive solution if they are used well. Bus lines are flexible, scalable, and can touch more people than rail, and they don't have to be a pain to use. Part 3 of 3
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Transit train wreck: Revealing bus-route ridership
Posted Mon, Jun 23, 8 p.m.
We've got buses going everywhere, and guess which routes are logging the biggest increases in ridership? Not the route that would become light rail to the Eastside suburbs. Part 2 of 3
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Transit train wreck: The case against more light rail
Posted Sun, Jun 22, 10 p.m.
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
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Saving Puget Sound is an economic problem
Posted Fri, Jun 20, 5 p.m.
The laws and regulations that protect it from the most egregious dumping work pretty well, but the only way to finance the prevention of non-point-source pollution is to impose fees.
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Hurray for mass transit, but it's no silver bullet
Posted Mon, Jun 16, midnight
For one thing, bus and rail ridership represents only a fraction of trips now, and that's not likely to radically change soon. A Seattle think tank believes a balanced approach is called for, accepting the fact single-occupancy vehicles will play a huge role in years to come.
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Love the warrior but hate the war, and other weekend ruminations
Posted Fri, May 23, 4 p.m.
Also: Whom to blame for gas prices, kudos for the schools supe, Sound Transit's latest audit, and polygamy's free pass.
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Puget Sound perennial
Posted Fri, May 23, midnight
Washington's magnificent inland sea is back at the top of the region's to-do list. But while virtually everybody yearns to do something about pollution, there is neither political nor scientific consensus as to what exactly is wrong, let alone what to do about it.
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A 'green scare' in shades of gray
Posted Thu, May 22, 4 p.m.
Invoking the Red Scare of the 1950s, some environmentalists claim the federal government is committing something similar against the green movement of the 2000s. Of course, it could simply be vigorous enforcement of laws against violence and property damage.
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Blog posts
Sausage Links, townhall debate edition
Posted Tue, Oct 7, 3 p.m. 2008
Tonight is the second presidential debate between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, and it represents what could be a knock-out punch for the Democrats. That is, if you're still convinced the election isn't over. (Hint: It is.) If the current polls are any indication, McCain's only chance of winning this election are if Obama walks onto stage tonight wearing an Arab headdress and an Irani lapel pin, and after giving a shout-out to Reverend Wright and Bill Ayers, tells the television audience that Sarah Palin is a trollop.
MORESausage Links, HOV lane endorsement edition
Posted Mon, Oct 6, 1 p.m. 2008
The Seattle Times is recommending voters reject Initiative 985, the Tim Eyman-sponsored measure that would create a statewide "traffic congestion relief" fund, eliminate localized revenues for devices such as red-light cameras, and open HOV lanes during non-peak hours. The paper's editorial board writes, "I-985 is a poorly-packaged jumble of different agendas that will – please, listen carefully – worsen traffic in certain areas. It makes no sense to design a functioning, complicated traffic system by initiative." ...
MORESausage Links, pork barrel edition
Posted Fri, Oct 3, 5:29 p.m. 2008
What's the most important news of the day? It's not the passage of the Wall Street bailout bill. It's not the pundits' reactions to last night's vice-presidential debate. No. The most important news item of the day is that Saturday, Oct. 4, is the last day to register to vote. So if you haven't already, do it. ...
MORESausage Links, the big debate edition
Posted Thu, Oct 2, 1 p.m. 2008
So. Tonight's the big vice-presidential debate between Republican Gov. Sarah Palin and Democratic Sen. Joe Biden. Which Palin will show up? Will we see the pitbull with lipstick or the incoherent Couric interviewee? It's anybody's guess. But with expectations already at rock-bottom, it's fair to assume she'll look better than many liberals think. What about Biden? As former Gore advisor Michael Feldman wrote in the Washington Post this morning, Biden's mission is not to screw it up. ...
MORESausage Links, Buildergate edition
Posted Wed, Oct 1, 2:21 p.m. 2008
Liberal bloggers are delirious with joy about Buildergate, the series of allegations announced yesterday accusing Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi of directly and illegally soliciting funds from the Master Builder's Association in May 2007 to fund the Building Industry Association of Washington's "war chest." Both David Goldstein at Horse's Ass and Aaron Ostrom at FUSE call the memo a "smoking gun" and a game-changer for the hotly contested gubernatorial race.
MORESausage Links, cheap shot edition
Posted Tue, Sep 30, 2:10 p.m. 2008
The folks at Horse's Ass report that while state Attorney General Rob McKenna has already filed suit against the Building Industry Association of Washington for multiple campaign finance violations, new evidence suggests that Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi may have "actively solicited funds" on behalf of the BIAW. If it's true it would be a deadly blow to Rossi's campaign. While the big papers haven't yet caught on, I guarantee you'll be reading about "buildergate" tomorrow. ...
MORESausage Links, weak sister edition
Posted Thu, Sep 25, 1:58 p.m. 2008
Is the Gregoire candidacy growing weak? Not surprisingly, that's what local conservative pundit Eric Earling thinks. But you know things aren't going well for the Democratic governor when someone at the Stranger says Gregoire is running a "lackluster, defensive campaign." ...
MORESausage Links, skeptical journalists' edition
Posted Wed, Sep 24, 1:16 p.m. 2008
"Journalists, start your skepticism." That was the tagline from a letter to Romenesko yesterday from David Cay Johnston, a former New York Times writer who won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on tax policy. It's worth a read. Johnston cautions reporters not to "assume that Congress must act instantly, as so many news stories state as if it was an immutable fact," nor to accept "what gullible Congressional leaders, most of them up before the voters in a few weeks, say after being given a closed-door meeting on supposed horrors." ...
MORESausage Links, abandon ship edition
Posted Tue, Sep 23, 1:54 p.m. 2008
Liberal bloggers gotta love this. Some of the elite conservative pundits are growing skeptical about the McCain campaign's performance in the past weeks. Others are jumping ship altogether. The latest to leave the GOP stable is Washington Post columnist George Will, who says the Republican presidential candidate "is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high." Last week, the editorial board at the traditionally conservative The Wall Street Journal wrote that "McCain has made it clear this week he doesn't understand what's happening on Wall Street any better than Barack Obama does," adding that the Arizona senator was acting "un-presidential."
MORESausage Links, budget deficit edition
Posted Mon, Sep 22, 1:38 p.m. 2008
David Goldstein at Horse's Ass wrote over the weekend – post gubernatorial debate – that "there is no state budget deficit," prompting me to wonder what the hell he was talking about. I thought, "Did I miss something?" As Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire said in Saturday's gubernatorial debate, the state is currently generating a surplus. But it has been widely reported – even by Horse's Ass blogger Josh Feit – that the state faces a projected $3.2 billion deficit in the coming years. Gregoire even told The Seattle Times on Friday that she expects a deficit next year. So what gives? The folks at Washington Policy Center Blog put it another way:
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