Posted Fri, Sep 9, 3:51 p.m.

This could actually be an excellent entrepreneurial opportunity for a teenager looking for some income today. Take a bus to the south Bellevue Park and Ride, and walk a few hundred feet to the Mercer Slough blueberry farm. They charge $1.50 a pound for pick-your-own. Blueberries will probably get you ...

Posted Wed, Aug 31, 8:59 a.m.

[loup] That's a great visualization. But I disagree with "not all or most by a long shot." Certainly not all, but the difference between birth and death is roughly 35/yr, where it looks like the average from migration is around 40/yr. However, I hadn't realized our population has been growing ...

Posted Sat, Aug 27, 5:39 p.m.

[KAM] Yes, I was being more than a little flippant with your close-to-non-sequitur about population (if you really think you're going to solve sprawl in our region within a lifetime or two with population alone, those are your two of the three options that would come close, the third being ...

Posted Sat, Aug 27, 12:46 a.m.

[afree] I didn't respond to you before because I mostly agreed with your comment and there wasn't much to discuss. And, honestly, it was a bit off topic to my thread though relevant to the original story. But your link is confusing. Perhaps I'm missing the point, but you're comparing ...

Posted Fri, Aug 26, 3:38 p.m.

[KAM] Again, you're welcome to live in a SF home in the city, in the suburbs, in the exurbs, or in Kansas if you want. I won't stop you - on the contrary, I value the happiness that comes with choice. But you're arguing that your desire for everyone to ...

Posted Fri, Aug 26, 9:17 a.m.

Oh, and Re: NYC. Yes, the rich buy large plots of land far away. And they do that here too. And around the world. How exactly does keeping a ceiling on Seattle affect that issue in the slightest? Has that kept Bill Gates in a single family home? Picture the ...

Posted Fri, Aug 26, 9:07 a.m.

Re: Growth management. It's a great idea. But it has failed(1). We've protected bits and pieces, as massive land areas that used to be farms, forests, and fields are eaten up by sprawl. We should keep moving with growth management at full force and speed, but we also need to ...

Posted Thu, Aug 25, 2:21 p.m.

[bubble] My claim is based on fundamental economics of supply and demand. Since your claim is the one that goes against fundamental economics, care to expand on your reasoning or some study to support your viewpoint? [KAM] I relied on none of your assumptions. Prices are a proxy for desire, ...

Posted Thu, Aug 25, 12:28 p.m.

(link here: http://www.orphanroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/pop.png)

Posted Thu, Aug 25, 12:27 p.m.

@ddmiller Your outlook is common, but wrong. Don't look at the individual unit, look at the city as a whole. If we go from 400k housing units to 500k housing units, prices will go down. That's because the 500,000th family that wants to live in the city has less money ...

Posted Wed, Jun 15, 9:07 a.m.

I agree completely. I love world's fairs. I used to live in San Francisco, and there are beautiful parts throughout the city that wouldn't exist without the world's fairs. I was even married at the Palace of Fine Arts (home of the Exploratorium - hey, just like our Pacific Science ...

Posted Fri, May 6, noon

"including the cost of delivering and, later, disposing of them." I would hope you mean recycle them!

Posted Mon, Feb 28, 10:21 a.m.

Another reason some of us rarely watch HD content on our HDTV's: Tivo. It took them a few years to finally produce a HD model, and it's expensive. I'd much rather have HD content on my Tivo, but am not willing to spend $500 on an HD Tivo plus $20 ...

Posted Thu, Jan 13, 1:05 p.m.

Hmm. Try this post: http://www.orphanroad.com/blog/2010/10/growth-management-isnt-working

Posted Thu, Jan 13, 1:04 p.m.

Check out the chart on this post to see the actual effects of this failure. Our urban areas are growing at a snail's pace, while development out in the wild seems to be accelerating. We need a *plan B*.

Posted Tue, Aug 3, 4:40 p.m.

I want to be on your side on this. Money is a great motivator. But the problem you'll find is defining what exactly we should compensate politicians for. We already see politicians as making the government look good in the short term at the expense of the long term (no ...

Posted Wed, Jul 7, 1:05 p.m.

"Even at today's slow speeds the trains fill up" Tried to book a sleeper car to Havre, MT a few weeks ago and they were booked both ways. The cost of adding a few cars (not even engines here, just cars) should be quite low and if my experience is ...

Posted Tue, May 25, 12:07 p.m.

Don't forget about our schools! Queen Anne's high school was a beautiful temple of learning. Then we sold it for pocket change. Now the local high school is in the Seattle Center over the food court. Here's a write up about Queen Anne's schools I wrote last year: http://www.orphanroad.com/blog/2009/05/beautiful-schools-my-son-could-have-attended

Posted Fri, Jan 22, 11:05 a.m.

I've been to over 20 operas in four cities, and have to say that Seattle's Trovatore was the best opera I've ever seen. I saw the silver cast's dress rehersal and was on the edge of my seat. Don't read anything else about this opera. Don't read about the plot, ...

Posted Fri, May 15, 9:59 a.m.

Grrr. I forgot that links don't work here. Try this: http://streetcar.slumberland.org

Posted Fri, May 15, 9:58 a.m.

One thing Pioneer Square could really use is getting the promised waterfront streetcar back. There's a new blog thats been started up with that goal in mind.

Posted Fri, Jan 9, 11:30 a.m.

(grrrr... I miss being able to link to things here) Online form: http://www.seattle.gov/Transportation/potholereport.htm

Posted Fri, Jan 9, 11:29 a.m.

??? [steptoe] You do know about the pothole hotline, right? (684-ROAD) One phone call and those potholes will be gone in 48 hours. You're willing to spend the effort to complain about it but not the effort to pick up a phone? Here, there's even an online form you can ...

Posted Thu, Jan 8, 12:49 p.m.

I have a theory based on general observations. Those that live in remote areas hated the snow storm. Those that live in suburban areas disliked it. Those in city areas without nearby services were mildly annoyed. Those of us within easy walking distance of services loved the snow, despite our ...

Posted Tue, Jan 6, 4:32 p.m.

Sure. We should be good at it by now.

Posted Tue, Jan 6, 2:57 p.m.

Hey, here's a thought. Speaking of Obama and infrastructure - isn't the Monorail plan shovel-ready? We were --><-- this close to actually breaking ground, so we must have full plans ready for building.

Posted Wed, Dec 24, 8:47 a.m.

Our region's population will continue to increase whether or not we densify our cities. Growing carefully wouldn't be a bad idea, but growing slowly will just result in more exurb housing (i.e. sprawl, cars, roads, clear cutting, farmland encroachment, high energy use, high consumption).

Posted Sun, Dec 14, 2:01 p.m.

I thought I'd check in on the daily roadlover's news. Yep, complaining we're not throwing another multi-billion dollar subsidy at your love of cars and the ridiculous idea that freeways belong inside of cities. Hey look, you even mentioned the Discovery Institute by name this time (clearly the source of ...

Posted Fri, Dec 12, 6:24 p.m.

[Davidmg], his description is exactly plan C of the most recent set of options, plus a tunnel. So I'm not sure how you call the tunnel (the most expensive piece) a "small part" of the story. Adding a tunnel to one of the other options isn't combining them - it's ...

Posted Fri, Dec 12, 9:26 a.m.

Great "news" you practice here. The real story is that neither of the final options have a tunnel. Do you get paid directly from those that want more roads, or are you really that far out of the loop?

Posted Thu, Dec 11, 11:10 a.m.

"Where does the traffic go" is the wrong question. "Where do the people go" is the right one, and as viaduct teardowns the world over have shown, people get by just fine if you give enough of them other options such as buses or streetcars.

Posted Wed, Dec 10, 4 p.m.

(sorry, Hugeasscity link: http://noisetank.com/hugeasscity/2008/11/21/open-space-on-the-waterfront/)

Posted Wed, Dec 10, 3:59 p.m.

Removing the Viaduct will start us off with a wide blank slate to start from. I wouldn't touch the pier buildings - they're historic and interesting and I consider them irreplaceable from a tourist and aesthetic perspective. Hugeasscity has a decent proposal. Take a look at the empty open space ...

Posted Tue, Nov 18, 8:50 a.m.

First of all the "no toll booths" claim is a little bit far-fetched. They've had electronic tolling in the SF Bay Area for a good decade - including at first discounts for those using the electronic toll lanes - and there's still lines of cars waiting at toll boths, since ...

Posted Fri, Oct 24, 3:01 p.m.

Piper has a son in the military that after seeing Prop 1 for the first time* voted no based on taxes going up? Why didn't you tell me? I'm glad I haven't mailed in my ballot yet. * ah, modern democracy

Posted Thu, Oct 23, 12:31 p.m.

//They are not at capacity. // Ha! Try hanging out at 3rd and Pine during rush hour. Or 4th and Union. //light rail has no more capacity in the tunnel than buses// Light rail has much more capacity in the bus tunnel than buses. It takes a full 2 minutes ...

Posted Thu, Oct 23, 12:27 p.m.

[Lincoln] is the perfect example why our region is bogged down in a traffic-filled 1960s transportation technology. It amazes me that we even have buses. Will he be first in line out of Seattle and toward a functional city when our world runs low on oil?

Posted Thu, Oct 23, 12:20 p.m.

What [hacknflack] said. Market rate, at a waterfront high-traffic retail area, would turn into any other boring mall. Pike's Market is for the unique, even odd, small businesses that attract tourists to our area. I'll subsidize that.

Posted Thu, Oct 23, 12:12 p.m.

[dn] What a great case for light rail. If you double demand for buses, you'll need to double capacity. Take a look at 3rd and 4th downtown - the bus stops are at capacity already. Will you expand to 5th and 2nd as well? How about where they get on ...

Posted Thu, Oct 23, 11:51 a.m.

[Lincoln] You've listed the money that's been above-board. Who pays for the "think tanks" that write newspaper opinion pieces? //We need more buses// Sure. Prop 1 has more buses. But you're dreaming if you think this is a long-term solution.

Posted Thu, Oct 23, 11:17 a.m.

(examples: Washington Policy Center contributed to a piece in the Queen Anne News, Discovery Institute's Cascadia Project's Matt Rosenberg publishes right here at Crosscut)

Posted Thu, Oct 23, 11:14 a.m.

Crosscut should let good journalists play here more often. I love that you brought up the heavily funded no campaign and their backers. I keep running into opinion pieces from think tanks about what a terrible idea Link is, but when I look into those think tanks I see plenty ...

Posted Tue, Oct 21, 5 p.m.

//Bottom line, the Puget Sound region is now a passenger-rail-enabled region, and will become increasingly so in the years just ahead, whether Prop 1 wins or loses.// Heh. We're also Monorail-enabled. I'm sure that will expand any day now... Killing Prop 1 likely kills light rail. And it's a good ...

Posted Tue, Oct 21, 4:26 p.m.

[lizru], that's the one piece I agree with Van Dyk on: //we need to chose transit systems that suit our geography//. We have a huge number of bottlenecks here thanks to water and hills. We're at the point where building more freeways is not possible or cost effective. So how ...

Posted Tue, Oct 21, 10:48 a.m.

//We're at about 9 cents on the dollar without Sound Move. With Prop 1 we'll be about 10 cents on the dollar, depending on which local taxing district you're in. // So suddenly ST2 is a 0.1% sales tax? Where'd you get that new info? Did they change the proposition ...

Posted Tue, Oct 21, 9:08 a.m.

Nobody's surprised about Van Dyk's positions. I'm curious about Crosscut's recommendations. You're quite a conservative and generally anti-rail publication, but I've seen a little bit of balance here lately.

Posted Fri, Oct 17, 8:32 a.m.

[stupified] ST certainly had problems in the beginning, but all of their audits since then have been spotless, and now they're on time and under budget. The 5-10x number is just wrong (are you comparing to past projects? that doesn't seem fair using future dollars). Starting over with a whole ...

Posted Thu, Oct 16, 10:39 a.m.

I'm still waiting, patiently, for a BRT plan to hit the ballot. But it quickly becomes much more expensive than a rail system when you get into the details. BRT is always used as a way to try to call rail expensive, because freeway-lovers know that building more roads just ...

Posted Thu, Oct 16, 9:39 a.m.

(psst... I think you'll find that your bus mile is per bus, and the ST number is for the route - meaning all of the trains that run on that mile. apples to watermelons.)

Posted Thu, Oct 16, 8:56 a.m.

[LRT] "5 minute walk from Hwy 99" You make that point a lot, but haven't you seen the station? It's at the airport parking structure. You have to walk pretty slow to take 5 minutes to walk from there. "Will Sound Transit honor the ‘ride free area’ in the tunnel. ...

Posted Wed, Oct 15, 9:54 a.m.

[rasul], let me quote again "The apparent cause of the assault was the fact that the man had blocked traffic so no one would drive over his watering hose." So what exactly did the writer mean to say here? What could this murder possibly have to do with the general ...

Posted Mon, Oct 13, 1:57 p.m.

Grrr... The new comment format seems to strip links. First paragraph should have this link: http://seattle.gov/news/detail.asp?ID=8882&Dept;=40 Second paragraph should have this link: http://www.redfin.com/city/16163/WA/Seattle

Posted Mon, Oct 13, 1:38 p.m.

The chairman from JPMorgan Chase called Mayor Nickels the night of the takeover and assured him that bank branches would stay open and all employees remain the same. Also, I'd be careful in being too gloomy when it comes to Seattle's real estate market. Unlike other markets that are seeing ...

Posted Mon, Oct 13, 9:59 a.m.

I'd like to look at this silly "nanny state" argument in the context of the above piece. Turning circles: nanny state? That's a very odd debate to have, but I'll bite. I'd say that forcing us to stop when we see red octagons is more of a nanny-state than a ...

Posted Sun, Oct 12, 1:06 p.m.

//we should be looking instead at cleverer solutions that get us from this reality to a future ideal scenario that is desirable// I completely agree. But I think you miss the point of light rail. It's a backbone to a transit system - it relies on other forms of transit ...

Posted Sun, Oct 12, 11:12 a.m.

//Calm down. Knute is a joker.// Yeah. I sure hope if my loved ones are tragically killed he'll joke about them too. Whee!

Posted Sat, Oct 11, 11:11 a.m.

(Grrr... is there really no way to make new paragraphs? This is going to make comments really hard to read)

Posted Sat, Oct 11, 11:10 a.m.

Hmmm... It looks like you've changed comment formats since I've posted here. I'll repost to make this easier to read. This piece is disgusting. You're really going to blame James Paroline's death on THE TRAFFIC CIRCLE?! Are you serious? I suppose I shouldn't ever get in anyone's way, or it's ...

Posted Sat, Oct 11, 11:07 a.m.

This piece is disgusting. You're really going to blame James Paroline's death on the traffic circle?! Are you serious? I suppose I shouldn't ever get in anyone's way, or it's my fault if they kill me. That'll show him for trying to spend some enjoyable time gardening. //The apparent cause ...

Posted Fri, Oct 3, 8:47 a.m.

RE: The Opportunity Cost of Sound Transit 2: I'm tired of fighting bad data, so I'll stop. But tell us how the other 238,000 people get to work without Prop 1. Is there a secret BRT plan on the ballot that I missed? Or by "transit" are you including cars?

Posted Thu, Oct 2, 8:55 a.m.

RE: ven The French Get It Right!: There's nothing cheap about BRT. For it to be anything more than a bus it needs exclusive right of way. That means building roads - which cost more than rail. Then you need far more vehicles, which require more drivers, which is where ...

Posted Tue, Sep 30, noon

RE: It's time: // over the strong objections of the two major parties// It's true, changing voting systems more or less requires the major parties to give up power intentionally. I suppose our only hope is that our representatives place democracy over their party loyalty. I'll try not to hold ...

Posted Tue, Sep 30, 11:02 a.m.

RE: It's time: Sorry, wrong terminology. Not just any preferential voting system, specifically Instant runoff voting.

Posted Tue, Sep 30, 10:59 a.m.

It's time: It's well past time we switched to a Preferential voting system in the US. This will allow people to vote who they want to vote for without being afraid of "throwing away" their votes. Third parties will start getting real percentages of votes, and may some day move ...

Posted Tue, Sep 30, 8:28 a.m.

RE: The Opportunity Cost of Sound Transit 2: // if we spend our tax dollars on light rail,in this worsened economic climate, what would funding light rail displace? // Two things: cars, oil. Can we afford business as usual?

Posted Mon, Sep 29, 4:28 p.m.

RE: NICE TRY SOUND TRANSIT - STILL NOT INTERESTED: //makes you wonder how much exclusive bus lanes would cost.// A fortune. Just widening 405 cost 11 Billion dollars in 2002 dollars, and provide a fraction of the capacity of rail. Imagine widening 90 over the bridge or I-5. Good luck ...

Posted Mon, Sep 29, 4:19 p.m.

RE: There is a Finite Amount of Tax the Public Can Bear: Carpools, vanpools: Cost far more than light rail. Don't believe me? I've run some math here. It'll cost someone in the exurbs a half a million dollars over the life of a mortgage to drive alone from the ...

Posted Mon, Sep 29, 3:32 p.m.

RE: There is a Finite Amount of Tax the Public Can Bear: Please list these wonderfully cheap alternatives. Long-term, nothing beats rail even ignoring gas prices. Short-term, gas prices will become a very large concern that will hit not only car commuters but also buses.

Posted Mon, Sep 29, 12:33 p.m.

RE: Add Up the Tax Burden, Current and Proposed!: Yes, I'm sure Sound Transit will steal your childrens' future and probably your soul. Or maybe they'll come in on time and under budget like they did last time. Oh, and don't fool yourself with magical future technologies or electric cars. ...

Posted Mon, Sep 29, 11:58 a.m.

RE: Clueless Sound Transit: It can't even keep the small stuff straight: //why should it be trusted with $18 billion of our money?// How about because it's on time and under budget for the last project we voted for?

Posted Mon, Sep 29, 9:28 a.m.

RE: Add Up the Tax Burden, Current and Proposed!: //It's just NOT THE TIME// Ah, the song of the no campaign. When is the time? 20 years ago? Last year? Never? You mention gas prices. What will you do when gas prices are really unaffordable? Will it be time then? ...

Posted Wed, Sep 24, 11:23 a.m.

RE: Lainie and Piper,: Sure, if you know a year in advance how painful your end-stage cancer will be. Your argument is empty.

Posted Wed, Sep 24, 9:49 a.m.

I love this style of reporting.: Ah, "news" via question mark. Will giant pigeons rule the earth and become our new masters?

Posted Mon, Sep 22, 1:01 p.m.

RE: Lainie and Piper,: (psst... as pointed out earlier, the Oregon law only applies to residents) The slippery slope argument is a red herring. If you're afraid there will be a next step, and you don't want that next step, don't take the next step. That's the nice part about ...

Posted Fri, Sep 19, 10:42 a.m.

RE: Margaret,: //where the frenzy over Obama is an emotional reaction simply based on rhetoric rather than substance// The other side is always emotional and irrational. I'm sure the republicans are ga-ga over Palin in a very rational and emotion-free way. //Proponents used heart-tugging rhetoric to gain empathy and sympathy ...

Posted Fri, Sep 19, 9:04 a.m.

RE: Washington State residents: 1. This sounds reasonable to me. Suicide at the end of a long battle with cancer isn't the real cause of death - it just speeds it up. 2. Such terms are meant to be decided by juries, to protect doctors from fame-driven prosecutors. 3. Do ...

Posted Fri, Sep 19, 8:57 a.m.

RE: Matt,: The Director of right-wing Suicide Prevention International disapproves of Amsterdam? I'm shocked. Washington's law is nothing like Amsterdam. I hear it won't even make prostitution legal.

Posted Fri, Sep 19, 8:55 a.m.

RE: Matt:: Have you ever taken a look at the racial makeup of Oregon? That's right: 93.45% white. Try again with your misleading statistics.

Posted Thu, Sep 18, 4:26 p.m.

RE: Matt:: Whatever. I've known someone die slowly in pain that didn't have the option of taking their own life. It's criminal that our society forces people to go through this. There is no palliative care that's good enough for end-stage cancer. Please tell me when it's my turn you ...

Posted Thu, Sep 18, 10:53 a.m.

RE: I won't go gentle into that good night: If your mother had been pleading for weeks to end the pain, would you have "honored" her by saying no? Long-term pain with no hope of recovery isn't an "inconvenience". It's a torture put in place by those that wish to ...

Posted Thu, Sep 18, 9:28 a.m.

what [rat] said: I don't think anyone who's seen someone go through the end stages in our current system will vote against this. We really need options when faced with painful but slow deaths.

Posted Wed, Sep 17, 1:21 p.m.

Mixed use?: I'd love to see the convention center over the bus station, with a highrise residential building on top. This way conference-style amenities like restaurants can have baseline sales even between conventions. I also like the lid idea, even if it's just a continuation of freeway park, since it ...

Posted Thu, Sep 11, 11:53 a.m.

RE: Metro bus to the airport: (psst... despite what you've heard Link is not meant to just replace the 194. If that's all we do with it then we've wasted our time and money.)

Posted Thu, Sep 11, 10:12 a.m.

Can't wait: I can't wait for Link to start up. The best way to the airport is by public transportation. But the bus is far too inconsistent to be used to connect with important flights (unless you really get there 2 hours early). I recently used the bus to get ...

Posted Fri, Sep 5, 12:59 p.m.

Options: The waterfront option is a terrible one. Convention centers are lively and interesting places during a convention - and then a wasteland the next day. Portland's site is uncomfortable to walk near after dark, since there isn't a person for blocks. I like either of the other two options. ...

Posted Tue, Sep 2, 8:57 a.m.

Outsourcing taxes: //dramatic change isn't a nice-to-have. It's a must-have.// Why? What's changed that required more money for our roads than voters are willing to pay? You note fuel prices as causing this, though reduced revenue indicates less road use - not more. P3's are an end-run around democracy. We're ...

Posted Sun, Aug 31, 10:37 a.m.

RE: If it's a boondoggle, it must be worth it!: Ken, Have you been to Shanghai? I've ridden the maglev, and the cost is 50 yuan - that's about $7 ($5 if you have a plane ticket). It was quick and fun and short. On purpose. The thing was built ...

Posted Fri, Aug 29, 2:03 p.m.

RE: COST v. BENEFIT: (oops, that's $7.8B and $6.7B)

Posted Fri, Aug 29, 2:01 p.m.

RE: COST v. BENEFIT: Fine. I ran some numbers myself. It looks like they're just using the actual tax proposed in ST2. That works out to $78 per person per year (they assumed our population goes up over time - I'll hold it constant). Adding in the bonds and fares, ...

Posted Fri, Aug 29, 1:36 p.m.

RE: COST v. BENEFIT: Is that your way of saying you made it up?

Posted Fri, Aug 29, 8:57 a.m.

RE: COST v. BENEFIT: Where are you getting your numbers? The cost is $69 per adult per year - not much more than a tank of gas. I think you'll find that in 15 years we'll be far worse off if we don't build rail.

Posted Sun, Aug 24, 4:28 p.m.

.: Ah, you must be a Seattlite.

Posted Mon, Aug 18, 8:15 p.m.

RE: People Don't Respond Like They Should: //Once people start to grasp the scope and cost of what the eco-facists propose, things will really start rocking. // Heh. Someone just called Knute an eco-facist. That just made my day.

Posted Mon, Aug 18, 12:44 p.m.

future: The idea of post-apocalyptic farm cities is one that doesn't acknowledge the difference in the limits of fuel energy and electric energy. If all energy became very expensive, then we'd fall back into an agrarian system. But we should have enough renewable energy (especially here) to make electricity perhaps ...

Posted Fri, Aug 15, 8:12 p.m.

Streetcars, past and future.: I agree with the general sentiment of the last paragraph, but I think it's very specific to this project. SLU has transformed very fast by a single developer that's taken an eraser to a neighborhood and started over. I don't think that's a good model to ...

Posted Tue, Aug 12, 10:30 a.m.

RE: request for a source, please: Try the section called "Sales Tax Rollback", page 44 of the July 24th document.

Posted Mon, Aug 11, 3:36 p.m.

RE: The tax hike is permanent, not 15 years: //There is no sunset on either part of the Sound Transit sales tax // //eight more years to go even if Prop 1 fails to pass// Maybe you're misunderstanding what "permanent" means.

Posted Thu, Aug 7, 9 a.m.

RE: nd the $.25 cent fare: Yeah! I blame the damn freeloading children.

Posted Wed, Aug 6, 4:10 p.m.

Be careful what you ask for...: Let's take a look at the extreme example of what's being asked here. For ideal efficiency, we'd have no bus routes except between high density residential areas and high density business areas. We'd price based on destination - so diesel busses to the suburbs ...

Posted Mon, Aug 4, 1:48 p.m.

Suggested change for a green, traffic-free Seattle cab system: Three words: Local Tuk-tuk License.

Posted Thu, Jul 31, 10:05 a.m.

RE: I'm not sure Chicago's the best comparison: Oh, and I've seen that 3x number before. Can you cite a source for that? I'm thinking whoever figured that assumed you'd raze all existing housing to the ground and build up to maximum zoning levels - not likely or cost effective. ...

Posted Thu, Jul 31, 10:02 a.m.

RE: I'm not sure Chicago's the best comparison: I think you're missing basic economics here. Given fixed demand, if supply goes up then prices go down. There are a few factors that seem to be confusing you. One is increased demand - housing prices are going up in the city ...

Posted Wed, Jul 30, 7:08 p.m.

I'm not sure Chicago's the best comparison: But I will gladly offer suggestions for affordable in-city housing. * Allow more flexible and smaller housing and apartments. * Remove parking requirements. * Upzoning. (higher supply would drop prices) * Rebuild an entire area near Link without car-sized streets. The resulting density ...

Posted Wed, Jul 30, 4:50 p.m.

RE: Peak Oil? Hello....: I agree that there will be cars, but they'll be electric and there will be much fewer and range-limited. The few biofuel vehicles will be very expensive to run. The reason that biofuels can currently come close to competing with gasoline is because gasoline is used ...

Posted Tue, Jul 29, 12:25 p.m.

RE: What regions serve as a model? And costs.: Considering a family takes up much less room in dense construction compared to the suburbs, construction costs would have to be much higher to balance this out. Of course, density doesn't have to mean highrises. Narrow streets filled with even 4-story ...

Posted Tue, Jul 29, 12:11 p.m.

RE: is growth irrevocable?: You seem to be mixing population growth with economic growth. The two are very different and can even be inversely proportional (look at the population decline in Europe compared to Africa).

Posted Tue, Jul 29, 11:56 a.m.

RE: You think that trucks will be running in 2040?: Perhaps you shouldn't have been daydreaming, since your Social Studies teacher was exactly right. But he was talking about US peak oil, which was correctly predicted all the way back in 1956. World peak oil was predicted at the time ...

Posted Tue, Jul 29, 10:24 a.m.

You think that trucks will be running in 2040?: I see the base difference between my perspective and Morrill's is that he just doesn't believe in peak oil. That he thinks that trucks will be driving happily along, and people will be commuting hours away by car in 2040 ignores ...

Posted Sat, Jul 26, 3:33 p.m.

RE: Can't we all just get along?: I appologize for equating your opinions with that of your site. I stopped reading Crosscut months ago because of the constant anti-rail, anti-density tone. Only Ben's recent piece brought me back. Looking back at the articles published those months ago, I don't see ...

Posted Fri, Jul 25, 5:17 p.m.

RE: 40 year hole ?: The $11 billion expansion plan for I-405 will carry a fraction of the people ST2 will. Add to that the cost of rebuilding 520, the Viaduct, etc., all for what? The same exact traffic levels? More roads doesn't equal less traffic (this works in reverse ...

Posted Fri, Jul 25, 1:27 p.m.

Can't we all just get along?: Come on David, there's room for you on the train as well. It's time to get excited about the possibility of fixing our transit problems, not mire in misleading anti-transit numbers. //2 percent into buying new express buses// How much goes to bus service ...

Posted Tue, Jul 22, 5:30 p.m.

RE: Van Dyk P.S.: // it would have negligible effect on transportation congestion// Please, Mr. Van Dyk, tell us about your magical solution to effect transportation congestion. More busses stuck in traffic? (ha!) A traffic-seperated BRT system? (try building that for less than rail) Private toll lanes for the rich? ...

Posted Mon, Jul 21, 9:32 a.m.

RE: You make no sense...: //But that would assume that what you claim, i.e. that I've asked others to prove their assertions, is correct.// Um, let's just look at comments in this thread... Manhattanization: //If you wish to prove that there is an inescapable need for bus-only or HOV lanes ...

Posted Thu, Jul 17, 4:56 p.m.

RE: You make no sense...: I'm ok with you not publishing your calculations. But to use it as a fact, while elsewhere asking others to prove every assertion is more than a little inconsistant.

Posted Thu, Jul 17, 4:56 p.m.

RE: You make no sense...: I'm ok with you not publishing your calculations. But to use it as a fact, while elsewhere asking others to prove every assertion is more than a little inconsistant.

Posted Thu, Jul 17, 3:53 p.m.

RE: Assumptions: So you're saying I'll be able to take my pets on the train? Sweet.

Posted Thu, Jul 17, 1:13 p.m.

RE: Choice: Therefore the claim that [those that find bus options attractive are usually not the ones riding the bus] not only is logically possible, but applies to you.

Posted Thu, Jul 17, 1:08 p.m.

RE: Tired old car warriors: My point is that you jumped straight to asking for references proving what you said, without telling anyone what exactly you disagree with.

Posted Thu, Jul 17, 1:05 p.m.

RE: You make no sense...: And you've missed mine. Private, unreviewed, unpublished calculations are worthless and distracting. I've got secret numbers proving that light rail will cure cancer.

Posted Thu, Jul 17, 1:01 p.m.

RE: Cost of Projects in the Subareas: Easy there [Digg]. Just because they haven't released these numbers to you doesn't mean they don't exist. It's not like they thought up this plan yesterday, they've just been refining the details.

Posted Thu, Jul 17, 11:11 a.m.

RE: Assumptions: //It is definitely an interesting time to be running a major tax increase// Certainly true, but let's not forget what's driving our economic problems: peak oil and increased global resource consumption. The price of steel will go up the longer we wait, and 4mpg busses aren't a great ...

Posted Thu, Jul 17, 8:58 a.m.

RE: Choice: Then you must understand how someone can find busses attractive but not use them.

Posted Thu, Jul 17, 8:57 a.m.

RE: You make no sense...: So this number you keep using is your own unpublished calculation? I'm sorry, but whether or not you've used school district methodology it just fails the sniff test. Not to mention the huge assumption that such a system only benefits commuters. I won't need to ...

Posted Wed, Jul 16, 11:02 a.m.

RE: You make no sense...: Slightly off-topic, but I've seen you post the $100,000+ subsidy per cubicle in about every comment you've made on this side. Care to cite a reference for that one?

Posted Wed, Jul 16, 9:44 a.m.

RE: Choice: //How can an attractive option not be used by the people to whom it is attractive? // Quick question. You clearly find busses attractive. Do you typically commute via bus?

Posted Wed, Jul 16, 9:39 a.m.

RE: Tired old car warriors: Tom, I haven't heard you deny anything tiptoe's said about you.

Posted Tue, Jul 15, 1:48 p.m.

RE: Urban myths abound: Myth? I think the concept of cities as engines for economic development and their relation to interoffice communication is well-documented and so widely understood as to be common sense. Let's go right to Wikipedia, if you're looking for sources (for example, see the Glaeser reference for ...

Posted Mon, Aug 6, 12:28 p.m.

Let's see if I am understanding this correctly.: 1. Foreigners want into our country, and a law says they can come in if they bring investment money. 2. One investment company, who caters to people in #1, invests in real estate in SODO. 3. To gain a return on their ...

Posted Sat, Jun 23, 7:25 p.m.

RE: How much do roads cost us?: 1. I'm not sure I get your point. I'd jump on any land that was priced much less than assessed value on Queen Anne, if paying to build a new house on it brought me up to market value. I'm sure there's some ...

Posted Thu, Jun 21, 11:50 p.m.

RE: How much do roads cost us?: I've told you where my numbers came from. The $150/sf is land value, not improved value, and is as assessed by King county. I've also told you I don't have a basis for the $250/sf number and am perfectly fine settling on the ...

Posted Thu, Jun 21, 11:45 p.m.

RE: more malarky from Morrill...: I don't see such a distinction between roads and rail. Yes, roads are more useful. But also more expensive. Plus we already have roads, and we're just about out of places to build them. Should rail pay for itself? Just as much as roads should ...

Posted Thu, Jun 21, 10:30 a.m.

RE: How much do roads cost us?: What a great point. Value of land increases with the quality of life of those living there, specifically including transportation services available to those residents. Could we think of some form of new transportation service being added that is being under-valued by certain ...

Posted Thu, Jun 21, 10:16 a.m.

RE: more malarky from Morrill...: So, as a summary of your long response, your only problem with this deal is that some people will benefit while others won't, yet everyone pays the bill? How exactly is this different from any road built in this state? Yes, it's unfair that someone ...

Posted Wed, Jun 20, 8:50 p.m.

RE: more malarky from Morrill...: We're getting closer, but we're still far apart. 1. Yes, that was a little tongue-in-cheek, but I wanted to make sure we were both talking about geography-constricted pipelines, not open flatland networks. 2. True, I only know the common destination, and only on the west ...

Posted Wed, Jun 20, 2:05 p.m.

RE: more malarky from Morrill...: I know exactly where they're coming from and to when we're talking about any given pipeline. On I-90 about half are coming from the east side of the lake to the west. The rest are coming from the west to the east. You have a ...

Posted Wed, Jun 20, 1:04 p.m.

How much do roads cost us?: I'd love to see a study of how much cars and busses cost us. Think about the amount of pavement in our world. Add to that the land value for that pavement, the maintenance and replacement every decade or so for the pavement, freeways, ...

Posted Wed, Jun 20, 10:23 a.m.

RE: more malarky from Morrill...: //Hence, downtown Seattle consumes virtually all the freeway capacity// This is exactly why mass-transit works for cities. Almost everyone is going to the same place. You can either take up 100 sf of space per person on a massive pipeline into the city, or 10 ...

Posted Mon, Jun 11, 2:14 p.m.

RE: Get those excess people off the roads.: I'd be fine for an alternative solution that is income neutral, as long as it gets a large number of people out of their cars. Perhaps the license plate number solution mentioned in article 3. Or perhaps WWII-style driving rations - you're ...

Posted Mon, Jun 11, 2:07 p.m.

I love this: City highways in the US remind me of stereotypical toilet paper lines in old communist Russia. We're all lined up for hours, wasting our lives, waiting our turn for our basic services. All the while other countries have 6 different brands of TP, and wait for less ...

Posted Thu, Jun 7, 12:35 p.m.

RFID duct tape needed?: How does anyone know if you're an outsider? Is there a Washington colored duct tape?

Posted Thu, May 10, 4:02 p.m.

RE: xclusionary reasoning: "No one's stopping any company who wants to capitalize on this miraculous device. " Check this out. 0-60 in 4 seconds, 200 miles per charge, and, to answer one of your questions, $0.02/mile. Yes, there are currently large issues with electric generation. But at least we have ...

Posted Thu, May 10, 11:52 a.m.

RE: You need to take a look at this before you slag it off: "What is burnt is..." Any time you burn a substance containing carbon, you create CO2. Unless you're talking about producing pure H2 with this process, you're dumping CO2 out of a car's tailpipe. What's worse is ...

Posted Thu, May 10, 10:36 a.m.

RE: Using the Fischer-Tropsch system, coal could produce: (shiver) That's what we're afraid of - "clean" coal. Pull all of the SOx, NOx, and particulate you want out of the stuff, but it still creates a fixed amount of CO2. I would suggest passing on any offers for cheap oceanfront ...

Posted Wed, May 9, 12:44 p.m.

RE: Seattle is not Amsterdam: (resists urge to post link to the bicycle lift) Ah, here's a good solution for you.

Posted Tue, May 8, 8:49 a.m.

RFID Fears: I think the RFID in a drivers license is a valid fear, for all of the reasons stated. The EZPass fear is a bit less founded - all we really have to do is require them to be encrypted. But the fear of RFID chips in library books ...

Posted Mon, May 7, 9:54 a.m.

RE: berger, roadway pricing, sims, social engineering: "What if people get behind in payments to the transponder authority? Will the system information be shared with the local authorities to " collect " from those in arrears? Will they have their transponders removed? " When I lived in California I used ...

Posted Thu, May 3, 1:32 p.m.

Premise questions: Let's slow down and take a look at this paragraph: //For starters, the eased commute along that corridor could reflect a number of conditions: the availability of other routes in the Bay Area, BART's decision to offer free service during the crisis, and people deciding to stay home ...

Posted Thu, May 3, 8:05 a.m.

RE: An editor and rider defends his writer: I think there's evidence in this list of comments that many didn't the joke. Perhaps you should reconsider your opinion.

Posted Wed, May 2, 10:40 a.m.

Or you could go the other way...: I think it's time for bicycle freeways. Maybe we let cars keep I-5, and hand over the viaduct for bicycles. Of course we'll remove the massive ugly structure and put in something small and elegant that doesn't need to carry endless tons of ...

Posted Wed, Apr 25, 10:23 a.m.

RE: Does Foster have any demonstrated record of successful urban design?: Because we're cheap. For our liberal image, when it comes down to money we generally play out as fiscal conservatives. Notice the lack of comments once the price dropped from $300M to $5.2M.

Posted Tue, Apr 24, 8:21 a.m.

RE: THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE 520s: I agree with all of Stuka's points except for 7. I argue that we do have the density now. When I was a 520 commuter I would have paid big $ to not have to sit behind the wheel staring at the ...

Posted Fri, Apr 20, 8:45 a.m.

RE: "Seattle's soaring rent rate earns spot in $1,000 club": The copying and pasting is getting a little annoying. But maybe you'll respond to me here. Speaks for itself" Actually, it doesn't. You're making the same flawed argument that other are - prices have gone up and there are more ...

Posted Fri, Apr 20, 8:40 a.m.

RE: "Seattle's soaring rent rate earns spot in $1,000 club": "Speaks for itself" Actually, it doesn't. You're making the same flawed argument that other are - prices have gone up and there are more people: therefore density = expensive. What you're missing is that prices have been rising because people ...

Posted Thu, Apr 19, 2:37 p.m.

RE: Myth: Seattle's population is growing at Beijing rates: I'm not sure if I responded to this one last time, so I will here. Re: Fantastic rate of growth. Of course Seattle hasn't grown in population very fast - there is nowhere to build new homes. Hence the need to ...

Posted Thu, Apr 19, 1:40 p.m.

RE: Housing supply/demand myths: More doesn't always equal affordable: (Sorry I'm picking on you again Geof, but your arguments are more reasoned and articulate than most, so it's easier to have an interesting debate.) I know it seems like turning your neighbor's $300k house into 4 x $600k condos seems ...

Posted Wed, Apr 18, 1:27 p.m.

Your plan: Though you talk about having a plan, reading carefuly over your article this is all I can find: "create incentives for people to locate in depopulated rural areas". Great, sounds good. Where? The truth is that prices have increased throughtout the area, because the population has increased throughout ...

Posted Tue, Apr 17, 4:21 p.m.

RE: Seattle Density: Developer Welfare, Enviro Wet Dream: 1. So in your scenario there is a developer letting 3 of his 4 condos sit empty forever (you claim no growth), instead of reducing the price so that he could sell all 4 (even selling each one at $175k would make ...

Posted Mon, Apr 16, 4:32 p.m.

RE: Seattle Density: Developer Welfare, Enviro Wet Dream: I'm not sure I buy the focal point of your arguement: "What is more likely to happen is flat to negative population growth within the City limits, caused by ever increasing housing prices, higher taxes from a shrinking tax base, decline in ...

Posted Mon, Apr 16, 3:23 p.m.

RE: Seattle Density: Developer Welfare, Enviro Wet Dream: I think you make very good points except for this one: //endless increases in property and other taxes// Surely more people equals more taxes, in the same proportion. Considering you aren't adding streets, perhaps in a more favorable proportion.

Posted Mon, Apr 16, 1:10 p.m.

RE: When you assume you make an ass out of u and me...: Back in the 60's there were a lot fewer people in WA. Your house probably cost a quarter of what it does now (even adjusted for inflation). There were much fewer roads, more farmland, cleaner air, more ...

Posted Mon, Apr 16, 12:24 p.m.

RE: Give me land, lots of land...: Please take a step back from personal rights (which I agree with, to a point), and consider the big picture. Assuming everyone has 5 children and a big house on big land, it doesn't take too many generations before you're out of land ...

Posted Mon, Apr 16, 11:33 a.m.

It's all a matter of assumptions: Mossback's columns always raise my hackles until I realize he is having a different discussion than everyone else. We are all comparing dense cities with sprawling cities - the only two choices if you assume a given number of people are moving into the ...

Posted Thu, Apr 12, 3:32 p.m.

RE: Let's Get Flexible: Easy now. Traffic circles are wonderful things that you can only appreciate if you've lived without them. They don't exist in California, and most residential intersections have 4-way stop signs. You don't realize how nice it is not to have to stop every block. In the ...

Posted Wed, Apr 11, 5:27 p.m.

RE: More cars and drivers is the answer: You need a modified version of the yellow magnet mentioned here. Here's the original text, and here's a company that can make them for you. It looks like they're about $18 for 25 of them.

Posted Wed, Apr 11, 1:23 p.m.

RE: Green-light-to-honk-time: I'm not sure we have more red light runners than anywhere else - I would claim that we have less. Plus, looking around before you drive on a green light doesn't take long - the honking comes in when someone is daydreaming, on a cell phone, touching up ...

Posted Wed, Apr 11, 12:13 p.m.

Slow down, people: Good conversation. When I moved here from San Francisco I was startled by how polite and quiet drivers are here. The sitting-at-a-green-light to time-to-honk delay is probably tripple what it is in any other city. Pedestrians and cars are friends here - not enemies. There isn't the ...

Posted Mon, Apr 9, 3:16 p.m.

Interesting mix of comments: Everyone seems to have a strong and different opinion on how to handle bikes - here and on other forums. Personally, the overall anouncement seems quite good to me. One of the changes I'd make is to enforce bicycles less rather than more. Actually, I'd love ...