Posted Thu, Apr 26, 1:01 p.m.

Andy, a "transfer of development rights" would be a great option for something like Bauhaus. afreeman, construction employment is still very low. But Seattle is adding a lot of jobs, particularly in SLU, Boeing, etc.

Posted Thu, Apr 26, 8:34 a.m.

Your first paragraph ignores the current boom, which is about completions in 2012, 2013, and maybe beyond that. We've had the affordability discussion ad nauseum. New units will always cost a lot to build, though the reduced parking requirements are substantially reducing the costs of units in some neighborhods. But ...

Posted Wed, Apr 25, 10:29 p.m.

afreeman, I didn't say anything about "asap." You might want to read rather than scan and guess. That will also help you understand the clear point that we're growing faster than projections.

Posted Wed, Apr 25, 1:26 p.m.

I just read that twice and have no idea what your point is.

Posted Wed, Apr 25, 9:17 a.m.

PS, if you're talking about the City's 2024 projections in the Comp Plan appendices, the recent updates show that we're already way above the projected pace for the 2004-2024 period, not counting a sizeable chunk of the current boom.

Posted Tue, Apr 24, 7:48 p.m.

I was talking about multiple decades though I see now that you meant 2024. Also, I suspect we'll grow much more quickly than City targets and projections, as desirability, gas prices, economics, and reduced parking regs have already caused the current boom, and all of that seems to be primed ...

Posted Tue, Apr 24, 4:21 p.m.

David, there's a difference between zoned "capacity" and what can actually be built. Many property owners hold what they have. This can turn out well, such as preservation of Sam Israel's buildings, but it can also keep parking lots, underused/unrenovated buildings, and any type of low density (good or not) ...

Posted Tue, Apr 24, 8:42 a.m.

It's certainly true that "how" is important, not just "how many."

Posted Mon, Apr 23, 4:08 p.m.

Actually a lot of this city's density advocates live in dense neighborhoods, walk to work, etc. I sure do.

Posted Sun, Apr 22, 1:05 p.m.

Obviously I didn't say that. We sprawl less, but we still sprawl. I'm on record saying we should tighten the regs more. Try again nutjob. And way to fit your rant about Sound Transit into every story regardless of relevance.

Posted Sun, Apr 22, 10:04 a.m.

PS, Kotkin is the paid mouthpiece of the sprawl industry, and the Wall Street Journal is descending into the Rupurt Murdoch "Fox News" right wing media fakery mode.

Posted Sun, Apr 22, 10:02 a.m.

Both are growing, in our case quite a bit faster than the national average pretty much every year including the last one. Guess they're voting with their feet eh? Washington is doing a lot of things right. Protecting quality of life, etc., vs. sprawl is one of them.

Posted Thu, Apr 19, 8:24 a.m.

Great piece. I find that walking to work every day (a little over a mile each way) is a good baseline of activity that starts the day well mentally and physically. Doing it 100% of the time means no wiggle room that could expand over the years. Still, even while ...

Posted Wed, Apr 11, 9:05 a.m.

animalal, the younger generations are statistically very different from the older folks.

Posted Tue, Apr 10, 8:36 a.m.

Geezer, why are the apartments in urban districts doing so well, and in fact booming with new construction, in stark contrast to the edges of town? talisker, quite a few of us already do live without cars. True, we're disproportionally in core districts. But it's certainly possible. Even in places ...

Posted Thu, Apr 5, 8:12 a.m.

The lights are the one thing I do like.

Posted Wed, Apr 4, 10:21 a.m.

This park doesn't seem to get much use, and it's not surprising. It's dominated by the busy intersection. There's very little shade, and there's no rain cover. It's not green. For those not in a zen frame of mind, it's mostly a gravel lot with a few archiectural features in ...

Posted Mon, Mar 26, 9:11 a.m.

Wow chapala21, you hit lots of my favorite points! The leash thing and alarms in particular. (Manna from heaven...the buzz version of truck alarms vs. the alarm clock that's dominated recent decades. Can't wait for those stupid kneeling buses to get that upgrade.) Another is the idiocy of how we ...

Posted Mon, Mar 26, 8:15 a.m.

I'm the "one Seattle blogger" referred to. They get in the way. Every sidewalk should have clear space for a couple adults to pass, as talisker says. A busier sidewalk should have room for the whole volume of pedestrians to not have to step aside. Whose sidewalk is it anyway? ...

Posted Fri, Mar 23, 5:25 p.m.

I'd say requiring parking is social engineering. If there's available on-street parking, then what's the problem? I thought the point was that on-street parking was too tight.

Posted Fri, Mar 23, 3:42 p.m.

That would make their apartments hard to rent. They have a strong incentive to have the right amount.

Posted Fri, Mar 23, 12:43 p.m.

So projects will get built with parking on Queen Anne. The city isn't saying they can't build it, just that they don't have to.

Posted Fri, Mar 23, 9:09 a.m.

Oops, ridiculous! Twice.

Posted Fri, Mar 23, 9:08 a.m.

Rediculous article. Developers will still build as much parking as they think their tenants will want. The difference is they won't build huge amounts of unused spaces. Seattle already has substantial areas with no parking requirements, so there's precedent. If you look at the average highrise apartment, the ratio is ...

Posted Fri, Mar 23, 9:07 a.m.

Rediculous article. Developers will still build as much parking as they think their tenants will want. The difference is they won't build huge amounts of unused spaces. Seattle already has substantial areas with no parking requirements, so there's precedent. If you look at the average highrise apartment, the ratio is ...

Posted Wed, Mar 21, 2:58 p.m.

Those neighborhood results tell a story that applies to the whole region also: Much like SLU's 53.1% rise wasn't all "appreciation," the region's drop wasn't all "depreciation." Rather a lot of the story is which units get sold.

Posted Wed, Mar 21, 8:40 a.m.

Weyerhaueser's type of sprawl hasn't held up, but close-in neighborhoods have done much better, and started to tick upward already. It's not just expensive areas like Queen Anne.

Posted Sun, Mar 4, 6:07 p.m.

Newgeography is a mouthpiece for sprawl, cherry picking points. Typical. While core cities aren't accommodating massive growth, three points: 1. People who like density, mixed use, and other urban attributes are changing a lot of suburbia into "core city" in some ways. 2. People are paying way more per square ...

Posted Tue, Feb 28, 7:13 p.m.

afreeman, I don't understand your question. Also, I work for a general contractor, not a developer.

Posted Tue, Feb 28, 12:49 p.m.

I've never heard Tacoma called a suburb. It grew up as an independent city. Only with I-5 did it even begin to have a sizeable bedroom aspect for Seattle. Today it has a relative lack of some types of jobs vs. residents, i.e. it's a bedroom for King County to ...

Posted Tue, Feb 28, 12:46 p.m.

That 2008 projection is looking pretty accurate in 2012 afreeman. The outer suburbs have lost the most value, and many are choosing existing (often foreclosed) houses as the new cheap option. This might not prove cheap in the long run due to transportation costs of course, as well as what ...

Posted Tue, Feb 28, 11:51 a.m.

cascadian, your size ranges refer to metro populations, not municipal populations.

Posted Tue, Feb 28, 11:20 a.m.

Maybe the 20% figure refers to central cities. But as this column attests, a lot of suburbia is now more like urbia. More like 80% live in "urban" (meaning central city, suburbs) areas. People pay way more per square foot to live closer in, values have held up better closer ...

Posted Tue, Feb 14, 11:36 a.m.

Can Seattle compare? We have a much higher percentage who walk to work. Of course that's partially because we're denser and more people live near work. Seattle deserves a C- in policy and facilities. We have arterials with no sidewalks, no safe crossings in many places for large stretches, and ...

Posted Mon, Jan 30, 11:51 a.m.

Nobody tours San Francisco by car. So that won't be a problem.

Posted Sat, Jan 28, 1:45 p.m.

"Behind the scenes with esteemed Russian choreographer, Alexei Ratmansky, who directs..." Does crosscut employ an English major who can correct this sort of thing?

Posted Tue, Jan 24, 4:25 p.m.

That is SERIOUSLY creepy. I don't use much of their stuff to begin with. But anyway...bye!

Posted Sun, Jan 22, 9:51 a.m.

I mean that cumulatively, between Crosscut, other papers, fans, etc.

Posted Sat, Jan 21, 10:14 p.m.

Romney's tax and wealth problems might have been fine in other elections. But in this economy, with both the right and left wings railing about equality or a fair deal, I think it's a big issue that will stick with him. His fundamental problem is that, if he's nominated, today's ...

Posted Thu, Jan 19, 4:07 p.m.

Spoken like a content provider. Of course, the entertainment industry would never give up that revenue, or its advertising contract obligations...

Posted Thu, Jan 19, 3:59 p.m.

I don't get the hate for ineffective players. Unless you're arguing that they slacked off, or were willfully ineffective of course.

Posted Wed, Jan 18, 4:37 p.m.

I don't understang this. I'm doing nothing today (scheduled a few days off work, long ago) and it's going well. Maybe some of us are better suited for it...

Posted Mon, Jan 16, 2 p.m.

Maybe you should have a public vote. Oh wait...

Posted Mon, Jan 16, 12:26 p.m.

Got crossrip. Cue jmrolls on tunnel and animalal with some right wing hyperbole...

Posted Mon, Jan 16, 12:25 p.m.

Another nice thing about living in a condo or apartment...there might be a stack of these in the mail room occasionally but I don't have to deal with them. As for usefulness, Eric makes some good points. But I'll do without anyway. Better to have less crap to deal with.

Posted Fri, Jan 6, 1:08 p.m.

Sully, see the "mostly" part.

Posted Fri, Jan 6, 7:54 a.m.

This is mostly a comfort issue, not a safety issue.

Posted Tue, Jan 3, 10:10 p.m.

PS, the office vacancy rate obviously grew during that time. 2000 was astonishingly low at around 1% or so, while today the brokerages might average 15%. But the 99% included a lot of space for future expansion by overly-optimistic tenants. The 85% also includes a lot of unused space of ...

Posted Tue, Jan 3, 10:05 p.m.

I don't buy that at all. The volume of Downtown office space grew heavily during that time, particularly if the Downtown fringes are included. So did labs. The hotel inventory went through the roof. Hospital staffs leaned down a bit but the physical campuses also grew; I suspect their staffs ...

Posted Mon, Jan 2, 10:33 a.m.

dbreneman, I wasn't paying attention until 1980 or so, but I find it hard to believe that Portland was more prominent in the past century. (I love Portland and am jealous of some aspects of it, but being realistic, and love digging into stuff like this.) Washington's population passed Oregon's ...

Posted Sun, Jan 1, 11:53 a.m.

Portlandia is a takeoff on the city's image, by some people with a great idea who made it happen. Portland's image is more straightforward than Seattle's. Seattle has a lot of the Portlandia-type stuff going on, but our image also includes rain, coffee/Starbucks, Boeing, high-tech, etc. Portland has some of ...

Posted Tue, Dec 27, 4:13 p.m.

If I can speak for Downtown and nearby residents in general: It's not that we dislike kids, it's simply that we don't mind the fact that they aren't around. We're Downtown because we like urbanity and/or proximity to work etc. That said, putting a school or two close to the ...

Posted Thu, Dec 22, 10:19 p.m.

It's hard to believe some of these intro snippets...

Posted Thu, Dec 22, 3:29 p.m.

Great piece. It's constantly amazing that the legislature is so clueless about this. The only bright side is that with the state/State playing a lesser role, the focus can be Seattle rather than spreading the wealth. Seattle sells well. But trying to get Shanghai residents to understand where "Washington" is, ...

Posted Wed, Dec 21, 8:05 a.m.

PS, since local transit, tourism, the ferry system, Amtrak, etc., revolve around Downtown, that will probably always be the dominant origin and destination. Getting at least close is important.

Posted Wed, Dec 21, 8:04 a.m.

That's a decent plan if Seattle proves impossible. As for the shuttle, what if we had some sort of....train, or "linked" vehicle, from the airport to Downtown....?

Posted Tue, Dec 20, 5:12 p.m.

I took Greyhound in a big circle around the country in the late 80s. My impression was much better than NWneighbor's. Definitely a lot of students and poor people, but most were ok. Seattle's was by far the worst terminal of the 20 or so I visited.

Posted Tue, Dec 20, 10 a.m.

Some basic misconceptions in the comments. Greyhound doesn't have tens of millions to buy its current terminal. Downtown land isn't cheap. An escalator is necessary for Sea-Tac Station unless you're suggesting a track that people can walk across, which would never happen except in the street segments for a bunch ...

Posted Wed, Dec 14, 11:19 a.m.

boblgumm, what about educating drivers, who often don't even know that an unmarked intersection is automatically a crosswalk? What about cracking down on speeding, since accidents become dramatically more severe with each additional few MPH? What about cracking down on red light running, a huge source of accidents? You're right ...

Posted Tue, Dec 13, 5:08 p.m.

Maybe your car should be limited to a few hundred pounds. Or, more realistically, maybe speeds should be limited to a good running speed. I'm not suggesting that, but it makes more sense than jmrolls.

Posted Tue, Dec 13, 1:42 p.m.

Jaywalking is a sign of a healthy city. New York, Rome, Boston, whatever. But right of way is still right of way. Pedestrians should only enter the street if they can cross in time.

Posted Tue, Dec 13, 7:27 a.m.

Very good piece. The City of Seattle talks a good game, but acts a totally different way in the field. Apathetic cops are typical. Personally, I go overboard as a pedestrian. If a car is in the crosswalk, I touch it, usually a couple per day. If they're moving, I ...

Posted Sun, Dec 11, 11:42 a.m.

jmrolls, you forgot the Viaduct.

Posted Thu, Dec 8, 8:45 a.m.

Great piece. Suburbia 2.0 is often a fascinating place.

Posted Wed, Nov 30, 9:36 a.m.

The point about local jurisdictions is well taken. To an outsider, Seattle is everything house and street they see from an airplane. It's the same with workforces, tourists on the ground, etc. Seattle has more brand than most cities our size. I'd be hard pressed to name more than a ...

Posted Tue, Nov 29, 7:01 p.m.

Kinda need to build the new roadway during that period....

Posted Tue, Nov 29, 5:07 p.m.

AMEN on awnings cascadian! Absolutely crucial when you want people to hang out. It's why the Market stays busy on rainy days. The current waterfront relies heavily on awnings. jmrolls, glad I could lighten your day!

Posted Tue, Nov 29, 1:02 p.m.

Few people will walk to the end of a pier for a view we can mostly see from the sidewalk anyway. And it absolutely, 100% needs some shade and rain cover except on those partly cloudy 65 degree days when we don't need either. As for saving parts of the ...

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

Uphill it's entirely office towers. Nothing wrong with preserving their views but not a priority in my book. Looking down, they can see very little waterfront except along along cross-streets. In other words, not getting your point.

Posted Mon, Nov 28, 1:37 p.m.

While the building isn't entirely without merit, including the inside where I once attended a meeting, it's always been a dead spot in the neighborhood. No good reason to keep it. It's not very attractive, and it uses is site poorly. Jobs, housing, etc., want to concentrate in the CBD, ...

Posted Wed, Nov 23, 10:56 a.m.

When I was 20 I'd have killed for 250 square feet of my own, in lieu of a roommate. And no car needed, then or now. I love the small unit idea. If they fill up, clearly they're filling a need.

Posted Wed, Nov 16, 1:46 p.m.

I'd say killing someone due to speeding while sober is AT LEAST as bad as killing someone because you've had a couple drinks.

Posted Sun, Nov 13, 6:51 p.m.

True Dexter on the rain cover. Awnings are important rain cover in Seattle. (Speaking as a pedestrian commuter who occasionally walks home on Alaskan) Awnings are also an important sun cover, along with big trees.

Posted Wed, Nov 9, 9:34 a.m.

I didn't associated Families & Education with McGinn. Guessing others didn't either. That was helpful. Prop 1 was a referendum on McGinn. Regressive taxation and paying our share generally don't kill measures in Seattle. This was about a mayor being perceived as being on jihad for bikes and against cars, ...

Posted Tue, Nov 8, 6:53 p.m.

Corner might be missing a very basic fact about Seattle -- we don't casually stroll to the waterfront from the CBD or Belltown very often, due to the hill. Further, when we do, the wider western sidewalk and greenery will be great open space by itself (or better be). That's ...

Posted Tue, Nov 8, 9:42 a.m.

Cocktails42, the viaduct land is needed for the surface street and public open space. As for piers covered by parks, it's a farfetched idea. It's hard to imagine large numbers of people walking to the end of a pier for the view, in a city that's full of views. New ...

Posted Mon, Oct 31, 8:29 a.m.

On the Mercer project, they wanted signs at the Aurora underpass so cars would know which lane to use. Their answer was to put up signs on the sidewalk, which was supposed to be open....blocking nearly all of it. I moved the signs aside, called the hotline, and got a ...

Posted Fri, Oct 28, 1:14 p.m.

Don't worry about the parking lot guy. If customers aren't spending their money at the parking lot, they're spending it somewhere else, supporting more jobs there instead.

Posted Wed, Oct 26, 1:39 p.m.

I'd assume most of our companies are pretty small too. Much depends on what you define as a company. I'm a licensed business as an occasional consultant. Does that count? In fact, a "lifestyle" center like Victoria, which attracts a lot of consultants, odd-jobbers, start-ups, people living their dreams, etc., ...

Posted Mon, Oct 17, 9:28 a.m.

Even speaking as a liberal, here's hoping the UW gets funded way over human services.

Posted Mon, Oct 3, 8:05 a.m.

Even more in the central municipalities. Seattle residents were 19% transit, Portland residents 11%. (Or thereabouts...remembering my last look at the census ACS website)

Posted Fri, Sep 30, 9:56 a.m.

Who thought TV news had "standards"? It's all sensationalism, weather, accidents, and puppies. The hairdos, voice inflections, and graphics are a facade to give it legitimacy.

Posted Tue, Sep 20, 11:21 a.m.

Some difficulties with that. Retail wants to be highly visible, but residents want privacy, hence the typical elevated first floor. Retail wants high ceilings; residents often like high ceilings but don't like the cost premium. Retail wants large column-free spaces but again residents don't want the premiums for concrete construction. ...

Posted Mon, Sep 19, 5:33 p.m.

Excellent piece. The issue isn't Pioneer Square as much as Ballard outside of Market and Ballard Ave, or Lower Queen Anne outside of a couple blocks ach of First, Queen Anne Avenue, and Mercer. It's also the majority of Belltown aside from chunks here and there, mostly on First and ...

Posted Thu, Sep 15, 9:05 a.m.

If this lady can call other people deluded, in so many words, I guess we can call her deluded. It goes both ways. And who knows where the courage point came from...is she suggesting that non-believers are "afraid" to have a certain belief? Are all choices or opinions about fear ...

Posted Mon, Sep 12, 4:05 p.m.

I'm sure those against social engineering are fighting against parking requirements, single-use zoning, and lot size requirements? Or is only social engineering if it's stuff you don't like? sjenner, yes this city requires WAY too much retail. Those empty spaces (even in busy economies) are a burden subsidized with higher ...

Posted Fri, Sep 2, 11:25 p.m.

Way to encourage unsafe driving asshole.

Posted Fri, Sep 2, 11 a.m.

I agree about the value of covered arcades chapala21. Green spaces will be used in poor weather if they go somewhere. It won't be heavy use but it'll be use. I work near Alaskan Way and it seems to get decent pedestrian volumes year round, including locals headed for the ...

Posted Fri, Sep 2, 8:43 a.m.

I'm excited about the plan in general. Obviously some "fold" elements might be built after the 2016-2018 period. That's not ideal but would be ok, particularly when the basic state (such as the existing ferry terminal) is a decent temporary condition. We'll need to make sure the boulevard spaces under ...

Posted Thu, Sep 1, 11:10 p.m.

Back to the topic... Unless you're a baseball fan and/or Mariners fan, in which case you watch the game and stick around.

Posted Wed, Aug 31, 8:43 p.m.

Income is only part of it. Distant suburbs have been hurt in part due to gas prices, because that's a disincentive for all but the highest income levels, and by traffic, particularly during/since the last boom period. I don't have a source, but there have been reports that in-city prices ...

Posted Wed, Aug 31, 4:36 p.m.

Trends since the census continue to bear out what the article says. Inner Seattle districts are having an apartment boom (due to low vacancies and rising rents), while suburbs and outer Seattle neighborhoods have much less housing being built. If my building is a good example, condos seem to be ...

Posted Wed, Aug 31, 11:09 a.m.

While many will always prefer houses, the planets might never align to make houses as easy. Suburbia grew for decades with the help of new freeways and cheap gas. Anyone expect either one to return, ever? Speaking of social engineering: Anyone who likes freedom is against today's predominant suburban zoning, ...

Posted Tue, Aug 30, 7:42 a.m.

I'm on the fence about the RFA. But it must be said...if you're not injured, the whole RFA is within easy walking distance.

Posted Mon, Aug 29, 3:15 p.m.

It would be an easier walk if the slanty part of Westlake wasn't designed for cars, with pedestrians forced to stair-step (think in plan) along much of it, with lotsa delays. Even so, all but the farthest parts of SLU are within pedestrian commute distance for much of the CBD. ...

Posted Mon, Aug 29, 1:07 p.m.

Benjamin, Republican sounds great, particularly if there's another crossing at Denny. Either way, it would be very well used. Looking at an aerial photo, it looks like Republican has more room for columns etc. Of course ADA would require this to be a large project...no simple stair and bridge. A ...

Posted Mon, Aug 29, 8:21 a.m.

South Lake Union is more "downtown fringe" than "downtown." It's not designed to be "the" center. Fourth and Pine does that just fine. It works for big organizations because it gives them something they want -- an urban location with good services around it, with multiple adjoining blocks available, and ...

Posted Sun, Aug 28, 11:54 a.m.

For the record, the city of Seattle was up 25% from the Census estimate of 1986 to the count of 2010. The number of households probably grew by (guessing) 30%, given that household sizes were falling. Meanwhile, many of our suburbs have become "urbs," as older town centers (Edmonds, Kirkand, ...

Posted Wed, Aug 24, 8:45 a.m.

New construction is priced by market rates, and will get built if market rates are high enough. But existing units will be priced according to supply and demand. That's where an undersupply can lead to much higher prices in a growing city. And that's why prices can fall by 3/4 ...

Posted Tue, Aug 23, 1:42 p.m.

I don't agree with Roger on some things, but do agree on density. Of course, since I work for a general contractor who builds dense stuff, that will sound self-serving. But frankly, we contractors (i.e. our developer clients) will build in whatever places/formats we're asked to, be it sprawl, infill, ...

Posted Mon, Aug 22, 11:49 a.m.

For all its flaws and cost, 520 is a rebuild that adds HOV and bike lanes. In the spectrum of greenness, it's an ok compromise.

Posted Mon, Aug 22, 8:51 a.m.

Also, the bid to assemble the bridge came in well under budget recently, at $586m vs. WSDOT estimates of $600-750m. Meanwhile the pontoons have been under construction since February. The DJC archives say that the December 2009 bid was $367m vs. a WSDOT estimate of $547m. (I have no idea ...

Posted Sat, Aug 20, 11:41 a.m.

King County is patriotic. Voting yes for schools, transportation, human services, etc., is a sign of that.

Posted Tue, Aug 16, 10:18 p.m.

Everyone has opinions, but finally we can dispense with the claims that the voters don't want the tunnel. Of course it's not that simple. But with a margin like this, it should be ok to phrase it that way.

Posted Thu, Aug 11, 9:59 p.m.

...Or maybe the same money goes to more effective donations instead.

Posted Thu, Aug 11, 8:28 a.m.

I completely ignore them. No acknowledgement of any kind. But I've always felt just slightly guilty about that. This article is helpful! Of course that's better than how I treat the LaRoucheites, who I call f-cking idiots typically as I pass. Which is far nicer than I am to cars ...

Posted Wed, Aug 10, 5:45 p.m.

Not rare at all. This has been typical for a couple years on public works. Look at Sound Transit tunnel bids, the early phase of 99, any low-bid school or fire station, etc. They've routinely been 20% or more low. Some is due to public agencies being conservative about estimates ...

Posted Wed, Aug 3, 8:39 a.m.

The tunnel is the only option with a relatively clear price. The others have hardly been studied let alone designed, soil tested, etc. The tunnel could go over of course, but much of the cost risk either has passed (now that the agreement exists) or is reduced substantially by the ...

Posted Mon, Aug 1, 8:59 a.m.

Downtown Vancouver is basically a peninsula, not a through route. Anyone using this, or San Francisco, to equate to 99 is mistaken.

Posted Thu, Jul 28, 12:04 p.m.

Kotkin isn't even good at shilling for sprawl anymore. The factors he mentions are nothing vs. the transportation impacts of low-density vs. efficient higher density, or the heating/cooling usage differences with shared walls, the amazing amount of resources that go into lawn care, and so on.

Posted Sun, Jul 24, 1:02 p.m.

I should have said "federal policy that funded highways at a much better percentage of cost vs their funding of transit".

Posted Sun, Jul 24, 1 p.m.

In the past, much of the outmigration was related to price (driving til qualifying) and federal policy that funded highways but not transit, and both federal and regional funding was generous with highways. Federal policy isn't so blatant in favoring highways anymore, and local funding will obviously be less for ...

Posted Fri, Jul 22, 12:01 p.m.

talkister, taxpayers are subsidized by the taxes that tourists pay. Many even get their wages almost directly from tourists. I like the reverse psychology angle. If it's funny and makes people stop and say "what?" (or "say wa..."!), it's can be far more memorable than the standard ad. We're in ...

Posted Thu, Jul 21, 8:49 a.m.

TDR is a great idea, used effecively in many cities. That said, I'd rather protect three and four story buildings in Pike Pine and other historic districts. One-story buildings can be protection-worthy too, and neighborhoods don't need to be uniformly dense, but on a large scale that's too low for ...

Posted Tue, Jul 19, 12:44 p.m.

Huh? The Wall Street Journal and Fox News have been roundly criticized for NOT reporting on this, aside from some puff pieces and redirection pieces.

Posted Tue, Jul 19, 8:19 a.m.

Basically, McGinn might give us an aerial highway, much like Nader gave us W. Bush and the Iraq war. And the aerial fans might give us nothing but gridlock when the viaduct comes down. Good article.

Posted Wed, Jul 13, 7:15 p.m.

I'm happy with Obama being left of center on budget, wars, etc. He's doing well on passenger rail. I'd go further on climate but that's a tough one to get through.

Posted Wed, Jul 13, 12:26 p.m.

Restaurants would be good to include. Walk around Downtown at lunch and it's an endless parade of people with takeout bags...

Posted Tue, Jul 12, 1:34 p.m.

"And we all know what happened to China. It's still playing catch-up over half a millennium later." -- Good point dbreneman. While it's unclear whether an exploration/colonization plan would have paid off for the Chinese, and it's hard to predict the future in our own case... the leading countries in ...

Posted Fri, Jul 1, 1:37 p.m.

With Denny being a barrier in many ways, part of me likes the idea of letting another street or two take some of the load, in addition to Mercer which should with its phase 2. But the Seattle Center is too good as is, and too important. If someone wants ...

Posted Fri, Jul 1, 9:47 a.m.

This is phenomenal. I've never been there but would love to. The historic part is interesting and worth preserving. I'm mostly excited about the transportation/recreation connection.

Posted Tue, Jun 21, 11:17 a.m.

The Clink! I love it! Better yet, it would play well in headlines, on cardboard signs, etc. Corporate stadium names often go wrong. Denver's basketball arena is a good example. It's named for a soft drink company, but it's often called The Can. I'm on the fence about naming. I ...

Posted Mon, Jun 20, 3:46 p.m.

GaryP, is there a brake-pad maker in Seattle? Of course it's a small detail but so is your point. Car components and oil are almost universally made elsewhere. If the hypothetical pedestrian doesn't spend on transportation, but instead spends on other things, it seems like a fair bet that those ...

Posted Mon, Jun 20, 12:53 p.m.

Crossrip, you're forgetting that a massive percentage of car-related expenses head out of town -- oil/gasoline, car manufacturing, parts, and so on. Further, there's a hidden "tax" anywhere you see free parking, which costs a massive amount of money. One benefit of transit is that it lets users save a ...

Posted Thu, Jun 16, 12:18 p.m.

With Sonics crowds long gone, it would be hard to make the case for more parking today. Sonics games, along with whatever events were at the same time, were presumably the lion's share of the peak times. Today, except for major festivals, the normal peak times must be Storm+Opera+plays, or ...

Posted Wed, Jun 15, 1:23 p.m.

Seattle is probably less "big idea" oriented that our peers. Vancouver has a recent world's fair and Olympics. Lots of highrise zoning. Lots of rail transit. Major redevelopment initiatives at False Creek (Expo site, Athlete's Village site) and elsewhere around town, such as TODs far more aggressive than anything we ...

Posted Mon, Jun 6, 6:38 p.m.

The point isn't whether most Americans care or not about his religion. The point is that some of the right wing will likely peel off into third/splinter candidates if Romney is nominated. If it's a few percent more than usual, that could swing some states.

Posted Mon, Jun 6, 8:42 a.m.

The real story is how wasteful it is that the US accounts for 40% of the world's volume. We should charge extra for bulk mail, rather than giving them special low rates. (Of course, they get low rates because the plan is to help the agency, not to help the ...

Posted Fri, May 27, 4:10 p.m.

You've got to be kidding. Do you think all tunnels are dug by TBMs? The freaking I-90 tunnel substantially larger in diameter. Honestly, do you even think before posting?

Posted Thu, May 26, 6:43 p.m.

Come on GaryP. It's not the "widest tunnel ever dug" or even the widest within three miles. While the cost could go up, there's no reason to think it would go up anywhere near that much, particularly with much of the cost now contained. Obviously rapid transit isn't hurt by ...

Posted Thu, May 26, 1:45 p.m.

Voters don't understand what a retrofit would mean. Unlike a building renovation where seismic upgrades tend to be fairly hidden, with the viaduct it would be more of an exoskeleton...new foundations, new structure, I'd guess new roadway supports, certainly a new roadway and paving, etc. After all that the highway ...

Posted Wed, May 25, 9:59 p.m.

Have another beer crossrip. (my last post was for spock)

Posted Wed, May 25, 9:57 p.m.

That's an issue of how they've allocated dollars within the same maximum.

Posted Wed, May 25, 3:02 p.m.

Crossrip, surely you know that a big cost question was whether they'd be able to sign the main tunnel contract for the predicted price. They have. While there's room for cost to grow in some ways, much of the variable is now contained. Particularly since it's design-build, which means the ...

Posted Wed, May 25, 8:10 a.m.

Actually, the tunnel seems to be going like clockwork. On budget, on time, etc., aside from a small hiccup with this vote.

Posted Fri, Apr 29, 8:28 a.m.

Fascinating stuff, unfortunately topped by a sensationalist headline.

Posted Thu, Apr 21, 8:23 a.m.

People forget that correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation. It's a fair guess that people with degrees tend to average a bit smarter, a bit more driven, and/or a bit luckier in circumstance (ps, I don't have a degree, so not claiming these for myself!). Maybe those factors have something to ...

Posted Tue, Apr 12, 5:29 p.m.

The tunnel is cheapest if you consider construction disruption, long-term Downtown disruption, and long term regional business disruption. Not to mention we have only a vague idea about what the other ideas would cost as they've been only minimally studied and not designed at all, and certainly not validated by ...

Posted Tue, Apr 12, 2:28 p.m.

Exactly right Keith. A retrofit doesn't seem very plausible. While a building's seismic upgrade can be nearly invisible, there's no way to hide it on a viaduct. Anything long term (say 25 years) would be another set of footings plus an exoskeleton, built at massive cost and probably with significant ...

Posted Tue, Apr 12, 8:47 a.m.

I'm a carless ecofreak and fender-tapping militant pedestrian. But even I realize that driving isn't going to stop. The "cars are going away" people, if they get their way on the tunnel, will only give our surface streets over to the cars they profess to want less of. Further, according ...

Posted Sun, Apr 10, 10:41 p.m.

The recent poll didn't say anything like that. Among likely voters, the tunnel was ahead 38-35 over elevated. It was reversed in the overall tally because of the unlikely voters. Personally I'm guessing the unlikely voters are a combination of less informed and less interested.

Posted Fri, Apr 8, 8:18 a.m.

Funny how Bricklin and some others in the environmental community are fighting to give us a new viaduct. (Of course he doesn't want a new viaduct, but he's being myopic if he doesn't know that's the more likely outcome if we hash out an alternate plan in two years....)

Posted Tue, Apr 5, 12:36 p.m.

Spock, are you suggesting that people sell low and buy high?

Posted Sat, Apr 2, 4:51 p.m.

Not much similarity with Seattle but it's an interesting topic. WAY too many cities have chased biotech. Just like way too many chased tech in the 80s. Better to differ from the crowd, unless you have major advantages over that crowd. It's good to be strong in healthy and growing ...

Posted Wed, Mar 30, 7:48 p.m.

Not true Gary. You aren't accounting for people already exiting early heading to downtown, or to a lesser extent Interbay. Most of the pass-throughs headed for Aurora are captured by the tunnel. The tolls will scare some people off, but if traffic is light that'll attract some people who currently ...

Posted Wed, Mar 30, 2:25 p.m.

Now THOSE are Seattle icons. (Seriously)

Posted Wed, Mar 30, 2:21 p.m.

Gary, most of the through traffic will use it. That's the target audience. Not the cars that take the first or second exit off the viaduct, who you're including. As for peak oil, it'll make oil more expensive, but I suspect a combination of fuel efficiency and population growth will ...

Posted Wed, Mar 30, 7:24 a.m.

Reality came crashing down on the surface option with the latest poll. Any idea that Seattle would come together against the state/port/county/etc. went away when Seattle itself picked it #3. So we're left with aerial vs. tunnel. Which was the "concrete" option again?

Posted Tue, Mar 29, 5:09 p.m.

6% of the voters do not constitute "the will of the people." Even the 6% might think differently if they knew the cost was $50,000,000 just to hold the election, as the WSDOT director suggests, and for an election that's likely to be irrelevant anyway.

Posted Tue, Mar 29, 3:02 p.m.

According to the poll, likely voters want the tunnel over the elevated (a combination of two options). Surface was way in the distance. A vote would cost tens of millions even if the tunnel wins, and much more if it loses. Even if the state builds the tunnel anyway, which ...

Posted Fri, Mar 18, 4:37 p.m.

^^ Which is why his approvals are in the 50-51% range (vs 32-35% for bush), and he outpolls everyone else in the last version I saw.

Posted Fri, Mar 18, 1:16 p.m.

chuckr, for starters, how about the much better federal matches for highways vs. transit that existed until recently. Or the fact that the GI bill for a long time applied to new houses but not older ones and certainly not apartments. Or the fact that even in places with development ...

Posted Fri, Mar 18, 1:11 p.m.

Wrong BlueLight. Minus one plus one equals zero.

Posted Fri, Mar 18, 1:05 p.m.

Regarding those units permitted by 2008, many haven't been built. I don't have numbers, but it seems likely that the actual halfway point will be more like 2013, based on reaching the numbers anticipated by permits that existed in 2008. True, TomB, the mayor appears to be ignoring (and genuinely ...

Posted Fri, Mar 18, 11:06 a.m.

Environmentalists care about how many people there are in the world, total, and about how we operate. Immigration is just about what country they live in. It's not much of a factor if we're doing the "how" right.

Posted Fri, Mar 18, 10:36 a.m.

I'm with you on density Roger. Of course. The lack of projects at Beacon Hill and other TOD locations is mostly Sound Transit choosing to wait before they sell or ground lease their properties, coupled with the economy. Seattle's low zoning is factor in what gets built, but the bigger ...

Posted Thu, Mar 17, 3:33 p.m.

I was goint to make the same point about sprawl subsidies! Another takeaway is that people who want to live in Seattle are choosing the suburbs because of price. Of course we knew this already, but it partially counters the "voting with feet" arguement. Regarding outer edge growth, it sounds ...

Posted Thu, Mar 17, 12:17 p.m.

I write proposals, not bids. I'm not an estimator. More to the point, I'm not in finance. But I do know that Sound Transit's process is pretty good at getting low and predictable pricing. And I have some idea of the factors that can add to cost. It all seems ...

Posted Thu, Mar 17, 11:43 a.m.

Those places use mostly existing rights of way to build rail. Often existing rail corridors. Usually flat. Seattle by contrast builds tunnels and bridges, or rebuilds roads ala MLK. Our roads are also way more expensive for the same reason.

Posted Thu, Mar 17, 11:10 a.m.

We use transit way more than Portlanders or metro Portlanders. As for the Ikea model, it's important not to do things poorly just for initial savings. The Kingdome was an example of that.

Posted Wed, Mar 16, 9:16 a.m.

The polls have looked pretty good for the tunnel lately, i.e. several months ago. Not because a majority love the tunnel, but because enough said "do it anyway" to form a small majority. (Since the poll, the news has been good with a bid on-budget and a quicker schedule...greately reducing ...

Posted Fri, Mar 11, 8:43 p.m.

They shored up the viaduct to last for a few more years. And the idea of just removing it has few supporters.

Posted Thu, Mar 10, 9:58 p.m.

Tivoli Gardens is in a dense downtown area and has a big train station next door. It's easy for people across the Copenhagen area to get to, and doesn't have the burden of a parking moat. It also isn't dominated by major events that would scare off non-event crowds, which ...

Posted Thu, Mar 10, 8:38 a.m.

The driveway would have been a big negative, a disruption in the middle of what's today a successful if imperfect public space thanks in sizeable part to the lack of streets. A good every-night use would contribute to the mix. Hopefully busy at lunches and odd hours too. Restaurants succeed ...

Posted Mon, Mar 7, 12:16 p.m.

The theory behind convention center expansions is a bit more nuanced than that. First, unlike stadiums, they bring primarily out of town money (national/international/regional events in addition to local ones). Second, many of the out of town visitors see enough that they want to come back again. Same story with ...

Posted Wed, Mar 2, 3:29 p.m.

I agree, let's get rid of the parking lots!

Posted Wed, Mar 2, 10:49 a.m.

Wells, the apartments won't need anywhere near 700 spaces. In Belltown it's common to have a ratio like 0.7 or 0.8 for a new highrise apartment, even for moderately high-end units. In Pioneer Square, with dramatically better transit, a much lower ratio would be easy.

Posted Wed, Mar 2, 10:46 a.m.

New market rate housing would make the rest of Pioneer much more attractive to tenants.

Posted Sat, Feb 26, 9:50 a.m.

Avatar was better in 2D than 3D. Seems like TV would be the same.

Posted Thu, Feb 24, 12:21 p.m.

Tourist dollars support a massive number of jobs, support our museums, pay taxes, etc. I'd say that improves the living conditions of our residents. Even if the jobs tend to be in the lower half incomewise.

Posted Thu, Feb 24, 8:02 a.m.

What do you mean "is"? You realize that this was a snapshot of 4/1/10?

Posted Wed, Feb 23, 9:27 p.m.

Yes please, more signs in other languages. Japanese, Mandarin, and Spanish might be the best to start based on a mix of who's visiting and who lives here.

Posted Wed, Feb 23, 10:26 a.m.

Good article. It's amazing how effective even little bits of tourism marketing can be. I've seen other states graph their tourism promotion dollars and related effects on visitor counts/spending. The connection is pretty clear. As a Belltown resident I love tourist season. Lots of people enjoying this city (which is ...

Posted Mon, Feb 21, 10:43 p.m.

You first. I only debunked a myth.

Posted Mon, Feb 21, 12:07 p.m.

Density "creates" urban ills?! The US has almost universally low density, even in core cities, but we have very high crime rates. Most other first world countries have much higher densities in built areas, but much less crime.

Posted Mon, Feb 21, 8:54 a.m.

So now Artie wants to round up "undesirables." Oy.

Posted Mon, Feb 21, 8:53 a.m.

Spot on, Mr. Royer.

Posted Sat, Feb 19, 12:23 p.m.

Here's a clever shirt about Vancouver, WA, which has it even worse as the small version of its pair. http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/12/06/us/06vancouver_CA0.html I can't believe nobody has mentioned the Quimby and Lovejoy coincidence. Not to talk about TV, but to talk about TV for a second, Mayor Quimby and Reverend Lovejoy are ...

Posted Sat, Feb 19, 8:41 a.m.

It's good to remember that this region has had its evils too. We do forget sometimes. Sometimes I wish Cascadia had grown up as its own country, and with more open, non-exclusionary laws and culture. No Chinese expulsion, better treatment of the Indians, no Japanese internment (even if we'd joined ...

Posted Thu, Feb 17, 12:29 p.m.

R on Beacon, being represented by 9 is VERY different than having the right do doorbell in elections.

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

Edit: Smaller households is also a societal thing. The whole country has dramatically smaller households today vs. 1960. Gentrifying cities simply have had a steeper decline.

Posted Thu, Feb 17, 8:55 a.m.

You have an interesting ability to extrapolate what I've said about Seattle, which is clearly growing, to mean I expect other cities to do likewise. Obviously many cities have shrunk dramatically. Of course there's nuance to that too. For example when Seattle shrunk between the 1960 census and the 1986 ...

Posted Wed, Feb 16, 8:31 p.m.

The only topical expert in the whole article made a few non-commital comments. He didn't back up the accuracy of the count. As for the newspaper, you're confusing the "respected institution" with the fact that the article wasn't by the institution, but by one person who works there. His name ...

Posted Wed, Feb 16, 4:27 p.m.

PS, if you skip the insults next time, so will I.

Posted Wed, Feb 16, 4:25 p.m.

I wish you'd READ and THINK before you post. There are no "local demographers" quoted in the article. There's one demographer from New Hampshire who's speculating only. The article also says the count is different than recent Census Dept. estimate trends. As you'd know if you paid attention, the Census ...

Posted Wed, Feb 16, 4:03 p.m.

PS, do you have anything to add on-topic? Context maybe? Or just whining?

Posted Wed, Feb 16, 4:02 p.m.

I'm not an expert in Chicago. But like anyone who's closely involved in any topic, yes I put many times the attention to it (at work and as a nerd) than the average reporter reporting on it. If you trust a reporter on that, you don't know how newspapers operate. ...

Posted Wed, Feb 16, 3:19 p.m.

Some of the reduction might be on paper only -- a difference in accuracy level vs. 2000. That's all the more likely because many cities were aggressive in getting the Census Dept. to increase their 2000 numbers, via pre-census marketing (to get people to return their forms) and post-census appeals. ...

Posted Wed, Feb 16, 2:59 p.m.

About the poll numbers: If I recall, the last real poll said something like 1/3 preferred the tunnel, but over half said move it forward. Opponents tend to forget that the opposition is a collection of diametrically opposed camps as well -- rehabbers, surfacers, and aerialists. Anyone who thinks one ...

Posted Wed, Feb 16, 2:55 p.m.

NickBob, tunnel supporting candidates got WAY more of the primary vote. Only in the general election did McGinn really win, and polls suggest his win was due to saying he wouldn't oppose the tunnel. Cocktails42, what polling there has been so far, though minimal, says the opposite about the tunnel.

Posted Wed, Feb 16, 12:17 p.m.

Nice to see some intelligent, reasoned leadership on this topic! The mayor can be mayor, or a sideshow as he has been in the past. This is sort of like Bush with Iraq. The "justifications" for McGinn/Bush keep falling away.

Posted Wed, Feb 16, 12:07 p.m.

While I'm complaining... For all the talents of reporters and columnists, they tend to be generalists, and make the sorts of errors generalists make. This is the basis for a lot of false ideas about any city's bests/mosts, as generalists are prone to incorrectly rewording or taking statements out of ...

Posted Wed, Feb 16, 11:53 a.m.

On the topic of myths... People LOVE myths about their cities. They love to think that they have the biggest, or first, or whatever. The "skid road" thing is a great example, where several other cities think they started the term, which is obviously Seattle's by divine birthright. Park acreage ...

Posted Wed, Feb 16, 8:44 a.m.

Paris carved Hausmann's boulevards through their city. London tamed the Thames, and rebuilt the city after various disasters (fires, war). New York built landfills on a scale much larger than ours, some on Manhattan and a lot more across the Hudson. Boston build massive landfills too. Their central peninsula used ...

Posted Tue, Feb 15, 7:28 p.m.

For the record, the Center got a large parking garage recently, in addition to the one already built when the Coliseum expanded. I don't drive, but if parking was adequate to sell 22,000+ seats on Sonics/opera/theater nights, it should be ok with today's maximum routine crowds of half that. But ...

Posted Tue, Feb 15, 12:16 p.m.

With district elections, we'd each have eight councilmembers who wouldn't have to care about us. Or nine if our own person didn't agree on whatever topic. I'll take the current way any day!

Posted Tue, Feb 15, 8:39 a.m.

Theaters need to be either clustered or near someone else's parking garages, even with good transit. That means Greater Downtown. The blank walls of theaters would do more harm in the average mixed use district than they do at the Center. The center does fine with quiet times. Mixed use ...

Posted Sun, Feb 13, 6:50 p.m.

Do you really think it's about a park? Honestly? And are you really standing up for the viaduct's safety?

Posted Sun, Feb 13, 2:32 p.m.

The first step is to end the social engineering zoning that REQUIRES too much parking in most of the US, and REQUIRES that everything look how it does. Establish zoning that allows real town centers and mixed use to be built. Do this as the public transit improves. The strip ...

Posted Sun, Feb 13, 2:19 p.m.

Compared to viaducts, tunnels seem extremely safe in general. In San Francisco, Kyoto, and LA, viaducts fell down in earthquakes. Their tunnels were fine...never made the news. Same in the Northwest, where major tunnels in Seattle and Vancouver (highways, trains, etc.) have done well during earthquakes. Locally we seem to ...

Posted Fri, Feb 11, 4:19 p.m.

He's lionized by 1/3, remembered as a friendly talking head by 1/3, and hated by 1/3. Carlson is a mouthpiece for the PR campaign. Not an honest commentator.

Posted Fri, Feb 11, 9:12 a.m.

Ronald Reagan was no Ronald Reagan.

Posted Thu, Feb 10, 11:20 a.m.

The social engineers are the OPPONENTS of cottages, and the people who want our transportation system to be dominated by the last century's dominant mode. Standard suburban zoning and traffic engineering are the very definition of social engineering, with very little human choice allowed. It's odd that some people equate ...

Posted Thu, Feb 10, 9:16 a.m.

Good thought provoker Roger. The basics are spot on -- many things about society work better with proximity, from reduced pollution due to less travel and more efficient travel modes, to businesses (like mine) that thrive via proximity to other businesses. The two things I'd add: (1) while cities are ...

Posted Wed, Feb 2, 1:14 p.m.

And, of course, with the federal aid and other future growth, we're talking about much higher ridership than a few thousand per day.

Posted Wed, Feb 2, 1:13 p.m.

What odd priorities you have. The Amtrak Cascades is an important and popular cog in our transportation system, and one we'll rely on more heavily going forward. The $15,000,000 per year in state funding isn't trivial, but it's a great investment. Getting a few thousand riders per day off other ...

Posted Sun, Jan 30, 1:13 p.m.

True, many growth models often seen in the South have downsides. Growth based on being cheap (low taxes, low wages) gets you low wage jobs and companies that often leave for even greener pastures. Growth based on growth (Phoenix, Las Vegas, Orlando) means that even a temporary bump can wreck ...

Posted Sat, Jan 29, 10:28 p.m.

Due to the commas in the teaser pop up, should we assume there's only one dead Northwest poet?

Posted Sat, Jan 29, 9:46 a.m.

Go Jean! Fight the power! Raise money and turn out! Get your favorite candidates nominated! And thank you!

Posted Fri, Jan 28, 4:21 p.m.

True, Bellevue had the highest foreign-born percentage in Washington last I heard. Something like 1/3.

Posted Thu, Jan 27, 12:38 p.m.

While some of that is families moving to the suburbs, and Seattle being expensive....much is simply smaller families, including a much lower birth rate.

Posted Thu, Jan 27, 9:24 a.m.

Seattle gets better every year. God I love this place.

Posted Wed, Jan 26, 9:34 p.m.

Jean, I nominate you for assistant Republican Party chair! Because I'm a democrat.

Posted Tue, Jan 25, 9:37 a.m.

It's a column that tries to make the case for Wilbur. Columnists can do that. Regardless, it needs to be read as a one-sided piece, and clearly part of an effort to grease the wheels for the new guy. The only question is how much is Carlson's actual ideas vs. ...

Posted Sat, Jan 22, 5:45 p.m.

Turns out the "Under 10,000" figure is regarding new legal permanent residents, where Oregon had 9,000-something in 2009. Also in 2009, the Portland metro had about 950 total permanent resident immigrants from Ukraine and Russia, mostly the former. That makes the the 15,000 assumption sound more likely. Some stuff to ...

Posted Sat, Jan 22, 5:24 p.m.

That 150,000 figure is probably 15,000. Oregon gets less than 10,000 international immigrants per year if I recall, and Russia/Ukraine/etc. aren't that huge a factor. WSJ isn't much more accurate that most newspapers. Most reporters are generalists who don't understand their topics very deeply, and standard journalistic practice doesn't involve ...

Posted Thu, Jan 20, 9:21 a.m.

PS, GaryP, I'd multiply that bike trail figure many times over. On both weekends and weekdays the Sammamish Trail, for example, has a pretty good stream of people unless the weather is particularly bad.

Posted Thu, Jan 20, 9:18 a.m.

Freight trains are great. But: 1. With a large train, the cargo weight vs. train weight can be very efficient. With only one or two cargo cars, most of the weight is the locomotive, which is inefficient per ton moved. You also get none of the labor efficiencies that trains ...

Posted Thu, Jan 20, 8:52 a.m.

I don't know much about hydrology. Thankfully DOT and the design-builder have that expertise. That's part of the detailed soils analysis that informs the into engineering for any project. But I can guess one thing: A deep bore tunnel with a short distance in the near-surface water table area would ...

Posted Wed, Jan 19, 4:41 p.m.

Sounds about right. It's fairly common in construction, for example office buildings along Elliott Bay often have garages below the water table. They'll need to cut off the flow during construction, and tunnels always have pumping mechanisms for misc. leakage.

Posted Wed, Jan 19, 2:58 p.m.

Your nuanced approach certainly has more common ground. I'm a moderate on the issue as well, hence my support for the 99 plan, the current 520 plan, general skepticism about reduced VMT, etc. As I've said, the federal source being quoted has car-occupancy assumptions far higher than other agencies assume ...

Posted Wed, Jan 19, 12:38 p.m.

Much of that northbound traffic now exiting at Western will exit around the stadiums and use Alaskan Way, including the new street up to the existing Western/Elliott couplet. I doubt many at all will use Mercer to get to Interbay. Of course, many of those exiting at Western are currently ...

Posted Wed, Jan 19, 11:50 a.m.

Grownups own up to what they say. Pretty simple. Nobody said anything about physical confrontation, which I would never suggest. Anonymity has its positives if it gets more ideas out. But when it's used as a shield for accusations, that's where it becomes a cowardly act.

Posted Tue, Jan 18, 9:43 p.m.

I don't expect to convince transit opponents. But the fact remains that Lincoln has posted nothing substantive except fuel mileage, and made broad non-backed claims about which mode is more sustainable. Cameron, you know I work for a contractor, not a developer. Surely you know the difference. My bio, as ...

Posted Tue, Jan 18, 3:56 p.m.

Still hiding Lincoln? Who's the joke? And lots of stuff is federal law that we still hope actually happens.

Posted Tue, Jan 18, 1:53 p.m.

Even today that's the equivalent of several bus lines put together. As the city grows up around rail, and as more segments/lines are added starting in 2016, the existing line can handle several times as many riders per given time period. The 88 counts off-hours times when buses would have ...

Posted Tue, Jan 18, 12:37 p.m.

Regarding reducing VMT, I don't have much hope. Even if per capita VMT went down by 1% per year, this region's population is growing fast enough to make it a wash. If peak oil reduces US consumption by 20-30%, the real reductions might be more about fuel efficiency. (Since I'm ...

Posted Tue, Jan 18, 12:32 p.m.

Lincoln, I haven't entered the fuel economy discussion at all. Except I'll mention that your federal source is using car occupancy numbers that are far higher than some other public agencies assume, and bus occupancy numbers that are far lower than the typical Seattle inner-city route even factoring in off-hours ...

Posted Tue, Jan 18, 9:43 a.m.

As for whether growth management is working: As a construction guy, I've noticed a huge trend in the past 20 years toward infill rather than sprawl. In particular, Seattle and a lot of suburban downtowns have grown heavily. Seattle had 486,000 people per the 1986 census estimate. The 2010 census ...

Posted Tue, Jan 18, 9:39 a.m.

Redmond Ridge is better sprawl, but still sprawl.

Posted Tue, Jan 18, 9:36 a.m.

Lincoln, until you post something that covers more than fuel economy, go sit at the kids' table. And were you going to post your identity? Still hiding? Not a man? GaryP, thanks for the inadvertent endorsement of Bellevue light rail. As for the Saturday, it was just a misc. cold ...

Posted Mon, Jan 17, 7:52 p.m.

Public dollars go to lots of stuff that I don't personally benefit from. But I'm not so monumentally unpatriotic that I apply that standard. As big local majorities agree, transit is extremely beneficial and in many ways necessary to this city/metro. You know very well that newspaper bulletin boards don't ...

Posted Mon, Jan 17, 4:56 p.m.

jniles, that'll be an interesting statistic in 2016, when ridership skyrockets due to finally going to dense neighborhoods outside of Downtown. Currently we have a route that doesn't hit much density except in Downtown, doesn't link to other rail lines, and has only one park-n-ride...in other words, has none of ...

Posted Mon, Jan 17, 4:42 p.m.

I'm a fan of telecommuting too. Lincoln, my identity is clear on this board. I even have a bio on the Seattlescape blog. If any topic even remotely approaches what my employer does, I say so. How about you do likewise: exactly who are you, so we can understand any ...

Posted Mon, Jan 17, 12:05 p.m.

Same ol' same ol' from Lincoln. He fails to mention that he's only counting fuel efficiency. Much of the environmental and cost advantages of public transit are related to the dramatically smaller amount of manufacturing needed for one bus (for example) vs. hundreds of cars. Or the large percentage of ...

Posted Mon, Jan 17, 8:33 a.m.

Regarding incentives, thanks for the info. Still, if I recall, the tax thing was about a friendlier business type classification (business types are charged at different rates), not a subsidy in the technical sense. Either way, Seattle certainly didn't compete on price in that case.

Posted Mon, Jan 17, 8:29 a.m.

In response to Lincoln, transit's environmental benefits vs. cars have already been shown via authoritative sources (regarding all factors combined). The frequent readers already know this. Lincoln loves to cherry-pick points out of context rush-limbaugh style. If someone else wants me to dig this stuff up let me know.

Posted Sun, Jan 16, 9:13 p.m.

David- Much of the reason behind the "downtown and "nodes" concepts is that even if people change jobs, many of the equivalent jobs are either within the same node, or easily accessible by transit. Particularly if you're close to the CBD, which makes reverse commuting to nearly anyplace by transit ...

Posted Sun, Jan 16, 3:41 p.m.

That's the biggest question the team faces: Did Whitehurst show enough in week 16, etc., to be the front runner, in which case they'd draft someone in the middle rounds? If not, we probably take a quarterback in the first round. Carroll seems to be a good judge and/or developer ...

Posted Sun, Jan 16, 3:33 p.m.

Not really Cameron. Seattle's "incentive" program is mostly moral support. We don't do subsidies, except related public infrastructure in some cases. Downtown lease rates are higher on average than anywhere except the Eastside (which is dominated by newer space). Yes, there's some "flight to quality" if that's what you mean, ...

Posted Sun, Jan 16, 12:40 p.m.

Cameron - Some kinds of organizations have a harder time in Seattle, mostly if they use a lot of land, which is expensive. Others, generally office/tech/research, often strongly prefer Seattle, and particularly Greater Downtown. I can think of many who have relocated closer in in the past handful of years ...

Posted Thu, Jan 13, 12:21 p.m.

We don't regulate stuff that kills lots of people, like speeding drivers or the prevalence of guns. We only regulate stuff that kills a few people per year, generally by putting alarms on them that are loud enough to wake the dead.

Posted Thu, Jan 13, 12:21 p.m.

We don't regulate stuff that kills lots of people, like speeding drivers or the prevalence of guns. We only regulate stuff that kills a few people per year, generally by putting alarms on them that are loud enough to wake the dead.

Posted Wed, Jan 12, 11:46 a.m.

Our growth management is certainly half-assed. A lot of counties are too lax. We need better State mandates.

Posted Tue, Jan 11, 5:53 p.m.

The babbling heads and "gun sights" imagery of Palin, Fox, and co might not be directly responsible...but they have certainly provided fertile soil for this sort of thing.

Posted Tue, Jan 11, 5:51 p.m.

I mean rehab of the building. Hell no on the viaduct.

Posted Tue, Jan 11, 5:49 p.m.

I prefer the rehab option. But in terms of the tunnel project itself, this clearly reduces their cost/schedule risk, and is probably about being very conservative with all safety issues. To suggest that this is evidence of further risk is not a valid leap.

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

The "traffic clogged" statement is emblematic of the opposition. Some say the tunnel will be too heavily used while others say it won't be heavily used enough. That's why opposition can only succeed in getting in the way, and we'd never actually reach consensus a different solution. (There's also been ...

Posted Tue, Jan 11, 10:25 a.m.

This is a tragedy, both for the building and the people in it. There should be a concerted effort to relocate everyone into similar buildings nearby, with a few years of price assistance if necessary. That said, the benefits of the tunnel are huge. The benefits of going forward right ...

Posted Sun, Jan 9, 2:03 p.m.

If supply keeps up, it doesn't necessarily lower the price at the bottom end, unless supply is way too high, like Detroit, and houses go for $10,000. But having adequate supply does take the scarcity problem away. With scarcity you get the $3,000/mo one-bedrooms $2,000/mo studios Manhattan and SF are ...

Posted Sat, Jan 8, 4:13 p.m.

To expand on that, blaming immigration for environmental problems appears to be a way sprawlers can justify being wasteful in their personal lives.

Posted Sat, Jan 8, 4:12 p.m.

Immigration is about WHERE people live. The real issue is a combination of (a) how many people exist in total, and (b) how people live.

Posted Fri, Jan 7, 4:01 p.m.

World's largest of a specific type, but not the world's largest. Our own I-90 tunnel is something like 62' wide.

Posted Fri, Jan 7, 9:41 a.m.

I already named "most cities on Earth." In the US, Chicago, Philadelphia, and most of the NY metro outside Manhattan stand out as larger cities where supply keeps up with demand including in desirable close-in districts, and prices tend to be reasonable. Cities with scarcity issues, like Manhattan, SF, and ...

Posted Fri, Jan 7, 8:21 a.m.

You don't appear to understand much about density or the reasons why it's helpful. In enviromental terms, density has far more benefits than the miniscule amount of oxygen from a couple trees on a given lot -- less driving, less use of ACTUAL wilderness or farmland, etc. As for the ...

Posted Thu, Jan 6, 10:53 a.m.

It would be INFURIATING to stop such important work. Amtrak is crucial, and the improvements also help freight and commuter rail. Further, this is stimulus of the best kind -- aid to workers and businesses up and down the I-5 corridor, while also being an important investment.

Posted Wed, Jan 5, 11:09 p.m.

I like the later bar hours idea, but I don't trust any poll involving this mayor. He does "polls" and "studies" exactly as a lawyer would call witnesses. It's all pre-decided. In the case of polls that means one side writes the questions, and often includes push elements. With "studies" ...

Posted Sat, Jan 1, 7:54 p.m.

I love Portland and much of how it does things. Small point though: Some of that growth was annexation, i.e. not growth. I suspect Portland was chosen for the new show because the Portland brand/image is attractive, and becoming known. But I wouldn't discount the ability of other cities of ...

Posted Thu, Dec 30, 2:22 p.m.

PS, you make a good point about the dive format being easy vs. a fine-dining format. The comfort food aspect might lend better to the hole-in-the wall format too. Grills aren't always easy though. You need good venting and a landlord that doesn't mind neighbor complaints. This can make teriyaki ...

Posted Thu, Dec 30, 2:19 p.m.

And the great thing is you don't even have to clean. Or so it is at my favorite place.

Posted Mon, Dec 27, 5:07 p.m.

PS, I'm talking about a basic understanding of supply and demand...you're somehow calling that trickle-down. My god.

Posted Mon, Dec 27, 5:06 p.m.

Bubbleator, you aren't paying attention. I said the new unit won't be cheap because it's expensive to build, but with new units, old units tend to get cheaper. I wish you'd read first.

Posted Mon, Dec 27, 3:38 p.m.

Rent control and inclusion of affordable units are both directly counter to affordability for everyone else. That's a big part of NY's, SF's, and Vancouver's affordability problem. Why do you keep looking at the places with the worst problems for answers? Any thought that maybe they're the worst for a ...

Posted Mon, Dec 27, 2:18 p.m.

I'm seeing links that tie growth regulations to higher costs. But I see nothing that ties density itself to higher costs. (Surely you see that if you're against density, you're part of the "regulation problem" they're talking about...) San Francisco and Manhattan have severely limited growth, via being anti-growth and ...

Posted Mon, Dec 27, 11:58 a.m.

Cameron, I work for a general contractor, not a developer. I also point that out perioidically as you know. Transparency is the difference. PS, if I were speaking for my industry, I'd say we'll build anywhere you want. My personal opinion is that we should focus the same development more ...

Posted Mon, Dec 27, 9:07 a.m.

Cox is disrespected because he's not intellectually honest, and because (if the popular assumptions are correct) he's funded by sprawl industries. If a journalist quotes someone who represents a distinct bias, it's good practice to point out that bias. Quoting Cox as a general observer is like quoting a politician ...

Posted Sun, Dec 26, 4:12 p.m.

Weldell Cox is an anti-city zealot. Why wasn't this mentioned?

Posted Wed, Dec 22, 8:59 a.m.

Census results should be discussed in past tense. It's not about what "is" happening.

Posted Sun, Dec 12, 8:33 p.m.

So we hear from the sprawl industry's mouthpiece again....

Posted Sun, Dec 12, 8:32 p.m.

The big was several times as complex as the 99 tunnel. I wish people understood that better.

Posted Sun, Dec 12, 8:30 p.m.

It's certainly true in Seattle. We have a long list of organizations moving closer in, whether from the suburbs or from other in-town districts. This was true during the boom, and it's true during the downturn, with a lot of organizations choosing to take advantage of good deals. Seattle office ...

Posted Fri, Dec 10, 12:14 p.m.

rorric, do you think the near total lack of access to Elliott Bay / Myrtle Edwards Parks has anything to do with their lack of people? And at the north end, maybe their distance from potential users? On its slowest days, our Central Waterfront is more heavily used than they ...

Posted Fri, Dec 10, 9:51 a.m.

Same ol same old jmrolls. Between the tunnel and the widened Alaskan Way, including the new roadway from Alaskan to Elliott/Western, the through-traffic capacity will be preserved. Others will exit a bit sooner. (I'll let you get the last word on this unless any new points come up!)

Posted Fri, Dec 10, 9 a.m.

Yes, quite a good day yesterday. Speaking as a construction guy (buildings, not tunnels), I'm impressed that things are coming along so smoothly. The cost estimates have been vindicated, appropriate design changes have been made, we got fantastic talent (design-build is way better than low-bid in this regard), and the ...

Posted Thu, Dec 9, 12:37 p.m.

So why are the trains full, to the point that you can't always get a ticket?

Posted Thu, Dec 9, 11:20 a.m.

That would make so much sense if gas was the only cost of driving. To say nothing of the costs of owning a car.

Posted Wed, Dec 8, 4:28 p.m.

Kilgore, the train goes all the way to Vancouver, though the wait at the border is pretty rediculous. R, I find the 3.5 hour trip a pretty good deal too. The duration isn't that different from driving or flying if you're traveling between the downtowns. And you can walk around. ...

Posted Wed, Dec 8, 11:58 a.m.

Good points Andy. randydutton, the upgrades have been to enable additional service, improve reliability, and allow freight, commuter rail, and Amtrak to operate on the same corridors, while also reducing road backups by eliminating crossings. The slight speed increase is one of several goals of the upgrades. True high speed ...

Posted Wed, Dec 8, 11:31 a.m.

A lot of the improvements that have happened or will happen are associated with being on-time....new sidings, grade separations, etc. (The same improvements also benefit Sounder and freight.) I use it for business trips too. My company's offices are a mile or so from the station in Seattle and Portland. ...

Posted Wed, Dec 8, 10:53 a.m.

Buses should be an ingredient too. They can connect the bigger cities to smaller towns, and places away from the main corridor. A good bus system and a good train system can be symbiotic by feeding passengers to each other.

Posted Wed, Dec 8, 8:30 a.m.

The more we expand trains in this corridor, the less push there will be for more/expanded airports in each city along the line, and the less push there will be for road widenings. Rail is an excellent deal. And the current trains are often completely full.

Posted Wed, Dec 1, 11:51 a.m.

Good lord. This guy tries so hard.... SHA isn't trying to be profitable by leveraging those views. They're trying to accomplish their mission better. Yards can be nice, but on the edge of the CBD they're terribly inefficient land use, causing longer commutes (creating affordability issues for others!) and contributing ...

Posted Mon, Nov 29, 10:49 p.m.

I walked past the Seneca ramp on my way home tonight. The ramp is a gigantic, thick structure. Keeping a short bit of it (the 15-30' idea) is probably more trouble than it's worth due to the massive support needed. It should be simpler to build a new lighter structure ...

Posted Mon, Nov 29, 6:03 p.m.

High streets....exactly the right concept. Belltown is worse than Pioneer Square in this regard. We have seven avenues that all try to have retail to some extent (as do some cross streets), when two would be about right. People look at Manhattan avenues as an example of "should." They forget ...

Posted Mon, Nov 29, 5:53 p.m.

I'd like to see a 15-30' stub of Seneca preserved next to First Avenue. Just enough to put in some planters and a couple benches. It might need some new supports but if it's small it might be doable without massive structure. This could be a cool little unexpected spot, ...

Posted Mon, Nov 29, 2:11 p.m.

Keeping two levels would be odd. You'd either have a two-level park, which would make each level much less active, or you'd pick one...the top would be weather-dependent and too far from the ground, and the bottom one would be dark with lesser views. All academic either way. Nobody is ...

Posted Mon, Nov 29, 11:33 a.m.

I forgot one of the big ones: At any pedestrian access point, it would need to be wheelchair accessible too. No cheap stair towers unless they're next to expensive elevator towers. Of course, as most urban planners and park designers know, most people will rarely if ever go up several ...

Posted Mon, Nov 29, 11:28 a.m.

Outrageously expensive due to the need to retrofit the viaduct, as well as to make it pedestrian accessible at various points. In the way of the new boulevard and ground level pedestrian space. Horrifically ugly. Too high up to be easily accessed. Sounds fun at first, but doesn't pass a ...

Posted Sun, Nov 28, 12:38 p.m.

Great points about black friday. I'd add that pursuit of "deals" in general, while not new, is pushing the country toward ever more offshoring, ever-lower quality in any product that's price-driven, and a continued shift toward mass-sellers. Paying a fair price is a patriotic act. But quoting Joel Kotkin?! He's ...

Posted Wed, Nov 24, 3:29 p.m.

The Portland-Seattle-Vancouver route is proof that even moderate speed trains can fill up (100% percent occupancy when I rode a couple weeks ago). At great benefit to all three cities as well as reducing our "need" to expand highways and expand/build airports in the future. I'd like to see a ...

Posted Wed, Nov 24, 11:30 a.m.

Nobody claims that adding market rate housing will make Pioneer Square or Belltown comfortable for skittish type people. And bar patrons will do what bar patrons do. But higher activity levels certainly make non-viable neighborhoods viable for a wider cross-section of people. Anecdotally, I've lived in Belltown or the Market ...

Posted Tue, Nov 23, 12:18 p.m.

I'd rather have a successful, vibrant district, rather than a declining museum piece. And why are you supporting parking lots?

Posted Mon, Nov 22, 8:26 a.m.

Good overview Stuart. Normally I'd post some sort of additional thought or criticism...but at the moment all that comes to mind is "^^what he said".

Posted Wed, Nov 17, 3:34 p.m.

Forget the topic for a second. Can we correct a pervasive error in the Crosscut pop-ups? You say: "The company has a deal where the public judges scripts and clips, makes improvements, and the best ideas get produced." What you mean to say: "The company has a deal where the ...

Posted Wed, Nov 17, 1:13 p.m.

Nevada and Arizona are low-tax havens that have added a lot of jobs too....and they're disaster areas. Kotkin is a shill for the right wing and sprawl industry. He can always find points to fit his agenda.

Posted Wed, Nov 10, 8:51 a.m.

In other words, we're moving toward a more European model. Seattle is doing reasonably well to remain affordable, via the housing levy and moderate steps to allow new housing supply. Of course, the main method of providing housing to the working class will be the same as it is anywhere: ...

Posted Thu, Nov 4, 5:56 p.m.

In this scenario, use will typically stabilize at a point where it's busy but free-flowing. If traffic drops in the tunnel, surface streets get too busy and the tunnel is worth the toll to more people. If the tunnel gets clogged, more people will avoid that. Even in the lowest ...

Posted Thu, Nov 4, 3:28 p.m.

What simplistic BS. Growth doesn't equal desire. We know that the US has grown via sprawl rather than densification for the most part. But this guy ignores the fact that sprawl is the ONLY FORMAT ALLOWED by the zoning in most of the country. Try building townhouses or mixed use ...

Posted Tue, Nov 2, 6 p.m.

Spock, that would make more sense if all of the other options has better defined costs. In truth any figure used for them is a guess, even if you just mean project cost. Obviously very little design has happened on anything except the tunnel, and no design whatsoever has happened ...

Posted Tue, Nov 2, 1:45 p.m.

It's funny how a local PR effort can successfully "brand" a city as the top in whatever category. Portland and Seattle can make similar claims though, in Seattle's case at least, we don't do it. The truth is no one region dominates microbrewing in the way that Napa Valley and ...

Posted Tue, Nov 2, 1:27 p.m.

Why are we talking about a "post fossil fuel" economy? Even most peak oil theorists project a gradual decline in oil production. It's a fair prediction that fuel efficiency and population growth will keep Seattle's stats for miles-driven relatively stable in the coming decades, even with dramatic increases in transit ...

Posted Tue, Nov 2, 9:35 a.m.

The green backing seems to be related to the urban density, transit, biking, and pedestrian constituencies, since the tunnel would keep Downtown Seattle much more viable for those things, vs. letting cars take over as mcginn's plan would do, if unintentionally. That's why I'm in the tunnel camp, as a ...

Posted Mon, Nov 1, 1:25 p.m.

You're not annoyed that this clown makes a living by putting Washington at risk? Writing initiatives designed to screw things up rather than help anything? Initiatives designed specifically to be overturned, guaranteeing his storyline and setting himself up for the next initiative? Who's the troll here? I'd say the guy ...

Posted Mon, Nov 1, 1:07 p.m.

Every train between Seattle and Portland or Seattle and Vancouver can replace many cars and stack of commuter planes. As service increases, that reduces the demand for a second airport (at both ends), and reduces the demand for more highway lanes. It's not just about rail's better fuel efficiency.

Posted Mon, Nov 1, 9:19 a.m.

Eyman is corrupt. An admitted liar. Why people follow him is a mystery. He's not a good American. His patriotism ends when his wallet is concerned.

Posted Mon, Nov 1, 9:16 a.m.

Wells, thanks for the laugh once again. You advocate an idea that hasn't been studied, yet claim all sorts of benefits that others don't see, and that don't pass basic BS tests. Good point, Mr Baker....lots of people have their pet options, but they're all over the map. No single ...

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 12:17 p.m.

I always laugh at the idea bicyclists don't pay taxes. What we don't spend on cars, we spend on other things, and we pay taxes on it.

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 8:49 a.m.

I don't like McGinn and think his parking rates would be counterproductive. (Speaking as a car-less pedestrian and transit user.) But Locke doesn't understand bike laws or safety. The existence of a bike lane doesn't mean a bicyclist can't use other lanes. I've ridden on the Second Ave bike lane, ...

Posted Fri, Oct 1, 8:23 a.m.

Since the 80/20 rule isn't going away, Seattle needs its own bus levy. Let's fund buses in the same way the State funds Amtrak. An amount of, say, half the size of the SPS levy would fund a massive improvement in in-city bus service.

Posted Fri, Sep 24, 9:40 a.m.

That's an example of clarity?!

Posted Thu, Sep 23, 5:44 p.m.

PS, I've been to the High Line. It's fairly low off the ground. I don't think it's an unqualified success, due to having too few entrances. When I went in May, it had a fair number of groups wandering around but felt like part of the tourist circuit rather than ...

Posted Thu, Sep 23, 5:35 p.m.

The only problems would be that the viaduct ROW is needed for surface streets and public space on the ground, keeping it would require spending astonishing amounts of money to retrofit it, and it's probably too high up to draw many people at least at the southern end. That and ...

Posted Thu, Sep 23, 2:38 p.m.

The throughput issue would be a lot clearer if you combined the wider Alaskan Way and new road to Elliott/Western with the tunnel, and also accounted for the fact that much of the current viaduct traffic will simply exit before Downtown rather than within it. But instead, you compare the ...

Posted Wed, Sep 22, 1:10 p.m.

The sandwich sandwich looks fantastic!

Posted Wed, Sep 22, 1:09 p.m.

Maybe it's useful for the education process, or ensures that the bases are being covered, but it sounds horrifying for a lot of students. The writer seems to think that incoming freshmen are confused or ignorant if they don't want to read poetry. That's overly presumptuous to put it nicely. ...

Posted Sat, Sep 18, 4:45 p.m.

I doubt automated cars will exist on streets in our lifetimes. The difficulty of a system that can overcome the chaos of streets at a near-perfect rate is too great. Freeways are much simpler. No random entrances, no pedestrians, etc. Even then, any initial automated systems will presumably by on ...

Posted Fri, Sep 17, 4:06 p.m.

Good article. I totally agree. Transit would give more people an ability to visit parks (locals who don't have cars or don't want to use them, tourists...), it would parking demands inside the parks, and it would be more ecologically sound. We don't need much. Just a few routes to ...

Posted Tue, Sep 14, 8:22 p.m.

I don't support cars, or even drive, regardless of my advocacy for 99. The safety measures don't have to make sense. If I have it right, it's US law for any elevated track system. US safety requirements are often way overboard, often lopsided between one vehicle type and another, reflecting ...

Posted Mon, Sep 13, 5:56 p.m.

The flat-guideway planned at Heathrow (if I'm understanding that correctly GaryP) is completely different from the dreamer version of PRT. It would basically be an "el" with small routable cars. Presumably they'll have fairly large stations with plenty of time for people to load/unload without holding thigs up. Some people ...

Posted Sun, Sep 12, 4:53 p.m.

It's a gimmick concept. In an existing urban setting there are so many flaws it's almost not worth the effort to debunk. Starting with capacity, the potential for choke points, the difficulty of emergency egress from PRT vehicles unless you have a walkway their entire length (which you might have ...

Posted Sat, Sep 4, 5:38 p.m.

I'd take the 10 minutes anyday. It's a nice stretch, but just a typical view around here. I'd argue it's good for Tacoma to have fewer unnecessary trains running along its waterfront too.

Posted Fri, Sep 3, 6:11 p.m.

Money very well spent. Amtrak seems to be at "build it and they will come" status in the Seattle-Portland corridor. More frequency will mean rail will work for more people. The added speed is a bonus. It's already the best combination of speed and cost between my company's offices in ...

Posted Wed, Sep 1, 11:38 a.m.

Those "little islands" would be job centers as well as residential centers. Regarding the 10% figure, a figure of 25,000 (or in that magnitude) is what I was pointing at. We have 500,000 transit trips per day locally, and generally commuters are counted twice at least. I'm familar with Redmond, ...

Posted Wed, Sep 1, 8:24 a.m.

Redmond, Federal Way, and Lynnwood are all trying to turn their centers into dense urban districts around where the rail lines will terminate. Downtown Redmond is farther along in a midrise format. Federal Way and Lynnwood want to be the next downtown Bellevues. On whether transit WITHIN developed areas causes ...

Posted Tue, Aug 31, 8:54 p.m.

jas -- Your link about energy grid capacity is interesting, but your source is an advocacy group. A somewhat more nuanced version quoting the same study as well as newer work by ORNL is here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9893320-54.html. This quotes the same 73% figure from PNNL, but notes that the current grid ...

Posted Tue, Aug 31, 4:52 p.m.

That would make sense if I wasn't also advocating for reducing parking required in new buildings. Which, BTW, is a big factor in the cost of those buildings, and a waste of money in the cases where parking usage is lower than what the City requires. As for your other ...

Posted Tue, Aug 31, 9:41 a.m.

jas, those electric cars still need to be parked at each end, still need tons of road space, still encourage sprawl, and still need to be manufactured. Electric cars are nearly as inefficient and dysfunctional as regular cars. Lowering emissions is way more complicated than highway planners tend to admit. ...

Posted Tue, Aug 31, 9:36 a.m.

Lincoln, none of us can predict oil prices, including you. But peak oil theory seems pretty mainstream (I don't need to convince many readers of that), and big oil companies are clearly preparing for it, or at least hedging their bets. The current economy seems to be the only thing ...

Posted Tue, Aug 31, 8:43 a.m.

How many acres or square miles of sprawl are views worth?

Posted Tue, Aug 31, 8:21 a.m.

I agree that traffic isn't going anywhere. It might go down on a per capita basis (as many predict) but local population growth seems likely to offset much or all of that, with gas mileage also handling a lot of the peak oil issue. That's why I support the 99 ...

Posted Mon, Aug 30, 11:29 p.m.

The 1% figure has some basis. The link takes you to a study that assumes 1% growth to 2027. I see no mention of the 2030 date the author uses. The author would have been more respectable if he had said the 1% figure was a projection rather than a ...

Posted Mon, Aug 30, 10:18 p.m.

This author appears to know nothing about traffic demand patterns, or the ability to use information logically. For starters, extrapolating the 1% figure off that far is an odd leap. And presenting one source's idea that Seattle is "most congested" as if it's fact is simple lack of intelligence and/or ...

Posted Mon, Aug 30, 2:59 p.m.

Nobody has proposed anything of any real height for the several blocks around the Needle. Nor has any zoning change been proposed for any real height in that area. At most, there might be something half the Needle's height a few blocks away at some point, south of Denny. That's ...

Posted Fri, Aug 27, 1:54 p.m.

dbreneman's post reminds me of a class at a religious high school I attended for a couple years...when the fundamentalist science teacher explained evolution....splittle flying out of his mouth, no apparent clue about how the other side thinks...

Posted Fri, Aug 27, 9:14 a.m.

Good point sdstarr. "Speaking out" might help us all feel better, but it also seems directly counterproductive. (Not that the general quiet suggests any real thought)

Posted Wed, Aug 25, 11:28 a.m.

Seattle's slightly reduced percentage of jobs isn't a major problem. Our percentage of metro jobs is actually pretty high, which is all the more impressive given that large scale commercial development has very few potential locations in Seattle, and even then land is expensive and entitlements are difficult. We've actually ...

Posted Mon, Aug 23, 8:02 p.m.

Vanpools can serve certain types of commuters and that's about it. The general public who has unpredictable hours or wants to travel outside of their daily norm is out in the cold. Some vanpool supporters want to grab onto different subsets, generally awkwardly, but the end result is always that ...

Posted Sat, Aug 21, 8:45 p.m.

Lincoln, you've missed the point entirely, while also mixing points in a way designed to obfuscate. Once a rail line built, capacity can expand massively on the existing line. In few years, our system will be able to run an 800-person train every few minutes each way...no new lanes required. ...

Posted Sat, Aug 21, 6:50 p.m.

Lincoln isn't being clear either. He talks about "operating cost" of driving but forgets most of the cost the typical person pays. Based on a a hypothetical 20,000 passenger miles per year, his number equates to $183 per month to drive. Others include the cost of ownership, etc., and have ...

Posted Sat, Aug 21, 10:10 a.m.

The last couple months have had significantly higher ridership, showing a clear upward trend. You act like the 21,766 weekday figure is current. Ridership hs gone up about 10% since then, and presumably the per-rider cost is down significantly. Why not be honest, at least? Lying doesn't help your credibility. ...

Posted Thu, Aug 19, 6:35 p.m.

A lot of th Didier/TP voters aren't excited about Rossi. Rossi manages to be both far right on some issues but not loved by many far-right voters. His flaws and affliations (BIAW) make him unpalatable to a lot of centrist voters. Murray is turning into a real national player and ...

Posted Thu, Aug 19, 5:07 p.m.

animalal, I guess road expansions are also by definition social engineering?

Posted Thu, Aug 19, 12:57 p.m.

I totally agree on enforcing speed limits. Since traffic accidents kill twice as many people as crime in the US (about 40,000/yr for traffic, less than half that for murder), traffic enforcement should be much more aggressive. But that's only part of the story. Even with law-abiding drivers, pedestrians can't ...

Posted Thu, Aug 19, 10:48 a.m.

MLK is pretty safe to cross now, because light rail created an island. That assumes you look both ways before crossing the tracks. Of course I'm the type who will cross the tracks midblock. As for "adding crosswalks," it's important to note one thing. Crosswalks exist at EVERY intersection unless ...

Posted Wed, Aug 18, 11:12 p.m.

That stretch of Rainier is great within Seattle, and pure suburban crap in Renton. Speaking as a bicyclist.

Posted Wed, Aug 18, 5:56 p.m.

Sea-bee. I suspect you're confusing "MBTU" to mean one million BTUs. In fact it means one thousand BTUs. I haven't seen your reference in the tunnel EIS versions. But your bit about power needs seemed orders of magnitude off...

Posted Tue, Aug 17, 10:12 p.m.

jmrolls, you know full well that even the construction cost is much closer than that between options. Even without the added disruption cost of the non-DBT replacement options and the permanent loss of function of the surface option. And Wells, you know full well that the surface option has to ...

Posted Tue, Aug 17, 10:19 a.m.

In this case paying homage to the past would make it ugly...at huge expense. I've always been mystified by the idea of a major effort to commemorate the 62 fair. A few exhibits and a book or two would be great, and I'd love to see them. But spending millions ...

Posted Tue, Aug 17, 8:48 a.m.

Wells, do you HONESTLY believe the surface option "constrains displaced traffic to Alaksan Way"?! Surely you know that's complete BS. Every Downtown avenue would take some of the load, as would I-5. Alaskan Way and Western (if the couplet idea was used) would simply be the primary reroute.

Posted Mon, Aug 16, 5:41 p.m.

I dream of a future of road diets for Downtown! The surface crowd, who otherwise tend to like road diets, strangely wants Downtown avenues to supersize...

Posted Mon, Aug 16, 12:42 p.m.

Nice article. It mirrors a lot of my own opinions!

Posted Mon, Aug 16, 12:33 p.m.

Nice piece Knute. I'm one of those locals who goes up the Space Needle a lot, generally around 4 to 6 times a year. One of the striking things about it is the number and variety of foreign languages being spoken. I'd peg the crowd as typically 25-30% off-continent, though ...

Posted Thu, Aug 12, 5:38 p.m.

We're still doing well in terms of headquarters. Imagine being Denver, who can only dream of having a company more than half the sales of our #4. (Costco, MS, BCAG if that still counts, Amazon) It's not that an orchestra is too big to fail. It's that it's hard to ...

Posted Wed, Aug 11, 9:46 a.m.

Chuck, I wasn't referring to you at all. Actually agreeing with you.

Posted Tue, Aug 10, 1:14 p.m.

I agree that some elements are relevant. Just talking about the cost story.

Posted Tue, Aug 10, 11:51 a.m.

Part of the story on Boston was the 20(?) year wait from the first estimate to completing the project, coupled with the completely different project scope between those two points. Anyone who uses that to project Seattle's experience is embarassingly misinformed or a liar.

Posted Tue, Aug 10, 11:48 a.m.

This is a scary prospect. I have no idea of what's happening politically, but tying to one of your last points is a crucial factor -- the alliance between transit and highway supporters seems important to maintaining the current level of public support for transportation funding. I'll hazard to guess ...

Posted Sun, Aug 1, 5:04 p.m.

There's plenty of precedent on what tolling does in terms of people taking alternate routes. From what little I've heard, WSDOT has a good handle on that. It's a classic self-regulating system. Some people avoid the tolls, which reduces traffic on the tolled road, which in turn convinces people to ...

Posted Fri, Jul 30, 8:04 p.m.

You mean 9 years ago and start the process over again in 2025? I bet that seemed like a long way off 9 years ago. It's funny hearing people talk about uncertainties with the tunnel, then acting like a retrofit is somehow cheap and a known quantity. In reality, very ...

Posted Fri, Jul 30, 2:07 p.m.

Marksp, surely you know that the tunnel will accommodate trucks. Maybe not the tankers but everything else will be fine. That's why some industrial groups are getting behind it. It might not be their favorite option but it does most of what they want.

Posted Fri, Jul 30, 12:07 p.m.

GaryP, freight organizations have been more positive about the tunnel lately. While it's true that fuel trucks won't use it, most trucks will be fine. Their main interest, as stated, is "avoid the surface option" because the surface option would make their lives much harder. cocktails42, McGinn's switch wasn't designed ...

Posted Fri, Jul 30, 10:18 a.m.

Better yet, dbreneman, let's not face it in 25-30 years. Let's do the permanent solution now. Tunnels last longer than retrofits, as well as new viaducts.

Posted Fri, Jul 30, 9:01 a.m.

Many good points David. I'd add another huge one: Any delay would probably cause prices to go up. Right now, construction is at a 20-30% discount, as shown by the bids coming in these days vs. estimates by various public agencies for their projects. There are many reasons for this ...

Posted Thu, Jul 29, 4:46 p.m.

I don't know about space. But the apartment thing is no surprise. Vacancies have plummeted this year according to market reports (partially because people are renting instead of buying). Some developers are thinking about building again, or at least getting their ducks in a row so they can build as ...

Posted Thu, Jul 29, 11:26 a.m.

It wasn't tunnels that collapsed in Kyoto, San Francisco, LA, etc. -- it was elevated highways, often much sounder than ours! It's a false argument.

Posted Thu, Jul 29, 8:39 a.m.

Because "testing it at the polls" would mean significant delay, and probably add hundreds of millions to the price. Your reliance on the "research" about "inevitability" is bordering on unethical. You KNOW it's not applicable here for several reasons, starting with being many years out of date. It's your attempt ...

Posted Wed, Jul 28, 12:13 p.m.

I wouldn't want greenspace around MOST buildings. This is a core city, not a suburb, and good urban design calls for buildings right up to the sidewalks (considered a given by most planners, thankfully). In some districts, many buildings have publicly accessible pocket parks. In others, more such parks would ...

Posted Wed, Jul 28, 12:07 p.m.

Good analysis Jean. The mayor is basically W. Bush, except the legislative branch isn't keeling over. He uses whatever arguements are convenient. Well, either Bush or a lawyer. A lawyer presents his side, without attempting to be impartial. He hires "expert witnesses" to make pre-determined points. The goal is to ...

Posted Wed, Jul 28, 8:33 a.m.

More parks means more bums? Huh?

Posted Tue, Jul 27, 3:06 p.m.

It's not the poor, it's the rule-breakers. But yes, it's true that Seattle severely lacks downtown green spaces. One of my jobs as a volunteer-then-staffer at the Seattle Commons organization was comparing Seattle to other cities, and we did horribly in terms of downtowns. We've had a lot of success ...

Posted Tue, Jul 27, 12:11 p.m.

LIHI does a good job. Aside from their actual mission, they tend to improve the neighborhoods they're in.

Posted Mon, Jul 26, 2:56 p.m.

The grown ups are taking over! I love it. Keep moving folks. With all the BS and general cluelessness of many commentators and the mayor, it's great to see progress continue.

Posted Mon, Jul 26, 12:57 p.m.

(I'll sound like I work for a general contractor, which I do, but I'll say it anyway...) Pioneer Square's biggest need is more people (working or otherwise not drunks), not just at peak times but all the time. Most of all, that means more residents. Plenty of people would love ...

Posted Fri, Jul 23, 11:20 a.m.

Their argument only makes sense if you forget about the higher risk (direct costs and related consequences) of every other option.

Posted Thu, Jul 22, 9:32 a.m.

With every Crosscut article about Bellevue, I get distracted by the ancient picture, which presumably says "Crosscut is too lazy to take a new picture." As for the "Meydenbauer Center" line, if that's who provided the picture, shouldn't you say that, rather than making it look like it might be ...

Posted Thu, Jul 22, 9:27 a.m.

Seattle's rising population and higher square foot prices suggests that it's attractive to a lot of people, and doing an ok job (though not enough in my opinion) to absorb much of our region's growth. I'm a centrist on road capacity. We need to maintain 99 et al to keep ...

Posted Sat, Jul 17, 3:21 p.m.

Claire, what are you smoking? Or have you just not looked at the plan? You talk about condos, but there's obviously no room for developments in the viaduct path. If you mean the existing private property next to the viaduct, much of that is historic/protected and/or publicly owned. The few ...

Posted Sat, Jul 17, 3:09 p.m.

I'll throw some water on the "highline" concept. I walked the Highline a couple months ago. It's ok. But totally different. It wouldn't work at all on the viaduct. For one, to make the viaduct stand long-term, it would need a massive retrofit, even if rumbling trucks were replaced by ...

Posted Fri, Jul 16, 10:39 a.m.

In my mind, a fairly likely outcome in a referendum would be a tunnel win, but a much higher project cost. McGinn would basically cost us a delay, and potentially hundreds of millions of dollars. The win would be due to tunnel supporters combined with the "just do it" crowd. ...

Posted Thu, Jul 15, 11:29 a.m.

I'm impressed with how they've managed the process to keep it all on budget so far. This will be confirmed when the design-build price proposals are submitted, of course. Paricularly since the design-build process puts much of the cost risk on the company, rather than the public.

Posted Thu, Jul 15, 8:44 a.m.

My impression is that McGinn doesn't think farther than next week, about anything.

Posted Thu, Jul 15, 8:35 a.m.

I agree with most comments so far. We've hashed this thing out for nearly a decade. The leadership did their jobs, the plan is good, and now it's time to do it. It's also astonishing that anyone thinks the other concepts have less risk. At this point, the greatest risk ...

Posted Tue, Jul 13, 7:24 a.m.

In other words, ancient history.

Posted Mon, Jul 12, 4:42 p.m.

The TV commercials are too much for me. Stupied and insanely repetitive. Same reason I can't listen to the radio (any kind of radio). In fact, all forms of ads piss me off. The easiest way to get on my "never buy / hope they go out of business" list ...

Posted Mon, Jul 12, 3:19 p.m.

The Stranger piece might refer to peak oil. But connecting that to reduced driving is (unfortunately) not really likely. First, peak oil theorists generally predict a stable or slowly declining supply, combined with increased competition from around the world, particularly from China and India as they modernize. Nobody is predicting ...

Posted Mon, Jul 12, 3:03 p.m.

The point of the tunnel is through traffic, not those heading for Downtown, or even for Interbay. I think it's a foregone conclusion that it'll be heavily used. In fact, with two lanes each way (like the current tunnel, but with room for breakdowns), it should have a healthy tension ...

Posted Mon, Jul 12, 1:14 p.m.

Personally I think turning Downtown into a highway ("freight lanes" on Western and Alaskan?!) is the biggest cost risk of all. Downtown Seattle is the #1 economic driver of our quarter of the US...ruining it would be costly.

Posted Mon, Jul 12, 12:19 p.m.

I like Rizz. My biggest problems with sports anouncers: 1. They constantly say "I had an opportunity to sit down with __". Why don't they say "I sat down with __"? 2. Some repeat themselves far more than others. Bob Blackburn could say the same thing a dozen times in ...

Posted Mon, Jul 12, 9 a.m.

Cost estimating on public works has gotten way more conservative in the last decade. That's roughly when Sound Transit turned it around, and they have a good record since. WSDOT too. And seemingly every other public agency. Often they appear to be TOO conservative, with projects routinely bidding 20-30% under ...

Posted Sat, Jul 10, 11:07 p.m.

Regarding whether arterials make good routes: Yes, they often do, for experienced riders. Some arterials don't have safe edges, but others do. As for side streets, that's a fine idea, but many arterials don't have parallel side streets that are equally flat and direct, and have easy crossings of perpendicular ...

Posted Sat, Jul 10, 11:03 p.m.

As a bicyclist on Dexter, I can say with certainty that your guess that most Dexter bicyclists are "messengers" is wildly incorrect. There's a large flow of commuters, as well as recreational riders.

Posted Wed, Jul 7, 8:33 a.m.

From a stimulus perspective, it's actually helpful to have a lot of money still being distributed. The rail is exciting. Even at today's slow speeds the trains fill up, and would probably still do well if they added more frequency. With the incremental speed improvements provided by this new money, ...

Posted Wed, Jul 7, 8:27 a.m.

Obviously the suburbs have way more room to grow, whether it's infill or the somewhat-reduced amount of sprawl we're still allowing. But that has very little to do with Seattle adding people. It's still important that Seattle help handle the region's growth. (Personally I also think Seattle generally gets better ...

Posted Tue, Jul 6, 4:56 p.m.

Back for more: Seattle is a good example of a successful back-to-the-city trend. Based on the Census's admittedly sketchy annual estimates, we grew from 486,000 in 1986 to 617,000 in 2009...despite not having a ton of vacant lots even in 1986, and despite household sizes falling. (They fell nationally; it's ...

Posted Tue, Jul 6, 12:17 p.m.

Joel Kotkin is the national mouthpiece for the sprawl industry. Surely that's an important factor when you read his stuff!

Posted Tue, Jul 6, 10:15 a.m.

To clarify that thought: a flat, grade-separated trail along the I-90 right of way from around Rainier to the stadiums would be nice. This is important for crossing various railroads and major roads, and would speed things for anyone traveling between I-90 and either West Seattle or Downtown. Alternatively, I'd ...

Posted Tue, Jul 6, 10:10 a.m.

I ride Dexter sometimes and I agree it's nowhere near the worst. I like the project (assuming it's done right, with clear sightlines at intersections) but there are many other roads with greater need. California Avenue from Fauntleroy to Admiral (a busy route including ferry riders) is a nightmare of ...

Posted Sat, Jul 3, 2:47 p.m.

Wells, you're operating in your own reality. I guess that's why it all seems so simple.

Posted Fri, Jul 2, 8:55 p.m.

To Elliott? It sounds like you're talking about cars that are heading for Elliott in Belltown, or Downtown in general. Either way, they'll exit right before they get Downtown, rather than within Downtown. This is being accommodated, in part, by significant changes at Mercer, Edgar Martinez, etc., so that traffic ...

Posted Fri, Jul 2, 2:11 p.m.

I'd take a refurbishment over the surface option. It's way better from a pedestrian access perspective, and of course doesn't flood Downtown with cars. (Maybe we have some common ground after all!) My problem with the viaduct is only partially about looks and noise. Even a major upgrade would also ...

Posted Fri, Jul 2, 12:33 p.m.

John, Harrison, and Thomas don't have to carry the 99 traffic to be helpful. The'll carry much of the short-distance traffic that currently wedges onto Denny or Mercer/Valley/Broad, taking some pressure off those. Likewise, connecting 6th through to Mercer will carry some of the traffic now on 5th. Good for ...

Posted Thu, Jul 1, 9:42 p.m.

It's simpler than that, and makes sense. The cars heading from SODO to Aurora will go through the tunnel, which is the same capacity (plus breakdown lanes wide enough for traffic to squeeze by) as the current tunnel. Those heading to the CBD will exit a bit sooner than currently. ...

Posted Thu, Jul 1, 4:24 p.m.

Um, Portland built a replacement freeway when they tore out the one on the waterfront. (A big factor in keeping the surface streets habitable for people) As for the streetcar, First is a much better route. It's convenient to vastly more people. As for Amgen, I guess that would be ...

Posted Thu, Jul 1, 10:34 a.m.

Letting pedestrians pass the terminal without a huge "don't walk" wait would be a big improvement. Personally I never wait of course.

Posted Thu, Jul 1, 9:12 a.m.

The mix of uses is one thing that makes our waterfront's potential so exciting. It's tourists, the lunch crowd, ferry passengers, and even some office workers on the piers. Plaza/park/promenade spaces will fit among all of this. Art, I agree that car ferries aren't the best for the Central Waterfront. ...

Posted Tue, Jun 29, 9:09 p.m.

I should clarify: a city only has so many bar districts. It's not that Seattle is all that prescriptive about where bars go; actually we seem to try our hardest to let them go to as many multifamily districts as possible (co-locating multifamily zoning with lack of noise enforcement, in ...

Posted Tue, Jun 29, 9:05 p.m.

The urban village strategy doesn't call for a lot of bars in most villages. And most are more middle class vs. the higher number of very high and very low incomes in Belltown. I don't see much parallel.

Posted Tue, Jun 29, 9:24 a.m.

Belltown is a work in progress. Personally, I like it more as it fills in. 2010 is way better than 2000, which is way better than 1990. Since it's taking decades to reach its potential, it's avoiding the "all at once" scenario and maintaining a good variety. Variety is also ...

Posted Mon, Jun 28, 6:39 p.m.

Knute, this sounds like wishful thinking on your part. PS, I thought it was the nimbys that wanted to keep everybody out.

Posted Mon, Jun 28, 4 p.m.

Sea Wolf -- In terms of density, I'd use the Portland example over New York. Seattle is substantially denser than Portland, both within city limits and comparing the downtowns (residential, daytime, whatever). Yet Portland has a huge amount of Downtown park space compared to Seattle. I used to have stats. ...

Posted Fri, Jun 25, 1:31 p.m.

This is definitely good news for that part of Downtown. Hotel guests are even better than residents in some ways...for example they eat at restaurants more. A mix of visitors, residents, and workers is important for keeping the area busy at all times. That area is pretty quiet but this ...

Posted Thu, Jun 24, 3:07 p.m.

I've neglected the biggest error in some of our park designs -- not enough shade trees. It's appalling to see designs for the Seattle Center, for example, with giant barren lawns we're expected to watch concerts from during the height of summer. Go to the Space Needle on a warm ...

Posted Thu, Jun 24, 9:04 a.m.

Sea Wolf, New York City had 27,000 people per square mile in 2009, and Seattle had 7,350, and the ratio was similar if you compare Manhattan to Greater Downtown Seattle. Regionally, our densities were much closer. Also, we're more like the 13th largest city, not the 23rd (your number is ...

Posted Wed, Jun 23, 9:41 p.m.

Oops, forgot the link in the second paragraph: http://ntl.bts.gov/DOCS/telecommute.html

Posted Wed, Jun 23, 9:41 p.m.

I find it odd that you both treat some numbers from government agencies as gospel, but not others. A number like 1.57 is worthy of guesses about its validity. And look, it took me five seconds to find a federal transportation agency that claims a 1.16 figure for "occupancy per ...

Posted Wed, Jun 23, 7:33 p.m.

The bus data is very misleading. There's a huge difference in energy per passenger mile on busy routes vs. less busy routes. In the Seattle context, since buses in-town average much more passengers than buses in distant suburan routes, and certainly way more than the national average, buses are way ...

Posted Wed, Jun 23, 3:22 p.m.

On the energy efficiency topic, here's the first thing that popped up by web search (showing a huge advantage for buses and rail): http://www.onetransportationsolution.com/ComparativeEnergy.pdf

Posted Wed, Jun 23, 12:36 p.m.

Also, I don't think some people grasp that this discussion is about unused parking spaces. Which we all subsidize.

Posted Wed, Jun 23, 12:13 p.m.

I don't think some readers grasp that (a) transit generally uses less energy per rider operationally, particularly on busy routes, (b) transit systems typically use less materials and energy to build vs. wider roads and more cars, or (c) there would be no room for their cars if transit didn't ...

Posted Wed, Jun 23, 10:11 a.m.

Reduced parking requirements are usually a very good idea. In addition to the points made by others is the affordabilty factor. Dropping parking space requirements can often save $40,000 or $50,000 per space in development costs. Seattle has too many apartment buildings with 40 cars and 60 or 70 parking ...

Posted Tue, Jun 22, 7:51 p.m.

Art, I fail to see your logic. In your scenario, the tunnel will be the EASIEST part of 99 to protect...just one portal. If the tide was high enough and a storm hit, WSDOT or the Army Corps of Engineers could do it overnight, with sandbags if necessary. If your ...

Posted Tue, Jun 22, 3:19 p.m.

I don't think Mr. Russell has seen the proposal.

Posted Tue, Jun 22, 3:16 p.m.

Art, you missed my point. Raising the south 99 and any sort of elevated ring concept would be easy retrofits. They don't need to build them until sea level rises. You're incorrect about "most new development" not going below the waterline. My company (as GC) has built office buildings such ...

Posted Tue, Jun 22, 12:52 p.m.

Art, raising the surface "south" 99 would be easy (if a raised seawall isn't built for that area). The world is full of raised roadways in flood zones. Protecting the portal is as simple as building a slightly elevated ring around it, which the road would go over. (The tunnel ...

Posted Tue, Jun 22, 8:58 a.m.

First, I'm chuckling at your ideas about physics, Art. Tunnel filling up with water?! Protecting one tiny portal is a piece of cake, very different than protecting a whole waterfront. And I've pointed out before that the viaduct isn't built to handle being in water if sea levels rise that ...

Posted Fri, Jun 18, 9:39 a.m.

For Seattle's sake I look forward to the day McGinn builds a coalition in favor of anything...really, anything. Agreement on pizza toppings would be a fine start if it gets the ball rolling. One problem will always be the case in this city: on a lot of big issues, there ...

Posted Wed, Jun 16, 12:18 p.m.

Keith, Little old ladies are out at night in Belltown...any grown man that says that must be pretty skittish. Bar patrons and crime are problems but it's overblown. I agree that there's a contradiction between being encouraging residential use and encouraging nightlife. Cities with smarter leaders solve this by establishing ...

Posted Wed, Jun 16, 10:51 a.m.

Yes, it was Mira. There was definitely a band some nights. Hip hop nights were another matter. For three consecutive fridays(?), there was basically a riot on First Avenue from 2:00 to 2:30 am. I could hear the nucleus of the fighting moving from nearby to around whatever corner and ...

Posted Wed, Jun 16, 8:43 a.m.

No problems with live music? There was once a place on First Avenue that actually had an outdoor stage, with live music starting at midnight every weekend. Condo owners in one building could have poured milk on them if they'd been so inclined. I was a block away and sadly ...

Posted Mon, Jun 14, 8:49 a.m.

Good, thoughful piece. About the Center House, it's great as-is, with seismic upgrades being the only major need.

Posted Fri, Jun 11, 8:47 a.m.

Belltown has a wine store on every block or two....they're called corner groceries. That serves casual wine drinkers just fine. That means that "wine shops" have to rely on aficionados, who are presumably a small fraction of us casuals in number.

Posted Wed, Jun 9, 11:21 a.m.

I should note that PACE is a great idea, even while I added to the list of other venues. While it's important to support the big halls we already have in Seattle and the small ones everywhere, there's apparently a clear demand for big events on the Eastside, and PACE ...

Posted Wed, Jun 9, 9:20 a.m.

How about Northshore Performing Arts Center in Bothell?

Posted Thu, Jun 3, 12:42 p.m.

Delay is a huge cost risk straight from McGinn. I'm not a pricing expert, but speaking as a construction guy, as soon as the construction industry starts getting busier (with economic recovery), pricing will rise significantly. The current 30%-off sale is an anomaly due to rock bottom material prices and ...

Posted Thu, Jun 3, 8:23 a.m.

The profit motive is the main reason behind everything that any business does in every city, with few exceptions. If there's a difference between Seattle and elsewhere, it may be that idealism alters the way of doing business more often, and in other cases at least alters how businesses try ...

Posted Wed, Jun 2, 5:44 p.m.

We have different definitions of "blank slate". Seattle Center certainly was, aside from a bit of adaptive reuse. SLU is transitioning sort of like Belltown with the main difference being one developer being involved with the majority of it...both SLU and Belltown have, and will always have, a mix of ...

Posted Wed, Jun 2, 10:22 a.m.

Even with cheap oil, the rate of driving will probably remain similar due to 1) population growth, and 2) fuel efficiency. The former might be a 1% to 1.5% per year effect long term. The latter could be much quicker...people will adopt small cars very quickly if gas gets into ...

Posted Wed, Jun 2, 8:33 a.m.

On the vilifying one's opponents front....how about your assertion that infill/densification proponents want a "blank slate" or are somehow against preservation? Infill does involve tearing something down sometimes, unless it's on a parking lot. But it's also generally dependent on fitting into the existing structure of the neighborhood. Regarding preservation, ...

Posted Wed, Apr 28, 5:14 p.m.

The Center has been moving upward in the past 15 years or so, not downward. I'm not saying the future will be the same...

Posted Thu, Apr 22, 11:45 a.m.

The Seattle area's growth management already keeps us from getting the "easy" growth, i.e. the "flight to cheap." We'll get the people that really wants to come here, or have good reasons like new jobs. Along with climate, economics and energy will drive growth in the coming decades. A declining ...

Posted Wed, Apr 21, 1:04 p.m.

The immediate neighbor don't have to support the store themselves. Aside from the IGA at 3rd & Pike (always busy), these stores (locally) have garages. It's a great trend for neighborhood business districts. Knitting them back together while bringing more people.

Posted Thu, Apr 1, 8:11 p.m.

I shouldn't have said whack job. But it's appalling that someone is misusing the law this way. And without much clue about law, transportation, or environmental ethics.

Posted Thu, Apr 1, 7:36 p.m.

The lawsuit won't go far. It's the NORM to do road projects in segments. Shame on the self-serving whack jobs who are wasting taxpayer dollars on this, including their leader.

Posted Thu, Apr 1, 5:01 p.m.

Oops, First & Seneca.

Posted Thu, Apr 1, 5 p.m.

eddiew, on the plus side, the typical deep bore estimate (4.2?) typically includes the seawall, Alaskan, and various new/upgraded streets in SoDo and SLU. Sort of like Mercer, it's referred to as one road but it's really a series of them. The surface option would add more concrete, with the ...

Posted Thu, Apr 1, 12:41 p.m.

Best council email ever!

Posted Thu, Apr 1, 9:12 a.m.

Elizabeth, everything you just said about traffic, size of interchange, pollution, etc. is basically semantics. The interchange at Harrison will be a big improvement, speaking as a pedestrian who walks through frequently. The current Aurora ROW will be just another surface street from Denny to Harrison -- finally crossable for ...

Posted Thu, Apr 1, 9 a.m.

Sign off if you want, but I have to respond to some of that... You seem to phase construction 2013 to 2016. That would finish later than the tunnel. Using multiple contractors for the viaduct retrofit sounds like a disaster, speaking as a contractor (new/renovated buildings, not viaducts). Better to ...

Posted Wed, Mar 31, 8:45 p.m.

Art, I was years ahead of anyone's politics on this, pining for the deep bore even when the cost looked outlandish a few years ago. When it became clear that it's affordable, and as that's been confirmed to-date, I've been extremely glad to see it move forward. I love the ...

Posted Wed, Mar 31, 6:25 p.m.

King to Holgate is a replacement in the same ROW. The central tunnel isn't. That's why there's not much disruption. A rebuilt Alaskan Way will handle some of that Ballard traffic, slating uphill to the existing Elliott/Western couplet that carries that traffic today. Those going through the tunnel and turning ...

Posted Wed, Mar 31, 4:31 p.m.

Cocktails, why are you talking about new condos? There won't be any. The 99 ROW will be used for the rebuilt Alaskan Way and public open space. There will be small operations buildings at each tunnel portal. There will be a few developement sites where land is being used to ...

Posted Wed, Mar 31, 12:17 p.m.

PS, in any cost comparison, I hope you include the cost of knitting SLU and LQA back together. And Artie, while you're complaining about the new tunnel, what about the Battery St. tunnel, which lacks the new tunnel's safety features and would be basically impossible to retrofit to meet code, ...

Posted Wed, Mar 31, 12:14 p.m.

The idea that a viaduct retrofit could start quickly (say, before the tunnel) is flatly incorrect. The idea that it could get built quickly depends on how much work you plan do do...anything major would take a while. The idea that retrofitting would make the structure last a long time ...

Posted Fri, Mar 26, 4:47 p.m.

McGinn is about idealism untainted by pesky reality. That makes sense to many young people.

Posted Fri, Mar 12, 8:27 a.m.

Why anyone pays attention to this guy is beyond me. I've listened to him before, and he sounded reasonable at first. But it was soon clear that his pattern is fractured logic and conspiracy theories. He might actually believe this stuff. Or he might be a six pack without the ...

Posted Wed, Mar 10, 9:55 a.m.

Demanding stories about personal experience and emotions sounds invasive! And of limited interest. I hope they let kids write about other things too. Storytelling is a great skill. But don't forget that for most people, it's important to be able to write clearly, logically, and succinctly, with no errors (knock ...

Posted Mon, Mar 8, 12:19 p.m.

I haven't commented on their financing methods at all. Your first post says I'm a "comedian" and "spreading garbage". I see no reason to mask my lack of respect for you.

Posted Mon, Mar 8, 9 a.m.

It's hard to take someone seriously when they ignore basics while foaming at the mouth about their chosen subtopics. If you do know anything, you know that it's impossible to name a figure for what you ask. The variables are huge even for an at-grade system, and pricing on one ...

Posted Sat, Mar 6, 3:42 p.m.

True, people should live in accordance with their own ethics. Driving 30 miles to work every day and calling yourself an "environmentalist" are pure hypocracy.

Posted Fri, Mar 5, 8:16 a.m.

Smart is in the context of current priorities. Today, we'd rather not sprawl over forests and farmland. We'd rather use less resources. And we'd rather not contribute as much to climate change. Public policy that supports those desires is smart. We're pretty moderate in our pursuit of those goals. Growth ...

Posted Thu, Mar 4, 9:57 a.m.

A lot less than the old complex, I'd wager. Wasn't that part of the reason to move?

Posted Thu, Mar 4, 9:56 a.m.

On second thought, I should have said "smaller", not "much smaller". Regionally the numbers would probably be stable, sort of like Midwest cities that lost their mojo in the 60s and 70s and have roughly the same metro populations today.

Posted Thu, Mar 4, 9:53 a.m.

Emmett Watson would love it....a much smaller local population. A lot of employers and residents would throw up their hands in disgust on their way out of town. Others would just not move here. Some companies would carefully "choose a side" and relocate, but it's hard to imagine the big ...

Posted Thu, Mar 4, 8:50 a.m.

No wonder Portland has hardly any big companies! As long as you keep comparing Seattle's system with at-grade systems it's hard to take you seriously.

Posted Wed, Mar 3, 8:26 p.m.

I've already addressed your major issues. You seem oblivious. As for the voters, look what they did in 2008.

Posted Wed, Mar 3, 3:37 p.m.

It sounds like you disagree with voters about rail overall. Your arguments are full of holes of course. Ridership "is" dropping? You're talking about a past trend that appears to be the back side of the gas price bubble plus reduced employment. More cost per mile? You're comparing a system ...

Posted Wed, Mar 3, 2:51 p.m.

You might be right about Sounder. My understanding is it's involved all sorts of work not originally included, much of it to placate BN and its freight commitments. Sounder is essentially subsidizing freight (or paying to mitigate its impacts on freight), much as the new federal Amtrak money is also ...

Posted Wed, Mar 3, 12:42 p.m.

I'm guessing it'll be positive. For many years (after the initial debacles of the 90s), ST has budgeted conservatively and delivered on budget and on time. For the DT-UW line, bids have been coming in massively under budget due to the economy and conservative estimating.

Posted Wed, Mar 3, 8:51 a.m.

Where jniles and I agree is that bus service needs to be strong as well. Seattle's commute transit numbers (city, county, metro, csa, etc.) are far better than any Western US city other than San Francisco. That's because buses can spiderweb into most neighborhoods and close to most jobs, and ...

Posted Tue, Mar 2, 8:48 p.m.

jniles, I'm talking about your numbers being way off.

Posted Tue, Mar 2, 8:47 p.m.

Your commute mode share numbers appear to be WAY off. This survey says Downtown Bellevue had 19% bus ridership among commuters in 2008, and 61% single-occupant vehicles. (I'm not saying this is the only authority, but it also jibes with other sources I vaguely recall.)http://www.ci.bellevue.wa.us/pdf/Transportation/mode_share_survey_summary_2008.pdf Maybe you're thinking of the ...

Posted Tue, Mar 2, 12:55 p.m.

I mean the freeway station would be uncomfortably far. While some of us will walk anywhere, transit use goes down dramatically with those walking distances, particularly when there's a hill both ways.

Posted Tue, Mar 2, 12:54 p.m.

Even if 116th is heavily populated in 2040, rail will still be inconveniently far from Bellevue Way, 104th, etc. They're already dense, and will be much denser even by 2020 if some of the current proposals get built.

Posted Tue, Mar 2, 11:43 a.m.

Rail needs to go where the jobs and residents are. Even in 10 or 20 years the center of gravity will be 108th or close to it, and not the freeway. The rail line already has the Bel-Red corridor covered.

Posted Sat, Feb 27, 5:44 p.m.

If you live in an apartment, you're automatically saving land (and potentially horticultural/agricultural land) compared to anyone with a house.

Posted Fri, Feb 26, 8:41 a.m.

The best way to do trains on 520 is to keep the HOV, and add new pontoons for rail. But that's a separate issue.

Posted Thu, Feb 25, 10:33 p.m.

2cents, while vanpools are fine, they aren't as good as you say. They require parking spaces all day. They're restrictive for anyone who can't predict timing each day, which means they're a niche option. And they do little to help concentrate land use. A system based on rail for trunk ...

Posted Thu, Feb 25, 10:44 a.m.

I admire much of the ideas behind McGinn, like more rail to the Eastside, reduced greenhouse emissions, etc. After all, I'm a car-less ecofreak. However, the guy is clueless or a liar regarding issues like which approach will get the bridge done sooner. Maybe he'd have made a better council ...

Posted Wed, Feb 17, 8:20 a.m.

GOP tide? The economy should be a bit better, hopefully tens of millions more people will have access to health care while the great middle will figure out that the talk show hosts got HC wrong... The current bump could be short lived. Particularly since the GOP seems destined to ...

Posted Fri, Feb 5, 8:38 a.m.

I don't see Seattle attempting to grow or raise its profile per se. We want a healthy economy, we want to grow sustainably up/in rather than out, and we want to improve our quality of life. We might even care whether tourists enjoy themselves. Aside from making better decisions on ...

Posted Thu, Feb 4, 11:17 a.m.

OSP could use a lot of big trees for shade and ambiance. It's kind of stark right now. On hot summer days, you see people sitting on the grass....the #1 prime spot seems to be the tiny windows of shade provided by "Eagle". Clinging to shade is a Seattle summertime ...

Posted Thu, Feb 4, 9:20 a.m.

afreeman, I mean that city limits population comparisons aren't very telling either. You can draw city limits anywhere. However if you want to talk density within city limits, Seattle is substantially denser too. Portland has a lot of good small lot SRF areas but not much of Seattle's six-story density. ...

Posted Wed, Feb 3, 10:36 p.m.

dstellwagen, county lines are even less relevant than city limits when you're comparing cities. Suffice to say that the Seattle area is significantly larger than the Portland area, possibly half or two-thirds larger. There are many legitimate ways to attempt a semi-reasonable comparison, such as CSA, UA....

Posted Wed, Feb 3, 2:15 p.m.

I've heard the 25-year figure for any retrofit that isn't really a rebuild. Personally I advocate for a well-designed, reasonably priced, efficient solution...the deep bore. Well designed and efficient because it gets the pass-through traffic out of Downtown's way, while maintaining easy connections for those headed Downtown. Reasonably priced because ...

Posted Wed, Feb 3, 1:01 p.m.

I'd love to have some of those food carts up here. It's a travesty that we don't. Even in the heart of the CBD, there are too few takeout places for lunch. A place might be packed every lunchtime, but to afford rent that's often not enough, so we get ...

Posted Wed, Feb 3, 11:08 a.m.

Why spend that kind on money on a temporary fix?

Posted Wed, Feb 3, 10:49 a.m.

Portland is fantastic in ambiance, walkability, and small coffee shops. I love the trains. However among the Seattle/Vancouver/Portland trio, its transit use is by far the lowest (measured by commute trips), it's by far the least ethnically diverse, and it has very little urban density at its core (though its ...

Posted Tue, Feb 2, 9:14 p.m.

What does GPS have to do with bridge height? But thanks for bringing up another topic: the supports would need to be massive to accommodate the high potential for ship collision. In most bridges in shipping areas this is easy because the water is shallow and they cost-effectively build an ...

Posted Tue, Feb 2, 6:33 p.m.

Or it would be if a bridge over Elliott Bay didn't have several major flaws, such as cost (ever build bridge with legs in deep water?), permanent loss of view, needing to be high enough to allow ferries et al to travel below it, environmental issues with building underwater... Also ...

Posted Tue, Feb 2, 5:30 p.m.

Should have added....I'd like to see a heavy-rail tunnel as well. Here's a wild idea: A deep tunnel under Fourth could stack a light rail level over a heavy rail level. The cost would be in the 10 figures easily in Downtown alone, but it would allow a big increase ...

Posted Tue, Feb 2, 5:16 p.m.

Andy, why would the Deep Bore 99 would make another rail tunnel any more difficult? For part of Pioneer Square it would limit the potential geometries. But for the rest of the waterfront any tunnel would benefit from the viaduct being gone and keeping the wide ROW available as is ...

Posted Sat, Jan 23, 11:21 a.m.

Yes, I've seen that. WSDOT's reasoning makes sense -- they're moving it to 6th to avoid construction conflicts with the existing Aurora. Those would otherwise include logistical challenges for construction that would greatly add to the cost and schedule, as well as much more potential for inconvenience to traffic on ...

Posted Fri, Jan 22, 12:53 p.m.

Harrison & Aurora is about 70' above sea level if I recall. It's an easy grade even for a freeway. Even at 200' it would be very reasonable. I was forgetting the opportunity to divert AW traffic under the viaduct. Still, I'm not buying your plan at all. It's oozing ...

Posted Thu, Jan 21, 11:15 p.m.

By "one to the west" I mean the ferry terminal. They actually have two exits. They could presumably switch to one pretty easily though, and they plan to rebuild the terminal at some point either way.

Posted Thu, Jan 21, 11:13 p.m.

Pike and Union don't intersect Alaskan, except for driveways. Several streets intersect to the east but only one does to the west, and even the east connections won't be terribly worrisome compared to other routes all over town with major streets crossing them. Your cut-n-cover plan is mystifying. For example, ...

Posted Thu, Jan 21, 6:24 p.m.

PS, why did you say 10 years? The viaduct would be down in 5 or 6. It's being temporarily stabilized and managed conservatively in the meantime to avoid risk.

Posted Thu, Jan 21, 6:23 p.m.

Wells, those stoplights can be synchronized easily since few streets cross Alaskan Way. Regarding the c-n-c tunnel idea, the viaduct would have to be gone to make it work, not only due to the width of Alaskan Way but also because they'd need the ROW up the hill to Battery. ...

Posted Thu, Jan 21, 12:10 p.m.

I continue to love the tunnel. Even more now that the budget seems to be affirmed with a lot more design and testing done. Wells, since peak sections of Aurora handle 82,000 vehicles per day (with stoplights), the projected traffic on Alaskan Way doesn't sound like too much. As for ...

Posted Wed, Jan 20, 9 a.m.

Lots of good stuff in the article. But it's important to point out a few things: 1. Those "shrinking" places you're talking about are often growing. You talk about more people moving in than moving out, but you're ignoring natural increase, i.e. births over deaths. If I recall you're also ...

Posted Mon, Jan 18, 5:14 p.m.

We need sidewalks for basic access, not just casual strolling. While a direct route to VSP is important, you'd need a VERY good reason to skip a sidewalk on either side of the new avenue. Thankfully it would be considered heresy among planners and politicians almost as much as it ...

Posted Mon, Jan 18, 11:39 a.m.

The sidewalk should give people a good low-slope route up the hill. That means a sidewalk on both sides at street level. There should definitely be a direct stair to VSP of course. (I'm trying to imagine the justification for cutting pedestrians off on this road...why?) A bike lane should ...

Posted Mon, Jan 18, 8:30 a.m.

The viaduct structure would need massive work to make it stable, provide stairs and elevators for emergency egress and general access, provide fencing so people don't fall off, etc. Further, where would 99 traffic go, since it's currently planned to be in that corridor? Third, since it's probably 20' lower ...

Posted Sat, Jan 16, 4:59 p.m.

It's funny. Many religious people think their ideas should be a focus in the public realm, but they don't think non-belief should get the same treatment, even occasionally. It's a double standard. Not that I want my beliefs (i.e. lack of) to get their own shrine in public parks of ...

Posted Sat, Jan 16, 4:52 p.m.

Of course everyone has that right (aside from conduct issues). You and I are speaking in a similar way about mitigating the effects of the bums. As for the railing, people want to stand there, and will do so even if it means standing on the low planter you describe. ...

Posted Thu, Jan 14, 5:41 p.m.

The railing at Steinbrueck is a prime spot, and should be kept! The lawns are pretty popular in warm weather as well. Overall, for all the complaints about the park, it's used EXTREMELY heavily. Downtown Seattle parks tend to have too many bums, but that's because our lack of park ...

Posted Wed, Jan 13, 3:27 p.m.

To clarify, the levy fixes stuff that has gotten only bandaids in the past 100 years -- seismic, HVAC, ADA, etc. It'll include some renovation type work but that's not the main part. I too hope the character is preserved in the process.

Posted Wed, Jan 13, 12:58 p.m.

While degree holders make more money on average, one factor is often ignored. This is all theory on my part, but it seems obvious that degree holders are, on average, a bit more driven and smarter than the rest of us. (Speaking with two years at SCCC here.) Maybe the ...

Posted Wed, Jan 13, 9:19 a.m.

The Market should have more takeout places and perhaps a few grocery stalls open during the evening, at least until 8:00. If a few sellers banded together, maybe get a few newspaper articles... Personally I walk past the market every night. If it's after banking hours or if I've gone ...

Posted Thu, Jan 7, 11:31 p.m.

Since I work for a contractor that renovates buildings of all ages, your guess is incorrect.

Posted Thu, Jan 7, 6:52 p.m.

Regarding the Market, that was about business leaders going against what turned out to be popular will. The AIA did a poll of popular option a couple years ago. Turns out people like historic brick and terra cotta more than even "trophy" modern such as Mies' most prized Chicago towers ...

Posted Thu, Jan 7, 6:48 p.m.

Those were quality buildings. Maybe I should have said "poorly built midcentury crap". There was a brief moment (40s to 70s maybe, my dates are off) when modern design was generally considered superior to traditional forms. Before that and since, buildings with traditional styles have been more respected.

Posted Thu, Jan 7, 12:57 p.m.

It's depressing to see the preservation movement move toward preserving ugly mid-century crap.

Posted Tue, Jan 5, 5:11 p.m.

Along with people on cellphones, how about dogs on those retractable 12-foot leashes as a sign of sidewalk rudeness? I'll keep my walking coffee though. That, like jaywalking, is a sign of a healthy city.

Posted Mon, Dec 21, 12:51 p.m.

I agree with the "calm down" point. Neighborhoods have ups and downs and Pioneer Square's planet will keep rotating. In fact, if it becomes a cheaper area that's probably good in some ways...like becoming affordable to artists again. That said, it does need an infusion of people. That would tone ...

Posted Fri, Nov 13, 11:13 a.m.

BlueLight, speaking as someone who hated the anarchists in 1999 too, I find your comparison of cop murder to property damage...bizarre. That's a euphamism.

Posted Wed, Nov 4, 9:56 a.m.

Here's one apparent lesson: In a major, closely-watched race, many voters will see through a candidate's attempt to hide being a republican, and/or hide major elements of one's political beliefs.

Posted Tue, Nov 3, 8:57 a.m.

Speaking as a militant bicyclist (and militant pedestrian), it sounds like some of the bicyclists are crybabies on this one. Bicycling is a green way to get around and great recreation. But the race is not "getting around," and while it's great recreation it apparently impacts other people and the ...

Posted Fri, Oct 30, 1:32 p.m.

Quinn, that's a funny misconception you have!

Posted Tue, Oct 27, 12:15 p.m.

Sorry guys -- tunnels, including the types this one represents, and with thousands of miles existing in earthquake zones, have an outstanding record in earthquakes. You're grasping at straws. jmrolls...if you "avoid Downtown", that explains why you want to inflict a new viaduct on us. Several hundred thousand people come ...

Posted Tue, Oct 27, 8:15 a.m.

jmrolls, if you're right about the voters, why is Mallahan polling so much better than McGinn, as McGinn clearly knows based on how he's responding? Less capacity? I believe it's about the same, including a higher capacity Alaskan Way for the local traffic. It's a good balance between capacity and ...

Posted Tue, Oct 27, 8:11 a.m.

Anyone who thinks a majority of people favor their choice is incorrect by a large margin, or that appears certain based on evidence so far. Further, the voters want to move ahead with the deep bore according to the one real survey ever published...even a lot of people who don't ...

Posted Mon, Oct 26, 11:09 p.m.

Earthquakes are a big advantage for the tunnel. Whether Seattle, San Francisco, Kobe, or whatever, viaducts fall over and buildings weaken, but we don't hear anything about tunnels. After Nisqually, did you hear anything about I-90, the deep BNSF tunnel, or the bus tunnel? Me neither.

Posted Mon, Oct 26, 9:10 p.m.

mhmiller: Either highway would have problems, and the tunnel might be easier to protect. If sea level manages to rise a few meters in a few decades, a dike should protect the south portal pretty easily (short distance, highly engineered, no problem). We'd want to do that anyway to protect ...

Posted Mon, Oct 26, 5:09 p.m.

Let's get into that a little more. First, I should have said 4.5 billion. An absurd figure. Second, precedent for that sort of price rise is due to many years of delay, major redesigns, etc. Even that clueless study posted in another recent crosscut article didn't suggest overruns on this ...

Posted Mon, Oct 26, 4:52 p.m.

Since the city of Seattle has 300,000 households, is McGinn REALLY suggesting that the project will go over by five billion dollars?! He's either clueless or a liar.

Posted Wed, Oct 21, 4:50 p.m.

The one realistic tunnel poll I've seen told a clear story...while a minority "supported" the tunnel, a clear plurality supported going forward with it. This reflects some things that have been pretty clear all along, in my opinion: No option will ever be the favorite of a majority. But the ...

Posted Wed, Oct 21, 1:22 p.m.

Seattle Observer, the viaduct wouldn't be shut down during the project, except briefly to complete connections between new and existing. (If every opponent knew this basic fact, this would be a much easier debate!)

Posted Tue, Oct 20, 5:15 p.m.

I misread the dates. However the point is the same...the more recent projects tend to be a lot more accurate in their estimates, and nobody involved with the "study" seems to know much. For example, does the study factor in the cost of delays due to politics or litigation? Do ...

Posted Tue, Oct 20, 8:50 a.m.

Poorly done. Nobody who reads ENR, or even knows what it is, would believe this "study". Chief reason: Every baseline number they used was at least a decade old. Good lord. Many agencies, such as Sound Transit, adopted much better estimating methodology about a decade ago. That's why the post-housecleaning ...

Posted Fri, Oct 2, 12:36 p.m.

I suspect Jacobs would see 99 in a nuanced way. On the plus side for the tunnel, she'd be nervous of the tyranny of a Downtown dominated by through-traffic (including a lot of trucks), with the road widenings and "highwayization" of surface streets that would entail. joshuadf, I disagree about ...

Posted Thu, Oct 1, 6:43 p.m.

I agree on a lot of points. However, many US cities have always had far worse political environments for transit funding as well.

Posted Thu, Oct 1, 3:56 p.m.

lorenbliss, I meant the "many years" to imply that Seattle has always -- not just lately -- been above many US cities in commute transit mode share. I should have been more clear. Among cities among our peers or larger, off the top of my head we're second from last ...

Posted Wed, Sep 30, 4:47 p.m.

lorenbliss, if we're "the most anti-transit city in north america, probably in the world", then why did we built a system that, while bus focused, easily outdraws most of our US peer cities in commute mode share, and has done so for many years? Historical perspective should be informed by ...

Posted Wed, Sep 30, 8:30 a.m.

Seattle gets better every year. I'm a "Swedish Hospital" btw.

Posted Wed, Sep 23, 9:35 a.m.

SF, Boston, NYC?! The three poster children for high demand but not adding supply? Chicago, in contrast, is an example of a supply being allowed to catch up, and prices being dramatically lower than the others. The four pack of $450,000 townhouses helps affordability because it helps us avoid San ...

Posted Tue, Sep 22, 1:28 p.m.

Wells, you make it sound like Aurora itself would have a roundabout. It would not. (In fact, roundabouts don't work at even remotely that sort of volume.) Aurora would function much as it does now. Some drawings have done a poor job of showing what's "tunnel" vs what's "lid".

Posted Tue, Sep 22, 12:37 p.m.

Vince, you're way off on prices for developable land. In Seattle people have the illusion that increasing developable potential (redefining highest and best use) has a straight-line additive effect on prices. But anywhere there's excess room to develop, land values don't rise in similar fashion. To use an extreme, you ...

Posted Tue, Sep 22, 8:54 a.m.

joshuadf, the last rendering I saw of 99 had a full lid between Denny and Harrison. The three new connections would be minor streets. I agree that a bike/pedestrian overpass or two would be fantastic. But even as a long-time advocate of that idea, it's a small fraction of the ...

Posted Mon, Sep 21, 4:32 p.m.

Denny will get much better, because traffic headed for Queen Anne or Magnolia will use Mercer rather than Denny (after Phase II). Speaking as one who jaywalks across Denny frequently (because it has those f*cking pushbuttons). As a pedestrian and bicylist, I despise Mercer, Valley, Denny, and especially the Great ...

Posted Mon, Sep 21, 4:24 p.m.

Vince, your logic on prices doesn't make sense. Prices rise when something is scarce. Seattle's prices are relatively high because we don't have as many units as people want (absent near depressions), and because we have very few properties that can be built upon more densely than they already are. ...

Posted Mon, Sep 21, 8:25 a.m.

I'd allow a hell of a lot more than 100, a pitiful token amount. This metro is growing and we have to accommodate that somehow. It would be nice to use some of the growth to strengthen existing neighborhoods, and do so almost invisibly.

Posted Mon, Sep 21, 8:19 a.m.

MahnaMahna: Of course Portland needs more jobs. But what does that have to do with the topic? Onward... To me, one of Portland's greatest assets is its narrow Downtown streets, and, related to that, its relative lack of through-streets Downtown. That gives it an ambiance and functionality Seattle misses. I ...

Posted Tue, Sep 15, 1:03 p.m.

My preference is dense development, but lining the streets with big trees. And in parks...put more trees in them. We've gotten some new parks recently, but they've been disappointingly lacking in trees and shade. The Seattle Center plan looks suspiciously like a ton of unshaded lawn. That needs to be ...

Posted Tue, Sep 15, 8:54 a.m.

I agree with at least half of this article. It's important to make the suburbs more sustainable too. That means letting them evolve and densify over time. As for Seattle's tree canopy, yes it's important, but I agree with those who favor density within the city limits as a route ...

Posted Tue, Sep 8, 11:21 p.m.

By world standards, pretty much everything in Seattle is low density, and there are some areas of medium density. Paris, for example, is several times the density of Seattle if you're comapring the central municipalities, or similar 83.7 square mile areas if you prefer. Vancouver is dramatically denser regardless of ...

Posted Fri, Aug 28, 8:19 a.m.

Wilderness and farmland are worth saving. That's more important than people's freedom to waste, beyond a reasonable point. Yes growth management is working. It's reducing sprawl in counties where the restrictions are tight. (If it's not working, why are you complaining?)

Posted Thu, Aug 27, 1:19 p.m.

I suspect that assessors, land use code, and the Census Dept. have substantially different systems. Since townhouses come in many forms, there are plenty of places to put a dividing line between single-family and multifamily. For example, apparently when you do an integrated garage at the base of a townhouse ...

Posted Thu, Aug 27, 12:49 p.m.

George, where are you seeing that? Different agencies have different definitions and I'm not finding it on the OFM site. Of course the dividing line is subjective in vernacular use.

Posted Thu, Aug 27, 12:18 p.m.

A lot of people want to live more centrally but don't because the costs per square foot tend to be much higher. Why are they higher...because of the high demand most of all. When people move to the fringes, they often quote cheaper housing as the reason. This doesn't sound ...

Posted Thu, Aug 27, 9:45 a.m.

A few quick points... We should provide more state leadership on growth management, and require counties like Thurston to tighten their boundaries. Even in King Co, growth management took a while to make a difference in actual land use patterns, due to factors such as grandfathering and developers taking a ...

Posted Thu, Aug 27, 9:03 a.m.

Forgot your other paragraph... True, Thurston and Snohomish Counties have drawn their lines way too loosely. King County does much better.

Posted Thu, Aug 27, 9:01 a.m.

Steinbrueck said Belltown was the densest neighborhood in Seattle. An area of Capitol Hill that's geographically larger was dramatically denser in terms of residents in 2000, and apparently in 2008 too. It's pretty simple. If the City decided to merge much of SLU into the Regrade/Belltown planning district, would that ...

Posted Wed, Aug 26, 9:34 p.m.

Regarding the population growth outside the city limits vs. inside certain core cities....that's misleading too. Go to Redmond, Mercer Island, Issaquah, Kent, or any of a long list, and you find most of them are building the same types of density currently going up in Seattle's urban villages: 6-story housing ...

Posted Wed, Aug 26, 9:25 p.m.

(should have said 220 acres, not "the" 220 acres...there are more areas dominated by multifamily.)

Posted Wed, Aug 26, 9:23 p.m.

You're being misleading again Knute. Whether you're talking about neighborhood planning districts or urban villages, the Capitol Hill and U District zones you're talking about include a lot of single-family (CH) and large areas of academia without residents (UD). Meanwhile, Belltown (same zone for both methods) is drawn as a ...

Posted Fri, Aug 21, 8:12 a.m.

jniles, ridership isn't bad even now. However, if it is, three major factors are going to add a lot more riders by the end of this year: 1. My vague understanding is that bus routes will be realigned to meet it (and sometimes require riders to use it in lieu ...

Posted Thu, Aug 20, 9:17 p.m.

To clarify, it would be backwards looking by nature. Maybe there could be a strong forward-looking element, but I suspect it would be limited to the people who already think about the future, like us. The real barriers to getting things done are the Seattle Way, and the related ability ...

Posted Thu, Aug 20, 9:14 p.m.

That would be interesting, but it would be a history event.

Posted Wed, Aug 19, 8:41 a.m.

Great article. I think Seattle is still on a steep upward trajectory. Sure we've lost some things. But to use Sound Transit as an example, we just voted for a massive Phase II, something previous generations never did. Personally I think the city gets noticeably better every year. More like ...

Posted Sat, Aug 15, 10:17 p.m.

Yeah, like the Boeing bust, right? King County went from 1,161,000 residents in 1969 to a low annual figure of 1,145,900 in 1973. That drop of 15,100 sure cleared things out! Surely you know that tranportation infrastructure isn't built for nighttime demand. Traffic might drop in a peak oil scenario. ...

Posted Sat, Aug 15, 10:03 p.m.

Back to growth. Jabailo, you've made a variety of mistakes. Apparently you aren't a demographer or researcher! While you're right that we're about to be (and already are) flush with too much office space, surely you don't think DSA or the Chamber are research sources. They're third hand at best. ...

Posted Sat, Aug 15, 9:25 p.m.

jabailo, I'm confused by your reference to taxes. Not recalling where I said anything about that. When I said I do research professionally, I subjected to criticism. Fair enough. But so far, the only responses have been general, without content. How about someone like you or walker refute something I've ...

Posted Thu, Aug 13, 11:12 p.m.

Of all the additional stuff I want to add to my last post, here's one point: Those municipalities all over the region who want to establish or augment little downtowns, public-private partnerships are generally about jump-starting urban districts that would require a lot of private development as well.

Posted Thu, Aug 13, 11:09 p.m.

Yes, central Redmond is turning into a an actual walkable downtown, similar in scale (though not history obviously) to Downtown Ballard, with quite a bit of six-story mixed use. I'm referring to the older center next to the river. In terms of job growth, I'm not suggesting the suburbs aren't ...

Posted Wed, Aug 12, 4:14 p.m.

Regarding those parking lots in the U-District, the biggest culprit is the business association, whose name I don't recall. They control much of the empty zone north of 45th, and have kept it empty with the idea that it's for customers. Thankfully they have a long-term plan to fill these ...

Posted Wed, Aug 12, 7:35 a.m.

walker, since I do in fact research this stuff professionally and have pretty good information, I have to assume you're not confident, and trying to avoid a substantive discussion.

Posted Wed, Aug 12, 7:30 a.m.

bubbleator, those other types of jobs are relatively concentrated too. Our major shopping malls don't leapfrog out to the hinterlands like they do elsewhere. Our hospitals remain fairly centralized. The two commercial building types that are sprawling heavily are warehouses (which employ very few per square foot) and strip retail. ...

Posted Tue, Aug 11, 11:11 p.m.

San Francisco's freeway was like an "offramp", not a freeway. Portland still has two major north-south freeways. The surface crowd is full of misunderstanding of basics like this.

Posted Tue, Aug 11, 8:45 p.m.

Cameron -- As a growth management liberal...I was born at Swedish. Anyone born outside the 12th / Mercer / Royal Broughham boundaries is a foreigner to me. Since I walk everywhere, don't commit crimes, and do my part to punish cars encroaching into crosswalks, I'm a net "giver" not a ...

Posted Tue, Aug 11, 8:40 p.m.

Jobs on the periphery? How disconnected from reality. The vast majority of office growth in this region is in/around Downtown Seattle, Downtown Bellevue, or central Redmond. We (and I) think of Redmond as being distant suburbia but even it's actually pretty central compared to much of the metro. Overbuilding? True. ...

Posted Tue, Aug 11, 5:47 p.m.

Gordian might have been kidding...but yes, from an environmental perspective (as well as my city-loving perspective) it's good for Seattle to house a higher percentage of the region's population, thereby reducing the impetus behind sprawl (while also controlling sprawl through growth management).

Posted Tue, Aug 11, 3:21 p.m.

PS, the headline might be the biggest problem. What planners are saying we're going to double? This sort of statement doesn't pass the BS detector of anyone who pays attention to demographics.

Posted Tue, Aug 11, 3:20 p.m.

bubbleator, I guess I don't consider candidate statements "serious" projections.

Posted Tue, Aug 11, 3:18 p.m.

Walker, When housing units are built, they'll fill up (if they're in Seattle). It's simply a matter of reducing price until there's a market. Developers are holding out until they have an urgent need for cash-flow -- the high vacancies are mostly the developers who don't have urgency. So yes, ...

Posted Tue, Aug 11, 12:32 p.m.

Wow, lots of misinformation in that article. And lots of what some people want to hear. No serious projection has ever said Seattle would double by 2040. Kent bases much of his thinking on Seattle's growth being slow and staying that way, then he says "Seattle in just 51 months ...

Posted Sat, Aug 8, 5:08 p.m.

walker -- Are you defending the idea that one leading voice is the be all, end all? Or more specifically, are you trying to avoid defending that point?

Posted Fri, Aug 7, 3:36 p.m.

First lesson in economics: There are dozens of PhDs and several experts for every opinion you can think of. The idea that one, even one from Harvard, is proof of anything is BEYOND absurd.

Posted Fri, Aug 7, 1:17 p.m.

With John Fox, it's not enough to share his basic ethics, like social justice, affordability, etc. You have to also share his particular recipe for addressing those ethics, and his level of fervor in putting those particular priorities above all others. Anyone who doesn't is vilified. I bet he'd protest ...

Posted Fri, Aug 7, 8:32 a.m.

Downtown is by far the #1 economic engine of this region, and hundreds of thousands of people come here per day. It can't be written off so easily! PS, should we apply that standard to Montlake? It has a few thousand residents and workers south of the canal vs. HUNDREDS ...

Posted Thu, Aug 6, 3:27 p.m.

PS, the safety issue is legitimate. The viaduct should get additional short-term retrofits so it'll function while the tunnel is built. Imagine that...keeping 99 open while the replacement is built. Wanna guess whether the metro area public likes that idea?

Posted Thu, Aug 6, 3:22 p.m.

Sure Mike, destroy Downtown and the local economy to "save" money. Your article was packed with errors, but we already went over that in the other thread.

Posted Thu, Aug 6, 12:41 p.m.

The deep bore is a big step farther than that -- it lacks the gravitas and mandate of a public vote, but at this point it's the plan going forward, with funding. (Though yes, as with most public projects, funding for any overruns isn't firmed up.) Roads and Transit mixed ...

Posted Thu, Aug 6, 11:25 a.m.

The other options aren't designed either, and would face similar cost risks if they came back. Flyvbjerg's analysis, if I recall, relies on analysis of past projects. It doesn't factor today's improved estimating methods, which, for example, have allowed Sound Transit to much more accurately project costs since their housecleaning ...

Posted Thu, Aug 6, 10:48 a.m.

JoeG, your "facts" have a lot of mistakes and poor context. The 2007 vote was for a cut and cover tunnel with several years of massive disruption, not for this "arthrosopic surgery" solution. Also, it was only Seattle voters, not suburbanites who tend to like freeways more. Seattle has decent ...

Posted Thu, Aug 6, 8:49 a.m.

The tunnel helps the surface streets too...by keeping the through-traffic off them. As for Western and Elliott, Alaskan Way will have a smooth connection to them as shown on the WSDOT site (find the pdf about the Central Waterfront section). Odland makes a good case from a "don't destroy our ...

Posted Tue, Aug 4, 11:05 p.m.

Maybe. But it's debatable. The original tunnel concept involved several years of construction and economic nightmare. The new concept doesn't. People will like that.

Posted Tue, Aug 4, 2:08 p.m.

The plan shows a pretty smooth route along Alaskan Way, including a four-lane street in the 99 ROW up to Elliott/Western (with sidewalks...imagine that!). The whole stretch should synchronize pretty easily -- while pedestrian crossers need to be high on the priority list, there are no cross streets, meaning no ...

Posted Mon, Aug 3, 10:22 p.m.

Freeway access toward Ballard is important, but you're talking about environmental soundness? Mixing and matching a little?

Posted Mon, Aug 3, 7:37 p.m.

Yes, a solution now would be good. A suggestion: Continue with the current plan.

Posted Wed, Jul 29, 4:38 p.m.

According to that post, you're referring to something from December. That's before the tunnel became the main option. The drill rigs along the tunnel route in recent months are an example of what's been happening to hone in on the real cost. There was a rig outside my office for ...

Posted Tue, Jul 28, 2:21 p.m.

Sure, look at page 11. It shows the tunnel from Denny to Harrison (dark brown), topped by a surface road (with an intersection at every block). Then they merge and rise above Mercer. I suspect much of the public doesn't understand this. (combine these into one line) http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/ rdonlyres/3B09C2E6-E16E-414A-AE10- C4FABDC2975E/0/North_Portal_ ...

Posted Tue, Jul 28, 7:30 a.m.

I'm all for alternatives to cars, and hopefully getting people out of cars. And it sounds like we're close to peak oil. However, the idea that driving will be reduced in a substantial way seems unlikely, particularly in a region that is growing and will continue to grow. The 99 ...

Posted Mon, Jul 27, 1 p.m.

bubbleator: Your accusation only makes sense in reverse! I'm talking about less restriction over other people's property. Yes neighbors should have a say. But no, when the chips are down, this city isn't just for existing land owners. We figured that out as a country centuries ago.

Posted Mon, Jul 27, 12:14 p.m.

The deep bore also helps reconnect LQA/Belltown and South Lake Union by extending the tunnel three blocks. That's a pretty big plus, along with the two-way Mercer project. Yes the surface option has tremendous cost risk. The seawall is probably the riskiest element of any of these plans. The surface ...

Posted Mon, Jul 27, 11:15 a.m.

LiviaRyan, do you think the surface or aerial options are immune to overruns? Based on what? In terms of a vote, I doubt any one option would do well right now -- particularly if you factor in the suburban voters who will play a large role on this issue (wanna ...

Posted Mon, Jul 27, 10:17 a.m.

I-90 is still a significantly larger diameter tunnel at 63' -- that's a three-level single tunnel, not including the other tunnels. As for "largest" even within the deep bore type, that's by a small increment, and tunneling is a field where the technology and expertise have grown hugely in the ...

Posted Mon, Jul 27, 8:36 a.m.

O'Brien, if you're running for council, GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT. Largest in diameter ever built? Jesus freaking christ. Right here in Seattle is the I-90 tunnel, which is significantly larger in diameter. If 99 is the "largest," it's so only by a narrow definition specific to a technique or location. ...

Posted Mon, Jul 27, 8:23 a.m.

All that, and all I can see is you don't like change, and want to have control over your neighborhood. The city isn't just yours, or your neighbors'. Other people live here and it would be swell if more people had affordable options. It would also be swell to reduce ...

Posted Wed, Jul 22, 12:18 p.m.

Yeah, let's not fund education either. Until I have kids.

Posted Wed, Jul 22, 9:08 a.m.

One correction for David: Seattle isn't the last big city to add a serious rail system. That would be Detroit. BTW, Seattle's transit usage numbers (commute trips) have been above many of the rail cities, per census.gov numbers dating to both 2000 and the 2005-2007 ACS, regardless of whether you ...

Posted Tue, Jul 21, 9:05 a.m.

I forgot one of the epic "comparison" debates happening now. A couple provincial semi-known cities that aren't sure of themselves yet -- New York and London. Each lays loud claim on being the "financial capital." Actually they each have a high opinion of themselves, and don't like playing second fiddle ...

Posted Mon, Jul 20, 9:02 a.m.

All cities compare themselves. Seattle is pretty typical in this regard. Vancouver slams themselves a remarkable amount. They say "sure we're the garden of eden, but our lack of (X) is a serious problem." Portland's papers seem willing to go to any lengths to avoid talking about Seattle, except to ...

Posted Wed, Jul 15, 1:13 p.m.

This type of list is almost never qualitative. They simply measure statistics in a variety of areas. The criteria vary widely, which is why some lists favor places like Sammamish (buh?) and others places like Vancouver. Of course the closer you look the more BS the lists are, including the ...

Posted Wed, Jul 8, 7:56 p.m.

Forgot to mention... It seems that the MLK move was about "serving the densest routes" over "adding the most riders", with the latter based upon a growth model that would have been problematic in some key ways. I believe the correct alignment decision was made.

Posted Wed, Jul 8, 7:53 p.m.

I bow to your greater knowledge. However, many people have the goals of encouraging densification of urban villages and key corrdors in Seattle, and maintaining industrial uses in much of the SoDO/Dumwamish area (vs. growing urban villages there), and the alignment you're talking about seems to conflict with that. PS, ...

Posted Wed, Jul 8, 10:47 a.m.

Found it. Here are passenger miles in 2006. http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_01_37.html Light rail had 13 fatalities in 1,866,000,000 passenger miles (or 11 fatalities per another table on the same site, but I'll compute based on 13). That's 143,500,000 passenger miles per fatality. I don't see a breakout of whether the 11/13 are ...

Posted Wed, Jul 8, 10:06 a.m.

jniles, there were 11 fatalaties due to light rail in the US in 2006, and 37 for all forms of rail transit. Compare that to 41,000 deaths per year due to car/truck accidents. Which should we worry more about? http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/2008/html/table_02_32.html Light rail's accident stats are so low that its ratio ...

Posted Wed, Jul 8, 9:40 a.m.

Art, whatever the "real" proposed route was, a First/Marginal route would have serious ridership issues, because while heavier on jobs it wouldn't have been close to residents. Further, because much of the route will always be commercial (and not dense commercial), it wouldn't have supported densification of station areas. If ...

Posted Tue, Jun 30, 5:33 p.m.

I'm not a planner, but I have a different take on how they see their job. It's more about "how can we accommodate growth while maintaining quality of life, the environment, and the municipal budget." There's a big difference between growing our transportation system by focusing on under-served modes, vs. ...

Posted Tue, Jun 30, 11:53 a.m.

Belltown is nowhere near the densest in the state. Capitol Hill and the U District had easily the densest census tracts in 2000, and even the densest tracts in Belltown haven't caught up yet. (If you count commercial land use, then the CBD obviously becomes the densest.) Steinbrueck was very ...

Posted Mon, Jun 29, 5:13 p.m.

Undoubtedly many of the public consider themselves patriots...but think of their own wallets first when it comes to taxes. It's sad that much of the public acts in their personal self-interest, rather than "what's good for all of us in the state."

Posted Fri, Jun 26, 11:55 a.m.

Rail's effect in 2010 is half the story. The bigger story is its effect in 2060. We should have several lines decades before then (including some not yet officially planned), and the city will have grown around them. Just like in Boston or Chicago today, these lines will have transitioned ...

Posted Fri, Jun 26, 10:20 a.m.

It's true that buses are an essential component. They provide the sort of door-to-door service for the masses that rail can't provide. And yes, Seattle does much better than Portland in terms of commuter mode share, due to the benefits of buses as well as our higher densities and more ...

Posted Thu, Jun 25, 8:43 p.m.

You are attempting to draw parallels with our system, but there aren't many. For starters, Seattle is vastly more transit dependent, both in current ridership and in how we'll handle growth. Second, transit is vastly more popular here. Third is the federal money issue. Fourth, once ST overcame its bad ...

Posted Wed, Jun 24, 10:52 a.m.

bubbleator, the Comp Plan of the early 1990s was a 20-year plan if I recall. It wasn't intended to be forever. Further, a large percentage of our four-packs are going into the urban village areas defined by the Comp Plan. These don't go into pure-SFR areas.

Posted Tue, Jun 23, 5:19 p.m.

I agree Jerry. But even bad density typically has some positive outcomes. It uses less land. Even if the residents drive, in theory they're not driving as far. It's probably ok to generalize that even the most driveway-dominated six pack produces some pedestrians who occasionally walk to neighborhood businesses, or ...

Posted Tue, Jun 23, 12:01 p.m.

Basically, some people think having a house means the city shouldn't accommodate others, or should do so by sprawling. Single-family neighborhoods aren't museums. They need to help us accommodate our inevitable growth, even while we protect their character to a point. Personally I think townhouses (on arterials, near commercial streets, ...

Posted Mon, Jun 22, 8:32 p.m.

Price was pretty clear that Steinbrueck was mistaken. I'm apparently getting some of the specifics wrong. If you're talking about the Downtown Peninsula, where I vaguely recall something like 22,000 units (or 30,000?) is the TOTAL increase in the last decade (an incredible number), it sounds implausible that 22,000 were ...

Posted Mon, Jun 22, 12:13 p.m.

TomL, thanks for being here...what would we do without the only smart person in the world telling the rest of us how stupid we are? If you have a newsletter, please sign me up!

Posted Mon, Jun 22, 12:07 p.m.

The event was specifically about the physical urban form, and not about human services or culture. The built form is massively important to every aspect of environmental protection, from using less land to using less energy. It's a big factor in the economic and funcational viability of a city. Along ...

Posted Fri, Jun 19, 2:28 p.m.

SAT scores and income levels show clear correlation to presidential votes at the per-state level.

Posted Thu, Jun 18, 11:58 a.m.

The Minuteman "mission statement" might be reasonable (though I don't agree with it), but there's no doubt that it draws a lot of xenophobes and racists.

Posted Thu, Jun 18, 8:52 a.m.

Mikos -- Who said she doesn't live here? As for marginalizing her, that's the opposite of what I want. I'd love for her to do well in the primary and do a Craswell in the general.

Posted Thu, Jun 18, 8:49 a.m.

Virtually everyone is a transplant? I think it's more like half. Personally I was born here.

Posted Wed, Jun 17, 7:55 p.m.

Create real estate? The public right of way remains public by and large. If you mean "create public open space" you'd be correct. I suppose a spot or two around Lenora and Western might be usable by something else...a park perhaps? Otherwise, the area along Alaskan Way is slated for ...

Posted Wed, Jun 17, 7:41 p.m.

smacgry, it depends what you mean by "woonerf." If you mean a place without sidewalks where pedestrians and a large volume of cars basically mingle together, a woonerf is a horrible idea for pedestrians. If sidewalks are still there, then great.

Posted Wed, Jun 17, 4:38 p.m.

It's not the "largest deep bore tunnel project in the world." Not even close. Perhaps you're thinking of diameter rather than overall magnitude. Even then, the I-90 tunnel is 63' in diameter, at least according to wikipedia. That's substantially more than 99 would be.

Posted Wed, Jun 17, 3:36 p.m.

I've never pasted an article before, and probably never will again, particularly if it's from the Daily Journal of Commerce where I'm a "Seattlescape" blogger. But here's a 2006 DJC article that conflicts with the jmrolls post: December 6, 2006 WSDOT pans plan to retrofit viaduct By JOHN C. RYAN ...

Posted Wed, Jun 17, 3:23 p.m.

Woonerfs only work when cars are few and slow (emphasis on slow), and lots of people walk. Otherwise they become like any other driveway, road, or parking lot.

Posted Wed, Jun 17, 3:16 p.m.

Elizabeth sounds like quite the candidate....for suburban Dallas.

Posted Wed, Jun 17, 9:45 a.m.

Benjamincm, I share your dreams about fewer cars and less driving in the future. However, realistic projections for reductions in per-capita driving tend to be pretty low even in a peak-oil scenario...and this region is still growing about 1% or 1.5% per year, offsetting those reductions. If anything, driving miles ...

Posted Wed, Jun 17, 9:34 a.m.

It's encouraging that the last two Sound Transit tunnel bids came in 1/4 below estimates, both this year. That's roughly in line with bids on other projects such as schools right now. It's not evidence of what the 99 tunnel bids will be in a couple years...but it is evidence ...

Posted Wed, Jun 17, 8:36 a.m.

Speaking as a "green" who doesn't have a license, let alone a car, the surface option doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Naive ideas about cars mysteriously going away (as if the driving public wouldn't get major concessions), ignoring the new viaduct up to the existing tunnel (yes, a viaduct), and ...

Posted Wed, Jun 17, 7:25 a.m.

Good ideas. I'd love neighborhoods at that scale. Parking below-ground of course, and in limited quantities... Funny how fire truck access requirements contribute to the wide streets that make suburbia less safe for kids, and the perimeter driveways around many other buildings that mean you have to cross a driveway ...

Posted Tue, Jun 16, 8:46 a.m.

Yeah, right. Not many racists among Minutemen. Not many xenophobes. And they're around to protect the people crossing the border. Riiiiight.

Posted Mon, Jun 15, 8:46 a.m.

That's about half of Aurora's peak traffic around Shoreline, which is similar width though fewer lights.

Posted Sat, Jun 13, 3:58 p.m.

LA is actually pretty dense by US standards (though not in a way that makes it walkable or transit friendly). Not just the city of LA, but most of its suburbs, which tend to be the "small lot" variety. By contrast, New York's suburbs start dense close-in, but 20, 50, ...

Posted Thu, Jun 11, 9:12 a.m.

I like a lot about Bellevue, meaning the dense and diverse parts. Of course I bike there. As for dogs, any leash over 6' is a "finish line" primed to run through.

Posted Fri, Jun 5, 10:50 a.m.

Oddly enough, doctors and scientists are a special niche for Seattle tourism, because they're a special niche for our convention industry. (Because unlike some professions they have lots of events that fit our small center, they can afford our hotel rates, and they turn out in higher numbers for conventions ...

Posted Fri, Jun 5, 8:50 a.m.

The event itself should be seen more as a way to advance thought, get brains together, raise funds, etc. It should be seen less as economic development or branding. That stuff will be a side effect if the real purposes are served. Further, visiting participants will come only if they ...

Posted Wed, Jun 3, 11:49 a.m.

I'd say the "faddish" land use notion is how we did it from the 40s to the 90s (and still do it today to a lesser extent), with low densities and separation of uses. For most of history we built compact, walkable neighborhoods with residential and commercial uses in close ...

Posted Tue, Jun 2, 8:50 a.m.

I agree with much of this article. There's much to love about Toronto. Toronto's success isn't just size, but density. It grew in a denser format originally, and it's gotten a lot of infill, much of it far denser than Seattle would ever allow. Contrary to what others say, infill ...

Posted Thu, May 28, 5:26 p.m.

Rob K, slamming Portland has been a special passion of Wendell for many years. I'm still flabbergasted that this whole article and thread has happened. Next, maybe Mossback will run Rush Limbaugh's opinion that Democrats don't love America.

Posted Thu, May 28, 8:39 a.m.

In other words, I'm agreeing that much of our suburbia is becoming part of the "real city".

Posted Thu, May 28, 8:36 a.m.

Centralized density alone doesn't stop sprawl. There will always be someone who wants to pave paradise. To slow sprawl, you have to...directly zone against sprawl. We've done that through growth management. Actually we've done it half-assed, with King County drawing its lines much more tightly than other counties, meaning the ...

Posted Wed, May 27, 12:46 p.m.

PS, here's Wendell Cox's basic mission statement from his demographia website: "Demographia is 'pro-choice' with respect to urban development. People should have the freedom to live and work where and how they like." The website itself is an encyclopedic diatribe against smart growth, density, trains, etc. Those serious about urban ...

Posted Wed, May 27, 9:15 a.m.

PS, his MO is to selectively pick and choose factioids that match his opinions. He succeeds because too many editors and columnists take his blather as "studies" rather than thinly-disguised propaganda, particularly when said columnists really want to believe him.

Posted Wed, May 27, 9:11 a.m.

Wendell Cox is the mouthpiece of the suburban sprawl industry. Good lord.

Posted Fri, May 22, 11:49 a.m.

PS, I think a gas tax increase is far better than a toll, even if it's more difficult politically. Gas taxes are vastly easier to enforce, because you're doing so at gas stations and not millions of times per day. Cheaters (thieves) can mess with transponders, and much as people ...

Posted Fri, May 22, 11:47 a.m.

To some extent, road problems solve themselves. If traffic jams, people find other ways. Proximity is a huge one. That can require spending more (which tends to be offset by lower transportation costs) or accepting less square footage, but it's a viable alternative. People survived, somehow, before 2,500 sf houses ...

Posted Fri, May 15, 3:29 p.m.

Great candidates tend to pop up when talented, knowledgable people see a compelling need or opportunity. In this case, the complaints against the incumbent tend toward the questionably-reasoned (anti-tunnel), populist (blaming it all on business), or borderline irrelevant (snow removal). The mayor is doing pretty well in the big stuff, ...

Posted Fri, May 15, 8:44 a.m.

The Moses Lake airport was studied to appease local legislators, not because it was a logical idea. It has a long list of fatal flaws, starting with "why would anyone use it" and "why would any airline provide service". People would have to commute to the rail station (like going ...

Posted Wed, May 13, 1:01 p.m.

Unfortunately, the obvious is rarely the full picture. Since Vancouver is closer, it would stand to reason that a larger percentage of its traffic is by car rather than plane. As for people going from, say, Olympia to Bellingham or Everett to Vancouver...those are market dominated by driving, where rail ...

Posted Tue, May 12, 9:57 p.m.

In Seattle, we view Spokane as a close cousin. But from my perspective, we view Portland as a sibling and Vancouver as a half-sibling. I'd peg business travel to Vancouver as well above business travel to Spokane.

Posted Tue, May 12, 9:52 p.m.

I'd focus on solving transportation problems. That means focusing on numbers, which means Vancouver.

Posted Tue, May 12, 12:39 p.m.

That's counter to every theory I've heard. Better train service to Spokane would be great, but the potential is much less than Vancouver. You're talking a much larger distance, with a fraction of the population, not only between the two cities, but with other cities along the way. Spokane probably ...

Posted Tue, May 12, 9:31 a.m.

There's a third group that's somewhat in tune with the Cascadia concept but is solidly* behind high speed rail: city people. High speed rail would be a big boost in how our cities function, and enable the sorts of lives many city people prefer, with good transit options. (* This ...

Posted Mon, May 4, 8:32 p.m.

Since that'll be attacked soon, let me point out that I believe a city also needs better-paying blue collar industry, which is a Victoria weakness.

Posted Mon, May 4, 8:30 p.m.

Victoria's waterfront has narrow streets, well-kept greenery, a nice geographic setting, and probably our region's best collection of architecture viewable from one spot in the Empress, Parliament, etc. It's nirvana, or the small city version.

Posted Mon, May 4, 9:14 a.m.

Mud Baby, the cruise ship move from Pier 18(?) to Pier 91 can be debated as to its merits, but it's certainly planned in great detail and not "willy nilly". Long story short, the Pier 18 site came into demand as a container shipping terminal, which the Port considers a ...

Posted Sun, May 3, 5:34 p.m.

I know something of the CRA issue, though not a ton. I liked some of its goals but it was too heavy handed with eminent domain, etc. PS, yes I do know a few things about SE Seattle. Either way, nothing I said was wrong. If you want so slam ...

Posted Sun, May 3, 12:19 p.m.

Mud Baby, you do know the Port's offices are at the renovated pier 69, not pier 66? Pier 66 has the conference center, the cruise terminal, and a museum that didn't make it and is now being marketed as event space. Regarding cruise ships, what a huge success that's been. ...

Posted Sat, May 2, 3:50 p.m.

Has anyone in decades talked about 60s-style urban renewal? No. Discussions these days, even top-down ones and even ones about more intense neighborhood transformation, tend to be about infill within the existing. As for parks, what's the harm in planning for when the viaduct goes down in 2015 or whatever? ...

Posted Fri, May 1, 3:29 p.m.

Although you make good points about jobs, little of what you wrote has anything to do with what Bozeman said. The Central Waterfront doesn't have industry. You're thinking south of that. As for truck traffic, that's covered by the 99 solution, despite what you hear on talk radio. He didn't ...

Posted Mon, Apr 27, 10:46 a.m.

On the positive side, it's a great idea for a metro to grow by backfilling (and simply remaining in) its central areas. And, once decline has happened, it's a great idea to turn the farthest-gone neighborhoods into parks, farms, or wildlands, turning blight into assets while theoretically saving public dollars ...

Posted Mon, Apr 27, 8:28 a.m.

At first skim, your article is flawed. The biggest: Those "shrinking" US cities generally have not been shrinking, but sprawling. Inner areas have hollowed while the overall metro populations have in most cases grown.

Posted Fri, Apr 24, 8:36 a.m.

Do you REALLY think the tunnel is about "cosmetics"? It's about allowing Downtown Seattle to function better as our region's dominant center and economic engine, and it's about quality of life for the hundreds of thousands who are here every day. It's even about a place millions of us will ...

Posted Fri, Apr 3, 8:30 a.m.

Housepets certainly cause a lot of environmental problems. It's good to point that out. A lot of "environmentalists" drive to the mountains every weekend, have big houses, and use massive amounts of resources. It's pure hypocrisy. I'm not calling for any huge measures to address this. Just calling it.

Posted Fri, Mar 27, 8:16 a.m.

Hilarious!

Posted Thu, Mar 26, 1:37 p.m.

If it's ok to throw off partisanship for a second... Perhaps there are other factors such as Thurston County's lax growth management regs which have caused it to sprawl more than other counties, or the increase in force levels at Fort Lewis, which tend to cause nearby areas to jump ...

Posted Thu, Mar 26, 9:11 a.m.

It would be helpful to clarify what type of "region" they're talking about. I believe the Seattle numbers encompass King/Pierce/Snohomish. Another alternative would be the larger Census metro definition that also includes Island, Kitsap, Thurston, and Mason, if I'm getting that right. Still another would be "urban area," based on ...

Posted Wed, Mar 18, 1:15 p.m.

Edit: More accurately, the negative opinions of the various camps are reduced by this option compared to other options (not including the idiot "view while driving" people, who should watch the road). The main legitimate groups would be the "highway capacity" group that gets their through road, the "improve Downtown" ...

Posted Wed, Mar 18, 1:02 p.m.

Are you really speaking against spin while claiming that the "replacement" alternative is preferred by voters? My impression is that the public likes the idea of the deep bore tunnel. Each person's opinions has multiple facets, but the current proposal seems to be either favorable or a good compromise for ...

Posted Wed, Mar 18, 10:11 a.m.

I forgot my main point. The question of whether to add trolleys is a separate issue from whether to get 99 out of the way. Personally I support an in-city bus levy. Let's subsidize Metro like the state subsidizes Amtrak.

Posted Wed, Mar 18, 10:10 a.m.

We should definitely add buses, and trolley buses are a fine idea as long as the "stacking" and "derailing" problems are addressed. But the deep bore tunnel is important. It makes our streets work. With the surface 99 option, our streets would be devoted much more to through-traffic, which, together ...

Posted Tue, Mar 3, 9:42 a.m.

Transit is more effective when the jobs are concentrated in Downtown and a few other centers, so each center can have a "spoke" system leading to TODs. TODs should have neighborhood-oriented retail, and it's great if they have some other jobs, but a TOD can be successful without a big ...

Posted Mon, Mar 2, 8:27 a.m.

You're absolutely right that "more buses" is part of the solution. A few tens of millions per year would do wonders. Maybe something in the order of 1/2 or 2/3 the size of the SPS M&O; levy. I don't know the first costs or operation costs of trolleys vs. the ...

Posted Thu, Feb 26, 1:02 p.m.

The article is about the past, and the headline suggests it's about the future. The funny thing is if the stock was priced higher right now, a lot of people would say "ooh, high-performing, I'll buy some." They look for bargains on toothpaste but they prefer to buy stock only ...

Posted Wed, Feb 25, 2:01 p.m.

I agree that price and land availability will be a factor in keeping the Seattle area's growth moderate. But there are factors working the opposite way, such as the airline industry dropping many small metros from service, tightening of the resource economy that's sustained many small metros, and possibly oil ...

Posted Wed, Feb 25, 1:57 p.m.

Crosscut said "Our population has quadrupled since 1950." That's incorrect. At best, they could have worded it differently so the statement would be correct, like "Our urban area population has quadrupled." Of course, that would require people to understand the term "urban area" in its formal meaning, including the density ...

Posted Tue, Feb 24, 12:39 p.m.

The "quadrupled since 1950" statement sounded wrong, and it is. The King/Pierce/Snohomish/Kitsap area had 1,196,172 people in 1950, and about 3,633,000 in 2008 (triple). Add Island, Thurston, and Skagit and we grew from 1,295,408 to about 4,074,000 (a little over triple). King County grew from 732,992 to 1,884,000 (not even ...

Posted Tue, Feb 24, 12:13 p.m.

Density is also about fiscal and broader-environemental prudence as well as economic sustainability. Environmental prudence includes not destroying ecosystems (via sprawl, runoff, etc.), local air quality, and all sorts of things beyond global warming. Fiscal prudence means using the existing infrastructure with reasonable additions (like rail) rather than building everything ...

Posted Tue, Feb 24, 9:26 a.m.

PS, the buildings pictured, one of which I used to live in, are roughly 300 units per acre. PS, that's pretty funny about our "redneck logger" not being man enough to travel through Seattle without a gun.

Posted Tue, Feb 24, 9:17 a.m.

Belltown isn't perfect, but the categorization is comical, speaking as a resident who's been walking through the area at night frequently for many years. A grownup doesn't need to fear walking down the street at night, and I see puke maybe once a month. I don't belong to the groups ...

Posted Mon, Feb 23, 2:49 p.m.

Related to that, the serious growth management has to be over a broad area, not one county being tough and the next being wimpy, as we have around here. Sprawl just goes to the wimpy areas and you get more supercommuters.

Posted Mon, Feb 23, 2:47 p.m.

Absolutely right about stopping sprawl. Sprawl is likely anywhere it's allowed and people want to live or locate a business, period. Even US metros that are declining in population have sprawl. The solution is serious growth management, i.e. not allowing sprawl.

Posted Mon, Feb 23, 2:20 p.m.

If you want my bio you can find it at Seattlescape along with various blog entries about urban issues. Just a proposal writer. As for townhouses, I'll take the craftsman style anyday. Do you have any points, or just off-topic attacks?

Posted Mon, Feb 23, 12:47 p.m.

Food certainty is definitely crucial, particularly as transporation gets more expensive and populations in some countries become even more out of balance with their ability to produce. This is one of the major reasons we should be working harder to reduce sprawl. PS, another qualm with the article: Infill policies ...

Posted Mon, Feb 23, 10:42 a.m.

I'm happy about "in/up" growth within reason, and not happy about "out" growth, within reason. This article is typical Mossback. There are some good points, but there's also a lot of debatable opinion stated as fact, like the idea that density and growth equal higher cost. In truth, when you ...

Posted Sat, Feb 21, 3:03 p.m.

The difference is the GMA is generally smart policy, and this new plan is well-intentioned but has serious flaws.

Posted Fri, Feb 20, 9:57 p.m.

Inclusionary zoning pisses me off. It's essentially a big new fee that adds cost to every development. Some units get subsidized, and everything else is substantially more expensive. Meanwhile, the added cost and regs are a disincentive to build anything. So you get less development than you would otherwise. This ...

Posted Tue, Feb 17, 3:26 p.m.

Regions that can grow or fish their own food will have an advantage. Regions than can bring in food through efficient tranport (ships) will have an advantage. The former is another good reason to slow sprawl. Let's keep our river valleys in Western Wash, as well as the Yakima Valley ...

Posted Mon, Feb 16, 12:42 p.m.

In other words, turn Downtown streets into highways, making Downtown far less pedestrian-friendly and far more dangerous. To address a misconception often heard, the deep bore tunnel gives the same through-capacity to Aurora as the current tunnel, plus some because it has a breakdown lane. It doesn't need to be ...

Posted Fri, Feb 13, 6:17 p.m.

It's true that most of the growth has been suburban and continues to be suburban. After all, that's where most of the easy sites have been. But what is sometimes called suburbia is in some cases turning into real city. The line between city and suburb is fuzzy and certainly ...

Posted Wed, Feb 4, 3:58 p.m.

Sorry, I must have hit the wrong button...1 "Excuse me? No other city on this entire planet obsesses with its rankings on meaningless lists, and whether or not it is perceived as a world-class city (whatever the hell that means) than Seattle. You must not know what the local media ...

Posted Wed, Feb 4, 3:55 p.m.

"Excuse me? No other city on this entire planet obsesses with its rankings on meaningless lists, and whether or not it is perceived as a world-class city (whatever the hell that means) than Seattle. You must not know what the local media print and broadcast..." I read Sure I do. ...

Posted Wed, Feb 4, 9:03 a.m.

I disagree with a lot in this article. We borrow ideas heavily from Vancouver, Portland, and San Francisco, among others. We compare ourselves frequently to each of these cities as well. Seattle seems moderate in how much we care what others think. Denver is an example of a city more ...

Posted Tue, Feb 3, 9:37 a.m.

LRT?, I'll let someone else check your numbers. But: 1. At best they only include public cost, not private cost, such as (a) the astonishing percentage of personal income most drivers spend owning and using their cars, or (b) the huge additional cost of high amounts of parking for all ...

Posted Mon, Feb 2, 5:41 p.m.

Chris, a survey about what people want has little to do with what they'll vote to tax themselves for. It also doesn't suggest that they've thought through the implications of their wants. jniles, one great thing about light rail is that you can expand capacity on an existing line relatively ...

Posted Mon, Feb 2, 8:52 a.m.

More.... As R says, rush hour is really when the case can be made for capacity. But work-home trips are easiest to serve with transit, and can also be addressed with location decisions (unlike trips to visit friends, vacations, etc.). We can ease the pressure by continuing to add transit, ...

Posted Mon, Feb 2, 8:47 a.m.

I doubt a "capacity" series of megaprojects has the votes. We greens would join the anti-tax crowd, nimbys, and a subset of transportation experts who say new capacity ends up jamming up pretty soon anyway. That's quite a coalition, and the slogans write themselves. Our current capacity might not be ...

Posted Thu, Jan 22, 8:24 a.m.

True, that is refreshing!

Posted Sat, Jan 17, 4:33 p.m.

To suggest that the two-option vote has anything to do with this one is a misread at best. Voters said no to two options that would have involved massive construction mess and disruption for many years. Put either against the quick, low-disruption plan we have today, and that's why the ...

Posted Fri, Jan 16, 9:36 a.m.

I'd suggest two cable cars: 1. Extend the planned LQA route up Queen Anne Ave. It could be a streetcar, but attach to a cable system for the hill. Obviously it would need a long series of braking redundancies. 2. Madison from waterfront (near ferry terminal) to Swedish or Seattle ...

Posted Wed, Dec 31, 2:26 p.m.

More on that: For any aerial structure, it's essential to have enough room around it that the structure can be monitored, repaired, or overhauled down the line. The Chopp alternative would make this work very expensive at best (for example if large gaps were provided), and basically impossible at worst. ...

Posted Wed, Dec 31, 2:07 p.m.

I hold out hope for the deep-bore tunnel. In addition to every reason we've discussed already, it has the added value of avoiding a future re-do of the Battery Street Tunnel, which is below-standard. The surface option is scariest. Likely concessions to the traffic-flow crowd would turn city streets into ...

Posted Tue, Dec 30, 1:53 p.m.

We should all thank carpool lanes for helping make the freeways more efficient. Licensed drivers is the wrong cutoff. We shouldn't disincentivize non-drivers. Also, not that it matters, but some of us non-drivers pay more in taxes than the average driver anyway. I'd be ok with not including kids, because ...

Posted Tue, Dec 30, 11:33 a.m.

This idea is DOA. It doesn't encourage fuel efficiency, and it leaves too much opportunity for fraud -- people disabling their transponders. Plus the privacy issue. If gas tax revenues are falling due to efficiency, raise the per-gallon rate.

Posted Mon, Dec 29, 11:36 a.m.

I agree with Michael. What's trivial is HARPING on the City's attempts to address real issues.

Posted Wed, Dec 24, 10:53 a.m.

People can slow their lives down, and there can be a movement of these people. But a city has no good options for slowing down. The main options are: (1) becoming an undesirable place to live, and (2) limiting growth. Locals benefit from neither on average. Even the second option ...

Posted Tue, Dec 16, 11:10 a.m.

I'm a big supporter of Sound Transit. But the only parts that are shovel-ready are already happening or about to happen. ST2 needs years of study and design before it breaks ground. I'm not sure if that's what you meant. But this country is full of people who think a ...

Posted Tue, Dec 16, 9:07 a.m.

It's worth noting that Sound Transit has had much more budget success in the past several years. They made their errors, then they had a shakeup and adopted new estimating practices, and now they're pretty damn good.

Posted Wed, Dec 3, 8:33 a.m.

You're using total vote counts as the evidence for a lack of new voters? I suspect turnout was low among some past voters, such as disaffected republicans. That would leave room for lots of new voters without a big increase in votes.

Posted Tue, Dec 2, 12:50 p.m.

Christmas is fine with me because it's also a non-religious holiday, and a lot of fun. The right wing is shooting themselves in the foot too -- by insisting on public displays connecting christmas to religion. Their overreaching is fuel for the backlash.

Posted Tue, Nov 18, 6:13 p.m.

A building torn down in Buffalo is generally replaced by something less dense than what was there (frequently a vacant lot goes in). In Seattle it would generally be something more dense than what was there before. In other words, it's a completely opposite story in some key ways. --the ...

Posted Thu, Oct 9, 8:35 a.m.

_: I agree with some of what you said. Some comments: We need street food vendors! Sidewalk cafes are good, but we need to protect walkability too. Some restaurants edge their fences way out, and then stick sandwich boards in the four or five feet remaining. Particularly on busy CBD ...

Posted Mon, Oct 6, 8:47 a.m.

true?: If he has PTSD, or enough symptoms to raise the question, we need to know. Obviously Obama and his surrogates can't ask the question, and much of the media wouldn't either. Good article.

Posted Mon, Sep 22, 2:34 p.m.

_: As a construction guy, I find it amazing that Rossi (who should know better) puts wildly irresponsible cost estimates out there regarding his freeway ideas. The guy is in the pocket of the sprawl industry.

Posted Fri, Sep 19, 5:01 p.m.

RE: GOOD OLD DAYS: I agree with much of what you said. But as a demographics nerd, I have to point out that the "denser, less suburban" point depends on what you mean. We sprawled outward horrifically in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, slowing down fairly recently. But if you ...

Posted Fri, Sep 19, 4:48 p.m.

RE: -: To me, wide streets are car-dominated, unsafe to cross, and generally inhospitable. Most of my favorite places have narrow, even tiny streets, whether they're arterials like 5th through the retail district, or the windy lanes of an Aegean hill town. For me it's similar to how some people ...

Posted Fri, Sep 19, 8:49 a.m.

-: Wide roads are a good thing? Seattle in the 70s was full of parking lots, nowhere near as diverse culturally as it is now, and nowhere near the scale I prefer. Living an urban lifestyle in Greater Downtown was cheaper, but nowhere near as hospitable. Of course I'm one ...

Posted Wed, Sep 17, 12:41 p.m.

actual best site: It's odd that they're not considering another lid over I-5 from Pike to Pine. That's the only option for expanding the existing center without covering more streets (for example if they tried a skybridge complex to skake over to Convention Place Station). An I-5 location would allow ...

Posted Wed, Sep 17, 9:29 a.m.

_: A distant second convention center would mean two underused centers, neither of which would support their neighboring hotels, restaurants, etc., anywhere near as well as a single enlarged center, or two next to each other. The Seattle Center is theoretically an ok site, because it has some hotels already ...

Posted Fri, Sep 12, 3:40 p.m.

RE: All Wrong: People have been saying that for decades, and we've had, if I recall, exactly one year in modern history when our metro population didn't grow, nearly 40 years ago when the SST collapsed. Seattle remains moderately priced for a coastal city, we have our most diversified economy ...

Posted Thu, Sep 11, 12:33 p.m.

RE: Transparency before density: I'm sure a lot of people do as you say, but in fact you'd also find a large number of developers and architects living in Downtown Seattle, many times what the odds might suggest.

Posted Fri, Sep 5, 11:18 a.m.

couple thoughts: First, housekeeping: The square footages in the article are simply the exhibition space, i.e. the large-span space that can handle trucks, has plenty of hookups for booths, has high ceilings, etc. Most of the convention center is other uses, such as meeting rooms, lobbies, halls, back-of-house, and parking. ...

Posted Fri, Aug 29, 5:33 p.m.

RE: _: At this point all we have are "spun" versions. That's why the investigation is ongoing, and that's why I said "potential". Either way, she used her power to attempt to override the typical authority which sounds questionable.

Posted Fri, Aug 29, 4:22 p.m.

RE: Van Dyk P.S.: Bush and Cheney were knowledgeable on energy issues too. They're all for the oil industry.

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

_: Both McCain and Palin have ethics scandals to worry about. Palin's firing scandal is a window into her maturity level. McCain's major scandal is well-known decades after the fact, and he hasn't paid for it yet the way he soon will. Palin will attract some people, but her right-wing ...

Posted Mon, Aug 18, 7:37 p.m.

RE: People Don't Respond Like They Should: (I was responding to g. jiggy)

Posted Mon, Aug 18, 7:36 p.m.

RE: People Don't Respond Like They Should: That's hilarious. Obviously I didn't say most of that. Little dogs are fine. People who let them bark around other people are jerks. Not sure where that cement highrise thing came from. I'm in favor of density in terms of what gets built, ...

Posted Mon, Aug 18, 5:46 p.m.

RE: You are missing one big issue: We have too many assholes in the US who think it's ok for their car to beep every time they park, or stick barky little drop-kick dogs on their patios, and to have harleys and loud stereos. American me-firstism might work in wide-open ...

Posted Mon, Aug 18, 9:31 a.m.

photo: PS: As with every Bellevue story in Crosscut, once again I'll ask why an ancient photo is used. Doesn't somebody have a camera!?

Posted Mon, Aug 18, 9:30 a.m.

agreeing with something: Much of Seattle's "suburbs" is becoming a lot more liveable outside of the drive-everywhere lifestyle. That's because much of suburbia is densifying, putting housing near shops and employment, getting better transit, adding bike routes, adding sidewalks, and generally becoming more urban. I'm a big fan of the ...

Posted Fri, Aug 15, 9:20 a.m.

true: I've noticed the same thing anecdotally. For example, I've been up the Space Needle dozens of times, and every single visit is amidst a variety of languages, generally a mix of Asian and European. This seems to have become more pronounced over the years. Seattle is becoming more of ...

Posted Sat, Aug 9, 9:20 p.m.

RE: Old economy companies: Maybe I'm seeing things. I thought your post had called environmentalists whackos. If it never did, I apologize. If it did and got changed, then I'll stay with what I said.

Posted Fri, Aug 8, 11:54 a.m.

RE: Old economy companies: Replanted as farms, not as forests. If that's what you want, perhaps you're the whacko.

Posted Fri, Aug 1, 10:30 a.m.

you could argue the opposite: Sure these things have many unintended effects. The bag tax probably has some positive ones too. Maybe people will buy a little less stuff. I'm no retail psychologist, but people will certainly think "I only brought one bag, so..." and "that bag of potato chips ...

Posted Thu, Jul 31, 1:39 p.m.

RE: one minute of research: Maybe it's the http. Not that it says that. Just "no more than 60 characters per word". seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/211737_condor14.html clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00608036?recr=open&cond= (connect the parts) %22Recreation%22&rank=4 uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=30482

Posted Thu, Jul 31, 1:38 p.m.

one minute of research: Anyone who reads newspapers knows that many studies have shown walkability is a factor in weight trends. I googled a couple words, and found several on the first couple pages. I limited this list to one about a major study released this week, and added a ...

Posted Thu, Jul 31, 8:28 a.m.

RE: uh: PS, the more detailed studies control for things like income. So they're comparing weight (or whatever metric) among people who have similar demographic characteristics but simply live in different types of places.

Posted Thu, Jul 31, 8:24 a.m.

uh: You've presented no good evidence. Much better studies have been done. First, counties aren't a good judge. Most have a mix of land uses. They're blunt objects. Second, your list of thinnest counties is also heavily weighted toward high incomes and high achievement, groups that tend to eat better ...

Posted Sun, Jul 13, 7:23 p.m.

unbelievable: Blast that Mayor Nickels. How dare a mayor do something ethical that challenges the status quo and doesn't affect most people at all! Knute, you seem to be an environmentalist only when it confirms your status quo. Nobody is perfect on this stuff, me included, but why continually rail ...

Posted Sat, Jun 21, 2:19 p.m.

RE: no upwelling on that one: You're both still talking about the activist and bureaucratic efforts. I'm talking about the general public. While I'm sure that the majority of the general public supports preservation (I certainly do), their support is about "nice old buildings" (brick/stone, victorian houses, etc.) not miscellaneous ...

Posted Fri, Jun 20, 11:28 p.m.

RE: no upwelling on that one: Great. Never said you were. Which makes you post confusing. My point is the Denny's crowd was a coalition of people with different goals, including many who probably couldn't care less about architecture history and simply used it as an excuse. By "crowd" I'm ...

Posted Fri, Jun 20, 10:08 p.m.

no upwelling on that one: You might grab some architecture historians, but let's see whether that one gains a community upswelling! I doubt it. The Ballard case was all about densification vs. some combination of nostalgia, cheap food, dislike of densification, dislike of developers, and free parking. It wasn't about ...

Posted Mon, Jun 16, 4:10 p.m.

RE: Shooting Blanks: The GMA doesn't cause sprawl. Much of our current sprawl is due to outer counties drawing their boundaries too loosely. In other words, the GMA is too lax. Sort of like gun store laws that only pertain to one state, the loophole is that the law isn't ...

Posted Mon, Jun 16, 8:21 a.m.

also: People drive so we should build more roads? That's like saying people eat doughnuts so we should add more doughnut shops. It's still not good for us. (Or is it "we should make wider belts"?) Let drivers whine all they want about traffic. Let transit get past that via ...

Posted Mon, Jun 16, 8:19 a.m.

mode share: Commute share is actually pretty important. It's what impacts "peak" demand.

Posted Tue, Jun 10, 8:04 a.m.

RE: you don't get it - 1200 units to demolition most rentals...condo's don't replace rentals: For the 0-80% earners, we should to expand the housing levy beyond the current $16m. Especially since construction costs have skyrocketed. I'm thinking more like $25m+ per year or more. The commercial developers aren't going ...

Posted Mon, Jun 9, 9:30 p.m.

RE: 1200 units demolished last year in Seattle: Fewer on average perhaps, but last year we added a much larger number of new units than 1,200. Even with smaller household sizes, I'd bet anything the new units have more residents than the demolished ones, even factoring in slower than usual ...

Posted Mon, Jun 9, 10:28 a.m.

RE: It Takes Everybody: You're right that we've talked -- first when I was with the Seattle Commons. On transit, we need more light rail spines and we need way better bus service. Even when the upgrades are close-in, it benefits everyone regionwide -- when drivers turn into riders, and ...

Posted Mon, Jun 9, 8:17 a.m.

transportation too: Sustainability is about more than the building itself. It's also about density that supports transit use, walking, and bicycling, or at least shorter driving trips. Of course, that benefit assumes the new buildings are bigger than what they replace. (disclosure, I work for a general contractor)

Posted Sat, May 17, 6:29 p.m.

me neither: I'm annoyed by anything short of 55 but uncomfortable walking in anything over 70, unless I'm on the shady side. (Ok, the shady side of the STREET, dad!) So today's walk from Columbia City to the north end of Belltown, on a full stomach no less, was a ...

Posted Thu, May 8, 5:42 p.m.

disagree: The bottled water and shopping bag campaigns are sort of like leaded gas used to be...fairly cutting edge today, but likely to be mainstream later. Both are important, and I'd be proud for Seattle to be a leader. (Well, not a leader on bags...the US is horribly behind certain ...

Posted Sun, Apr 27, 7:18 p.m.

RE: Seriously Van Dyk?: The great thing about rail is you can expand it massively at relatively minor cost by adding trains to the existing line. Even if the line's full capacity isn't needed in 2020, it might be in 2040. Yes, we need lots of buses too.

Posted Sat, Apr 26, 1:14 p.m.

disagree: We definitely need to expand the system, at least to Northgate, past Downtown Bellevue, and a little south of Sea-Tac. Option 1 sounds pretty good. Rail needs to be our "trunk" service on major routes. The loss had more to do with too many roads (overdoing 405 for example) ...

Posted Fri, Apr 25, 8:01 p.m.

2008: msjohnson22 got it right. 2000-2007 is interesting, but 2007-2009 is already proving to be a major turnaround, with greatly increased volume of infill in Seattle and elsewhere in the region.

Posted Thu, Apr 3, 3:16 p.m.

on the other hand...: Yes, overconsumption is bad, but half the complaining about Seattle's growth is that people can't overconsume as easily anymore. So what if you can't afford a 2,000 square foot house on a quarter acre for your family of four. How is your insistence on huge square ...

Posted Tue, Apr 1, 8:48 a.m.

RE: architecture: I agree about the house!

Posted Sun, Mar 30, 12:35 p.m.

architecture: That's an extremely good point David. Much of the problem is the concept among many architects that their buildings must "say something new" or "reflect 2008", and that anything that tries to blend in Haussmann-style is to be scorned, and certainly not worthy of an architect's time. Another problem ...

Posted Sat, Mar 29, 11:17 p.m.

RE: Sunlight?!: More on that... If you're on a long walk, a lack of shade can be a health problem too. I've gotten scorched too many times.

Posted Sat, Mar 29, 11:14 p.m.

Sunlight?!: Another presumption is the idea that the public wants sunlight everywhere. Many do of course, but personally I go for the shady side of the street every time. The Seattle Center debate provides another example. The main current concept shows a massive empty field for concerts. But go up ...

Posted Sat, Mar 29, 5:53 p.m.

RE: _: (Wierd!) ...80-100% people.

Posted Sat, Mar 29, 5:52 p.m.

_: Allowing the affordable housing to be offsite helps substantially. But really, any IZ program does make the majority pay more...a lot more. We should spread the burden to everyone. I'd love to see an expanded housing levy for the

Posted Thu, Mar 27, 5:15 p.m.

RE: Decrying-: Yes, but without high house prices, you can't finance new construction. I'm not saying high prices are good.

Posted Thu, Mar 27, 9:05 a.m.

great article: I certainly learned a few things. But some of us who were born here are jaywalkers too! I do it incessantly, particularly anywhere with a "push button".

Posted Tue, Mar 25, 8:36 a.m.

fundamental flaw: Let me presume to read public opinion for a moment. The general population supports preservation of what they consider historic: brick and stone buildings from the 30s or before. They don't support preservation of modern buildings unless they're especially cool in some way, like the Science Center's arches. ...

Posted Thu, Mar 20, 10 p.m.

RE: here's an idea...: Sort of, "Ballard is where that shitty Denny's used to be".

Posted Thu, Mar 20, 12:04 p.m.

RE: here's an idea...: Yet here we are with a crappy building that's being preserved not for quality, but as an example of a style.

Posted Thu, Mar 20, 11:30 a.m.

here's an idea...: How about a landmark process that focuses on preserving quality, not preserving examples of architectural styles? Only the first speaks to bettering the city for everyone and is broadly supported.

Posted Wed, Mar 19, 6:14 p.m.

RE: Why only six stories?: More... I'm not sure whether you'd get much help for scholarships out of that deal, or really any financial benefit at all for that extra floor or two -- you'd have to offset the cost of the additional floors, plus an 8-story building will cost ...

Posted Wed, Mar 19, 6:11 p.m.

RE: Why only six stories?: I totally agree about density. The U-District is a great place for buildings at least a little taller than six stories. In fact, because most residents will walk, ride transit, or bike, the U-D can handle virtually any sort of density without the transportation impacts ...

Posted Wed, Mar 19, 9:29 a.m.

response: (Wow this website is slow! Hopefully I'm remembering your points, which unfortunately aren't shown once the comment window is open.) The 18 vs 16 year old point is interesting, but I think the situation it's better than that. We're talking panhandlers vs kids that are at least trying to ...

Posted Tue, Mar 18, 2:27 p.m.

thrilled: This would be incredible for the U-District and for Seattle. Seattle wants more affordable housing. Building these projects would allow thousands of students to vacate existing off-campus housing, meaning way more units of cheap housing for everyone else. It would reduce transportation demands by putting thousands of people closer ...

Posted Fri, Mar 14, 1:54 p.m.

RE: quick hits: I'm happy to exemplify whatever you like. It's blight because it's poorly maintained. But it's wasted space because it's used only for games and practices, and it cuts a huge chunk out of what ought to be prime public space, accessible to all, on the way to ...

Posted Fri, Mar 14, 12:53 p.m.

quick hits: It needs WAY more trees than are shown. I certainly wouldn't sit for two hours in the sun for a concert. Neither would many others if you look at where people sit at the current amphitheater on a sunny day. Ditch the stadium. In response to Spike, we ...

Posted Thu, Mar 13, 12:52 p.m.

zoning: San Francisco's core problem is far simpler than that. It has fewer housing units than people who want to live there. Price is based on scarcity, and the willingness of enough people to pay painful amounts. Seattle can avoid SF's type of stratospheric prices by keeping the number of ...

Posted Wed, Mar 12, 7:38 p.m.

urban centers: Yes, I'm a big fan of the region's smaller old downtowns too. It's exciting as HELL (being a city nerd) to watch downtowns in places like Bremerton, Tacoma, Everett, Kirkland, and so on reinvigorate and grow -- and these are great spots for new job growth as well ...

Posted Wed, Mar 12, 1:16 p.m.

What's realistic: We're in a desirable city. People with average incomes can probably manage any two of these: square footage, quality, or proximity (well, as long as the two aren't square footage and proximity). A middle-income family can choose proximity. The kids might need to share a bedroom (gasp...in AMERICA?!). ...

Posted Wed, Feb 27, 9:53 a.m.

picture: Are we STILL using that extremely outdated picture of Bellevue? Maybe a reader can walk outside and take a current photo, and make it a donation.

Posted Wed, Feb 27, 9:51 a.m.

choices: Our "free" country has historically been anti-choice. We can't live in traditional "town" neighborhoods because most zoning STILL requires uses to be separated. Young adults, families, and retirees don't live nearby because many places require new homes to be large and unaffordable. Transit is poor or nonexistent in much ...

Posted Tue, Feb 26, 11:40 a.m.

RE: infuriating: Our office T1 connection is 99.99% operational, and I have very little problem with other sites. Crosscut appears to have a wimpy server, or something like that.

Posted Tue, Feb 26, 8:27 a.m.

infuriating: I just wrote something detailed, and Crosscut failed to load and fucked it up. Crosscut's poor technical system is a problem! My other post was about readers like me not liking many forms of ads and reading news sites based on quality of experience as well as quality of ...

Posted Wed, Feb 20, 9:09 a.m.

RE: good: On second thought, $900 is more common than $9,000.

Posted Wed, Feb 20, 9:08 a.m.

good: Good points by all. While affordability is a real issue for many people, for many others it's not about affordability per se, but about whether they can afford their wildly expanded expectations. Many people on the edge of the abyss could easily solve their problems. A family of four ...

Posted Mon, Feb 18, 8:48 a.m.

_: Many great insights here. For years I've dreamed of someone like Gates donating 10 bill and establishing another great university. Wild guess: 20% of that for construction and 80% to provide a permanent subsidy equal to $40,000/year for 10,000 students. We should definitely fund our colleges better to at ...

Posted Fri, Feb 15, 6:16 p.m.

RE: Looks okay to me: I wasn't going to comment on this thread because I work for a contractor and it's too close to "home". But that bit about downtown residents not pulling their weight on transportation is so far off I can't help myself. Tower residents are doing the ...

Posted Tue, Feb 12, 7:01 p.m.

uhhh....: You do realize that they're not counting foundation gifts? And most Gates gifts are not counted on this list?

Posted Sat, Feb 2, 3:37 p.m.

infill: Most infill is a net addition of units. In urban districts, it's often in place of a parking lot or non-residential building. Even when infill takes out an old building, it's usually more units. Regardless, right now we're seeing a big increase in the total number of units in ...

Posted Fri, Feb 1, 8:19 a.m.

sprawl: Highrises and other infill add housing. More housing in the center = less need for housing elsewhere. Same goes for more of anything in the center. Slowing sprawl is more complicated. You can't just reduce the pressure that supports it, because some sprawl would exist anyway, as some people ...

Posted Thu, Jan 31, 11:21 p.m.

btw: I should add that I agree the Market should remain lowrise. Which is already guaranteed. Second, on the other hand, is going in the right direction with its current zoning.

Posted Thu, Jan 31, 11:15 p.m.

yeah, but that's London: The London mojo is about historic buildings at historic scale. The Seattle mojo is about a mix of new and old, with buildings rarely being the same scale. Charles is right about many things. I read his "A Vision for Britain" many years ago. Much of ...

Posted Wed, Jan 30, 2:53 p.m.

pike/pine: Pike/Pine's new residential component is mostly in this decade, but I believe it got progressively more retail throughout the 90s. Not just the edgy stuff, but also the Pike Street QFC complex, which took on some of the neighborhood-service role.

Posted Wed, Jan 30, 8:17 a.m.

not really similar: My impression is that Hawthorne is more like 45th through Wallingford -- a good business street but with single-family houses surrounding it (heavy on the Volvos in both cases). Broadway is surrounded by apartment buildings and a community college. Much of Broadway's decline (I'm not familar enough ...

Posted Thu, Jan 17, 7:52 p.m.

people: Seattle is doing fine without a ton of kids. While it bad that some people can't afford to live here (correction: most simply can't afford the size of place they want here, but could make do if they wanted to), the city gets better every year for the ever-growing ...

Posted Thu, Jan 17, 5:44 p.m.

people leaving?: In 1970s, the population inside Seattle shrank (more households, but household size shrank dramatically). Today it's growing. So I don't get your comparison.

Posted Thu, Jan 17, 9:55 a.m.

picture: I'm liking Bellevue more every year. Pretty soon it might even be liveable, in a "but not for me" kind of way. But can't someone go outside and get a picture from the modern era?

Posted Sun, Jan 13, 12:03 a.m.

RE: ?: So god wants adoration or he'll punish you. Sounds like your god needs some self-confidence, and needs to grow up.

Posted Sat, Jan 12, 1:12 p.m.

?: I'd trust the morality of someone who's good because of personal ethics far more than I'd trust the morality of someone who's does right because they're afraid of god's punishment. The second is little different than the average third grader afraid of teacher.

Posted Fri, Jan 11, 12:20 p.m.

comma: Interesting article, but I have to mention the comma! St. Martin in the Fields isn't parenthetical.

Posted Tue, Jan 8, 10:18 p.m.

?: My favorite thing about anti-tax people is that so many are also flag wavers. Talking a good game about loving the country...but when taxes are discussed it's suddenly "what's in it for me". Not saying anyone here is like that.

Posted Fri, Jan 4, 11:27 a.m.

RE: The problem is rather broad: Wow, those really are missing the mark on her part. It sounds like she's preparing to turn Downtown into a series of expressways.

Posted Fri, Jan 4, 9:33 a.m.

RE: The virtues of jaywalking: The red light cameras are very positive news for pedestrians. I wish we were adding 190 of them.

Posted Fri, Jan 4, 8:28 a.m.

right on: You're absolutely right about most of that! Jaywalking is truly a sign of a healthy city, one where the priorities and ethics are right. To me, the walk light is about right of way only. I jaywalk incessantly, always keeping an eye out for cars as well as ...

Posted Thu, Jan 3, 1:36 p.m.

RE: house of cards: We seem to be moving away from that a bit. The new trend toward townhouses reflects some new variety in housing types being added, and is a fine solution for families that want moderately large square footage. As time goes by, existing townhouses will become more ...

Posted Thu, Jan 3, 12:47 p.m.

huh?: Can't say I'm mystified but I'm definitely disappointed. Four different groups have diverging opinions: 1. Some Ballardites mostly want to preserve a touchstone, and/or fight development. 2. Many architects and historians get really excited about saving examples of architectural types. 3. Most of us urbanists generally see it as ...

Posted Thu, Jan 3, 12:16 p.m.

RE: shading the comparison: I've only spent a little time in MSP, and just one day touring St. Paul, but I disagree. St. Paul's downtown is more on the scale of a Downtown Bellevue, though it's more of a traditional downtown. The state capitol and a certain cathedral give it ...

Posted Thu, Jan 3, 12:11 p.m.

interesting: This is interesting. Some key lessons seem to be: --Make sure it's transit-accessible, and walkable from other neighborhoods. --Resultingly, scale down the amount of parking, thereby allowing it to be truly urban. --Don't ask for subsidies aside from maybe extension of city services, unless the project has public benefits ...

Posted Wed, Jan 2, 7:47 p.m.

RE: why: Most of the best sources regarding building costs are manuals sold to construction firms. I'm not aware of one I can point you to that's open to the public, though you can certainly dig up ENR's cost quarterlies at the library. You can also look at condo and ...

Posted Wed, Jan 2, 7:33 p.m.

RE: same difference: Seattle is nearly 7,000 people per square mile and New York is around four times that. Maybe we'll get to more like a 1/3 ratio in our lifetimes as Seattle densifies. Seattle is dominated by single-family zoning, which is unlikely to change in the short- or mid-term ...

Posted Wed, Jan 2, 2:15 p.m.

the difference: I agree if you're saying that an increasing number of families will live in smaller units here. But we'll always have one big difference: housing will be much cheaper in Seattle because we can build new supply, unlike Manhattan which to a great extent can't.

Posted Wed, Jan 2, 1:08 p.m.

back on the main point: The comparison to San Francisco isn't particularly parallel. Seattle housing prices are far lower, about 50% if I hear correctly. Middle income people can live here assuming they don't need huge square footages. San Francisco is more tech, biotech, and tourism dependent than we are. ...

Posted Wed, Jan 2, 1 p.m.

Also: Furthermore, because your plan would cause fewer units to be built on any given site, the difference in units would have to be built elsewhere, increasing sprawl and further hurting affordability.

Posted Wed, Jan 2, 12:57 p.m.

why: Because a 2,000 square foot condo would require a sales price out of reach of most people, mostly due to the basic structure, land, parking, and other costs that don't vary by luxury level. Your "required by families" comment is a mystery to me. A family of four can ...

Posted Mon, Dec 31, 7:07 p.m.

house of cards: Looks like 80% of the argument is based on the concept that densification equals more expensive. That's debatable at best. New housing tends to be more expensive than old. To that extent you're right. It costs a lot to build new stuff, and construction prices are up ...

Posted Tue, Nov 27, 9:23 a.m.

RE: Why bother?: You do realize that the housing would be replaced? That in fact it needs to be replaced or totally remodeled? And that the money to do this will come in part from doing a "Holly Park" type redevelopment? Also, "mansions" would never happen there. The land is ...

Posted Tue, Nov 27, 9:20 a.m.

good idea: The current housing is important. But replacement elsewhere on First Hill or the Gatzert Elementary area would be fine. This would allow it to be just as transit-friendly, walkable, and convenient to services as living there now. Actually, going a little outside the boundaries would make life easier ...

Posted Thu, Nov 1, 9:25 a.m.

RE: disinformation ?: As my first sentence states, the scientific community is pretty clear that humans are at least a major contributor to global warming. Not the paid deniers, but the vast majority of the honest ones. I suppose you'll argue that smoking doesn't cause cancer next? Their deniers are ...

Posted Wed, Oct 31, 6:25 p.m.

true: Basically the entire scientific world that isn't bought agrees on global warming and the fact that humans are at least partially causing it. At least to the extent they agree on anything (science still considers gravity a theory). The science on GW is about where the science was on ...

Posted Thu, Oct 25, 8:38 a.m.

true: Yes, Prop 1 is pretty good. I'm voting yes. I'm holding my nose on the amount of 405 widening. But I actually agree with 509 and of course we need to replace 520. Mostly I'm a big fan of light rail as the spine of our transportation system going ...

Posted Thu, Oct 4, 9:01 p.m.

RE: _: I think I'll take the scientific community's opinion over some guy's on the internet. Of course the science isn't "over", but scientists have come to a broad consensus on this issue...as they did about smoking a few decades ago. Zero polluting? When? And based on what advances that ...

Posted Thu, Oct 4, 9:51 a.m.

_: The global warming debate is like the smoking debate was 20 or 30 years ago -- basically all (non-bought) scientists agreed, but industries put up a smoke screen to cause confusion and delay action. Here's the difference: back then, we took more action. Today, with the health of the ...

Posted Tue, Oct 2, 1 p.m.

_: Thanks for changing the caption. As a Downtown resident I like what's happening in SLU, and like the vision. Two missing pieces: 1. While the core of SLU might be adequately served by three good parks (the future SLU Park, Cascade, and Denny Park / Playfield), we could use ...

Posted Tue, Oct 2, 10:06 a.m.

_: I plan to read the article when I get a moment, but two things strike me from the pictures: 1. The new building for "young professionals" is low-income housing by LIHI. Nice project. You should correct that! 2. You've included photos of nearly every old house in all of ...

Posted Fri, Sep 14, 4:58 p.m.

RE: Cattle versus farms...: Transit users save us money in the long run. Every rush-hour bus or train includes people who would drive otherwise, and overextend our road capacity. In other words, we can avoid road expansions by getting people onto transit instead. Further, quality public transit fulfills a social ...

Posted Fri, Sep 14, 8:43 a.m.

tolls: Are you complaining? Hard to tell. Tolls are a great idea because users pay for the infrastructure they cause to be needed (well, cause to be built). Congestion pricing has the added benefit of reducing the peaks in demand and therefore reducing the size of road that's justified. I ...

Posted Thu, Sep 13, 1:53 p.m.

no answers: Personally I'm a big problem for the media. I'm a total news junkie, whether at home or at work, where tracking stories relevant to my company is part of my job. I read many papers every day, starting with the "bible" (Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce), and continuing ...

Posted Mon, Sep 10, 8:55 a.m.

basics?: Better public transit IS "sticking to the basics"!

Posted Mon, Aug 27, 9:35 a.m.

Park, Mercer: I love the park design, There's just something about quiet coves, bridges over water, trees, and being eye level at Lake Union. I'll certainly use the park. That area is pretty inhospitable to pedestrians these days, but even now I go through pretty often, as the trip around ...

Posted Thu, Aug 23, 9:26 a.m.

liberal bias? and parks: Fox news and am talk radio are biased to the right wing. Print media is biased to the left (since it's written by college graduates). All in all, it balances out. I'm happy about the parks measures. In particular the trail improvements. Presumably Hague will have ...

Posted Fri, Aug 17, 4:10 p.m.

RE: Here's a study: Many if not the vast majority of scientific and social theories spend years or decades being debated vehemently by experts on both sides, and by critics of all stripes. This is just as true for theories that become generally believed as it is for theories that ...

Posted Fri, Aug 17, 1:53 p.m.

RE: It's a VALUE not a FRAME: This is a good point. To take it a step further, if you can completely avoid car ownership as I have, you can save a truly huge amount of money. I figure my savings is in the $10,000/year range based on what most ...

Posted Fri, Aug 17, 1:50 p.m.

RE: What studies?: No need. Anyone who reads the paper has already seen at least a few of them mentioned, as three or four have gotten major press. These days, articles are referring to the growing body of work on the issue. You can easily find examples youself by putting ...

Posted Fri, Aug 17, 10:16 a.m.

RE: Let's get real!: Proof? Maybe not, but studies are piling up saying urbanites tend to be healthier, even accounting for age, poverty, and so on. And the evidence is also piling up that walking is a big part of it. While only 1/3 of all people really "exercise", a ...

Posted Fri, Aug 17, 9:04 a.m.

Interesting but not very accurate: I like the concept, but I disagree with many of the criteria and it's a bit outdated. (forgive me for basing all this on a look a couple weeks ago rather than now.) For example, my neighborhood didn't get enough credit for parks. The Olympic ...

Posted Wed, Aug 15, 9:05 a.m.

RE: good for the goose, good for the gander: Scoundrels also take refuge in deep intellectual arguments to justify their self-interest.

Posted Wed, Aug 15, 9:03 a.m.

RE: Selfish: So you can make wild guesses about what other people do for a living, and what their motivations are, and others can't do the same to you? You still haven't said who you work for. Hypocrite.

Posted Tue, Aug 14, 7:43 p.m.

RE: good for the goose, good for the gander: I thought it was the refuge of scoundrels to worry more about their own pocketbooks than about the common good. The common good is more than the sum of every individual's self-interest. It's also the good of what doesn't directly impact ...

Posted Tue, Aug 14, 3:58 p.m.

RE: good for the goose, good for the gander: Of course they're not stupid. They simply haven't dug into the nuances of what they're voting for in most cases. All political professionals know this. And all politicians (and initiative writers) publicly pretend they don't. That's because politicians know the value ...

Posted Tue, Aug 14, 10:35 a.m.

RE: good for the goose, good for the gander: It's fine that we have initiatives and I wouldn't change much. We should do something to ensure the integrity of the signature process, which is too dominated by big donors rather than grassroots. But eyman's initiatives don't win on their merits. ...

Posted Tue, Aug 14, 8:50 a.m.

RE: Selfish: Don't lie. I never said that. I work for a contractor. Your accusation is like accusing a Boeing worker of working for an airline. Even then I often say the opposite of what my industry says, like "don't sprawl as much". Speaking of integrity, you still haven't said ...

Posted Mon, Aug 13, 11:10 p.m.

RE: Selfish: You know I don't work for a developer. But maybe I should ask you that. You're clearly a logger, or whoring for an oil exec maybe. Who's paying you to for posting off-topic slime?

Posted Mon, Aug 13, 3:34 p.m.

Selfish: This initiative panders to the selfishness of some voters, just like other eyman initiatives. It's a mystery why people are following this corrupt salesman. He lies to his own supporters...lying to the voters is easy from there.

Posted Wed, Aug 8, 12:28 p.m.

RE: Urban Growth Boundary: It sounds like it might violate a fairness policy and concurrence, but that doesn't mean it's not great land use. It also doesn't necessarily mean it's not fine public policy. The truth is we don't know the story, just one very opinionated side of it. I ...

Posted Wed, Aug 8, 9:46 a.m.

RE: Urban Growth Boundary: I don't know anything about that project, but it sounds like we at least got a development that makes responsible (vs. wasteful) use of land.

Posted Tue, Aug 7, 11 p.m.

RE: Urban Growth Boundary: Your density figures are way off. For Paris I believe you've used the center of town, which includes a small percentage of the metro pop. For Seattle you've used a much larger area. Your number sounds like it might be the urbanized part of King County. ...

Posted Tue, Aug 7, 11:34 a.m.

medium solution: I'd still like the Sonics to stay, with some conditions. Seattle should be proud to refuse to spend hundreds of millions on an arena. We'd be the city that stood up to the NBA. But a middle ground should be possible, particularly if you believe that every option ...

Posted Fri, Jul 27, 4:10 p.m.

RE: Only nuts ride bikes in the winter rains: We can't get over it. Too expensive and destructive.

Posted Tue, Jul 24, 11:14 p.m.

RE: Lost in Seattle: Journalists have educations. They're generally in the top 2/3 of the IQ range. And many come from a community oriented mindset rather than a "get mine" mindset. So of course they trend liberal.

Posted Tue, Jul 24, 4:20 p.m.

RE: No room for nostalgia: That's what activists do: take a far-out position with the realization that it's farther out than most people want to go, or ever will go. Sometimes this helps them as it's a good negotiation tool. But it also makes them look "fringe", and takes away ...

Posted Tue, Jul 24, 9:01 a.m.

_: It used to be preservation was about saving healthy, sustainable neighborhoods -- the sort we built 80 and 100 years ago, or 200 years ago in some cities. Now you're talking about saving what's unhealthy and unsustainable. A roadside diner with a parking lot?!

Posted Fri, Jul 20, 5:10 p.m.

_: Wow, she sounds impressive. But her constituency so far is Symphony supporters and people who watch TV news. The latter group is large, but they don't vote. Too difficult. Luckily, they mostly can't read either, so they won't argue against my assertion that TV news watchers are slack-jawed yokels ...

Posted Wed, Jul 18, 12:38 p.m.

RE: rail: It's an even better place for a bike trail, in a corridor that needs one badly. Also, if rail is going to return (say a light rail line), the value isn't in the tracks, but in the corridor, which will always be available.

Posted Wed, Jul 18, 11:32 a.m.

best methods: Personally I like gas taxes. They make each person pay according to how much they drive, and also encourage efficient cars. Consumers also pay their fair share of the costs related to transporting the goods they purchase. Congestion pricing wouldn't work here. It's not just the politics and ...

Posted Wed, Jul 18, 11:21 a.m.

RE: Machiavelli was a plagiarist, Good Business sense is universal: Decentralization could just make it harder to serve jobs with transit. We're making great strides on transit, and also on walkable proximity, i.e. apartments and condos near job centers. Of course the details of your decentralization plan are important. If ...

Posted Thu, Jul 12, 8:42 p.m.

RE: You are wrong mhays: Yeah, that's the line from your industry. Doesn't make it right. As for Morrill, while I respect his right to his opinion (what insults?!), he's our region's most prominent proponent for sprawl -- the guy the papers call when they want the opposite viewpoint. Most ...

Posted Thu, Jul 12, 8:17 p.m.

RE: I guess that's just how it goes....: I was born here and went to Garfield too. Wouldn't wait for a walk light if my life depended on it, assuming no cars were coming. Jaywalking is a sign of a healthy city.

Posted Wed, Jul 11, 9:37 p.m.

RE: Never at 600,000: http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/stellent/groups/pan/@pan /documents/web_informational/dpds_006755.pdf (connect the two lines to make it work)

Posted Wed, Jul 11, 5:59 p.m.

RE: Walkability is the key: And I agree with SteveM! Always Keep the trees! Speaking of which, a day like today is a great reminder that every street ought to be lined with big huge shady ones. Trees I mean.

Posted Wed, Jul 11, 5:47 p.m.

RE: Perspective from a younger Seattle native: King County has plenty of room to grow. Not with unchecked sprawl, but with infill and smaller-scale sprawl. Townhouses, small house lots, apartments, condos, mother-in-laws, etc. As for Seattle itself, I think going from an estimated 486,000 in 1986 to 582,000 in 2007 ...

Posted Wed, Jul 11, 8:51 a.m.

RE: Perspective from a younger Seattle native: If I moved to another city, I'd be making that city change. How would that be any different? It's not realistic to expect a city to remain "quiet" and small. Look backward and you see double-digit percentage growth for the Seattle metro in ...

Posted Wed, Jul 11, 8:25 a.m.

_: You're right, a drive-through isn't walkable or urban, and I wouldn't support that part of the project.

Posted Wed, Jul 11, 8:20 a.m.

census?: Signs suggest it was remarkably inaccurate. That would mean Seattle's population is higher today than it's ever been.

Posted Tue, Jul 10, 12:35 p.m.

RE: Perspective from a younger Seattle native: Definitely, some of our uniqueness has gone away. But, while the uniqueness was good, I also like that we're more worldly and connected to other places today. And physically the city is infinitely better -- denser and more active. Seattle was a quiet ...

Posted Tue, Jul 10, 9:19 a.m.

stopping the leapfrog, et al: Growth management can cause a leapfrog effect, but only because it's not enacted properly. If Thurston, Grays Harbor, Skagit, et al, maintained lines as King County's, they wouldn't get such horrible sprawl. It took a while for "urban village" growth to take off. But today ...

Posted Sun, Jul 8, 11:57 a.m.

RE: company size: Costco and Microsoft are our two largest by revenue. If you consider Boeing Commercial Airplane Group local, you could say Weyerhaeuser is #4. Unless I'm forgetting someone. Personally, I'd love to see the tree-cutting business fall dramatically. We could easily get by with much less wood. Smaller ...

Posted Fri, Jul 6, 3:44 p.m.

oops: Oops, that was a response to Knute's reply.

Posted Fri, Jul 6, 3:43 p.m.

_: Glorious? Well, thank you. But actually I was born in March.

Posted Fri, Jul 6, 2:01 p.m.

When we turned into a big city: Good article despite the disagreement, Jonathan, and good debate! Seattle has "turned the corner" into a big city, or "world class city" in today's parlance, many times. 1914 brought the Smith Tower. Downtown Manhattan here we are! In WWII we were a leading ...

Posted Fri, Jul 6, 9:25 a.m.

Newbies!: Actually it was 1969, when I popped out at Swedish Hospital. Jonathan, please tell me you don't throw your cigars into the SHIP CANAL! Disgusting. I love the new, bigger Seattle.

Posted Thu, Jul 5, 9:58 a.m.

good: I'm thankful that we're such as great fundraising city. How many other cities would complain when donors only give half the capital cost for a major project? You do realize that Seattle's routine $5,000,000 and $20,000,000 donations aren't routine in many places? I can't wait to see the Aquarium. ...

Posted Thu, Jul 5, 9:53 a.m.

saving money: Thanks for the reminder of why I feel prosperous despite having an average income: No car, no cell phone.

Posted Thu, Jun 28, 9:57 a.m.

RE: Threatened historic buildings-who speaks for them?: Seems like a good reuse of the building to me. Preservation (the kind I like) isn't about buildings as museums, but about buildings remaining as living, adapting parts of the city. In this case I'm also a fan because South Downtown needs housing, ...

Posted Thu, Jun 28, 9:50 a.m.

_: Cities are for living in. It's great to study history, but that's not the primary purpose of the built environment. We want to save pieces of every generation, but there are plenty of examples in less-prominent locations or in denser form. Plus, in this case the new building will ...

Posted Wed, Jun 27, 9:47 a.m.

RE: Piper is Wrong About the Costs of Preservation: Saving this building would force the same square footage to be built elsewhere, likely contributing to sprawl, which costs money. Residents of that sprawl would spend more on transportation.

Posted Wed, Jun 27, 9:44 a.m.

_: Tax breaks and tax credits are a public subsidy. Is this confusing? I'm all for subsidies for historic preservation. But I'd rather save the good stuff. Not this little worthless building with goddamn surface parking, especially given its prominent location. And yes, if preservationists want to save the unloved ...

Posted Tue, Jun 26, 11:30 a.m.

personal taste?: When I say it's ugly that's personal taste. When I say it's wasteful land use that's environmentalism. When I say it's a waste of space in what should be a vibrant spot that's about neighborhood health. On the taste issue, preservationists are being intellectually consistent, but they're also ...

Posted Tue, Jun 26, 8:48 a.m.

totally disagree: Yeah, but that building is still a piece of shit. It's ugly, and it's suburban, wasteful land use. The intersection's role as the "entrance" to Market Street's business district is a very good reason why something denser ought to be built. I'm thrilled by the new vitality coming ...

Posted Mon, Jun 18, 5:06 p.m.

_: While the rich/poor divide is widening, I disagree that most can't afford to be middle class. The key is worrying less about LOOKING middle class, and focusing intead on one's economic security. This means buying less stuff (except stuff that keeps/gains value), and saving like hell. You might say ...

Posted Mon, Jun 11, 9:06 a.m.

_: The timing is really unfortunate if you want to pass the RTID measures. This will just confuse people. Tolling is relatively fair, but gas taxes are more fair. Tolling is only on certain roads. Gas taxes have the additional benefit of encouraging efficient vehicles. But absolutely I support the ...

Posted Thu, Jun 7, 9 a.m.

_: Arts organizations aren't populated by "haves". Their boards yes, but not most of the staffs or artists. More power to them even if their studies don't always make sense. I also kind of want the Sonics to stay, so I'll overlook their "studies" too. ("kind of" as in no ...

Posted Wed, Jun 6, 3:43 p.m.

_: It's still cheaper to build infrastructure for people rather than cars. Even this way.

Posted Wed, Jun 6, 12:41 p.m.

_: The trolleys had nothing like the capacity or speed of our light rail. Unfair comparison. I like trolleys too, but they're best suited for shorter, moderately-popular routes.

Posted Tue, May 29, 8:36 p.m.

-: Other community-type stuff added lately: --2/3 of Cornish in the Denny Triangle, including performance space in the old Norse (?) Hall. --A wierd religious college in the old Skyway Luggage at Elliott & Blanchard or whatever. --The pavilion at the Sculpture Park. Pretty much everything I've mentioned serves a ...

Posted Tue, May 29, 8:29 p.m.

-: Community center in Belltown? One is planned as part of LIHI's Belltown View project. It'll be operated by the Parks Department if I understand. Basically community gathering space. South Lake Union? I don't know. But more public spaces are being planned at South Lake Union Park (not clear on ...

Posted Mon, May 28, 4:37 p.m.

RE: SLU and Schools: I said SLU, not all of Downtown. We need more parks in all areas of Greater Downtown, including free basketball hoops. In terms of basketball, SLU is covered pretty well already. The rest of Greater Downtown is pretty sparse for free basketball but hoops do exist ...

Posted Thu, May 24, 5:58 p.m.

RE: jobs: You make a lot of good points though I disagree on Sound Transit. Definitely we need good schools and good neighborhoods, and there's no doubt that both support job growth. (Oh to have $20 billion and donate to stuff like school endowments!) I also agree about buses. They're ...

Posted Thu, May 24, 12:32 p.m.

RE: jobs: I don't have time to hit everything but here are two small points: Many if not most Seattle neighborhoods are expanding. I base this on reading the DPD notices every Monday and Thursday, and the DJC every day, plus working for a general contractor. Townhouses are booming, condos ...

Posted Wed, May 23, 9:03 a.m.

jobs: Stuka, I'm mystified by your last post. Seattle is adding jobs at a good rate. We have about 14 commercial buildings going up in Greater Downtown right now as institutions grow and the office market tightens. Big companies are moving into town from the suburbs (Safeco, Corbis, etc.) and ...

Posted Tue, May 22, 9:08 a.m.

SLU: South Lake Union has a private school (First Hill has two). Also, two of SLU's parks have basketball hoops. As for public schools, one would be nice, but existing schools are reasonably close with buses. Regardless, Downtown is doing fine in its role of being home to singles and ...

Posted Wed, May 9, 9:45 p.m.

_: There's no silver bullet that can house the poor in an expensive city like this. The same is true in many cities without growth controls -- Phoenix, Boise, et al. We can, and are, fighting for cheap housing with our current Seattle housing levy, with the help of a ...

Posted Wed, May 9, 6:42 p.m.

_: You do realize that population growth has been speeding up locally? Also, that nobody in Seattle is advocating tenements? Even our low-income housing is generally nice looking.

Posted Wed, May 9, 2:04 p.m.

_: I believe that figure was for a much later date than 2030.

Posted Wed, May 9, 9:39 a.m.

_: Misleading. Seattle's growth is pretty substantial for a city with one of the lowest "vacant land" percentages in the country. The fast-growing cities aren't as dense, and, as a component of their low density, they have more vacant land. Even Portland has a much lower density. Seattle's growth from ...

Posted Wed, Apr 25, 3:04 p.m.

partially: Yes we should keep it. But it's underused, even on weekends in the summer. I'd like to keep the best 50%, including some of my childhood favorites as well as the new yellow arm thing. Ditch the prize games along the west side. Or, alternatively, replace the worst performers ...

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

speed: I like raising the age to 18. Any solution shouldn't penalize pedestrians by reducing our rights. We're severely lax in traffic enforcement, and therefore unethical people flaunt speed limits constantly. We should enforce speed laws with the same rigor we enforce laws like "don't wave a loaded gun around". ...

Posted Tue, Apr 24, 1:04 p.m.

cost: Don't you people read? The $300,000,000 figure is NOT a public expense. That's a total project cost including the tower, etc. As for the park/plaza, it'll be open to everyone, including signature gatherers.

Posted Tue, Apr 24, 9:54 a.m.

Center House: The center house is a Seattle treasure. It's the most consistently busy public space in Seattle -- day, evening, weekday, weekend, winter, summer. It's 9:50 am on Tuesday, which means locals with strollers, plus tourists. You see misc. musical acts you'd never hear about otherwise, let alone go ...

Posted Mon, Apr 23, 10:02 a.m.

Center comments: The drawings are interesting. Just a few random comments from the perspective of a nearby resident and frequent Center visitor: 1. I like the park at the Duck site. But it's sort of isolated. This would make more sense if the neighborhood is reconnected by lowering Aurora and ...

Posted Fri, Apr 20, 8:54 a.m.

Geof: Geof, 1. Seattle's growth of 90,000 from 1986-2006 is very impressive since average household size fell during this period (those dinks and singles you're talking about, as well as a trend toward smaller families), and since we're not full of vacant lots like some cities. Your count also forgets ...

Posted Thu, Apr 19, 11:08 a.m.

repair: David, your idea has merit too. Repair is infinitely better than replacement because it greatly reduces the construction impact, and it keeps the highway narrow. Ideas to lessen the viaduct's impacts include painting it something other than gray (off-white?), better lighting underneath, replacing some of the parking with something ...

Posted Thu, Apr 19, 10:57 a.m.

correction: Oops, I mean a four-lane approach.

Posted Thu, Apr 19, 10:55 a.m.

good analysis: Nice article. The Nickels/Sims idea is sounding pretty good right now. For a surface idea to work, two fairly complicated locations need doing: 1. Getting to the Battery Street Tunnel. With a modest boulevard we can build a modest approach to the tunnel. I suggest a two-lane street ...

Posted Wed, Apr 18, 5:36 p.m.

Neighborhood coalition?: Kent, that's poetic but very wrong on some basic points. Density is less affordable?! Actually density makes housing cheaper. Would you rather use $200,000 of land for one house, or make it $50,000 for each of four houses? For townhouses vs. single family, additional factors include going vertical ...

Posted Wed, Apr 18, 5:19 p.m.

pop growth: Stuka, Seattle has grown substantially since growth management was implemented. We bottomed out in 1986 with 486,000 residents. In 1990, roughly when King County got growth management, we had 516,000. In July 2005 we had 573,000. That's pretty remarkable given that household sizes shrank in the meantime, and ...

Posted Wed, Apr 18, 3:35 p.m.

5-1 = 4: Basically Mossback believes that a household forced to move due to redevelopment is a net addition to sprawl, while the five households that replace them simply wouldn't have existed if it hadn't been for the development. Well, the five would exist. That one household doesn't have to ...

Posted Wed, Apr 18, 10:16 a.m.

RE: investment?: What volumes does it speak? 24th was where my grandmother lived (and died) for many years. In an apartment called Libby Manor. I lived there for a half-year after high school but 24th has always been a touchstone of sorts. I still walk through often. My only question ...

Posted Wed, Apr 18, 9:26 a.m.

investment?: In today's relatively flat housing market, homes are not being marketed as investments. Solid yes, but not means-to-get-rich. Mary, maybe you're thinking of 2004. In fact, many projects specifically outlaw flipping via their contract language. PS, I used to live in Ballard. Love what's happening around Downtown Ballard, along ...

Posted Tue, Apr 17, 2:53 p.m.

my fix?: If you're asking me... Density and mixed uses, with better transit and urban design to foster walking. In other words, what we're doing now but to a greater extent. We should also have tighter, King-type growth management in other counties to avoid leapfrog development. And more small parks ...

Posted Mon, Apr 16, 11:11 p.m.

truth: It's great that the density opponents aren't even bothering to claim that they're environmentalists. At least we know what side of the aisle you stand on.

Posted Mon, Apr 16, 3:45 p.m.

where?: So you don't like density, or at least the real-world application of density. So where would you put all the additional people? Maybe someone can do Knute one better -- don't just commiserate, propose a solution! Is it additional sprawl? Is it higher density somewhere else? Mandatory sterilization? A ...

Posted Mon, Apr 16, 12:47 p.m.

urban dwellers: I missed a comment above, something about density causing sprawl. This is utterly wrong. If 200,000 people were added to Seattle (your number), that's 200,000 people who would not be living just outside of Seattle. Or something like that. When new units are built (assuming old ones aren't ...

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

Hey Piper 2: I'll take my urban-living, pedestrian-oriented health over anyone's car-based, big ass health. Study after study shows that urban neighborhoods promote activity by fostering walking even among people who don't "exercise". Believe what you want about greed and the viaduct land. But it's public land, and how it's ...

Posted Mon, Apr 16, 9:19 a.m.

Hey Piper: The Piper, Nobody is (or was) proposing "developing" the viaduct land. That would have remained public -- part street, part green. It's too narrow for buildings anyway.

Posted Mon, Apr 16, 8:23 a.m.

read it again: I read the article again. There's NOTHING in there that argues against density. Just a bunch of unrelated pining for the past. Joel Kotkin? Please tell me you're not quoting the nation's leading apologist for sprawl. (Even worse than Morrill.) Density doesn't stop sprawl? Duh. The only ...

Posted Mon, Apr 16, 8:15 a.m.

density needed: Density is how we keep supply and demand in relative balance, and avoid San Francisco style hyperpricing -- our prices are half theirs. It's also an obvious necessity unless you think we should sprawl over farmland and forest. And it's how we reduce the distance people travel to ...

Posted Wed, Apr 11, 10:45 a.m.

honking: Honking is rude. Maybe the other driver "needs" it, but what about the people living 50 feet away? Few things get me angrier than some idiot who sets his car alarm to honk every time he parks.

Posted Wed, Apr 11, 10:43 a.m.

jaywalking: Jaywalking in its basic form, when no cars are coming, is a sign of a healthy city. It should only be illegal when safety or right of way is compromised. Also, do you really understand right of way? When you say jaywalkers "ask to be hit", are you including ...

Posted Thu, Apr 5, 10:50 a.m.

rent control?: New York and San Francisco have rent control, and look what it's done. It's great for the people in those units, but it's horrible for everyone else. Rent control drives away development, resulting in a huge imbalance between supply and demand. NY and SF are our two most ...

Posted Tue, Apr 3, 1:45 p.m.

more disagreement-fest: Good points. The main reason to build new housing is to avoid a San Francisco style imbalance between supply and demand. Their prices are double ours despite land and development costs that aren't that much higher. And yes, some of us love urban neighborhoods. This is fun to ...

Posted Tue, Apr 3, 9:18 a.m.

total disagreement: I disagree with the article totally. Adding density does not add sprawl. Adding units in Seattle reduces the growth pressure in other areas. As for sprawl, we have a good growth management system, and we should keep it tight. Sprawl has been greatly reduced. If only the other ...