Cascadia Report

Category: Business

  • We’re all paying for your milk

    Market-bending crop subsidies only prop up the Midwest, right? Think again.

    washington state farm; sharpandhatley.comFarms in Washington got $266 million in federal subsidies from 2003 to 2005, while Oregon got $99 million, according to a national database by the Environmental Working Group. Wheat and barley got the most help in Washington, while dairy got $1.3 million in King County alone.

    Some subsidies are designed for worthwhile goals, such promoting conservation. But most of those objectives could be met with zoning or smart economic development alternatives. The current system is costly and wasteful. Subsidies make a mockery of America’s lip service to “free trade” by distorting markets, especially impacting developing countries that depend on agriculture. And they are even linked to obesity.

    The database addresses the 2002 Farm Bill, not windfalls like, for example, tariffs and forest road building to help the timber industry. The database is searchable by state, county, congressional district and program.

  • Seattle: A big city with a lake down its middle

    New population data show Seattle has a shrinking share of the region’s population. That’s unless you consider the metropolitan region as a single big city facing the same regional challenges. Think of Seattle as a city with 22-mile-long Lake Washington running through its middle.

    According to state figures released today, Seattle city grew 1.8 percent during the last year to 586,200, while King County overall grew 1.4 percent to 1,861,300. This story dives into reasons behind the trend.

    Now the city of Seattle is less than one-third (31.4 percent) of the county’s population — and a smaller share (14.7 percent) if you consider the metropolitan population of roughly 4 million. The city was more than 78 percent of the county total in 1930 and 46 percent in 1970.

    You could argue this trend means the city of Seattle should be starved of infrastructure dollars in favor of suburban roads and other projects. But people are drawn to a broadly defined “Seattle” rather than the suburbs, just as they’re drawn to “Vancouver” instead of Richmond or Surrey (which are booming).

    Projects simply need to serve a wider area than ever. It’s clear that the area needs a variety of solutions, matching development with transportation. the Seattle area needs a system of rail along existing and future high-density corridors and a network of bus and carpool lanes connecting other areas. Incentives should promote the most efficient use of that regional infrastructure.

  • How some farmers beat region’s fishing industry

    It’s no secret that Vice President Dick Cheney has promoted the federal government’s repeated preference for resource-extracting industry over business that depends on conservation.

    The final installment of this week’s superbly reported Washington Post series about Cheney shows how he did it while stirring up minimum public outcry over the methods. Most important for Cascadia is the support for some Republican farmers over the entire region’s fishing industry:

    In Oregon, a battleground state that the Bush-Cheney ticket had lost by less than half of 1 percent, drought-stricken farmers and ranchers were about to be cut off from the irrigation water that kept their cropland and pastures green. Federal biologists said the Endangered Species Act left the government no choice: The survival of two imperiled species of fish was at stake.

    Law and science seemed to be on the side of the fish. Then the vice president stepped in.

    First Cheney looked for a way around the law, aides said. Next he set in motion a process to challenge the science protecting the fish, according to a former Oregon congressman who lobbied for the farmers.

    Because of Cheney’s intervention, the government reversed itself and let the water flow in time to save the 2002 growing season, declaring that there was no threat to the fish. What followed was the largest fish kill the West had ever seen, with tens of thousands of salmon rotting on the banks of the Klamath River.

    Characteristically, Cheney left no tracks.

    Read the last piece of the series here.

  • Push for more renewable energy meets NIMBY

    Voting in favor of more clean energy was a no-brainer last fall. Now it’s clear that legal clarifications are necessary to reach the goal of getting 15 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2020.

    Wind turbine in Washington; historicdayton.comConsider Kittitas County, where some residents object to plans for several dozen wind turbines on the hills outside Ellensburg. The complaint? The turbines would block views, be noisy or disrupt the rural character of the place — all predictable problems.

    So why not head off such disputes by stipulating conditions for siting energy projects? For example, the state could determine allowable noise levels from turbines. If the project is quiet enough then it goes forward. Wide-open views will likely be missed, but surely windmills are a good alternative to using the land for sprawl or to dirtier air. The guidelines would speed projects throughout the state.

    For now, a state agency, EFSEC, is supposed to settle disputes for the greater good. But without a stronger legal framework it could just as easily inflame urban-rural tensions and set up a backlash against decisions made in Olympia.

  • Washington going slower on the Internet

    Washington falls behind many competing states and countries when it comes to Internet speed and access to broadband connections, according to a new report. Worse, the public seems to accept a low standard.

    The median download speed in Washington is about 362 kbps, about seven times slower than in Japan, according to the report by the Communication Works of America. The data seem to come from surveys of people around the state who have DSL or cable connections. USA Today has a succinct summary of the report and national data.

    The report suggests six policies that could promote more, faster Web access and Internet-related business. At least three seem to make sense on a regional level: 1) improve data collection to track actual speeds, 2) create public-private partnerships to promote deployment and 3) reform universal service subsidies that support voice service over data.

    How much traction can the issue gain when cable and phone companies tout their services as “blazing fast,” despite data that suggest otherwise? Citizens are hardly taught to expect more. I’m the first to admit that I don’t know if my service is slow because of Comcast, my connection or my computer.

    So far the subject hasn’t caught on among local leadership. A caller on a Seattle radio show (starting at 27:50) last week asked King County Executive Ron Sims what’s being done to expand access to high-speed Internet. Sims ducked the question, made vague reference to franchise agreements with cable companies, and continued talking about how important it is to get managers to allow telecommuting.

  • Measuring benefits of the booming economy

    Here’s an interesting editorial questioning the popular perception of British Columbia’s booming economy.

    The short piece is notable as a contrast to the majority of B.C. media, which are more likely to cheerlead for the Olympics and major development projects.

    For details on how B.C. stacks up, take a look at the latest Cascadia Scorecard by Seattle’s Sightline Institute, which includes a wide range of alternative indicators to measure regional development.

  • How Cascadia’s economy ranks among nations

    Here’s an interesting take on the size of Cascadia’s economy. This map replaces U.S. state names with a country of similar economic size.

    The data may be fishy (New York must be No. 2 after California) but the map is an interesting way of representing the concept of global rankings. It also suggests that Cascadia should be willing to set policy that works for this region.

  • Economy gets reprieve from passport rule

    The U.S. federal government was forced to postpone plans to require a passport to cross into the country from Canada, giving a temporary reprieve to regional business.

    The new rules have already caused confusion without much indication of improved security. Surely the answer is better coordination of screening of visitors from third countries into the U.S. and Canada, not just requiring a particular document.

    In any case, the delay should help business in U.S. towns that rely on cross-border traffic. Vancouver Island, which was expecting a double hit from the border rules and the exchange rate, now has more time to develop to a convincing tourism strategy.

  • Landlord wants a Rockefeller Center in Seattle

    Friday’s Wall Street Journal has an interesting update on plans to dramatically redevelop a large swath of land near downtown Seattle, an opportunity to create “something akin to Rockefeller Center,” according to the landlord.

    Clise Properties has long had big ideas for its 13 acres in the so-called Denny Triangle, which was rezoned for tall buildings last year. Coverage of those plans includes this Seattle Times piece from over a year ago.

    The Journal’s story raises the question of whether Clise waited too long to sell the property, with long-term interest rates now at five-year highs. Scion Al Clise is quoted as saying he may take the land back off the market if he doesn’t get a lucrative enough offer. He also says he’s open to uses such as green space and cultural facilities, in addition to the usual office towers and expensive condos.

    UPDATE: Both Seattle dailies posted stories on the huge redevelopment plan by late Friday morning, citing press releases or statements from Clise. Both seem to assume that a major project is inevitable. Neither credited the Journal.

  • More streetcars may be on the way

    Tacoma may follow the example of Portland and Seattle by starting to rebuild a city streetcar network. Hopefully the momentum will continue to grow.

    portland streetcar; from aiany.orgRelatively inexpensive streetcars could help knit neighborhoods together, reduce pollution and stimulate economic growth, according to a recent feasibility study. It’s hardly a done deal:

    All of the details still need to be determined, including precise routes, the order in which they would be built, the style of streetcar, and funding.

    Streetcars demonstrably meet the goals reportedly outlined in the Tacoma study. The trick is getting enough critical mass to convince naysayers. Portland’s system — which is now a true network of more than 7 miles interlocking with the metropolitan light rail and bus system — is frequent, reliable and a far more dependable economic-development engine than city bus routes would be. Seattle is building a starter streetcar line that should be a boon to its neighborhood but may be not ambitious enough. To serve a serious role in city transportation it needs to stretch a few miles north (over bridges that need refitting).

    The big question is how to finance such systems. Seattle is using a mix of city transportation funds and neighborhood taxes. Portland uses a tax increment system that Washington doesn’t widely allow. Taxing sectors of the city that would benefit, with the rates declining according to distance from the route, may find less opposition.