Cascadia Report

Category: Cascadia not cities

  • Who should pay for a better waterfront

    If replacing Seattle’s viaduct freeway with a tunnel will create a more valuable waterfront, why are taxpayers being asked to foot the bill at all?

    The state has offered to pay most of the $2.8 billion to build a new elevated freeway. It’s tempting to think that tolls and a charge on nearby property would cover the extra $1 billion or so for a tunnel. Unfortunately, several reports suggest that’s unlikely.

    Property assessments wouldn’t work because too few building sites are directly affected, according to this analysis in the Seattle P-I:

    With many parcels already built out — and protections afforded by the Pioneer Square
    Historic District — fewer than two dozen sites adjacent to the route appear likely
    candidates for redevelopment today, according to the city’s rough guess of what property
    owners might do.

    A new viaduct would be a disaster for the region that would last for a century, yet there’s no sign of regional support for more funding. Concern that the city could live without the car capacity and that the money could be better spent helps the case for a package of transit and street improvements.

    This hasn’t kept Mayor Greg Nickels from counting on a grab-bag of funding, including an assessment on land near the viaduct that supposedly would generate about $250 million — the limit without drastically eliminating future open space along the waterfront.

    Still, removing the viaduct would have economic benefits, likely spread across the region. At least two reports found benefits totaling several billion dollars. Opponents say the figures are inflated and don’t recognize that anything but a rebuild is a luxury the city can’t afford. So far there’s almost no support outside the city for having the region pay for a tunnel, even though the region would benefit.

  • Which would you sacrifice: your latte or your car?

    A poll found that people in British Columbia, by a margin of more than three to one, would rather give up their lattes than their cars to save money. The Vancouver Sun contrasts that with eastern Canada: “While Quebecers may still be sipping lattes, they are more likely to be doing that on public transportation.”

    The survey should have asked what part of their day people would like to give up. Most Cascadians would likely trade their cars for a better experience if there were an alternative. Unfortunately no city in the region will ever replicate transit in Montreal. Vancouver’s Sky Train falls far short and Seattle isn’t even close (see post below).

  • A reminder of the need for transport fixes

    It took two hours and five minutes to go the 12 miles from Redmond to Seattle on 520 Wednesday evening. Apparently a single stalled car was the culprit, making me 45 minutes late for a 6:30 appointment and providing another reminder why the region needs comprehensive transportation fixes.

    traffic on 520=I was angry at everyone. At the drivers who weave between lanes trying to save a car length. At the guy in front of me who repeatedly let cars cut. At the cop who stopped a full lane of traffic around the stalled pickup. And at myself for entertaining the thought that maybe running out of gas or having a car that stalls should be punishable with heavy fine or death.

    Of course, I’m at fault for putting myself in that position, for choosing to live in Seattle and work in Redmond. You could argue that people like me should live near work. Perhaps this area should devolve into a medieval state where we rarely travel more than a few miles.

    Incentives to shape behavior should be part of the answer. Yet our city would fragment if traffic meant people in one corner hardly mixed with those in another, a la Jakarta or Delhi. That’s why we need a combination of steps to keep the area moving and make a more sustainable community: zoning for density, congestion pricing to smooth demand, and a series of transit that provides an alternative to gridlock.

  • New push for alternative energy in Oregon

    Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski called for a cap on carbon dioxide emissions and creation of a trading system designed to reduce the state’s output. He said the proposals would stimulate business in the state:

    “You know we’ve turned a corner when Wall Street banks are telling you that investments in renewable energy and other technologies to combat global warming are among the largest economic opportunities now and in the coming decades,” he said.

    Electricity production reportedly accounts for 42 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. Kulongoski would have a task force propose details of a cap-and-trade system while he advances bills to promote biofuels and require a quarter of Oregon’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2025.

  • Tolls may not be enough

    Tolls wouldn’t generate enough revenue to cover the costs of a new road near Portland, according to a new study. The results suggests that tolls won’t work if there are feasible alternative routes or if the tolls are too high.

  • Ports oppose plan to tax shipping

    Washington state ports are opposing an influential legislator’s plan to tax containers to pay for transportation projects that would help move freight. The ports should offer an alternative way to pay for the improvements.

    An extra per-container charge would steer more traffic to rivals in Vancouver or California, which are already competing effectively because of superior transportation links to larger markets. Yet, with rising construction costs making the regional to-do list more daunting, it’s not enough to expect voters to pay entirely through up-front taxes. Why not advocate congestion pricing across the region, which would alleviate crowding on roads and provide incentives to use alternate transportation.

  • Timber mills getting into alternative energy business

    Timber companies are burning wood waste to produce energy, taking advantage of high power costs and tax incentives designed to encourage alternatives to fossil fuels.

    Since Congress reauthorized a federal energy production tax credit for biomass, solar and wind power last month, at least three mills in Oregon are advancing biomass energy projects, according to the AP.

  • Seattle port among the West Coast’s least efficient

    The Port of Seattle is among the West Coast’s least efficient , according to the Seattle P-I. Vancouver’s port moves twice as many containers per acre.

  • With Dems now in charge, compromise no virtue

    President Bush likely will continue his with-us-or-against-us approach tonight in the State of the Union speech. So why do media reports suddenly suggest that compromise is a virture?

    Now that Democrats control Congress and statewide government in Washington state, media seem fixated on the need to find common ground. One example: NPR’s series on how the parties work together.

    It’s local too. KPLU reports that Republicans have named three of their strongest to the Senate Education Committee in order to thwart spending on Gov. Chris Gregoire’s top legislative priority. But they’re not obstructionists standing in the way of better schools; they’re portrayed as loyal opposition to spendthrift Democrats.

    Democrats need accomplishments in order to hold their lead, so it’s worrisome when “compromise” is touted as the new goal. Voters want concrete action and elections should stand for something. One Republican got it right in an NPR report about California’s politics: “Voters didn’t elect me to compromise. They elected me to stand for something.”

  • Report: Cascadia cities among the world’s costliest

    A new report says Cascadia’s cities are among the world’s least affordable, with Vancouver ranked 13th worst, Victoria 23rd, Seattle 36th and Portland 60th.

    VancouverThe report, by research firm Demographia, focuses on the ratio of home prices to income. It rightly notes the imbalance between supply and demand, but dismisses the role of interest rates and robust local economies.

    Another oversight: It doesn’t mention the cost of transportation, which makes big cities such as New York and Tokyo less prohibitive than the report suggests. If transit options in Cascadia enabled the average family of four to live with one car instead of two, saving at least $400 per month, even pricey housing would be more affordable.

    The report says land-use rules are the biggest culprit:

    Various planning strategies have driven up the price of housing, such as land rationing (urban growth boundaries and infill requirements), extravagant amenity requirements, excessively high infrastructure fees and approval processes that are unnecessarily lengthy and complicated.