Cascadia Report

Category: Seattle

  • Cascadia envy?

    Seattle broke ground today on a new 1.3-mile streetcar line that could one day link a series of dense, livable in-city neighborhoods. But let’s not forget how incremental this step is.

    Take a look at this thoughtful story that the Seattle Times resurfaced online today. Writer Bill Dietrich shows in painful (for a Seattleite, anyway) detail how the Vancouver and Portland have become models for development while the Seattle area has dithered.

    It’s all here: the historical differences between the cities, the different mentalities about growth and the prospects for the future. Dietrich describes what I’ve sensed over and over during trips north and south — Seattle has wasted its opportunity. And he includes a challenge:

    IF ALL THIS seems a little harsh, go visit downtown Portland and Vancouver. If you haven’t been there for awhile you’ll be astounded by their urban atmosphere. Ask yourself why our downtown parks are so few and uninviting, in comparison. Why our waterfront access pales. Why our transportation choices are so much more limited. Why our sidewalks are plainer, our street trees fewer, our housing choices narrower, our towers uglier, our choices so nonsensical.

    Cascadia has grown more integrated since this article appeared. But I wonder how much we’ve learned?

  • How to transform a historic area?

    PioneersquareseattleA walk through Seattle’s Pioneer Square on a warm weekend afternoon reveals at least as many boarded up buildings, vacant store fronts and homeless people as ever. Seattle’s current development boom seems to be leaving the historic core behind. Will it catch up?

    There are plans to fill the stadium’s huge parking lot with new housing and other deals would provide a counterbalance to the area’s street population. But the going is slow.

    This week a deal to finally put retail/housing on the eyesore parking lot on Main and Occidental fell through this week. Developer Greg Smith wanted to build a taller building in exchange for hosting a maintenance shed for the waterfront streetcar. Since the zoning change didn’t come through the developer said he may pull out of the deal.

    Meanwhile the Seattle Weekly chimed in with an analysis of the Pioneer Square area. Basic gist: the balance of historical/funky atmosphere in the area will be tough to maintain if a couple thousand new residents move into the area as planned.

    What about examples around the region, like Vancouver’s Gaslamp?

  • Rep. Reichert challenged on law-and-order

    Mailboxrural2black70011bl600Rep. Dave Reichert (R – WA, 8th) violated Congressional rules governing taxpayer-funded mail to constituents, Democratic rival Darcy Burner charged Tuesday.

    The congressman has blanketed his suburban Seattle district with 14 mailings since October, including this week — a violation of rules banning mailings within 90 days of an election, Burner said. The primary is Sept. 19.

    “This from an ex-sheriff who plans to run on law and security,” Burner said at a county Democratic meeting Tuesday. “This just shows that he doesn’t think the rules apply to him.”

    The charge is the latest sign of the rising stakes in the 8th district, which has always sent Republicans to Congress while increasingly voting Democratic in other races.

    Burner didn’t say whether a formal complaint is planned. Reichert’s campaign couldn’t be reached for comment late Tuesday.

    Burner’s campaign is considered one of the best shots Democrats have this year. This month President Bush made one of his only presidential visits to the state to raise money for Reichert.

    There are still worries that Burner can’t pull off an upset. Democrats are 0-for-12 in the 8th district — even in years when Democrats did well statewide and nationally. Aggressive public relations and fundraising could smack of elitism and hurt Burner in the district, which includes crucial rural areas, according to this line of criticism.

    Burner says that’s not a concern. “We believe in taking events to where the people are,” she said Tuesday. “It’s helped tremendously.”

    Burner said she’s raised more than $1 million, including $920,000 from within Washington. She needs to raise another $75,000 by Friday in order to pass the national Democratic party’s targets, she said. Recent events with President Bush reportedly raised Reichert about $700,000.

  • Pathbreaking ex-UW dean dies in suicide

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    The pathbreaking former head of the University of Washington’s College of Engineering died Saturday in an apparent suicide in San Francisco.

    Obituaries today focus on the possible reasons behind the suicide. In Seattle she was remembered for her role in developing the region’s top engineering program.

    Denise Dee Denton, who had been the first woman to head an engineering school at a major research university, was named chancellor of the University of California’s Santa Cruz campus in 2004. She was well-known for encouraging women to study math and science and gained notoriety for challenging former Harvard president Larry Summers’ comments that women may be less suited than men for those fields.

    At the UW, she worked to improve teaching and restructure the engineering program. Professors at UW remembered her for mentoring women and minorities, improving morale and for shepherding a $70 million donation from the Gates Foundation for a new building. She was honored by the White House in 2004 for her role in promoting education, according to her UC biography.

    In California she was involved in a UC scandal that included her housing perks and the hiring of her partner for a UC management job. Sadly, many comments posted about her online focused on that scandal and her sexual orientation. It would be nice if we could keep perspective and celebrate the contributions of an influential educator.

  • Solutions wanted for Seattle housing crunch

    The crop of swanky high-rise condos going up in Downtown Seattle are mostly out-of-reach for the middle class. So what can the city do about it?

    Nicole Brodeur’s column in today’s Seattle Times provides a gee-whiz tour of one planned tower and concludes that the city isn’t doing enough for the “working class.” She says the recent zoning rules aren’t enough and the city “doesn’t have a better strategy for affordable living.” But she fails to provide any new ideas.

    The fact is, those new condos are expensive because lots of well-heeled people want to live in them. Build more units and the prices will come down. Two other steps would help make Seattle more affordable: 1) build a better transit system so people don’t need to own a car and 2) improve the city schools so people who can’t afford private school don’t have to flee for the suburbs.

    No, downtown condos won’t make Seattle “world-class.” But they could be a small part of making the city as liveable as Cascadia neighbors Portland and Vancouver.

  • Stakes rise in Viaduct debate

    The P-I came out with an editorial saying that maybe Seattle doesn’t need to rebuild its ugly downtown viaduct freeway. The editorial cites a citizens group’s contention that a surface roadway and better transit would meet the city’s needs and help make it more liveable. The final thought:

    “it is worth the time and money for the City Council to carefully examine the coalition’s proposal. Seattle faces the decision of a generation that it must get right.”

  • New rules to channel development downtown

    courtesy of the Seattle Times
    The Seattle city council unanimously approved the first measure in 20 years to allow denser building downtown.

    Allowing taller buildings is a big step toward channeling the region’s development, creating a market for better transit, making the city more affordable and limiting sprawl. Cascadia neighbors Vancouver and Portland are models for how Seattle may develop.

    Developers can build taller if they fund affordable housing units. To help pay for amenities, developers will pay an average of $19 a square foot for higher floors. The new rules call for rain covers over sidewalks, a new park in Belltown and a new public school downtown.

    Reports say developers have been lining up to build as soon as the zoning rules were set. It remains to be seen if the fees will discourage development the city is trying to channel. At least the city took action. Details can be tweaked again later.

  • Support grows for tearing down the viaduct

    seattle viaductThe idea of tearing down the creaky Seattle waterfront viaduct and replacing it with a surface road is gaining momentum, according to this prominent Sunday newspaper story. Local politicians are calling for the surface-road option to be considered along with a tunnel and a replacement overhead structure. It’s about time. The state and advocates of a pricey replacement tunnel say the no-rebuild option would lead to traffic chaos. But state data suggest that 50,000 cars a day would need to find a new route if the viaduct disappeared. The billions of dollars saved from a tunnel could go a long way toward meeting that need.

  • More on Cantwell’s Seattle struggle

    Here’s more on Cantwell’s struggle in the People’s Republic of Seattle. This column illustrates how liberals like to eat their. And this report shows how her wobbly support by the left appeared during her visit last weekend to a city high school.

  • McCain brings tightrope to McGavick’s campaign

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    John McCain was in Seattle to support Mike McGavick’s run against Senator Maria Cantwell. The event at the Westin reportedly raised $300,000 for McGavick and was a chance for McCain to meet with supporters of his past and future presidential bids.

    But there wasn’t much red meat from McCain, who has a working relationship with Cantwell. A sample quote: “It’s not a matter of criticizing Senator Cantwell. It’s a matter of supporting Mike McGavick.”

    To upset Cantwell, McGavick needs to walk the political tightrope that McCain knows so well — being just independent enough for his maverick image but credible to the conservative base he needs to win.