Cascadia Report

Category: Seattle

  • Seattle approves criteria (but not a plan) for 520

    Solving obvious transportation problems around Seattle is like establishing peace in the Middle East: endless plans, criteria and road maps but very little progress.

    The latest example is the Seattle City Council’s agreement on criteria for replacing the 520 bridge, a decision they delayed a week ago citing an outpouring of comments. The latest plan calls for a mediator to negotiate with all sides and present a plan in 20 months. They couldn’t even get behind the governor’s call for a replacement that would include transit lanes.

    Remember this isn’t an optional project. Just like the viaduct freeway, there’s a real chance that the bridge could collapse in a natural disaster, costing lives and the economy.

  • Time for house cleaning at Seattle’s port

    The latest Port of Seattle controversy erupted because commissioner Pat Davis supposedly cut a deal to pay the retiring CEO a full year’s compensation — without telling the rest of the board.

    Running up costs and losing business to rivals apparenty hasn’t been enough to shake the port’s management culture. Even last winter’s fiasco over Christmas trees at Sea-Tac could be dismissed by some as part of wider cultural confusion.

    The latest example of mismanagement ought to be enough for voters to demand change.

  • Why some people miss the old Alaska Airlines

    Alaska Airlines is rapidly changing from a whimsical local airline into a big business that has to compete on dreary criteria like on-time arrival. The transition parallels Cascadia’s changes amid globalization.

    eskimo on Alaska Airlines; by dearmitt.comOne sign of the shift for the Seattle-based airline is the replacement of older planes.

    Friday’s Wall Street Journal ($) has a wistful story of the “Arctic Eagles” who piloted old 737-200 jets into Alaska’s small towns, supplying a lifeline of everything from groceries and medical supplies to tourists. Now they have to get used to new, more automated planes and deal with routine demands of flying in the Lower 48.

    Although new route assignments will take the Anchorage-based pilots to sunny destinations like Cancún, Mexico, and Palm Springs, Calif., the pilots say they’ll miss the old challenges and the camaraderie with crew members and local passengers.

    I remember riding one of the old planes into Kodiak and noticing then that the feel of the cabin and the on-board atmosphere was different from the Seattle-to-Anchorage flight. One captain, who co-piloted a landing in Juneau that took 10 approaches, told the WSJ that flying planes that get “food on the table in Nome” will always be more rewarding than “getting a bunch of irate people to Newark.”

  • Why we need regional transport planning

    An opportunity for an integrated rail and bus transportation hub at Seattle’s Husky Stadium may be squandered according to this story and this op-ed article.

    The ludicrous lack of coordination (one planner is quoted as saying the inefficient routes are “pretty much set”) is the latest example of why the region’s transportation planning needs to be better managed.

    In a major step in the right direction, the state legislature is considering bills that would create a single government agency with authority to prioritize, plan and finance transportation projects for the entire metropolitan area.

    This week the Municipal League of King County sent this letter to Gov. Chris Gregoire and legislative leaders Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen and Rep. Judy Clibborn urging a package that coordinates planning without undermining support for existing projects. (Note: I’m a trustee of the League.)

  • Seattle port losing share to rivals

    The Port of Seattle continues to lose market share to other West Coast ports, thanks to inefficiency on the docks and transportation hurdles.

    Seattle faces increased competition from ports in California and especially expansion projects in British Columbia. Marshalling an effective response is squarely on the plate of the port’s new CEO.

  • Start tolling on floating bridges now

    The idea of charging tolls on both of Seattle’s floating bridges is back in the news since the state treasurer called foul on financing plans to replace the 520 bridge.

    A couple of thoughts on the controversy:

    — Tolls should be implemented right away and the 520 project should start immediately. The charge would help finance the rebuilding project and be an incentive to use transit. Now driving makes sense despite soaring gas prices because buses have less convenient routes, take longer and sit in the same traffic as cars. Charging, say, $1 for each car crossing would begin to alter the calculation. Make it $2.50 next year and $5 after that and the calculus would change.

    Tolls or congestion pricing must be paired with commensurate improvements in transit in order to realize the full benefit. Instead of just a regressive tax on poor drivers, tolls are a device to make more efficient use of the infrastructure. It’s important that people see improved mobility as a result.

    — A steep charge to use the floating bridges — it could be as much as $10 — would lead to dramatic changes in the culture of the metropolitan ara. It would make living closer to work more desirable, keeping more Eastside workers closer to the job and stimulating demand for other services. Nightlife in Bellevue would grow beyond multiplexes and Cheesecake Factory.

  • Seattle growing dense in spite of itself

    One way to make housing more affordable in Seattle is to provide more supply. Unfortunately that’s constrained by NIMBY planning and the third-rail of local politics: changing zoning that prefers for single-family homes.

    So it’s interesting that housing supply is increasing anyway. This is by Eric de Place via the Sightline Institute’s Daily Score blog:

    For the first time (at least in recent history), less than half of all housing units in Seattle are detached single family dwellings. That’s what I found yesterday, squirreled away in the depths of recently-released census data for 2005. Just 49.3 percent of the city’s units are of the traditional house-and-yard variety.

    And as far as I can tell, Seattle is the only city in the U.S. Northwest where this is true. (The census numbers are easily available only in a format that makes it difficult to be certain.) Even in density-friendly Portland, fully 60 percent of the city’s housing units are conventional detached single family houses.

    I should mention, however, that while Seattle has passed the halfway mark, detached single family houses are still easily the most common form of housing in Seattle. But I was equally surprised to find that 34 percent of all units in Seattle are in a building containing at least 10 units.

    It’s interesting, I think, that the city’s image of itself hasn’t necessarily caught up to its new reality (as evidenced by the ritual of sackcloth and ashes still occasionally observed whenever urbanization is the topic). And while Seattle is still far less dense than, say, San Francisco, where only 16 percent of units are detached single family dwellings, I think we in the Emerald City can now officially consider ourselves urban.

  • Better terminal luring flights to Vancouver

    Vancouver is adding a nonstop flight to New Zealand partly because the expanded international terminal at YVR makes the city more attractive to carriers, according to today’s Wall Street Journal ($).

    air new zealand landing in vancouver; virtualtourist.comThe flight used to stop in Los Angeles but that airport is losing international flights because of its old, crowded international terminal. A similar story could be told about the rivalry between SEA and YVR.

    The issue is about more than a handful of flights, as the WSJ puts it:

    The stakes are high for cities. International passengers spend about twice as much as domestic travelers, and international airline service is one important competitive benchmark for cities competing for corporate relocations

    Vancouver, which recently expanded its international terminal, is already wooing travelers from the Seattle area. Since significant improvements at Sea-Tac are years away, it has to rely on cutting fees to lure airlines, which is how it won a nonstop flight to Paris.

  • Seattle, Vancouver could co-host World Cup

    Seattle and Vancouver may jointly host a major sports event like a World Cup, at least if the cities’ tourism boards can help it.

    The idea of capitalizing on the 2010 Olympics with a major regional event has been around a while. Now the tourism groups are looking at creating an entirely new marqee soccer, cycling or soccer event.

    Of course the groups need to build local support in order to shoulder the financial and political cost of an event. Improving transportation links are essential. One interesting idea: adding seaplane service between downtown Seattle and downtown Vancouver.

  • More alternatives to owning a car

    Here’s another option for living in Cascadia without owning a car: more car-sharing companies are opening in the region.

    Zipcar launched its service in Vancouver this week, hoping to ape success it has had in New York and other major cities where car ownership is less than convenient. It’s part of a planned expansion along the West Coast, including Seattle and Portland.

    In Seattle, Flexcar remains the main alternative to — gasp — owning your own car.