Cascadia Report

Blog

  • Getting representatives who match the region

    There’s a mismatch between the Seattle area’s dependence on global commerce and its political system. Jim Vesely made that point well in his Sunday column in The Seattle Times:

    The city is run by representatives of two major and influential cohorts: neighborhoods and highly specialized interest groups. That may fit a less-competitive era, but if this region is going to need every brain and every molecule of stamina, it must have a much higher caliber of contestants for public office.

    Those candidates would be knowledgeable on the Shanghai school methods, on the bridging of both space and dollars for transportation, on the depth of connections between here and Chile or China. Only a few are.

    That’s why whenever council members venture away from the narrow into the broad currents of national or state policies — or even pro sports — they appear woefully parochial, despite representing one of the most-dynamic and exuberant city-states on the planet.

    So what’s the recipe for change? The fact is that voters select representatives who most clearly speak to their interests — and in Seattle that’s usually neighborhood issues. By definition, candidates speak about those issues to the media. Instead of bemoaning the lack of ideas, I’d like to see The Seattle Times promote wider perspectives.

    For starters, the news pages should examine the benefits of Gov. Gregoire’s trade-promotion efforts and her groundbreaking meetings with British Columbia’s premier. Why not demand that representatives learn from the rest of the world on issues like transportation? At least ask leaders what they learned about transportation from their recent trip to Japan.

    Even the opinion pages could help. It would be fascinating to hear the questions that Vesely asked and the candidates’ responses. Why not post those online?

  • Shift freight to rail, cut traffic congestion

    Shifting freight traffic to rails would cut congestion and pollution, according to a study by Demographia:

    In the Seattle area alone, shifting 25 percent of freight from trucks to trains by 2025 would mean 43 fewer hours in commuting time every year, compared with what is likely to occur otherwise. That same shift also would decrease air-pollutant emissions in the Seattle area by as much as 11,635 tons and save thousands of gallons of fuel.

    The trick, of course, is making the change. Improving and expanding the Eastside rail line and also adding rail capacity throughout the Vancouver-to-Portland corridor could handle the traffic. Curbing the subsidy for cars and trucks on freeways would make the shift financially sensible.

  • Too many want to live in downtown Vancouver

    Living in downtown Vancouver is so popular the city needs to keep people away in order to preserve room for offices.

    As a remedy, the city may allow still taller office buildings downtown and expand the area where offices have priority over condos.

    Taller buildings are already on the way. Yet given Vancouver’s shedding of headquarters jobs, the bigger question may be what businesses will fill any additional space.

  • A proposal to get 520 fixes moving now

    State transportation planners spent lots of time this week explaining long-term plans for fixing 520 between Seattle and the Eastside.

    But what about easing the commute now?

    At an open house at Bellevue High School Tuesday night, there were detailed displays about plans for a new six-lane bridge, including features like bike lanes and steps to treat runoff water and use new quieter cement. Assuming passage of the transportation tax package this fall, the new bridge would be open for traffic … in 2018.

    That distant date explains why commuters are so unenthused. Why give up a sunny evening to discuss a project that seems like it will never happen? No one can say planners haven’t been inclusive, with open houses and hearings ad nauseum. (On Tuesday DOT staff sometimes outnumbered the public.) What’s missing is anything to help now or build enthusiasm for change.

    So here’s an idea: Immediately move 520’s westbound HOV lane to the left side from Redmond to Seattle. Instead of being stopped by merging traffic in the right-hand lane, buses and three-person carpools could speed through the corridor. Forcing cars with one passenger to merge from two lanes into one before crossing the bridge would be a dramatic incentive to take transit or carpool.

    The change could be made almost overnight and would boost capacity. Demand for buses would soar and suddenly people would be willing to carpool, even if it meant sharing rides with (gasp!) strangers. If drivers really wanted more lanes they would be incented to support funding a new bridge.

    As it stands, taking the bus usually isn’t an appealing option and there’s plenty of opposition to the 520 replacement project. One protester at the Bellevue event this week handed out flyers urging a vote against this fall’s tax plan because he wants politicians to craft a better one someday. Instead of risking that kind of delay — and keeping us all stuck for years — transportation leaders should make relatively small changes necessary to improve movement now.

  • 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.

  • FEEDBACK on Why Seattle’s buses don’t work

    This account of a recent bus commute drew a lot of feedback. Two emails came from Rep. Judy Clibborn, the chair of the state House Transportation Committee.

    She explained that she’s arranging to ride through the 520 corridor with the Department of Transportation to see what can be changed. Yet there will be opposition to any tinkering with the status quo:

    I agree that we have some issues and will be working to get some of that merger smoothed out before we reach the new bridge and later implementation of tolls etc. I am interested in what comes out of the Urban Partnership regarding some of what you mentioned but I am also aware of the political reality of what we can do without support from the citizens. It will take a lot of education.

    For info on the partnership, see the link for the Puget Sound Regional Council.