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.
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.
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.
The toll-collection system on the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge will store data on individual crossings for eight and a half years, and the information could be used in criminal or civil lawsuits, according to this report.
Alarmed? Consider a similar program in San Francisco:
The FasTrak program, which allows drivers to cross eight bridges in the Bay Area, has restrictions like the Narrows bridge toll operation: Information can be released only to police and by court order.
That’s happened 17 times in the past two years, said Rod McMillan, director of bridge operations and oversight for FasTrak. To give drivers the opportunity to protect their privacy, the program notifies drivers if their information has been requested, he said.
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.
Vancouver is changing the way passengers board buses in an attempt to speed service. It seems like a partial solution to some of the delays that also plague buses in Seattle.
Passengers on select bus lines will be required to have proof of payment and will be able to board through all the doors on the bus. Critics suggest the transit agency’s real motive is the crack down on riders even as it plans yet another fare increase.
Motives aside, this is exactly the kind of change necessary to make bus rapid transit work. Seattle should adopt similar steps as it rolls out the new bus service that taxpayers agreed to fund last fall.
Tacoma may follow the example of Portland and Seattle by starting to rebuild a city streetcar network. Hopefully the momentum will continue to grow.
Relatively 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.
Don’t let clogged traffic, overpriced real estate and a lack of major businesses fool you. Vancouver is a top center of global commerce.
So says a new study by MasterCard ranking the top 50 cities as “world centers of commerce” based on their contribution to economic activity. Vancouver ranked 28th (between Montreal and Brussels), according to the index of six characteristics. It got high ratings for legal framework, ease of doing business and economic vitality. Those outweighed poor scores for being a financial center, knowledge/info economy and being a business center.
Seattle didn’t even make the list, which included eight other U.S. cities. Vancouver’s result comes despite the city’s steady loss of headquarters and relatively weak corporate environment. Of course, the presence of two University of British Columbia professors on the nine-member panel that set the rankings could have something to do with it.
Leaders of Olympia’s port are the latest in the region to take fire for sagging financial performance despite a boom in trade.
A new shipping facility at the port has been repeatedly delayed by an environmental review and has had ripple effects throughout Puget Sound. The port commissioners reportedly declined to comment on the costs at their latest meeting.
I’d like personally to be part of the solution to Seattle’s transportation problems, by building demand for transit and curbing related pollution. So last night I tried commuting by bus from Redmond to Seattle.
Was it even close to competitive with driving? Consider the results:
— Walking from office to bus stop. 9 mins.
— Waiting for bus. Sound Transit buses supposedly come every 10 mins, but I missed one by about 30 seconds. 9 mins.
— Riding the bus from Redmond to Seattle’s Montlake stop. The bus took a circuitous route through the Overlake Transit Center instead of using a freeway-ramp stop. Then the HOV lane was blocked for six of the seven miles leading to the 520 bridge because of cars trying to cross to merge or exit. 64 mins.
— Walking from Montlake stop to home. The neighborhood bus isn’t designed to meet commuters, takes a roundabout route and stops running at 6 p.m. The other option is riding past Montlake to downtown and then backtracking by local bus to my neighborhood. I just walked, wending my way through several pedestrian-unfriendly 1960s-era intersections designed purely to move cars. 29 mins.
— Total travel time: One hour and 41 minutes to go 12 miles.
I’ve had blood-boiling commutes before and this one wasn’t especially bad. But it was slower than driving myself. Plus, sitting on the bus isn’t much less stressful than being alone in a car (especially if you’re in one of those comfy BMWs, Lexuses or Audis clogging the highway). There was a bit of financial benefit since my bus pass is free and I saved roughly half a gallon of gas, maybe $2 — or less than the cost of a coffee. I also feel more green, of course.
But clearly we need more than warm feelings to move people better. Reports today that variable tolls may be introduced in 2009 is a step in the right direction but is still too distant. The replacement of the 520 bridge (if voters approve funding in November) would eventually provide HOV lanes and and eliminate the merger jams. The need for road improvements that make transit work better is a huge reason to vote for transit-and-roads plan this fall.
Since those fixes are still years away, here are some interim ideas:
1) Immediately move the HOV lane to center to avoid merger congestion east of the 520 bridge. The main consequence would be cutting off a single freeway bus stop just east of the bridge.
2) Add buses in the corridor from Redmond to the densest neighborhoods in Seattle, such as Capitol Hill, the University District, Ballard and Green Lake.
3) Begin charging a toll to cross the bridge as buses are added — not in 2009. Ideally this would be congestion priced, to incentivize taking transit.
Without immediate changes to speed transit, it’s simply not practical to expect commuting patterns to change.